CEPD · Module 1 — Production systems and SAM sprints
Estimate from your own production history, not industry ratios. Build the estimate per screen type, set review rounds in the contract, and run a change-request ledger.
About 22 min
Practice in the lesson player
Sorting, matching, quizzes, and the module gate stay behind a free account so scored answers are not public. The teaching notes below are the same cited curriculum.
01
A 30-minute course was estimated at six weeks. In week five the SME rewrote two scenarios, legal added a new section, and the client asked for the Arabic version to use a different narrator. Each request was small and agreed in a meeting. In week thirteen the course launched, the margin was gone, and nobody could show where the time went.
02
Published "hours per finished hour" figures are old, based on self-reported surveys, and vary several-fold between respondents. They are useful only to show a client that interactive work takes longer than slides. Your own history is better: for each past project, record finished minutes, screen counts by type, review rounds, languages and actual hours. After five projects you can estimate per screen type with a range you can defend.
03
Fill the hours from your own records. Add a contingency based on how far your past estimates were off, not a fixed 10%.
Screen type | Count | Hours each (from your history) | Subtotal
Narrative or callout | 12 | a | 12a
Sort, match, order | 8 | b | 8b
Branching node | 6 | c | 6c
Labelled graphic with custom illustration | 3 | d | 3d
Second language (per screen) | 29 | e | 29e
Review round (per round) | 2 | f | 2f
04
The ledger is not about billing every request. It makes the cost visible so the client can decide, and it explains the timeline afterwards.
# | Request | From | Date | Hours | Schedule effect | Approved by
1 | Rewrite scenarios 3 and 4 | SME | Week 5 | 14 | +3 days | Client PM
2 | Add data-retention section | Legal | Week 5 | 10 | +2 days | Client PM
3 | Change Arabic narrator voice | Client | Week 6 | 6 | +1 day | Pending
05
Count the screens in your course by type. Fill the estimate table with hours from your own last two or three projects. Write the review rules you will propose to the client. Your production plan is complete.