Start date: 1 July 2003
End date: 31 May 2004
Funding programme: JISC Organisational Support programme
JISC theme(s): e-Administration
Total Cost of Ownership is a method of identifying and understanding all of
the costs associated with the acquisition, use and support of ICT, with the
aim of improving decision-making about future ICT investment and
deployment. The first UK-based project that looked at TCO in schools
was completed by Becta in August 2002.
The TCO model quantifies not only the visible costs but makes an assessment
of the hidden staff costs where staff are informally supporting the
technology and their peers. In addition to an assessment of the
inputs, the model assesses a range of outcomes including user satisfaction,
service reliability and appropriateness.
The purpose of this project, which is being undertaken by Becta, is to
develop the school TCO model for use within the FE sector and help colleges
to identify and keep track of the detail of the full range of cost factors
involved. It will also enable them to maintain an overview on broader
issues such as sustainability and best value.
The development of an on-line system to support the use of this model will
allow all colleges to follow a structured methodology for identifying costs
and inputting this information into an online database. A sub-set of
this data will form a comparative benchmark database that will allow any
college to benchmark their results externally against other colleges and
sustainability models, and internally between departments and user
groups.
Objectives
In summary the objectives are:
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To carry out a pilot study working with up to 9 FE colleges and develop a
TCO model for use in the FE sector.
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To develop the model from the existing school TCO model and work with
individual colleges in the collection and analysis of data to tailor the
development of the tool for the FE sector.
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To create a comparative benchmark database of information for analysis
and comparison for internal and external benchmarking purposes
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To use the accumulated data to identify trends and best practice ICT
sustainability models used in colleges.
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To develop the model for use as a free on-line tool available via the web
or CD for all colleges to use.
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To identify further areas for the development of the online tool to
support the use of it in decision making within a college and educational
context.
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To raise the awareness of sustainability issues and availability of the
on-line tool within the further education community.
Further Information
Further details of the project can be obtained from Andy
Dyson.
Other work in this area is being carried out by the INSIGHT project.