| Definition |
Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) is a project cost or earned-value concept used to estimate, budget, measure, or forecast project performance. It supports financial control by connecting planned work, completed work, actual spending, and expected completion outcomes.
Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) is an Enterprise software-procurement concept used to evaluate, select, license, contract, and justify applications or platforms.
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| Context & Usage |
Project managers, sponsors, and project-controls staff use this concept in budget reviews, performance reporting, forecasting, and variance conversations.
Related concepts include Budget, Cost Baseline, Planned Value, Earned Value, Actual Cost and Cost Variance.
Procurement, project, and architecture teams use this concept to choose products, evaluate vendors, estimate lifecycle cost, and reduce implementation risk.
Related concepts include Enterprise Architecture, Application Portfolio, Business Capability and Data Governance.
Additional Resource: Microsoft Azure Architecture Center.
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