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Dave Thompson Consulting
408 Rose Drive
Allen, Texas 75002
(Dallas/Ft Worth area)
(972) 727-5670
Programming Cost Considerations
for MS Access
Projects
Introduction
1. Programming source
2. Location
3. Tasks and suggested source
4. A word about the development process
5. Rates and Terms
6. Example times to complete common MS Access programming tasks
Introduction
The development cost for a project depends on a number of factors
such as who does it (developer, programmer, temp IT employee), where most of
effort takes place (onsite/offsite), the complexity of the business need to
automate, and more. We will discuss some of those factors here.
Our focus here is creating a software solution to meet the needs
of a specific business or for use at the department level of a corporation. This
is not a discussion of enterprise-wide solutions. Also, we are not considering
software developed to be a commercial product for resale.
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1. Programming Source
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Independent Developer/Programmer/Consultant -
Self-employed IT professionals.
The terms developer, programmer, and consultant are
often used interchangeably; the distinction is often not important. However,
within the IT community, these terms do represent differences.
A developer is normally a self-employed, IT professional with the
experience and knowledge to both assist a client in defining how to automate
a business need, and one who has the skills to perform the programming tasks.
A programmer is skilled in writing software in one more
languages, or one or more applications. Common sense should indicate that
with today's complex applications, a claim of
of competence by a programmer in a large number (four, five, six - I've seen
more!) of programming languages is questionable (at best).
Often developers call themselves programmers, and vice versa. As a business
decision,
what matters is not the specific label, but the ability and experience of the
independent IT person.
Consultants - generally - are those who analyze your business needs
and make recommendations across the spectrum such as hardware (PC's, network
equipment), application tools/platforms (Access, Microsoft SQL Server, Oracle, DB2,
etc), along with implementation and project management considerations. There are, of
course, full service IT firms that offer turnkey service from the consulting
phase through implementation.
Such firms frequently have programmers on staff, and approach clients with a
team that may include titles such as project manager, implementation
specialist, programmer, trainer, etc.
Large consulting firms are rarely an option for the small, up to
medium-sized business. Frankly, to get the attention of such firms, the
total cost of a project should be six figures ($100,000) or more, sometimes
much more. |
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IT Staffing Firms (Often listed as Consulting firms)
- These companies are primarily in the business of placing full-time, temp
employees (commonly called contractors) to work on-site at your business. Since their profit is derived
from the delta between what you pay them and what they pay the temp
programmer, expect - on average - higher rates than independents.
Staffing firms look to place temp IT on assignments that run for months,
with the IT person working for 40 hours per week.
Most medium to large firms have developed relationships with staffing firms,
and are well informed about the process. An advantage of staffing firms is
that they will do some screening of candidates.
Since they prefer making long-term placements, staffing firms are not generally a viable option for small or medium-sized
firms, . Some staffing firms
will, however, make referrals of small projects to independent developers,
consultants, or programmers. |
|
Internal IT Department - An internal IT department
has full-time, on-staff programmers. In the case of Access projects for the
department level (5 - 40 users), if they do not have an Access programmer
on-staff, the IT group may assist (even require) the using department to
locate an outside resource to conduct and complete the project.
Also, the usual scheduling considerations apply, that is the IT group may have
one or more programmers, but these may be committed to long-term
projects so that it is useful to bring in outside help for small to
medium-sized, department-level projects. |
|
Part-Time (nights and weekends) - There are those who
have a regular "daytime job" and write software nights and
weekends as a source of extra income. Business decision makers seeking
professional assistance for the development of software should consider just
how focused part-time programmers are towards the conduct and successful
completion of projects.
Additionally, while full-time, salaried programmers may be skilled and quite
talented, developing complete projects for small and medium-sized businesses
is not necessarily learned in the corporate environment of project managers,
multi-programmer teams, and high-end platforms. |
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2. Location
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Onsite - Many - but not all - corporations
require programmers to work onsite. They tend to seek not an experienced
developer, but rather a temporary employee in the role of programmer.
For department-level applications that do not require tight integration
into enterprise-wide platforms (such as MS SQL Server), much
of the development work can be done offsite.
