AIM

Architectural Insight for Modernization

Pricing Confidence Methodology

Understanding how AIM calculates and reports pricing confidence for modernization estimates

AIM provides transparent pricing estimates with explicit confidence levels. Every cost estimate includes a confidence rating so decision-makers understand the reliability of the numbers and when to seek vendor quotes.

This page explains how confidence levels are determined, what data sources inform pricing, and how to interpret the estimates in modernization reports.

1. Confidence Levels Explained

AIM uses three confidence levels, each with a specific meaning and expected variance range:

HIGH Confidence

Contract-verified pricing or recently confirmed vendor data. Suitable for budgeting and procurement planning.

Expected Variance: < 10%

Sources: Contracts, Live APIs, Manual Verification

MEDIUM Confidence

Public list pricing or partner estimates. Good for planning and scoping, but validate with vendors before final budgets.

Expected Variance: 10-25%

Sources: Vendor Websites, Partner Pricing, Industry Benchmarks

LOW Confidence

Industry benchmarks or incomplete data. Useful for order-of-magnitude planning only. Vendor quotes required for accurate budgeting.

Expected Variance: > 25%

Sources: Estimates, Missing Data, Enterprise Custom Pricing

2. How Confidence is Calculated

Line Item Confidence

Each pricing line item receives a confidence level based on the data source:

Source Type	Confidence	Description
CONTRACT_OVERRIDE	HIGH	Organization-specific contract pricing
MANUAL	HIGH	Manually verified and entered prices
CLOUD_API	HIGH	Live pricing from AWS/Azure/GCP APIs
PUBLIC_LIST	MED	Vendor public pricing pages
PARTNER_ESTIMATE	MED	Reseller or partner estimates
MISSING / REQUIRES_QUOTE	LOW	No price available, vendor quote required

Overall Report Confidence

The overall report confidence is calculated by aggregating all line items:

HIGH — 80%+ of items have HIGH confidence AND 0 items are missing prices
MED — Less than 25% of items are missing prices
LOW — More than 25% of items are missing prices OR no pricing data available

Confidence Downgrades

Confidence may be downgraded when key cost inputs are missing:

Missing user_count when PER_USER licenses are present
Missing server_count when PER_SERVER licenses are present
Missing endpoint_count when PER_DEVICE/ENDPOINT licenses are present
Multiple missing inputs (2+) result in further downgrade

3. Size-Based Recommendations

Your organization size selection in the assessment directly affects which products and pricing tiers AIM recommends:

Small

50-200 users, single location

Hardware: Entry-level servers (Dell R660, HPE DL360)

SaaS: Basic/Pro tiers (M365 Business Basic, Okta SSO)

Cloud: Smaller instance types (t3.medium, Standard_D2s)

Medium

200-1,000 users, multi-department

Hardware: Mid-range systems (Dell R760, HPE DL380)

SaaS: Standard/Business tiers (M365 E3, Okta SSO+MFA)

Cloud: Production instance types (m6i.large, Standard_D4s)

Large

1,000+ users, enterprise/multi-agency

Hardware: Enterprise systems (Dell VxRail, IBM Power)

SaaS: Enterprise tiers (M365 E5, Okta Universal Directory)

Cloud: High-capacity instances (m6i.2xlarge, Standard_D8s)

Why Size Matters

Selecting the correct organization size ensures you receive appropriate recommendations. A small municipality won't be recommended enterprise-class hardware designed for multi-agency deployments, and a large enterprise won't receive entry-level solutions that can't scale. If you skip the size selection, AIM defaults to Medium-tier recommendations.

4. Pricing by Category

AIM estimates costs across multiple categories, each with different data sources and typical confidence levels:

Layer 1: Physical Infrastructure

Cabling, rack installation, power, cooling, and physical buildout costs.

RS Means Construction DataBLS Regional Labor RatesCited Material Pricing

Typical Confidence: MED to HIGH

Hardware

Servers, networking equipment, storage arrays, and other physical IT assets.

Size-Based Recommendations

Hardware recommendations are tailored to your organization size selected in the assessment:

SmallEntry-level hardware(e.g., Dell R660, Cisco 9200)

MediumMid-range hardware(e.g., Dell R760, HPE DL380)

LargeEnterprise hardware(e.g., Dell VxRail, Cisco Nexus)

Manufacturer MSRPReseller PricingPartner Estimates

Typical Confidence: MED to HIGH

Cloud Services

AWS, Azure, GCP compute, storage, networking, and managed services.

Live API PricingAWS Pricing APIAzure Retail Prices API

Typical Confidence: HIGH (when usage is estimated)

Software Licensing & SaaS

Operating systems, productivity suites, identity providers, observability platforms, and other licensed software.

Vendor Public PricingContract OverridesPartner Estimates

Typical Confidence: MED (enterprise products may require quotes)

IT Labor & Professional Services

Implementation, migration, and ongoing operational labor costs.

BLS Wage DataRegional MultipliersRole-Based Rates

Typical Confidence: MED

5. Approximate Pricing (~)

Some products show prices with a ~ prefix, indicating approximate pricing:

What ~ Means

Approximate prices are researched estimates based on industry knowledge, partner feedback, or publicly available ranges. While not exact vendor-published prices, they provide realistic planning figures.

Example: ~$5/user/month — Contact vendor for exact quote

Approximate pricing includes vendor contact information so you can get exact quotes:

Price Display	Meaning	Confidence
$36/user/month	Vendor-published SKU price	HIGH
~$5/user/month	Researched approximation	MED
Contact Vendor	Quote required, no estimate available	LOW

6. Understanding “Contact Vendor”

Some products display vendor contact information instead of a price. This occurs when:

Enterprise custom pricing — Products like MuleSoft, Databricks, or Tyler Technologies where pricing is negotiated based on usage, modules, or organization size
Population-based licensing — Municipal software priced by city/county population
Usage-based pricing — Products charged by API calls, data volume, or compute units where usage cannot be estimated
Enterprise tier — When the SMALL/MEDIUM tier has published prices but LARGE tier is enterprise-only

Example Contact Information

Tyler Technologies: tylertech.com/contact or 1-800-772-2260

Oracle: oracle.com/corporate/contact or 1-800-392-2999

Salesforce: salesforce.com/government/contact

SAP: sap.com/contact or 1-800-872-1727

What to Do

Contact the vendor directly using the provided information. For municipal software (Tyler, OpenGov, etc.), pricing typically depends on population, modules selected, and contract terms.

7. How to Improve Confidence

If your report shows LOW confidence, here are steps to improve it:

Provide Cost Inputs

Ensure user count, server count, endpoint count, and site count are entered in the assessment wizard.

Add Contract Pricing

For Enterprise members, upload existing vendor contracts to create organization-specific pricebook overrides.

Request Vendor Quotes

For “Requires Quote” items, obtain budgetary quotes from vendors and enter them as manual price overrides.

Refine Environment Details

Specify cloud provider preferences, deployment regions, and runtime modes (business hours vs 24x7) to get more accurate cloud pricing.

8. Important Notes

Estimates Are Planning-Level

All AIM pricing estimates are intended for planning and scoping purposes. Final budgets should be validated with vendor quotes, contract negotiations, and procurement processes.

Prices Change

Vendor pricing changes over time. AIM pricebooks are updated periodically, but prices may differ from current vendor rates. Always verify current pricing for procurement.

Excludes Implementation

Unless explicitly stated, pricing estimates typically exclude implementation labor, training, data migration, and ongoing operational costs. These should be budgeted separately.

Questions About Pricing?

Learn more about how AIM works or get started with your first assessment.

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