Managed Service Standard
This plan suits an application your business relies on but could work around if it stopped. We act quickly on any fault you report, with no set response times. Managed Service With SLA puts those times in writing.
Managed Services For The Custom Software We Build
With the Managed Service, the Linko Vectis team that engineered your custom SaaS application keeps it monitored, patched and backed up once it is live. We manage it in house, inside your own Google Cloud project, and price it separately from the application.
What It Costs
- Managed Service Standard£2,400 /Year, paid in advance for 12 months
- Managed Service With SLA£12,000 /Year, paid in advance for 12 months, with a service level agreement (SLA)
One published fee for each plan, whatever the size of your application.
- Monitored And Backed UpSecurity patches applied for you
- Minor Updates IncludedWording, prices and settings changed on request
- Handed Over In FullHowever the service ends
- Managed In House
- In Your Own Google Cloud Project
- No Margin On Google's Bill
Pricing
What The Managed Service Includes
Choose between two Managed Service plans for operating the application we build for you.
Managed Service Standard
£2,400/Year
Paid in advance for 12 months
This plan suits an application your business relies on but could work around if it stopped.
Operated For You
- Operated In A Google Cloud Project You Own
- SSL Set Up And Renewed SSL is the certificate behind the padlock in your browser's address bar.
- Uptime Monitoring
- Managed Backups
- Security Patching And Dependency Updates Dependency updates keep the third-party software libraries your application relies on up to date.
Updates
- Minor Updates, One At A Time
- Faulty Updates Rolled Back Or Fixed
Managed Service With SLA
£12,000/Year
Paid in advance for 12 months
This is the plan for an application your business cannot do without. This fee replaces the Managed Service Standard fee.
The Service Level Agreement (SLA)
- Response And Update Times In Working Hours Working hours are 9am to 6pm UK time, Monday to Friday, except bank holidays in England and Wales.
- Service Credits If we cause a major incident or a Priority 2 incident (both defined below) and then miss one of its times, you receive a service credit.
Reports And Tests
- Written Report After Every Major Incident
- Monthly Service Report
- Quarterly Restore Test
What This Fee Covers
Hosting, SSL, monitoring, managed backups, security patching, dependency updates and unlimited minor updates worked one at a time, for an application we operate in your own Google Cloud project under access you grant. Each minor update is a change to something the application already does, small enough to complete within about half a working day.
- We operate only the applications we design and build. The application itself carries a one-off price, set out on the custom SaaS page, and this fee covers operating it for 12 months.
- Google invoices your project directly at its own rates, and we add no margin. Google's bill, and the usage that drives it, stay in your hands.
- Neither plan guarantees uninterrupted availability. The infrastructure underneath is Google's, and Google publishes its own service level agreements for many of its services.
Each plan has one published fee, the same whatever the size of your application. All prices are quoted in pounds sterling and are the total fees payable to us; your project's Google Cloud usage is billed to you by Google directly.
Standard Or With SLA
Which Plan Fits Your Application
Choose by how much your business depends on the application day to day.
Managed Service With SLA
If your application goes down, we treat it as a major incident, and a person replies within one working hour to confirm that we are working on it.
That time is written into your service level agreement. Working hours are 9am to 6pm UK time, Monday to Friday, except bank holidays in England and Wales.
On both Managed Service plans, if an update we make breaks something, we roll it back as soon as possible. If rolling back would put your data at risk, we fix the fault in place instead.
Service Level Agreement
What The Agreement Commits Us To
Before the plan starts, we agree in writing which core functions it covers.
What Managed Service With SLA Adds
- Priority 1 - A Major Incident
- The application is down, a core function has stopped for all or most users with no workaround, or a security breach or a loss of data is suspected. A person replies within one working hour, then updates you at least every two working hours until service is restored or a workaround is in place.
- Priority 2
- A core function is impaired, or has stopped for some users, or has stopped for everyone but a workaround keeps your business working. A person replies within four working hours, then updates you each working day until it is fixed.
