SoW what?

Statements of Work (SoWs) are critical to ensuring the commercial success of any contract.

Just like you would never enter into a new employment without a contract in place, you should never engage in a piece of work with a client, or external partner, without some form of SoW in place.

Fundamentally, a SoW is the detailed overview of the entire piece of work which will be undertaken for the agreed cost. It breaks down all assumptions and dependencies, along with all terms of the specific agreement.

As an ‘umbrella’ contract to this SoW, you may also have a MSA (Master Services Agreement) which presents all of the legal terms and conditions of the wholesale relationship between yourself and the client/provider. If you are working with this partner ongoing, you should definitely have a MSA in place - if something is just a one off, you can justify only having a SoW, so long as all key Ts&Cs are captured within that document.

Writing a SoW can seem a laborious task, but it will pay dividends throughout the contract.

For example;

• Clarification around the scope of the project

• Confirmation of payment terms and financial agreements

• Caveats and exclusions

Throughout any engagement, the SoW should act as a ‘bible’ which can be referenced by all members of the project team.

Luckily, once an initial SoW template has been created for your business, you can leverage this time and again; building out variations per work stream to create a robust suite of agreements.

If you would like to hear more about how to craft the perfect SoW, or would like someone to create some initial templates for you - contact char@the-rush.co.uk