CIO Wisdom II: More Best Practices

Warranties and Performance Standards

This area is related to but conceptually distinct from scope descriptions. While scope descriptions and statements of work set forth what the vendor must do to earn its money, warranties and performance standards set forth how well the vendor must perform to earn its money. As is the case with scope descriptions and statements of work, you must take care to clearly define warranties and performance standards. Otherwise, you risk litigation in the event that the contract is less than clear about the standard to which the vendor must perform. Further, you may put your company at risk of not receiving the technical and business benefit for which it was bargaining.

Tie the Standards to the Underlying Business ...