Townsend Advanced Benchmarking Services

What is TABS®?

Townsend's Advanced Benchmarking System (TABS®) is a tool used to assist your organization in the process of measuring and comparing inter-plant performance and cost in a meaningful and consistent manner.

Successful implementation of Intra-Company Benchmarks requires a state of the art software tool with advanced analytical capabilities and carefully drawn out methodology. TABS has two components to help your organization implement an IB program:

  • Phillip Townsend Associates’s state-of-the-art Benchmarking application software
  • Professional Services

TABS Software Graphics

TABS Software Graphic

TABS Professional Services

TABS Professional Services

What is the TABS Implementation Process?

Adopting TABS provides access to Phillip Townsend Associates's Software Tool as well as the Professional Services division. Client Organizations have the option of adopting either the tool or the services or both. Phillip Townsend Associates will assist your organizations in all of the stages mentioned below:

Steering Committee Meeting
Professional services team will organize a Steering Committee Meeting of all the plant managers to reach consensus on the benchmark model and data definitions. Data Document - Based on the steering committee meeting discussions, professional services team
Data Document
Based on the steering committee meeting discussions, professional services team will publish a data document that will include definitions of all the data to be captured in the benchmark program.
Software Implementation
TABS professional service team will work with TABS software team to customize the software to meet needs of your organization. Software team will implement TABS software on the company server. Training session will be organized to educate users on various TABS features.
Software Implementation
Data Submission & Validation
Plants will submit their data to TABS team, who will then carry out diligent validation process to ensure correctness of the data.
Developing Metrics
Plants will upload the corrected data into the TABS software with an easy upload feature and generate metrics. TABS software will also generate 25th percentile, 75th percentile, average and Best-in-Class performance for various metrics.
Metrics Analysis & Presentation
TABS software has the capability of generating supply curves, trend charts, performing gap analysis, correlation and quadrant graphs. Professional services group can provide assistance in overall analysis of metrics and developing management presentations.

What is the Value from using TABS?

Many companies would like to carry out Internal Benchmarking programs for their businesses. However, carrying out Internal Benchmarking is easier said then done. TABS addresses various challenges faced by organizations who plan on implementing their own Internal Benchmarks:

Your Internal Benchmarking Challenge   Phillip Townsend Associates’s TABS Solution
Consistency of definitions - Companies with multiple plants in various regions may have different accounting systems and different definitions for the same line item. > TABS develops consistent data definitions based on discussions with each plant. Each plant receives a copy of these agreed upon definitions to ensure consistent data input.
Accuracy and Consistency of data collected - Even if a company comes up with detailed definitions, there is no guarantee that the plants will understand the definitions correctly or that correct information will be submitted. > TABS conducts discussion sessions with all data owners to ensure that their data definitions are understood correctly. This data is also validated by communicating with each plant for "apples-to-apples" comparison.
Data Management and Metrics Development - A database needs to be designed to maintain multiple-year, multiple-plant data and should calculate various metrics and to develop graphs. > TABS has been developed for maximum user ease of data maintenance and metrics development. Phillip Townsend Associates's proprietary software also has the capability to develop various statistical variables, trend charts and gap and other analysis.
Data Analysis - The results of any Benchmarking study have to be analyzed in a meaningful way once data is validated from all the sites. In many cases, the effect of scale, technology and location complicate the analysis and lead to false conclusions. > TABS conducts an in-depth analysis to identify the root causes of inconsistent data. We then prepare and present a management presentation packed full of important information and analyses drawn from your study.
Time & Effort - Significant time and effort are required to implement a Benchmarking program. These challenges need to be conquered to ensure accurate Benchmarking results. > TABS delivers accurate results for your strategic purposes. Adopting TABS will decrease the time and effort that you spend on your program by over 70 percent.

TABS Software Features

TABS software is specifically designed to assist organizations in maintaining and analyzing multiple plant data. The software has a user-friendly interface with the capability of performing various statistical calculations and easy data upload and download feature.

The features in the TABS software that differentiate it from other data mining applications, including:

  • Easy Upload - TABS allows easy data upload from an Excel file to the IB database
  • Automatic Validation Checks - Uploaded data can be checked against defined filters to ensure its validity
  • Flexibility - TABS allows user to define and add additional ratios important for their business
  • Analysis - TABS has a powerful analysis section that allows users to analyze and graph trends, performance gaps and industry positions
  • Easy Download - TABS allows the easy download of metrics data and graphs from an IB database to an Excel file

TABS is implemented on the company server to provide real time data and easy access to approved users. Its multi-layered security enables organizations to provide "complete" or "partial" access to users on the TABS database.

TABS Professional Services Overview

TABS professional services utilizes Phillip Townsend Associates's proven Benchmarking methodology provides the following services to client organizations:

  • Software training
  • Developing data definitions
  • Consistent and error free data in-put process
  • Data validation process
  • Metrics development process
  • Analysis and presentation

TABS Software Templates

Data Input Template

Data Input Template
Users can easily upload data from Excel to the the database.

Data Validation Template

Data Validation Template
The validation feature checks input data against defined filters to ensure validity.

Metrics Export Template

Metrics Export Template
Calculate desired metrics, which are easily downloaded to Excel.

Correlation Analysis Template

Correlation Analysis Template
Users conduct various analyses and develop graphs to be downloaded into Excel.

Phillip Townsend Associates Inc.

523 North Sam Houston
Parkway East, Suite 500
Houston, Texas 77060

Phone: (281) 873-8733
Fax: (281) 872-4914
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