Towers and Sub Towers represent the technology view of spend in the TBM model.
Use Towers to classify which technology function or service area is supported by the spend after costs have been mapped through Cost Pools. Towers help IT, Finance, FinOps, and business leaders understand how technology spend supports the operating environment.
Towers move reporting beyond what was purchased and into what technology capability the spend enables.
How Towers fit the TBM model
Towers sit after Cost Pools in the TBM cost flow.
They answer the question: Which technology function does this spend support?
The typical flow is:
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Financial data is mapped into Cost Pools and Sub Cost Pools
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Cost Pool spend is allocated into Towers and Sub Towers
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Tower spend is connected to Solutions and Consumers where the model supports it
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The results become available in Cost Transparency, Analytics, showback, chargeback, and planning workflows
Tower structure
|
Level |
Description |
|---|---|
|
Tower |
A high-level technology function or service area |
|
Sub Tower |
A more detailed category under the Tower |
Sub Towers provide more precise reporting while preserving a consistent technology view for leadership and stakeholder analysis.
Taxonomy flexibility
Tower labels and Sub Tower structures can vary by organization. The Tower structure selected in Yarken determines how technology function spend appears in Cost Transparency, Cost Explorer, Analytics, planning, showback, and chargeback workflows.
Core TBM Towers
Yarken supports Tower and Sub Tower structures that align technology spend to functional service areas.
|
Tower |
Use it for |
|---|---|
|
Data Center |
Facilities that house and protect critical IT equipment, including data center space, power, racks, cabling, and related facilities |
|
Compute |
Physical, virtual, mainframe, cloud, and specialized compute services that run applications and workloads |
|
Storage |
Centralized storage, backup, archive, recovery, and related storage services |
|
Network |
Data and voice network services, circuits, connectivity, network equipment, and supporting services |
|
Platform |
Databases, middleware, integration, container, data, and application platform services |
|
Output |
High-volume printing and output management services, where used in the selected taxonomy |
|
End User |
Devices, mobile, productivity software, printers, conferencing, help desk, and end user support services |
|
Application |
Application development, operations, support, maintenance, and off-the-shelf software support |
|
Delivery |
Project delivery, relationship management, IT operations, monitoring, incident, problem, and change management |
|
Security & Compliance |
Security operations, compliance, risk controls, vulnerability management, disaster recovery, and related controls |
|
IT Management |
IT leadership, planning, budgeting, architecture, vendor management, and administrative activities |
Relationship with Cost Pools
Cost Pools explain the financial type of spend.
Towers explain the technology function supported by that spend.
For example:
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Hardware spend may support Compute, Storage, Network, End User, or Data Center Towers
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Software spend may support Platform, Application, Security, or End User Towers
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Staffing spend may support Delivery, Application, IT Management, Security, or other Towers depending on where the work is performed
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Facilities and power spend may support the Data Center Tower
Relationship with Solutions and Consumers
Towers help prepare spend for business-facing reporting.
Once spend is allocated through Towers, it can be connected to Solutions and then to Consumers where the model supports it.
This helps teams move from technology function to service delivery and business accountability.
Relationship with Cost Transparency and Cost Explorer
Towers appear in Cost Transparency dashboards and drilldown reports.
Use Tower reporting to identify high-cost service areas, compare spend across technology functions, and investigate variance.
Use Cost Explorer to validate how Cost Pool spend flows into Towers and how Tower spend connects to downstream Solutions and Consumers.
Next step
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