Defined as the sum of expenditure incurred periodically [usually per annum] and measured during any point in time in such period, on maintenance of ERP-assets and supportive resources/services. These include: hardware, software licence/media maintenance/upgrade fees, salaries to IT staff, ongoing training to staff, consultants fee, security drills and upkeep, and so forth, all of ‘recurring’ nature, non-amortizable, and attributable to ERP. Invariably, TCOP is treated as ‘recurring expenditure’ and written off in the books of accounts pertaining to the period to which it belongs by a charge on the surplus [or income] earned. If there is no surplus, then it would appear as ‘cash loss’ or ‘accumulated loss’ and effectively reduce the capital. In other words, TCOP would be 0 at the beginning and at its highest at the end of the period of ascertainment. Defined as follows, Symbolically, TCOPt = Total Cost of Operations [ERP-related] at current time ‘t’, Cost of (maintenance of hardware + software licence/media, salaries to IT staff + ongoing training to staff + consultants fee + security drills and upkeep...and so forth, all of ‘revenue’ nature, attributable to ERP)
Published in Chapter:
Designing to Deploying Customisable ERP Cost Effectively
S. Padmanaban (Mysore, India)
Copyright: © 2009
|Pages: 15
DOI: 10.4018/978-1-59904-859-8.ch021
Abstract
ERP systems have become key enablers of businesses today. While many organizations wish to adopt ERP for competitive advantage, they find choosing, using, and realizing expected benefits from, appropriate ERP extremely daunting, given the multitude of factors and options along technologies, vendors, people, and customisation cost and time. It is in this context that the experience presented in this chapter from two Indian projects on designing to deploying ERP systems—for two different organizations engaged in education and construction—becomes very relevant. Reporting on the various processes, practices, techniques, and methods employed through the projects, and the lessons learnt therefrom, the paper argues that time has come for designing and deploying industry-neutral generic ERP systems cost effectively. It proposes that through a combination of appropriate technologies, innovative tools, techniques and strategies, highly adoptive and customisable ERP systems can be designed and deployed at affordable costs and within reasonable timeframes.