I have been asked to develop a brand new EDI transaction on a brand new install of webMethods 8.2 that requires getting one EDI document from the FTP server, and splitting that transaction into 3 different files. Two of those will go to a database and the 3rd will be EDI to XML and then I need to FTP that file to a directory. I am the only developer. How do I even begin to estimate how long it would take to develop?

Also, where can I look for information on mapping from an EDI file to an XML file?

Any thoughts?

Thanks guys.

If this is all the info you got from the client .Then i wouldn’t say it as an estimate but considering giving them a ‘guesstimate’ which would take say somewhere from 80 to 200 hours (even more or even less) .And once you get further details then you can start doing some ground work by breaking down each requirement and then work on the estimate .Which still can vary by as much as 20- 30% .

And to your original question ‘How many hours’ i think that is something no one can answer with exact figures because it all depends upon how much knowledge you have and how ready your resources are(people you need to work for proving spec,test data,testing etc) are.

In the past i worked on projects where the project estimate and actual hours varied by 100%.

Hope this helps!
Thank you,
Anil

good question but no straight fwd answer…

I have been asked to develop a brand new EDI transaction on a brand new install of webMethods 8.2 that requires getting one EDI document from the FTP server, and splitting that transaction into 3 different files

My guesstimate is for this kind of programming could take at least at least 4-5 weeks to develop (unit testing)…ofcourse its all depends on mapping complexity,sample files provided,any interface bottle necks etc…should be taking into a separate consideration and estimate total dev hours:

HTH,
RMG