SOWGuard: CRM Effort Estimator & Live Drift Control
9/10
Demand Score
CFOs and PMOs need early, quantified warning of overruns to avoid costly resets and reputation damage.
9/10
Blue Ocean
Competition Level
$799-5k
Price/Month
Predicted customer spend
10 days
Time to MVP
Difficulty: Moderate
The Problem
AI-assisted estimator that ingests the SOW, sample data, API specs, and target CRM metadata to produce a probabilistic build/integration cost with Monte Carlo ranges. Post-kickoff, it watches Jira/Git
Competitor Landscape
- ScopeMaster (requirements analysis)
- Kantata/Mavenlink (PSA)
- Smartsheet Resource Mgmt
- Jira Align
- ServiceNow ITBM
Must-Have Features for MVP
SOW/NLP parser with risk extraction (ambiguous terms, gaps)
Integration complexity scanner (OpenAPI/Swagger, rate limits, auth)
Config complexity estimator from CRM metadata (objects, flows, ACLs)
Monte Carlo budget/effort simulator with confidence bands
Jira/Git live drift watcher and risk alerts
Auto change-order drafting with quantified scope deltas
⚠️ Potential Challenges
- Access to sufficient historical benchmarks for calibration
- Vendor API/metadata variability
- SI/buyer trust in AI estimates
- Legal acceptance of auto-drafted change orders
Risk Level: Minimal
🎯 Keys to Success
- Estimate accuracy within ±15% on pilot programs
- Change-orders approved 30% faster
- Overrun frequency reduced by 25%+
- PM satisfaction/NPS improvement
- Adoption by at least 2 SIs as standard pre-sales tool
Ready to Build This?
This moderate-difficulty project could be your next micro-SaaS success.