Computer Replacement Schedule

Budget time again.

As budget time rolls around again I try to make recommendations for each department that I support on which computers should be replaced in the upcoming budget year. The typical replacement schedule is 3 to 5 years at which time the computer becomes incapable of keeping up with the computing demands required of it. As the computer ages the risk of hardware failure increases and the level of software performance that the user expects decreases. One of the most common questions that I hear is, "I haven't changed my computer, why has it gotten slower?" Well from an electronics standpoint the performance of your computer does decrease over time as the internal components go through normal wear and tear and their efficiency degrades. This, however, is not the primary reason that we see system performance loss.

What causes performance loss?

The main culprit that causes this decrease in performance is the increased demand put on the computer's system resources by improvements in the software that runs on the machine. As time goes by software is improved, more features and capabilities are added, and as a result the system requirements of the software increase. You then reach a point where a computer that was once sufficient to handle your workload becomes overtaxed by the computing demands that you're placing on it. That combined with normal hardware wear and tear and the increased possibility of hardware failure present you with the need to replace your computer.

Why the 3 to 5 year schedule?

The 3 to 5 year rotation schedule works well for a couple of reasons. First, when you purchase a computer through the IT Department I make sure that all of the systems I quote come with a 3 or 4 year warranty. If you adhere to a 3 to 5 year rotation schedule then your computers are either never out-of-warranty or out-of-warranty for a short time. Another reason to follow this schedule is because computers do fail and it's not based on when is convenient for you. The inconvenience of being without one of your computers at a critical time can cause frustration for you and losses in productivity for your office. While hardware failures can occur at anytime they become increasingly likely as the computer ages beyond it's expected lifespan.

Roadblocks?

Obviously the current state of our budgets will always mandate when and how many computers we can replace. When you encounter a situation where you have multiple computers that need replaced in a given year but the budget just won't support all of them then it becomes necessary to set priorities. Based on the workload that's being carried out on a computer and how critical that work is we can set a higher replacement priority on certain computers. If you have a part-time employee who maybe only uses their computer for a limited amount of time during the week and are using it primarily for email and word processing then they could obviously be assigned a lower priority and replacement could be postponed for that computer.

Conclusion.

Ideally we can all try to achieve a computer replacement schedule of 3 to 5 years. However when budgets don't permit this schedule for all computers then your ability to assign priority levels to higher importance machines will allow you to focus on the computers that carry out your most critical tasks. As always I'm here to assist in any way that I can and can help you determine what your most pressing needs are. As a general rule, at this time, you can assume a cost of approximately $1200 per desktop computer. This number can fluctuate when additional resources or technologies are required.

Patrick Binns
IT Director
Mills & Montgomery Counties, Iowa