Terms and conditions

Last updated: 10 April 2026

These Terms and Conditions (the “Terms”) govern the use of software, hosting and professional services provided by Bluesquare SA/SPRL (“Bluesquare”, “we”, “us”) to any customer (“Customer”, “you”).

They apply to all Bluesquare products and services, including but not limited to:

• IASO – data collection and geospatial data management platform
• OpenHEXA – data processing and integration platform
• DHIS2 hosting – secure cloud hosting and maintenance for DHIS2 instances
• Superset hosting – powerful open source data visualization
• On-premise hosting – installation and maintenance of Bluesquare solutions on Customer-owned infrastructure
• Service Packs – prepaid expert support, configuration, integration and training services
  

By subscribing to, purchasing or using any Bluesquare product or service, you acknowledge that you have read, understood and agree to be bound by these Terms.

2. Scope, product catalogue and pricing

2.1 Product catalogue and pricing evolution

1. Product descriptions, plans, resource limits and pricing are defined in the Product Catalogue and on the applicable pricing pages on Bluesquare’s website.
   
2. Bluesquare may update the Product Catalogue, including pricing and plan features, at any time.
   
3. Unless otherwise agreed in writing:
   
   • Updated prices apply to new subscriptions and renewals only;
     
   • Price changes do not retroactively affect fees already paid for a current, fixed subscription term.
     

2.2 Non-refundable nature of fees

Unless explicitly stated otherwise in a signed agreement or where mandatory law requires, all fees are:

• Payable upfront for the selected term or package;
  
• Non-refundable, non-creditable and non-transferable, even if services are not fully used, are terminated early by the Customer, or are suspended due to Customer breach (including non-payment).

3. Bluesquare’s Product Offering

3.1 Subscriptions (SaaS and hosting)

A Subscription is paid access to a hosted Bluesquare product or hosting service (e.g. IASO, OpenHEXA, DHIS2 hosting), limited to the selected plan and duration.

• Subscriptions are usually monthly or annual and may renew automatically unless otherwise specified.
  
• The Product Catalogue defines what is included (e.g. capacity limits).
  

3.2 On-premise setup and maintenance

3.2.1. Products Available for On-Premise Hosting

Bluesquare provides local hosting deployment and support for the following core products and suites:

• DHIS2 (requires a dedicated server).
• The DHIS2 Suite: Includes supporting products such as Hesabu, DataViz, D2D, and Feedback Loop.
• IASO.
• OpenHEXA.
• Superset.

3.2.2. Customer Infrastructure Responsibilities & Requirements

For on-premise deployments, Bluesquare installs and maintains its software on Customer-owned infrastructure. Bluesquare provides expertise and deployment services, but does not act as an infrastructure manager. The Customer is both the Data Controller and the operator of the environment where data is stored.

General Customer Prerequisites:

For on-premise deployments, Bluesquare installs and maintains its software on Customer-owned infrastructure. Bluesquare provides expertise and deployment services, but does not act as an infrastructure manager. The Customer is both the Data Controller and the operator of the environment where data is stored.

General Customer Hardware Prerequisites:

• Hardware Minimums (Per Server): 8 vCPU, 32 GB RAM, and a 500 GB SSD. DHIS2 is highly memory-intensive and must be hosted on its own separate machine to avoid complicating scaling strategies.
• Operational Maintenance: The Customer is strictly responsible for providing stable electricity, uninterrupted power supply (UPS), cooling, reliable internet connectivity, and managing firewalls.
• Hardware Monitoring: The Customer is responsible for monitoring hardware health (disk usage, temperature, CPU, memory), reacting to alerts, replacing faulty hardware, and expanding resources as required.
• OS Patching: The Customer is responsible for maintaining underlying operating system patches and security.

