ORIGIN Onboarding Tests
Act 06, How we protect the work Section 03 of 07

A contract is not only for lawyers. A few of its lines protect your work and ORIGIN's cashflow every day, and you should know what they are.

6Ideas to know, in plain words
3Rules for every team member
2Ways an engagement counts as signed
Read the six ideas
Before we begin

A clause is one of the lines of a contract.

Part 1

Six ideas, in plain words

You do not need to memorise legal wording. You need to know these ideas exist, so you notice when a request touches one and take it to your Team Lead.

The six ideas

The ideaIn plain wordsWhat it protects
Payment before workService work, one practice bought on its own, aims for a down payment: a part paid before the work starts. Retainers, ongoing monthly engagements, aim for payment in advance.The team and suppliers are funded while the work happens
Payments follow our deliveryA payment falls due when ORIGIN hands over an agreed stage of the work, called a milestone, not when the client chooses to launch itWe are not kept waiting by a launch we do not control
AcceptanceThe contract says how a deliverable is confirmed as acceptedWork does not sit unconfirmed forever
Change requestsWork outside the agreed scope is quoted and approved before it startsExtra work is paid work
OwnershipThe client owns the deliverables once everything is paid. ORIGIN keeps its own methods.Our work is not used before it is paid for, and our methods stay ours
What counts as signedOur proposal and contract signed by both sides, or our proposal signed by the client together with their purchase order, the client's formal document ordering the workNobody starts on a spoken yes

A client still has one payment to make. They ask you for the final files, to use at an event next week. What do you do?

The client owns the deliverables once everything is paid. You noticed, and you took it to the right person.

Remember

Know the ideas, notice when a request touches one, and take it to your Team Lead.

Part 2

Three rules for every team member

01

The signed proposal and the contract are the source of truth for each client. Clients differ, so read your client's.

02

If a client's purchase order says something different from our proposal, do not settle it yourself in an email. Take it to your Team Lead.

03

Never promise a client a term, a date or an exception that is not in what they signed.

If you think you have already made such a promise, report the slip the day it happens. Act 01 said it: raising a risk early is ownership, not failure.

In practice

The paperwork is the protection. If a client asks you to start before it is in place, thank them, and tell your Team Lead the same hour.

A client asks you to start the next phase "while the paperwork catches up". What do you do?

Nobody starts on a spoken yes.

Remember

The contract protects the work. Know its ideas, and never trade one away on your own.

Your part

Before you move on

Three questions before you move on. Type your answer, send it, then check it.

Your answers stay on this device.

1What counts as signed?

The answerOur proposal and contract signed by both sides, or our proposal signed by the client together with their purchase order.

2When does the client own the deliverables?

The answerOnce everything is paid. ORIGIN keeps its own methods.

3A client's purchase order says something different from our proposal. What do you do?

The answerDo not settle it yourself in an email. Take it to your Team Lead.

Answer all three and this section is yours.
ORIGIN

The paperwork is the protection.

Next: from delivered work to an invoice.

📖Finished reading this section?Marking it puts it on your progress page, so you know what is left before the quiz.