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Total Cost of Ownership

TCO

The Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) capability is the ability to identify, compare, and control all direct and indirect costs associated with IT assets and IT-enabled business services.

Structure

TCO is made up of the following Categories and CBBs. Maturity and Planning are described at both the CC and the CBB level.

AModels, Tools, and Methods

A1Cost Coverage

Identify cost drivers throughout the life cycle of the asset or IT-enabled business service, to include direct and indirect costs involved in acquisition, operations, enhancements, and end of life.

A2Tracking Methods

Establish methods to track total cost of ownership, and integrate them into the financial accounting systems of the organization.

A3Data Reliability

Create reliable total cost of ownership analysis for IT assets and IT-enabled business services.

BAdoption and Impact

B1Adoption

Promote organizational uptake of total cost of ownership models, tools, and methods.

B2Impact on Decision-Making

Use total cost of ownership data to inform business decisions, such as decisions to invest in, retire, or replace systems, and also decisions relating to budget planning, and evaluation of competing options and business cases.

CStakeholder Management

C1Communication

Communicate total cost of ownership activities and outcomes with key stakeholders.

C2Inclusion

Involve stakeholders in relevant total cost of ownership calculation decisions to support the financial management of IT.

Overview

Goal & Objectives

An effective Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) capability aims to:

  • Establish a standardized method of estimating, tracking, comparing, and managing the life cycle costs of IT assets and IT-enabled business services.
  • Improve IT investment decisions by systematically comparing the incremental costs (direct and indirect) of competing systems to the full costs of existing systems.
  • Raise awareness in the organization of the full costs of IT, and promote strategic budgeting by collecting and disseminating data on the full life cycle costs of technology.
  • Improve the accuracy of total cost of ownership forecasts based on lessons learned from comparing forecasted and actual costs incurred.

Scope

Definition

The Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) capability is the ability to identify, compare, and control all direct and indirect costs associated with IT assets and IT-enabled business services.

Improvement Planning

Practices-Outcomes-Metrics (POM)

Representative POMs are described for TCO at each level of maturity.

2Basic
  • Practice
    Prioritize an inventory list of IT assets and IT-enabled business services for collating costs.
    Outcome
    There is an emerging database for querying costs associated with IT assets and services.
    Metric
    Percentage of IT assets and services covered.
  • Practice
    Refresh total cost of ownership models by linking into the organization's financial system of record.
    Outcome
    Confidence is emerging that TCO models are underpinned by actual cost data.
    Metric
    Percentage of total cost of ownership models underpinned by actual cost data.
  • Practice
    Define a standardized total cost of ownership calculation template for proposed investments.
    Outcome
    A common total cost of ownership methodology allows investments to be evaluated consistently.
    Metric
    Percentage of proposed investments for which total cost of ownership is calculated using a standard template.
3Intermediate
  • Practice
    Initiate tracking of direct and indirect costs across all IT assets and IT-enabled business services.
    Outcome
    The cost of ownership database is expanded, enabling better cost management of IT assets.
    Metric
    Percentage of IT assets and services whose total cost of ownership is tracked.
  • Practice
    Automate the tracking of costs.
    Outcome
    Total cost of ownership modelling becomes timelier, less onerous, and less prone to error.
    Metric
    Percentage of data that is collected via automated means.
  • Practice
    Fully integrate total cost of ownership activities with the organization's financial system of record, and with IT asset and software licensing databases.
    Outcome
    Data can be centrally managed and refreshed in a timely manner to calculate and track costs.
    Metric
    Percentage of total cost of ownership data that is sourced from the organization's financial systems.
4Advanced
  • Practice
    Ensure total cost of ownership projections are within acceptable tolerance ranges — for example, in the range of 3 to 5 per cent.
    Outcome
    Decision makers are confident that total cost of ownership projections are accurate and can be used in decision-making.
    Metric
    Percentage of projections that are within tolerance limits.
  • Practice
    Measure and recognize the success of business units in meeting cost management targets.
    Outcome
    Stakeholders engage more readily in cost management activities.
    Metric
    Percentage of IT total cost of ownership targets realized.
  • Practice
    Ensure that total cost of ownership data is used in developing strategic plans.
    Outcome
    Systematic use of total cost of ownership data informs strategic investment choices.
    Metric
    Percentage of strategic portfolio/investment decisions supported by total cost of ownership data.
  • Practice
    Promote the use of total cost of ownership data in all investment decisions organization-wide.
    Outcome
    Investment decisions consistently take both direct and indirect costs into account.
    Metric
    Percentage of investment decisions supported by total cost of ownership data.
5Optimized
  • Practice
    Regularly revise and update the IT assets and IT-enabled business services list in a Configuration Management Database (CMDB).
    Outcome
    The list of assets and services reflects actual cost drivers.
    Metric
    Frequency of review of the IT assets and services list.
  • Practice
    Continually refresh total cost of ownership data with actual costs.
    Outcomes
    • Total cost of ownership data remains accurate.
    • There is a high degree of confidence that the costs of IT are managed appropriately.
    Metrics
    • Frequency with which the data is refreshed.
    • Percentage of actual costs that differ from projections by more than agreed tolerances.

Reference

History

This capability was introduced in Revision 18.10 as an update to Total Cost of Ownership (16).