LM3 Calculator Case Study

The Business Problem

The method had been refined over many years in a master spreadsheet, and the new LM3 Hub had to give exactly the same answers. Real projects rarely arrive with perfect data: some suppliers' locations are unknown, some have answered a survey about their own local spend and others have not, and a new project may have no suppliers at all yet. A single fixed formula would either refuse to answer or give a misleading figure.

The Solution

wildesoft.net built the LM3 calculator as a family of models, and the Hub chooses the right one for each project. It uses a default position when little is known, the known supplier locations once addresses are in, and the suppliers' own survey responses when they have replied. It warns when there are not enough known locations for a reliable result. Each model carries a plain description, so administrators can see how a figure was reached.

The calculator was checked against successive versions of the master spreadsheet until it matched, reproducing the spreadsheet's figures on real project data to within half a percent. It also shows the difference that local and non-local suppliers make, and can include payroll and other costs alongside supplier spend.

The Result

Organisations get an LM3 result they can trust, at whatever stage their data is in, and one that matches the established method. The figure improves as more information arrives, rather than waiting until every supplier has replied.

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