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| Implementation of software solutions
can be made available through four Engagement Models –
Fixed Duration, Time & Materials, Full Time Equivalents
(Offshore) and Full Time Equivalents (Onsite). Choosing the
right mode of engagement is perhaps the most critical of all
business decisions and can result in the right mix of expenses
and yields. |
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FIXED DURATION / COST |
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| Software development projects that are
built around a fixed budget, timeline and cost, are referred
to as Fixed Duration projects. For small to mid sized projects
where the end-user is the buyer of a product or a service, this
is the most common of all delivery methods. |
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| Opt for the Fixed Duration Engagement Model if: |
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The anticipated duration
of the project is low. |
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Requirements are not likely to
change during the development process. |
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The requirement is for a Business-to-Customer
(B2C) venture and perhaps starting on a low scale/key. |
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Enhancements to features and functions
are likely to follow only after project implementation
and not during the development process. |
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Software implementation is governed
by ‘extremely’ tight budgetary and financial
constraints. |
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TIME AND MATERIALS (T&M) |
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| Projects that are contracted for a defined
(or open ended) number of hours are referred to as Time &
Materials projects. With such projects, tasks are mapped to
total number of hours spent on that task; detailed reports for
‘hours spent’ outline and enable authenticity and
cross-verifications. |
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| Opt for the Time & Materials Engagement Model if: |
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Requirements, features
and specifications for the software being developed, are
likely to evolve at any stage during project development. |
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The anticipated duration of the
project cannot be estimated (or if estimating a fixed
duration for the project can lead to counter-productive
results). |
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Between the two, ‘Getting
it right’ is more important than ‘Getting
it right on time’. |
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Substantial architecture-level
and structural changes are likely to occur while the software
solution is being developed. |
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You would like to work with us
for a defined number of hours that are not necessarily
continuous (for example, eight hundred hours over five
months). |
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FULL TIME EQUIVALENTS (FTE) |
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| Full Time Equivalents is an IT staffing solution wherein our personnel are assigned to and are dedicated
to your project and therefore, designated by us for your purposes
alone. Personnel can be software engineers, project managers,
software testers, software analysts or consultants. If the FTE
resource performs tasks from our development center, the corresponding
delivery sub-model is referred to as an Offshore FTE Resource.
If the FTE resource performs tasks at your (or at your client’s
location), such personnel are referred to as an Onsite FTE Resource. |
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| Opt for the Offshore IT Staffing Solutions if: |
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You would like to augment
and extend your staff to our development center (virtual
staffing) while making the best use of our offshore billing
rates. |
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The nature of software development
is along the lines of one that requires our resources
and personnel to possess and/or acquire expertise in a
domain or vertical. |
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Software to be developed and implemented
is ‘enterprise class’ and will require continuous
versioning & feature enhancements. |
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Releases and re-releases are anticipated
from the start; changing specifications will be governed
by market conditions; maintenance and support is inherent
to already developed portions and modules of the software. |
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Your IT personnel are likely to
work in conjunction with ours, for the continuing fulfillment
of one or more of the possibilities mentioned above. |
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| Opt for the Onsite IT Staffing Solutions : |
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Software requirements
are likely to be gathered in the shortest possible time
(or only likely to be gathered at all), by consulting
with different locally present ‘department’
heads. |
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The nature of the software and
its associated information (data) is secure in its orientation,
that is, data cannot ‘leave’ client premises. |
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The total number of locally present
IT personnel who are anticipated to work in conjunction
with the FTE resources are more (or much more) than the
total number of deployed FTE resources themselves. (For
example, a locally employed team of ten personnel are
required to work with say, two more FTE resources). |
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Software development requires mandatory
initial training (in which case, an Onsite FTE model can
be succeeded with an Offshore FTE model) or if onsite
training needs to be continuously imparted. |
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| You can also download a document from HERE that further elaborates on how Icreon can help you with your
virtual staffing requirements (both onsite and offshore). |
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IMPORTANT:
Please note that our recommendations
are intended only to serve as guidelines and are by no means,
absolute and/or rigid in their origin or context. |
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| Difference between T&M and FTE |
Although these may seem similar (and in
a few cases, they are similar), T&M and FTE Engagement Models
have a fundamental difference between them.
For engagements under an FTE Engagement Model, the singular
determining aspect or factor is the FTE resources/personnel
who are dedicated to your purposes for a specified duration
of time (typically specified for ‘n’ months and
gradually extended). In other words, the FTE resource so designated
and deployed, execute their roles only for the customer (you)
that they are deployed for.
For engagements under a T&M model, the deliverables hold
more relevance than the personnel who are executing the task.
For example, you may wish to engage with us for 200 hours of
work that involves say, 100 hours of software programming, 50
hours of testing and 50 hours of documentation. However, to
execute these tasks for you, we will likely have separate personnel
for each of these tasks. It is also likely more than one personnel
might execute portions of each of the tasks, especially in situations
where quicker delivery (turn-around) times are required.
In other words, the FTE S is associated with
resources and their output; the T&M Engagement Model is
associated with Materials delivered within specified Time. |
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