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Cross Tabulations
Cross Tabulations - Cost Escalations, Reasons Why?
In tabulations, scope can change very easily. Changes can come after the first delivery of tabs or while the project is in development phase. Here are some of the most common reasons for change in scope.
Why would tabulations scope change
(leading to price escalation and timeline delays)?
In tabulations, scope can change very easily. Changes can come after the first delivery of tabs or while the project is in development phase. Some of the most common reasons for change in scope are…
- • Length of interview – Survey length is a key factor in defining the cost for tabulations. Any change in survey length has a
direct impact on costing. - • Requests received post delivery of initial set – Once the first set of tables have been delivered, any changes that impact the
original syntax will have cost implications. E.g., adding new banners, summary tables, grid tables summarized - • Filtered tables – Running iterations of tables based on global filters, e.g., running entire set on those purchasing brand X.
Depending on number of such iterations, scope would change. - • Formatting – Specific / custom formatting requirements for tables will require development of Visual Basic (VB) based
formatting macros. Such formatting macros require development and are handled by the development team (not tabs
team). - • Banner definitions – Changes in banner definitions, depending on complexity, example of such changes are
• Addition/Removal of banners within the existing banner plan - • Change(s) in definition of banner points
- • New banner requests
- • Multi country – projects that require separate set of tables delivered for each country. These require changes to the syntax,
quality control time, number of sets delivered. - • Multi country survey with each country it’s own data file – such projects will escalate cost exponentially as each file will
require it’s own syntax development, own quality control, own set of deliveries run at individual time (as countries close field
work) and change implementation at country level - • File format changes (including variable names) – tracker studies or projects where interim data set was used to build syntax
are susceptible to price and delivery timeline escalations if the file format and/or variable names change between waves
and file deliveries (interim vs. final). Due to changes in the file structure and/or variable names, the existing syntax (no longer
usable) needs to be modified or rewritten. This also causes issues with quality control as QC process also needs to be
modified or rebuilt. - • Trending – In tracker studies, if the client requests trending to be added midway. Trending is a complex process whereby
the syntax development of the project is done in a completely different manner, changing non trending tracker project to
trending would require complete rebuild of the syntax. Additionally, all previous wave files have to be maintained in one
comprehensive (merged) format, requiring effort and time. - • Excessive changes – Projects which requiring excessive changes (beyond the hour included in initial price).
- Excessive changes are an indication that client did not thoroughly review the requirements (research objectives) before
building the banner plan. - • Weighting – Addition of weighting requirements midway.
- • New/Revised data files – requirement of running tables on new data files or revised data files will lead to cost escalations.
New files may require changes to the syntax (if format and/or variables names change), additional time to QA. - • Custom Grid Tables – Requirements of building highly custom tables would require modification or creation of new
syntaxes, plus the additional QA time. Objective should be to get an much information as possible with the initial request, this ensures the syntax is built out to support such requests and avoids cost escalations.
Why would tabulations scope change
(leading to price escalation and timeline delays)?
In tabulations, scope can change very easily. Changes can come after the first delivery of tabs or while the project is in development phase. Some of the most common reasons for change in scope are…
- • Length of interview – Survey length is a key factor in defining the cost for tabulations. Any change in survey length has a direct impact on costing.
- • Requests received post delivery of initial set – Once the first set of tables have been delivered, any changes that impact the original syntax will have cost implications. E.g., adding new banners, summary tables, grid tables summarized
- • Filtered tables – Running iterations of tables based on global filters, e.g., running entire set on those purchasing brand X. Depending on number of such iterations, scope would change.
- • Formatting – Specific / custom formatting requirements for tables will require development of Visual Basic (VB) based formatting macros. Such formatting macros require development and are handled by the development team (not tabs team).
- • Banner definitions – Changes in banner definitions, depending on complexity, example of such changes are
• Addition/Removal of banners within the existing banner plan - • Change(s) in definition of banner points
- • New banner requests
- • Multi country – projects that require separate set of tables delivered for each country. These require changes to the syntax, quality control time, number of sets delivered.
- • Multi country survey with each country it’s own data file – such projects will escalate cost exponentially as each file will require it’s own syntax development, own quality control, own set of deliveries run at individual time (as countries close field work) and change implementation at country level
- • File format changes (including variable names) – tracker studies or projects where interim data set was used to build syntax are susceptible to price and delivery timeline escalations if the file format and/or variable names change between waves and file deliveries (interim vs. final). Due to changes in the file structure and/or variable names, the existing syntax (no longer usable) needs to be modified or rewritten. This also causes issues with quality control as QC process also needs to be modified or rebuilt.
- • Trending – In tracker studies, if the client requests trending to be added midway. Trending is a complex process whereby the syntax development of the project is done in a completely different manner, changing non trending tracker project to trending would require complete rebuild of the syntax. Additionally, all previous wave files have to be maintained in one comprehensive (merged) format, requiring effort and time.
- • Excessive changes – Projects which requiring excessive changes (beyond the hour included in initial price).
- Excessive changes are an indication that client did not thoroughly review the requirements (research objectives) before building the banner plan.
- • Weighting – Addition of weighting requirements midway.
- • New/Revised data files – requirement of running tables on new data files or revised data files will lead to cost escalations.
New files may require changes to the syntax (if format and/or variables names change), additional time to QA. - • Custom Grid Tables – Requirements of building highly custom tables would require modification or creation of new
syntaxes, plus the additional QA time. Objective should be to get an much information as possible with the initial request, this ensures the syntax is built out to support such requests and avoids cost escalations.
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