Required Technical Skills for the Customer’s Team: Because the Customer acts as the infrastructure manager, the technicians in charge of hosting must possess the following skills:

• Linux System & Systemd: Ability to navigate Ubuntu/Debian, perform routine OS security patching, monitor hardware health, and manage background services.
• Docker & Portainer: Understanding of containerization (Docker CE and Compose v2) to inspect logs, restart containers, and manage volumes.
• PostgreSQL: Practical experience to manually verify local pg_dump backups, manage disk space, and execute database restorations during a disaster.
• Networking & Security: Capability to manage firewalls (ufw, fail2ban), DNS records, secure SSH access, reverse proxies (Traefik), and automated TLS certificate renewals (Let’s Encrypt).
• Ansible: Foundational understanding of Ansible inventories and playbooks to comprehend the deployment structure.

Bluesquare cannot guarantee service continuity or data integrity if these infrastructure conditions and capabilities are not met.

3.2.3. Operational Limitations and Clear Line of Responsibility

Given the diverse landscape of local environments, Bluesquare’s operational boundaries are strictly defined to protect against infrastructure-level failures.

Mandatory Remote Access: The Customer must provide Bluesquare with secure, reliable remote access (e.g., SSH, VPN, Portainer, or equivalent) with sufficient rights to perform the agreed tasks. If this access is not provided, withdrawn, severely restricted, or unreliable, Bluesquare’s obligations may be suspended. Any resulting unavailability or data loss under these conditions is not attributable to Bluesquare.

No Guarantee on Infrastructure Recovery: Bluesquare cannot guarantee recovery when a server’s disks are completely full, when backups are missing or corrupted, or when logs and monitoring are absent.

Major OS Upgrades: Bluesquare cannot guarantee the success of major OS upgrades done in-place on production servers.

Incident Response Excluded: Continuous monitoring, alerting, and manual incident remediation (e.g., fixing broken hardware or resolving OS issues) are strictly excluded from our scope. The monthly automated health checks provided by Bluesquare are scripted only, with no manual remediation.

3.2.4. On-Premise Setup

All estimates are based on on-premise support being performed remotely.

The setup of your environment is structured into specific phases, toggled based on the complexity of your chosen plan. See pricing here.

Below are the different phases.

Phase 1: Planning & Discovery: Kick-off requirements gathering (products, domains, TLS), remote infrastructure assessment (hardware, ports, DNS), and delivery of a signed-off scope document.

Phase 2: Server Hardening & Base Setup: OS hardening (SSH, fail2ban, ufw on Ubuntu 22.04+), containerization setup (Docker CE, Compose v2), Traefik reverse proxy with Let’s Encrypt, MinIO object storage, and Portainer configuration.

Phase 3: Application Deployment: Configuration of Ansible inventories and execution of playbooks to deploy tuned DHIS2/PostgreSQL instances alongside secondary tools (IASO, OpenHEXA, etc.), followed by end-to-end integration testing.

Phase 4: Security Assessment (RBAC/MFA): Auditing Role-Based Access Control permissions, MFA assessment for DHIS2/SSH, application of security hardening findings, and compliance documentation.

Phase 5: Local Backup Configuration: Creation of daily/weekly pg_dump cron scripts, backup rotation/cleanup rules, monitoring scripts, and a test restore verification.

Phase 6: Data Migration (from Bluesquare’s clouds): Coordination of database dumps and MinIO objects export, local restoration, DHIS2 repointing, and data integrity spot-checks.

Phase 7: DR Plan, Runbooks & Handover: Design of a formal Disaster Recovery Plan (outlining exact RTO/RPO targets), delivery of incident runbooks (for full disks, out-of-memory, expired certs), architecture documentation, a secrets vault, and a recorded knowledge transfer handover session.

3.2.5. Data Backup and Monitoring

Because Bluesquare does not host the data in on-premise scenarios, the Customer must implement a robust backup strategy for the entire environment. To mitigate the risk of local hardware failure, Bluesquare bundles a monthly automated health check with an S3 Off-Site Cloud Backup by default.

See pricing and backup size here.

3.3 Service packs

Service Packs are prepaid packages of expert time for configuration, integration, training, hosting maintenance or other professional services across Bluesquare products.
The Product Catalogue describes available sizes, rates and possible uses.

