[Nov 23, 2009 14:09] Web access to Microsoft Live@edu accounts now works.
ITC Communication Services is completing a long process to change the way that costs are recovered for telecommunication services. The Academic side of the University (Agency 207) is transitioning to this new cost recovery model in July 2009 at the start of the 2009-2010 fiscal year. Discussions are in progress with the Hospital (Agency 209) but no timeline has been established for the hospital's transition to the new cost recovery model.
The new mechanism for recovering costs has been established to better align current and future costs with how we bill for services. The old cost recovery model was based on the assumption that each service (e.g., voice mail box, telephone, etc) added a significant and measurable additional cost to the system and billed that cost back to the user's department. In the early years of telecommunications when costs were dominated by telephones, this model worked well. However, in the modern Internet world, costs are increasingly driven by the equipment and software needed to provision back-end services and not by the cost of adding additional telephones to the system. This change will become more dramatic as voice and video communications continue their transition towards becoming applications that operate exclusively over the data network.
The new cost recovery model uses the number of full and permanent part-time employees instead of the number of telephones as the basic unit for allocating costs. Under the new model, the total cost of operating the commonly used components of the university's telecommunications system is allocated across the university's Major Business Units (MBUs) based on the number of employees. Each MBU will receive an annual bill for services based on the number of employees in its area. Costs for more specialized services that are not widely used across all departments such as automatic call distribution and specialized telephone peripherals will continue to be charged individually as they were under the old billing model.
The new cost allocation model is revenue neutral for ITC Communication Services. The Budget Office has been working with ITC and others to also make this conversion as cost neutral as practical to the MBUs via a budget amendment process. In general, MBUs will see little change in their costs across the transition. Each MBU will work with the units in its area to recover costs or amend budgets as appropriate to the business practices within the MBU.
Additional Information
- Letter to VPs, Deans, and Department Heads
A copy of the October 15, 2008 letter that was sent to VPs, Deans, and Department Heads to explain the planned new cost recovery methodology. This letter was sent to confirm the in-person discussions that we had with many of these individuals. - Questions and Answers
Additional information on the implementation of the new cost recovery model in the form of questions and answers. This site includes more information on the methodology and includes ITC recommendations for departments and MBUs. We will update this section with additional information as appropriate based on the questions that we receive. Please contact us at comm-billing@virginia.edu if you have additional questions. - Data Access
This website provides online access to current billing information. This site enables you to look up information based on PTAO, ORG Code(s), or telephone number. Output is available in either a standard Web page display or a downloadable CSV file for import into Excel and other similar tools. A check box on the Web form enables you to examine either the current bill or to display just the special service charges that will continue to be billed directly to your department under the new cost recovery model. - Telephone Service Rates
This table explains which items are included in the standard charge for the new billing model.