Foundation Database Systems

Foundation Database Systems works on a retainer basis. Clients purchase a non-refundable, pre-determined number of hours and FDS invoices against those pre-paid hours. The minimum purchase is 20 hours (exceptions are sometimes made for unusual circumstances, or if we are simply analyzing an existing system). Hours do not expire and can be used at any time. Retainers must be replenished for work to continue after pre-paid hours have been used.

FDS charges $100 per hour.

It has been our experience that first-time prospective clients are sometimes surprised by the hourly rates of professional FileMaker (and other database) developers. Industry rates run from a low of $50 per hour (rare) to a high of $185 (also rare). As in any industry, you get what you pay for. FDS's rates reflect our ability to get the work done quickly and efficiently.

As in all businesses, programmers may occasionally have an off-day. If at any time we believe insufficient progress has been made on a project to justify the hours on a time slip, we will adjust the number of hours invoiced against your retainer to reflect the amount of work actually accomplished. We also do not bill for time a programmer spends getting up to speed in an area of programming knowledge with which it can reasonably be expected he should already be familiar.

What else should I know?

Each day, FDS provides one or more time slips via email detailing the work done that day. We also send a once-weekly invoice against your retainer for the week's work.

In addition, we hold a review of your project with you at least once a week (more often if you request it or we need additional feedback), and we will email or FTP each build of your project as it is completed (usually several times per week).

We operate on a work-for-hire basis. All files, passwords and documentation are the property of you the client and will always be delivered on demand. The only exception to this is that software or passwords may be witheld if there is an unpaid balance for work already done.

Clients may discontinue and/or resume work at any time. You are never under any obligation to complete or continue a project or provide any additional funds beyond your pre-paid retainer.

Pre-paid hours can be used for any project at any time. It's up to you.

You are always completely in charge and kept up to speed. We never forget that this is your project.

How long will my project take?

This question usually follows quickly on the heels of "what are your rates". The rate question is easy to answer. This one isn't. There isn't any way that we can provide an accurate estimate of the number of hours the project will take until we've had a chance to plan your project. Like trying to estimate the cost of building a house when there is no blueprint or indication of how many rooms or floors the house will require, we cannot give you an estimate of the number of hours it will take to build your database until we have a design (blueprint) for that database.

When building a house, you must first pay the architect for a blueprint of the house you want, then get an estimate from the builder.

In the case of your custom software, we are both the architect and the builder. We can usually give you a rough idea of approximate time/cost near the outset of our discussions, but this will be nothing more than an educated guess until we are able to approach an accurate blueprint.

Can I sell my software to other businesses in the same industry?

Many clients find they can recover the cost of development by marketing their software to competing companies.

The software we create for you is yours to do with as you please. However, if you are going to market the software as a vertical market product, it will probably have to be built somewhat differently to have the greatest chance of success, and will no doubt take more time to do so.

Let us know if you have vertical market intentions for your software so we can design with that in mind from the outset. The more tempting we can make your software to potential buyers, the more of your development costs will be recovered.

Can you fix or update the FileMaker database(s) I already have?

The answer is almost always yes, but often there are practical issues.

Very frequently, it makes more sense to build a new solution from scratch if your existing software contains sufficiently egregious design flaws such that attempting to fix them would require more time and effort than simply starting fresh.

We sometimes find that the previous developer of existing software has designed himself into a corner. When this has happened, a simple and reasonable request for an extra feature or two may be impossible under the circumstances.

We will always recommend the best and most cost-effective manner in which to proceed. The more money we save you, the better we look.

Are bug fixes free?

No.

No custom software development house anywhere fixes bugs for free, because bugs are not mistakes. They are part of the development process, and a large part at that. In fact, as much as half the time spent on a development project can be devoted to work that could technically be classified as bug fixing.

All software contains bugs, especially while in development. A bug is really just an unaccounted-for detour in software behavior. It is something to which the programmer has simply not yet attended.

Most publishers of shrink-wrapped software provide their customers with free bug-fix releases from time to time. (We provide free bug-fix updates to our AutoNavigator product.) This leads newcomers to custom software development to think that bug fixes should also be free for them. Such is not the case.

Bug fixes are always paid for by the person or company contracting for software development. In the case of shrink-wrapped software this is the publisher, who is essentially paying himself (actually, his programmers' salaries). In the case of custom software, it is you, the client.

Are other services free?

No.

