Scoping and estimating effort
You will be able to: Write a scope statement with explicit exclusions; Estimate effort bottom-up with ranges and contingency; Convert effort into a price and a calendar.
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- Self-check: not taken not done yet
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Scope is the list of what the project will and will not deliver. Estimating turns that list into days and money. Do scope first, in writing, and estimate from the work breakdown.
A scope statement
- Modules and processes in scope, for example Sales, Purchase, Inventory, Accounting, VAT.
- Companies, branches, warehouses and number of users.
- Data to migrate: customers, suppliers, items, opening balances, and whether history is included.
- Deliverables: blueprint, configured system, migration, test results, training, go-live support.
- Out of scope, stated plainly: custom development, history migration beyond the agreed cut-off, hardware, e-invoicing connector, payroll if not agreed.
Three-point estimate
For each activity estimate an optimistic (O), most likely (M) and pessimistic (P) number of days, then use (O + 4M + P) / 6. This shows risk, because a wide gap between O and P means the work is uncertain.
| Activity | Days |
|---|---|
| Discovery and blueprint | 4 |
| Configuration (O 4, M 6, P 8 gives 6.0) | 6 |
| Data migration and reconciliation | 5 |
| Testing and UAT support | 3 |
| Training (4 sessions) | 4 |
| Go-live and hypercare | 4 |
| Project management | 2 |
| Subtotal | 28 |
| Contingency 15% | 4.2 |
| Total | 32.2 |
At an illustrative day rate of AED 1,200, the services price is 32.2 x 1,200 = AED 38,640, excluding VAT. Day rates are your own business decision; the figures here are for learning.
What changes the estimate
- Number of users, branches and warehouses.
- Data quality and volume. Migration is the most underestimated activity.
- How fast the client makes decisions and gives feedback.
- Print layouts, approval rules and extra fields beyond the standard.
- Training in more than one language or at several sites.
Practise in the demo
- Estimate your own project: list activities, give O, M and P days, and compute the three-point result.
- Open Settings, then Import Center in the demo and count the lists that can be imported. Think about how long each might take for a real client.
- Open https://demo.zeyto.app/demo-app/ and sign in with the demo login. This is a public demo with sample data, so nothing you do there affects a real business.
Public demo company, sign in as admin / demoAdmin123. Data refreshes nightly.
- Write what is in scope and, just as clearly, what is out.
- Estimate by activity with three points, add contingency, then convert to price and calendar.
- Data migration and client decision speed are the usual causes of overruns.
Check yourself
3 questions on this lesson. Not timed, not the exam, and you can try again. Score 60% or more, and read the lesson, to complete it.