What are Onboarding Costs?
Definition
Expenses associated with implementing and deploying software beyond licensing fees. Onboarding costs include implementation services, data migration, system integration, customization, training, change management, and temporary productivity loss. These costs often equal or exceed first-year licensing fees. RFPs should require detailed cost breakdowns including professional services, required customizations, integration development, and ongoing support to calculate true total cost of ownership.
Why This Matters
Implementation costs often equal or exceed first-year licensing fees. Organizations failing to account for implementation services, data migration, integration development, customization, and training face budget overruns. RFPs must require detailed cost breakdowns including professional services, required customizations, integration development, and ongoing support. Total cost of ownership calculation must include full implementation cost to enable accurate vendor comparison.
Related Terms
Showing semantically related terms from our RFP knowledge graph. Priority connections are highlighted.
Essential Connections
Implementation Costs
Pricing & Total Cost
One-time expenses for deploying software including project management, configuration, customization, data migration, integration development, and training.
Total Cost of Ownership
Pricing & Total Cost
The complete cost of software including licensing fees, implementation costs, training expenses, data migration, ongoing support, customization, infrastructure, and maintenance over 3-5 years.
Implementation Support
Implementation & Deployment
Vendor-provided assistance during software deployment, including technical guidance, configuration support, and issue resolution.
Implementation
Implementation & Deployment
The process of deploying, configuring, and operationalizing software after vendor selection, including data migration, training, and go-live activities.
Pricing Section
RFP Fundamentals
RFP section requesting detailed cost breakdown including licensing models, implementation fees, training costs, support tiers, customization charges, and renewal rates.
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