1.42 Costs Tab

For Users who are not assigned the Finance Role, the Costs Tab displays SLA Details and Item Availability information. Users who are assigned the Finance Role, also have access to the Item's financial and contractual details. The following Item Costs details include:

  • Base cost

  • Purchase date and related information

  • Depreciation data

  • Inherited costs

  • SLA and Contract details

  • Availability statistics.

Completing the Depreciate Over field causes the application to automatically keep track of the Item depreciation over the specified number of years. The current value of the Item after depreciation is displayed at Depreciated Value. The Audit Date field is used to record the date when the Item was last audited.

For Service Items see: Service Item Costs Tab

The Financial Costs and Inherited Costs fields allow the support organization to assign costs across related Items and charge Users and/or Organizational Units appropriately.

Financial

Description

Cost

The financial investment made to purchase the Item. This figure is also used when the Delegate Costs is enabled for allocating costs across related Items.

Monthly Cost

The amount invested on a monthly basis to maintain the running of an Item. This figure is also used when the Delegate Costs option is enabled for allocating costs across related Items.

Purchase Date

The date the Item was purchased.

Depreciate Over

Enter the number of years the Item is to be depreciated over, if required.

Depreciated Value

The system calculates the current value of the Item based on the Purchase Date and the number of years the Item is to be Depreciated Over.

Audit Date

Set the date the Item is next to be audited.

PO Number

If Purchase Orders are enabled for the system, the field is visible and automatically populated with the PO number generated by a User within the Finance>Purchase Orders tab, when the Item order was recorded in the system.

Inherited Costs

Inherited Capital

Total infrastructure costs of parent CI's that directly contribute to the cost of the current CI. This figure is derived from all the Cost fields within the Item Information>Costs tab of related Parent Items.

Inherited Ongoing

Running costs of all associated Items that enable the current CI to continue to function. This figure is derived from all the Monthly Cost fields within the Item Information>Costs tab of related Parent Items.

Delegate Costs

To enable cost delegation across the relationship map allowing associated Items to inherit the costs of the current CI, select Yes. This will take the figures from the Cost and Monthly Cost fields for the Item and spread them across related Child Items.

Define the technique to be used to evaluate the cost split:

Child Count:Costs are split by percentage based on the number of child CI's the costs are being delegated across.

User Count:Costs are split proportionally based on the number of users of the child CI's the costs are being delegated across.

Custom %: The relationship itself allows for the % cost to be assigned

The figures displayed within the Availability fields are automatically calculated by the application, using the Item Lifecycle as it moves between online and offline States:

Availability

 

Avg Repair Time

Entries displayed here are automatically calculated based on the average length of time an Item is offline.

Avg Time To Fail

Figures displayed here are automatically calculated based on the average time between an Item being offline.

1.42.1 Billing Enabled

When Billing is enabled, a Service Level hyperlink is available within the Costs screen. This provides access to the Service Level Agreement details that govern the lifecycle for Requests logged against the Item.

If Invoices are also enabled, an Invoice Number hyperlink is available and when selected, will display the invoice details for the Contract that covers the Item. The Start Date and End Dates stipulate the contract length covered for the Item. It is summarized by the days or hours recorded in the Expires field.

The Contract tab within the Item Information Costs tab summarizes the contract details that cover the Item. Further Contract details can be found within the relevant Contract Number within the Finance>Invoices screen.

1.42.2 Create a Contract

Through the Item Costs tab, Contracts with an associated Invoice Number (if relevant) can be generated for an Item, after it has been logged in the system.

To add a Contract to an Item, within the Configuration>Item screen:

  1. Select the Item Number

  2. Move to the Costs tab

    The Contracts tab is visible in the bottom right corner of the screen

  3. Click Edit

    The Add and Delete buttons are made available within the Contracts tab

  4. Click Add

    (If Invoices are enabled in the system, an Invoice number will be automatically generated and assigned to the Contract).

  5. Select an SLA from the drop-down option

    The screen will display the SLA details and the Contract Type locked to Per Item.

  6. Assign the Time period to be covered by the Contract:

    If Subscription is selected, the Start and End Dates are automatically completed by the system, but can be edited if required.

    If Time Limited Subscription is selected, the Support Hours field is displayed and the number of support hours purchased by the Customer should be entered. Also, the Start Date and End Date fields should be completed manually, entering the length of time for the subscription period.

    If Support Hours is selected, the number of support hours purchased by the Customers should be entered.

    If Support Hours by Month is selected, set the number of hours purchased per month and define which day of the month contract is to rollover to start the new month. The Total Support Hours will automatically be calculated based on the Start and End Dates set for the Contract.

    (If a Contract is forward dated with a Start Date set in the future, the Pending Contract status is assigned. See Pending Contracts.)

  7. Add any relevant Invoice Notes

  8. Check the Taxable box, if the Contract is to be taxed

  9. Click Save.

    If Invoices are enabled in the system, an Invoice number will be automatically generated for the Contract and made available within Finance>Invoices. Payment will need to be processed by a Finance User before the Contract can be enabled in the system. If invoice payment is required before the contract can be enabled in the system the following Warning message is displayed:

  10. Click Next

    The Contracts information is only populated after the Invoice has been processed. To process the Invoice, as a Finance User move to the Finance>Invoices tab. Once the relevant Invoice payment has been processed the Contract details will be visible in the Costs >Contracts tab.