TECHNOLOGY CHARGEBACK & IT FINANCIAL GOVERNANCE
The objective of ComSci’s Technology Chargeback Solution is to assist IT organizations in making their costs transparent and better controlled. Our solution promotes a better understanding of the costs of providing services to a particular business unit. This fosters an environment where the business unit managers become partners with IT to ensure IT services are more effectively and efficiently consumed.

Enhanced Financial Governance
In order to effectively provide "visibility" into IT Products and Services, ComSci will assist IT organizations in developing and implementing an effective Technology Chargeback solution that will support the creation of standard, reusable IT "products," and provide Business Unit Managers with a web-based "invoice" that illustrates the IT products consumed by the Business Unit and the cost of their consumption.

ComSci has developed a scalable production process and web-based reporting tool that provides IT and Business Unit Manager's with the information necessary to effectively understand and control consumption. ComSci delivers the information via BillBrowser™, our Web-based reporting product, which is easily deployed across organizational and geographic boundaries to create a single, unified, comprehensive global chargeback process.

Utilizing BillBrowser™, business unit managers will have the information to better understand how user demand for IT drives consumption and costs in their units. This information will assist the business in forecasting their future needs more accurately, track and manage usage, and make more thoughtful choices. Also, once Business Managers understand what they are paying for, their focus quickly changes. Instead of asking "Why are my workstations so expensive?" they change their emphasis to "What technology do we need over the next 12 to 24 months to maintain our competitive edge?"

By implementing ComSci’s Technology Chargeback Solution, IT and the business become partners in achieving two overarching objectives:

  1. minimizing IT costs and
  2. ensuring that IT investments add more value.
ComSci’s Technology Chargeback Solution builds the partnership between the CIO and the Business Unit Managers that places responsibility for service consumption with the business units. This provides a IT Financial Governance process with effective costing disciplines and providing "cost visibility" that can influence changes in consumption patterns to better utilize IT assets.

Below highlights a partial listing of IT Products and Services that ComSci incorporates into our Technology Chargeback solution:

  • Mainframe Services
    • DASD
    • MIPS
    • Project Management

  • Distributed Computers
    • Intel Servers
    • Unix Server
    • AS400
    • VMS

  • Software Applications
    • Development/Programmers
    • Project Management
    • Support

  • Desktop
    • Phone
    • PC's

  • Data Service
    • Ports/IP Addresses, Email
    • Data Storage
    • LAN/WAN
    • Remote Access

  • Mobility Services
    • Cell Phones
    • Wireless Air Cards
    • Blackberry/PDA's
    • Pagers
    • Audio/Video Conferencing

  • Voice Services
    • Call Usage (PBX, Centrex, VoIP)
    • Toll Free
    • Inbound

  • Consulting Services
    • By Project
    • By Resource

  • Market Data Services
    • Entitlements

  • Help Desk
    • Subscriptions
    • Trouble Tickets
    • On-site Support

  • IT Staff Salary "FTE" Allocation

More Effective Decision-making
Once the Technology organization implements ComSci’s Technology Chargeback Solution, the BillBrowser™ application will provide business units with management reporting that will illustrate their consumption and spending by end-user products, applications, and projects. ComSci’s Technology Chargeback Solution will enable more intelligent trade-offs between costs and service levels.

The goals of effective consumption management are twofold: optimizing and often reducing the quantity of IT products the business consumes — with an eye toward cutting overall costs — and changing the mix of IT spending to focus more on lower-cost products and higher-value investments. With BillBrowser™ presenting "CIO Invoices" based on actual IT usage, the business can begin seeking ways to control and reduce consumption.

BillBrowser™ Reporting
Helps Business Units
  • Understand and Manage Consumption
  • Switch to lower cost alternatives
  • Optimize Service Levels
  • Choose higher-value investments
  • Improve overall demand management
BillBrowser™ Reporting
Helps IT
  • Identify out-of-line costs
  • Standardize Products and Services
  • Improve Inventory Management
  • Benchmark internal products and services against industry standards

Business Unit Managers understand what they are paying for and where they can cut back, allowing business units the opportunity to rethink their IT spending and seek out more strategic investments. With ComSci's Technology Chargeback Solution, IT will have a better grasp over its baseline costs allowing the CIO to begin comparing its performance against industry benchmarks. This helps the CIO achieve their primary objective of lowering unit costs.