The Continuity and Guarantee Foundation Escrow Alliance (SCWEA.org) continues short-term software services on behalf of the users. She arranges procedures, organizes resources and makes agreements in advance with the parties involved. The foundation ensures that the continuity of your automation is not jeopardised the moment a software supplier can no longer do this.
The purpose of the foundation is to temporarily maintain an application environment of the supplier on behalf of the users of that platform. The foundation has no profit motive and no interest in providing the continuity service. The reserved resources benefit the supplying parties, such as the hosting supplier, licenses for applications and suppliers of data. The importance of the end users is all the greater, they expect an undisturbed service.
The Continuity and Guarantee Foundation Escrow Alliance has made prior agreements with the supplier of the application and the end users. Firstly, the agreements between the supplier and the end users are laid down in the escrow agreement. End users agree to this agreement by agreeing to the regulations in which they give the foundation permission to act on their behalf and to maintain the application.
Secondly, agreements have been made with suppliers of hosting, infrastructure and data sources. As well as the owners of the application, the intellectual property and
The statutes allow the foundation to act independently on behalf of the end users. This can be operational, legal or technical. The resource size of the required resources is determined at least annually as a result of the verification investigation. A fire drill will be held during this investigation.
In accordance with the regulations drawn up on the basis of the escrow agreement, the foundation is entitled to require the continuation of licenses, infrastructure and services from the suppliers involved if it deems this necessary to guarantee continuity. As laid down in the escrow agreement, the foundation is obliged to continue providing services independently of the supplier and with the aim of continuing to use the application for end users.
The benefits of the foundation
Management, management and planning are carried out by the foundation. There is no need for end users to have their own administration, policy making or management time
Fees for the management of the foundation and its resources are distributed among multiple end users
Cash is managed in a trust account. In the event of bankruptcy, this account remains out of the reach of a trustee
In practice, the foundation is a very suitable body to guarantee the continuity of a complex, composite and virtual application platform. Reality shows that this ‘software’ is no longer only available autonomously. A composite application in which hosting services, infrastructure, development platforms, databases, licenses and intellectual property are offered as a whole.
The basis of the agreements between the parties is an escrow agreement. This agreement contains the specific agreements between all parties involved and the service provision is recorded. In addition to the liabilities of the parties involved, the escrow agreement regulates the situations in which the foundation may carry out its activities. The most common situations are bankruptcies and the termination of business activities. Industry-specific or customer-specific situations can also be included in consultation with the supplier and end user.
In the event of a calamity, also referred to as ground for delivery in the agreement, the foundation takes action. After a thorough check has been carried out and the grounds on which the foundation must act have been checked, the agreed measures are implemented.
The measures have been determined and recorded for each situation. It may be that payments are made to involved suppliers so that an infrastructure is maintained or that a platform in the fall-back environment is activated.
The board of the foundation can make decisions completely autonomously and is not dependent on the supplier of the application to provide continuity if the conditions of the escrow agreement are met. In the event of a threat to continuity, such as bankruptcy or an acquisition, it is important to act quickly and efficiently.