Software Cost Capitalization (public company)
- Sessions
- 4
The process in detail
Roadmap - Discussion
3 steps- 1
Prepare your product roadmap.
- 2
Goals, items and/or features.
- 3
Discussing priorities.
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1. Prepare your product roadmap.
Define your values; these will be the two main criteria you use to evaluate priorities. For example, some organizations divide their roadmap based on things that can directly affect 🤑revenue versus those that provide value to the user and improve their perception of your solution or business.❤️
In this example, the top two rows are created for revenue generation. You will add anything that could help revenue to the top line, and items that may improve revenue on a smaller scale or indirectly to one of the lower lines. Essentially, you are organizing tasks with the highest impact on revenue at the top.
Below that, you have value. Here, you have three rows for activities or features that can help improve user value. Similar to the revenue section, anything that significantly impacts the value you provide to the user and enhances competitiveness goes at the top. Less impactful items are placed lower.
Finally, at the bottom, you have maintenance and process-oriented tasks. Of course, you can change these key values to effectively visualize what you are trying to improve in your roadmap.
You could also have categories like this:
Example 1:
Example 2:
Only one person in the team needs to prepare the board.
👉Additionally you can add milestones or key objectives.
2. Goals, items and/or features.
Goal and features are the "what" — the "how" is what your development team will determine. Identify the specific features that best support your strategy and vision.
3. Discussing priorities.
🔥The hardest part about discussing your roadmap and deciding on priorities is that there are often so many things you could do, but time is limited. Using a good structure to discuss priorities helps you visualize what you should keep versus what should be done later or skipped for now.
We often recommend using something like the Kano analysis. Here, we will share our simple version of this.
🥶 Must-Be/Basic Attributes: These are fundamental features that customers expect. If these are missing or poorly executed, customers will be extremely dissatisfied. However, their presence does not significantly increase customer satisfaction because they are assumed.
🟢 One-Dimensional/Performance Attributes: These features cause satisfaction if present and dissatisfaction if absent. The better these features perform, the more satisfied customers are.
🔵 Attractive or Competitive Attributes: These features delight customers and are not expected. Their absence does not cause dissatisfaction, but their presence significantly increases customer satisfaction.
💣Indifferent Attributes: These features neither add to nor detract from customer satisfaction. Customers are indifferent to their presence.
- Q2 Objectives
- Q3 Objectives
- Q1 Objectives
- Q4 Objectives
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- VALUES Update based on goals and principles
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- **Maintenance /Upgrades**
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- Bugs/Maintenance/Upgrades
- Expected or Performance Attributes: Not including it could be negative, while if it's included will be positive. Helps make your product more competitive and/or attractive. Some competitors already have it. This is not a innovative solution or unique solution.
- Basic (Customers/users expectations): If included users feel neutral about it, while excluding it it will be negative)
- Other functional requirements and changes
- Indifferent/Additional (skip)
- Competitive features: Your X factor. Unexpected bonus (aim for some)
1. CAR Request: Name
5 steps- 1
📝 Prepare Capital Proposal
- 2
✅ Product Initiative: Review & Decide
- 3
💬 Indicate whether you consider this initiative capitalizable.
- 4
🎯 Next Steps & Actions
- 5
Capitalization Tagging & Audit Verification Task
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1. 📝 Prepare Capital Proposal
As the initiative owner, your first step is to meticulously prepare the Capital Authorization Request (CAR) or Capital Expenditure Request (CER). This involves clearly defining the initiative's purpose, detailing the expected budget, calculating the projected Return on Investment (ROI), and providing a robust justification for its CapEx eligibility.
A strong proposal anticipates executive questions and provides comprehensive data. Ensure all supporting documentation, such as financial models, vendor quotes, and strategic alignment reports, are compiled.
2. ✅ Product Initiative: Review & Decide
Executive leadership, please review the uploaded Capital Authorization Request (CAR) or Capital Expenditure Request (CER) carefully. Consider the initiative's strategic alignment, financial viability (budget, ROI), and CapEx eligibility.
Executive summary
[Add a short Executive summary here]
Your decision is crucial for moving this initiative forward. Please select one of the following options to indicate your decision.
- Approve
- Request changes
- Decline
3. 💬 Indicate whether you consider this initiative capitalizable.
