Whitepaper
The operational drag slowing your deals
Quantify the rework you didn't know was happening, recognize how version sprawl erodes trust with finance, and build the case for governance that actually sticks.
Every organization has value models. Few have value model governance. The result is invisible friction—hours lost to rework, deals slowed by version confusion, credibility eroded by inconsistency.
This whitepaper exists because the costs of ungoverned value modeling are real but rarely measured. You'll learn to identify and quantify these hidden costs, understand what governance actually means in practice, and build the case for change that resonates with leadership.
Value modeling typically evolves organically. Someone builds a spreadsheet. It gets copied. Variations emerge. Before long, you have dozens of models, no standard structure, and no way to know which version is current or correct.
The governance gap manifests in five ways:
No Single Source of Truth: Multiple versions of similar models exist, with no clarity on which is authoritative.
No Version Control: Changes happen without tracking, making it impossible to understand model evolution.
No Quality Standards: What constitutes a "good" model is undefined, making quality inconsistent.
No Access Control: Anyone can modify anything, introducing errors and inconsistencies.
No Audit Trail: When something goes wrong, there's no way to trace what happened or why.
The costs of ungoverned value modeling fall into five categories:
Rework Costs: Time spent rebuilding models that already exist or fixing errors that governance would prevent. Typically 20-30% of total modeling time.
Search Costs: Time spent finding the right model, the right version, or the right assumption. Often 5-10 hours per week across a team.
Error Costs: Deals affected by calculation mistakes, stale data, or version confusion. Usually 2-5% of deals have significant errors.
Consistency Costs: Time spent reconciling different models that should show the same thing but don't.
Trust Costs: Credibility erosion when customers or internal stakeholders encounter inconsistencies. Hardest to quantify but often the most damaging.
Calculate these for your organization. The total is usually surprising.
Governance sounds bureaucratic, but done right, it's liberating. It means:
Template Standards: Agreed-upon structures for common model types, with clear guidance on when to deviate.
Version Control: Every change tracked, with the ability to see history and revert when needed.
Review Processes: Defined checkpoints before models go to customers or executives.
Access Levels: Clear rules about who can view, edit, and approve different types of models.
Assumption Libraries: Centralized, maintained repositories of common assumptions with sources and update schedules.
Quality Metrics: Defined criteria for model quality, with regular assessment.
The goal isn't to slow things down—it's to eliminate the rework and confusion that slow things down now.
Organizations typically progress through four governance maturity levels:
Level 1: Chaos
No standards, no control, no visibility. Everyone does their own thing. This is where most organizations start.
Level 2: Awareness
Problems are recognized. Some ad-hoc standards exist. A few people try to maintain order, but it's a losing battle.
Level 3: Structure
Formal standards exist and are mostly followed. Version control is in place. Review processes are defined. Most rework is eliminated.
Level 4: Optimization
Governance is built into the workflow. Metrics drive improvement. New team members can be productive quickly. The system gets better over time.
Most organizations are at Level 1 or 2. Getting to Level 3 typically takes 3-6 months of focused effort.
To get investment in governance, you need a business case. Here's how to build it:
Current State Assessment: Measure time spent on rework, search, and error correction. Survey your team.
Cost Calculation: Convert time to dollars. Add estimated deal impact from errors and inconsistencies.
Future State Definition: Define what governance would look like and what capabilities it would provide.
Investment Requirements: What tools, processes, and time would be needed to implement governance?
ROI Projection: Compare costs of change to costs of status quo. Be conservative.
Risk Identification: What could go wrong? How would you mitigate those risks?
The case often pays for itself in reduced rework alone, before considering quality and credibility improvements.
Governance implementation should be phased:
Phase 1 (Weeks 1-4): Foundation
Document current state. Define target standards. Get stakeholder buy-in.
Phase 2 (Weeks 5-8): Core Implementation
Implement version control. Create initial templates. Define review processes.
Phase 3 (Weeks 9-12): Adoption
Train the team. Migrate existing models. Begin enforcing standards.
Phase 4 (Weeks 13+): Optimization
Measure compliance and quality. Refine standards based on experience. Expand scope.
Start with a pilot team or use case. Prove value before scaling.
How lack of governance manifests in value modeling operations.
Five categories of costs created by ungoverned value modeling.
Four levels of governance maturity for value modeling operations.
Assess your current governance gap using the five manifestations framework
Quantify your hidden costs across all five categories
Determine your current governance maturity level
Define your target state using the governance components described
Build your business case for governance investment
Plan your implementation using the phased roadmap
Download the PDF version to reference offline or share with your team.
Download PDF VersionUnderstand why your current approach is hitting a wall—and what to do about it. You'll recognize the warning signs that spreadsheets are costing you credibility, know what infrastructure makes value delivery scale, and build the case for change with your leadership.
Stop rebuilding business cases from scratch every deal. You'll get a repeatable framework for structuring value models, clarity on which driver categories actually move decisions, and a workflow your whole team can follow—so quality stops depending on who builds the model.
Diagnose where your value practice actually sits—and what it takes to level up. You'll benchmark against the four maturity stages, see exactly what separates leaders from laggards, and understand the platform capabilities that turn value into compounding advantage.