Moodlerooms TCO calculator

Moodlerooms SaaS for a better Moodle experience

Important note!
This Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) calculator is intended to guide your
discovery questions and associated costs conversation with customers. Provides
a simple framework for comparing the Moodlerooms Software-as-a-Service (SaaS)
delivery model with the traditional on-premises model for Moodle Self-Hosted. Due to
the highly variable components of a TCO calculation from case to case and
particularly nature sensitive of the labor cost component in different regions,
this tool should not be taken as an exhaustive list or distributed as is without
prior preparation. There are spaces within each section of the TCO spreadsheet to add
other costs as required.

Considering this, please follow the recommendations below to make the most of this
tool:

 Don’t send this tool to the prospect, instead, use this to guide the discussions or
as a presentation resource controlled by you.
 Work with the customer to obtain or estimate the data of their in-house
infrastructure directly or indirectly. Don’t expect the prospect to fill the data.
 This guide won’t provide a reference to any of the costs involved, such as
hardware or labor costs. This is due to differences in costs from market to market
and even in separate opportunities in the same market.
 Check the results of your calculations before sharing it with the prospect. You
don’t want to show a result that doesn’t add to your case.
 Don’t work alone! If possible, work with the Solution Engineering team to move
forward the opportunity and accelerate the outcomes of it.

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Introduction

The Moodlerooms TCO calculator is composed by the following elements:

1. This introduction file, which contains an overview and guide of how to use the
calculator spreadsheet.
2. An excel spreadsheet, which is the calculator itself and can compare the
cumulative costs of both Moodlerooms SaaS and self-hosted Moodle options.
This document provides a guide of each of the sections in the calculator
3. A template PPT to present the results of the TCO calculations to a prospect
audience.

How to use the TCO calculator (excel sheet)

The excel sheet for the TCO calculator provides sales teams with a framework for
comparing the Moodlerooms Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) delivery model with the
traditional on-premises model for Moodle Self-Hosted. The sheet is composed by 3 tabs:

 Instructions, which provide context and general usage recommendations for the
file.
 TCO calculator, which is the tab in which you should fill the data to compare the
solution alternatives.
 TCO Graph that provides a graphical comparison of the two solution models in
terms of cumulative costs.

Although the calculator can show differences in costs, it is critical to mention that the
conversation with the prospect should not be only about money. The calculator helps to
make some of the benefits from Moodlerooms SaaS more tangible, and so, the key
aspect of this initiative is to be able to communicate the value that Moodlerooms create
and how that can translate in real cost efficiencies, not the make the conversation just
about the actual numbers.

The following steps provide a guide on the usual process to use the calculator:

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Step #1 – Obtaining information

To fill the data on the calculator, you first need to understand the context, plans and
characteristics of the two alternatives to be compared. That is to say, you need to obtain
as much information as possible from the prospect in regard of their initiative. Good
news is that this process is no different from the Blackboard discovery process for sales
opportunities and so, you probably already have a lot of information to start working on
an estimate.

The following questions can be used as a reference to lead the conversation towards
obtaining the information you need and can also create initial awareness of challenges
that the prospect may not know:

 How many active users are you planning to have?

 What type of infrastructure do you have to deploy other applications in the
organization?
 What kind of infrastructure do you typically purchase for other initiatives?
(Physical servers, virtual servers, Cloud Computing)
 Is there a team assigned full time to the e-learning initiative?
 Does a “technology for education/training” area exists in your organization?
 What are the critical success factors for your project?
 What are the key performance indicators of your initiative?
 What is the evolution roadmap for the project in terms of usage?
 Which team is directly responsible for this initiative?
 Is there a team dedicated to information security that can work on the initiative
full time?
 What kind of service continuity measures do you typically deploy for other
applications?
 How do you guarantee service availability for other applications?
 How do you handle data backups in other applications in your organization?
(Frequency, storage mechanisms, etc.)