Savvy IT departments know the real focus is not the presence of the
developer, but the results of the developer.
For small to medium-sized companies, onsite may not even be practical since
they do not have a suitable workstation and space to accommodate a temp, full-time person.
|
| Offsite - Offsite development of projects is the norm
for most independent developers. Project development is their full-time work and source of
income.
Experienced developers have a core set of software solutions and techniques
that work, proven by prior, successful projects. They have development
machines (PC workstation) loaded with previous software efforts; a
library of technical articles; current versions of the software (such as
Access 2003, SP1); in the case of Access, perhaps some previous versions
(such as Access 97, Access 2000); and along with other technical resources
such as internet access to the Microsoft Developers
Network website.
For developers, working on their developmental machine is a productive
environment. Move them away from this, and they are not quite so productive
(in my opinion and experience).
There are occasions for an independent developer to meet with clients onsite. But development of projects can proceed effectively and
efficiently offsite.
Internet access has become pervasive across the workplace. Projects can move
back-and-forth between developer and client via zipped email attachments,
by over-night delivery of CD's, or other means such as file transfer. |
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3. Tasks and Suggested
Source
When seeking outside assistance with Access, who
to look for, and where to look, depends on the what you are attempting to
accomplish. Here are some examples:
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Small to medium-sized business with a database information
need, or an information process to automate - Developer or programmer
|
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Large scale business - Look to your IT department for
resources and assistance
|
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Department Manager in corporation - Look to your IT
department, but if your business need is local to your department (5 - 40
users), and IT has a backlog, consider pressing the IT group to look for
outside help such as a developer.
|
|
Any business that wants training for users - Training
is a separate business market from project development and programming. Look
for IT training firms.
|
|
Any business user with a failed project on their hands
- The ability and experience of developers (and their communication
and project management skills) vary significantly.
Identify why the project failed.
If the project was worth starting in the first place, it is likely worth
finishing - assuming you can get qualified assistance. When you locate a
more qualified source, do not visit the sins of the previous programmer on
the new one.
|
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4. A Word About the Development Process
Software development is labor intensive. Said another way:
software development is all labor.
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It takes time to write software
|
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It takes time to test software
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It takes time fix software
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It takes time to change software to meet new customer
requirements
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It takes time to re-work software when existing customer
requirements change
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It just takes time ... |
Approach the consideration of hourly rates cautiously. Should
you believe that "all programmers are alike", then shop for the
cheapest rate that you can find, with all best wishes.
It should noted that productivity
rates across groups of programmers can vary by a ratio of 10 to 1 (and even greater). Hourly
rates are not reliable predictors of skill, but rather tend to reflect
prevailing market rates.
The name of the game in software development is success versus
failure. In my experience, I've seen projects done by others, that were not, and
could not, be completed due to technical flaws in the programming approach.
Programmer competence is not nice to have, but necessary to have.
For Access (the same for MS SQL Server, Oracle, and DB2) an application is
unlikely - very unlikely - to succeed without a database schema that conforms to
accepted relational database design practices. This is the foundation for any
successful project, and one of the leading causes (in my experience) of failed
projects by others.
The first two questions from a new client are: 1) "How much
will it cost?" and 2) " When can I have it?"
Here are the answers:
1) I don't know.
2) I don't know.
For example, you wouldn't expect to pick up the phone, call a
homebuilder, and ask them, "How much will it cost to build a custom
home?"
There are issues about land, design plans, schedule, fixtures
and furnishings, landscaping: in other words, plenty of variables that
ultimately determine both how much it will cost and how long it will take.
The home building paradigm is useful to understand other actions
that impact the total cost and schedule for development projects. In the home
building example, during construction (to plans) you - the customer - may
come back to the builder and ask them change part of the plan.
If the change requires moving a wall, it can be done. But
remember, you pay for having the wall built in the first place, then having it
torn down, then rebuilding it to the changed plan. Software development is no different
in this regard: it is labor intensive. Programming takes time. Changing the
requirements after programming starts, means that some work done will be lost, but the cost for doing it the
first place does not go away.
