PreSales question

phaider

Hello,

could anyone of the "old" AwareIM guys tell me a schema, Excel formula, experiance for a project / task rough estimation for clients.

I know, it dependes on so much influencers, and at least of the client himself, but could i use such methotologies like "Function point" etc... to calculate the right amount / quantity of hours for an quote?

Or has Aware themself a secret formula for that?

Hope to read many answers / statements.

Best regards

Peter

tford

Hi Peter,

Like any other tool, there are two significant parts of estimating a job:

1) knowing the tool's capabilities
2) knowing the scope business situation you are trying to automate.

I don't really have any canned answers for you. Once you have a handle on both #1 and #2, you will have a better chance at estimating total hours effectively.

Tom

pbrad

Hi,

I hate the terminology 'old' because it is becoming harder to deny that it is true. What I typically do is visualize or document the basic steps that I need to take and come up with two lists. The first list consists of routine tasks that I have done before or have a clear idea of how I will approach it. the second list consists of what I call unknowns. I then do a few trial examples to knock off the unknowns and at least do proof of concept stuff so that I can move list 2 over to list 1. I then add up the estimated hours of each major section of the application and when I am done I apply a trick that has paid off for me over the years. I estimate as accurately as I can and then I double it.

As you finish each project, compare your actual hours to your original doubled estimate and apply any corrections to your next quote.

Good luck,
Pete