There are a variety of paid services available to help you get the most of your Concourse deployment. This article outlines the services available and provides guidelines regarding how clients can expect to utilize these services during their implementation.
Available Services
Consulting: This covers the sharing of advice and working on client specific project management tasks. This may include, but is not limited to, creation of an implementation strategy, workflow analysis, template design, crafting of technical requirement, and research.
Training: Online and on-site training can be used to educate instructors and administrators on how to best utilize Concourse.
Administration: This refers to database-level modifications and manipulations that only Intellidemia can perform.
Custom Development: The most expensive of our services, custom development is used for introducing new functionality to the system. All custom development needs to be scoped, quoted, and incorporated into a Statement of Work (SOW). Since custom development is client-specific and must be managed on an individual basis, clients typically pay an annual fee for the maintenance of the custom development thereafter.
Coordinated Development: This takes into consideration whether a requested feature is aligned with the product pipeline. If so, a steep discount is provided, though it should also be expected that you have less control over the specifications of the feature. In most cases, a happy medium can be achieved. An example would be enhancements to our audit capabilities (hint hint).
In general, most of these services must be at the request of, and signed off by, the project manager. As a rule of thumb, service delivery totaling less than $500 monthly will not require a specific Statement of Work (SOW), though written or electronic commitment must still be provided.
Allocation of Service Time
A key to understanding service needs is understanding how service and support is typically allocated throughout a Concourse implementation. The following chart exemplifies service hour allocation clients may expect during their implementation. This information can help you determine just how much assistance you may require during your implementation, as well as how you can do to keep your service costs on target.
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Phase |
Responsibilities |
Notes |
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Client:
Intellidemia:
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Planning can take weeks for clients who are not well- organized or prepared. Additional phone calls may be necessary for consultation which adds to the total time on task. Typically clients allocate about 10% of their service and support hours to implementation planning. |
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(Does not apply to Concourse Lite) |
Client:
Intellidemia:
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The likelihood of subsequent meetings increases as more time passes between the initial training call and the actual creation of the templates. This phase can take several weeks for clients who are not prepared. Typically clients allocate about 35% of their service and support hours to template design. |
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Client:
Intellidemia:
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Subsequent calls may be necessary during this phase, the likelihood of which increases as more time passes between phases.
Typically clients allocate about 10% of the service and support hours to administration. |
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Client:
Intellidemia:
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Additional calls may be necessary during this phase for training and consultation. This may add to the amount of time necessary to complete all associated work. Integration can take weeks for clients who are not well-organized or prepared.
Clients typically allocate about 30% of their service and support time to integration work. |
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Client:
Intellidemia:
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The likelihood of subsequent calls and meetings during this phase increases if clients are not prepared for deployment. This adds to the time necessary to complete the related work.
Typically clients allocate about 10% of their service and support time to deployment. |
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Client:
Intellidemia:
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Clients should not underestimate the importance of this phase. Planning for system maintenance can decrease the service and support costs necessary to transition from piloting Concourse at your institution to campus-wide adoption. Clients typically allocate about 5% or their service and support time to maintenance. |
Keeping Implementation Costs Down
There are many factors that drive the cost associated with a Concourse implementation. In addition to the information outlined in the table above, clients should consider the following question in order to ensure implementation readiness and organization:
- What training will IT staff require in order to create and process feed files and set up LMS integration?
- Will you have the necessary IT resources at your disposal during your implementation?
- What has been your success with past projects? What were the lessons learned?
- What other current projects are on your plate? How will your prioritize your Concourse implementation?
- Do you have a dedicated project manager for your implementation? If not, what are your plans for ensuring the implementation moves along at a pace necessary to meet your go-live deadline?
- If you require more service time than you originally planned for, will you have the resources and authority necessary to procure more service time from Intellidemia?
Your answers to these questions will help determine the level of support you may need during your implementation. Not to worry; your dedicated Client Success Representative will provide the necessary guidance and support to help you through each phase and achieve your implementation goals.
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