HarmenyServices

Our services use a "component based pricing system". Over the years, we have broken modelling, analysis, data organization tasks into standard components, and developed a standardized pricing system. That allows us to give you clear cost estimates for a project.

This year (2005) we are revising and expanding our services. Prices will not change for existing services -- but we will add additional services focussing on web application development, analytical software development, and workshops focussed on database design and natural resource modelling. Additionally, we are now focussed on releasing our software under open-source licenses.

Go here for more on LifeLine

For now, please refer to our 2003 Services Guide

The Logic Behind Harmeny’s Pricing System

What is a component and what is component based project costing?

A component is a functional unit of the final application: A load module, a standard report, a linear model. A complex application can be considered a collection of such components. Where a component is well defined, it has a standard cost. There are certain cases, where a component may not be well defined, such as custom programming, and hence costs are less easy to estimate. Such a component would be charged at a day-rate.

The appropriate analogy for component based project costing, is to think of your local auto-service station. There is a fixed price for tire repair, oil-change, etc. However, if your car is stalling for undetermined reasons, the labour charge is at an hourly rate, and you are consulted if the problem is not determined after a pre-agreed amount of labour. These costs are based on an individual service-station's experience over a number of years, and set to be competitive with prices of other operators in the same industry, with comparable quality of work. In the same sense, we have identified standard components in building applications based on the LifeLine design. We have also identified items that can not be standardized, such as data clean up or data integrity problems (like the car that stalls), changes in scope (you decide you want steel-belted radial tires, rather than the standard all season tires). Via component based costing we have provided a way of dealing with the uncertainty, which is standard to most programming projects, and set a costing structure that both reflects our past experience across clients and projects and is highly competitive with any system of similar capabilities. The result is to reduce risk, both for the client and for the developer.

What is an audit-able budget?

An audit-able budget begins by tightly defining the scope of each individual component. The scope for any particular project then is defined in terms of the number of components required. This allows us to accurately estimate project costs, and to deal with changes in scope on the client end. It also allows the client to directly estimate the cost of new items, based on making selections from the component list. Tight definition of the scope of components provides a means for clear communication between client and developer, and allows for dealing with changes in scope during the course of a project.

What is the benefit for clients?

A listing of the components for a particular project, and their timelines for completion, can then serve as the "Schedule B" of project deliverables, and the basis for contracts. The client identifies the components they need for their particular project – and the project costs, and what they will receive as a finished product are well defined. This reduces their risk of incurring additional costs, or of receiving a product that is not what they expected.

How do our costs compare?

Our costs are benchmarked both against our own experience, and the costs for similar services in the industry. For example, consulting rates in the information technology field range from $800 – 2500/day. Training day costs range from $2500 -- 4000/training-day. Design of working databases for substantial data sets with user interfaces range from $25, 000 --- Very-Very large $ sums. Our lower cost structure is predicated on the design principles that make LifeLine flexible, efficient, fast to develop on and ….. cheap. Simply Necessary.

-- MishtuBanerjee - 01 Feb 2005

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