BMIS 33135

MULTIMEDIA SYSTEMS
CHAPTER 9- PLANNING AND COSTING
 Planning & Costing
Project Planning o Hardware
o The process of o Available Skills and
Making Multimedia Software
Idea Analysis
o Idea Management
Pretesting Software
o Building a Team
Prototype o Pilot Projects and
Development Prototyping
Alpha o Task Planning
Development o Scheduling
Beta Project Costing
Development o Billing rates
Delivery o Example Cost
Sheets
 Project Planning:
The Process of Making Multimedia
 Project Planning:
The Process of Making
Multimedia
Idea Analysis
Ideas = purpose or goal against the feasibility and
cost of production and delivery
Use note paper
What is the essence of what you want to do? What is your
purpose and message
How can you organize your project?
What multimedia element will best deliver your message?
Content material?
Creating something new or improvise old version?
Hardware? Enough?
Storage needed? How much?
Hardware available for your end user?
Multimedia software available?
Capabilities & skills hardware & software
Team or individual?
Time? Money? How to distribute the final project?
 Project Planning:
The Process of Making
Multimedia
Who, what, why, where, when & how?
Audience analysis: Who is it for?
Needs analysis: Why develop it?
Content analysis: What will it cover?
Resource analysis: How and how much?
Estimate: When will it get done?
Think about marketing and distribution.
 Project Planning:
The Process of Making
Multimedia
Pretesting
Define project goals in greater detail
Skills required
Content
Costing (money & time)
How to sell it
Prototype on paper with an
explanation of how it will work
 Project Planning:
The Process of Making
Multimedia
Prototype Development
Develop working prototype
Building screen mock-ups, human interface
menu & button
Select a small portion of a large project & get
that part working as it would in the final product
Test your prototype along several fronts:
Cost
Market
Human Interface
Purpose: test the initial implementation of your
 Project Planning:
The Process of Making
Multimedia
Alpha Development
Detail the storyboard bring in end
user for gathered information
Graphic art
Sound and video production
Test on working prototype
 Project Planning:
The Process of Making
Multimedia
Beta Development
Too late to bail out
Committed serious money, time and
energy
Wider tester
Concern should be simply successfully
steering the project to its well-defined
goal.
 Project Planning:
The Process of Making
Multimedia
Delivery
Worries toward the marketplace
How will your project be received by its
intended audience?
Issues:
Hotline, after sales maintenance, server
co-location,
 Project Planning:
Hardware
Most common limiting factor for realizing
a multimedia idea: no sound board; no
sound effects; no synthesizer; no MIDI
composer by you on-site; no high-
resolution color display; no modem or
network; no network
Listing the hardware capabilities of the
end users computer platform
If the capabilities are not enough,
discuss with end user (examine the
 Project Planning:
Available Skills and Software
Make a list of skills & software
capabilities available
Budget for new and more powerful
software and for the learning curve
required
 Project Planning:
Idea Management Software
SiteSpring, Microsoft Project, Designers Edge,
Screenplay Systems Screenwriter and Story
View ~ useful for arranging ideas and tasks,
work items, employee resources, and cost
required for multimedia project
To help you stay within tight schedule and
budget
Project Management Software provides Critical
Path Method (CPM) scheduling functions to
calculate the total duration of a project based
upon each identified task, earmarking task that
are critical and that, if lengthened, will result a
Project Planning:
Building a Team
 Project Planning:
Building a Team
Multimedia requires a set of skills so
broad
Need a team, know what expertise
required for a project
Building a matrix chart of required skills
is helpful
 Project Planning:
Pilot Projects and
Prototyping
Pilot project phase
Test ideas, mock up interfaces,
exercise the hardware platform
Determine the actual cost of the
project
 Project Planning:
Task Planning
Brief checklist of action Design Information
item for which we Containers
should plan ahead: Research/Gather
Design Instructional Content
Framework Assemble Team
Hold Creative Idea Build Prototype
Session Conduct User Test
Determine Delivery Revise Design
Platform Create Graphics
Assay Available Create Animations
Content Produce Audio
Produce Video
Draw navigation Map
 Project Planning:
Task Planning
Digitize Audio and Video
Take Still Photographs
Program and Author
Test Functionality
Fix Bugs
Conduct Beta Test
Create Golden Master
Replicate
Prepare Package
Deliver or Install at Web Site
Award Bonuses
Throw Party
 Project Planning: Scheduling
Timeline
Estimate total time required for each
task and then allocate this time among
the number of persons will be
asynchronously working on the project
Scheduling difficult for multimedia:
Making multimedia is artistic trial and
error
Technological upgrade during
development
 Costing
Production and manufacturing industries simple
matter to estimate cost and effort
Multimedia is not a repetitive manufacturing
process
Multimedia development is a continuous research and
development effort characterized by creative trial and error
Production cost (30-second commercial spot
storyboard costs about RM50K)
Storyboard production, Postproduction editing
Actor (per hour), Composer (audio production), Animator
(graphical production)
Administration and management cost
Three elements in project estimates:
Time, Money, People
 Costing: Billing Rates
Set according cost of doing business plus
a reasonable profit margin
Contractor and consultant can bring
specialized skills such as graphic art.
Programming, database expertise, music
composition.
Make sure your billing rate is higher
than theirs
 Costing:
Example Cost Sheets
 Proposal
Executive summary, briefly describing
the project;s goal, how the goal will be
achieved and the cost
Creative issues, technical issues, project
estimation and project plan, cost
estimation for each phase, contract
terms.