Support Contract

[markymark31]

Hi Guys,

Does anyone either have a support contract with a supplier or provide support contracts to their customers for PLC hardware / software ?

I've been asked by one of my customers to put one together but I have not done one before. Everything so far has very much been on an ad-hoc basis !

You know the sort of thing, you have a problem on site, you call up to log a call, and an engineer calls you back / dials in / attends site etc.

If you can send me anything I can use as a reference to create my own that would be great - obviously blanking out any sensitive information first !

Many thanks,

Mark

 

[James Mcquade]

markymark31,

how good is this customer - how much business does he give you?
how good are the maintenance guys in regards to figuring out the problem? can you talk things out over the phone and resolve the issue?
how many times do you get called to fix a problem on a machine you programmed after installation?
what is the warranty period for your work when installing the machine (i'm assuming your an oem, or work for one - makes typing this easier)
HOW GOOD IS HE AT PAYING THE BILL?

the oem i used to work for took all these things into consideration.

hope this helps,
james

 

[RheinhardtP]

A service contract had a couple of factors you need to look at.

I will list a couple of the most important points.

1. Clear definition of equipment the service contract pertains to(Software,Areas,Hardware ect). Battery limits, all exclusion and inclusions listed. Responsibility of contractor/Responsibility of client.

2. Clear structure on call out rates ect. Standby fees to be defined if the contractor is on standby this fee will be relevant regardless of if the person was called out. Clear definition on the period of the agreement. 1 Year/ 2 Years

3. Service turnaround times. Response times on the service being contracted some services might have different turnaround times, contractor to respond within 8 hours/ 24 hours. Part of this will be to identify the level of the service , certain breakdowns affect production and are critical other are manageable without affecting operations.

4. Hardware responsibility, who will acquire and store spare parts for the equipment defined in the contract. Most hardware parts have delivery times. My advice would be always have at least one part in the stores.


This document could become comprehensive depending on how you see the contractor fitting into your operations. What i have seen in the past is that you buy a bundle of Hours and basically when the contractor reaches say 160 Hours you renegotiate. The value of having hours in a bundle is you could use the contractor for code changes. Split the options up one being call out conditions and rate, other being ad-hoc development

Hope this helps

 

[markymark31]

Thanks for the replies guys !

James

He's a good customer, no issues paying bills etc, now i've done a few jobs for him he wants to formalise some kind of support contract to cover all the sites. He's got mech & elec eningeers but no PLC engineers. I get hardly any calls but when i do (as he's a 24/7 company) it's usually 3am !

RheinhardtP

Thanks for the pointers, very useful.

 

[mendonsy]

I get hardly any calls but when i do (as he's a 24/7 company) it's usually 3am !

That will only get worse once they have a service contract. They will not have to go through purchasing every time so they will just pick up the phone no matter what their problem is. You need to structure your agreement with a per call rate rather than any kind of monthly or annual coverage.

 

[Donnchadh]

Hi

I am also just looking At the same type of contract and
I am looking for
1 On call rate
2: minimum charge for remote support if call ( 2 hours)
3: if I have to call to site minimum charge 4 hours before midnight and 6 hours after that as I will lose out in work the next day
4: be paid to call to site 1 day a month to see what changes have been done and also to up date them on the calls I had so it may help them out.
5: I also quoted different rates for different response times


Donnchadh

 

[Tom Jenkins]

In addition to a rate for service I include a rate for travel time (1/2 my normal rate) and a stipulation that any travel and living expenses will be billed at cost.