Legal — Backbone Atlas

Terms of Service

The subscription terms for the Atlas platform, including connections to accounting systems.

Version 1.7 · Effective 10 September 2026

1. This agreement

These terms are between Backbone Business Solutions Inc. ("we", "us", "our"), incorporated in British Columbia, Canada, incorporation number BC1601923, and the organisation that subscribes to Backbone Atlas ("you", "the customer"). Backbone Solutions is our brand. Atlas is offered to businesses and other organisations only. It is not offered to consumers.

How the agreement is formed. The agreement is formed when you sign an order form with us. Using a workspace does not, on its own, form a subscription. Everyone who uses your workspace is bound by the rules in section 3, and you are responsible for making sure they follow them. If you sign on behalf of an organisation, you confirm you are authorised to bind it.

What the agreement is made of. The agreement consists of your signed order form, any master services agreement we have both signed, these terms, the data processing agreement, and the service-level commitments in section 8 and in your order. If they conflict, they take priority in this order:

  1. the signed order form;
  2. a signed master services agreement, if there is one;
  3. these terms.

On the processing of personal data, the data processing agreement prevails over all of them.

How we handle personal information is set out in the Backbone Atlas Privacy Policy. For personal data in your workspace, the data processing agreement applies.

2. Licence granted

Atlas is licensed, not sold. For as long as your subscription is current and you are not in breach, we grant you a non-exclusive, non-transferable, non-sublicensable right to access and use Atlas for your organisation's own internal business purposes, for the number of users and the modules stated in your order.

Your suppliers may use the Atlas supplier portal to deal with you, as part of your subscription. They do so for your purposes, and section 3 applies to them.

3. What you may not do

You may not:

  • resell, rent, sublicense or provide Atlas as a service to anyone else;
  • copy, decompile, reverse-engineer or attempt to derive the source code, except to the extent this restriction cannot lawfully be excluded;
  • remove or obscure any proprietary notice;
  • use Atlas to store or transmit anything unlawful, or anything that infringes another person's rights;
  • attempt to gain access to another customer's workspace or data, or to any part of the service you have not been granted;
  • probe, scan or load-test the service without our written consent;
  • share user accounts between individuals — a named account identifies one person, which is what makes the audit trail meaningful.

4. Accounts and administrators

You are responsible for your users' accounts and for what they do with them. Your administrators control who has access, what role each person holds, and what approval authority they carry. We do not set your approval thresholds, your delegation of authority, or your spending controls — you do, and they are business decisions we cannot make for you.

Tell us promptly if you believe an account has been compromised.

5. Your data stays yours

Everything you put into Atlas remains yours. We claim no ownership of it. We use it only to provide and support the service, and to meet our legal obligations.

We do not use your data to train any model, we do not sell it, and we do not use it for advertising.

Our staff access a customer workspace only where it is necessary to support you, to fix a fault, or where the law requires it. Each customer's data is held in a separate database.

You are responsible for the accuracy of what you enter, and for having the right to put it into Atlas in the first place — including personal information about your staff and suppliers.

Personal data. Where we process personal data for you, we do so under a data processing agreement. We provide it when you sign your order. On personal data, it prevails over these terms.

The AI assistant is optional. It runs only on your own Anthropic or OpenAI key, under your own agreement with that provider. We do not supply the model, and that provider's terms govern what it does with what you send it.

6. Connected accounting systems

Atlas can connect to accounting systems such as QuickBooks Online, Xero, Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central and Sage Accounting — the four proven against live ledgers today; each other supported system is proven against your own ledger during onboarding. This is optional and is switched off until one of your administrators turns it on.

