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How Estimate helps automate the evaluation process and find out the cost of an IT project

For both business and IT companies, evaluation is one of the most important stages in the beginning of work on a project. The business is ready to cooperate with the contractor who will name the cost objectively and quickly, in addition, customers need maximum transparency of the assessment.

At the same time, there is a significant range of prices on the market: for example, one IT company estimates the work at 300 thousand rubles, and the other at 900 thousand. Cost depends on many factors: implementation method, expert experience, depth of assessment, etc.

For five years now, we at SimbirSoft have been using our own service to automate the evaluation process - Estimate. We created it in order to simplify the work of specialists who were involved in manual evaluation - because the number of development requests was constantly growing, and experienced experts were simultaneously needed in both evaluation and project work. We gradually improved Estimate and as a result we got a tool that takes into account the peculiarities of developing IT systems of any complexity. In the article we’ll tell you how you can use it to speed up the assessment and take into account possible risks.



To begin with, we will consider the main types of IT solutions, the development timeline and the evaluation procedure, and then we will describe how to automate the evaluation process for different types of tasks.

Types of IT Solutions


The cost of the project is primarily affected by such parameters as the urgency and complexity of development, including the need for integration with external services. For a clear understanding, consider the following groups:

  • Web application (e.g. corporate portal)

By the level of complexity, it can be classified as a large IT solution of medium complexity - without integration with third-party services, the administrative part is replaced by the API. The development time depends on the individual needs of the customer and can be up to 3000 hours with prototypes / design.

  • Mobile application (e.g. sports training system)

In terms of complexity - an IT solution of medium complexity, without integration with third-party services, with a ready-made API and administrative part for hosting content. Development times can also be up to 3000 hours with prototypes / designs.

  • Standard CRM

For example, a customer needs an application management system with an administrative panel that includes up to five sections - a list of users, orders, the ability to add content, etc. When developing on the basis of a ready-made platform and without integration with third-party services, the development time can be up to 800 hours.

  • Advanced Systems

If a business needs an IT system with integration with third-party services (for example, public services), a personal account, the ability to send applications for certain products, it is important to understand that this is a large-scale work that requires sufficient time. Even if the system is based on a “box”, as a rule, it takes at least 3000 hours to finalize and carry out integrations (and this without taking into account additional solutions, for example, scoring).

How does the assessment begin?


We already described on Habré 5 steps of the customer when choosing an IT product contractor, briefly recall the main steps:

  1. Search for candidates
  2. Collection of commercial offers
  3. Conduct of negotiations
  4. Filter Offers
  5. Decision-making

And now we offer a look at the "kitchen" of the IT company to study this process from the inside.

1) Briefing, clarification of details

When an IT company receives a request from a business, the project launch specialist records information in CRM and organizes a call with the client to clarify the details, find out its needs and goals of the project. To clarify the technical details, he engages a dedicated technical expert - the moderator of the assessment.

2) Presale

Presale - this can be called the entire stage of the assessment, and the specialist responsible for it. He conducts an initial analysis of the project and answers key questions:

  • type of project, goals and expectations of the client, optimal scenario;
  • what areas of development should be included in the assessment;
  • what is the technological stack;
  • IT- ( ).

To automate the evaluation process, IT companies use a variety of solutions - as we mentioned above, in SimbirSoft we have Estimate. With the help of his templates, Presale can calculate the terms for the implementation of standard functions, screens of a mobile application, various components of the project.

The expert analyzes at what stages a reassessment of the project may be necessary (for example, after analytics), and also establishes additional time for testing and a risk reserve.

In order to study the needs of the customer and offer the best solution, in complex projects we include a team of specialists from key areas of the project to the assessment. For example, to evaluate a mobile application, it can be analytics experts, Mobile, Backend, QA.

Based on the results of the assessment, we formulate a description with possible assumptions and limitations. Also, on the basis of the prepared estimate, we determine the estimated composition of the future team and the estimated implementation timeline or roadmap.

