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Thread: Return on Investment Question |
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Thread Status: Active Total posts in this thread: 21
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Former Member
Cruncher Joined: May 22, 2018 Post Count: 0 Status: Offline |
Hello all,
I run WCG on a dedicated pool of servers provided by my employer. I am approaching the four year mark for the project and need to provide some base information about the money side of the project. Namely the ROI. I can certainly calculate the Investment side of the calculation, but nowhere have I been able to find any information that could be used to calculate the Return side. Since I'm presenting this to an oversight committee that will soon be deciding to continue, cancel or expand the project, I need real dollars and cents information on what it is that the project is providing to the scientific community. From what I can tell, the easiest way to do this would be to somehow attach a price tag to each point earned, since this is tied to the work done for each project and the work done is the service I am providing. Can anyone help me determine the monetary value of a WCG point? Thanks!! Michael D. Shook | refuse4research.org | Mike@refuse4research.org | Eastern Time Zone |
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Former Member
Cruncher Joined: May 22, 2018 Post Count: 0 Status: Offline |
Now there's a good question....how do you quantify extending human lives in terms of dollars and cents?
I think I'd ask your oversight committee what they believe their own lives and the lives of their loved ones are worth; an entirely pertinent and appropriate question, as the research you've participated and are participating in in may one day prevent them from coming to a premature end. And there is the fact that every life saved is a potential - or perhaps even an existing - customer. If that doesn't satisfy them, then tell them your participation is an intangible asset: business goodwill. Or could be, with an addition to your company letterhead/logo of the sort "Proud Participant in World Community Grid Since 2008". Good advertising for WCG, too; the competition never likes to be shown up. Note that I do not speak for IBM, BOINC, or WCG...this entire comment is a matter of my personal opinion. No doubt you'd want to run it by "legal" as well as the aforementioned external parties first.  |
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Former Member
Cruncher Joined: May 22, 2018 Post Count: 0 Status: Offline |
Substitute "Proud Participant in World Community Grid since 2008" and consider how "Proud Partner... since 2012" would sit on the palate.
WCG and all humanity thanks you and your company for their contributions to research. Many papers have already been written off from what was run on the grid and have led to follow on research, much of which without our efforts may never have happened or only in a long away future. Many committed contributors have applied for recognition and Become a Partner, which is explained here: http://www.worldcommunitygrid.org/bg/partner.pdf . When having successfully completed the application, you will be listed here: http://www.worldcommunitygrid.org/about_us/viewOurPartners.do WCG is not a recognized charity, can't be as it is none monetary pure volunteering endeavor residing in no particular jurisdiction [pieces are all over the planet, USA, Canada, Colombia, Brazil, Japan, China, Australia, France **], but all the electricity and time is for an enterprise tax deductible in the cause of doing business and said goodwill. We cant put an ROI to this, but knowing we're building for a better future. --//-- ** Cant find the Google map atm with the pins to the places from where projects are run under the WCG hosting umbrella. Anyone know where it's hiding? |
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Former Member
Cruncher Joined: May 22, 2018 Post Count: 0 Status: Offline |
 ibsteve2u, this could not be expressed much better- so far the world is still a bit above cool cash in many places  How can they get themselves to ask such a question, refuse4research?Has it cost them anything?  I think ibsteve2u's "Proud Participant in World Community Grid Since 2008" is the best free tag line money can buy Tell them hello and thank you so far from one of the survivors, refuse4research  |
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Former Member
Cruncher Joined: May 22, 2018 Post Count: 0 Status: Offline |
I need real dollars and cents information on what it is that the project is providing to the scientific community. If you really need that over and above the business goodwill element, then would an "alternative cost" return figure suffice? Estimate what it would have cost the scientific community to rent time on or purchase, install, house, staff and maintain a supercomputer capable of the 650TFLOPS that the whole of WCG is providing currently, then factor that down to the GFLOPS or whatever that your servers are assigning to WCG.Other threads of interest may be Grid vs Super Computer? and The Road to 600 TeraFLOPS: Need More Powah to stay Smarter Than Watson in Chat. |
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Former Member
Cruncher Joined: May 22, 2018 Post Count: 0 Status: Offline |
I have also been thinking about this.
