The leading software platform to help you find the answers
to the toughest cost and performance questions
How much does it cost to keep an aircraft carrier in a state of readiness?
Trusted and used by more than 450 organizations and 600 consultants across the globe
Table of contents
Meet the professional’s choice
Why choose CostPerform
Software designed by experts
What makes CostPerform a world-class
software platform?
Cost allocation methods
Industry templates
Our markets
Case: TBM at the Small Business Administration
Short success stories
Global Partner Network
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Thanks to more than 20 years of
experience, our global partner network
and unique software platform,
CostPerform has become the leader
in cost and performance management
software. Our mission? To empower
people to solve the most complex cost
and performance questions.
When we discovered that none of the products
we used could resolve the questions our
clients had, we decided to develop our own
software. CostPerform was born, and over two
decades, it has evolved into what we think is
the ultimate expression of our abilities in cost
and performance management, both in terms
of experience and knowledge. Now, over 450
organizations and 600 consultants spread
across 45 countries use our software, making
CostPerform the leader in the field and the
professional’s choice foranswering the most
complex questions.
Through our world-class software platform
and our professional global partner network,
we provide the training, coaching and support
needed to help organizations get the most out of
CostPerform - and their business performance.
Read on and discover what CostPerform can do
for your organization.
Meet the professional’s choice
It’s our mission to empower people to solve the
most complex cost and performance questions.
CostPerform is flexible and easy to use.
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The most comprehensive cost management software
platform
It’s intuitive and easy to use
CostPerform offers multiple cost accounting
and allocation methods, various smart calcula-
tion functions and several analysis and simu-
lation tools. Dashboarding and whiteboarding,
a report generator, ETL (Extract Transfer and
Load), and API (Application Program Interface)
are also part of the software platform. Thanks
to a multitude of possibilities, it can answer any
cost related question.
Working with CostPerform doesn’t require any
IT knowledge. And because it’s so intuitive and
easy to use, we guarantee that you will be able
to quickly start finding the solutions to your
most complex cost and performance issues.
Why chooseCostPerform?
It’s the professional’s choice
It offers the best value for money
More than 450 organizations across the globe
- ranging from the US Government to large
telecom companies - use our software to report to
regulators and to improve their performance. And
thanks to our excellent reputation, firms like KPMG,
Deloitte, PWC, Ernst & Young, Grant Thornton,
and our network of other dedicated partners not
only endorse CostPerform but provide support and
consulting services as well.
Compared to similar software platforms,
CostPerform’s total cost of ownership is
considerably lower, making it the best value for
money.
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Complex issues, challenging calculations, and
outdated and unclear cost management software
causes today’s organizations sleepless nights. For
instance: how do you find out what the exact cost
of producing and distributing microchips is? Or
how much it costs to keep an aircraft carrier in a
state of readiness? With ordinary software, you
won’t find the correct answers to those questions,
but with CostPerform’s extraordinary software
platform, you will.
Here’s how. Simply put, the cost structure of most
organizations consists of four layers. From top to bottom
they are: costs, resources, activities, and products and/or
services. CostPerform’s software allows you to visualize
those layers and use them as building blocks to represent
the current or future cost structure of your organization.
When you’ve created the structure, you can assign
‘objects’ (as we call them), to each block. For instance,
a hospital has objects such as salaries and depreciation
costs, nurses and MRI’s as resources, heart surgery and
blood transfusions as activities and by-pass operations
and hip replacements as products. Once the objects are
established, the next step is to find the cause-and-effect
relationships between the objects and to record and
visualize them into a cost model. This model gives you
detailed - and thus extremely valuable - insights into
the often very complex cost and capacity flows of your
organization. With those insights, you can find answers
to any cost and performance question, resulting in the
knowledge of where to make adjustments to improve
business performance.
Current and future insights But CostPerform doesn’t stop there. Besides being fully
customizable to your organizations’ needs, our software
is also capable of creating future cost performance
scenarios with intelligent simulations, giving you more
valuable insights. For instance, when considering whether
to introduce a new product or service, you might ask:
how will this affect costs, workloads and your profits?
CostPerform delivers the answers.
