IMAC stands for install, move, add and change. It usually appears in a statement of work as a single line, priced per unit, on the assumption that everyone agrees what a unit is. Most arguments on an IMAC contract are about that assumption rather than about the engineering.
The four terms
Install. New equipment is placed, connected and brought to a working state. A desktop out of its box, a switch into a rack, a printer onto the network. The asset did not exist in the estate before the visit; afterwards it does, and the asset register has to say so.
Move. Existing equipment changes location. The asset record survives; the location field changes. A desk-to-desk move on one floor and a rack-to-rack move between halls are very different jobs under the same word.
Add. Something is attached to equipment already in service: a second monitor, more memory, an extra NIC, a disk into an empty bay. The asset stays, its configuration grows, and its warranty position may change.
Change. Existing equipment is reconfigured or a part is swapped without adding capacity. A like-for-like power supply, an operating system rebuild, a profile swap when a user changes role. The line between a change and a break-fix call is a contractual choice, not a technical fact, so it has to be written down.
Why they are bought together
The four share a delivery shape. Each is a scheduled visit rather than an incident, each needs a named site contact and access, each has a task list that can be written in advance, and each ends with a record that has to be updated. Splitting them across suppliers creates work at the boundary, usually while a user waits for someone to decide whether a dead docking station is a change or a fault. IMAC volumes also tend to arrive as the long tail of a multi-site roll out programme, once the bulk deployment is done and the estate starts drifting.
What counts as a move
This is where most scope disputes start, because a move can mean four metres or four hundred miles. Settle these before signing:
- Is the unit the device, the desk position, or the user? A trader with six screens and two hosts is not one move.
- Does the price include decommissioning at the old position: cable removal, floor tile reinstatement, patch panel tidy?
- Who provides packing materials and trolleys, and who carries equipment between buildings?
- Is out-of-hours or weekend work inside the unit price or a separate rate?
Data migration and acceptance
Two items are routinely assumed by both sides and owned by neither. The first is data. If a machine is rebuilt or replaced, someone has to define whether local data is in scope, where it goes, and what happens when a profile is larger than the maintenance window allows. A synchronised profile makes this trivial; the machine with twelve years of files on the D: drive does not.
The second is acceptance. Decide who is allowed to sign a job complete and what they are signing for. If the user is absent, the engineer needs a written fallback: leave the kit connected and tested to a stated checklist, or return. Without that rule, completion becomes an opinion, and so does the invoice.
