Software contract template

Software contract is a legally binding agreement between the involved parties, typically business entities. It’s usually expressed in techno-legal language. In the context of software, the contracts are usually for

• Product – Selling a software product, framework, platform or library.
• Services – Typically technology consulting and delivery services.
• Managed hosting – Product offering delivered through cloud such as Software As A Service (SAAS).

Key elements of a software contract includes

• Contract headers – Agreement reference number, Representation from involved parties, executed date, currency, etc.
• Sales order – List of products / services sold. Typically include SKUs, unit, validity date and pricing.
• Standard sales terms and conditions – Regarding payment, contesting, jurisdiction, etc.
• Technical clauses
  • Services contract, usually called as Statement Of Work (SOW) includes the following
    • Objectives
    • Approach for delivery
    • Activities
    • Scope – In-Scope & Out of scope.
    • Assumptions
    • Team structures
    • Dependencies
    • Delivery methodology.
  • Managed hosting – Example SAAS contracts includes the following
    • Service Level Agreements (SLAs)
      • Availability.
      • Disaster Recovery (DR) plan including backup.
      • Data retention
      • Data encryption
    • Key processes.
    • Support turn around time.
  • Product contract
    • Product usage clauses.
    • Product distribution clauses
    • Clauses around support.