Of course there is hard to put a money value on knowledge, life, reduced suffering, time and environment. You can look at it some different ways:
The outcome of the projects is knowledge, knowledge that can be used to get new knowledge. The focus on the different projects is different but many are searching for cures to save life. I use to think up of numbers on how big part of the solution this result will be and what effect it will have and how many results I have made out of all of them. Just making up some numbers. Lets say project X trying to find a cure for Y. 1.000.000 people dies in Y every year. Lets say the outcome of the project is 1/100 part of the solution to find the cure to Y. And that cure is effective in 80% during a 10 year time. And that 20% get the cure during that time. Lets say it has 5.000.000 tasks and I sent in 1000 results (during one year). There is of course more to it but I like numbers. 10.000.000*0.01*0.8*0.2*0.0002 = 3.2 Life saved |
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mikey
Veteran Cruncher Joined: May 10, 2009 Post Count: 826 Status: Offline Project Badges: 
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Hello all, I run WCG on a dedicated pool of servers provided by my employer. I am approaching the four year mark for the project and need to provide some base information about the money side of the project. Namely the ROI. I can certainly calculate the Investment side of the calculation, but nowhere have I been able to find any information that could be used to calculate the Return side. Since I'm presenting this to an oversight committee that will soon be deciding to continue, cancel or expand the project, I need real dollars and cents information on what it is that the project is providing to the scientific community. From what I can tell, the easiest way to do this would be to somehow attach a price tag to each point earned, since this is tied to the work done for each project and the work done is the service I am providing. Can anyone help me determine the monetary value of a WCG point? Thanks!! Michael D. Shook | refuse4research.org | Mike@refuse4research.org | Eastern Time Zone One way to do this is to ask the question...'if your loved one, or neighbor, or coworker were given one more year of life because of what we donated, what would it be worth?' Now multiply that by the hundreds of thousands of lives that can be saved if/when the the cure is found for the thing your company is using its computers to crunch for. Ask the Susan J. Komen group how many lives breast cancer research has saved? Did YOU know that men can get breast cancer too? I didn't until they did the research and I am a guy!!! How about Malaria and all the lives that have been saved, because of the research being done on that too. Your company provides tangible research into finding the cures for diseases that ravage the World and how can you put a monetary number on that? You are not 'just' throwing money at a project and saying here use this as you see fit, you are DOING THE ACTUAL RESEARCH needed to help find a cure! How much money does X Corp bring in just to give its Officers and others to run that Corp that will trickle down to the people actually DOING the research? YOUR COMPANY is doing BETTER than that, they are DOING THE RESEARCH, they KNOW their computers are HELPING with the ACTUAL research!! YOUR COMPANY is not like the actor or actress that donates a million dollars and then has no idea where it actually goes, your donations ARE HELPING!!! YOUR COMPANY is the 'boots on the ground' in the research for a cure!!! Lastly tell them "THANK YOU" from all of us the research has helped!!   |
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PecosRiverM
Veteran Cruncher The Great State of Texas Joined: Apr 27, 2007 Post Count: 1054 Status: Offline Project Badges: 
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All The above are Great thoughts.
----------------------------------------Keep us informed as to the outcome.    |
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Hypernova
Master Cruncher Audaces Fortuna Juvat ! Vaud - Switzerland Joined: Dec 16, 2008 Post Count: 1908 Status: Offline Project Badges:
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One way to look at it is through the advertising budget.
----------------------------------------I do not know your company, but do you spend money for advertising, for going to fairs, etc. etc. Look at the cost of running WCG in comparison to what you spend in advertising. You can make good use of your dollars spent for WCG advertising your company image through the participation to WCG projects. You help finding cures for major humanitarian health issues like Malaria, Aids, Cancer. Contributing to research is as positive as compensating carbon emission. Some companies spend money to acquire a greener environmental image. You can do this kind of approach with WCG. And if you have no budget for advertising, never go to fairs, then it is time you start.  |
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RCC_Survivor
Veteran Cruncher USA Joined: Apr 28, 2007 Post Count: 1337 Status: Offline Project Badges:
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ROI for unused computer run time?
----------------------------------------The cost of additional power and little to no maintenance make this a very small financial investment. Why do you have to make a return? It's charity and there is no donation money to budget or allocate. I am a 2x 11yrs cancer survivor and wish I didn't know what it is like to have cancer. Here is what cancer research can prevent: years of fighting cancer, living in hospitals, multiple surgeries, medical bankruptcies, unemployment, divorce, loss of worldly possessions, homelessness, and death of loved ones. How do you put a price on that? And you are already paying for cancer through higher insurance premiums.
Be kinder than necessary, for everyone you meet is fighting some battle.
Please join the team The survivors  Bilateral Renal, Melanoma, and Squamous Cell cancers |
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