Legal steps you must take before outsourcing content creation

With the growth of the Internet and the need to create steady content, outsourcing has become incredibly common. In fact, [ CITATION Pat16 \l 1033 ] cites research that shows 79 percent of software development companies are embracing content marketing, while [ CITATION Sta14 \l 1033 ] reported that the global market size of outsourced services in 2014 was $104.6 billion dollars.

Being at the top in your market with content is crucial, as the value of great content drives leads and results in more sales. But before you jump to the abysmal of outsourcing content creation, there are a few things you’ll want to ponder, so that you can not only approach it the correct way but also protect you and your business from any negative effects down the road.

Recognize your content needs

In order to recruit great content creators you have to first delineate what type of content you need.

For instance, you could include:

• Weekly blog posts
• Social media updates
• Guest blogging
• Email marketing
• Pay-per-click ad copywriting

Finding the specific types of content needed may not appear to be a legal step. However, at the kickoff, these are extremely essential things to ponder, all of which will enable you to sketch both your job advertisement and various aspects of your binding agreement.

Assign copyright

The act of simply compensating someone does not automatically turn over copyright of that content to the end user. Unless you explicitly list the terms of use in your agreement, the content creator maintains ownership of that content. In this case, you only have an implicit license, therefore, you’ll need definite permission to re-purpose any of that content for other stuffs, such as turning a blog post into an e-book or social-media posts.

It’s also essential that you consider safeguarding against the indemnification for images or content that may be the property of others. At the end of the day, you will be accountable if the content published on your site or in your materials is found to break the copyright law.

For text-based copy, using a service such as Copyscape is standard practice. But with image attribution, this is particularly tough, since there’s no good way to test the copyright short of either buying the rights or waiting for an angry copyright act warning from the owner who feels intruded.

Be clever and understand copyright upfront so you can evade any negative consequences.

Explicitly sketch outsourcing requirements.

Be as specific as possible when delineating requirements so that freelancers know your expectations, including benchmarking and measuring triumph or disaster. You may also want to include a SLA that clearly outlines performance details, measurements and standards. 

Cogitate on legal liabilities in your content.

You may need to take further provisions if the content you’ll be outsourcing is subjected to any regulatory requirements. For example, if you’re publishing medical content or financial advice, you may need to include relevant disclaimers or ensure materials produced meet certain standards to protect yourself lawfully.

If the content you publish on your website is such that you could be held legally liable for, be sure your outsourced creators are able to meet any essential requirements.

Preparing in advance for closure.

Ideally, you’ll find in a freelancer a long-term association for your content creation needs. But since turnover is unavoidable, it’s far better to protect yourself from start. Your termination clause is immensely important, as it sets forth the conditions under which the customer may exit the outsourcing association.

The termination clause needs to state the common reasons that give rights to you and your software development company to exit the clause along with the rights of the contractor. It’s also advisable to include both party’s respective privileges upon termination with regards to ongoing privacy and protection here as well.

Put everything in the contract.

Now that you’ve enclosed all your legal bases, document them in a formal written contract that both you and your freelancers will agree on. In most cases, it’s advisable to consult with an actual lawyer to do this. However, you can get started by finding similar contract agreements to work from. 

Take out an insurance policy.

Last, but not the least -- and let’s keep it short and simple -- it’s definitely worth investing in an insurance policy when it comes to defending your legal rights as a content creator and purchaser. At the end of the day, you need to be prepared for any legal complications that could occur from the content you publish -- or, at the very least, be fully aware of who’s liable for anything that may happen.

Conclusion

Though the Internet has distorted the rules and lines of outsourcing somewhat, it’s advisable to stick to guidelines and follow the rules to protect yourself. If you have any doubts, consult a lawyer.

Bibliography

Robles, P. (2016). Patricio Robles. Patricio Robles. Patricio Robles.

Statistica. (2014). Statistica. Statistica.

Access Control Domain

Access control Domain encompasses :

• Discretionary, Mandatory, and Non-Discretionary models 
• Identification methods, Authentication methods
• Accountability, monitoring, and auditing practices 
• Intrusion detection systems/Intrusion Prevention Systems 
• Likely threats to access control practices and technologies 
• A Framework that dictates how Subjects access Objects

The types of Access Control are :

• DAC
• MAC
• RBAC 

Discretionary Access Control – DAC

A system that uses discretionary access control (DAC) allows the holder of the resource to specify which subjects can access specific resources. This model is called discretionary as the control of access is based on the discretion of the owner.

For example, a manager for a definite department in the Custom software development company might be made the holder of the files and resources within his/her domain.

The most common application of DAC is through ACLs, which are spoken and fixed by the owners and enforced by the operating system.

• DAC permits the privileges i.e. granting and revoking of access control to be left to the discretion of the individual users
• It is highly flexible 
• Not appropriate for –
  -- High assurance systems, e.g. a military system 
  -- Many complex commercial security requirements 
• It is Identity-based 

Mandatory Access Control –MAC

In a mandatory access control (MAC) model, users and data owners do not have asmuch liberty to determine who can access files. The operating system makes the final conclusion and can outweigh the users’ wishes.

