Project estimation
KnownShift Estimation EngineProject Effort & Timeline Estimator
Turn requirements into a traceable estimate of effort, capacity and delivery dates using the KnownShift Estimation Engine.
From a scope description to a date you can defend. In Story Points or Person-Days, whichever the decision actually needs, calibrated against your own delivery history where you have it, and every figure shows how it was derived.
Currently unavailable for new purchases.
From requirements to a defensible estimate
- Requirements
Describe, paste or upload
Whatever you already have: a description, a backlog, a scope document.
- Interpret & classify
KnownShift structures the work
Measurable work drivers, and an independent read on how mature the requirement really is.
- Calibrate & calculate
Evidence drives the sizing
Your delivery history where you have it, the KnownShift reference model where you do not.
- Forecast & decide
A date you can defend
Capacity, dependencies and uncertainty produce a forecast, and say how confident it is.
This utility requires access
The Effort & Timeline Estimator structures your requirement through an external processing service and saves your estimates to your account, so it needs a signed-in session with an active entitlement. The methodology below describes exactly what it does before you decide.
What it adds
An estimate that survives being questioned
Anyone can produce a number. What makes one usable is being able to say where it came from and what would change it.
Two estimation units
Story Points for a team planning in sprints, Person-Days for work that has to be staffed or priced.
An explained recommendation
KnownShift recommends one unit from what the estimate is needed for, and you can take the other in a click.
Requirement maturity
Assessed independently of the unit, because it decides which technique leads and how wide the honest range is.
Historical calibration
Your completed stories, your sprint velocity and your recorded actuals, parsed in your browser and never uploaded.
An honest fallback
No history is never a blocker. The KnownShift reference model is labelled provisional wherever it appears.
Explainable numbers
Every figure shows the counts, rates and factors that produced it, down to a single worked example.
Cross-checked totals
A second route to the same figure, and an explicit review warning when the two disagree.
Confidence forecast
P50 and P80, from a seeded simulation that reports the same figures every time.
Capacity-aware schedule
Duration governed by the constrained role, never by effort divided by headcount.
Target-date feasibility
Achievable, at risk, or not achievable as planned, with the constraint named.
What would it take
Recovery options the engine verified by re-running the estimate.
Professional outputs
A client-ready PDF brief with a basis of estimate, and an Excel model with live formulas.
Who it is for
Anyone who has to commit to a date
The estimate is the easy part. Explaining it to somebody who does not like the answer is the job.
Presales consultants
Producing a defensible number for a bid under time pressure.
Delivery managers
Sanity-checking a date somebody has already promised.
Project managers
Turning a scope conversation into effort, a team shape and a timeline.
Engineering leads
Showing what a requested date actually costs in people.
Product owners
Understanding what dropping scope would and would not buy.
Consultancy owners
Estimating consistently across people rather than by whoever is asked.
Typical uses
- Bid and proposal estimation
- Feasibility assessment
- Target date validation
- Scope trade-off analysis
- Team shape planning
- Budget conversations
- Scenario comparison
- Estimate review and challenge
Methodology
How KnownShift estimates
Every stage is visible, so you can see where a figure came from and challenge the assumption behind it rather than the total.
- Requirements
- Interpret
- Choose unit
- Calibrate
- Calculate
- Cross-check
- Forecast
Transparent estimation. The commitment decision remains yours.
How a requirement becomes a number
Estimation principles
- Semantic structuring never produces the estimate. The engine does.
- The unit follows the purpose, not the level of detail.
- A provisional reference is never presented as your evidence.
- Duration is set by the constrained role, not by effort over headcount.
- A restatement of the same model is not a cross-check.
- A wide honest range beats a precise invented one.
Utility FAQ
Questions about this utility
Where AI is used, where it is not, and how the schedule is actually calculated.
Once an estimate becomes a plan, the sprint-level question is different. The free Sprint Planning Studio uses the same capacity model at sprint granularity.
How it works
Using the estimator
Need the estimate to become a delivery plan?
KnownShift PM OS connects requirements, approved backlog, estimation, execution planning, commercial modelling and professional project artifacts into one governed delivery workflow.
Evaluating this for a team? Discuss team or enterprise use with the KnownShift team.