Systems and methods for costing reciprocal relationships
First Claim
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1. A computer-implemented method for use in analyzing costs associated with relationships among entities, wherein the costs include direct costs and indirect costs among the plurality of entities, said method comprising:
- allocating a direct cost among a plurality of entities;
wherein at least one of the plurality of entities has a reciprocal relationship with another of the plurality of entities;
reallocating indirect costs of the entities that have reciprocal relationships among the plurality of entities;
wherein costs are not allocated to any entity that previously allocated or reallocated the costs;
wherein the reallocation step is repeated until the cost is allocated or reallocated to an entity that has no reciprocal relationships with other entities, thereby producing an allocation of costs that does not allocate or reallocate costs to an entity that previously allocated or reallocated the costs.
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Abstract
Computer-implemented systems and methods for performing cost analysis. As an example, a system and method can be provided for the generation of a cost allocation that does not include double counting of cost allocation.
194 Citations
31 Claims
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1. A computer-implemented method for use in analyzing costs associated with relationships among entities, wherein the costs include direct costs and indirect costs among the plurality of entities, said method comprising:
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allocating a direct cost among a plurality of entities;
wherein at least one of the plurality of entities has a reciprocal relationship with another of the plurality of entities;
reallocating indirect costs of the entities that have reciprocal relationships among the plurality of entities;
wherein costs are not allocated to any entity that previously allocated or reallocated the costs;
wherein the reallocation step is repeated until the cost is allocated or reallocated to an entity that has no reciprocal relationships with other entities, thereby producing an allocation of costs that does not allocate or reallocate costs to an entity that previously allocated or reallocated the costs. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15)
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16. A system for use in analyzing costs associated with relationships among entities, wherein the costs include direct costs and indirect costs among the plurality of entities, the system comprising:
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allocation instructions configured to allocate costs among a plurality of entities;
wherein at least one of the plurality of entities has a reciprocal relationship with another of the plurality of entities;
iterative instructions configured to use the allocation instructions to reallocate costs that had been allocated to entities having reciprocal relationships, to a plurality of entities that had not previously allocated or reallocated the costs;
wherein the iterative instructions have a configuration that repeat until the costs is allocated or reallocated to an entity that has no reciprocal relationships with other entities, thereby producing an allocation of costs that does not allocate or reallocate costs to any entity that previously allocated or reallocated the costs. - View Dependent Claims (17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30)
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31. Computer software stored on one or more computer readable mediums, the computer software comprising program code for carrying out a method for use in analyzing costs associated with relationships among entities, wherein the costs include direct costs and indirect costs among the plurality of entities, said method comprising:
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allocating a direct cost among a plurality of entities;
wherein at least one of the plurality of entities has a reciprocal relationship with another of the plurality of entities;
reallocating indirect costs of the entities that have reciprocal relationships among the plurality of entities;
wherein costs are not allocated to any entity that previously allocated or reallocated the costs;
wherein the reallocation step is repeated until the cost is allocated or reallocated to an entity that has no reciprocal relationships with other entities, thereby producing an allocation of costs that does not allocate or reallocate costs to an entity that previously allocated or reallocated the costs.
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Specification