TCOIllustrator is a highly flexible and customisable software application that accompanies the management report, "The importance of Total Cost of Ownership in a world of Digital Convergence" - published by CharisCo Printer Labs. It helps you to understand where your money is going, how much your hard copy devices are actually costing you to run and to determine what mix of printers, copiers or MFPs will best suit your environment. It is also available for free download.

Note: TCOIllustrator is best used in conjunction with the report

Shipping FREE OF CHARGE with a recently published report from CharisCo Printer Labs is a new software tool, TCOIllustrator, that demonstrates the vast differences in cost of printing that exist not only between different models of digital printer, copier or fax machine but between the different product sectors themselves.

An essential element in calculation of ROI (Return on Investment), TCOIllustrator is a highly interactive application that calculates TCO (Total Cost of Ownership) for hard copy output devices and takes into account the user's hard copy and work profiles in addition to the characteristics of the output device. This means that the user can enter detailed custom information about the work environment and see which types of hard copy device would best suit that particular environment and would be most efficient to operate. It answers questions like:
-> 'Should I buy printers or multifunction copiers?'
-> 'How much of my money is going on consumables or maintenance?'
-> 'How much am I actually going to spend on this machine?'
-> 'Should I be prepared to spend a little more on purchasing the machines, will they cost me less in the long run?'
-> 'What would happen to my cost of printing if my usage patterns change?'
Currently drawing on a database with an illustrative group of the five leading products from each sector, the database is to be expanded to include monthly updates for all models of office hard copy device under a subscription service. In addition, CharisCo Printer Labs is due to begin real life testing of hard copy devices in the near future to provide the most realistic and objective cost of printing analysis possible.

Customisation features
-> Customisation of usage patterns, including: total daily page count; number of days worked per year; period of ownership; hours per day that the printer is powered up; etc.
-> Customisation of the proportion of pages printed using sample pages with four different coverages (i.e. print 70% of pages as letter pages with 5% coverage, 25% of pages as data presentation pages with with 20% coverage, 3% of pages as newsheet pages with 25% coverage and 2% of pages as report pages with 35% coverage). In addition, the individual coverage figures may be customised to reflect personal page density. Thus, the TCO calculation is tailored closely to the user's environment.
-> Customisation of prices to be used in the calculation for the devices, their consumables, maintenance kits, extended warranty/maintenance options and also cost of power.
-> Save capabilities for personalised usage and pricing to allow what-if scenarios and comparisons to be performed and revisited.
Presentation features
-> Total Cost of Ownership results are displayed in a tabular format for easy recognition of cost components and their significance.
-> Results may also be exported to MS Excel for further manipulation of up to five models side-by-side.
-> Specification data relevant to the TCO calculation may also be exported to MS Excel.
-> Charting capabilities offering six chart formats for viewing TCO as bar charts or as line graphs covering a user-specified range of daily throughputs.
Designed and developed by CharisCo Printer Labs, TCOIllustrator is a forerunner to the full-featured Total Cost of Printing analysis application, TCPAnalyser, that will handle data produced by CharisCo's independent testing.
Below are some screen shots, that represent key elements to the TCOIllustrator application:

Customisation of the usage environment.

Customisation of prices.

TCO results table.

Charting of TCO results.