3) Commercial proposal

Based on a preliminary assessment, the project launch specialist draws up a commercial proposal (KP), sends it to the client and together with the expert group protects the proposal at the customer’s office or remotely. With a positive decision, the company proceeds to the next stage - discussion of contractual relations and terms of interaction.

The timing of the assessment depends on the features of the project. The quickest estimate is carried out, “by analogy” with similar applications - from 1 to 3 hours. For a standard mobile application, the calculation of terms and cost usually takes up to 8 hours, excluding mobile systems of increased complexity (for example, banking or insurance). Evaluation of web projects can take longer, usually up to 32 hours. If you need to develop a concept for a complex project, then the responsible specialist determines the terms individually.

If the customer does not yet imagine the requirements for an IT system, then a product engineer (Presale 2.0), an experienced specialist with technical expertise and a deep understanding of business processes, helps him understand the details.

Services for evaluating IT projects


Using various online assessment services, both business and the contractor can calculate the cost and estimated development timelines.

Finding the right service is a separate task. Most of the available solutions are either designed for other industries (for example, Smetter.ru for construction calculations), or have a universal nature and insufficient detailing (various task schedulers).

There are special services for the IT sector, but often they do not allow an online assessment - you can only get the results by email. Foreign IT companies have similar services: for example, to calculate the cost of applications on iOS, Android , as well as web applications .

Example:



Estimate Cloud Service


At SimbirSoft, we automated our evaluation process in order to ensure both transparent pricing for the business and convenience for ourselves.

In 2015, we launched an internal evaluation service, Estimate. Knowing the features of various IT-products, we have made a flexible universal "calculator" for web, desktop and mobile applications.

With the help of the service, we have already evaluated thousands of projects in analytics, design, UX, auditing, Frontend, Backend and other areas.

Key objectives of the service:

  • Conduct an assessment in hours / money, taking into account the cost of working time of specialists.
  • Consider the cost of the IT product, taking into account the risk reserve, management, testing (in% of the total development time).
  • Ensure maximum accuracy of the assessment for the convenience of the project team.
  • Automate the assessment process and use the experience of previous assessments.
  • Speed ​​up the estimate by an average of 10 times, compared with manual calculation in Excel, through the use of templates and auxiliary tools.

Attention! This year we decided to open our development to everyone. We invite you to use the cloud service for free - watch the video tutorial on the Estimater.ru website !

How do we evaluate a project?


For everyone who wants to try the Estimate service in business, we have prepared instructions. See how to create new projects, tasks, adjust risks, keep ready estimates and perform other necessary actions.

Assessment Stages:


Project creation


Add the necessary features or tasks and specify the permissible range of labor costs in hours (taking into account development, testing and a time reserve for bug fixes).



Risk accounting


Lay down in the project or in individual tasks the risks associated with inaccurate requirements and unforeseen situations.



Unloading


Using the service, you can estimate labor costs in two ways:

  • Preliminary assessment (in the min-max range)
  • Evaluation with high accuracy by the PERT method (Project Evaluation and Review Technique).

You can download the assessment results in any form that is convenient for you.



Creating a commercial offer


Download the results for working in Excel and select the level of detail: by features or by
phases of the project.



Templates of typical tasks and features


You can create rating templates. Add the feature to the rating, and the system will tell you if the template is available.



results


The ideal situation for business and IT companies is when project evaluations are quick and accurate. The better this process is built, the less risk is possible in further cooperation.

In our practice, we strive to identify as specific tasks as possible. As a rule, with a top-level assessment, we devote no more than 40 hours to each task. This limitation allows us to evaluate the front of work deeper and more accurately and avoid mistakes.

We invite you to try our own cloud assessment service Estimater.ru, which takes into account all the key features and risks of developing IT products. With it, companies can automate and speed up the evaluation process, and customers can independently determine the estimated cost and terms of creating an IT product. You can work with the service for free or use the advanced corporate solution. We are waiting for your feedback and suggestions!

Thank you for the attention! We hope you find this article helpful.

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