A community-wide policy is required in order to minimise the costs and risks inherent in purchasing and supporting a large estate of IT equipment in use by a diverse user group. The cost of purchasing computers for members of the community is significant – however, it should be noted that the initial purchase price typically constitutes around a third of the overall cost of a device, the remainder being made up of support, licensing, underlying infrastructure and disposal. All of these cost components can only be controlled through adopting a standardised approach to the purchase of computers, although flexibility is still required to accommodate the specialist activity taking place across a community.