CMGT/578 v12
Week 4 Assignment Instructions
CMGT/578 v12
Page 2 of 3
IT Budget
This is a two-part assignment. For this assignment, you are the Chief Information Officer, or CIO, of Reynolds Tool & Die. To complete this assignment, you will:
1. Create a Microsoft® Excel® spreadsheet proposing the Reynolds Tool & Die company’s IT operations’ annual budget, including maintenance, licensing, and any proposed new investments, such as hardware, software, cloud services, and/or outsourcing.
2. Create a 1- to 2-page executive summary defending your budget choices in terms of innovation and efficiency.
Part 1: Spreadsheet
The example spreadsheet that begins on page 2 is a rough suggestion of an annual, itemized budget. You will create your budget in Microsoft Excel. Your budget headings may vary, but your budget needs to be as specific as possible. Within each category, you should include purchases for the IT strategic plan. For example, if, as the CIO, you are contemplating moving applications to a cloud solution, your budget needs to reflect that process. If you are implementing or expanding VMWare as a virtualization solution, your budget needs to reflect those purchases.
The actual numbers can be approximate. A little research can point you in the right direction. For example, desktops run about $200-$300. You can use approximate figures for items such as licenses, maintenance agreements, servers, etc. Just make sure you have some justification (i.e., references) for the numbers you use.
Part 2: Executive Summary
Your executive summary needs to explain your budget. Possible headings include:
I. Predictable Annual Expenditures
Simply put, fixed operational expenditures keep the lights on. They are mainly hardware and software maintenance items, licensing, etc. These are expected costs of doing IT business. If, however, you are purchasing more hardware or software that will require additional annual maintenance and license agreements, you’ll need to defend those purchases and the annual expenditures that will remain for the company.
II. New Purchases
Any new purchases you recommend need to be justified. Why are you purchasing them? What benefit do you expect from the purchases? You’ll need to justify the purchases relative to the previous week’s assignments—Reynolds’ business situation and goals. For example, how will a new investment in hardware, software, or services achieve a competitive advantage for the company? What do you think the company needs to purchase to achieve its expansion goals? How much will outsourcing cost?
III. Special Projects and Long-term Strategic IT Investments
As CIO, you need to look at technologies in the context of long-range strategic planning. Think of this section as your wish list. The investments in this category may not help the organization achieve its short-range goals, but they’re considered a long-term investment in innovation to remain competitive. For example, a manufacturing facility may consider artificial intelligence and robotics as a long-range plan.
Example Spreadsheet
Your spreadsheet should look, roughly, like this:
Annual IT Budget for Reynolds Tool and Die
JAN
FEB
MAR
APR
MAY
JUN
JUL
AUG
SEPT
OCT
NOV
DEC
Capital Purchases – Hardware
Servers
5000
Switches
600
Routers
Desktops
2300
Laptops
500
Mobile Devices
Printers
Firewalls
Capital Purchases – Software
CRM
ERP
MS Office
Security (endpoint)
Security (servers)
Mobile Management
Desktop Management
Virtualization
Specialty Software
JAN
FEB
MAR
APR
MAY
JUN
JUL
AUG
SEPT
OCT
NOV
DEC
Maintenance – Hardware
Servers
Desktops
Routers
Switches
Firewalls
Mobile
Printers
Firewalls
Maintenance/Licensing – Software
CRM
ERP
MS Office
Mobile Management
Desktop Management
Virtualization
Special Projects
Outsourcing
Cloud
Managed Services
Monthly Totals
TOTALS:
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Copyright© 2021 by University of Phoenix. All rights reserved.
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