Software designed by cost management experts
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A microchip manufacturer has a $500
million budget to produce 10 million
chips. At years-end, bookkeeping
signals a budget overrun of 20%: the
actual costs were $600 million but they
produced 11 million chips. As a CFO, you
can just accept this and find someone or
something to blame. A more professional
approach would be to use CostPerform to
do a standard variance analysis. With the
help of working standards (batch sizes,
time to produce, recipes et cetera), the
manufacturer can calculate its allowed
costs (which could even be higher than
$600 million) for the 11 million chips
produced. And thanks to recorded
data on time spent and material
used, he can better identify the root
cause of the 20% overrun, resulting in
(positive and negative) price, volume,
occupation and efficiency results. A
CFO can use this detailed performance
information to improve profit, rather
than blaming people for overrunning
budget and doing nothing about it.
The power of CostPerform: a practical example
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What makes CostPerform a world-class software platform?
It serves as your cost allocation method...
In a transparent way...
CostPerform is designed to serve as your
cost allocation method. Thanks to the unique
software design with layers, objects, attributes
and assignments in combination with smart and
proven calculation algorithms, it can handle any
cost method. Plus: CostPerform enables you to
improve your current and future cost allocation
methods. In other words, it grows on you, and
with you.
We’ve ‘rescued’ many of our clients from using
spaghetti spreadsheets or - even worse - overpriced,
non-transparent and so-called black box allocation
tools. With CostPerform, transparency is guaranteed
thanks to the graphical object navigator, drill-
down and roll-up analyser, whiteboarding and the
report generator, making CostPerform ideal for:
communication with stakeholders, improving the cost
awareness of non-financial colleagues, and convincing
regulators of the compliance of your allocations.
Using state-of-the-art algorithms…
With affordable impact
Conditional cost distribution, formula based
dynamic referencing and multi-dimensional
allocation of costs to high transaction volumes
are just a few of CostPerform’s many state-of-
the-art algorithms, illustrating the intelligence
of our software. And thanks to our dedication to
the continuous improvement of our algorithms,
CostPerform gets smarter with every release.
If you consider CostPerform as one of your missing
business assets - giving you the power to turn rough
data into intelligent and actionable information
- it makes your investment absolutely worth it.
CostPerform has one of the highest impact-to-cost
ratios in the world, a short payback period and a
substantial yearly return on investment. In absolute
terms, clients and partners regard us as highly
effective and very affordable, which is exactly why
professionals love CostPerform.
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CostPerform methods & templates
As mentioned before, one of CostPerform’s
unique features is that it is designed and built
to serve any cost allocation method.
However, this doesn’t mean you have to create your
own methods from scratch: CostPerform also comes
with predefined methods and templates that are
commonly used in your sector or industry. This is not
only the easiest way to start your cost management
initiatives but also the best way to benefit from our
extensive experience in the specific domain.
Common cross-industry cost allocation methodsNearly all of our clients use the predefined
methods and templates as a base for their own
custom methods. Since 2001, we’ve gathered
those client-specific methods and organized
them in families of costing methods to inspire
and provide future customers with the best cost
management knowledge. Here are the most
commonly used, cross-industry cost allocation
methods:
Note: when working with a predefined method or template, you can still alter and tune it to your requirements.
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Every organization has activities that can
be identified, measured and thus improved
for better business performance. Using
time-per-activity standards as a cost
driver to products is not only an obvious
method but also one that opens up the
way to variance analysis and process
improvement detection. Making activities
more efficient and effective has a direct
impact on unit costs and profits.
Capacity Management via CostPerform
is all about giving you exclusive insights
into the way your company’s capacities
(workforce, machines, space, IT et cetera)
are being deployed, to answer questions
like ‘where’s your unused capacity?’
and ‘where’s your capacity bottleneck in
your delivery process?’. The best way to
improve the cost performance of your
business is by focusing on all relevant
capacities. Not only does a better-
managed capacity lower costs directly by
constantly removing bottlenecks, it also
improves customer experience because of
better service, a shorter time to market
and faster delivery.
Time-driven Activity- Based Costing
Capacity Management
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Multi-dimensional Costing (MDC) is one of today’s
most advanced and precise costing methods. This
is how it works: by precisely allocating costs
to dimensions like ‘Customer’, ‘Country’, ‘Sales
channel’, ‘Client group’ and ‘Product’ and then
allocating the costs of each dimension to the sales
transactions, you end up with a significantly more
precise cost allocation and better insights into the
true costs and profitability of the combinations of
all your dimensions.
