Maintenance Phase

When starting out in the evaluation stage, with so many things to think about on an immediate basis, it is very easy to overlook this maintenance phase. The maintenance phase starts immediately after the launch phase.

This phase includes many things, such as:

• What do you do if the software throws an error? Who do you call?
  
  
• Do you have a support agreement?
  
  
• How do you manage ongoing training as new users are added to the system?
  
  
• How do you go about adding custom features?
  
  
• Who's in charge of updating the CMS software as the vendor provides new releases?

You should consider purchasing maintenance and support agreements if offered by your vendor. Generally, maintenance gives you patches and software updates while support provides you with someone to call if you have a problem.