Step #2 – Making sense of the gathered information

Now that you the have information, it’s time to make sure that you translate that into
something you can work with. The following components provide a reference that you
can use:

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  Short and long term usage: Based on how many users they will have at the start
of the project and what are their projections, you can match the respective
Moodlerooms user plan and estimate equivalent infrastructure.
 Availability and continuity: Even if the response from the customers indicate that
they don’t have something to address this issues or that they don’t care about it,
you have an opportunity to focus on these elements as a differentiator that won’t
break the bank.
 Key performance indicators and project success factors: Providing great learning
experiences, improving training results, saving time, creating additional value to
learners. Most of the prospect’s goals can be translated into the importance of
providing a reliable platform experience, and that requires investment to make
sure that it is available, fast, secure, etc. This can add to build the story about the
required investments in terms of infrastructure/staff for the self-hosted alternative
and how Moodlerooms provides all of this to the organization without any
complexities.
 Knowhow, staffing: The information gathered around the e-learning, IT
administration, information security and other teams can be used to populate the
Self-Hosted part of the excel sheet with salaries and staffing costs that are not
required with the Moodlerooms SaaS solution.

Step #3– Filling the “TCO calculator” tab

Please consider the following before starting to fill the information for the calculator:

 Due to the highly subjective nature of a TCO calculation, the rows or topics
covered should not be taken as an exhaustive list. There are spaces within each
section of the TCO spreadsheet to add other costs as required.
 In the same way, please feel free to remove the elements you consider are not
relevant for your opportunity.
 This calculator can be used for physical hardware, virtual servers or cloud
computing. Just make sure you translate the costs and change the names of the
costs accordingly.
 This was said before, but please do and check the calculations yourself before
showing them to the prospect to avoid any possible complications.
 Try to consider (and make evident to the prospect) all the hidden labor,
maintenance or opportunity costs involved in the operation they’re evaluating as
an alternative to Moodlerooms. Even if the prospect says there is no “real cost”,
an opportunity cost can be quantified.

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  The information should be filled for each year of operation that you want to
compare.
 In multiyear comparison, you should consider prospect’s planned growth in terms
of users. You should also make sure you fill the data of recurrent and special
hardware upgrade / maintenance costs for the self-hosted option.

The out-of-the-box version of the calculator contains the following cost categories and
elements:

Software

The capital expenditure of software licenses in the case of additional software needed on
Moodle Self-Hosted alternative and the operating expenditure of subscription fees in the
case of Moodlerooms SaaS (The Moodlerooms user band plan).

Concept Moodlerooms SaaS Self-Hosted

License/Subscription Fees
Moodlerooms user plan
according to price list
Any licenses required to
operate their hosting
project. E.g. Oracle
database licenses, MS
server licenses, etc.

Hardware/Infrastructure

Costs associated with the necessary hardware and infrastructure to host Moodle in-
house. Both traditional in-house hardware solutions and Cloud based infrastructure can
be compared in the calculator to match the prospect IT context. In some cases, the
organization may have to hire staff to cover the specified tasks, but in some others,
those tasks are performed by external providers or other internal teams, for which the
opportunity costs should be quantified.

Even if the prospect has internal staff to cover these tasks, proper labor costs should be
considered and it is recommended to leave all the unused cost concepts in the table to
create awareness off the things covered by Moodlerooms SaaS.

Concept Moodlerooms SaaS Self-Hosted

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Production servers
Test/Sandbox servers
Service continuity /
availability measures
Infrastructure architecture
Network
Backups and secure
storage
Infrastructure security
measures
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Included in SaaS All the hardware or cloud
components required to
create the Moodle hosting
environment. This should
consider application
servers, database servers
and application storage
units.
Included in SaaS Moodlerooms SaaS includes
a test environment as part
of the service, so, how
much would it take for the
prospect to have a similar
environment in their own
infrastructure?
Included in SaaS Physical and virtual
redundant servers and
measures to keep the
service available in
conditions in which the
main infrastructure fails.
Included in SaaS The planning and
architecture work to fine
tune the performance of
the application in the
hosting environment. Can
the prospect infrastructure
scale? Adapt to high traffic?
Included in SaaS All the network elements
required to provide the
self-hosted Moodle service.
Included in SaaS Magnetic disks, cloud
storage services and other
solutions to save the LMS
data for the long term. This
is mandatory in some
countries.
Included in SaaS Firewalls and defense in
depth mechanisms to

Infrastructure maintenance
/ staff
Included in SaaS
assure security and
integrity of the data.
The costs associated to
maintain and/or operate
the deployed infrastructure
components. This can be
an internal labor cost or a
provider cost different from
the items mentioned
before.

