When was the last time you read through every word of a detailed proposal before you skipped straight back to the pricing on the last page? Let's face it. We know you're anxious to see what it's going to cost. We also know you don't like surprises. That's why our professional services team follows a formal estimation process. Sticking to the process may take a little longer up front, but it's worth the wait. Our process helps us consistently provide customers with reliable estimates they can count on. This is what you can expect from PSS before you buy:
Budgetary Estimate
The first estimate we produce for a customer is normally budgetary. That doesn't mean we shoot from the hip and turn something around right away just to keep you interested. We collect a lot of information and crunch many numbers before we provide a budgetary estimate so we (and you) can have a high degree of confidence its bottom line will be within 20% of the final cost. We normally produce a budgetary estimate within 10 business days. If you like what you see, the next step is a Statement of Work.
Statement of Work
A Statement of Work takes the budgetary estimate down to a level of detail that we're willing to commit to. It's no longer an estimate; it's a fixed price based on a detailed set of requirements and a description of the functionality you expect us to deliver. It normally takes about 10 business days to produce a Statement of Work. Because this document will find its way into the contract if you buy from us, it's not unusual to go through a couple of rounds of revisions before its ready for signatures.
How we get there
Before we prepare an estimate for a professional services project, we need to understand your environment. We schedule a requirements discovery session and talk to people from different parts of your organization who may be affected by the project. For many projects the discovery session can be a conference call that lasts a couple of hours. If the project is more complex or it's time for a Statement of Work, we'll typically spend three days on site with your team collecting the information we need.
Requirements discovery
Whether we do this discovery session by phone or on site, we come prepared with detailed sets of questions designed to draw out the information we need so we can do a remarkable job for you. As you might expect, we cover all aspects of the project itself to help us nail down specific requirements. But we also take steps to understand the bigger picture. We'll look at your overall objectives and contact center architecture so we understand how this project fits into it. Most importantly, we'll look at the project from the perspective of the people who will actually use the system- the customers or constituents you serve. We'll examine what they want to achieve, how they will use the system, and what kind of experience they'll have when they use it.
This may seem like a lot of information to collect for an estimate, but the way we see it you're trying to make an important decision. It's worth some extra effort to get it right.
We'll dive into:
- Your overall objectives for the project and your contact center
- User requirements- their needs, how they use the system today, the experience we want to create
- Your overall architecture, pain points, and the way you like to operate
- How multiple sites are linked together and how information passes between them
- What scheduled jobs are running
- What maintenance windows you have
For an IVR project, we'll also look at:
- IVR system architecture
- Source code for existing applications you may want to upgrade or replace
- Call flows and network schemas
- Integrations to back end host systems and databases
- Review SOA plans and current implementation
- Review current user interface
- Reporting requirements and current performance
- We'll double jack with some agents to understand how they handle calls today
For a CTI project we'll also look at:
- Current routing and CTI strategies
- Current agent desktop and softphone implementation
- Workforce management
- Reporting requirements and current performance
- Integrations to back end host systems and databases
- Switch/ACD integrations
- We'll double jack with some agents to understand how they handle calls today
Crunching numbers
After we collect all the information from the requirements discovery, we organize it and start crunching numbers. We think through all of the activities we need to do, and break the work up into modules. We have sizing templates for several kinds of work modules that we've built and improved through years of experience. Out sizing templates take into account things like:
- How many dialog states, host calls, and web services need to be developed
- Complexity of host and switch integration work
- User interface design sessions
- How many routing strategies are needed
- Routing configuration time
- Version compatibility across systems, whether upgrades are necessary and in what order
- Agent desktop or softphone upgrades or reconfiguration
- Time and effort for all levels of testing
- Meeting time and project management effort
Based on what we learn from our sizing templates we will build a project timeline and resource plan that takes into account staffing levels, tasks that can be done in parallel, and contingency planning.
Finally we put together a list of all the technical assumptions we've made along the way. This helps make sure everybody's on the same page and you know exactly what to expect from PSS.
What you'll get
You'll get a document that describes our understanding of the requirements in detail, along with our assumptions, a project timeline, and a price. You will find that PSS puts a lot more effort into both budgetary estimates and Statements of Work than other vendors. We capture more details about a project, and by involving all of the right people in the discovery process we make sure those details reflect the needs of stakeholders across your organization. We also pay more attention to the needs of those who will use your system. When callers have a great experience, you're much more likely to achieve your intended results.