- Priority 3
- Any other fault gets a reply within one working day.
- Your Data And Backups
- Where the application has a database, it can be restored to any minute in the last seven days, and a daily backup is kept for at least four weeks. Every quarter, we test a backup by restoring it. Google bills the storage to you directly.
- Reports
- We prepare a service report every month. Within five working days of resolving a major incident, we send a written report covering what happened, whether we caused it, its root cause where we have found it, and what we are changing.
- Service Credits
Credits are worked out on one twelfth of your fee. For each major incident we cause in which we miss a time, you receive one tenth of that amount. For each Priority 2 incident we cause in which we miss a time, you receive one twentieth of it.
All the incidents that begin in one calendar month earn at most a quarter of it. We confirm each credit in our report, with no claim needed, and within thirty days it comes off your next invoice or is refunded.
- Outside Our Control
A Google Cloud outage is outside our control. So is a fault at another company your application relies on, or anything on your side.
None of these earns a credit or counts towards leaving early, but we still reply and keep you informed. A fault in our own code, releases or settings always counts as ours.
- Leaving After Repeated Major Incidents
If credits fall due for two major incidents we cause in any three consecutive months, you may move to Managed Service Standard or leave at once. Email us within thirty days of the report that confirms the second.
If you leave, we refund the unused part of your fee. If you move, we refund the difference between the two fees for the time left.
- Google's Own Agreements
- Wherever Google offers one, it publishes a service level agreement for the Google Cloud services your application uses. Because the project is yours, that agreement is between your company and Google. When an outage may qualify for one of Google's credits, we prepare the details your claim needs.
Working hours are 9am to 6pm UK time, Monday to Friday, except bank holidays in England and Wales. Outside them, no response time runs.
You can report an incident at any time. If you report one outside working hours, its times start when working hours next begin.
The agreement covers how quickly a person replies and how often you hear from us. It puts no time limit on the fix itself, because a fault can lie with Google Cloud or another supplier.
Billing
One Way To Pay On Both Plans
Both plans are paid for 12 months at a time, in advance, which covers the work of bringing your application onto the plan.
How Paying In Advance Works
- What You Pay And When
Managed Service Standard is £2,400 for 12 months, paid in advance. Managed Service With SLA is £12,000 for 12 months, paid in advance. Its fee replaces the Managed Service Standard fee.
Your plan usually starts on the day your application goes live, and that date is your billing date each year.
One invoice covers the full 12 months. We send it at least fourteen days ahead of the billing date, or as soon as that date is set if that is later. It is due by that date.
- No Setup Fee
We charge no setup fee on either plan. Setting up your monitoring, alerting, backups and access takes real engineering time. The 12 months you pay in advance cover that work and the care of your backups. Google bills the storage to you directly.
If your application needs work to meet the conditions of Managed Service With SLA, we quote that first, as new work.
- Renewal
Unless you cancel, your plan renews for another 12 months on your next billing date, at the fee that then applies.
At least ninety days before that date, we write to you with the date, the fee for the next 12 months, the last day to cancel and how to cancel.
If we send that letter late, or not at all, you may cancel on any day until ninety days after we send it. Once the new 12 months have begun, you then pay only for the time up to the date you name. After those ninety days, the usual rule applies.
- Cancelling
You can cancel at any time, in your account or by email, and it takes effect on your next billing date, at the end of the 12 months you have paid for. To stop a renewal, cancel by the end of the day before that date.
You keep the full service until then. Time you have already paid for is not refunded, unless you leave for one of the reasons our terms set out.
If you cancel before we start setting up your plan, it does not start and nothing is due. Once we have told you in writing that we have started, the first 12 months are due.
- Fee Rises
- Any rise in a Managed Service fee comes with at least ninety days' written notice. It can only start on a billing date after that notice. So 12 months you have already paid for are never re-priced. If you would rather not pay a rise, cancel before that billing date.
- Leaving Early
You can ask us to stop sooner for your own reasons, on a date you name. We hand over in full. We refund none of your fee, and any of it still unpaid stays due.