What we have to sell is our time. We bill at our regular rate against your retainer for all time spent on your project, whether it is time spent coding, examining your existing system, talking with you on the phone or just planning the next step. We do customarily charge less than our regular hourly rate for travel time and frequently do not bill for time communicating with you prior to the official start of your project (when you write that first check). However, time billed at a reduced rate, or not billed at all, is strictly a courtesy we choose to extend (we do so quite often), but we are under no obligation to extend such courtesies to any client.

We reserve the right to reverse any decision regarding unbilled time and/or reduced rate time. In the case of a billing dispute or failure to pay an outstanding invoice, all unbilled time and/or reduced rate time shown on any time slip or invoice will revert to full billing at our discretion.

Who will I be dealing with?

Each project has a project director. You will almost always deal directly with him/her. In some cases, the project director is also your programmer. All project-related communications are through the project director, though during reviews, the programmer (or lead programmer if there is more than one) may also be available.

You may receive a call from a programmer from time-to-time if he has a simple question that is best answered by you directly. However, please direct your communications to the project director, rather than the programmer (programming is an intensive creative process and interruptions cost us time and you money). Most communications must be logged and it is the project director's job to do this. He is also the person who must track your bug reports, change requests, etc.

In most cases the project director will be David Kachel, the owner of FDS. David also writes all of our freely-downloadable papers and files and is the author of our popular AutoNavigator product. In addition, David is the project director for our SOS services.

In all cases, David is available to you at any time during regular business hours, for any reason.

You're in a different location from us. How can you effectively handle our project?

Most of our clients are from other States (Utah's population is quite small) or countries. In fact, most FileMaker developers work remotely. This is possible because of the high-speed internet connections most businesses currently enjoy.

We find we can work quite effectively from a remote location. Voice communications over the internet plus the ability to control your computer remotely (with software like Timbuktu) are now sufficiently sophisticated that there is no difference between being on different sides of the world or in the same city. We also work remotely with most of our clients who are in the same city.

It is increasingly rare for there to be a reason to travel to a client's location. However, we are always happy to do so if the need arises.

What do I need to give FDS to get started?

At the start of your project, you will get a lot of requests from the project director for information. You will be asked for copies of all the paper forms you use, including completed example copies. We will need whatever software you are currently using, complete with data, and will have to talk repeatedly with you and your employees about how these items are currently used and what you expect the new software to do. We will also need to interview employees about how they perform their jobs so that we can design the software to conform with the way work is actually done.

In addition, we will need detailed information about your computer hardware and network setup so that we can make recommendations for possible upgrades you may need for your new software to run most efficiently.

To put it simply, in order to create software that will be effective and efficient, we need to know as much about your business, or at least the relevant portions of your business, as you do. This takes time and a lot of interaction.

What documentation can I expect to get from FDS?

During the initial information gathering and design phases of the project, you will receive quite a bit of documentation from us. The purpose of this documentation is to communicate to you exactly what we are doing and why, and to insure that we completely understand in detail what it is you require us to create for you.

This documentation is vital to the success of your project. Research has shown that most failed software projects can be traced back to a lack of proper preparation and design. The more carefully planned and documented a project, the more swiftly it can be brought to successful completion. The paperwork involved is never an extra expense. It is always a big time and money saver!

Every project is different and therefore some of the paperwork that is customarily required may not be necessary for your project. However, the documents you can expect to receive from us as a general rule are:

Existing System : (a description of how the relevant tasks are currently being performed)
Requirements Analysis : (a description of what you require the new software to be able to do)
Use-Case Analysis : (a description of how each job classification will interact with the software)
Design Specifications : (a description in layman's terms of how the software will be designed)
Technical Specifications : (a description in technical terms of how the software will be built)
User's Manual : (self-explanatory; but we strive to make our software sufficiently simple to use that only a very short manual is required, if at all)

Additional documentation may be provided depending on the unique nature of your project.

It should be noted that some of the aforementioned documents are evolving documents. They will change as the project progresses and you will receive new updated versions of each as they become available.

What if I decide I want to switch to another firm?

No problem. Should you decide for any reason that you prefer to continue your project with another firm, we will gladly provide them with all the materials and documentation we have and even take the time to bring them up to speed. We want our clients to be happy, even if they decide they would be happier somewhere else.

Time spent orienting another developer with your project is charged at our normal rates, billed against your retainer balance.

We should note that because most every project we build uses our AutoNavigator product, the new firm would have to purchase AutoNavigator ($150), if they do not already have it, to avoid violating our copyright.

If you have any additional questions, please feel free to call (432-386-2121) or email us
( support@foundationdbs.com ) at any time. We look forward to working with you on your project.

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