CarbonPortfolio has been developed by Cyest over the past 6 years and successfully implemented by a range of blue chip clients globally. It is an object-oriented modelling solution targeted at the strategic management and evaluation of a portfolio of clients / projects / operations / products (or a combination thereof). It allows for scheduling of events, and stochastic modelling of either individual product or project variables, or indeed the portfolio as a whole.
In summary the CarbonPortfolio solution drives the strategy formulation and review component of Corporate Performance Management (CPM) and provihi thedes for critical input into group or corporate budgets, plans and forecasts.
Technology
CarbonPortfolio is a proprietary solution that utilises the CarbonLogic core logical engine, as well as graphical user interfaces created in .Net.
It can be integrated into CarbonEconomic (see related brochure) thereby providing a comprehensive modelling solution that vertically integrates detailed first-principle and activity-based costing and optimisation of individual operational plans with the holistic valuation and strategic assessment of the group portfolio of assets.
CarbonLogic leverages two well established and proven modelling frameworks and combines them into one platform in a way that no other platform or product does. These are:
- Object orientated modelling – a framework that revolutionised the way software is developed
- Dimensional modelling – a framework pioneered to allow for the modelling of very large data-sets within the date-warehouse context
- Templates – a framework that allows the customisation and development of standard templates that can be used to develop models. In this way intellectual property can be ‘packaged’ for re-use.
It is built on the latest version of the .NET platform. Its architectural design allows it to run as a standalone desktop application or as server-based enterprise level deployment. Its data and file storage structure is optimised for performance and efficient memory management. It provides an open interface to import and export data into relational database structures.
Value Proposition
- This solution drives insight into the integrated dynamics of the portfolio of a company’s operations, by understanding the relative contribution of the constituent components (businesses) that combine to create the total group or corporate value.
- It does this by allowing for scenario-based modelling of different internal and external configurations and events, in a way that is highly intuitive to business users. Thus very rapid evaluation of the impact of different strategic alternatives is possible.
- Users can strategically model the timing of product releases, operational commencement, project delivery or other time-based influences on value.
- It allows for the identification and relative assessment of risk drivers at a group level by way of stochastic modelling.
- Macroeconomic parameters (exchange rates; inflation; product / commodity prices etc) are inherently built into the modelling solution, and may be controlled or managed by corporate users as a ‘library of objects’.
- As opposed to using a typical spreadsheet-based model, the user has to worry about configuration of the model rather than the detailed complexities of formulas and attributes.
- The modelling process is orders of magnitude faster, and more reliable (including auditing capability) than conventional spreadsheet models.
- Strict version control, easy collaboration, consistent use of definitions, consistent business rules are all standard and robust features.
- Commonly used business rules and company-specific logic are abstracted into objects that then become embedded IP to be easily used or replicated throughout various models built in this solution.
Benefits
- Highly robust and reliable (Board and CEO level decisions that are informed and reliable).
- Provides the basis for the long-term strategic planning that creates the high-level perspective of income statement, balance sheet and cash flow items to show the strategic impact of different strategic alternatives relating to different constituent business components.
- Allows for highly flexible response to changes in the external environment (rapid ‘what-if’ scenarios identifying options and opportunities at corporate or group level).
- Puts risk (nature, type and potential financial impact) at the forefront of strategic decision making.
- Highly collaborative environment (e.g. Finance, HR, Planning and Ops can all collaborate within the same server-based solution). Security rights may set and managed at various levels.
- Re-usable IP (with corporate control of logic, business rules and organisational structure).
- Distributed use through client-server hosting.
Key Features
- Object oriented – CarbonL engine
- Stochastic modelling – Monte Carlo simulation
- Generic Scheduler
- Embed IP
- Template driven
- Scalable
- Reliability
- Not Black box
- User configurable reporting
- Import from and Export to Excel
- Auditing and Sarbanes Oxley (security)
- Client server
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