STEP 3: IDENTIFY COSTS AND BENEFITS COSTS

You must develop as detailed a list of costs as possible. A big mistake people
make is the omission of certain critical costs. For this reason, a starting list of
cost elements has been provided in Figure 3.4. Where do you obtain the cost
Network
• Cabling
• Network facilities work and preparation
• Routers / hubs / gateways / bridges
• Network operating system
• Network management software
• Network security software
• Internet and remote computer access
• Leased lines
• Additional WAN components
• Additional LAN components
• Mobile communications
• Network testing and diagnostic equipment
Hardware
• File server
• Database server
• Application software server
• Fax server
• Electronic commerce server
• Firewall server
• Printers
• Scanners
• Mobile hardware
• PCs and workstations
• Test environment hardware
• Backup/recovery hardware
• Specific industry hardware
• UPS hardware and surge supression devices
Software
• Server operating system
• Workstation operating system
• Database management systems
• Fourth-generation language
• Internet software
• PC/workstation software
• Electronic mail software
• Groupware software
• Security software
• Backup/recovery software
• Utilities
Installation support
• Cabling and network support —office level
• WAN labor
• Hardware installation and testing
• System software installation and testing
• Interface support
• Testing support


information? You have requirements from the previous step. To get prices and
estimates of work, there are support groups in your company. You can also surf
vendor sites on the web and even contact vendors for general information. Be
careful here in that you may get the vendors too excited, and they may interfere
with your work.
Once you have determined the number and type of component needed for
each requirement, you are in a position to justify these. In this figure, the justification for the quantity of the item needed appears in the third column and the justification for the model or type of item is
in the last column.