Cost of Ownership of a PC Acknowledgements to Euan Wilson (Staffordshire University)

What is it? Its just the purchase price of the price and that’s it ! –Well not quite This lecture assumes that this is for an organisation rather than an individual

What do you get with the PC Operating System –included in the price ? What happens if you don’t want it ? Manuals Warranty period –and what type on site back to base

How long will it last ? 3 years ? 4 years ? –Need to budget for the “life” of it –May make financing easier Spread the cost Lease for 3 years etc.

Installation Operating system –may come pre-loaded –may need to alter / add permissions user ids IP addresses removal of games / none standard software –3d pinball, IE5 etc.

Installation Application installation –A minimum set would probably contain Office or equivalent package anti-virus software backup software etc.

Installation Configuration management –Printer drivers –Screen drivers –Network servers

Cost of Installation Employ a software technician –realistically this process could take three to four hours so at £5 per hour this could add £20 per machine but who covers the job while the techie is away

Alternative Ghost an image –provide the hardware vendor with a copy of all the software that is required usually costs about £50 per machine but still leaves configuration management –good for a small company and they can reduce the amount of technical staff employed has problems when the hardware specification is altered

Hardware failure How long does it take to fix? –Depends on the type of contract 4 hours, next day, 2 day ? Type of fix ? –Repair on site –Return to base –Hot swap out

Dealing with failure? What does the employee do without a machine? –Nothing –use someone else? –Filling –make the coffee The longer it takes to fix the greater the loss –4 hours at £5 per hour = £20 –2 days at £5 per hour = £70 –plus potential loss of earnings

Hot swap out Machine is replaced by identical machine –Same software –Same spec. –Same data ?

Hot swap out Therefore the organisation must provide a secure backup system each PC has its own internal tape system ? Each PC is linked to a file server ? –Costs »Increase in initial purchase costs »Consumables »Software –Education / Training

Training New system = new skills –but how does we train the staff everybody has training –time and cost ? learn as you go ? –Or as you hit a problem learn from piers ? –But does that work ? cascade training –Does that work ?