Administration costs

Costs related to the LMS operation in the organization. Moodlerooms provides multiple
efficiency gains via unique capabilities such as Conduit, PLD and other integrations. It is
important to calculate the opportunity cost /efficiency loss cost of not having these
features; whether it be via specific costs of tasks or by additional load to the admin staff.

Concept Moodlerooms SaaS Self-Hosted

Administration staff
Course replication tasks
Labor costs related to Labor costs related to
platform administration. platform administration.
Although also present in
Moodlerooms,
administration staff costs
can be reduced if by using
Moodlerooms’ unique
capabilities. The
organization can automate
most of their operative
tasks. In this case, less
people would be needed or
they can focus on strategic
work. There are also cases
in which the organization
outsources these type of
tasks.
Moodlerooms conduit can Measurable or opportunity
automate this task. costs related to the time

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Data integration Moodlerooms conduit /
office 365 integration /
Google apps integration /
LDAP and other
integrations (Some
integrations may require a
fee)
Reporting Moodlerooms reports, X-
Ray Learning Analytics or
Intelliboard (Some
components require a fee)
devoted to manually
replicate semester or
training period courses and
sections.
Measurable or opportunity
costs related to integrate
the platform to other
information systems.
Measurable or opportunity
costs related to having to
make sense of the course
data manually.

Implementation

Cost associated with the implementation of the application. These usually include
development (customization and integration), testing, training, and consulting.

Concept Moodlerooms SaaS Self-Hosted

Branding Moodlerooms Brandmatch Design costs and
service. It is important to implementation costs for a
note that the branding custom branded Moodle
service includes a theme.
maintenance fee and that it
assures that the theme will
keep working after
upgrades, something that
some other providers or
Moodle freelancers can’t
guarantee.
Training Moodlerooms training Costs associated with
packages. training, that can be from
from our solutions or third
party providers.

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 Consulting Custom development,
strategic services or other
consulting services.
Custom development,
strategic services or other
consulting services that can
be from our solutions or
third party providers.

Software maintenance

Cost of upgrading, administering Moodle and making sure that key components of the
solution and customizations work with each upgrade. This is usually one of the biggest
pain points of self-hosted Moodle prospects. They can deploy a platform, customize it
and even develop features for it, but on the longer term, without the proper practices,
they’ll find themselves in a position in which they won’t be able to upgrade the platform
and need to stay in an older version.

In some cases, the organization may have to hire staff to cover the specified tasks
below, but in some others, those tasks are executed by external providers or other
internal teams, for which the opportunity costs should be quantified.

Even if the prospect has internal staff to cover these tasks, proper labor costs should be
considered and it is recommended to leave all the unused cost concepts in the table to
create awareness off the things covered by Moodlerooms SaaS.

Concept Moodlerooms SaaS Self-Hosted

Dedicated personnel
Update integration tasks
Quality assurance tasks
Included in Moodlerooms Labor costs associated with
SaaS the software maintenance
tasks described in this
table. Some organizations
have dedicated personnel
and others may outsource
it.
Included in Moodlerooms Measurable or opportunity
SaaS costs related to prepare
and test an upgrade of the
base platform to the most
recent version.
Included in Moodlerooms Measurable or opportunity
SaaS costs related to make sure

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Branding upgrade
Moodle version Update
process
Code customizations
upgrade
Security patching
Included in Moodlerooms
SaaS
Included in Moodlerooms
SaaS
Included in Moodlerooms
SaaS for elements
including in the plugin
matrix. Brandmatch
customizations and special
customizations may require
a maintenance fee.
Included in Moodlerooms
SaaS
that the developed /
integrated code complies
with good practices that
ensure its compatibility and
long term operation.
Measurable or opportunity
costs related to upgrade
the Moodle theme
customizations.
Measurable or opportunity
costs related to the actual
update process:
Maintenance window,
rollback measures, etc.
Measurable or opportunity
costs related to make sure
that the developed
customizations and plugins
work in the upgrade target
version
Measurable or opportunity
costs related to keep the
platform up to date in the
security patches area.

