The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints IT department (the IT department) asked the BYU Consulting Group (the group) to assist in researching the total cost of ownership (TCO) for 14,000 administrative computers at the Church's Type 1 and Type 2 administrative sites. The reason this study was requested was to assist managers to understand costs, find ways to cut costs, and manage their costs effectively. The group consisted of Aaron Clark, Joshua Jackson, Clinton Santos, Jeff Dance, and Monte Swain.
Through efforts to collect information about costs, the group interviewed seven church employees with direct responsibility for different segments of the costs. In addition to interviewing these seven persons, they gathered data indirectly through some of these contacts and from industry experience. After completing interviews with the available personnel and documenting the findings in the group's working papers, the group made estimates about the costs where data was not available from the church. After finding and estimating the costs, the group assigned the 30+ cost buckets to one of four major categories: hardware, software, support and service. The group undertook a sensitivity analysis of the cost numbers and assumptions made during the estimates. Using a software program (Crystal Ball) coupled with Excel, the group analyzed 57 variables over 100,000 iterations to give a range of confidence in the TCO for the Church's computers. Based on the assumptions made and the sensitivity analysis, the group determined with 90% confidence the average cost per PC. The group ended their project by giving recommendations on how to contain costs better through asset tracking and more granular data.
Aaron ClarkJoshua JacksonClinton SantosJeff DanceMonte Swain