Sometimes changes are necessary, and should be done. What the
client needs is software that meets their needs and is of use in the business to
support a process or informational need. So if a project gets off course, it
should be re-directed.
Only for very small, tightly defined projects is it possible for
a developer to give a quick estimate of time and cost. And only for small,
tightly defined projects should you ask for, and expect to receive, a fixed price
bid (usually for projects less than $1,000).
Note: For a more complete discussion of the
software development cycle, see Software
Development Process on this site. It discusses a project where the client went through a concept and
definition phase, after which I was able to provide a total cost estimate (as
a range) to permit the client to make a go/no-go decision. Remember, it is
billable time to go through such an initial requirements gathering and
specification step.
But for complex applications, skipping the requirements/specifications stage
can lead - at best - to software that does not conform to your needs, or - at
worst - to a failed project. Projects are more likely to
succeed if they commence with a written plan (or at least an agreement on
requirements) than if you begin programming immediately
The client goals and their budgets may not be in same ball
park. Better to learn this at a modest analysis cost than to cancel
a project before completion. The analysis and estimate stage enables the client to adjust requirements
to meet their budget, or consider alternatives.
Dave Thompson
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5. Rates and Terms
5A. Rates
Rates vary by:
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programming source (see #1 above)
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location (see #2 above)
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market (geographical section of the country; large city
versus rural)
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programming language or application
|
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skill and experience of the developer
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where on the spectrum a developer chooses to set their
billing rates |
Some developers use a dual rate structure:
Offsite/Onsite. This dual rate structure reflects the dual roles that a
developer often assumes. Offsite, they are a programmer. Onsite,
they take on the role of consultant/analyst.
And since "time is all we have to sell", expect that
an offsite developer is likely both to charge more per hour to be onsite and to
charge some amount of travel time (such as one-way, or portal-to-portal) to
attend onsite, client meetings.
At this time, MS Access programming rates cluster
around $60/hr, but can be lower (typical low rate $30/hr) or higher
(typical high $75/hr).
For a survey of various average and high/low hourly rates for
programming tasks see:
http://www.brennerbooks.com/sellsoftware.html
For a survey of salaried software employees see:
http://www.softwaremetrics.com/Articles/employment.htm
5B. Terms
For small, fixed-price bid projects (typically less than
$1,000), expect to pay half at project start, and the other half at the end. If
you begin to change specifications and requirements after such a project begins,
expect to re-open negotiations as to final cost.
In general, for new clients expect to pay an upfront retainer
(some percentage of the program estimated cost, or an amount equal to the first
month's effort, or other negotiated amount). For established relationships, most developers will invoice
(weekly/monthly/monthly fixed amount a month beginning, overage at end of
month). Invoice frequency is normally negotiable.
Remember what is being invoiced
is - for most developers - their sole source of income, just as most
corporate employees expect to receive their paychecks on time (what would you do if you
company decided not to pay you on payday?), developers expect to paid on time.
Some projects proceed entirely by the client prepaying for
blocks of time such as 20 or 40 hour increments.
I work on projects as needed, billing actuals. I do not ask that a client promise any guaranteed amount of
work per week.
Therefore, some weeks might incur 10, 20, or 30 hours of
billable time; other weeks none (zero).
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6. Example Times for Common Programming Tasks
Here is a table that lists various Access programming tasks
based on the time to complete. Such a table is not precise, but indicative that
things do take time to do. While it may possible to describe a needed feature or
functionality for an application in few words, that does not say anything about
how long it takes to complete the tasks required.
For ongoing development projects, an efficiency is gained such
that the total time is less than the sum of values shown in the table.
The table is most useful to communicate the scale of effort
required for common tasks, and to inform the client that to control costs means
to control requirements, and that to increase requirements ("Just add
this one report ... this one form .... and ....) impacts cost and the schedule -
both.
Dave Thompson Consulting
408 Rose Drive
Allen, Texas 75002
(Dallas/Ft Worth area)
(972) 727-5670
The Rating Table is intended as a guideline for ranges of effort
(in billable hours) to perform typical programming tasks. The numbers are
estimates only and not a firm quote. Actual hours are billed.
MS Access Task Level Rating Table
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Revision Date: January 1, 2008
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