Authors:
André Machado
1
;
Carlos Mendes
1
;
Miguel Mira da Silva
2
and
João Almeida
3
Affiliations:
1
INOV, Portugal
;
2
Técnico Lisboa, Portugal
;
3
Card4B, Portugal
Keyword(s):
Costing, TDABC, Cost Templates, Cloud Computing, Cloud Services, SaaS.
Related
Ontology
Subjects/Areas/Topics:
e-Business
;
Enterprise Engineering
;
Enterprise Information Systems
;
Information Systems Analysis and Specification
;
Software Engineering
Abstract:
Cost awareness and cost efficiency have always been major concerns to organizations from all industries but
in the last few years its importance grew due to the global economic and financial crisis. Considering their
small size and market exposure, Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) need cost awareness and efficiency
more than ever. However, efficient and accurate costing methodologies are out of reach for most SMEs. In this
research we propose that costing should be offered as a service to reduce the cost of cost analysis. Our research
proposal is a cloud-based costing system that offers costing as a service using Time-Driven Activity Based
Costing (TDABC) methodology and the concept of Business Process Costing Templates. When combined,
they reduce the cost of cost analysis, especially for SMEs. We used the Design Science Research Methodology
(DSRM) to conduct our research. This proposal was demonstrated in three Portuguese organizations and
evaluated with feedback gathered from in
terviews and results from the system instantiation in all organizations.
(More)