Payroll -- Is it even possible?!

[Wayne-I-M]

Ok, ho capito (completamente - I think

 

[John... Visio MVP]

Dwi ddim yn siarad Cymraeg

I see that Doug provided a suitable answer. I did "lose" a client once who
accepted a low ball bid. Even though our team was the only one that had
points for technical knowledge, we lost because another team zero bid the
contract (offered to do the contract for free). The winning team turned a
six month project into a three year contract and they made their money (more
than four times our bid) through change requests. Two years into the
contract, the client realized their mistake and wanted our team to finish
the contract. We declined because we were glad to be rid of that client.

John... Visio MVP

 

[John... Visio MVP]

Dwi ddim yn siarad Cymraeg

I see that Doug provided a suitable answer. I did "lose" a client once who
accepted a low ball bid. Even though our team was the only one that had
points for technical knowledge, we lost because another team zero bid the
contract (offered to do the contract for free). The winning team turned a
six month project into a three year contract and they made their money (more
than four times our bid) through change requests. Two years into the
contract, the client realized their mistake and wanted our team to finish
the contract. We declined because we were glad to be rid of that client.

John... Visio MVP

 

[Brendan Reynolds]

Hi,

the problem we had with our boating (seafaring co) was in fact that no
commercial package really covered our needs. Naval laws and situations
are
very special, like being on see working 3 months without 1 day of leave
(including Sundays and holidays), and then coming home and having a
vacation
of some months. Believe us, we made a thorough study of existing packages
before deciding on writing our own.

Fair enough. Well, in answer to your original question, yes, it certainly is
possible. It is, to say the least, a non-trivial undertaking. Not just the
initial development, but the ongoing upgrades to keep pace with changes in
legislation. I personally would start looking for another job if ever asked
to do it again, but maybe that's just me.

 

[Brendan Reynolds]

Hi,

the problem we had with our boating (seafaring co) was in fact that no
commercial package really covered our needs. Naval laws and situations
are
very special, like being on see working 3 months without 1 day of leave
(including Sundays and holidays), and then coming home and having a
vacation
of some months. Believe us, we made a thorough study of existing packages
before deciding on writing our own.

Fair enough. Well, in answer to your original question, yes, it certainly is
possible. It is, to say the least, a non-trivial undertaking. Not just the
initial development, but the ongoing upgrades to keep pace with changes in
legislation. I personally would start looking for another job if ever asked
to do it again, but maybe that's just me.

 

[Tony Toews [MVP]]

If you want to condemn anyone you ought to condemn people like Visio John,
Arno R and Keith Wilby. They provide very little if any help to posters.
Wrong.

There constant attacks are against the intent of the newsgroups.

That should be "Their constant attacks ..."

Tony

 

[Tony Toews [MVP]]

If you want to condemn anyone you ought to condemn people like Visio John,
Arno R and Keith Wilby. They provide very little if any help to posters.
Wrong.

There constant attacks are against the intent of the newsgroups.

That should be "Their constant attacks ..."

Tony

 

[Armen Stein]

I did "lose" a client once who
accepted a low ball bid. Even though our team was the only one that had
points for technical knowledge, we lost because another team zero bid the
contract (offered to do the contract for free). The winning team turned a
six month project into a three year contract and they made their money (more
than four times our bid) through change requests. Two years into the
contract, the client realized their mistake and wanted our team to finish
the contract. We declined because we were glad to be rid of that client.

Hi John,

Interesting timing - I just posted a newsletter article called "Why
Fixed Bid Software Projects Are a Bad Idea". It's at
www.JStreetTech.com/Newsletters. There's a link to subscribe if you
want to receive more of my ruminations.

In the article I tell a similar story about a client that was lured
away by a low-ball fixed bid. I'll let you read the rest of the story
yourself, but I bet you won't be surprised by what happened.

Cheers,

Armen Stein
Microsoft Access MVP
www.JStreetTech.com

 

[Armen Stein]

I did "lose" a client once who
accepted a low ball bid. Even though our team was the only one that had
points for technical knowledge, we lost because another team zero bid the
contract (offered to do the contract for free). The winning team turned a
six month project into a three year contract and they made their money (more
than four times our bid) through change requests. Two years into the
contract, the client realized their mistake and wanted our team to finish
the contract. We declined because we were glad to be rid of that client.

Hi John,

Interesting timing - I just posted a newsletter article called "Why
Fixed Bid Software Projects Are a Bad Idea". It's at
www.JStreetTech.com/Newsletters. There's a link to subscribe if you
want to receive more of my ruminations.

In the article I tell a similar story about a client that was lured
away by a low-ball fixed bid. I'll let you read the rest of the story
yourself, but I bet you won't be surprised by what happened.

