[Koha] average cost of a Koha install?

[Paul POULAIN]

Stephen Hedges wrote:

>Adam Steer said:
>  
>
>>The whole aim is to be able to say 'well, for your average school
>>library, it might cost something like $xxxx if you need an external
>>contractor to install and configure things..' - before having to go
>>through the quoting process. A couple of ballpark figures might be
>>handy..
>>    
>>
>
>As Brooke pointed out, the install is relatively quick.  But remember,
>Koha as installed won't do anything useful until you set your local
>parameters, and that can be a _very_ lengthy process.
>
>As with everything else, you get what you pay for.  If you're paying a $20
>hourly rate to someone who knows nothing about Koha, then you're going to
>spend a whole lot of money before you get what you want.  It's far better
>to pay more per hour to someone who knows Koha and will spend fewer hours
>on your job.  I would say the very _minimum_ rate in the US for someone
>who knows Koha should be $50 per hour.  Expect to pay much more for a Koha
>"expert."
>
>So if you figure that setting the system parameters required "most of a
>weekend" for Brooke, the cost of setting up a library (where all the work
>was done by someone other than the library) could easily hit $1,000 or
>more, not including the cost of any new hardware.  And that also doesn't
>include the cost of importing any records from an existing system...
>
>Which means this is a good time to once again make the point that free
>software is not free of charge -- unless you have the knowledge and time
>to do it all yourself.
>  
>
++++ to Stephen,
Here in France, my "standard answer" to an RFP for a "small" library is :
1 day in the library to speak with librarians & analyse the library.
4 days to set parameters & install the software
2 days teaching Koha to librarians.
Total 7 day. 700Euros a day (without taxes, 19,6% here in France).

Migrating datas is a BIG job too. something between 3 and 10 days, 
depending of the quality/number of the datas.

NOTE : I almost never answer with a "standard answer", because of 
various needs for libraries.
My strength, i think, is to be able to answer exaclty on what the 
library want.
You already have a server ? OK, i'll use it, no need to buy a new one 
with a costly windows.
You can install it yourself, just need help to set parameters ? OK, I 
can do it too.
You also want specific templates ? No problems.
You need to work on your datas during migration (to delete useless 
informations for example), let me know what you need, i'll do it.

and it cost you 10 less time than if you do it yourself, because I'm 
better than you manipulating Koha & iso2709 files ;-)

PS : what is a "small library" may you ask ? It's a library that has 
only a few of at least one of the following : librarians / borrowers / 
items. for example, a library with 100 000 documents, but only 2 
librarians (like in Diocèse de Chambery) is small. A library with 2000 
borrowers but 15 000 items is small too.
A library with 100 000 items & 2000 borrowers is not small ;-)
PS2 : that still a lot lower than proprietary ILS, that have the same 
day cost as me, but with licences...

-- 
Paul POULAIN
Consultant indépendant en logiciels libres
responsable francophone de koha (SIGB libre http://www.koha-fr.org)