Pricing. Most charge-out systems charge for actual costs incurred, but you can design pricing mechanisms to influence behavior. For example, more sophisticated charge-out systems offer significant discounts for off-peak use. New IT services can be priced as loss leaders to encourage experimentation, while nonstandard services (tape mounts or unsupported handhelds, for example) can be charged above actual cost.

Terms. Are your terms helpful or confusing? Express charges in user terms, such as monthly desktop cost, cost per invoice or monthly cost per gigabyte stored, rather than in technical terms. In addition, pick units that help departments understand their usage and indicate how they can control their IT costs (by reducing overly complex queries, eliminating unused mailboxes or purging files, for example).

Partial charge-out. Are costs fully or partially recovered? John Chambers, Cisco's CEO, views infrastructure as part of the cost of doing business. Cisco's IT department charges other departments only for services beyond their basic "foundation infrastructure." Unfortunately, this approach often deteriorates into political debates over exactly what is included in the foundation infrastructure.

Periodic technology refresh. How is technology refresh funded? Hotels, restaurants and retailers know they must regularly paint, replace carpeting and update their properties; they budget and plan accordingly. Most corporations understand this concept intellectually, but quarterly earnings pressure often makes them reluctant to actually fund necessary IT technology refreshes.

Project management costs. Who pays when user departments hire outsourcers? Often, outsourcers must interact with existing IT systems, but no budget is provided for project management. As a result, the outside project is often inadequately managed, or project management costs are buried in other budgets (thereby defeating the purpose of charge-out).