Custom Modeling Tool to Manage IT as a Service Business
In the process of building a service based Cost Model, we work closely with customers to define, refine and solidify their IT Service Portfolio. This is based upon major experience in structuring IT as a service business. In addition, before embarking on a major system implementation, it is important to design the a reporting strategy in detail to ensure that the solution meets the need.
The first stage of the ITin3D© cost modeling process is to create an IT Service Cost Accumulation Model. This process takes multiple and disparate input files such as IT time reporting, IT expenses, IT fixed assets, other global data, LOB IT information etc., and consolidates it into a unified service based cost model. This is done without the need for any external programming and can be done quickly by an ITin3D© consultant or a customer who is trained in ITin3D© methods and techniques.
Once the Cost Accumulation model is developed, then a Cost Distribution Model can be developed to allocate the direct costs of the IT service portfolio to the business services that consume the more technical services such as Server and Storage Management. The result is a fully loaded TCO for IT business services. The distribution methods are typically based upon real IT cost drivers so that unit costs and customer consumption costs such as cost per seat or cost per order can be established.
The Scenario Manager is a tool to take the Cost Accumulation and Cost Distribution models as a basis and project these costs forward based upon various scenario options determined by the user. This functionality can be applied to budgeting, strategic planning, go to cloud scenarios, or any other modeling problem the takes a baseline cost structure and projects it forward based upon clear cost drivers.
The goal of an ITin3D© model is to generate perfectly formed consolidated tables of information that can be easily loaded into a BI tool for further analysis. The standard BI tool that ITin3D© interfaces with is Tableau, but in most cases any BI can take in these perfectly formed ITin3D© tables and generate data analytics.
One great advantage of ITin3D© over software packages is that it can be run and rerun on a regular basis to continuously improve the quality of the input data and the output models. This great agility and flexibility is a very big factor in developing good IT Financial management processes because the data is always changing and improving and a flexible structure enables these improvements to be implemented as part of the normal modeling process.