4. Helpdesk, service packs and boundary between them

4.1 Included helpdesk

Certain subscription plans include Helpdesk support, typically via an online portal or email. Unless otherwise stated, included Helpdesk covers:

• Confirmed software bugs that prevent normal use;
  
• Incidents or outages in Bluesquare-managed environments;
  
• Clarifications on standard functionality that are not resolved by documentation, FAQs or training materials.
  

Helpdesk operates during Bluesquare Business Days and hours as defined in the Product Catalogue (usually Monday–Friday, 9AM to 6PM, CET/CEST, excluding Belgian public holidays).

4.2 Service packs (expert services)

Service Packs are used for value-adding work, such as:

• Helpdesk (expert guidance): access to Bluesquare experts for functional and usage support (excluding bug fixing)
  
• Software configuration: setup of IASO, OpenHEXA, or DHIS2 to match your project’s needs
  
• Dashboard design: creation of custom visualizations and KPIs for analysis and monitoring
  
• Hosting maintenance: troubleshooting, technical advice, server updates, database backups, and custom scripts
  
• Implementation advice: guidance on how to configure and deploy your system efficiently
  
• Training: capacity-building sessions to help your team understand and use the tools effectively
  
• System analysis: review of your setup to identify strengths, weaknesses, and areas for improvement
  
• Historical data import: integration of existing data to track trends over time
  
• Data cleaning: improvement of data quality through deduplication, validation, and corrections
  
• Data integration and automated pipelines: connecting systems for automated data exchange and processing
  

Exclusions:
The following activities are not included unless explicitly agreed upon in writing:

• Custom software development or feature creation
  
• Tasks requiring third-party licenses or systems outside the agreed technology stack
  
• Ongoing bug fixes or troubleshooting covered under the Helpdesk included in product subscriptions

Service Pack hours are:

• Prepaid,
  
• Tracked in increments of 30 minutes,
  
• Valid for a limited period – 12 months from purchase
  
• Non-refundable and non-transferable.
  

4.3 Boundary between helpdesk and service packs

To avoid ambiguity:

• Subscription Helpdesk = bug fixing and incident response necessary to ensure the platform functions as documented.
  
• Service Pack work = advisory and implementation work, even if delivered via the same channel (e.g. “How do I configure a new form?”, “Can you build this dashboard?”, “Please integrate with our DHIS2 instance?”).
  

If a support request falls outside the scope of included Helpdesk, Bluesquare may ask the Customer to use or purchase a Service Pack to address it.

5. Hosting: infrastructure, monitoring and SLA

This section applies to Bluesquare-hosted environments for IASO, OpenHEXA, DHIS2 hosting and similar services.

5.1 Infrastructure and security

Bluesquare:

• Hosts customer systems on reputable cloud providers (e.g. AWS, OVH or equivalent);
  
• Uses modern deployment practices (containers, orchestration, managed databases) as appropriate;
  
• Applies:
  
  • Encryption in transit (HTTPS/TLS);
    
  • Encryption at rest where supported;
    
  • Firewalling and controlled network access;
    
  • Restricted SSH access for authorized staff only;
    
  • Regular application and OS security updates.
    

5.2 Monitoring and incident management

• Hosting environments are monitored for availability and core performance metrics (CPU, memory, disk, service health).
  
• Alerts are sent to Bluesquare’s operations team for investigation.
  
• In case of incident, Bluesquare will use best efforts to identify the issue and restore normal operation.
  

5.3 Backups and disaster recovery

• Bluesquare performs automated backups of databases (and, where relevant, application storage) at least daily, with a minimum retention of 7 days, or longer where specified in a particular plan.
  
• In case of data loss or corruption caused by technical failure within Bluesquare-managed infrastructure, Bluesquare will use commercially reasonable efforts to restore from the most recent valid backup.
  
• The Customer is encouraged to request exports and maintain additional archives when required for compliance or internal policies.
  

