Effort Estimation

Hi,

Does anyone have a Benchmark for Effort Estimation wrt:
1. Implementation.
2. Upgrade.

Thanks
Aniruddha

There are a number of factors to consider even at a high level when estimating the effort and/or cost of an implementation or upgrade.  Which modules are you implementing?  How many enhancements do you need to develop in regards to reports, integrations and interfaces, data conversions, and extensions to the e-Business suite?  Will you require external help from consultants?  Time and expenses of resources is one of the major (if not THE major) expense of an implementation or upgrade project.  Hardware, hosting, infrastructure and licensing costs?  How quickly do you want to deploy?

I’ve developed project plans and budgets for numerous projects - large global projects, and small single shops.  In my opinion, you need to work with your team or client to finalize the scope of the project before you can get a reasonable handle on the effort and budget numbers.  Do a proof of concept or a conference room pilot to help drive out requirements for the project.

Lastly, become familiar with Oracle’s AIM if you aren’t already.  It will help you understand the process behind an implementation or an upgrade.

Regards,
Michael Siebert

Hi Michael,

Thanks so much for the response.

Yes - what you have mentioned holds very much true.

Would appreciate if you could quote a figure (man-days) for :
1. Typical Upgrade - financials, manufacturing & Distribution modules 11.0.3 to 11i with BPR exercise & 4 iterations.
taking into account all constraints & realities that you have mentioned.

Practically face problems when deciding the effort estimate.

Are there any set benchmarks for effort estimates in the Apps Consulting Industry ?

Thanks
Aniruddha.

Aniruddha,

If only it were that easy.  It would be difficult for me (or anyone) to provide you with the quote you’ve asked for given the limited information we know so far.  What good is a number of it’s not accurate?  My advice would be to review the project plan that is included with Oracle’s AIM, and develop a small plan for a Conference Room Pilot with limited scope.  Such as: a) Trial upgrade from 11.0.3 to 11i; b) Gap analysis of customizations; c) Test configuration of any new modules and functionality; d) etc.  This CRP would then give you a good idea of the effort involved in each major task, at which point you can develop an accurate project plan with resource and cost estimations for the entire project.

I’ve done several upgrades in my career, and there really isn’t a benchmark that I’ve found that can be used to provide these types of estimates without doing a CRP or making some well defined assumptions, that could easliy miss their mark.  How much data in the current system?  How clean is it?  How heavily customized is the current system?  How will the infrastructure of the system need to change (hardware, networking, etc.)?  How many SME’s can the business dedicate to this project?  All of these factors and many others will have an impact on the cost, duration, and success of the project.

Regards,
Michael Siebert