Cheers,

Armen Stein
Microsoft Access MVP
www.JStreetTech.com

 

[John... Visio MVP]

Hi John,

Interesting timing - I just posted a newsletter article called "Why
Fixed Bid Software Projects Are a Bad Idea". It's at
www.JStreetTech.com/Newsletters. There's a link to subscribe if you
want to receive more of my ruminations.

In the article I tell a similar story about a client that was lured
away by a low-ball fixed bid. I'll let you read the rest of the story
yourself, but I bet you won't be surprised by what happened.

Cheers,

Armen Stein
Microsoft Access MVP
www.JStreetTech.com

Yes, I was following your discussion of that article in a thread on another
newsgroup. ;-)

John... Visio MVP

 

[John... Visio MVP]

Hi John,

Interesting timing - I just posted a newsletter article called "Why
Fixed Bid Software Projects Are a Bad Idea". It's at
www.JStreetTech.com/Newsletters. There's a link to subscribe if you
want to receive more of my ruminations.

In the article I tell a similar story about a client that was lured
away by a low-ball fixed bid. I'll let you read the rest of the story
yourself, but I bet you won't be surprised by what happened.

Cheers,

Armen Stein
Microsoft Access MVP
www.JStreetTech.com

Yes, I was following your discussion of that article in a thread on another
newsgroup. ;-)

John... Visio MVP

 

[Fred]

My day job is running smaller (<25 employee) companies in the USA.

Doing payroll in the USA, involves complying with a truckload of ever
changing govenmental rules, regulations and requirements, and numerous
requirements to send payroll related reports and money to the governments.
I consider the data and calculations part to be 5% of the job and the
government bureaucracy part to be 95%. I farm it out to an outside
service...... I wouldn't even do it in house with a commercial package much
less try write an ever changing application to keep up with the above
described truckload.

Maybe the situation is different / better in the countries that y'all live
in.

 

[Fred]

My day job is running smaller (<25 employee) companies in the USA.

Doing payroll in the USA, involves complying with a truckload of ever
changing govenmental rules, regulations and requirements, and numerous
requirements to send payroll related reports and money to the governments.
I consider the data and calculations part to be 5% of the job and the
government bureaucracy part to be 95%. I farm it out to an outside
service...... I wouldn't even do it in house with a commercial package much
less try write an ever changing application to keep up with the above
described truckload.

Maybe the situation is different / better in the countries that y'all live
in.

 

[tina]

hi Armen, just read your article. i found it interesting, and very well
written. i've just subscribed, and i'm looking forward to future editions -
thanks for sharing your time and expertise! tina

 

[tina]

hi Armen, just read your article. i found it interesting, and very well
written. i've just subscribed, and i'm looking forward to future editions -
thanks for sharing your time and expertise! tina

 

[Armen Stein]

hi Armen, just read your article. i found it interesting, and very well
written. i've just subscribed, and i'm looking forward to future editions -
thanks for sharing your time and expertise! tina

Thanks Tina! I enjoy taking some time away from my business and doing
some writing. My summer article is already in the works.

Cheers,

Armen Stein
Microsoft Access MVP
www.JStreetTech.com

 

[Armen Stein]

hi Armen, just read your article. i found it interesting, and very well
written. i've just subscribed, and i'm looking forward to future editions -
thanks for sharing your time and expertise! tina

Thanks Tina! I enjoy taking some time away from my business and doing
some writing. My summer article is already in the works.

Cheers,

Armen Stein
Microsoft Access MVP
www.JStreetTech.com

 

[Tony Toews [MVP]]

My day job is running smaller (<25 employee) companies in the USA.

Doing payroll in the USA, involves complying with a truckload of ever
changing govenmental rules, regulations and requirements, and numerous
requirements to send payroll related reports and money to the governments.
I consider the data and calculations part to be 5% of the job and the
government bureaucracy part to be 95%. I farm it out to an outside
service...... I wouldn't even do it in house with a commercial package much
less try write an ever changing application to keep up with the above
described truckload.

Maybe the situation is different / better in the countries that y'all live
in.

Oh no. Payroll is just as ugly up here in Canada.

However I stand by my original comments. From what I can tell the
original poster is just looking for a time keeping program and not
payroll.

That said I'm working on a timekeeping program for a client. We're up
to 120 tables and 800K records in the main table. No payroll. Just
time keeping and invoicing.

Tony

 

[Fred]

Wow.

Sounds like you have Access pumping iron. Not just the 800k alone but that
it sounds like it represents 800K data entries / "transactions"

Fred

 

[John W. Vinson]

Wow.

Sounds like you have Access pumping iron. Not just the 800k alone but that
it sounds like it represents 800K data entries / "transactions"

Fred

Tony's apps are awesome, both in scope and execution. Tony, are you
contributing a chapter to the HHCIB book, "Designing a 120 table Access
application - how hard could it be?"

<g>