Do you require your customers or clients to sign a Certificate of Acceptance when the project is completed? If not, you should and here is why.
Most external commercial or government related projects are the result of a contract between the seller and buyer to deliver, install, create, or provide materials, goods, or services. The contract is a legally binding performance agreement and the project Statement of Work (SOW) that describes the project objectives, milestones and deliverables frequently becomes part of the contract as a referenced document.
The buyer and seller signatures on the contract indicate that the parties mutually agree to begin the project. By signing the project Certificate of Acceptance, both parties memorialize and formally agree that the project milestones and deliverables as defined in the SOW have been successfully completed.
The signed Certificate of Acceptance protects both parties. The certificate protects the seller from additional scope requirements that may be demanded by the buyer after the project has been completed and the certificate also protects the buyer from unplanned or budgeted on-goings charges for services that were not part of the original scope of the project.
For systems related implementation projects, the Certificate of Acceptance is commonly used as the transition from systems implementation to system warranty and routine maintenance services. The project implementation team typically addresses product or services related issues during the system implementation project. However, when buyer agrees that the system or services achieves the contracted requirements and the project is completed, the project team is disbanded or moves on to the next system implementation project and the responsibility to address system issues is transitioned to other groups who are primary responsible is for warranty and routine system maintenance.
A typical Certificate of Acceptance may read something like:
The seller and buyer agree that the <Name of Project> project is complete and accepted. The system is approved for production. The parties agree that the Warranty period begins as of the effective date of this Certificate. Any payments due will be made per the terms of the agreement.