1.27 Service Item Costs Tab

The Costs Tab of a Service Item includes information related to the financial and contractual details associated with the Item. The information more specifically related to the Service Item is recorded in the Charges and Revenue fields, as this information allows service and support organizations to calculate the costs of offering a service and if appropriate, recover the costs from the relevant parties.

As with other Item Types, the screen includes general Item details such as:

  • Base cost

  • Purchase date and related information

  • Depreciation data

  • SLA and Contract details.

The Information recorded on the Costs Tab includes:

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.

NOTE:Typically for Service Items, the infrastructure costs would be zero as this would be derived from the associated Parent 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.

Usage Unit Cost

This is used as a reference field, where the User can enter base unit cost, for example per Megabyte data charge, which can be used for calculating costs in custom reports.

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.

Charges

 

Price (per user)

Draws the figure from the Service Item Type Costs tab and displays this as a daily amount. This figure is then multiplied with the number of Users/Customers assigned to the Item, to calculate the forecasted Revenue.

Cost (per user)

Draws the figure from the Inherited Costs and displays this as a daily amount. This figure is then multiplied with the number of Users/Customers assigned to the Item, to calculate the actual Costs.

Revenue

 

Month to Date

Uses the Charges Price figure, multiplied by the number of Users and days of month passed, to calculate the month to date figure.

Previous Month

A reference figure for an average monthly revenue figure, based on the previous month's revenue for the Service Item.

Costs

 

Month to Date

Uses the Charges Cost figure, multiplied by the number of Users and days of month passed, to calculate the month to date Cost.

Previous Month

A reference figure for an average monthly cost, based on the previous month's cost for the Service Item.

Inherited Costs

 

Inherited Capital

Total infrastructure costs of parent CI's that directly contribute to the cost of the Service Item. 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 Service Item 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 apply 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

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 moved to an offline State.

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.

Completing the Depreciate Over field allows 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.

1.27.1 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.

1.27.2 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

  3. Click Edit

    The Add and Delete button 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.)

    • Subscription - a contract that covers a specified period of time

    • Time Limited Subscription - a contract that covers either a specified period of time or number of support hours, whichever limit is reached first

    • Support Hours - a contract that defines the number of support hours covered.

  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 recorded for the Contract and made available within Finance>Invoices.)