Estimating time to write a Crystal 9 report 2

[johnuk1]

Bit hard I know but has anyone developed any guidelines to estimate how long a crystal report will take to build and test. I always seem to under-etimate the time it takes to write a report.

any suggestions?

thanks!

 

[synapsevampire]

It takes precisely 6 hours and 37.34 minutes, or more or less.

If your boss is asking for an exact timeframe, ask him/her how many hours it takes to write an application without supplying details.

They're either very bad at their job, or they've becoming so

Specifics are everything, there are too many externals.

I generally state 2 days per report so that I can perform discovery, create the report and provide documentation.

Sometimes they take 1 hour, sometimes I have to write sophisticated Stored Procedures that alone can take a week of discovery/test.

-k

 

[DallasAggie]

Personally, I give three time-frames to end users

(1) Simple - basic table read from database with little to no formatting = 3 hours

(2) Medium - creating views/stored procedures, handful of formulas, running totals, minimal groupings, etc. = 12 hours

(3) Complex - creating complex stored procedures (e.g., manual crosstab, temp tables, etc), multiple formulas, running totals with lots of groups that show/not show depnding on current view, etc. 24-36 hours.

The best way to figure out how to categorize is to know your datasourse, your DBA's skills and availability (if you rely on a DBA), and know your end users requirments. When they draw you a picture on a napkin, it looks simple enough, but when you start digging into the data, it could turn out to be a nightmare.

Hope this helps...

DallasAggie