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K-12 Web-based TCO TOOL Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)
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General Questions about TCO and the Web-based TCO Tool
Using the K-12 Web-based TCO Tool
General Questions about TCO and the Web-based TCO Tool
Q. What is TCO and why do I care?
A. Technology is an increasingly essential K-12 resource. As budgets tighten, however, districts are coming under pressure to articulate the costs and benefits of existing and planned technology expenditures. Increasingly, educational policy makers are seeking evidence that their highly visible investments in technology are meeting educational needs and that these information technology (IT) investments are closely monitored and well-managed.
Because of these issues, adoption of total cost of ownership (TCO) and return on investment (ROI) tools to measure the cost and effectiveness of technology initiatives are becoming more common. Gartner, a leading information technology research firm, defines Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) as a comprehensive set of methodologies, models and tools to help organizations better measure and manage their IT investments.
If you don't understand your current technology costs (equipment, software, external service providers, direct labor, and indirect labor) it is difficult to evaluate the value of decisions aimed at providing more efficiency or improved productivity.
Q. What documentation is available for the Web-based TCO tool?
A. The following documents are available:
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Learn Why Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) Matters
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An introduction to TCO.
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Preparing for TCO Analysis*
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Input fields required for the Web-based TCO Tool and extensions for further evaluations.
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The Web-based TCO Tool*
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A review of the Web-based TCO Tool.
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California District Case Study
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An urban district with 140,000 students.
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Utah District Case Study
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A suburban district with 48,000 students.
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Minnesota District Case Study
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A rural (small town) district with 4,000 students.
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Pennsylvania District Case Study
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A rural district with 2,500 students.
*"Preparing for TCO Analysis" and "The Web-based TCO Tool" are available after login to the Web-based TCO tool.
Click on "Request Access"
and fill in the requested email information to receive a username/password.
Q. How do I get started with my TCO analysis?
A. Performing a TCO analysis is an involved process which requires appropriate up-front effort in collecting
information related to your environment, direct product and labor costs and indirect costs.
It is strongly recommended that you read the following two publications and perform appropriate data collection before attempting to
actually run the Web-based TCO tool:
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Learn Why Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) Matters
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An introduction to TCO.
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Preparing for TCO Analysis*
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Input fields required for the Web-based TCO Tool and extensions for further evaluations Preparing for TCO Analysis is
available after login to the tool. Click on "Request Access"
for a username/password to allow you to login to the tool.
Q. How do I get a Username/password for the K-12 Web-based TCO Tool?
A. If you don't know your NCES District ID, go to the NCES (National Center for Education Statistics) Website:
nces.ed.gov/ccd/schoolsearch/.
Enter search information then click on one of the listed schools that represent your district or school. The NCES District ID
(or school ID for private schools) is identified in the information for each school in the district. Note that some private
schools and state education authorities and cooperatives do not have a NCES ID. If you have problems obtaining your NCES ID,
just leave it blank and we will do the search for you.
On the home page for the Web-based TCO tool, click on "Request Access"
or send an email to k12tco@alyrica.net with the following information requesting a Username/password:
Name:
Phone:
NCES district or private school ID:
District or school name:
City:
State:
Zip:
You should expect to receive a response within 48 hours. Note that you must send this email from your school/district email ID, as
this tool is restricted for use by school/district and related state personnel only.
Q. How can I use TCO to lower my technology budget?
A. Many districts are facing unprecedented budget restrictions. However, the methodology behind TCO is not intended to be a tool for district leaders to use for lowering budgets. The TCO process is designed to provide better understanding of the current technology costs and provide better data for determining the implications of technology investments. The TCO process is designed to provide a better understanding of the technology environment and related costs, allowing for better management of the distributed computing environment.
Q. Where can I go to receive support?
A. Support for planning, using and interpreting the results of the K-12 Web-based TCO tool is available to school technology
personnel and other school leaders via email at k12tco@alyrica.net. Although support personnel
may occasionally respond to you by phone, email is the preferred approach for initiating support requests and questions, as this
approach aids in tracking and documenting these requests.
