Product Support for Production Platforms

Quick answer

Does National Digital support software it didn't build?

High confidence

Yes. Product Support is an ongoing engineering retainer for production platforms, including applications built by other teams. It starts from $1,495 a month ex GST, after a paid technical assessment of the code, infrastructure and documentation.

Additional Context

Every retainer commits at least one team day each month and scales to twenty days — the day rate falls as the commitment deepens.

Support is part of the product

Software doesn't stop needing engineers the day it ships. Product Support is National Digital's named offer for keeping production platforms healthy and moving: monitoring, maintenance, small improvements and an owned roadmap, delivered by the senior engineers who build our platforms — not a separate support tier. It applies to platforms we built, and to platforms we didn't.

What's included each month

The entry retainer commits one team day — eight hours — every month, drawn from engineering, design, QA and delivery as the work requires. Unused hours roll into the following month, and holding a retainer unlocks a discount on our standard rate card for work beyond the committed days. The same structure scales to five, ten or twenty committed days a month, with both the day rate and the rate card improving as the commitment deepens. The entry retainer runs on 30 days' notice: leaving is easy, so staying is a decision.

Engineering support, not a helpdesk

Product Support is not managed IT. We support the application and platform layers — code, integrations, infrastructure, performance, reliability — under an engineering retainer. We don't manage laptops or office networks, and we don't run a ticket queue.

Taking over a platform someone else built

Inheriting a fragile, undocumented or unsupported platform is one of the most common reasons people call us. A takeover starts with a paid technical assessment — code, infrastructure, security posture and documentation — so you get an honest read on what you own before committing to anything. The Product Development Plan runs this assessment as its second workshop for rescue engagements. From there, most platforms move onto a support retainer; some justify staged rebuilding, and the assessment tells you which yours is.

Legacy platforms, supported through the transition

A legacy estate — an ageing WordPress install, an application on an end-of-life stack — can be supported while it moves to something better. We keep it patched, monitored and stable as a path into modernisation, not as a standing maintenance product.

Common questions

Can you take over an application built by another team?

Usually, yes. We start with a paid technical assessment of the code, infrastructure, security posture and documentation, and give you an honest view of what you own. From there the platform moves onto a support retainer, into a staged rebuild, or — if it's genuinely sound — back to whoever runs it, with the assessment as your record.

What does Product Support cost?

The entry retainer is $1,495 a month ex GST for one committed team day (eight hours). The same structure scales: five days a month is $6,600 ($1,320 a day), ten is $12,320 ($1,232 a day) and twenty — about a full-time team — is $22,880 ($1,144 a day), with a growing discount on our standard rate card for work beyond the committed days. Unused days roll into the following month.

Is this managed IT support or a helpdesk?

No. Product Support covers the application and platform layers — code, integrations, infrastructure, performance and reliability — under an engineering retainer. Device management, office networking and end-user helpdesk are different services, and we don't offer them.

Do you support WordPress sites?

As a transition, yes. We'll keep a legacy WordPress estate patched, monitored and stable while it moves to a platform that fits better. What we don't sell is a standing WordPress maintenance plan with no destination.

What happens if we want to leave?

Thirty days' notice at one or five committed days a month — sixty at ten, ninety at twenty — and you keep everything: code, infrastructure, documentation and runbooks live in your accounts and repositories wherever practical. Support is meant to be worth keeping, not hard to cancel.

Who does the work?

The same senior Australian engineers who build our platforms — support isn't handed off to a separate tier. That's deliberate: the person fixing an incident should be someone who can also improve the system so it doesn't recur.

What Product Support costs

An ongoing engineering retainer for platforms in production — including platforms National Digital did not build. One committed team day each month covering monitoring, maintenance, small improvements and roadmap work, delivered by the senior team. The committed capacity scales to twenty days a month on the same structure.

Keeping it healthy
The standing work that stops a production platform decaying: monitoring, patching and answering when something breaks.
Monitoring, patching and dependency updatesProduction platforms decay without attention — dependencies age, certificates lapse, integrations drift. This is the work that stops that.	≈ 3 hrs a month
Incident response and fixesWhen something breaks in production, the engineers who know the platform respond — and fix the cause, not just the symptom.	≈ 2 hrs a month
Keeping it moving
The improvement work that makes a supported platform better each quarter rather than merely alive.
Small improvements and change requestsThe steady stream of small changes a live platform accumulates — handled inside the retainer instead of queued for a project.	≈ 2 hrs a month
Roadmap and reviewA written record of what changed and why, and a prioritised view of what should happen next.	≈ 1 hr a month
Total Fixed Fee	$1,495

Payment Terms

Invoiced monthly in advance. 30 days' notice either way at the entry tier; unused hours roll into the immediately following month only and have no cash value.

Key Assumptions

One team day (8 hours) per month is the minimum retainer — below that an active support arrangement isn't viable.
The hours shown against each line are an indicative split of the committed day and vary month to month — the day is what is committed, not the split.
Unused hours roll into the immediately following month only, are drawn down first, and have no cash value.
Holding a retainer unlocks a discount on the standard rate card for work beyond the committed hours — 5% at one day a month, rising to 15% at twenty.
The structure scales: five days a month is $6,600 ($1,320 a day), ten is $12,320 ($1,232 a day) and twenty — about a full-time team — is $22,880 ($1,144 a day), all ex GST. Notice is 30 days at one or five days a month, 60 at ten and 90 at twenty.
Taking over a platform National Digital did not build starts with a paid technical assessment.

Scale it to the need

One structure, sized to the platform.

Every retainer is the same commitment at a different size: a set number of team days each month, drawn from engineering, design, QA and delivery as the work requires. The day rate falls as the commitment deepens — and so does the rate card for work beyond it. Scale up or down as the platform's needs change.

1 day a month
Entry retainer
$1,495 /month
- $1,495 a day
- −5% rate card for extra work
5 days a month

$6,600 /month
- $1,320 a day
- −10% rate card for extra work
10 days a month

$12,320 /month
- $1,232 a day
- −12.5% rate card for extra work
20 days a month
About a full-time team
$22,880 /month
- $1,144 a day
- −15% rate card for extra work

All figures ex GST. Unused days roll into the immediately following month and are drawn down first. Notice runs 30 days at one or five days a month, 60 at ten and 90 at twenty — from ten days the engagement runs as a resourcing agreement with a named allocation.