Project rescue: code audit and acceptance

How much is left before launch?

There has been no answer for three deadlines running. Dates slip a week at a time, and every slip comes with its own explanation. There is no demo, only screenshots. You have no access to the code, and asking about it sours the conversation. The money is paid; the result exists as words.

What has actually been done

In five working days you know what you are holding: what works, what is written but will not run, what has to be thrown away. We check the accesses separately, along with database copies, the change history and whose name the domain and the cloud are registered in.

You get a written report: the work left in hours, the risks, the order of steps and the price. It is written so that you can show it to another contractor and get a comparable offer.

Then you decide: carry on with the old team, move the project to us or close it. The audit fee counts in full towards the work if you carry on with us.

included: Taking over the accesses: code, database, domain, cloud, accounts
included: Code review: what works, what will not run, what to throw away
included: Data check: copies, integrity, losses
included: The work left, costed in hours and money
included: A list of risks and of what breaks first
included: A written report for talking to another contractor
included: A two-week stabilisation plan
included: The audit fee counts in full towards the work
paid to the vendor: The old contractor's licences and cloud — at the vendor's invoice

Your price

Code and data audit

$1,310 per audit

Report, work left and risks in five working days

What the tier includes

included: Accesses taken over against an inventory
included: Code and data review
included: Work left in hours and money
included: The written report stays with you
included: The fee counts towards the work

Handover and stabilisation

from $6,740 per project

The project moves to us with its accesses and a plan

What the tier includes

included: Everything in the code and data audit
included: Fixing what breaks first
included: Builds, updates and backups on a schedule
included: A milestone plan with a price on each

Extras

not included: We finish the project ourselves$90 an hour
not included: Ongoing development on subscription after handoverfrom $2,990 a month
not included: Data moved from the old systemfrom $1,860 per source
not included: Rebuilding the site from scratchfrom $1,430 per project
not included: Links to outside systemsfrom $1,780 per link
not included: Site care and hostingfrom $99 a month
not included: Audit of the project's licences and subscriptions$670 up to 50 seats
not included: External penetration test$8,960 per application

Questions

The contractor will not hand over the code. What now?

Start with whose name the domain, the cloud and the code repository are in: part of the access is usually yours already, and that is where the audit starts. Then a written demand to hand over the rest against an inventory. What can be recovered and what has to be written again is what the audit shows.

Do we need the audit if we just want to finish the job?

Yes, and it is cheaper than starting blind. Without it the price of finishing is a guess that grows as you go — which is exactly how the project stalled the first time. The audit fee counts in full towards the work if you carry on with us.

How long does the audit take?

Five working days from the moment the accesses are handed over. You get a written report: what works, what has to be thrown away, the work left in hours, the risks and the order of steps. The report stays with you whatever you decide next.

What if closing the project is the better deal?

That happens, and the report will say so. Then the audit comes down to what can be saved: the data, the texts, the domain, the interface work. Nobody will talk you out of closing just to keep the work going.

Rescuing a stalled project