{"head":{"title":"What Is a Statement of Work (SOW) in Software? | OceanLab","description":"A statement of work sets out what a supplier will deliver, by when, at what price and how it will be accepted. What to include, an example and mistakes.","canonical":"https://oceanlab.in/glossary/statement-of-work"},"crumbs":[{"name":"Home","path":"/"},{"name":"Glossary","path":"/glossary"},{"name":"statement of work","path":"/glossary/statement-of-work"}],"slug":"statement-of-work","term":"Statement of work (SOW)","aka":["SOW","scope of work"],"category":"Buying software","short":"The document that sets out what a supplier will deliver, by when, for how much, and how the work will be accepted.","body":[["A SOW usually sits under a master services agreement, which holds the legal terms. The SOW holds the project: goals, scope and what is out of scope, deliverables, ",{"href":"/glossary/milestone","text":"milestones"}," and dates, team and roles, pricing model, assumptions, and how each deliverable is accepted."],["One master agreement can have many SOWs over time, one per project or phase."]],"why":["The SOW is what both sides go back to when they disagree. A clear one prevents ",{"href":"/glossary/scope-creep","text":"scope creep"},", makes ",{"href":"/glossary/change-request","text":"change requests"}," easy to price, and lets either side check progress against something written."],"example":["A SOW for a patient portal lists four milestones, the features in each, the systems it connects to, what is excluded (native apps, data migration from the old portal), the payment per milestone and a five-day review window for each sign-off."],"inBuild":["For an OceanLab product build the SOW states the pricing model: paid per milestone on outcomes, or hourly at $30 to $50 an hour by role and seniority."],"mistakes":[["No out-of-scope list, so every grey area becomes an argument."],["Deliverables without acceptance criteria or review windows."],["Assumptions left unwritten, such as who provides content, test data or API access."]],"related":[{"href":"/glossary/change-request","label":"Change request","detail":"A written request to change the agreed scope of a project, with its effect on cost and timeline agreed before work starts."},{"href":"/glossary/milestone","label":"Milestone","detail":"A checkpoint in a project where an agreed piece of work is delivered, checked and, often, paid for."},{"href":"/glossary/scope-creep","label":"Scope creep","detail":"The slow growth of what a project must deliver, without a matching change to its time or budget."},{"href":"/glossary/acceptance-criteria","label":"Acceptance criteria","detail":"The testable conditions a feature must meet before the person who asked for it accepts it as done."}],"tools":[{"href":"/tools/sow-template","label":"SOW template","detail":"Free tool"},{"href":"/tools/software-rfp-template","label":"Software RFP template","detail":"Free tool"}],"links":[{"href":"/software","label":"Software by industry","detail":"Systems we build per industry, with guides and tools."},{"href":"/embedded-engineers","label":"Embedded engineers","detail":"OceanLab engineers working inside your team."}],"sources":[],"legal":false,"updatedAt":"2026-10-25"}