A cost-performance analysis of computer alternatives

Abstract

This study contains an application of cost-performance analysis to the automation of a manual reporting and record-keeping system. A small local transit company serves as the basis for the analysis. Beginning with a brief history of small business computing and computers in the transit industry, it covers this main aspects of requirements analysis in terms of system size , software and hardwire. Four alternative computer systems, two minicomputers and two microcomputer networks, are presented and rated on their responsiveness to the transit company's needs. Tradeoffs in cost and performance are analyzed to determine the marginal costs for each unit of increase in performance. The cost performance techniques developed for mainframe systems are shown to be applicable to minicomputer and microcomputer based systems as well.