Support

The support staff labor hours and costs, training labor and fees, support contracts and
management overhead. It is important to make clear the value that Moodlerooms offer in
terms of expert support. Our support team has the knowledge and experience from
years of service to a community of educators, institutions and organizations. This should
be estimated accordingly on the Self-Hosted side to match the labor costs of similarly
skilled professionals.

Concept Moodlerooms SaaS Self-Hosted

End user Support Costs associated to provide Costs associated to provide
help to learners and help to learners and

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 teachers. This is typically
handled by the
organization.
Helpdesk Support 24/7 support included in
SaaS.
Training Moodlerooms support team
is always trained in the
latest best practices and
the most recent version of
the platform
teachers. This is typically
handled by the
organization.
Costs of having 24/7
Moodle professionals
providing support to
platform administrators.
Training costs associated
with keeping support teams
up to date in terms of best
practices and Moodle
version updates.

Step #4– Checking the results

After filling the TCO calculator data, the next step is to check the results that the tool
provides to make sure it supports the story you want to tell to your prospect.

In the TCO calculator tab you can find an area that describes the annual costs and
cumulative costs, this should be the first point to validate that the calculations were
executed as expected.

The TCO graph tab shows a graphical comparison of the cumulative costs of each
solution alternative. You want to make sure that the Moodlerooms line is below the Self-
hosted line.

For more information, email us at askus@moodlerooms.com or visit

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Step #5– Use and share the results

The last step is to use the results from the calculator to advance in the discussion with
your prospect. Although you can use the spreadsheet alone to support your case, it is
highly recommended that you share it as part of a presentation in which you can explain
your key findings, position our solution and resolve any questions or objections you may
find. You can use the provided TCO presentation template or the full Moodlerooms sales
deck to do this.

F.A.Q.
Where can I get information about hardware costs?

There are multiple resources available in Internet to fit your particular needs. The
important thing to consider at first is the target user band and current hardware
practices from the prospect. E.g. Are they hardware buyers or Cloud infrastructure
services customers?

Also, be sure to check the following resources:

https://aws.amazon.com/es/blogs/aws/estimate-your-c/

For more information, email us at askus@moodlerooms.com or visit

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http://www.thecloudcalculator.com/calculators/cloud-build-vs-buy.html
http://searchservervirtualization.techtarget.com/feature/Computing-with-a-price-tag-
VM-cost-calculation-guide
https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/pricing/calculator/
https://www.rackspace.com/calculator

Can I use this tool with a prospect that is thinking to move to

a Cloud solution with other provider?

Yes! You can this tool to estimate costs on cloud infrastructure. Make sure you change
the names accordingly and focus on the unique elements that Moodlerooms provide that
others cloud providers can: Expert support, years of knowhow, fine-tuned Moodle-
focused architecture, monitoring, best practices, etc.

My sponsor is part of the IT department and we’re very close,

can I handle this tool to him so he can fill it himself?

No! It’s always recommended that you use this tool yourself and then help the prospect
to make sense of the results and understand our value proposition. In cases like these,
use your proximity to the prospect to obtain as much detailed information as you can to
use the tool better.

Where can I get the prices for Moodlerooms items to fill the
calculator data?

Prices for standard components of the Moodlerooms solution, such as the SaaS platform,
Brandmatch and training, can be found on the price list file available in the Sales Center.
Special components, such as consulting services, customizations or development may
require a separate estimation that can be done with the help of the Solutions Engineering
team.

Where can I get more help, provide feedback or make

suggestions about this tool?

We’re happy to help! Please contact us at askProductMR@blackboard.com

For more information, email us at askus@moodlerooms.com or visit

moodlerooms.com