Contract Negotiation
Assignment Details: 7-1 Final Project Submission: Contract Negotiation Paper
BUS 250 Final Project Guidelines and Rubric
Overview
Information technology (IT) impacts nearly every business as well as our everyday lives, both personally and professionally. It is interconnected with all aspects of business, from the manufacture of goods to the selling of services and products. Schools, hospitals, and nonprofit organizations, both large and small, also rely on IT to provide information and services and to communicate with the public.
IT is the underpinning of many activities in modern society, and thus a problem-free computer system is a vital component to any organization’s success. Companies must often utilize outside IT vendors to provide software, hardware, and maintenance services for their IT systems. Recognizing the legal issues pertinent to IT software contracts will help you identify critical concerns that should be addressed. This will also help you understand key terms to negotiate and anticipate common stumbling blocks.
The final project for this course is a paper in which you will analyze a scenario and a sample IT contract. You will apply your legal knowledge and your understanding of key IT contract issues relevant to vendor software procurement.
This project addresses the following course outcomes:
Use this with following documents attached.
Identify the use of appropriate terminology through the analysis of IT contracts
Analyze contract terms for establishing appropriate expectations and legal protections between parties
Distinguish between types of intellectual property for determining contractual scope and mitigating risk
Recommend items for contract negotiation for sustaining positive vendor and customer partnerships
Prompt
Before you begin work on your paper, review this scenario, which focuses on a hospital’s need for new scheduling software. In your project, you will analyze this sample IT software contract and describe how specific elements should be addressed when negotiating the contract to effectively meet the hospital’s software requirements.
Specifically, the following critical elements must be addressed:
Terms: In this section, you will use the provided scenario and other course resources to describe elements specific to IT agreements.
Provide an executive description of engagement by briefly describing what the hospital is hoping to accomplish.
Describe personnel and staffing concerns that the hospital might want addressed in the contract.
Intellectual Property Concerns
Describe possible ownership issues in relation to the intellectual property discussed in the scenario.
Describe possible licensing issues in relation to the intellectual property discussed in the scenario.
Determine the patent issues that will need to be addressed in relation to the intellectual property discussed in the scenario.
Explain the purpose of source code escrow. Cite specific evidence to support your explanation.
Describe the purpose of warranties in an IT contract. Cite specific evidence to support your description.
Describe how properly addressing source code escrow and warranties within the contract protects both the hospital and vendor in this scenario.
Contractual Analysis: In this section, you will analyze a contract and interpret how specific elements are addressed throughout that contract.
Briefly explain your interpretation of how intellectual property is addressed within the contract, and justify your interpretation with specific examples.
Briefly explain your interpretation of how indemnification is addressed within the contract, and justify your interpretation with specific examples.
Briefly explain your interpretation of how source code escrow is addressed within the contract, and justify your interpretation with specific examples.
Briefly explain your interpretation of how warranties are addressed within the contract, and justify your interpretation with specific examples.
Briefly explain your interpretation of how maintenance is addressed within the contract, and justify your interpretation with specific examples.
Negotiation Considerations: In this section, you will explain how the hospital’s IT department manager should address specific elements when negotiating an IT contract on behalf of Middletown Hospital.
Intellectual Property
Describe possible consequences for the hospital if intellectual property is not sufficiently addressed within the contract.
Explain how the IT manager should address intellectual property when negotiating the contract.
Source Code Escrow
Describe possible consequences for the hospital if source code escrow is not sufficiently addressed within the contract.
Explain how the IT manager should address source code escrow when negotiating the contract.
Warranties
Describe possible consequences for the hospital if warranties are not sufficiently addressed within the contract.
Explain how the IT manager should address warranties when negotiating the contract.
Indemnification
Describe possible consequences for the hospital if indemnification is not sufficiently addressed within the contract.
Explain how the IT manager should address indemnification when negotiating the contract.
If the consequences you identified above were to happen, describe how they would negatively impact the partnership between the hospital and the vendor. Support your response with examples.
Milestones
Milestone One: Contractual Elements
In Module Three, you will submit a paper describing concerns related to elements specific to a given scenario and IT contracts in general. This milestone will be graded with the Milestone One Rubric.
Milestone Two: Examining a Contract
In Module Five, you will submit a paper interpreting how specific elements are addressed throughout a given contract. This milestone will be graded with the Milestone Two Rubric.
Final Submission: Contract Negotiation Paper
In Module Seven, you will submit your final paper. It should be a complete, polished artifact containing all of the critical elements of the final project. It should reflect the incorporation of feedback gained throughout the course. This submission will be graded with the Final Project Rubric.
What to Submit
Your paper should be 4 to 6 pages in length and should use double spacing, 12-point Times New Roman font, and one-inch margins. Sources should be cited according to APA style.
Paper Format: APA
Answer preview to Contract Negotiation
APA
1873 words
