Time and Material Business Engagement Model for Software-Web Application Development-Overview and Benefits

For any software and web development company, it is very much required to decide what kind of business model should be offered to clients for developing software or web application projects. At present, there are various engagement models being offered by companies and Time and Material is one such model that has been widely used by various IT and software companies across the globe.

Time and Material business engagement model has become the one of the most popular pricing model among the offshore software and web development companies that provides greater flexibility to manage entire development efforts and resources. In many cases, due to less information about the exact requirement of project, it becomes difficult to do accurate estimation of total cost, resources and effort that is required to complete the project. In this case, Time and Material pricing model becomes attractive option for companies at the time of signing contract with the client. In a broader term, Time and Material is kind of pricing model that is used for those projects which does not have defined scope, specifications and execution plan at the initial stage of its development.

This model becomes preferred option in various situations such as, (1) If project does not have clearly defined requirement. (2) If the project has frequent design and development changes with each development phase. (3) If the duration of completion of project is not clearly defined. (4) If the project is of large scale and has more complexity. (5) If the new emerging technology is being used for developing the project etc.

Under this model, the billing is done on hourly basis and client pays on the basis of the number of hours spent on completion of particular phase of project. A detailed report that consists of number of hours spent on each task within the project, are provided to client for review and then the billing is done accordingly. This type of engagement model follows best practices of software development methodologies such as agile development methodology and the entire project is divided into different phases and each phase consists of certain tasks with defined timeline. It follows all major SDLC timelines. Company and client work with hand-in-hand approach where client can define the priority of tasks and monitor each phase of development with greater flexibility. In order to have smooth execution of project, company forms a project team consists of a project managers, account managers along with other team members, infrastructure based upon the project requirements. This model provides flexibility to make the balance in team size and workloads related to project. 

The costing of project depends upon the project team size, time and efforts of each team member given to assigned tasks of a development phase. Before finalizing the costing, client needs to provide scope of the project with estimated time line. The payment schedule depends upon the duration of a phase and could be monthly or weekly basis as per contract’s terms and conditions.

As a broader benefit, unlike the Fixed Price and Time Model, Time and Material Engagement Model provides more flexibility to client in terms of modifying the project specifications and deliverable based upon the changing market requirements. Apart from this, client has more control over implementation and cost occurred in developing the project.

Offshore Supply Chain Management Software Development-Overview and Benefits

For any product based company, it is very much required to make products available to target customers with ease. Therefore, an effective supply chain management system becomes one of the most critical processes for effective distribution of goods and services across the different distribution channels.

In general, Supply Chain Management is a process under which the distribution process of goods or services from the supplier to the end users are executed and managed by defined processes and people. During the whole supply chain management there are various processes and activities through which raw materials and natural resources are transformed into finished goods and further distributed to the end users. It is a continuous process in which the co-ordination and communication among different channels such as manufacturer, distributors, and end customers are done.

Completion of defined tasks in given timeline and providing the delivery of goods or service without compromising the quality, are prime objectives of the effective supply chain process. Considering the complexity of distribution process, the need of supply chain management software arises. An effective SCM Software provides range of features and benefits and helps companies to manage entire business cycle starting from the sourcing of raw materials to distribution to end customers. Implementation of automated supply chain management adds value to whole business system and helps companies to streamline the complex distribution process with lower cost and to improve the productivity and efficiency into its operations.

There are various useful features and benefits of custom supply chain management software though which companies can make all related processes automated. Features such as Procurement Management, Inventory Management system, Warehouse Management System, Purchase Order Management, Order Processing and Tracking, Invoicing, Billing Management, Information and Data Exchange System and Logistic Management etc. It provides various tools and features through which analysis can be done to make predictions and estimations for future requirements related to business. It consists of features through which analysis can be done for demand, supply, costing, and completion measures. There could be various kind of supply chain management software available which are used by companies of different industries and that depends up-on the business requirements.

In order to fulfill the current demand of SCM software across the industry verticals, software and web development companies are providing custom supply chain software solutions. Apart from desktop supply chain software, online supply chain web applications are also in demand across the globe.  There are various technologies through which custom supply chain management software development can be done. PHP, .NET, Open Source Technologies such as Joomla, Drupal etc. are one of the most common technologies that are being used for the software and web application development.

In today’s highly competitive market, a company that deals in goods and services needs to have streamlined process with effective implementation of technology and therefore, offshore supply chain management software development has become one of the most important aspects among all the business processes.