Estimate the labor required to produce an online course from finished learning duration and a project-specific production ratio. The model then adds review, revision, and course setup overhead. It provides a transparent planning estimate for schedules and staffing while letting you enter a ratio that matches your media mix, authoring process, and quality requirements.
Total production hours represent estimated labor, not calendar duration. Parallel work can shorten the calendar while leaving total labor largely unchanged.
Production ratios vary widely by content format and workflow, so the ratio is intentionally user-entered rather than presented as a universal standard.
For 12 modules at 30 finished minutes each, an 18:1 production ratio, 20% review, and 10% setup overhead, estimated labor is 140.4 hours.
No. It estimates labor hours; calendar time depends on staffing, dependencies, and parallel work.
Use actual hours from a comparable completed project divided by its finished learning hours when possible.
Yes. Include review, quality assurance, and revision effort in the review percentage or in the base ratio, but not both.
Include platform configuration, enrollment setup, and launch tasks not captured in base production.
Yes. Use their total finished minutes; the equal-length module input is a convenient way to enter that total.
| Variable | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Finished learning hours | Total learner-facing duration |
| Production ratio | Labor hours per finished learning hour |
| Review and revision | Extra effort for feedback and rework |
| Course setup overhead | Configuration and launch preparation |