TW Cost Analysis

[Marta Cepek <marta -at- M3ISYSTEMS -dot- QC -dot- CA>]

John Gough recently wrote:

>   You know in your heart that you, an accomplished
>   and technically minded Writer of Writers, can
>   personally account for tenth-point swings in the
>   Productivity Index just by organizing that WinHelp
>   file to reduce user inquiry time from 22 minutes
>   to 3. This is the age of Value Pricing--if you
>   can account for $300,000/yr in value, you are
>   well worth a $10,000 increase.

The company I work for is undergoing some serious restructuring.  What John
wrote brings up something that our Doc. Dept. has recently been "tasked"
[sic] with; i.e., putting together a cost analysis of documentation.
Currently, we're viewed a "cost center", and we would like to change that
perception, if possible, to a "profit center" (clients *do* pay for the
documentation, after all).  We are supposed to write a report on the costs
of producing the documentation as well as suggestions for cutting these
costs.  Has anyone else done something like this?  Do some of you have
opinions on what should and shouldn't be included in "costs" (such as the
per-foot cost of renting our cubicles, yearly office supply bills, etc.).
How about opinions on how to measure benefits of the documentation, if we
don't currently track support (and costs thereof)?  How would you set up a
"Productivity Index" (or is this yet another hifalutin meaningless buzzword
of the 90s)?  Any suggestions would be appreciated.  Please post directly to
me, and I'll summarize to the list.


Cheers!
Marta Cepek
marta -at- m3isystems -dot- qc -dot- ca

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