EstimatorX

Fast, consistent project estimates that account for uncertainty.

http://estimatorx.com

EstimatorX Features

Projects

A project holds everything that makes up an estimate. Work is organized into Epics, which are broken down into Features.

Organizations

Projects and Templates belong to an organization, and every member of that organization can edit them.

Select Private if only you should have access to a Project or Template.

Epics

An Epic is a large deliverable that provides business value. It's usually the largest unit of work in a project and groups one or more related Features.

Features

A Feature is a piece of an Epic that can be delivered on its own. Together, the Features make up the Epic, and each should provide business value that supports it.

Templates

A template is a reusable set of Epics, Features, and project Settings. Use templates to share common work and settings, such as estimate values, risk and effort scales, and the multiplier matrix, across projects.

Settings

Each estimate has its own Settings. Customize the estimate values, risk and effort scales, and multiplier matrix to fit the project without affecting other estimates.

Assumptions

List the assumptions behind each estimate. If an assumption later turns out to be wrong, the record makes it easy to see which estimates need another look.

Estimate

The base estimate for a Feature, before any adjustment. You can customize the available values in the project settings.

Weighted Estimate

The Estimate multiplied by the Multiplier. This adjusted value accounts for uncertainty and is used in project totals.

Clarity

How well is the Feature defined, and how well do you understand it? This measures understanding, not how simple the work is.

• Low No documentation, and the Feature hasn't been discussed with the customer.
• Medium Low Little documentation, and the customer has only briefly mentioned the Feature.
• Medium Little documentation, but the customer has walked through the desired functionality.
• Medium High Some documentation; the functionality is understood but not fully written down.
• High Detailed documentation, including technical requirements and examples. The desired outcome and acceptance criteria are well understood.

Confidence

How confident are you in the estimate, given what you know? Have you done something like this before? Do you know all the technologies involved, and have they all been identified?

• Low The solution isn't known yet, and more discovery is required.
• Medium Low The approach isn't clear, and research or a proof of concept will be required. The requirements suggest the work is feasible.
• Medium You've done related but not very similar work. There are possible approaches but no clear direction, so some research and discussion are needed.
• Medium High You've done similar work and have a good idea of the technology and approach.
• High You've done this before and are confident in the numbers.

Multiplier

A computed factor that pads the Estimate based on the Feature's Clarity and Confidence. You can customize the multiplier matrix in the project settings.

Risk

Shows how risky a Feature is, based on its computed Multiplier. You can customize the Risk Scale in the project settings.

Effort

Shows a Feature's overall size, based on its Estimate. You can customize the Effort Scale in the project settings.

Docker

EstimatorX is published as a container image to the GitHub Container Registry for linux/amd64 and linux/arm64.

docker run -d \
  --name estimatorx \
  -p 8080:8080 \
  -v estimatorx-data:/home/app \
  ghcr.io/loresoft/estimatorx:latest

Then browse to http://localhost:8080.

Image Tags

Tag	Description
latest	Latest release
X.Y.Z, X.Y	Release versions from vX.Y.Z git tags
master	Latest build of the master branch
develop	Latest build of the develop branch
sha-<commit>	Build of a specific commit

Persisting Data

By default the container uses SQLite at /home/app/data/EstimatorX.db. Data protection keys are stored in the database, so users stay signed in across restarts. The container runs as the non-root app user (UID 1654).

Only the SQLite provider needs a volume to persist data. PostgreSQL and SQL Server store everything, including data protection keys, in the external database.

• Named volume - mount the volume at /home/app so it inherits the app user ownership from the image.

  docker run -d \
    -p 8080:8080 \
    -v estimatorx-data:/home/app \
    ghcr.io/loresoft/estimatorx:latest

• Bind mount - the host directory must be writable by UID 1654.

  mkdir -p ./data && sudo chown -R 1654:1654 ./data
  docker run -d \
    -p 8080:8080 \
    -v ./data:/home/app/data \
    ghcr.io/loresoft/estimatorx:latest

Configuration

Configure the container with environment variables.

General

Variable	Description	Default
ASPNETCORE_HTTP_PORTS	HTTP port the application listens on	8080

Database

Variable	Description	Default
Database__Provider	Database provider: sqlite, sqlserver or postgresql	sqlite
Database__ConnectionString	Database connection string	Data Source=/home/app/data/EstimatorX.db
Database__MigrateOnStartup	Apply database migrations on startup	true

Set both Database__Provider and Database__ConnectionString when using a provider other than SQLite.

SQLite

Mount a volume so the database, including data protection keys, survives container restarts, see Persisting Data.

docker run -d \
  -p 8080:8080 \
  -v estimatorx-data:/home/app \
  ghcr.io/loresoft/estimatorx:latest

To use a different location, set Database__ConnectionString to a path writable by the app user (UID 1654).

docker run -d -p 8080:8080 \
  -v estimatorx-data:/home/app \
  -e Database__ConnectionString="Data Source=/home/app/db/EstimatorX.db" \
  ghcr.io/loresoft/estimatorx:latest

PostgreSQL

No volume is needed; all data, including data protection keys, is stored in PostgreSQL.

docker run -d -p 8080:8080 \
  -e Database__Provider=postgresql \
  -e Database__ConnectionString="Host=postgres;Database=EstimatorX;...>" \
  ghcr.io/loresoft/estimatorx:latest

SQL Server

No volume is needed; all data, including data protection keys, is stored in SQL Server.

docker run -d -p 8080:8080 \
  -e Database__Provider=sqlserver \
  -e Database__ConnectionString="Server=sqlserver;Database=EstimatorX;..." \
  ghcr.io/loresoft/estimatorx:latest

Authentication

EstimatorX uses external login providers for sign in. At least one provider must be configured, otherwise users will not be able to sign in.