  • You authorise the connection, and it acts with the authority of the person who authorised it. That person's authority is re-checked every time Atlas posts anything. For most of these systems you authorise it through that system's own sign-in and Atlas never sees a password. Five of them — BILL, Sage 300, Sage X3, Oracle Fusion and SAP S/4HANA — offer no such sign-in that Atlas can use, so you supply a user name and password instead. The Privacy Policy explains what that means and why, and we recommend a dedicated integration account rather than a person's own login.
  • Posting is off by default. It cannot be switched on until your coding map has been reviewed and confirmed by a person, because an unmapped posting lands in a suspense account and looks like it worked.
  • Atlas posts each approved invoice to one ledger, and each approved purchase order to one ledger. It does not yet route them to different ledgers by company or legal entity, and it will refuse to switch on a second posting connection rather than post the same document twice.
  • Sending purchase orders is a separate switch, and is also off by default. A purchase order lets your finance team see what has been committed before the invoice arrives. In QuickBooks Online and Xero a purchase order is a document and does not affect your general ledger; it is not a budget encumbrance in those systems.
  • The period-end accrual is a journal, and it is off by default. Where you turn it on, Atlas can post the value of goods you have received but not yet been invoiced for, and that entry reverses itself on the first day of the following period. It will not run at all until one of your administrators nominates the account it credits — Atlas will not choose that account for you. In Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central, Atlas prepares the journal and leaves it unposted for someone there to review and post.
  • Supplier credit notes and the rebate accrual. Atlas also posts approved supplier credit notes as supplier credits. The supplier rebate accrual is a separate standing journal that does not reverse; it is off by default, posts only an accrual somebody has reviewed, and will not run until your administrators nominate both accounts it uses.
  • Atlas will not post into a period you have closed. It reads the dates your accounting system will accept and refuses anything outside them, rather than letting the posting fail with an unexplained error at month end.
  • You may disconnect at any time, from Atlas or from the accounting system. Disconnecting deletes the stored credentials. The record of what was already posted is kept, so that reconnecting cannot post the same invoice a second time.
  • Where the accounting system is a cloud service, it is provided by a third party under its own terms; where it is one you run yourself — Sage 300 or Sage X3 — it is yours, and you are responsible for its availability and for the account whose credentials you give Atlas. Oracle Fusion Cloud ERP sits between the two: it is a cloud service, but the environment is yours and you nominate its address and the account Atlas signs in with. Either way we are not responsible for its availability, its behaviour, or changes it makes to its interfaces — though we will make reasonable efforts to keep the connection working.

Atlas reads amounts only from the accounts a purchase can be coded to — expenses, cost of sales, stock and fixed assets. It reads liability, receivable and income account names and codes only so your administrators can nominate the accounts an accrual uses, never their balances. It does not ask for your bank, cash, equity or payroll accounts. What Atlas reads and writes is set out in full in section 5 of the Privacy Policy.

Supplier catalogues, supplier spend reporting and Peppol are separately purchased and are off unless you have bought them. Where you use them: a supplier whose catalogue you connect is your counterparty under your agreement with them, and we are not responsible for their site, their prices or their fulfilment; where Atlas reads your own account with a supplier it only reads, and changes nothing; and where documents travel over Peppol they do so through an accredited access point, because nobody joins that network directly. Catalogue orders are subject to limits you set — a value below which no approval is required, and a maximum above which Atlas refuses to place the order at all.

7. Atlas does not move money

This is a deliberate limit, not an omission. Atlas cannot make, schedule or authorise a payment. It records approvals and coding, and it can create a bill, a supplier credit, a purchase order, a period-end accrual journal and a supplier rebate journal in your accounting system; paying that bill remains entirely within your own banking and accounting arrangements.

Payment status is only ever read from your accounting system. Atlas never tells your accounting system that something has been paid.

This applies to employee expense claims exactly as it does to supplier invoices. An approved claim becomes an amount owed to that employee in your accounting system. Atlas does not reimburse anyone, cannot instruct a payment to them, and records a claim as paid only when your accounting system reports that the amount was settled — whether that happened through your payables process or your payroll is your own arrangement.

Catalogue orders and Peppol documents are still not payments. A basket brought back from a supplier's website becomes a purchase order, and a Peppol document is an order or an invoice travelling between you and your supplier. Neither moves money, and Atlas cannot settle either.

8. Availability, support and changes

We commit to 99.5% monthly availability, measured from outside the service and excluding announced maintenance.

Service credits. If a month falls below 99.5% you are entitled, on request within 30 days, to a service credit of 10% of that month's fee, or 25% if it falls below 99.0%. That month's fee is your annual fee divided by 12. We apply credits to your next invoice. Service credits are your exclusive remedy for missed availability.

Support. Support runs in business hours, 09:00–17:00 Eastern, Monday to Friday, excluding Canadian statutory holidays. It is not a 24/7 desk. Our targets for a first human response, not for resolution, are:

  • Severity 1 — down (nobody can sign in, or data is at risk): 2 business hours;
  • Severity 2 — impaired (a significant function is unusable, with no workaround): 1 business day;
  • Severity 3 — degraded (a function is unusable but has a workaround): 3 business days;
  • Severity 4 — question or request: 5 business days.

