estimating - donor.com

TDDE Estimating Process

When you need an enhancement or change to our products, donor.com will go through seven distinct phases working with your organization. At each step along the way, there will be clear information provided to you, allowing you to make the right choices for your organization.

Triage Phase
Discovery Phase
Definition Phase
Scheduling Phase
Project Management Phase
Testing and Acceptance Phase
Estimate Phase

Triage Phase

The Triage Phase gives you a quick "order of magnitude" estimate about the project -- will it take a few hours? a few days? or six months? Using this initial information, you can make a choice about whether the enhancement you are requesting is worth pursuing any further. If you accept the Triage Estimate, we'll move on to the next step...

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Discovery Phase

Even though we know you just want to know how much and when, we need to know the who, what, where and why before we can determine a cost estimate and a schedule. The Discovery Phase helps both of us -- ensuring we understand what your needs are, the business need you are wanting to solve, as well as the specific functional outcomes that need to be achieved. Many clients find this process helps them clarify the need internally.

We'll present the Discovery Findings back to you -- you will have the choice to:

Provide feedback so that we can revise the Discovery Findings to more accurately reflect your needs, or
Realize that your organization may not have a clear business need for the enhancement, or that the project doesn't make sense at the current time. You can terminate the project at this early phase before significant expenses have been incurred.
Accept the Discovery Findings and have us move onto the next phase...

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Definition Phase

Now that we all have a clear understanding of the outcomes we want to achieve, one of our analysts will put together a detailed Project Implementation Plan. This plan will outline the step-by-step plan we will take to ensure a successful project. Further, the plan will include testing scenarios used in the Testing and Acceptnace phase so that we can all agree what the final result should look like. This Project Implementation Plan will be presented to you, giving you four choices:

Realize that after a second look, some of the desired outcomes are missing and have us return to the Discovery Phase, or
Provide us with feedback to improve the Project Implementation Plan, or
Decide the the project is different in scope than you initially expected, allowing you to cut costs before programming begins, or
Approve the Project Implementation Plan, so that we can present you with an estimate.

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Scheduling Phase

Once we have all agreed on where we are going (outcomes), how we will get there (the Project Implementation Plan) and we have "counted the cost" in terms of time and money before we began ( the Estimate), and we have agreed to a start date, we can proceed to schduling the work and setting a target completion date. We will make every effort to meet your desired target completion date, but the scope and complexity of the project as outlined in the mutually agreed upon Discovery Findings and Project Implementation Plan will determine the base assumptions of the schedule.

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Project Management Phase

Once the Schdule has been set and work begun, we'll set up a regular Progress Review Meeting with you. This meeting will:

Review the current progress and milestones achieved since the last Progress Review
Demo any new functionality completed since the last Progress Review
Openly discuss any potential changes to the scope of the project. If changes are desired and/or required, we will follow a Change Process -- ensuring you have no suprises and are in the position to make the best choices for your organization.
Openly discuss current progress and ability to meet the Target Completion Date. If required, and mutually agreed, the Target Completion Date may be revised.

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Testing and Acceptance Phase

Using the test scenarios created in the Project Definition Phase, we will walk through the results of each testing scenario, ensuring that the solution accomplishes what we all agreed to. If there are deficiencies found, then we will go back and correct them. If there are new features that you wish to add, those will then go through the Change Management Process. Our goal is to ensure we all agree on objective, measurable standards for success.

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Estimate Phase

Now that we know where we are going (the outcomes) and how we will get there (the Project Implementation Plan) we can figure out how long it will take us to get there and how much it will cost. Based upon the approved Discovery Findings and the approved Project Implementation Plan, donor.com will prepare an estimate for you.

This estimate will cover the duration of the project and the cost of the project, but can not commit to a schedule. Why not? In our experience, clients often have internal issues surrounding the approval of funding for projects or other internal issues. Since we do not know when your organization will accept the estimate, or when a deposit will be released, it is impossible for us to commit to a completion date until we know with certainty what the start date will be.

Once the estimate has been presented, you will have the choice to:

Realize that some desired outcomes were missed and have us return to the Discovery Phase, or
Conclude that the original business reason does not provide a sufficient ROI (return on investment) over the cost of the enhancment, and decide to cancel the enhancement request before it proceeds to programming, or
Decide the enhancment makes sense for your organization at this time and accept the estimate, allowing us to proceed to the Scheduling Phase

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