Work Output: Cost and value
Objective. Read cost and value with the four value types kept strictly apart - recoverable, billed, collected and capacity value are different things - and distinguish cost per unit from cost per clean unit.
Cost and value answers 'what does our output actually cost, and what is it worth?' It is the screen that wins RCM displacement arguments and the screen where the most dangerous misreads live, because it is where capacity opportunity gets confused with cash.
See it in the demo
What this screen answers
Sales uses cost and value for the decisive figure - cost per clean unit - that activity tools cannot produce. CSMs use it to ground a business review in money. The customer question is 'are we getting the output we are paying for, at what unit cost, and what is the value of improving it?' The answer is only safe if value types are not blended.
The task
Scope to the team, process or client and period, and read cost against clean output, not raw output. When value appears, identify which type it is before you say a word about it: recoverable value (an opportunity), billed value (invoiced), collected value (cash in) and capacity value (freed time) are four different things. Carry a cost outlier to root cause. For a CSM, rebuild any figure on the customer's own cost model and agreed rates before it enters a review.
How to read it
Keep the four value types strictly separate - recoverable, billed, collected and capacity value must never be summed or swapped, and this is the single most important discipline on the screen. The next misread is cost per unit versus cost per clean unit: cost spread over raw output understates true cost because it counts rework and defects as if they were good work. A capacity saving is not cash collected, and a recoverable opportunity is not money in the bank. Always name the denominator and the value type out loud.
Honest limits
This screen does not prove the customer's real cost model, rates or that recoverable value will ever be collected. The demo figures are seeded. Confirm the cost basis, rate assumptions and how each value type is defined with product, rebuild on the customer's baseline, and only present collected or billed value as realised - recoverable and capacity value are always opportunities, not results.
Interpretation check
Recoverable, billed, collected and capacity value are four different things that must never be blended or summed, and cost per clean unit - not cost per raw unit - is the honest figure; a capacity or recoverable opportunity is not cash collected.
In the field
Cost per clean claim is the number that displaces ProHance at KnackGlobal - but only stated as cost per clean unit on the customer's own rates, with recoverable opportunity never presented as collected cash.
Practical task
Scope to one team and period, read cost per clean unit, and write a two-line finding that names the unit cost and, for any value figure shown, states explicitly which of the four value types it is and whether it is opportunity or realised.
Self-check
A deck adds recoverable value and capacity value into one 'savings' number. What is wrong?
They are different value types and cannot be summed. Recoverable is an opportunity, capacity value is freed time, neither is cash. Blending them produces a figure that overstates realised value and will not survive scrutiny.
Why insist on cost per clean unit rather than cost per unit?
Cost spread over raw output counts rework and defects as good work, understating true cost. Cost per clean unit reflects what good output actually costs - the figure that holds up.
A customer sees recoverable value and asks when the cash lands. Your answer?
Recoverable value is an identified opportunity, not collected cash. It is realised only when acted on and measured - billed and collected value are the realised figures, tracked separately.
Verified vs demo. Screen is live in the demo at https://work-output.demo.timechamp.io/#/cost; exact controls, labels and on-screen figures are SME-validation-pending.