Privacy Policy

Any business data or sensitive third-party information (customer/patient data) which Vertical Labs may need to access during development will be kept private and not published, shared, sold, or used in any manner not related to the project at hand. Vertical Labs will take all reasonable precautions to secure any systems containing private data.

Specifically, employees are prohibited from:

  • Accessing confidential information, in any form, without a “need to know” to perform assigned duties.
  • Assisting an unauthorized user to gain access to a secured information system.
  • Leaving confidential information unattended in a non-secure area.
  • Falsifying information.
  • Disclosing confidential information without proper authorization.
  • Discussing confidential information in the presence of individuals who do not have the “need to know” to perform assigned duties.
  • Transferring confidential information in any form without both parties having a need to know.

 

Breach of Privacy Policy

Should Vertical Labs become aware of any breach of privacy, we will notify the client within 48hrs of discovering the incident. Individuals who breach confidentiality are subject to corrective action up to and including termination of employment.

Conflict prevention

It is in our best interest that our clients are happy with the work we produce. To that end, there are several steps that we take to ensure that the business relationship with our clients stays healthy.

  1. Prior to engaging in any development work, we sit down with the stakeholders to discuss the project, document the requirements, and have them sign off on a set of ‘acceptance criteria’, which lay out the conditions under which the project will be considered completed. A time estimate will be given, along with a final completion date for the project.
  2. We encourage our clients to communicate with us throughout the development process and raise any concerns as they arise.
  3. When presenting the completed software to the client, we confirm that all the acceptance criteria have been fulfilled satisfactorily, and ask them to sign off on the completion.
  4. Whenever the project is of significant duration (more than 6-8 weeks), we break the project up into smaller scopes and work through this cycle repeatedly. This has several benefits: the client sees working versions of the software regularly and is more involved in the outcome, and our requirements analysis and cost and time estimates for the next cycle can be more accurate.
  5. The date for completion and final review of the project can be changed by mutual consent of the client and Vertical Labs.

 

Billing

Vertical Labs will bill the client at the end of each development cycle, and payment in full is expected within 30 days of invoice delivery.

Conflict resolution policy

If for some reason the client is unhappy with the outcome of the project or any portion of it, the following procedures will be followed:

  1. The client must raise the issue in writing within 60 days of the delivery of the completed project.
  2. Upon receiving the complaint, Vertical Labs will set up a meeting with the client to review the acceptance criteria for the project.
  3. If it is found that the completed project doesn’t fulfill all the acceptance criteria, Vertical Labs will address the deficiency at no additional cost to the client. Every effort will be made to do this as fast as reasonably possible.
  4. If it is found that the product fulfills the acceptance criteria, but the client wants additional features or modifications to existing features, Vertical Labs does not implicitly accept responsibility for changes to the scope, and payment is still expected in full. However, modifications to the project scope can be discussed and a new phase of requirements analysis may need to be entered.
  5. If for some reason we are unable to come to an agreement regarding a perceived discrepancy between the required deliverables and the actual delivered product, nature of terms, scope of work, or any other aspect of the project, the dispute must be resolved by binding arbitration within 6 months of a written request unless both client and contractor consent to dispense with arbitration. Unless otherwise agreed in writing, disputes will be arbitrated in Vancouver, British Columbia, under the laws of the Province of British Columbia, Canada, by the British Columbia International Commercial Arbitration Centre, pursuant to its Rules.