In Leadtime, the estimated effort for projects is determined using project components. Project components are templates that contain typical work packages for recurring project types. Each work package has a minimum effort in hours (time frame), which represents the standard effort for this task.

However, as projects rarely run exactly the same way, each work package contains a list of questions. The answers to these questions capture the specific requirements of the respective project. Each answer can increase the basic effort of the work package or leave it unchanged. In this way, the effort is automatically adapted to the individual circumstances.

The result is a precise and comprehensible cost calculation that can be flexibly adapted to different project situations. The next section explains how the cost calculation works using a specific example.

To better understand how the effort calculation works, let's look at the scenario of creating a simple landing page. The aim is to create an appealing, functional website that advertises a product or service. The landing page should lead potential customers to a specific action (e.g. contact or purchase).

A project component called "Create landing page" is used to implement this landing page. This component contains three typical work packages:

Each of these work packages has a basic effort (time frame) and an individual list of questions that adapts the effort according to customer requirements.

This work package includes the development of the basic content and design concept of the landing page.

A minimum effort of 3 hours is set for this - regardless of any customer requirements.

However, there is also a list of questions:

The effort therefore increases if we have to take on this additional conceptual work for the customer. So if we have to develop both a page structure and conversion goals for the customer, the workload for the "Define concept and structure" work package increases from 3 hours to 8 hours.

It works in the same way with the other two work packages:

The visual design of the landing page is created here, taking corporate design and user-friendliness into account.

The minimum time required is 6 hours.

This work package includes the creation of texts and the selection of image material.

The minimum time required is 4 hours.

For a "Create landing page" project, the workload can therefore increase from a minimum of 13 hours to up to 33 hours - depending on which additional services are required.

In this example, we have only used radio buttons in the form so far. However, there are two other form elements that can influence the time required.

Checkboxes are suitable for cases in which several options can be selected at the same time. The selected options are then added to the minimum effort.

The multiplier is a special form element in Leadtime. It is used to calculate the effort for repeated or quantity-dependent tasks. The user specifies how much effort (in hours) is required to process a unit. When filling out the form, the number of units required is then specified. The total effort is calculated by multiplying the unit by the specified effort per unit.

Example:

It is also possible to assign an effort to the other building blocks of project components - namely checklists and acceptance tests. However, only the flat-rate minimum effort is possible here, which must be entered when creating the respective component. The user must therefore estimate how long it is likely to take to work through the checklist or test the test cases.