We may need to interrupt the service for maintenance. Planned maintenance is announced at least 48 hours in advance. An emergency security fix may be applied without notice, and we will tell you about it afterwards.

We improve Atlas continuously. We will not make a change that materially reduces functionality you are paying for without telling you first.

9. Fees

Fees, the implementation fee and the currency are those stated in your order. Unless your order says otherwise, fees are invoiced annually in advance and are exclusive of applicable taxes.

Price changes at renewal. At renewal, fees may rise in line with standard SaaS practice. We will give you written notice of any increase at least 90 days before the renewal date. If you do not accept the increase, you may end the agreement at the end of the current term by giving us written notice before the renewal date. There is no fee for doing so.

10. Term, termination and getting your data out

Term. The agreement runs for an initial term of three years unless your order states otherwise. It then renews for successive 12-month periods unless either of us gives 60 days’ written notice before the renewal date. You may not end the agreement early for convenience, except as sections 9 and 11 allow.

Termination for breach. Either of us may terminate for material breach that is not put right within 30 days of written notice.

Suspension. We may suspend access for non-payment only after giving you 30 days’ written notice. We may suspend access immediately where that is needed to stop a security threat or unlawful use. In that case we will tell you as soon as practicable, and restore access once the problem is resolved.

Refunds. If you terminate because of our material breach that we did not put right, we refund the fees you have paid in advance for the unexpired part of the term, pro rata. Except as section 15 provides, fees already paid are not refunded in any other case.

Getting your data out. You can export your data at any time during the term, without our assistance, and there is no exit fee. After termination you may export your data for 30 days. We then delete your workspace and its backups within a further 30 days, or sooner if you ask. We confirm the deletion in writing if you ask.

11. Switching to another provider (EU customers)

This section applies where the EU Data Act, Regulation (EU) 2023/2854, gives you switching rights. Where it conflicts with anything else in the agreement, this section prevails.

  • Your request. You may ask to switch to another provider, or to your own infrastructure, by giving us written notice. The notice period is no more than two months.
  • Transition. After the notice period, a transitional period of no more than 30 calendar days begins. During it the service continues. We give you reasonable assistance, maintain business continuity and security, and support your exit strategy.
  • If 30 days is not technically feasible. We tell you within 14 working days of your request, with our reasons, and propose an alternative transitional period of no more than seven months. The service continues during it.
  • Retrieving your data. You then have at least 30 calendar days to retrieve your data.
  • Erasure. After that retrieval period we erase all exportable data and confirm the erasure to you.
  • When the agreement ends. The agreement ends when switching is complete. If you choose to have your data erased instead of switching, it ends at the end of the notice period.
  • Charges. We charge no switching fee and no data-egress fee. If an early-termination fee applies to a fixed term, it is stated in your order before you sign.

Exportable data means all the data your workspace holds, in open formats — CSV files and document files.

12. Confidentiality

Each of us will keep the other's confidential information confidential, use it only for the agreement, and share it only with people who need it for that purpose and are bound to keep it confidential. Your data is your confidential information.

This does not apply to information that is or becomes public through no fault of the receiving party, that the receiving party already lawfully had, that it developed independently, or that it lawfully received from someone else without a duty of confidence. Either of us may disclose information where the law requires it, and will tell the other first where the law allows.

These obligations continue for five years after the agreement ends.

13. Intellectual property

We own Atlas and all intellectual property rights in it, including the software, its documentation, and any templates or standard content we supply. Nothing in the agreement transfers those rights to you.

You own your data and the content you put into Atlas. You give us the right to use it only as needed to provide and support the service.

14. Warranties and disclaimers

We warrant that we will provide Atlas with reasonable skill and care, and that we have the right to grant the licence in section 2.

Subject to section 17, we do not warrant that Atlas will be uninterrupted or error-free, or that it will meet every requirement you have.

SUBJECT TO SECTION 17, AND EXCEPT AS EXPRESSLY STATED IN THE AGREEMENT, AND TO THE FULLEST EXTENT THE LAW ALLOWS, ATLAS IS PROVIDED "AS IS" AND WE DISCLAIM ALL OTHER WARRANTIES AND CONDITIONS, WHETHER EXPRESS, IMPLIED OR STATUTORY, INCLUDING ANY IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE AND NON-INFRINGEMENT.

Atlas is not a substitute for professional advice. Its templates, thresholds, compliance features and any AI-assisted suggestions are tools to support your own judgement. Decisions about procurement, contracts, tax and legal compliance remain yours, and you should take professional advice where it matters. Nothing in Atlas is legal, tax or accounting advice.