A change might give you less or ask more of you during your first 12 months, or during any 12 months you have paid for. You may then leave before it takes effect. You owe nothing for the time after you leave, and we refund the part of your fee that covers it.
The same applies if we break the agreement in a serious way and do not put it right within thirty days of your written request. A missed response time is not a serious breach.
- Moving Between Plans
You can move up to Managed Service With SLA at any time once its starting conditions are met.
Before you do, we agree your core functions in writing, put our monitoring in place and confirm that your application runs on Google Cloud services that carry Google's own service level agreement, wherever Google offers one.
If your application needs work to meet these conditions, we quote it first. A new 12 months begins on the day you move, which becomes your billing date. The unused part of your Managed Service Standard fee comes off the Managed Service With SLA fee.
You can move down to Managed Service Standard on any billing date by telling us before it.
- Your Account
- Every Managed Service customer gets an account. Report a fault there at any time. It shows your plan, its dates and your invoices, and lets you cancel and change how you pay.
FAQ
Questions About The Managed Service
How Much Does It Cost To Maintain The Software You Build?
If we operate it for you, Managed Service Standard is £2,400 for 12 months, paid in advance.
Managed Service With SLA, which puts our response times in writing, is £12,000 for 12 months, paid in advance. Each plan has one published fee, whatever the size of your application.
Google bills your project's infrastructure to you directly, at its own prices. If your own team operates the application, the cost is Google's bill plus your team's time.
Will You Manage Software Someone Else Built?
No. We manage only the custom SaaS applications we design and build ourselves, because we know every part of them. If your current software is holding the business back, we can engineer its replacement and then manage it for you.
Do You Offer A Service Level Agreement?
Yes. Managed Service With SLA, at £12,000 for 12 months, paid in advance, includes a service level agreement: a written commitment to how quickly we respond and how often we report progress.
A major incident, such as the application going down, is Priority 1, and a person replies within one working hour. Working hours are 9am to 6pm UK time, Monday to Friday, except bank holidays in England and Wales.
If we cause a Priority 1 or Priority 2 incident and then miss one of its times, you receive a service credit.
The agreement does not promise uptime, because the platform underneath is Google's, and any service level agreement Google publishes for a service your application uses is between your company and Google.
Managed Service Standard has no set response times.
What Happens When The 12 Months End?
Your plan renews for another 12 months on your next billing date, unless you cancel. To stop it, cancel by the end of the day before that date.
We write to you at least ninety days before that date, with the fee for the next 12 months and the last day to cancel.
If we send our letter late, or not at all, you may cancel on any day until ninety days after we send it. After those ninety days, the usual rule applies.
What Counts As A Minor Update?
A minor update is a change to something your application already does that we can complete within about half a working day.
Examples include new wording or images, a field on a form, a price or a rate, an email template, a setting it already uses, or a column added to a report from data you already hold.
We complete them one at a time, in the order you send them, and tell you when to expect each one. Anything the application cannot do yet is new work, and we tell you before we start it. Clause 4.3 of our terms defines minor updates.
What Happens If We End The Managed Service?
You can cancel at any time and it takes effect at the end of the 12 months you have paid for, on your next billing date. The full service stays with you until then.
Time you have already paid for is not refunded, unless you leave for one of the reasons our terms set out.
If you cancel before we start setting up your plan, it does not start and nothing is due. Once we have told you in writing that we have started, the first 12 months are due.
Whichever way it ends, we hand over the code, the configuration and the documentation, remove our access, and stop monitoring and backing up the application. It stays live in your own Google Cloud project, and leaving switches nothing off.
Does A Valacia Website Need The Managed Service?
No. Hosting, monitoring, backups and patching are included in every Valacia plan. The Managed Service is designed for the custom SaaS applications we build to order.
Support And Maintenance
Leave The Upkeep To Us
Choose the Managed Service when your application goes live, and keep it with the team that built it.
- Managed In House
- In Your Own Google Cloud Project
- No Margin On Google's Bill