For example, everybody can imagine that product X,
produced and sold locally is cheaper than the same
product sold 10.000 miles away from the factory. But
even on your local market a similar trend can be seen:
the same product X, sold to a low-volume high-demand
client A can be more expensive than when you sell it to
reliable, returning client B. This is because your biggest
client B always orders in time, never changes the order
and has no complaints, meaning that his ‘handling’
costs are lower than the small and difficult clients.
Multi-dimensional cost & profitability
Multi-dimensional Costing opens up a lot of
interesting insights into the true costs and
profitability of your company’s outputs and more
and gives more precise ‘handles’ to improve
performance. Needless to say, if you combine
the methods above into one model, you have the
ultimate and highest impact cost management
model in the world. In our experience, reaching
this level of cost management requires time,
the right company culture and mentality and,
most importantly, the right data collections.
CostPerform won’t stop you from heading
this direction in the field of professional cost
management: we will follow you closely on your
journey to perfection.
The ultimate cost management model
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CostPerform Industry templates
Based on our extensive and broad
experience, we not only supply various
methodologies but also provide industry-
specific template models for clients to
increase the effectiveness and efficiency
during implementation and operational
usage of the cost models.
Technology Business Management (TBM) for IT companies Most organizations struggle with the way the
growing cost of technology (IT) is being managed.
With the introduction of TBM, business and
technology leaders now have a common model (or
language) to jointly manage IT spending for both
running and growing a business. TBM provides
a framework for understanding the relationships
between the primary processes of the business
and the level of IT spending. In many industries,
we see that IT becomes the primary process of the
company and needs to be managed as such.
Our TBM template offers you a TBM compliant
cost model. Loaded in CostPerform, it provides
the essential financial and operational tooling
to implement the TBM framework within your
organization. For example, the TBM framework can
be implemented in such a way that you will also be
able to manage all your cloud suppliers according
to their detailed billings.
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processes and increases the
cost to serve. Our cost-to-serve
template model offers a solid,
rich and detailed multidimensional
cost model and is perfectly suited
to manage the cost-to-serve in a
professional and beneficial way.
Other methods and templatesPlease contact us if your required
cost allocation method and/or
industry is not described here.
CostPerform can handle any
method and industry, and for most
situations we can provide specific
example methods and templates
that best fit your needs. Just ask!
and Utilities template models can
help you cope with the complex
demands and transparency needs
in an efficient and effective way.
Cost-to-serve for logistics companiesEvery year, consumers buy more
goods via the Internet, making
logistics companies the most
important link in the supply chain.
Today, most webshops facing
thin margins on their goods can
only be profitable if their ‘cost
to serve’ is as low as possible.
Although ‘same-day delivery’ has
a competitive advantage, it also
puts high pressure on the logistic
Regulatory reporting for telecom and utility companies Regulators can be very strict and
demanding when it comes to cost-
allocation reports. Telecom and
other utility companies have to
comply with these requirements or
face very high penalties.
Regulators can ask for complex
and sophisticated allocation
methods like LRIC (Long Run
Incremental Costs) for telecom
companies. No matter how
complex the demands are,
transparency in allocation is the
most critical factor. Our Telecom
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Worldwide at home
Thanks to more than 20 years of experience and
a vast amount of know-how, CostPerform can
help you improve your performance - regardless
of the field in which you operate. Today we’re
active in the following markets:
Government Financial Institutions Government agencies in the US, UK, the
Netherlands, all government agencies in
Dubai and more than 200 other organizations
worldwide use CostPerform for TBM and
cost-price calculations to determine price lists,
ensure funding and for other purposes.
From insurance companies and merchant banks
to central banks: CostPerform is used by more
than 25 financial institutions to determine
profitability, report to regulators and to
simulate future business models.
Telecom Manufacturing and Logistics
Healthcare IT Services (TBM)
Our clients (40 and counting) in these markets
use CostPerform for operational cost and
capacity management, variance analysis,
contract management, cost-to-serve
and other purposes.
In the early days of CostPerform, our software
platform was in high demand in the hospital
sector. Building on that base we now serve
customers throughout every area in the
healthcare sector.
With the increasing popularity of TBM, our
number of IT clients (15) is growing fast,
both in the private and government sector.
CostPerform is their product of choice to
run IT as a business.