15. Indemnities

Our indemnity. We will defend you against any third-party claim that Atlas, as we provide it, infringes that third party's intellectual property rights. We will pay the damages and costs finally awarded against you, or agreed by us in a settlement.

This does not cover a claim arising from your data, from changes not made by us, from combining Atlas with anything we did not supply, or from use in breach of the agreement.

If such a claim is made, or we think it likely, we may modify Atlas so it no longer infringes, replace the affected part with something that works materially the same, or, if neither is reasonably possible, end the affected service and refund the fees you paid in advance for the period after it ends.

Your indemnity. You will defend us against any third-party claim arising from your data or from unlawful use of Atlas by you or your users. You will pay the damages and costs finally awarded against us, or agreed by you in a settlement.

Conditions. The party seeking protection must tell the other promptly in writing, give it sole control of the defence and settlement, and cooperate reasonably at its cost. No settlement may admit fault on behalf of the protected party without its consent.

16. Limitation of liability

Subject to section 17:

Neither of us limits liability for death or personal injury caused by negligence, for fraud, or for anything else that cannot lawfully be limited.

Subject to that, and to the fullest extent the law allows: neither of us is liable for indirect or consequential loss, or for loss of profit, revenue, goodwill or anticipated savings; and each party's total liability arising out of or in connection with the agreement is limited to the fees paid or payable under the agreement in the 12 months before the event giving rise to the claim.

The limit and the exclusion above do not apply to your obligation to pay fees, to either party's indemnity obligations in section 15, to a breach of section 12 (Confidentiality), or to a breach of section 3 (What you may not do).

17. Australian Consumer Law

Nothing in the agreement excludes, restricts or modifies any right or remedy under the Australian Consumer Law that cannot lawfully be excluded, restricted or modified.

Where the Australian Consumer Law allows our liability to be limited, our liability for failing to comply with a consumer guarantee is limited, at our option, to supplying the services again or paying the cost of having them supplied again.

18. General terms

  • Force majeure. Neither of us is liable for a delay or failure caused by events beyond its reasonable control. The affected party will tell the other promptly and work to resume. This does not excuse an obligation to pay fees.
  • Assignment. Neither of us may assign the agreement without the other's consent, which will not be unreasonably withheld. Either of us may assign it without consent to a successor in a merger or a sale of all or substantially all of its business.
  • Notices. Notices go to the addresses in your order, or for us to the address on this page. Email counts as written notice for operational matters. A legal notice of breach or termination must be sent by email and a copy sent to the postal address.
  • Changes to these terms. We may update these terms. A change applies to an existing customer only from its next renewal, and we give at least 60 days’ notice. Prior versions are available on request.
  • Sanctions and export control. Each of us complies with the sanctions and export-control laws that apply to it. Either of us may terminate the agreement by notice if the other becomes a sanctioned party.
  • Anti-bribery. Each of us complies with the anti-bribery and anti-corruption laws that apply to it, and will not offer, give or accept a bribe in connection with the agreement.
  • Independent contractors. We are independent contractors. The agreement does not create a partnership, joint venture, agency or employment relationship.
  • Waiver. A failure or delay in enforcing a right is not a waiver of it. A waiver is effective only in writing.
  • Survival. Sections that by their nature should continue after the agreement ends do so, including sections 5, 10, 11, 12, 13, 15, 16, 17, 18 and 19, and any obligation to pay fees already owed.
  • Entire agreement. The agreement, as described in section 1, is the entire agreement between us about its subject. It replaces any earlier proposals or understandings. Nothing in this clause limits liability for fraud.
  • Severability. If any provision is found unenforceable, the rest continues in force.
  • International sale of goods. The United Nations Convention on Contracts for the International Sale of Goods does not apply.
  • Language. English is the governing language of the agreement. Any translation is for convenience only.

19. Governing law, disputes and contact

This agreement is governed by the laws of the Province of British Columbia and the federal laws of Canada that apply there. The courts of British Columbia have exclusive jurisdiction, and both of us submit to them.

An order may instead provide for binding arbitration. For customers in the Gulf Cooperation Council countries, for example, it may name the rules of an internationally recognised arbitration institution and the seat of arbitration. Where an order does so, the order governs.

Backbone Business Solutions Inc.
4871 221 Street, Langley, British Columbia, V3A 0J5, Canada
[email protected]