The process starts with the cost of the software modules. Here you will need to start with a base system and then add whatever optional modules you think you need and then add the cost of licenses for PCs and mobile computers used for transactional data entry.  A PC based base material or production tracking system costs $5,000. A combined PC based production and inventory tracking base system costs $8,750.  Add another $2,500 if you want to use mobile computers (as opposed to using PCs with tethered or cordless scanners for transactional data entry). Licenses for PCs and mobile computers used for transactional data entry are $500 each but there is no charge to run BellHawk on PCs that are not used for transactional data entry. Options, which add capability to the base system, range in cost from $500 to $3,750 each depending on the capabilities added to the base system by the option.

If you are unsure which modules you are likely to need, please click on the link at the bottom of this page to contact BellHawk Systems and we will be pleased to work with you to decide which modules you will probably need for your specific application.

On average you can expect to spend three times as much as the software license costs on the whole system, with one third going to licenses, one third to equipment and one third going to services. If the system needs a lot of custom interfaces implemented then the cost may rise to four times the license cost, with the additional cost being for the professional services required for interface implementation.

The service costs are typically comprised about 50% for software customizations and 50% for installation, setup and training costs. This assumes that the client has a competent internal IT staff that is able to do a lot of the setup and end-user training and "hand-holding". If the client does not have a strong internal IT staff then this latter services component can double or triple in cost due to the need for a significant level of on-site support.

Equipment costs are typically 50% of the software license cost for PC based systems but may be double the license cost for mobile computer based systems, as industrial mobile computers themselves can cost between $2,000 and $3,000 each.

So what does all this mean: For a simple PC based material tracking system, with 4 scanning terminals, a client could expect to spend under $10,000 in total. For a complete sales order, receiving, production, warehouse, picking, packing and shipping tracking system using 6 wireless mobile computers and 4 scanning PCs, the cost would be around $60,000. Add in some of the costs detailed below and your tracking and traceability system could cost over $100,000.

Please note that the above costs do not include the following possible additional costs:

1. The cost of assisting clients to map the tracking of their operational process into scan transactions to be performed by their employees.

2. The cost of customizing scan transactions to provide special point-of-action warnings when employees are about to make mistakes. Also the cost of customizing scan transactions to simplify scan sequences in special cases

3. The cost of producing custom reports. Clients who have licensed source code can create their own custom reports. Other clients can have their custom reports created at cost-effective prices by our offshore customization team.

4. The cost of integrating the tracking system to existing CRM, ERP and accounting systems to avoid duplicate manual data entry. The BellHawk software comes with a free data exchange interface that can be used by the client's own technical support people to automatically import and export data using the capabilities of the existing systems. BellHawk Systems can also implement automated data exchange interfaces using its Bell Connector automated interface generation toolset.

For more information or assistance with a specific project, please click on the link below and provide us with information about your specific needs or call 1-508-865-8070 and press"1" for sales.