High cost of enterprise information, making it more and more concerned about the cost of IT departments. Cost structure analysis is the basis of cost management, IT departments in the analysis of cost components and cost management objectives based on corporate IT departments make cost management model, and problems in the implementation process to make recommendations.
Since 1981, Shenyang No. 1 Machine Tool Plant engineers from the German Association of the introduction of MRP Ⅱ software, along with the development of information technology and management philosophy of progress, a variety of enterprise information projects coming up, enterprise resource planning (ERP), customer relationship management (CRM), supply chain management (SCM) and Business Process Reengineering (BPR), etc., and domestic companies competing to spend huge sums on information technology of enterprises, the establishment of specialized IT departments to set up CIO, as if to catch Information Express, companies can rest easy access to the new economic era. However, experts have found that from 1981 Shenyang No. 1 Machine Tool Works from the German association of engineers to introduce MRP Ⅱ software in 2002, more than 20 years, the enterprise ERP application can not be optimistic, scheduled and budget successful implementation of the system integration business accounts for 10% -20%, there is no system integration or implementation part of the integrated enterprise 30% -40%, while the failure accounts for 50% of the enterprises in the implementation of the most successful foreign-invested enterprises. A survey of foreign similar situation exists in the United Kingdom Kalido on December 12, 2001 announced the findings of enterprise information management. Survey, 96% of the enterprises for the company's information management systems are dissatisfied. Food for thought is that the survey was conducted by the U.S. Harte-Hanks to Fortune 500 companies and 171 Fortune 1000 enterprises, companies targeted by questionnaire implemented. Survey, 40% of enterprises in the volume of trade over two billion U.S. dollars. The current information systems can not reply to a flexible response to changing business accounted for about 60%; expressed concern about the accuracy of the information of enterprises accounted for about 60%; 60% of companies are planning the integration of relevant data and information program. Domestic and foreign investment figures show that the success rate of enterprise information is very low. On the one hand is a huge investment at all costs, while the output effect is not satisfactory, which makes enterprise CIO felt tremendous pressure. Caused a major reason for this dilemma is the enterprise IT sector, the lack of cost management.
During the Internet bubble, corporate IT departments the costs of the almost is out of control, a lot of "money-burning" is a vivid portrayal of this period. But the harsh reality of market competition for corporate IT departments have to consider the value added contribution to the enterprise, IT departments to consider the reasonableness of the cost of rapid growth. Although more and more people to the IT departments that service is a business or a business essential support, but the rapid increase in IT costs affected the enterprise IT department on further inputs, and even influence the new IT project development services . In order to measure the performance of IT departments, and IT departments to prove their own efforts, both recipients of IT services or IT department itself needs to clearly provide a true cost of IT services to what is, IT departments is how to manage the control these costs. IT department cost management and control is on the agenda.
First, the cost of enterprise IT departments composition analysis
Correct classification and understanding of the nature of the cost, is the premise of effective cost control. IT departments in the cost include: cost of hardware; software costs; human resource costs; premises costs, including computer rooms, office space and other equipment such as test rooms, training rooms, air conditioning, etc.; outsourcing service costs, to buy from external organizations service costs, it can buy the application development services to the data center construction, so the cost of hardware and software, including various types of costs, but because Fuwutigong side do not want to provide a detailed cost data, such as Yuan Yin, it is difficult to outsource cost of the services cost the most basic type of decomposition, so it separately as a class; transfer costs, for multinational corporations or large businesses, often have more complex internal accounting system, different departments within the organization of each other to provide products or services, to develop a transfer pricing, transfer pricing for the provision of products or services sector is that revenues for the use of these products or services, the cost of purchasing department, it said, that switching costs. Typically include: hardware, software (corporate finance department for IT departments to develop cost management control mechanisms), human resources costs (charged by the company human resources human resources costs), site costs (mainly by the company's facilities management charges). We can manage the cost of the different needs of different standards according to these costs into different categories.
1. According to the traceability of costs into direct costs and indirect costs.
Direct cost is one that can be traced back to individual product, service or department is called the cost of direct costs. Other sectors such as IT departments or corporate customers outside of the direct cost of an IT services and resources, the resources and the services cost only, these cost is the direct cost. Indirect cost refers to a number of services or departments jointly called indirect costs due to cost. IT departments such as management fees, it is not designed for a particular service or department and place, and therefore counted as indirect costs of IT departments.
2. According to the cost of state is divided into fixed and variable costs.
Cost Behavior is the total cost of the business volume of dependencies. Volume of business organization is a sign of the level of production and operation capacity. It can be output can also be input; can use the physical quantity, time measurement, you can also use the money metric. When changes in business after all costs have different behavior, can be divided into: fixed and variable costs.
