The model provider changes something
A price, a model identifier, a retention term. The system is moved, or deliberately left, against the evaluation set and the data rule in the design.
Technical support
After the system is in use, someone has to notice.
When the model changes, the index goes quiet, or a tool reaches further than it should. That is the retainer: care of a named system we built or formally accepted.
- Model changes
- Retrieval quality
- Index and connectors
- Permissions
- Tool behavior
- Access review
What the retainer covers
Six things that drift after launch.
Retrieval quality moves
Because the corpus changed. The evaluation set is rerun. A regression is fixed or the change is rolled back.
The index stalls
A connector fails, or a source starts returning records the corpus definition did not include.
A permission is wrong
A caller saw a passage they should not have, or a hop on the graph widened access. The correction includes the control, not only the one record.
A tool acted outside its class
A write that was not approved is treated as an incident.
Access is reviewed
On the cadence in the agreement: who can invoke a write tool, and which Birdeye credentials still exist. Credentials are removed when the agreement pauses.
An incident has a plain shape.Something the design forbade happened.
Incidents
A correction, a cause, and a change to the control.
A wrong answer reached a customer. A write went out without approval. Customer content landed in a log or a tool that was not on the subprocessor list. Each of those is an incident. The response is the correction, the cause written down, and a change to the evaluation set or the control so it does not recur.
Outside the retainer
What it does not cover.
Not covered
- Employee laptops, wifi, mailbox administration, and the rest of a helpdesk
- The marketing site, campaign pages, and campaign tags
- A new workflow, a new agent, or a new source system, which are specified as new work
- Improvements discovered along the way, which are written down and accepted, or wait
Why the line is there
The retainer is for the behavior of a specific system, measured by its evaluation set and its data rule. A company comparing it with a staff-augmentation contract should be able to see the difference. The agreement names the system, the hours, and the response window.
Questions
About technical support.
If yours is not here, ask. We answer plainly, including when the answer is that this is not the right engagement.
What exactly is covered?
The behavior of a named system we built or formally accepted, measured by its evaluation set and its data rule. The agreement lists the system, the hours, and the response window.
What counts as an incident?
Something the design forbade happened: a wrong answer reached a customer, a write went out without approval, or customer content landed in a log or a tool that was not on the subprocessor list. The response is a correction, a cause, and a change to the evaluation set or the control.
The model vendor changed something.
A price, a model identifier, or a retention term. The system is moved, or deliberately left, against the evaluation set and the data rule in the design. That decision is written down.
Can you add a new workflow under the retainer?
No. A new workflow, a new agent, or a new source system is new work: specified, designed, and accepted on its own. Improvements discovered along the way are written down and accepted, or they wait.
Do you support our laptops or mailbox?
No. Employee devices, wifi, mailbox administration, and the rest of a helpdesk are outside the retainer, as are the marketing site and campaign tags.
How is it priced?
Against the named system, the hours, and the response window, in the agreement. We do not print a number here until we have one we intend to keep.