Bonnie,

Thanks for the info. It seems that the hourly rate model is the norm. I am getting a feel for what is involved.

Thanks,

Jos


>Hi Jos,
>
>When I used to be an independent consultant/contractor, I was in this sitation once. A company hired me to take over an existing Foxpro system for maintenance and modifications. Like your system, it was mainly for reporting purposes ... although the reports were a bit more complicated than sales reports. They were a manufacturing firm and the reports were for the Engineers, so they were mathematically complex. It was fun, I loved it! I fixed a lot of their old reports and created a bunch more new ones. The system used some 3rd party graphing tools, with which I had to become familiar.
>
>They paid me an hourly rate. I basically "owned" the system for a few years ... I had all their source code on my own computers, etc. Whether this is optimal or not, I don't know ... it's how we worked it out. And to be honest, as the contractor, I preferred to be paid hourly, because you never know how long something's going to take until you get real familiar with it (which I did, of course, after a few months ... but we still remained with the hourly pay rate).
>
>~~Bonnie
>
>
>
>>Hi All,
>>
>>I need to get an idea of operatonal / logistical models and costs involved in outsourcing the maintenance and continued future development of an established system that we have.
>>
>>The program is a VFP9 application that uses various 3rd party tools. It uses normal VFP tables to store data. It is primarily an output system, i.e. an application that outputs the results of manupulating data that is stored in the various tables and files. Outputs are in report and charting formating. This is versus a data capturing system such as an accounting or stock control system.
>>
>>I dont think the system is rocket science, in fact I think it's quite a straight forward application. Really nothing very complex. Future enhancements may include convertions to SQL databases (maybe), more reporting outputs, etc.
>>
>>I am new to this aspect of business and have not outsourced anything before. We have hired 3rd party developers but never handed over an existing application for futher and continued development.
>>
>>How does this work normally? What sort of pricing models do companies use? Does it work on retainers or per hour or how? If you want you can email me directly. I am mainly interested to understand how outsourcing would work with you / your company and the types of costs involved.
>>
>>Thanks.
>>
>>UPDATE: Sorry, actually it will be for taking over several systems, not just the one. Various applications will be involved.