I've been asked to create a format to show the TCO of new projects for 2002 and how they will interact and impact our support costs (labor & Equipment) I've done a couple of project TCO, but this is a lot bigger, and much more complex. Does anyone have any ideas on where I should start or things to consider? Saving Changes...
I am assuming that TCO = total cost of operations or what does a product cost from cradle to grave.
I don't have experience doing this directly, but I can make some observations.
Obviously, you need to include the cost of the original project, the cost of hardware, software (including licenses and updated), facilities, labor, maintenance, depreciation, etc.
I would think that these numbers are somewher in the total budget of the operations group (assuming they are separae from development).
For new projects, you might be able to do some comparisons of past projects/ products to the proposed projects.
Hope this helps a bit. Saving Changes...
Anonymous
Sometimes the TCO question comes up as a means for project selection and prioritization. The cost factors that Michael posted are pretty good starting points. To go to the next step, you would take the net present value of the current and future stream of costs, and contrast that with the net present value of the presumed future stream of benefits that accrue as a result of the project. The costs are usually a lot easier to come up with than are the benefits. Saving Changes...
TCO= Total Cost of Ownership. I'd already begun to list out most of the Direct and IT cost (several of the items Michael listed) and have been working on the Indirect cost and benefits. My experience is more from the Infrastructure perspective. So all my work on project TCO's and ROI has been based on that. Now I'm needing to consider all IT projects. I was just wanting to make sure I wasn't over looking major considerations from another perspective. Thanks for the help :) Saving Changes...
