Average Number of Services Hours on an Implementation?

matttrax

I've only done a few implementations in my time and wasn't heavily involved in the contract or quoting for them. I'm wondering if some of you could estimate what you think the average number of hours used on services for a new customer would be.

Includes

Development

Business Analysis

Training

Support (Pre and post Go-Live)

Anything else other than software and licensing

It's been a while since I did any kind of implementation for a new customer (I work for an end user now) so your thoughts are greatly appreciated. Thanks.

djswim

There are a TON of factors involved in this...

Development - depends completely on how complex their business needs are and how much development they need. I've seen implementations which require <20 hours of development (mostly small report changes including checks) and I've seen implementations with literally hundreds of hours (800+) for integration with bar coding and conveyor belts and stuff. This may be the most open ended part of all of it.

Business Analysis - Analysis is almost completely a function of what modules they'll be using, but it also depends on complexity. BA by itself rarely takes more than a few weeks (if you can get enough time from the key users in that period, often it's spread out a bit because they have their regular jobs to do as well). I'm going to go ahead and throw setup in here as well, also a function of complexity and how familiar the client is with the product before hand (how much of their own data validation they can do)

Training - Again, depends on the modules. Also, a huge factor here is how willing the staff is to do their own studying and practicing. Training goes a lot quicker if they're working in the base product and have practiced a lot before hand. Then you spend more time answering practical questions as opposed to reading the manuals for them.

Support (Pre and post Go-Live) - Completely up in the air. Some clients like to educate themselves where they're completely self sufficient, and some like to call a couple times a week when they forget something. Has everything to do with the type of client.

Keep in mind, I've implemented NAV in a 2-user environment for a small company before (probably got mis-sold in that case, but it happens), and then on the other end of the spectrum you have companies as big as Ingersoll-Rand using it, so yeah... I think we'd need a TON more detail before even being able to come close to a number/timeline. The entire BA process is there in part to hash this out. Sorry for the non-answer but that's the way it is.

matttrax

Yeah, I know. It's that open ended type of question that I hate asking. And since it's not for any customer in particular I don't have any user counts / really anything to base it off of. ](*,) Oh well, was worth a try.

djswim

Well, is there a certain reason you're asking? If you can give any background at all it would help

Alex_Chow

For a 10 user implementation, it usually takes about 100 to 250 hours. Sorry for the wide range, but it really depends on the requirements, what data are being transferred, etc.

matttrax

Trying to convince company to start selling NAV. We became a partner because we got tired of going through our real partner. Seems like it always takes them forever to do anything (actually this is true of every partner I've ever dealt with, but that's a whole other topic for another day). This way we can actually call Microsoft when we want to buy an add-on, do license changes ourselves, etc.

So now I'm trying to convince them that it would be a good idea to sell NAV. I'm trying to determine break even points based on median salaries v. bill rates, and thus figure out how many new customers we'd need to bring in on a yearly basis.

Don't know if that helps anyone at all.

Alex_Chow

Is your existing company a software company? Or in the software industry? If not, why does your company want to commit resources and money into something that's not their core competency? If software implementation is not your company's forte, you may cause more disruption for your company than trying to save a few bucks without going through your partner. Starting a solution center is quite troublesome..

On the topics of NAV partners, if you're not satisfied with your existing partner, keep changing! This is especially true for finding any right service company. Personally, I've gone through 12 CPAs (yes, I kept count) before finding the right one for our company.

matttrax

Yes, we are a software development and managed services company. We do everything from sharepoint to mobile development to custom applications. We support ourselves as well as several sister companies in the computer hardware industry.

So it's not completely out there. We're not a company that sells womens shoes and decided to sell NAV too