Fixed costs is not subject to traffic impact costs. It includes hardware, software and investment in buildings, but not the hardware, software and building purchase price, but its monthly or annual depreciation. The depreciation increased or decreased, whether business, has remained stable, that is, the fixed costs of IT services.
Variable costs is the growth in direct proportion with the increased volume of business costs. For example, IT staff salaries, printer cartridges, paper, power, etc. With IT services spending will increase the amount of increase, these are the changes in the cost of IT departments.
3. According to the nature of the cost into the cost of capital and operating costs.
Long-term use for the purchase of the assets of the costs incurred is called the cost of capital. These costs are generally within a certain number of years of depreciation reflected in the accounting subjects. Therefore, the cost of capital generally refers to the depreciation of assets, not purchase price. Daily operating costs is the place has nothing to do with the formation of the cost of tangible assets. Such as hardware, software, maintenance, insurance and licensing costs.
In addition, the cost of the project under the management of the controllability of costs can be divided into controllable and uncontrollable costs: If the manager can control the level of costs or have a significant impact on cost, this cost is called a controllable cost. Managers can not have a significant impact on its cost is called uncontrollable costs. Many costs can not be completely controlled by the people. The distinction between controllable and uncontrollable costs, the cost, paying particular attention to management's ability to affect cost.
Second, the cost of enterprise IT department management objectives
As the corporate sector is the number of common structure, each department has its own objectives, so IT departments to cost management standpoint, it is essential. IT departments of enterprise cost management should be based on business as the center, standing on the perspective of business. Enterprise IT departments the cost of management, not simply the pursuit of the lowest cost, maximum profit, without considering the interests of other departments. Not at the expense of other departments or enterprises at the expense of Er Shi IT departments to obtain excess profits. Enterprises into the sector to the common goal - to improve corporate value and to increase the formation of an interest, if there is no interest among the various departments, if not for internal accounting, business sectors will be the lack of effective action control, lack of work on all departments to effectively evaluate and reward performance. This affects the work of all departments of the enthusiasm and effectiveness, thereby affecting the survival and development of enterprises. Therefore, the cost of enterprise IT departments can be defined management objectives: the pursuit of business enterprise value is the prerequisite for the largest IT services cost.
In particular, cost management should enable the IT department managers: Based on the principle of cost-effective IT services to make decisions for each; based on reliable data based on a budget plan; take the form of commercial investment in the implementation of IT services and related ; to examine the IT services business mode, the compensation cost based on the development of investment plans and so on.
Third, IT departments cost management model
The so-called cost management refers to the estimated cost limit costs and expenses by spending limits in order to compare the actual cost and budget costs, measure performance and effectiveness of activities, and to correct the negative difference between the principle of exception management, to improve efficiency and achieve even more than target. Therefore, cost management model should include: budget, IT accounting records, internal accounting and cost analysis and assessment.
A budget
Budget is a certain volume of business organizations in accordance with the level and quality level, the cost estimate to calculate the estimated cost, and to budget the cost basis for the control of economic activity, a measure of its reasonableness. When the actual state and the budget has been quite different, we must investigate the cause and take measures to control. Budget forecast is based on the cost of budget items and IT services based on workload forecasts.
(1) the cost of the project budget forecast
Generally in accordance with the cost of the project budget, broken Once generally stable, so one can enable enterprises to understand the changes in the cost trend for longitudinal comparison, also with other enterprises to horizontal comparison, the second is the management activities of Ti Gong Wei Cheng Ben Liao the basis of a simple treatment, such as depreciation costs can be in accordance with the different types of treatment respectively.
When preparing the budget, the budget cost of the project are generally unknown, such as overtime pay, fees and other external networks, it is necessary for its prediction. IT used to predict these costs based on the cost of the fiscal year based on data or to forecast the future based on the workload carried out. IT cost management must carefully estimate the cost of change can not be controlled.
(2) IT service workload forecasting
IT workload is a major cause of changes in cost, therefore, the time of budget preparation, forecasting a future IT workload. Management activities not only need to estimate the cost of the workload, the service level management and capacity management also need to workload forecasting. Workload forecasts are based on historical workload data, update data and plans to consider changes to come to the next IT workload.
2 Accounting records
Tracking and monitoring of accounting records is the cost of IT departments or organizations is how to form a written record. Including ledgers, managed by the accounting staff. Accounting records is very important, it is the awareness, recognition costs associated with IT department to find out whereabouts of the cost of tools that can help enterprise computing to the enterprise internal and external customers the cost of each service, that service providers, of funds whereabouts, to provide IT cost-benefit analysis or ROI analysis of data, describing the trend of the cost. IT basic principles of accounting and other business activities, no different accounting principles.
