Decommissioning Policy
Our Stewardship Policy makes clear that your information is yours. What it does not address is the container that information lives in. In some of our services – for example, a business dashboard we have built and maintain as a common foundation for several clients – the data you put in is yours, but the system we built to hold it is not. This page explains that distinction, and what it means should our working relationship come to an end.
Intellectual Property
The structure, source code, database schema, and design of the systems we build – including any shared or templated system such as a business dashboard – are the intellectual property of Andries Oberholzer Consulting. This is distinct from your data: the records, content, and information you enter into that structure remain yours.
Access on Non-Payment
Should a client fail to settle their monthly account, access to the system is revoked.
Data Retention After Revocation
Following revocation of access, your data is retained for 90 days. This gives you a window to settle the account and regain access. If the account remains unsettled after 90 days, the data is deleted.
Leaving for a Different Provider
Should you decide to have someone else design a similar system for you, we will not hand over the structure itself – the dashboard, its design, and the underlying code remain ours. We will, however, make reasonable efforts to give you your data: the records held within the database.
Export Format and Caveats
Where an export of your data is required, it is provided in CSV format only, based on the underlying database files. A CSV export is a reasonable-effort, flat extraction of your records; it does not preserve the relationships between tables or the business logic of the structure it came from. Once delivered, the CSV is yours, and you are free to do with it what you want.
Delivery and Security
Preparing and exporting your data requires our time, and is billed at our standard support call-out rate. As standard practice, the exported CSV file is delivered password protected, with the password sent to you via a separate channel from the file itself.
Branding
The look and feel of our systems – including the design and branding of a shared dashboard – is ours. Should you commission a replacement system, it may not reuse or replicate our branding or visual design.