CoSN/Gartner TCO Tool & Case Studies

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CoSN/Gartner TCO Tool Links Go to the CoSN-Gartner Tool NOW Read the TCO Tool FAQ Read TCO Case Studies CoSN-Gartner TCO Tool Backgrounder (PDF)

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Ever-broadening use of personal workstations and the Internet in schools has increased the awareness of support costs and the need for a more formalized support infrastructure. The increasingly complex technology infrastructure makes the historically informal support approaches less adequate or practical. This increased usage of computers and external networks, in the classroom and beyond, demands a higher level of support and needs to be reliably available for use by staff, students and Internet users.

While many government and private programs provide the means of obtaining the much-needed technology for schools, there are few provisions for the necessary ongoing support of these technologies. School districts, having installed much of the technologies needed for classroom, administrative and community communications functions, are fast becoming aware of the support problems and need to budget for the ongoing support costs.

This tool specifically investigates the workstation, network and server cost of ownership in the K-12 environment, providing an instrument and a process that schools and districts can use in determining their total cost of ownership (TCO) for technology:

• A Web-based interactive "survey" instrument or set of questions to be used in establishing TCO metrics in school districts;
  
  
• An introductory section, discussing the benefits and uses of such a TCO assessment;
  
  
• A set of definitions to be used by districts using that instrument;
  
  
• A discussion of methodology, suggesting best practices for undertaking such an assessment, and;
  
  
• A discussion of some of the costs, approaches and benefits of common models for managing tech support services, based on four school district case studies.
  
  

Educational institutions and agencies should routinely conduct TCO evaluations to:

1. Manage and assess technology investments in the context of organizational goals;
2. Measure the impact of technology;
3. Develop and document budgetary guidelines;
4. Understand the actual costs for new initiatives, and;
5. Identify and document ongoing direct costs and indirect labor costs for technology services.

Go to the CoSN-Gartner Tool

2006 One-to-One CoSN TCO Case Studies

• One to One Case Studies Overview
• District One - small town district with 10,200 students
• District Two - rural district with 1800 students
• District Three - rural district with 876 students

2004 CoSN TCO Case Studies

• Missouri - Rural district with 450 students
• Texas - Suburban district with 35,500 students
• Virginia - Suburban district with 166,000 students
• Wisconsin - Urban district with 20,500 students

2003 CoSN TCO Case Studies

• California - Urban District with 140,000 Students
• Utah - Suburban District with 48,000 Students
• Minnesota - Rural District with 4,000 Students
• Pennsylvania - Rural District with 2,500 Students

All Case Studies are in PDF format.

For information on Value of Investment (VOI) case studies, visit http://www.edtechvoi.org/casestudies/index.cfm

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