4. Cost Analysis

The evaluation of the cost determines the feasibility and justification for the implementation project of the new email server for Microsoft 365. Therefore, the cost analysis section of this ROI examines the expenditures of the different phases, such as planning, development, testing, implementation, and maintenance of the new IT system. In addition, this cost analysis reviews the costs of development, operational, and non-recurring costs along with recurring costs to produce an overall monetary expense of the project of installing Microsoft 365 into CML. The costs evaluates the costs of the system in the timeframe of three years—planning/requirement for the first year, development/test for the second year, and test/implementation …show more content…
To assess the user requirements, CML must conduct focus groups, survey the users, as well as assess the compatibility of the technology infrastructure of CML with the software/hardware of Microsoft Exchange. As a result, the first year of the project emphasizes the need for requirement assessment, thus, its allotted $10,000 in order to do so. The second year addresses some requirement assessment, however, it’s not as much as the first year, which is the reason for the $5,000 figure. On the other hand, in the final year, the focus is testing and implementing the new system, therefore, the monetary amount is zero. According to the CFO, the development phase of the project refers to the expenses of developing the system of Microsoft 365. Since the organization is contracting for a commercial software, there is some development in the first year {$5,000} to assess the current system and test solutions to upgrade the CML infrastructure. However, in the second year of the project, the Microsoft IT team will assist in setting up the Microsoft technology infrastructure {$10,000} and fully implementing the new server in the final year