"How much will it cost?"
The client asks one question before anything else: how much will it cost, and is it worth it?
A good answer is not a guess. It is a list: what you need, how many, and what each one costs. Then a total you can defend.
Key words
| Word | What it means | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Licence | a paid permission to use software for a time | |
| Material | something used up or bought for the job | a software licence |
| Physical resource | a thing you need to hold or use, such as a laptop or a room | |
| Personnel | the people who work on the project | an analyst |
| Day rate | what one person costs for one day of work | |
| Contingency | extra money kept for surprises | |
| Affordable | the client can pay for it | |
| Viable | worth doing, because the gains are bigger than the cost over time |
The cells students fill in are left blank in this preview.
By the end of this lesson
Note
I can list and add up the costs of a data project, and say if it is affordable and viable.
Starter
Have a go
Starter
3 questionsYour answers are marked here and are not kept. A college account keeps every student’s marks.
This is practice
Important
The real task comes from the exam board. This lesson uses an invented organisation and its own made-up data. Your teacher tells you how the real tasks are set and what you may bring.
Three kinds of cost
Materials are bought and used up: a licence for one month, a printed guide.
Physical resources are things you use: a hired laptop, a meeting room.
Personnel are people. Their cost is the number of days times the day rate.
Write every item on a list with a quantity and a price for one.
Worked example: Brightfield Home Cover
| Item | Kind | How many | Cost of one | Line total |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Analyst | Personnel | 6 days | £180 | £1,080 |
| Tester | Personnel | 3 days | £150 | £450 |
| Laptop hire | Physical | 20 laptop days | £8 | £160 |
| Software licence | Material | 1 month | £45 | £45 |
| Printed guide | Material | 20 copies | £2 | £40 |
| Total | £1,775 |
The cells students fill in are left blank in this preview.
Run it: add up a cost list
items = [["Analyst", 6, 18000], ["Tester", 3, 15000], ["Laptop hire", 20, 800], ["Licence", 1, 4500], ["Guide", 20, 200]]
total = 0
for item in items:
line = item[1] * item[2]
print(item[0], line, "pence")
total = total + line
print("Total", total, "pence")Worked example: add a contingency
| Step | Working | Answer |
|---|---|---|
| Cost so far | The total above | £1,775 |
| Contingency of 10% | 10 out of every 100 pounds. £1,775 divided by 10 | £177.50 |
| Total to ask for | £1,775 plus £177.50 | £1,952.50 |
The cells students fill in are left blank in this preview.