>> This is an interesting one and I have witnessed one of these fights in
>> court. First, it goes back to the original agreement - if it was
>> explicitly expressed on it by either party, then the original agreement
>> stands, unless there was a breach of the contract at any point, even if
>> it was not noted at the time. You or them can claim a breach once in
>> dispute for something that happened 6 months before.

>> Second, the client will argue that he system was done to their
>> specifications, thus their intellectual property. Again, what did the
>> original agreement say?

Package was originally purchased as an exiting working application. They have paid for developement and enhancements along the way and over teh last 18 months package has change almost beyond recognition. But has allways been our application, they have even helped with intro and references for other clients to buy the application.

>> Third, they do not know what they are into during a migration to SAP, I
>> bet chocolate and marbles you will still be attached to this client for a
>> while - make the best of it. Implementation is sold on 'six months' that
>> end up being closer to 12, and in some cases 18 months. The parent
>> companies never have a clear idea of what is going on in the
>> subcidiaries(sp?).

>>Keep in mind that if a non-compete and/or an NDA were not signed you can
>>ALSO go a sell this product to competitors.... You might want to point
>>this out to your favor if things go sour.

They would like help, but not sure a) I have the time or b) they would be allowed to employee me on this project. They are the one of the last sections of the organisation to go over to the SAP systems. Currently whole project is about 18 months behind schedule.

>>Ethically the data always belongs to the customer, if they just 'want
>>their data back', extract it and give it to them (not mirroring the data
>>structure).

We've previously moth balled systems they have, They have allways paid for a residual licence to run down access to the data over a period of years.

>>Oh, they might want you to help with the migration - make sure you adjust >>your rates up to the SAP consultant rates if you are going to be
>>interacting with their team or the implementation partner. This has a
>>couple of advantages: More money, and experience with one of the big ones.

Anyone know what an SAP consultant charges?


Gary.