This model is much more structured and strict and is based on a security label system. Users are provided a security clearance (secret, top secret, confidential, and undefined), and data is classified in the same way. The clearance and grouped data is stored in the security labels, which are bound to the specific subjects and objects.

A given IT infrastructure in software development company can implement MAC systems in many places and at different levels. OS uses MAC to guard files and directories.

Database management systems apply MAC to regulate access to tables and views. Best commercially available application systems apply MAC, often independent of the operating systems and/or DBMSs on which they are installed.

OS constrains the ability of a subject or initiator to access or perform some operation on the object. Subject is usually a process thread and objects are constructs like files, tcp/udp ports, shared memory segments etc.

Whenever Subject tries to access Object, an authorization rule enforced by the operating system kernel inspects the security attributes and chooses whether access can take place.

Information classification is necessary, label-based

• Well suited to the requirements of government and industry organizations that process classified and sensitive information 
• Such environments usually require the ability to control actions of individuals beyond just an individual's capability to access information permitting to how that information is labeled based on its sensitivity 

RBAC 

• In RBAC model, a role is well-defined in terms of the tasks and operations that the role will need to carry out, whereas a DAC sketches which subjects can access what objects. 
• RBAC uses a centrally administrated set of controls to determine how subjects and objects act together. This type of model allows access to resources to be based on the role the user holds within the company example Software Development Company. 
• A role can be thought of as a set of transactions that a user or set of users can perform within the context of an organization i.e. a collection of permissions.
• A transaction can be thought of as a transformation procedure plus a set of associated data items 
• Roles are group oriented; created for job functions 
• Roles are plotted on the principle of least privilege 
• Role-based access control policy bases access control decisions on the functions a user is permitted to perform within an organization 
• RBAC provides a means of naming and describing many-to-many relationships between individuals and rights 
• A user has access to an object based on the assigned role. 
• Roles are defined based on job functions. 
• Permissions are defined based on job authority and responsibilities within a job function. 
• Operations on an object are invocated based on the permissions. 
• The object is concerned with the user’s role and not the user. 

Conclusion: 

Thus, the Custom Software Development Company should carry out structured ways for Access Control and assigning roles to the employees based on the privileges. This leads to secure access and intact security in the company or a firm which restrict the entities from using unauthorised information.

Importance of Project Management in Software Development Companies

In software development companies, Project Management is the art and science of planning and controlling the software projects. Project management helps you control scope, time, quality, cost, human resource related all the detail plan. It streamlines the process of developing any project and provides effective way to conduct the implementation. Project management helps in setting the goals, the actions needed to achieve those goals, plans how these goals are achieved.

Projects are completed by teams of people who are specially chosen because of their skills, potential and knowledge to contribute to the final output. Unless there is a structured and scientific approach to the managing projects, custom software development company in India would find themselves not familiarize and hence would be unable to meet the challenges that the modern era throws at them.

Major reasons for project failure are lack of communication between stack holders, failure to establish control over requirements and scope, lack of risk management, poor quality implementation, schedule slippage, poor plan, under estimation of the complexity, changing requirements, etc. Denver airport baggage system Originally billed as the most advanced system in the world, the baggage handling system  become one of the biggest examples of project failure. Originally planned to automate the handling of baggage through the entire airport, the system proved to be so much complex than some had original believed. Implemented system never functioned properly and  the system was scrapped.  The $2M monthly cost to maintain the system was outweighing the value the remaining parts of the system offered and using a manual system actually cut costs. Major Issues were Underestimation of project complexity, schedule and budget, Dismissal of advice from experts ,Changes in requirements, Complex architecture  Failure to build in backup or recovery process to handle situations in which part of the system failed is major reason for project failure .If they had develop proper project management plan this situation could have been avoided.

There are so many examples of project success in the custom software development company in India due to proper project management. An example of project success due to project management, Hotel management system for Wahda master development located in Abu dhabi city in UAE. They implemented project using this method and ensured that project management and cost consultancy to the development of software involved in every element from the master planning of the development to the concept development and management of all the details related to hotel. EC Harris developed detailed and systematic procedures through a project management gateway approach, which involved design verification checks, employer sign-off at various phases, value engineering workshops, and risk management. They worked step by step according to the plan for making user friendly and employee friendly hotel management site using proper project management and they succeeded.

Thus, project management is about creating the structure and managing  project commitments and proper delivery. By using the methods of project management, custom software development company can seek to achieve control over the project environment and they ensure that the project deliverables are being managed. Thus in this competing environment every software development company should ensure that they make proper project management plan to implement projects successfully. Without using Project Management, the managers and organizations face an unpredictable situations on which they have little or no control. Thus, Project Management is both necessary and essential to the success of the project and the software development companies.

Author Signature

Venu Majmudar