Re: Migrating SBS servers

"SuperGumby [SBS MVP]" <not@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:OXMyomdZHHA.4872@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
whereas my opinion differs. I factor the cost of transport, equipment and
internet into the charges against my clients. For the majority of work
this
cost is shared between all clients.

Hi SG:

Absolutely... and positively.... in your "usual and customary" charges (a
US expression normally applied to the fees paid by medical insurance
companies for medical services).

One could not be in the consulting business if one did not, among other
things that I will forget to mention:
- spend considerable time and effort to learn some stuff
- spend more time and effort to keep that knowledge updated
- adapt to new systems, information and techniques as they become
available
- have at least the minimum skills to communicate to customers what they
need and want (not the same thing) to know about the systems they hire us to
provide and maintain.

I fail to see how one could apportion the above, except to say:

"I am good at this,,, you will benefit if you hire me to do your work, and I
charge this much to provide you with the fruits of my training and
experience."

To add to that:

"I will also charge you to learn and become proficient in any new procedures
that come along during our relationship. And, if that means that I have to
purchase a book, I will charge either the first customer for which I use
the new information for the book, or I will charge every customer for it"

is outside my comfort zone.


Should I perform a migration in the future I will purchase a kit (I have
performed swinglike migration without kit), not as much for the defined
process as the support should it be necessary, basically, insurance for
that
particular project. I suppose I will offer the client a choice 'I can do
this flying by the seat of my pants, in which case interruption may be
more
than minimal, or _you_ can buy insurance'. This is an exceptional cost
that
many clients do not, at this time, require.

Ok, you know how to do this. You must have learned how somehow... either by
practice or by study, or by some weird and enviable ability to absorb
knowledge effortlessly in your sleep. Will you charge each and every
customer an extra charge for accumulating this additional knowledge? If so,
that may sound fair. Fair, but not equitable, for at some point you will
get a new customer and forget to charge him on the basis that you already
know that stuff, so you can't now charge for it, just like the medical
doctor does not charge every patient for the cost of his education,
training, text books, and instruments.

I s'pose the difference is in the why. I'm purchasing insurance but know
the
process, another person may not know the process.

Nor does the medical doc charge each patient for his insurance. A
proportional amount, built into his fee, of course!

Anna

"Anna Clark" <anna.clark(remove this)@verizon.net> wrote in message
news:OBG5ELdZHHA.348@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
My suggestion is that you can't bill the customer for the cost.

The information that you get from www.sbsmigration.com is a tool, not a
billable expense. When you leave this customer you take the knowledge
with
you, and leave nothing behind. When you purchase software for your
customer, you leave everything behind and take nothing with you. Hence,
you
can bill the customer for the software... it is their software.

Would you bill your customer for your car, your usb key or your internet
connection at your office?

If this is the one and only time you ever move an AD Windows system from
one
set of hardware to another, it will still be worth it, unless you are
willing to go through the pain of visiting each workstation in the
domain
and disjoining and re joining them, and moving all their profiles.

Will you bill your customer for that?

If so, then what you are saying is "I, as a professional computer
consultant, cannot afford to give up the billable hours of doing this
job
the hard way, but would rather nick my customer for it than pay for the
tool
I need to get the job done in the shortest amount of time with the least
amount of effort and expense to the customer(s).

Regards,

Anna Clark



"Steve" <newsgroup@xxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:%23dtqsDbZHHA.1300@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
You can use the "free" method supported by Microsoft basically via
ADMT.
You'll soon find out that free in this case can involve a lot of pain.
Therefore many of us do recommend a swing migration
(www.sbsmigration.com)
as the cost is really minimal for all the tools, comprehensive
documentation, and support that Jeff supplies.

"Enis" <jack.gray@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:1173812466.994536.277010@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Hi,

One of my clients is running SBS on outdated hardware and we wish to
migrate to updated hardware. I have heard about a 'swing migration'
but client cannot afford the cost of this so is there any other way,
or do they have to bit the bullet on this one.

Cheers









.

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