Funding network connectivity, both at physical locations and remote or home locations, for employees and students is a continuous challenge for many organizations.

The Networking & Systems Design initiative and other CoSN leaders provide some recommendations and resources for funding connectivity below.

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CoSN Course:

IT Project Management for School System Technology Leaders

  • Project Initiation
  • Scope, Schedule and Budget Plan
  • Resource, Risk and Procurement
  • Leadership and Quality Management
  • Monitor and Control
  • Success

CoSN Workshop, facilitated online, in the Spring:

Value of Investment + Value of Instruction = VOI2 in K-12 Education

More Details

Resources

Network: Build or Buy?

To continue to be flexible and adapt quickly to changing demands on the network, it is important to seriously consider whether to build one’s own network infrastructure within the school system or buy network services from a service provider. It is important to complete a thorough build or buy analysis and consider the following benefits and disadvantages of each approach.

E-Rate Cybersecurity Cost Estimate

K-12 schools increasingly find themselves under sophisticated cyberattacks that cause significant damage and disruption, and risk our commitment to protecting student data, as well as ensuring equitable and safe Internet access for learning. The FBI has recently issued warnings that K-12 is the most targeted public sector due to ransomware attacks.

Featured Webinars

021722 webinar
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032322 webinar
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TOTAL COST OF OWNERSHIP

Understanding the complete cost of your computing programs is a key step you must take before you can implement your strategic plan to provide better service for less. Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) is a methodology that allows you to measure and understand the costs of acquiring and maintaining all of your networks, computers, devices, and staff. A TCO assessment helps to set levels for annual budgets, determine the effects of proposed changes in IT staffing or restructuring of operations to migrate to cloud services, or similar projects.

TCO Resources

VALUE OF INVESTMENT

As IT budget levels continue to be challenging, it's more important than ever to carefully evaluate the anticipated costs and benefits of proposed educational technology projects. CoSN provides a methodology and specific tools to allow K-12 districts to estimate the total costs and expected strategic benefits of proposed technology efforts. The Value of Investment (VOI) methodology can help districts evaluate proposed projects, articulate project costs and benefits, sell projects, and sustain projects.

VOI Resources