Method and apparatus for creating due-to reports for activities that may not have reference value

A machine-readable storage medium comprising at least one of RAM, ROM and nonvolatile storage media, the machine-readable storage medium having processor executable instructions which when executed by a processor cause the processor to perform a method comprising:

• accessing a response model and a plurality of activities with start and end values for the plurality of activities, the response model and plurality of activities used to compute a first and second business metric;
• computing a variance for the difference between the first and second business metrics for each of the plurality of activities using the response model by setting that activity to one of the corresponding starting and ending values and setting others of the plurality of activities to the value state opposite of that activity, wherein the variance for an activity is the change in contribution for that activity between the start and end sales volumes;
• calculating a synergy for the plurality of activities by summing the variance for each the plurality of activities to generate a raw value and subtracting the raw value from an incremental value, wherein the incremental value is generated by subtracting the response model with all the plurality of activities in the ending value from the response model with all the plurality of activities in the starting value;
• allocating a portion of the synergy to each of the contributions by multiplying the synergy by the absolute value of that contribution divided by a sum of absolute values of all the contributions;
• outputting the calculated synergy and allocations;
• and
• based on the calculated synergy and allocations, generating, by the processor, a decomposition analysis.

An apparatus comprising:

• a processor;
• and
• a memory comprising computer executable instructions, which when executed by the processor cause the processor to perform the steps of:
• accessing a response model and a plurality of activities with start and end values for the plurality of activities, the response model and plurality of activities used to compute a first and second business metric;
• computing a variance for the difference between the first and second business metrics for each of the plurality of activities using the response model by setting that activity to one of the corresponding starting and ending values and setting others of the plurality of activities to the value state opposite of that activity, wherein the variance for an activity is the change in contribution for that activity between the start and end business metrics;
• computing synergy for the plurality of activities by summing the variance for each the plurality of activities to generate a raw value and subtracting the raw value from an incremental value, wherein the incremental value is generated by subtracting the response model with all the plurality of activities in the ending value from the response model with all the plurality of activities in the starting value;
• allocating a portion of the synergy to each of the contributions by multiplying the synergy by the absolute value of that contribution divided by a sum of absolute values of all the contributions;
• outputting the calculated synergy and allocations;
• and
• based on the calculated synergy and allocations, generating a decomposition analysis.

A system comprising:

• a processor;
• a memory comprising processor executable instructions which when executed by the processor cause the processor to:
• access a response model and a plurality of activities with start and end values for the plurality of activities, the response model and plurality of activities used to compute a first and second business metric;
• compute a variance for the difference between the first and second business metrics for each of the plurality of activities using the response model by setting that activity to one of the corresponding starting and ending values and setting others of the plurality of activities to the value state opposite of that activity, wherein the variance for an activity is the change in contribution for that activity between the start and end sales volumes;
• compute a synergy for the plurality of activities by summing the variance for each the plurality of activities to generate a raw value and subtracting the raw value from an incremental value, wherein the incremental value is generated by subtracting the response model with all the plurality of activities in the ending value from the response model with all the plurality of activities in the starting value;
• allocate a portion of the synergy to each of the contributions by multiplying the synergy by the absolute value of that contribution divided by a sum of absolute values of all the contributions;
• output the calculated synergy and allocations;
• and
• based on the calculated synergy and allocations, generate a decomposition analysis.