Overview of functions and features....

• Integrated service catalog, with multi-tiered structure.

• Aggregation of all costs in project/service-delivery teams across multiple groups within the organization.

• Costs flexibly assigned to:
  • A specific deliverable (direct).

  • A subset of deliverables in a group.

  • All the deliverables in a group.

  • Overhead amortized to all or a class of groups, by headcount or expense.

• Internal-indirect cost transfers from one group to another (not simplistic cascades of cost pools directly to external products and services).
  • Algorithms to resolve circularity, including measures of resulting distortion.

• Headcount requirements modeling based on demand (i.e., headcount as an output, not just an input), including growth scenarios.
  • Detailed analysis of billable-time ratios by type of staff within each group.

  • The ability to account for different levels of productivity by type of staff within each group.

  • Hiring algorithm recognizes overtime, on-call, and shifts if necessary.

  • Compensation cost model incorporates the increased use of contractors in growth scenarios without the need for different rates at different volume levels for comparable deliverables within a group.

  • Cost model incorporates the differential costs when vendors are used for overflow work when employees and contractors cannot satisfy demand, without the need for different rates at different volume levels for comparable deliverables within a group.

  • Compensation costs are applied equitably to all comparable deliverables within a group.

  • Results are reported in both headcount and FTEs.

• Calculates separate rates for specialized skills within groups.

• Ability to split a batch of products into direct sales and resales under another group's deliverable (buy a batch, sell some, incorporate the rest into something bigger).

• Revenues may be entered at cost, fixed price, or mark-up; profit/loss reporting.

• Reporting separates fee-for-service (chargebacks and allocations) and direct budget.

• Flexible reporting:
  • Data development (planning), with comprehensive error checking of all inputs.

  • Management scrutiny, tuning, cost optimization.

  • Budget negotiations: drill-down through tiers of clients, consortia, client-owned checkbooks, alignment with enterprise strategies.

  • Product management, profitability analysis.

  • Rates, catalog.

  • Upload to accounting systems.

  • Management metrics.

• User interface is easy to learn, interactive.

• Documentation is comprehensive and detailed, and describes both software and the business-planning process.
  • Detailed project plan, with workshop agendas and leadership-team tasks.

  • Comprehensive description of each step of the planning process, with guidelines, frameworks, and definitions needed by leaders.

  • Logistics requirements and other project-management guidelines for each step in the planning process.

  • Documentation of all inputs to the software.