5.4 Service availability and best-effort SLA

Bluesquare operates under a Best Effort Service Level Agreement:

• Target uptime: 99% monthly for production environments under Bluesquare’s control,
  
• Excluding: scheduled maintenance, third-party provider outages, Customer-side connectivity issues, and force majeure (see section 10).
  

Indicative response times during Business Days (CET/CEST):

• Blocking issues (system down / major outage): initial response within ½ business day;
  
• Non-blocking issues: initial response within 2 business days.
  

These are targets, not guaranteed service credits. Bluesquare does not warrant specific resolution times or uninterrupted availability but will act with professional diligence and keep the Customer informed.

6. On-premise hosting and local environments

This section applies where Bluesquare software is installed on infrastructure owned or controlled by the Customer.

6.1 We help, you own the infrastructure

1. Bluesquare provides expertise on configuration, setup and updates of IASO, OpenHEXA, DHIS2 or similar tools on local servers, but:
   
   • Bluesquare is not an infrastructure manager;
     
   • Bluesquare does not host Customer data in on-premise scenarios;
     
   • The Customer is fully responsible for hardware, operating system, network, power, storage and physical security.
     
2. The Customer is both:
   
   • The Data Controller, and
     
   • The operator of the environment where data is stored and processed.
     

6.2 Customer responsibilities

The Customer remains responsible for:

• Providing and maintaining adequate CPU, RAM, storage and disk capacity;
  
• Ensuring stable electricity and cooling;
  
• Maintaining operating system patches and security;
  
• Managing firewalls, network routes, VPNs and internet connectivity;
  
• Implementing and validating a robust backup strategy for the entire environment;
  
• Monitoring hardware health (disk usage, temperature, CPU, memory) and reacting to alerts;
  
• Replacing faulty hardware and expanding resources as required;
  
• Ensuring compliance with applicable data protection laws (e.g. GDPR).
  

Bluesquare cannot guarantee service continuity or data integrity if these conditions are not met.

6.3 Remote access requirement

To perform setup, updates and troubleshooting:

1. The Customer must provide Bluesquare with secure remote access (e.g. SSH, VPN, Portainer or equivalent), with sufficient rights to perform the agreed tasks.
   
2. If such access is:
   
   • not provided,
     
   • withdrawn,
     
   • severely restricted, or
     
   • unreliable,
     then:
     
   • Bluesquare may be unable to perform its obligations (e.g. apply updates, diagnose incidents, restore from backups);
     
   • Any resulting unavailability, data loss or degradation is not attributable to Bluesquare;
     
   • Bluesquare’s obligations may be suspended until appropriate access is restored, without any refund or credit.
     

6.4 Operational limitations

Given the diversity of local environments, Bluesquare cannot guarantee:

• The same availability or performance levels as its cloud hosting;
  
• Successful major OS upgrades done in-place on production servers;
  
• Recovery when disks are full, backups are missing or corrupted, or logs/monitoring are absent;
  
• Resolution of incidents caused by third-party changes, local security policies, or incompatible software installed by the Customer.
  

Bluesquare will use cautious procedures (e.g. backups before major changes when feasible) but cannot be held liable for loss or damage arising from the Customer’s infrastructure state, subject to the global limitation of liability in section 9.

7. Data ownership, confidentiality and data protection

7.1 Ownership

The Customer retains full ownership and control of all Customer Data uploaded to or processed within Bluesquare products or hosted environments.

Bluesquare does not claim any ownership over Customer Data.

7.2 Data controller and data processor

• The Customer is the Data Controller, responsible for defining the purposes and means of processing and for ensuring lawful collection and use.
  
• When Bluesquare hosts or processes data on behalf of the Customer (e.g. SaaS products, cloud hosting), Bluesquare acts as Data Processor, in line with applicable data protection laws (including GDPR where applicable) and any specific Data Processing Agreement.
  
• In on-premise scenarios, Bluesquare does not host Customer Data, and data protection compliance remains primarily under the Customer’s responsibility.
  

