Fixed Duration/Cost
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.
Opt for the Fixed Duration Engagement Model if:
- The anticipated duration of the project is low.
- Requirements are not likely to change during the development process.
- The requirement is for a Business-to-Customer (B2C) venture and perhaps starting on a low scale/key.
- Enhancements to features and functions are likely to follow only after project implementation and not during the development process.
- Software implementation is governed by ‘extremely’ tight budgetary and financial constraints.
Time and Materials (T&M)
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.
Opt for the Time & Materials Engagement Model if:
- Requirements, features and specifications for the software being developed, are likely to evolve at any stage during project development.
- The anticipated duration of the project cannot be estimated (or if estimating a fixed duration for the project can lead to counter-productive results).
- Between the two, ‘Getting it right’ is more important than ‘Getting it right on time’.
- Substantial architecture-level and structural changes are likely to occur while the software solution is being developed.
- 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).