How to estimate efforts for a project? This is a big question every time for many when they get new set of project requirement. Efforts estimation is not enough alone. We also need to do alignment and distribution of hours among the team and carve out the timeline and deliverable's for the project. I always use below simple format to calculate project cost, efforts, timeline, deliverable, effort distribution for dual/single shore mode. Easy and simple format where you can put everything at one place and can be used as a dashboard for management view.
Duration
|
Milestones
|
Deliverable
|
Architect
Onshore
|
UX
Designer
|
SharePoint
Onshore Dev
|
DB
Offshore Dev
|
Offshore
Test
|
Total
Hours
|
Wk-1
|
Analysis
|
40
|
20
|
80
|
||||
-Requirements
Analysis
|
Functional
Spec
|
|||||||
-User
research
|
Design
wireframes
|
|||||||
Wk-2
|
Planning
|
40
|
40
|
20
|
40
|
20
|
170
|
|
-Information
architecture
|
Process
flow Diagram/Site map
|
|||||||
-Finalize
architecture
|
Development
Specs
|
|||||||
Wk 3-7
|
Implementation Phase
|
80
|
40
|
80
|
400
|
200
|
880
|
|
-UI
design
|
UI
Frames
|
|||||||
-Backend
Design
|
Demo
-I
|
|||||||
-Workflow
Design
|
Demo
- II
|
|||||||
-Test
Cases/Test plan
|
Test
Plan
|
|||||||
Wk 8
|
User Acceptance
|
20
|
80
|
40
|
180
|
|||
-User
Documentation
|
User
Guide
|
|||||||
-UAT
Support
|
Helpdesk
Support
|
|||||||
-UAT
Sign off
|
||||||||
Wk 10
|
Product delivery
|
20
|
40
|
20
|
90
|
|||
-Deployment
Instructions
|
Deployment
Guide
|
|||||||
-Deployment
Packaging
|
Deployment Build
|
|||||||
-Code
Hand Off
|
Code
Database
|
|||||||
Hours Total
|
160
|
100
|
140
|
560
|
280
|
1400
|
||
Rate
|
$
|
$
|
$
|
$
|
$
|
$
|
||
Estimated Cost
|
$
|
$
|
$
|
$
|
$
|
$
|
||