IPA IP 2021 Question 100
A question IPA Japan published in 令和3年度 ITパスポート試験 公開問題 問100, translated into English. ITPEC is based on the same exams.
Which of the following is the most appropriate reason why the concept of TCO has come to be regarded as important in the evaluation of the economic efficiency of a system?
Explanation
Operating costs have grown as a share of the total — TCO counts every cost over a system's life, which matters once costs after installation outweigh the purchase.
TCO (Total Cost of Ownership) adds the initial costs (hardware, software, development, installation) to the operating costs after installation (maintenance, support, operation, training, upgrades). As hardware got cheaper and systems spread across many users and PCs, the costs of running them grew to a large part of the total. Judging a system by its purchase price alone then misses most of what it costs, so the whole-life total, TCO, became the measure.
Answer (b)
Why not others:
- •(a) — the trend went the other way; if initial costs dominated, comparing purchase prices would be enough and TCO would add little
- •(c) and (d) — a shift inside the initial costs between software and hardware changes nothing about the costs after installation, which is what TCO brings into view
Key rule: TCO = initial costs + operating costs over the whole life; it became important because operating costs make up a large share of a system's total cost.
System Component · AI-written, may contain errors
This question comes from the past questions IPA Japan publishes, translated into English by ITPEC Practice. ITPEC Practice is an independent study tool and is not affiliated with IPA or ITPEC. See the original paper (PDF) or Report an issue.