Thanks to our ability to handle the extreme
complexity of network costing, LRIC (Long Run
Incremental Costs) and other telecom-specific
challenges, CostPerform has become the current
market leader in telecom costing. Today, more
than 20 telecom companies use CostPerform for
regulatory and business economic purposes.
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Case: TBM at the Small Business Administration
How do we enable all agencies to adopt a TBM strategy by 2022?
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TBM at the Small Business Administration (SBA)The Office of Management and
Budget (OMB) is encouraging
agencies to adopt Technology
Business Management (TBM)
strategies by 2022. While some
agencies are just beginning to
take tentative steps to initiate
TBM projects, the Small Business
Administration (SBA) is a shining
example of one agency further
along in its implementation and
sustainment journey.
The SBA TBM program began two years
ago, primarily to address the OMB
directive to adopt TBM as the standard
taxonomy and reporting structure for
Capital Planning and Investment Control
(CPIC). However, the Chief Information
Officer (CIO) and Chief Financial Officer
(CFO) quickly recognized that TBM
implementation also provided important
opportunities beyond mere compliance.
TBM offered the SBA an ability to
enhance the transparency of the
agency’s IT spending, gain visibility
into the demand from customers
and the cost to serve them, and
ultimately optimize the level of
enterprise IT spending to support
key mission goals and objectives.
The SBA selected CostPerform
as its TBM solution and utilized
an activity-based costing (ABC)
approach to provide program offices
and support functions the capability
to perform cost management,
analysis, and reporting.
The TBM implementation team
benefited from the strong
sponsorship of both Maria Roat,
SBA’s CIO and program champion,
and Tim Gribben, SBA’s former CFO.
These executive leaders worked
diligently to inform other key SBA
stakeholders about the value and
benefits of TBM, ensuring this
project’s success. Both share the
vision of “running IT like a business”;
gaining insights to differentiate
what it costs to “run” versus
“change” the SBA business.
To attain the vision, the TBM
implementation team designed
and deployed a CostPerform
solution that connects plan,
budget, and actual data across
the TBM taxonomy. But the
SBA is not only looking at
the past or present, they
specifically want to extend
the TBM outcomes to the
future state of the business.
Using forecasting methods
to determine expected future
performance and cost is
a desired and achievable
outcome. The flexibility of
CostPerform allows the SBA to
incorporate mission goals and
expand its models beyond TBM
baselines.
“CostPerform allows us to comply with OMB directives, and gives us the flexibility and information we need to optimize IT spending across the agency.”
Maria Roat, SBA’s CIO and program champion15
CostPerform short success stories
Better transparency
Save weeks of IT resources
One of our telecom customers
claims they avoided a $1.000.000
fine from the regulator because
CostPerform did what it
promised: deliver the required
report on time with better
transparency than before.
A European bank saves 3 weeks
of valuable IT resources every
quarter compared to their old
(black box) allocation tool,
because now the controllers can
run their own cost models with
CostPerform in just 2 hours.
First to report costs
Complete cost of readiness
Predict upcoming invoices
A European bank-insurer
claimed they are the first to
report costs to regulators for
IFRS, GAAP and Solvency,
using one cost model only.
CostPerform’s model was
their best choice for it.
One of our biggest clients
in the US stated that, with
CostPerform, it was the first
time in history that they could
show the US Congress the
complete cost of readiness of
their services.
A logistics company used
CostPerform to predict the
upcoming invoices from their
suppliers and found errors in the
invoices, saving large amounts of
money that exceeded the cost of
CostPerform many times.
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CostPerform Global Partner Network
Some of our top partners
Through our professional global partner
network, we provide the training,
coaching and support to help you get
the most out of CostPerform and your
business performance.
Our certified partners can help you with the
software implementation and provide you with
industry-specific knowledge and CostPerform
templates to give you a head-start on your
cost management initiatives. Furthermore, our
partners also have the experience and skills
to realize the most significant performance
improvements, discovered with the help of
our software platform.
Join our networkAre you as enthusiastic about CostPerform
as we are? Then join our global partner
network! Contact us via becomepartner@
costperform.com for more information on
the possibilities.
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www.costperform.com
Contact CostPerform
Tel USA: +1 410 385 5325
Mail USA: [email protected]
Tel NL: +31 (0) 347 355 023
Mail NL: [email protected]
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