Our objective is to respond back to you by the end of the next business day.
Please be sure to include your contact information, including phone number and school in your request.
Q. I want to perform a TCO analysis for just part of my district. Can I do that?
A. Yes. You can perform a TCO analysis, using the Web-based TCO tool, for a school, group of schools, just administrative
offices, just student computing, etc. However, it is important to put appropriate thought into properly allocating direct labor,
servers, networking equipment, and external service provider costs to that portion expended on the area you wish to study.
Q. What Web browser versions are supported?
A. The following browser versions are supported:
If you are using a PC, this tool only supports Microsoft Internet Explorer version 5.5 and later or Netscape Navigator 6.2 and later.
If you are using a Macintosh, this tool only supports Mozilla version 1.0.2 and later, Netscape Navigator 6.2 and later, or Microsoft
Internet Explorer 5.1 and later.
You can go to https://k12tco.gartner.com/home/newbrowser.aspx
for links to download the latest browser versions.
Q. I represent a school outside of United States. How do I obtain access to the K-12 Web-based TCO tool?
A. Because of contractual restrictions, our licensing agreement does not allow us to make the K-12 Web-based TCO tool and
detailed documentation available to school representatives outside of the United States. If you wish to pursue access to this tool
and information, please contact Eric Stegman (eric.stegman@gartner.com)
at Gartner.
Q. I clicked on "Request Access" and was either unable to generate the email request or it was not in a readable format for me to fill in the necessary information.
A. The problem may be that the email request is MAPI dependent. If you are using a VIM (Lotus Notes) type of email system, the email will fail.
In any case, to request access, send an email to the following address:
k12tco@alyrica.net
With the following text:
Thank you for requesting access to our web site.
Please take a moment to provide us with the following information.
If you don't know your NCES ID, please click here:
nces.ed.gov/globallocator/
Name:
Phone:
NCES District ID or Private School ID:
District or School Name:
City:
State:
Zip:
Using the K-12 Web-based TCO Tool
Q. I receive a timeout error message when I attempt to login to the Web-based tool with my username/password.
A. You may have "cookies" turned of in your internet browser or firewall. This feature must be turned on, as this application
uses cookies. Also, a few secure firewalls strip session information from the http heading of the site and will produce this same
error message. The cookies are used to help you entering your username/password.
Q. I have run the Web-based TCO tool and some of my results are outside of the high-low range from the case studies - What's wrong?
A. There are many variables that make up the input/output of the Web-based TCO tool. The case study districts are not
necessarily representative of your district or school in many aspects. Furthermore, most schools, including the case study districts,
do not have a good handle on much of the input data. This is especially true in the indirect labor cost data which, at this point, is
based on best estimate from the technology support department, and is probably lower than actual.
Also, when the case studies were prepared, principals, superintendents, counselors, special education educators and psychologists
were included under what is now the "Classroom personnel - Teachers" user category. The documentation instructs you to include
these positions in the "Non-classroom Personnel" category, which generates a different average annual salary for these categories.
Q. When running the Web-based TCO tool, there are options to "Return to TCO Analysis Page" and "Return to Home Page". What are these pages?
A. The TCO Analysis Page is the page where you select an existing analysis to edit and run, or create a new analysis. The Home Page is the login page where you enter your Username and Password.
Q. I have a problem entering some numbers into data fields.
A. Numbers should be entered only into white background fields. Yellow background fields are calculated. Also, enter numbers without commas (decimal points between dollars and cents are ok, but cents are not required). If you continue to have problems entering data, contact support at k12tco@alyrica.net.
Q. Under District Overview in the Contact Information section, the tool asks, "Do you wish for this data to be used by CoSN, Gartner, and NCREL for research purposes (Y/N)?" What does this mean?
