How to scope a software build and choose a provider

Write the scope before you ask for a price

A price compares with another price only when both cover the same written scope. A request for a quote that says only "a portal with payments" returns numbers that differ because each provider assumed a different product. A fixed price is only as firm as the scope it prices, so the scope comes first.

A scope that a provider can price has seven parts.

• What the software has to do, and for whom.
• What is left out of the first release.
• The architecture and the data model.
• Every system it connects to, and what each of those systems allows. The connections decide much of what a build costs.
• A phased delivery plan.
• The risks and who carries each one.
• An estimate with the hours for each role.

Send the same scope to each provider you approach, and ask each to list what the price includes and what it assumes.

Questions to ask any provider

These questions apply to any provider, including National Digital. Ask them in writing, and compare the answers side by side.

1. Who writes the code, and will you speak to them? Ask whether a reseller or an implementation partner sits between you and the engineers.
2. What does the price include, and does it include GST? Ask for the exclusions in writing, as well as the inclusions.
3. Is the number a range, an estimate or a quote? A range is an indication. A quote is an offer that holds for stated work.
4. What assumptions does the price rest on? Ask what happens to the price when one of them proves wrong.
5. Who owns the code, the infrastructure configuration and the documentation when the work ends? Ownership is a clause in the agreement, so read it before you sign.
6. How is the work delivered and tested? Staged delivery lets you see working software before the next stage is paid for.
7. How is a change to the scope priced and agreed? The rule should exist before the first change request arrives.
8. Where will it be hosted, and in whose account? An account in your name means you can move providers without a migration of the hosting.
9. Who supports it after launch, and what does that cost each month? The running cost belongs in the comparison next to the build cost.
10. What does the contract say about liability, exit and getting your data out? Standard-form business contracts carry protections against unfair terms, and a clause that limits exit is worth raising early.

How National Digital answers

National Digital designs, builds, hosts and supports the platforms it delivers, with no reseller, systems integrator or implementation partner between the client and the engineers writing the code. National Digital begins work from a written statement of what is to be built and what done means. National Digital prices work other than the Technology Roadmap, the Platform Health Check, the Product Development Plan and the AI Automation Assessment by the hour, or as a monthly retainer or service. Every price National Digital publishes is in Australian dollars and excludes GST. A price range from National Digital is an indication and is not a quote.

Price a scope before you commit

The project estimator returns a range for a project type in two minutes. The same calculation is available to an AI assistant as the estimate_project tool, described on the agents page. The custom software cost guide sets the published bands side by side, with team days.

The Product Development Plan turns a range into a written scope. It costs $3,950 (Product Development Plan), ex GST, and produces the scope, the architecture, an inventory of every integration, a delivery plan, a risk register and an estimate for the build in MVP and full options, with the hours for each role. The pack is yours to keep, whoever builds the software.