[AccessD] Re: Job posting

...I too learned the hard way not to bid fixed price on data migration
...there are ALWAYS "gotcha's" hidden in there that you never see until it
upchucks all over you ...and your budget :(

William Hindman
So, then, to every man his chance -- to every man, regardless of his birth,
his shining golden opportunity -- to every man his right to live, to work,
to be himself, to become whatever his manhood and his vision can combine to
make him -- this, seeker, is the promise of America.
-- Thomas Wolfe



----- Original Message ----- 
From: "John Colby" <jcolby at colbyconsulting.com>
To: "Access Developers discussion and problem solving"
<accessd at databaseadvisors.com>
Sent: Sunday, August 17, 2003 4:22 PM
Subject: RE: [AccessD] Re: Job posting


> Mary,
>
> Unfortunately this brings up another very important point that few small
> companies think about or understand, which is that "doing it yourself"
can,
> in the end, cost you several times what it would have cost to hire a
> professional to do it to begin with.  The reason is simple, a company's
data
> is where the value is.  Once the company decides to call in a professional
> to "fix" or rebuild a database (do it right), they have often accumulated
so
> much data that it would be very expensive to "migrate" that data.  But
they
> often feel they can't "not do" the migration.  So instead of 3 or 4 months
> to build a correctly designed system, they now face 3 or 4 months to
rebuild
> the system, plus additional time (usually a BUNCH) to get the old data out
> of the old system and into the new.  Plus time to work in parallel to do
the
> testing, plus...
>
> In fact I "lost my shirt" on my very first Access db for this very reason.
> I estimated 180 hours for the base system, and I came in right on  that
> estimate.  But I estimated 30 hours to migrate the data.  It actually took
> me several times that long.  I now make it a point to NEVER bid the
> migration.  It is "time and material".  In fact, many times I recommend
that
> they hire a person or two to re-key the data since that can be less
> expensive than hiring me to build a migration system to do the data
> migration.  If the data is huge though, that option goes out the window.
>
> I do this "fix my system" thing all of the time and it is NEVER pleasant -
> for me or the client.
>
> John W. Colby
> www.colbyconsulting.com
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: accessd-bounces at databaseadvisors.com
> [mailto:accessd-bounces at databaseadvisors.com]On Behalf Of Mary Davis
> Sent: Sunday, August 17, 2003 1:48 PM
> To: accessd at databaseadvisors.com
> Subject: [AccessD] Re: Job posting
>
>
>
>
> William,
> You've hit a important note below: yes, we are hard pressed to know how
> Access can be better used along with our other software.  Web use;
> blended with our accounting system; made usable for off-site employees.
>   We are a small company with very little expertise with *any* of our
> software.  Our IT department is one guy who is also the "plant manager."
>   It all puts him in a *very* bad mood once in a while.
> "Small business software consultant" vs. Access developer.  We'll take
> one of each, thanks very much.
>
> > Re: [AccessD] Job posting
> > From:
> > "William Hindman" <wdhindman at bellsouth.net>
> >
> > Mary
> >
> > ...thanks for posting ...
> >
> > ...btw, ime most any pure "Access" problem can be handled quite well by
a
> > remote developer ...but most small businesses tend to be dependent upon
a
> > computer guru rather than just an Access guru ...they need someone they
> can
> > build a relationship with on site that can set down with them and look
at
> > their problems through their eyes ...and if that means solving some
> network
> > or other application problems along with handling your database ones,
well
> > that's what small business software consultants do best :)
>
>
> --
> Mary Davis
> Wilmington, DE
>
>
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