Best practices for updating client's SL courses

May 17, 2018

Russ Sawchuk
By Russ Sawchuk

I have been using StoryLine to develop courses, games and interactive activities since it first came out. So over the years, I have many SL components in use.

Every time a new SL version or update comes out, I have to go and republish and repost each of these components. This is getting to be a very time-consuming task.

One of my clients has asked for a maintenance service contract for us to keep the StoryLine courses we have developed for them updated. I'm not sure what should be in the contract, on what basis to charge fees, and the length of the contract.

I would be interested to hear how other handle the ongoing task of keeping their clients' SL courses current?

Thanks,

Russ

3 Replies
David Tait
almost 6 years ago05/18/18 at 8:38 am (UTC)

I agree with what has been said above too.

If you work on the basis that each course has a review cycle, as per Joanne's comment then maybe you could have something in your SLA that covers costs for X% of changes to the content, i.e. 10% changes = $X, 20% changes = $Y, and so on.

I think you should also cover yourself against future software and browser changes that might affect your work. Fair enough, if Articulate release an easy to install patch that you can pass on to the client with minimal fuss then do so to generate good will.  I think it's a different story if you built something in the past that was tested and signed off that has since been broken by updates to browsers/software and the result is you having to spend days fixing it. In this instance I think it's too heavy a burden for you as a vendor to carry without recompense. We do all we can to future proof our work but nothing lasts forever and that reasonable hourly rate you earned for a job 5 years ago will soon become a pittance per hour if you update and subsequently fix courses every time there's a new version of the software.

Also, unless there is a compelling reason to upgrade a project from an old version of Storyline to the latest version of Storyline then I wouldn't. If the client wants this then you need to explain the potential run on costs of doing so. Perhaps another line in your SLA to state that if for example a Storyline 1 course is to be updated to SL360 there may be issues that arise and the work will be charged per hour. I think this is fair as you couldn't possibly provide an accurate estimate for this.

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