Cover for when your only developer is away
If one person looks after a system the business relies on, their holiday is a risk. We learn the system from them before they go and deal with faults while they are away.
At a glance
- Price
- £1,450 fixed
- Typical duration
- A handover session, then up to two weeks of cover
- VAT
- Prices exclude VAT
One person, one system
A great many business systems are looked after by a single developer. They built it, or inherited it, and they are good at it. The arrangement works well and costs little, and its weakness only shows when that person is not available.
Holidays are the predictable version of that. The system does not know its developer is away. If the overnight import fails on the first Monday of a fortnight’s leave, the business either waits, or telephones someone who had hoped not to be telephoned.
What cover involves
Cover only works if the people providing it have seen the system first. So the service starts before the absence, with a session in which your developer shows an engineer how the system is built and released, where its logs are, what tends to go wrong and what the business cannot do without.
We then check our understanding the only way that counts, by building the system from its source code and confirming that we could put a fix live. If that fails, it is far better to find out with your developer still in the building.
During the absence, your staff have someone to call who knows the system. We deal with what is urgent and leave everything else for your developer’s return, with a note of what happened.
A low-cost test of a bigger question
Every business with one developer wonders what would happen if that person left. Absence cover answers the question in a small way, on a known date, with the developer’s help. The handover notes it produces are the beginning of the documentation most single-developer systems lack.
If the answer turns out to be uncomfortable, a code audit sets out what would need to be in place, and our guide to what to do when a developer leaves covers the larger case.
Talk to us
Describe the system and what you need. You will hear back from someone who can answer technical questions.
Discuss this project 0800 433 7990What the fee covers
- A handover session
- Your developer walks an engineer through how the system is built, released and monitored, and the faults that usually occur.
- Proof that we can release it
- Before the absence starts we build the system from its source code and confirm we can put a change live, so cover is real and not just a phone number.
- Cover for up to two weeks
- Someone to call during office hours if the system fails, who already knows where to look.
- Fault work included
- Up to one day of investigation and fixing during the cover period. More is quoted before it is spent.
- Handover notes
- What we learned is written down and given to you. The next absence is easier, whoever covers it.
- A report on their return
- What happened while your developer was away and anything we noticed that they will want to know.
How it runs
Book ahead
Tell us the dates. A week or more before the absence is ideal, because the handover is what makes the cover useful.
Handover
A session with your developer, followed by our own check that we can build and release the system.
Cover
During the absence your staff call us if something goes wrong. We investigate, fix what is urgent and record what we did.
Hand back
When your developer returns we go through what happened and pass on our notes.
What moves the price
- The fee covers a handover session, the release check and up to two weeks of cover.
- Longer absences, several systems or cover outside office hours are quoted when you book.
Not included
- New features and planned changes. Cover is for keeping the system working.
- Fault work beyond one day, which is quoted before it is spent.
- Cover outside office hours, unless agreed when you book.
A good fit when
- One developer, in-house or freelance, looks after a system the business uses every day.
- They are taking leave, having an operation or going on parental leave.
- The last time they were away, a fault waited until they came back.
- You want to find out what would happen if they were not there, without waiting for it to happen.
Probably not for you if
- The absence has already started and nobody can hand over; emergency support is the better starting point.
- The system is a packaged product supported by its vendor.
Questions we are asked
Will our developer mind?
The developer is usually the one who benefits most. They get a holiday without the phone ringing, and someone else who understands what they look after.
What do you need from us?
The developer's time for the handover, access to the source code and the hosting environment, and a named person at your end who can tell us whether the system is behaving correctly.
What if you cannot build the system from its source code?
Then you have learned something important before the absence instead of during it. We tell you what is missing, and cover is limited to what can be done without a new release until that is put right.
Can this become a permanent arrangement?
Yes, if you want it to. Some businesses keep us as standing backup for their developer under a support plan. Many simply book cover again for the next absence.
Is this a way of replacing our developer?
No. The service is designed around your developer staying. Its purpose is that the business no longer depends on one person being reachable.
Tell us about your system
Say what it does, what it is built on and what is worrying you. We will reply with what we would look at first and whether we are the right people to help.