IT Accounting's main job is the definition of cost elements, cost element is the cost of the project is further broken down, for example, hardware can be further divided into the Office of the hardware, network hardware and the central server hardware. This will help identify each of the costs are easier to fill in the cost table. Cost element structure is generally the year is relatively fixed. Elements of the definition cost structure can generally be by sector, by customer or by product division. On the IT sector, the ideal method should be based on elements of the service elements of the structure Define cost structure, this could make the hardware, software, human resources cost the amount of the direct costs of the project is very clear, and conducive to indirect costs between services in different distribution. Services finer elements of the structure, the more clear understanding of the cost.
3 internal accounting
Internal accounting is the point of customer acceptance of IT departments charge a cost-benefit calculation process. Objects within the accounts, including fees charged to identify and calculate the amount of the choice of methods. Good internal accounting system is based on the existence of effective accounting system, improve accounting records as a precondition. If the customer is receiving IT services to customers outside the organization, then the fee for the provision of services in return, if accepted IT services to other departments within the enterprise customers are using simulation methods into the appropriate accounting subjects, to reflect the effect of IT departments activities and its corresponding sector activity cost.
Internal accounting purposes are two: to prevent the cost shifting caused by inter-shift the responsibility, so that each responsibility center can be carried out as a separate organizational unit performance evaluation; as a price guide subordinate departments to take informed decisions, IT departments Accordingly, to provide products or services to determine the number, IT services sector basis to determine demand for products or services required for the number. However, these two purposes are often contradictory. Performance of the sector to meet evaluation the transfer price, may lead the enterprise sector managers tended to adopt Bingfei ideal of decision-making; Er able to correctly guide the manager's transfer prices may Mouge sector profit levels high while the other sector losses. It is difficult to find the ideal transfer price, but only under specific conditions of enterprises basically satisfactory solution. Common pricing methods: cost, cost-plus pricing method, the current price method, the market price method, the fixed price method.
4 Cost Analysis and Assessment
IT accounting staff will be monthly, annual cost, revenue, workload, service levels, and so the actual data and the corresponding budget plan data compared to determine the difference was found whether the exceptions. The existence of exceptional circumstances, to conduct variance analysis.
Differences between means to determine the amount, it was divided between the different projects, and on this basis, the investigation took place between the specific reasons and analysis. By difference analysis, to find reasons for the differences caused by clarifying the responsibility, to take corrective action to achieve lower costs.
4, IT departments to carry out the difficulties with the proposed cost management
Current domestic and international IT companies try to implement cost management, but in the implementation of the various problems encountered in the process.
First, the lack of thinker and IT staff are familiar with accounting knowledge, leading cost management IT departments need to be improved. Cost management activities and accounting staff for the IT staff in terms of is a new thing, often due to accounting personnel on IT business or IT personnel are not familiar with the cost model, charging a lack of full understanding of the mechanism, causing the defective design of cost management model, resulting in cost management system is invalid.
Second, the senior management of the IT services, cost management lack of understanding can lead to the effective coordination between departments, making it impossible to obtain information about cost management, cost management process, the implementation can not be serious. IT department cost of monitoring, calculation of compensation have to be business-related program information of other departments, there is no coordination of corporate executives, the details of these plans are usually not readily available, cost management also becomes a mere formality.
Thirdly, IT cost management to their cost-effectiveness. Implementation of cost management of the IT sector itself, there is also the costs and risks, and therefore the implementation of cost management to consider the implementation of cost management and the benefits are higher than the price we pay. If not, then the implementation of cost management is invalid.
On the IT department to pursue the implementation of cost management is the inevitable choice to maximize enterprise value, we must do the following work, and gradually perfect the IT department cost management mode:
First, publicity, and strengthen awareness of full cost management, to build up a data collection mechanism, establish a collection including: workload, types of services, customers, costs, resources stocks such as data collection points.
Second, intensify staff training, on the IT department of each employee cost management system should be properly trained. The original IT staff to enhance skills of accounting knowledge, understanding of accounting principles and essence; for the original finance staff will have to strengthen the IT knowledge and skills. IT through training so that all can understand the financial management and IT service management accounting principles the basic principles of the process.
Third, the feasibility study for cost management. Feasibility of the project is a "necessity", "possibility" and "reasonableness" issues such as analysis and appraisal. IT services on the implementation of cost management is necessary, with or without the possibility of realization, the implementation of cost management is the principle of cost and benefit, is the planning stage should be to answer questions. Major feasibility study include: the implementation of cost management to determine the necessary human, financial, material and other resources; define other parts of the financial and organizational boundaries; quantitative analysis of the implementation of IT cost management of costs and benefits, assess their reasonableness, effectively IT departments to solve their own cost-effective cost management issues.