TestingBudget

Hard Costs

Professional services cost

What you pay the vendor’s services team for a phase: the hours they do at their rate — shown under the build, run and maintenance cost lines.

Unit
money
Where you enter it
Not entered — derived from the share on each phase tab and the rate on the Hard Costs tab.

What it means

The invoice side of the labour split. On each phase tab it is that phase’s hours the services team does, at the professional services rate: once for the build, per year for run and maintenance. Each figure is already inside the cost line above it; it is shown separately so the cash you will pay the vendor is visible next to the payroll you will not. The one-time package is a separate line on the Total Cost tab.

On the All Apps view and in the cost breakdown chart the same money appears as its own category, next to labour, licensing, infrastructure and tokens.

Why it matters to the cost

Procurement approves an invoice and finance budgets a headcount; they are different conversations, and a total that blends them helps neither. Separating the services cost lets you show the vendor’s full commercial ask — licence, infrastructure, package and hours — as one number, and the internal effort that remains as another, which is what a CFO comparing two quotes actually wants to see.

Typical values

Zero unless a services share is entered. When it is, the build figure is usually the larger; a per-year figure above zero means a managed-service or outsourced arrangement.

Typical values describe a category of tool — AI-native, codeless, script-based, homegrown, manual — never a named product. Why we do not price named products.

Where it appears in the model

Hours you buy from the vendor instead of staffing

services hours
a phase’s effort × Work done by professional services for that phase
Labour cost
(effort − services hours) × Effective hourly rate — only your own team’s hours
Professional services cost
services hours × Professional services rate + Professional services package — the package lands once, in year 1
Build duration
Σ your team’s Build effort ÷ FTE capacity — services hours are invoiced, not staffed

Every name is a link to its definition. See the whole model.

Try it with your numbers

Professional services cost is a row in the calculator. Change it and every total on the page moves with it — free, in your browser, nothing to install.

See how professional services cost impacts the calculation of test automation costs

Related terms

  • Work done by professional services The percentage of a phase’s hours — build, run or maintenance — the vendor’s services team does instead of your own people.
  • Professional services rate What the vendor’s services team charges per hour for the share of the work you buy from them instead of staffing it.
  • Professional services package A one-time services fee quoted as a package rather than as hours — onboarding, implementation, a fixed-price pilot.
  • Labour cost Hours of effort multiplied by the effective hourly rate — how every effort figure in the model becomes money.

Last reviewed 2026-09-16. All terms.