Total Project Cost = $106,825

Identify Benefits

After you quantify conversion costs, quantify benefits. At this point, my colleague didn't have an answer off top of his head. After a few seconds to think, he said "ethernet cards come built into PC's we purchase. There's no incremental cost. If we keep Token-Ring around, we'd have to buy a new Token-Ring card for every new PC." Now we're getting closer, but we still haven't justified this project yet. I asked him how many new PCs did he expect to purchase next year. He said about 100 and provided me with following costs:

Card - $150 Toke-Ring Cabling - $250

Total cost for a new PC = $150 + $250 = $400

"See. I told you. This is a no brainer!" But then I asked him, "Of 100 PC's, how many were incremental vs. replacements of old PC's ?" He gave me following information, by site location:

Site A - 20 incremental, 10 replacements Site B - 50 incremental Site C - 10 replacements Site D - 10 incremental

The $250 per PC cabling cost does not apply to replacements, so costs would only be $150 for each PC replacement. You also cannot replace part of a floor, but you could have ethernet installed on some floors, and Token-Ring remain on others. I asked him to breakdown PC count to a floor level:

Site A- 20 incremental are all on one floor, 10 replacements are scattered throughout other floors Site B - Only one floor in building Site C - 10 replacements are scattered Site D - 10 incremental are scattered

Now light bulb started to go. We figured out costs of keeping Token-Ring vs. installing Ethernet on a site-by-site, floor-by-floor basis. We came up with following costs (I didn't bother describing calculations. You could easily figure it out for yourself using assumptions made earlier):

Site A - Token Ring ($8,000 for one floor, $1,500 for others), Ethernet ($6,500 for one floor or $28,450 for entire building) Site B - Token Ring ($20,000), Ethernet ($13,900) Site C - Token Ring ($1,500), Ethernet ($14,675) Site D - Token Ring ($4,000), Ethernet ($49,800)

The light bulb was completely on at this point. The best approach to this project would be to phase in ethernet by converting one floor at Site A and all of Site B. Let's compare what would have happened if my friend had gone with a full replacement vs. a phased replacement.

Full Replacement - Spend $106,000 to save $34,500 Phased Replacement - Spend $20,400 to save $28,000

My colleague was very thankful at this point. He realized that careful planning and analysis could ensure that his company's money was being spent wisely. Clearly, there are other benefits of changing a LAN architecture that were not even touched upon. Router integration costs and application performance could also help drive decision. Take time to identify all of possible costs and benefits of a Token-Ring to Ethernet conversion before starting project. You could be throwing money down drain!

Andy Quick is co-founder of FindMyHosting.com (http://www.findmyhosting.com), a free web hosting directory offering businesses and consumers a hassle free way to find right hosting plan for their needs. Feel free to contact Andy at andy@findmyhosting.com in case you have any questions or comments regarding this article.

However WWW is great for getting info, buying some stuff and getting info out there! Just remember please that it and email are only 10% of what Internet actually offers. But hey have fun out there! Security: Viirus and Firewall as well as Encryption. I use a free virus checker as I do not like Mcafee or Nortons and of course you must have a firewall to stop attacks on your computer and people looking at stuff or obtaining stuff they should not have access to. This does not stop everything so precautions are still needed. I spent several hours today tracking down and eliminating a Casino Worm, a program that was always trying to get me to enter a Casino Online. I think I probably got it from a friend and they are "a bugger" to get rid of. There is also a case for encrypting sensitive data and using Internet as a Virtual Office, if you have right systems and procedures in place and everybody has skills, software and willingness to use Internet for video conferencing, email, document sharing etc. It means that meetings can be arranged globally and time is saved to get job done. This is at www.pgpi.org Meeting people face to face is important; but so is saving time and money. Data Mining This is art of collecting information you already have and now mostly on computer, to use in other ways. Perhaps list of creditors and debtors as a target market for your products and services. Or perhaps information you have collected or developed as a new and different product. Most organisations have a mountain of information and data, but do not use in different and innovate ways. Information Gathering Is similar to data mining, but is idea of say, having a free newsletter on your website, a means of gathering nformation and potential customers. E-Business Nowadays you just need to be part of IT revolution whether your organisations is for profit or not. A website is a real tool to get information out there. To talk to potential and existing clients and to perhaps sell products and services as well. Knowledge Management This is idea that organisations and staff of organisations gather a raft of information. Not many organisations actually manage process of storing that information and protecting organisations from brain drain or loss. A disaster plan would identify critical areas, of data protection and backup and of human knowledge. If your main IT person leaves or departs, particularly due to some sudden event, have you captured that information?

Use of Templates for common repetitive tasks see a sample at http://eastcoast.hypermart.net utor Human Element/Interaction Do people using technology have a say and are familiar and use technology? Each staff member should have a clear file with printouts of flowcharts and processes for use of IT. Each staff member should have a personal development plan particularly in use of IT, tailored for their needs and organisation needs.

Human fear of change, of going out of ones comfort zone, of accepting life as a challenge and obstacles are things to be overcome.

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USE Information Technology with all amazing powers of web , but strive to keep your life in BALANCE. With web and e-mail, we must always keep technology in perspective - by using it for 'ease of communication at click of a mouse', to make our lives easier and market products and services around globe efficiently and cheaply. MANAGE IT WELL, OR IT WILL MANAGE US in early days of this "New Age of Wisdom"!