Variable	Description
Microsoft__ClientId	Microsoft account login client id
Microsoft__ClientSecret	Microsoft account login client secret
Google__ClientId	Google login client id
Google__ClientSecret	Google login client secret
GitHub__ClientId	GitHub login client id
GitHub__ClientSecret	GitHub login client secret
Facebook__AppId	Facebook login app id
Facebook__AppSecret	Facebook login app secret

A login provider is enabled only when both of its values are set.

docker run -d -p 8080:8080 \
  -v estimatorx-data:/home/app \
  -e GitHub__ClientId=<client-id> \
  -e GitHub__ClientSecret=<client-secret> \
  ghcr.io/loresoft/estimatorx:latest

Email

Email is sent over SMTP and is required for sending organization invites.

Variable	Description	Default
Email__Server	SMTP server host name
Email__Port	SMTP server port	465
Email__UseSSL	Use SSL when connecting to the SMTP server	true
Email__UserName	SMTP authentication user name
Email__Password	SMTP authentication password
Email__FromAddress	Sender email address, required to send email
Email__FromName	Sender display name	EstimatorX

docker run -d -p 8080:8080 \
  -v estimatorx-data:/home/app \
  -e Email__Server=smtp.example.com \
  -e Email__Port=465 \
  -e Email__UserName=estimatorx@example.com \
  -e Email__Password=<password> \
  -e Email__FromAddress=estimatorx@example.com \
  ghcr.io/loresoft/estimatorx:latest

OpenTelemetry

Logs, traces and metrics are exported with OpenTelemetry using the OTLP exporter. Configure the exporter with the standard OpenTelemetry environment variables.

Variable	Description	Default
OTEL_SERVICE_NAME	Service name reported with telemetry
OTEL_EXPORTER_OTLP_ENDPOINT	OTLP collector endpoint, for example http://otel-collector:4317
OTEL_EXPORTER_OTLP_PROTOCOL	OTLP protocol: grpc or http/protobuf	grpc
OTEL_EXPORTER_OTLP_HEADERS	Additional headers sent to the collector, such as an API key
OTEL_RESOURCE_ATTRIBUTES	Additional resource attributes, key1=value1,key2=value2

docker run -d -p 8080:8080 \
  -v estimatorx-data:/home/app \
  -e OTEL_SERVICE_NAME=EstimatorX \
  -e OTEL_EXPORTER_OTLP_ENDPOINT=http://otel-collector:4317 \
  -e OTEL_EXPORTER_OTLP_PROTOCOL=grpc \
  ghcr.io/loresoft/estimatorx:latest

HTTPS

The container listens on HTTP only. Authentication cookies require a secure connection, so run the container behind a TLS terminating reverse proxy (nginx, Traefik, Caddy, Azure Container Apps, etc.). Forwarded headers from the proxy are honored. Plain HTTP works only when browsing to localhost.

Building the Image

The image is built with the .NET SDK container support, no Dockerfile is required. Requires the .NET 10 SDK, Docker and dart-sass (npm i -g sass).

dotnet publish src/EstimatorX.Web/EstimatorX.Web.csproj -c Release -t:PublishContainer

The image is created in the local Docker daemon as loresoft/estimatorx.

Running from the Zip

Each build produces EstimatorX.Web.zip, a framework-dependent build of the application, available as the Application artifact on the GitHub Actions run. It runs on Windows, Linux and macOS.

The zip contains compiled output, not source, so start it with dotnet EstimatorX.Web.dll rather than dotnet run. Requires the ASP.NET Core 10 Runtime.

Extract the zip and run from the extracted folder.

unzip EstimatorX.Web.zip -d estimatorx
cd estimatorx

export Database__ConnectionString="Data Source=./data/EstimatorX.db"
export GitHub__ClientId=<client-id>
export GitHub__ClientSecret=<client-secret>

dotnet EstimatorX.Web.dll --urls "http://localhost:8080"

PowerShell

Expand-Archive EstimatorX.Web.zip -DestinationPath estimatorx
Set-Location estimatorx

$env:Database__ConnectionString = "Data Source=./data/EstimatorX.db"
$env:GitHub__ClientId = "<client-id>"
$env:GitHub__ClientSecret = "<client-secret>"

dotnet EstimatorX.Web.dll --urls "http://localhost:8080"

Then browse to http://localhost:8080.

• All settings in the Configuration section apply. Set them as environment variables, command line arguments (--Database:Provider=postgresql) or in an appsettings.Production.json file next to EstimatorX.Web.dll.
• Set Database__ConnectionString when using SQLite; the built-in default /home/app/data/EstimatorX.db targets the container image layout. The database directory is created automatically if it does not exist.
• Data protection keys are stored in the configured database.
• Use --urls or ASPNETCORE_URLS to change the listening address. The same HTTPS guidance applies when hosting outside of localhost.

To run from source instead, use dotnet run --project src/EstimatorX.Web/EstimatorX.Web.csproj. Requires the .NET 10 SDK and dart-sass.