A. With respect for your privacy, we ask your permission before using any of your information for statistical purposes. In any case, your individual input/output data will not be shared with others.
Q. How do I know what to include under Direct Labor versus Indirect Labor costs?
A. Staff (IS Dept, Classroom and Non-classroom) for which all or part of their time is specifically designated to support technology are considered Direct Labor for that portion of their FTE (full time equivalent) salary.
Technology user time providing or receiving casual support is Indirect Labor. These numbers are typically not tracked and are very elusive. We recommend that a sample user survey be conducted to better estimate the Indirect Labor numbers.
Q: Are the input fields for Indirect Labor average hours or total hours? How do I calculate these?
A. The TCO tool is looking for total hours for the category of labor (students, teachers, aides, non-classroom) being input. If it is easier for
you to generate the average per user, simply multiply that average number of hours by the number of users in the corresponding user category (students,
teachers, aides or non-classroom).
An Indirect Labor Survey tool is provided to help you with this task. If you don’t find it in the Gartner web site following your log in to the TCO tool,
please email k12tco@alyrica.net and this aid, consisting of a user survey form and spreadsheet for consolidating
survey results, will be emailed to you.
When calculating total numbers, keep in mind that once you have average per-user indirect labor hours, that you should multiply these by actual computer
users (not necessarily the entire population) for each category of labor (students, teachers, aides, non-classroom).
This is further complicated with students, where you may survey only high school students: What percentage of the total K-12 student body are computer
users and to what degree? Do K-8 students spend time trying to solve their own problems or helping others? You can only use your best judgment to
properly tune the student numbers. Remember to keep good notes so that you understand what you did for future studies!
Q. For Direct Labor, I know my total salaries. Do I need to calculate average burdened salary?
A. No. You can enter either total burdened salary or average burdened salary and the other will be calculated and entered for you.
Q. Can I maintain multiple TCO analyses?
A. Yes. Each time you create a new analysis, you are asked to give it a name. You can save several analyses, each identified by the name you give it.
Also, on the TCO Analysis Page, you can copy an existing analysis to a new name so that you can modify that analysis while saving the original. This is useful for doing "what if" analyses based on the existing study.
Likewise, you have the flexibility to rename and delete an existing analysis.
Note: You need to perform these functions from the TCO Analysis Page, before going in and modifying a study. There is no "save as" capability; all changes modify the existing named TCO analysis.
Q. How do I enter labor from personnel who are not district or school employees?
A. The Web-based TCO tool allows entry of labor by contractors, outsourced labor and services provided by external service providers.
Contractors are non-district employee personnel who are individually managed by school district employees. Their burdened salary is the contracted amount that the district or school pays for their services. Include their costs (Average Burdened Salary or Total Annual Cost) and FTE equivalent time with the salaries of district/school employees in the appropriate Direct Labor fields.
Outsourced labor is entered on Direct Labor - Student/Vols/Outsourced page. Outsourced cost includes vendor fees for services functions that have been contracted to an outside firm. Enter the annual contracted amount.
External service providers are covered on the Technology - Other page under "External Application Providers or ASPs". This category includes educational service districts and companies that remotely run and support an application for you.
Q. In the Results section of the Web-based TCO tool, the case study costs don't add up to their respective total.
A. The case study high/low values represent the individual district with the highest/lowest value for each individual field and the district with the highest/lowest value for that district's total value. The total is not the sum of the high/low values from the various case study districts.
Q. In the Results section, why doesn't the case study high/low direct cost plus indirect cost add up to their respective total costs?
A. The case study columns reflect case study highs/lows for each of 3
categories: direct costs, indirect labor costs and total costs. The
total cost is not the sum of direct and indirect costs but is the case
study district with highest/lowest total cost, as all these numbers may
come from different case studies. For example, case study district A has
lowest direct costs, case study district B has lowest indirect costs,
and district C has lowest total costs.)
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