I have been asked what appeared to be a cut and dry question
by a local governmental official. After some thought I decided to
give it a try here:
The IT department of this municipal agency is considering
charging the other departments for services with the intent of
recouping all costs. So, a computer that the department knows
to cost price “A” will be charged at Ax2 (twice the cost) to cover
configuration etc. These other departments always pay out of
their budget for the new hardware, and IT has always paid out of
their budget to provide IT services. There is also some talk of
charging for server time etc. My first thought was “where is the
IT budget going and oh what a nice car they must have.” After
some thought I am wondering if this is a trend I am unaware of.
Perhaps this is considered normal now, but it seems odd to me
for IT to charge back the cost for every service. Part of being an
IT manager is providing the information needed to appropriate
the correct departmental budget, right?
razz
