This approach allows minimization of risks resulting from inefficient allocation of time and funds as it is based on strictly defined terms.

The strengths of this approach are:
- strict differentiation of obligations for both sides;
- definition of terms and costs of the software product at the initial stage of cooperation.

The weakness of this approach is absence of a possibility to make alterations that can influence both the terms of the product release and its final costs. However, this drawback should not be viewed as an obstacle for building the developer-customer relationships. This approach allows for breaking the development into fixed spans of time, the so called sprints, and thus provides both sides the possibility of bringing in unplanned changes and making cost estimations at each stage of the project.

Building relations along the lines of the “Fixed Price – Fixed Time” model is most beneficial:
- for customers interested in getting the final product without being engaged in the details of its development process;
- for small projects that have a pre-planned specified volume of work;
- at the initial stage, for projects having an innovative constituent which cannot be exactly appraised and is subject to being divided into smaller components;
- at the initial stage, for projects not having clear scopes and requirements which can be exactly appraised but are subject to clarification in the process of development.

Many customers prefer to use a mixed approach to software development. The “Fixed Price – Fixed Time” model is used in the initial stages of collaboration, when both parties try to determine the key points of project realization. As soon as all key questions have been answered, we can turn to the models with wider possibilities in the plane of collaboration: outstaffing and outsourcing.

As a model of customer- executor cooperation, outstaffing means the organization in the territory of the executor a certain team of developers who meet the customer’s requirements and work directly with the customer or with his managing staff.

This model allows the customer to form a business-unit of his company with our help – a sort of filial branch on the territory of the executor, which relieves him of extra expenses for organization and equipment of workplaces for his personnel.

Our task, at such collaboration, is to provide the customer with a wide selection of highly skilled personnel, well-prepared for achievement of specific goals, and, in the future, to carry out bilateral communication between the customer and the team of developers who have been selected for the implementation of these tasks.

If this approach is organized in the right way, the customer gets well trained and highly skilled personnel at his disposal, with the clearly defined privilege of adding new staff and having complete control over the personnel who report to him.

This work model presupposes transition to further collaboration with the customers who have been working with us in the frame of the “Fixed Price – Fixed Time” model. This transition is normally conditioned by the customer’s intentions to form our collaboration on a permanent basis and at a higher level.

However, it doesn’t imply that we do not work with new customers who wish to build our cooperation on the outstaffing principles. If these customers tend to follow principles of this model, then we will be very glad to offer them our services and to build relations on an outstaffing basis.

As a model of customer-executor cooperation, outsourcing means delegating to us, as performers, the maintenance of specific business processes – such as development and maintenance of software required for building basic business processes in the customer’s company.

This model is most complete as far as formation of long-term, high level relations is concerned because it implies predictability of costs for development and maintenance of software due to clear financial terms regulated by the contract and service level agreement (SLA).

Our task in this kind of collaboration is not only to guarantee a high level of development and maintenance of software but also to provide services for the transition of business-processes to outsourcing and for their adaptation to the terms of this mode of collaboration.

If this approach is organized correctly, the customer is relieved of the necessity to recruit employees who otherwise would have to man a department of development and maintenance of software required for business processes of the company. The customer also has the opportunity of transparent and predictable costs management.

This model presupposes further collaboration with the customers who have been working with us following the “Fixed Price – Fixed Time” model. This transition is usually preconditioned by the intention of the customer to continue cooperation with us on a permanent basis and at a higher level.

However, it doesn’t mean that we don’t offer services to new customers who express intention to form business relations based on outsourcing. If a customer can follow the principles of this model we will be very glad to offer him our services and build relations on the basis of outsourcing.