Cost of Project - SoenCapstone/GameOn GitHub Wiki

a. Planning

Conversion: 3.5 hours / story point
Rate: $45 / hour (average developer rate)

Definition:
Pre-implementation and preparatory work including architecture design, environment setup, CI/CD configuration, UX mockups, documentation, security planning, deployment strategy, testing strategy, and iteration/release planning.


Iteration 1 (Planning)

Focus: Architecture, environments, CI/CD foundations

  • #13 Initial configuration for microservices (3)
  • #16 Setup Testing Pipeline for frontend (3)
  • #17 Setup Testing pipeline for backend (3)
  • #19 Initial Expo App Setup (3)
  • #33 SonarQube setup (2)

Points: 14
Hours: 49
Cost: $2,205.00


Iteration 2 (Planning)

Focus: Containerization strategy and UX planning

  • #18 Dockerize FrontEnd & BackEnd (5)
  • #54 Team Page Mockups (4)
  • #61 League Page Mockups (3)

Points: 12
Hours: 42
Cost: $1,890.00


Iteration 3 (Planning)

Focus: Feature rollout safety and risk mitigation

  • #47 Feature Flag Design (5)

Points: 5
Hours: 17.5
Cost: $787.50


Iteration 4 (Planning)

Focus: Release readiness, documentation, and security validation

Planning-related allocation:

  • #101 Wiki Pages Documentation (6 of 13 SP allocated to planning)
  • #104 Iteration / Release Notes (2)
  • #103 README and Config Setup (3)
  • #105 Front-End Security Testing (3)

Points: 14
Hours: 49
Cost: $2,205.00


Iteration 5 (Planning)

Focus: UX exploration and feature scoping

Planning-related allocation:

  • #43 Mockups for user chats (5)

Points: 5
Hours: 17.5
Cost: $787.50


Iteration 6 (Planning)

Focus: Backend restructuring strategy and messaging architecture

Planning-related allocation:

  • #177 Team microservice rework (4 of 8 SP allocated to planning)
  • #44 Messaging backend component (5 of 13 SP allocated to planning)

Points: 9
Hours: 31.5
Cost: $1,417.50


Iteration 7 (Planning)

Focus: Messaging UX, system coordination, and data migration planning

Planning-related allocation:

  • #212 Play Maker design / conceptualization (8)
  • #221 Flyway checksum conflict analysis (3)

Points: 11
Hours: 38.5
Cost: $1,732.50


Iteration 8 (Planning)

Focus: Payments, deployment, testing, and release strategy

Planning-related allocation:

  • #209 ER Diagram (3)
  • #232 Stripe-based payments (3 of 8 SP allocated to planning)
  • #266 Deployment (4 of 8 SP allocated to planning)
  • #131 End-to-End Tests (3 of 8 SP allocated to planning)

Points: 13
Hours: 45.5
Cost: $2,047.50


Total Planning Summary

Iteration Story Points Hours Cost (CAD)
Iterations 1–8 83 290.5 $13,072.50

b. Development

Definition:
Feature implementation and integration including UI, APIs, security, CRUD operations, messaging, payments, usability testing, and deployment.

Iterations 1–3 (Development)

  • Logging, authentication, CRUD foundations, navigation, and feature flags

Points: 46
Hours: 161
Cost: $7,245.00


Iteration 4 (Development)

Completed user stories:

  • Documentation, Clerk authentication rework, security testing, team browser, release presentation

Points: 40.5
Hours: 141.75
Cost: $6,378.75
Charge the stakeholder: $6,378.75


Iteration 5 (Development)

Completed user stories:

  • Chat mockups, league CRUD

Points: 8
Hours: 28
Cost: $1,260.00
Charge the stakeholder: $1,260.00


Iteration 6 (Development)

Completed user stories:

  • Messaging backend, team microservice rework, form components

Points: 37
Hours: 129.5
Cost: $5,827.50
Charge the stakeholder: $5,827.50


Iteration 7 (Development)

Completed user stories:

  • Messaging UI, invitations, season CRUD, migrations, Play Maker

Points: 50
Hours: 175
Cost: $8,750.00
Charge the stakeholder: $8,750.00


Iteration 8 (Development)

Completed user stories:

  • Stripe payments, invites, league flows, deployment, E2E testing

Points: 81
Hours: 283.5
Cost: $12,757.50
Charge the stakeholder: $12,757.50


Total Development Summary

Iteration Range Story Points Hours Cost (CAD)
Iterations 1–8 262.5 918.75 $41,458.75

Total Project Cost Summary

Phase Story Points Hours Cost (CAD)
Planning 83 290.5 $13,072.50
Development 262.5 918.75 $41,458.75
Total 345.5 1,209.25 $54,531.25

Cost Justification

The total estimated project cost of $54,531.25 CAD is based on a rate of $45/hour, reflecting an average software developer rate in Canada, with 3.5 hours per story point.

With 11 team members, this corresponds to an average cost of:

$4,957.39 CAD per person

This cost reflects the full lifecycle of the project, including:

  • Long-term architectural and planning effort
  • Microservices restructuring and cloud deployment
  • Authentication, messaging, invitations, and payments (Stripe)
  • Usability testing and production-ready AWS deployment

The breakdown demonstrates realistic industry-aligned costing for a multi-service, production-grade application.