7.3 Security measures

Bluesquare implements appropriate technical and organizational measures to protect data in its hosted environments, including:

• Encryption in transit and, where supported, at rest;
  
• Access controls and authentication, with least-privilege principles;
  
• Restricted administrative access to authorized staff bound by confidentiality;
  
• Regular security updates and vulnerability remediation;
  
• Logging and monitoring appropriate to the deployment size and sensitivity.
  

7.4 Confidentiality

Both parties agree to keep confidential all non-public information exchanged during service delivery.

Bluesquare ensures that only authorized personnel access Customer Data for maintenance or support purposes and that they are bound by confidentiality obligations.

7.5 Retention and deletion

• Backups are retained for at least the minimum period stated in the Product Catalogue (usually 7 days or more).
  
• Upon termination of a subscription, the Customer may request export of its data within the period indicated for each product (typically 30 days).
  
• After that period, Bluesquare may delete or anonymize Customer Data from active systems and backups within reasonable delays, except where longer retention is required by law.
  

Bluesquare’s general Privacy Policy (available at https://www.bluesquarehub.com/privacy-policy/) describes additional measures and practices; in case of discrepancy, these Terms take precedence for the contractual relationship.

8. Third-party dependencies

Bluesquare products and services rely on:

• Open-source components;
  
• Third-party services (e.g. cloud providers, email gateways, external APIs);
  
• Customer-supplied systems and integrations (e.g. DHIS2, CommCare, national systems).
  

Bluesquare is not liable for failures, performance issues, security incidents or unavailability directly caused by:

• Third-party service outages or degradation;
  
• Changes made by third-party vendors;
  
• Customer-managed systems or integrations.
  

Bluesquare will use reasonable efforts to mitigate the impact of such issues where possible but cannot guarantee restoration of services beyond what those third parties provide.

9. Limitation of liability

To the fullest extent permitted by law:

1. No indirect damages
   Bluesquare is not liable for any indirect, incidental, special or consequential damages, including loss of revenue, profit, savings, data, business opportunity or reputation, even if advised of their possibility.
   
2. Aggregate liability cap
   Bluesquare’s total aggregate liability arising out of or in connection with the Agreement (including these Terms, the Product Catalogue and any order forms), whether in contract, tort or otherwise, is limited to the total fees paid by the Customer to Bluesquare for the relevant service during the twelve (12) months immediately preceding the event giving rise to the claim.
   
3. Essential purpose
   This limitation applies even if any contractual remedy fails of its essential purpose.
   

Nothing in these Terms excludes or limits liability which cannot be excluded under applicable law (e.g. for death or personal injury caused by gross negligence or wilful misconduct).

10. Force majeure

Bluesquare shall not be liable for any delay or failure to perform its obligations due to events beyond its reasonable control, including but not limited to:

• Natural disasters or extreme weather;
  
• Acts of government or regulatory changes;
  
• Strikes, labour disputes or civil unrest;
  
• Widespread internet or power outages;
  
• Failures of third-party service providers that are not under Bluesquare’s direct control.
  

In such cases, Bluesquare will use reasonable efforts to resume performance as soon as practicable.

11. Service evolution

Bluesquare may improve, modify or discontinue certain features of its products or services from time to time, provided that:

• The core functionality of active, paid subscriptions remains available for the duration of the current term; and
  
• Any significant change with material impact on usage is communicated to affected Customers in advance where reasonably possible.
  

Updates to pricing, plan features or new product lines are handled through the Product Catalogue, as described in section 2.

12. Amendments

Bluesquare may amend these Terms from time to time.

• The latest version will be published on Bluesquare’s website.
  
• For ongoing subscriptions, amendments will apply from the next renewal, unless required earlier by law or for security reasons.
  
• Continued use of Bluesquare products or services after the effective date of updated Terms constitutes acceptance of those changes.
  

13. Governing law and jurisdiction

These Terms and any disputes arising out of or in connection with them are governed by Belgian law, without regard to its conflict of laws principles.

Any dispute shall be submitted to the exclusive jurisdiction of the courts of Brussels, Belgium.

14. Governing language

These Terms may be translated into other languages for convenience. In case of divergence or conflict between translations, the English version shall prevail.