Cost

From EvaluationWiki

The cost of something is the amount of something valuable required to obtain (or, in a derived sense) maintain it. Two ways to break up costs are: money vs. non-money, and direct vs. indirect. The non-money costs are often as or more important than the money costs, and include space, time, stress, expertise, etc., when these are not available at the required level, in the money market (that is, they cannot be 'monetized.') The direct costs are items like payroll that have to be paid out out in the course of an activity with particular ends (a 'project'), e.g., at the 'front end' (advertising for staff, printing brochures) or as maintenance (required regular) cost, e.g., payroll, or at the 'back end' e.g., clean up, buyout of personnel; the indirect costs are items that are not associated with any particular project, but are essential in order to run the whole organization, e.g., overall administration, building rental.