online post production service bureau

filmposting,

I am currently working on a ordering system for a new CD-ROM we are producing it enables customers to add all the items they wish to purchase to a shopping basket and then quantitiy, weight, shipping, handling etc. are taken into account, invoices produced, fax,post or internet orders can be taken and works very nicely.  Has taken about 1 month full time to complete the entire front end system having bought in the guts of the shopping basket and then extensively tweaked and extended the features to provide exactly what I wanted.

Charges for this type of work are upto the individual or company. I usually quote for work like this by the job with the provision for adding extra should the project definition be altered considerably by the contractor (you) during the life of the project.

Where are you based, doesn't make all that much difference just that if you were in the UK it would be easier to meet personally and discuss but e-mail and telephone are just a sgood.

You can e-mail me at tmunday@pcmaritime.co.uk.

Trevor.

I understand that the contents of the order form I wrote about are very non-specific, and thus putting a time frame for completing an unqualified job would be an unreasonable request. I do, however, need better criteria to help guide me in projecting a preliminary construction budget. Some kind of reasonable, researched estimate, obviously  with some margin for error, is a necessity prior to raising any funds to move forward.

That being the reality here, I  need quoteable dollar figures whether they be daily or weekly wages and materials (if any), and actual examples of the cost to complete a particular order form  that is already on-line and working.  Thank you. And if you would like the opportunity to do the job, please offer a reference who you worked through on the project.

Thank You.

filmposting (bit too formal isn't it?),

I appreciate your need to provide some figures.  You are however only going to be able to provide a guide at this moment in time.  I would expect from your description that the project would take about 1 months man hours to complete.  Of course this would be on top of any research and design ideas which you would need to come up with in order to provide a project outline.

The system would require a shopping basket system (as mentioned ealier) which would be easier and cheaper to buy in (about $350) than to develop from scratch (about $5,000).  Unless you already have a secure server for processing transactions that would be another cost which depending upon who you go for could be anything between $400 - $1000 per year.  If I were to take on the job I would expect to be paid $2,000 for the work subject to complexity of requirements, time constraints and overall project time.

The project I have been working on will not be available on-line for a few months as in the first instance it is being put on a CD-ROM, I can however e-mail the finished product to you for your evaluation.  Might I suggest visting: www.pcmaritime.co.uk , which will give you a good guide to my current work. In particular: www.pcmaritime.co.uk/comm which is the most recent site which the others will soon follow.

If you would like a reference from someone else who worked on the CD project with me then please feel free to e-mail David Hazzard (dave@dhazz.demon.co.uk).

Trevor.

That information helps enormously. The shopping basket system, is this what you're talking about sending as a preview? And when it is available, who is the vendor? How easy is it to customize for my needs. Oh,and as a preliminary site just to give the basic concept for the service bureau, GTE offers a free site with my other e-mail address, and I created a VERY simplistic one at http://home1.gte.net/jharsted/index.htm. It will give you a sense of the size of order form I'm talking about. Just consider the specifics associated with each service listed as offered. It's actually the research for the company rate card and order form that presents the most work.

Again, thank you for getting back to me so quickly. I look forward to seeing your work on the net as my next piece of business.

filmposting,

The shopping basket system is the preview I was referring to. It will be available by the end of this week and I will e-mail you a version of the system when it is complete.  Alternatively I can post you a CD to you can see the overall result.

Looking at the web address you gave me I think that what you have in mind would fit very well into the Shopping basket approach.  The system I am referring to is fairly straigh forward (things are never easy) to customise for your needs, it would need alot more code on the selection pages to take into account the calculations you mentioned in your previous comments though.

I look forward to hearing from you soon.  Should you wish to continue this discussion by e-mail then my e-mail address is tmunday@pcmaritime.co.uk

Trevor.

filmposting,

Whats happening? Have you taken Polemic's offer?  Was this question autograded (if it was it didn't leave it open for very long)?

Did you receive the demo OK?

Trevor.

Trevor:

I've been away in Seattle on vacation, and just returned this evening. I did receive the demo, but haven't had a chance to look it over as yet. With regards to Polemic's offer, I merely looked it over, but accepted nothing. Please be patient. As I mentioned, I'm putting together a tremendous amount of information currently for the site, but am not in a  position to commit to anything financially at present. You have been very helpful, which is to say, as your shopping basket in theory is what I'm looking for, I see no reason to look further. Thank you for your patience, and I'm gathering the information you asked for.

Regards,  Filmposting

filmposting,

Hope you had a good holiday.  My reason for asking if you had accepted Polemic's offer was because I received an email from EE saying it had been graded but I assume that was the autograder. If you experience any difficulties with the demo then please let me know. I look forward to working with you in the future.

Trevor.

Filmposting:

If you were looking to buy a car would you take the first one with four wheels, headlights and brakes?  By all means evaluate the offers made here but I would suggest you look as widely as possible at all the options - Cut'n'Paste Javascript at http://www.infohiway.com/javascript/indexf.htm has a few very good scripts you could customise yourself if you wanted to learn a little Javascript, for instance.  And it has the benefit of being free.  It would not do everything you want (unless you know enough to customise it completely) but would get you started so you could see how demand went.  http://www.sybex.com also has a very good script, from the book "ABCs of Javascript".

If your budget is limited it is important you get the most for your money.  Again, I invite you to contact polemic@polemic.net so you have a comparison.