Who looks after bespoke software when the developer leaves?

A lot of bespoke systems are built by one person: a freelancer, a small agency, a member of staff who was good with computers. It works, the business comes to rely on it, and then that person moves on.

Nobody else knows where it runs, how it's backed up, or why the invoice screen does what it does. The system hasn't changed. What's gone is everything about it that was only ever in one person's head.

• Who owns the code. It should be you, once it's paid for, and it should say so in writing.
• Where it runs. Which server, which account, and who holds the passwords to them.
• The backups. Not only whether they run, but whether anyone has ever restored one.
• The manual. What the system does, screen by screen, written down so someone new could pick it up.
• Your data. What happens to it, and how you get it, if you part company.

If any of those can't be answered, that's the job to do first, before anything new is built.

Don't let anyone rebuild it unseen. A system your business already runs on has years of decisions inside it, and most of them were right.

The first step is to look at it properly: what it runs on, whether it's backed up, and which parts are worth keeping. Often the answer is to keep it and look after it properly. Sometimes part of it needs rebuilding. Either way, it should be your decision, made with the facts in front of you.

Looking after systems is most of what we do. Under Binary Keep we watch the system, keep it backed up and secure, keep its manual current, and improve it with your OK at every step.

Anything we build for you is yours once it's paid for, with its manual, and your data was always yours. If you ever leave, we help hand it over to whoever looks after it next.

If yours was built by someone else, bring it to your first session and we'll tell you honestly what we'd do with it.