Computer services: new directions in funding

ABSTRACT

Expenses for computer user services and software support have traditionally been recovered from revenue generated by processing charges on central site computing hardware. More subtle and appropriate charging mechanisms are beginning to appear.At the University of Wisconsin, Madison, software has been partially unbundled from hardware, and software support charges are assessed in each job to reflect staff resources used to maintain the software items used by the job.At the University of Washington, Seattle, efforts are underway to analyze all service components, including user services and software, and clearly recover costs for each component by (1) direct charging, (2) reallocation to an appropriate income-producing component, or (3) subsidy. Income produced from software charges is expected to cover programming and documentation costs, plus some percentage of marketing, consultation, and training.At the University of California, Berkeley, Computing Services is being financially (and psychologically) separated from the Computer Center and given a mandate to support customer requirements with the hardware and software most appropriate for each application. Funding is expected to come from direct subsidy plus surcharges on the use of non-central campus facilities, other state computers, and national networks, as well as central site hardware.These approaches to new directions in funding, and their implications, will be discussed informally. Comments from other sites which are also trying to revamp funding arrangements for computing services are also solicited.