Tyler Technologies licenses software to state and local governments, courts, schools and related agencies. Its published client terms show that the software is now sold almost entirely as a service: the standard Public Administration Group agreement is titled “Software as a Service Agreement” and the right granted is a right to use “the SaaS Services solely for your governmental purposes”.[1] The contracting entity is Tyler Technologies, Inc., a Delaware corporation, and notices go to its Chief Legal Officer at One Tyler Drive, Yarmouth, Maine.[1]
This article summarises the structure of those terms. It relies only on documents Tyler publishes on tylertech.com. Tyler does not publish a price list, and the published templates do not describe a pricing formula such as population-based or per-module charging; the quantities and prices live in the Investment Summary, which is exhibit A to each signed agreement.[1]
Product portfolio and names
Tyler’s terms page groups its solutions into areas that include Appraisal & Tax, Civic Services, Corrections, Courts & Justice, Cybersecurity, Data & Insights, ERP, Land & Official Records, Outdoor Recreation, Payments, Productivity Tools, Public Safety, Regulatory, School ERP and Student Transportation.[4] Several product names changed in February 2022, when Tyler adopted functional names, and Tyler states that “no rights, responsibilities, benefits, or terms under your contract are impacted”.[3] The brand reference pairs old and current names; the pairs most relevant to contracts are:[2]
| Earlier name | Current name |
|---|---|
| Munis | Enterprise ERP |
| Incode | ERP Pro |
| Infinite Visions | School ERP Pro |
| Odyssey | Enterprise Justice |
| EnerGov | Enterprise Permitting & Licensing |
| New World Public Safety | Enterprise Public Safety |
| iasWorld | Enterprise Assessment & Tax |
| Tyler EAM | Enterprise Asset Management |
| Socrata | Data & Insights |
The FAQ explains the “Enterprise” and “Pro” labels: Enterprise is applied to the product serving larger agencies and Pro to the product serving smaller ones.[3] Licence managers inventorying older contracts should map legacy names to these current names before comparing entitlements to deployments. Tyler’s Enterprise ERP page describes the product as covering financial management, human resources management, revenue management and utilities.[9]
How a Tyler purchase is documented
The Public Administration SaaS Agreement is the master document. It defines an Investment Summary as “the agreed upon cost proposal for the products and services attached as Exhibit A”, and an Order Form as an ordering document with a quote or investment summary that specifies the items to be provided. The agreement lists seven exhibits: the Investment Summary, Invoicing and Payment Terms, the Service Level Agreement, Third-Party Terms, the Statement of Work, the Tyler proposal and the client’s request for proposal. Where documents conflict, Sections A to G and Exhibits A to E prevail, then the proposal, then the request for proposal.[1] Purchase orders submitted by the client “are for your internal administrative purposes only” and their terms have no effect.
The consequence for software asset management is that the contract package, not a public price list, defines the entitlement: the signed agreement, the Investment Summary, any amendments and addenda for additional purchases, and the third-party terms attached to the order. Separate Tyler documents apply to specific lines: the Data & Insights SaaS Licence Agreement, the AI Solution Terms of Service and the Cybersecurity Services Terms of Service.[5][6][7]
Metrics
The SaaS Agreement uses two chargeable quantities, both set in the Investment Summary:[1]
- Defined Users: “the number of users, if any, that are identified in the Investment Summary”. For software labelled Enterprise Permitting & Licensing the count is of authorised named users of those modules.
- Data Storage Capacity: the contracted amount of storage for the client’s data, if any.
The right to use is “subject to any limits for Defined Users or Data Storage Capacity”. The client may add users or storage on the agreement’s terms. If the client “regularly and/or meaningfully” exceeds either, Tyler reserves the right to charge additional fees commensurate with the overage. The wording leaves tolerance for occasional excess but sets no numeric threshold.[1] Other Tyler documents use different quantities: Monthly Active Users, Sites and storage for Data & Insights, an AI token or credit limit for AI Solutions, and per-transaction fees for services billed by call or message.
Licence, SaaS and hosting
The SaaS Services consist of “system administration, system management, and system monitoring activities that Tyler performs for the Tyler Software” and include the right to access and use the software, maintenance and support, downtime resolution under the SLA, and data storage and archiving.[1] Tyler “has no obligation to ship copies” of the software and delivers the SaaS Services through a third-party data centre. SaaS Services do not include support of an operating system or hardware, support outside normal business hours, or training and consulting. The template does not describe a perpetual licence or an on-premises licence plus maintenance model; the support document does refer to “non-hosted customers”, which shows that customer-hosted deployments exist, but no licence terms for them appear in the documents reviewed.[8] Contracts for such deployments should be read from the signed copy.
Third-party products and terms
Exhibit D of the agreement lists third-party terms that apply when the order includes third-party products, among them Cornerstone OnDemand, DigEplan Pro, DocOrigin, Emphasys SymPro, Envisio, Fire Prevention Mobile, Koa Hills, Pattern Stream, Polco, ThinPrint, TrueRoll and Twilio, together with the Work Number by Equifax terms. It states that rights to Third-Party Software are governed by the Third-Party Terms and, if there are none, by the agreement. Tyler also sells third-party hardware, with title passing on payment in full.[1] These attached terms may contain their own licence metrics that Tyler’s template does not state.
Programs and public-sector terms
- Cooperative procurement. The agreement may be used by eligible jurisdictions as a cooperative procurement vehicle, with Tyler reserving the right to customise terms and pricing for the circumstances.
- Lack of appropriations. The client may terminate on thirty days written notice if funds are not appropriated; unused prepaid fees are not refunded and the clause cannot substitute for termination for convenience.
- Client Relief. Service-level credits are a percentage of monthly SaaS Fees, with a schedule in exhibit C.
- Law. The agreement is governed by the law of the client’s state or commonwealth of domicile.[1]
Practical points
- Build an inventory of signed agreements and Investment Summaries, with the term in years, renewal date and the sixty-day non-renewal deadline.
- Record Defined Users and Data Storage Capacity per product, and who counts as a named user for Enterprise Permitting & Licensing modules.
- Track which products rely on third-party terms in Exhibit D and which Tyler service terms (Data & Insights, AI, cybersecurity) were accepted on the Order Form.
- Map legacy product names to current names for contract reviews.
Out of scope
This article does not cover the Terms of Use for Tyler’s online services, which govern website and portal access rather than software licences.[4] It also does not cover local-government procurement documents, state contract vehicles or the pricing that individual agencies pay, none of which are published by Tyler itself.