Indicate whether you consider this initiative capitalizable. Regardless of your decision, please provide any additional comments, questions, or specific feedback regarding the Capital Authorization Request (CAR) or Capital Expenditure Request (CER). Note that tracked work will be strictly limited to the application development stage and will exclude preliminary activities such as brainstorming and feasibility studies
- 🏗️ Capital Expenditure (CapEx) New feature development, major enhancements, architecture build
- 🛠️ Operational Expenditure (OpEx) Maintenance, bug fixes, operational support, minor tweaks
4. 🎯 Next Steps & Actions
Based on the decision and feedback, outline the immediate next steps to ensure progress. If approved, list the actions required to initiate the project. If changes are needed, specify the revisions. If declined, capture any final considerations or alternative paths.
Ensure these tasks are concrete and assignable.
5. Capitalization Tagging & Audit Verification Task
Once the Head of Product, Finance team, and CEO (or designated team) have reviewed and marked an initiative as capitalizable or not, update the corresponding Jira tickets (or your selected platform) to reflect its capitalization status. This ensures that any export generated during an audit contains complete information.
Additional Requirements to Ensure:
✔✔ Mark as done.
2. CAR Request: Name
5 steps- 1
📝 Prepare Capital Proposal
- 2
✅ Product Initiative: Review & Decide
- 3
💬 Indicate whether you consider this initiative capitalizable.
- 4
🎯 Next Steps & Actions
- 5
Capitalization Tagging & Audit Verification Task
Read the full text
1. 📝 Prepare Capital Proposal
As the initiative owner, your first step is to meticulously prepare the Capital Authorization Request (CAR) or Capital Expenditure Request (CER). This involves clearly defining the initiative's purpose, detailing the expected budget, calculating the projected Return on Investment (ROI), and providing a robust justification for its CapEx eligibility.
A strong proposal anticipates executive questions and provides comprehensive data. Ensure all supporting documentation, such as financial models, vendor quotes, and strategic alignment reports, are compiled.
2. ✅ Product Initiative: Review & Decide
Executive leadership, please review the uploaded Capital Authorization Request (CAR) or Capital Expenditure Request (CER) carefully. Consider the initiative's strategic alignment, financial viability (budget, ROI), and CapEx eligibility.
Executive summary
[Add a short Executive summary here]
Your decision is crucial for moving this initiative forward. Please select one of the following options to indicate your decision.
- Approve
- Request changes
- Decline
3. 💬 Indicate whether you consider this initiative capitalizable.
Indicate whether you consider this initiative capitalizable. Regardless of your decision, please provide any additional comments, questions, or specific feedback regarding the Capital Authorization Request (CAR) or Capital Expenditure Request (CER). Note that tracked work will be strictly limited to the application development stage and will exclude preliminary activities such as brainstorming and feasibility studies
- 🏗️ Capital Expenditure (CapEx) New feature development, major enhancements, architecture build
- 🛠️ Operational Expenditure (OpEx) Maintenance, bug fixes, operational support, minor tweaks
4. 🎯 Next Steps & Actions
Based on the decision and feedback, outline the immediate next steps to ensure progress. If approved, list the actions required to initiate the project. If changes are needed, specify the revisions. If declined, capture any final considerations or alternative paths.
Ensure these tasks are concrete and assignable.
5. Capitalization Tagging & Audit Verification Task
Once the Head of Product, Finance team, and CEO (or designated team) have reviewed and marked an initiative as capitalizable or not, update the corresponding Jira tickets (or your selected platform) to reflect its capitalization status. This ensures that any export generated during an audit contains complete information.
Additional Requirements to Ensure:
✔✔ Mark as done.
3. CAR Request: Name
5 steps- 1
📝 Prepare Capital Proposal
- 2
✅ Product Initiative: Review & Decide
- 3
💬 Indicate whether you consider this initiative capitalizable.
- 4
🎯 Next Steps & Actions
- 5
Capitalization Tagging & Audit Verification Task
Read the full text
1. 📝 Prepare Capital Proposal
As the initiative owner, your first step is to meticulously prepare the Capital Authorization Request (CAR) or Capital Expenditure Request (CER). This involves clearly defining the initiative's purpose, detailing the expected budget, calculating the projected Return on Investment (ROI), and providing a robust justification for its CapEx eligibility.
A strong proposal anticipates executive questions and provides comprehensive data. Ensure all supporting documentation, such as financial models, vendor quotes, and strategic alignment reports, are compiled.
2. ✅ Product Initiative: Review & Decide
Executive leadership, please review the uploaded Capital Authorization Request (CAR) or Capital Expenditure Request (CER) carefully. Consider the initiative's strategic alignment, financial viability (budget, ROI), and CapEx eligibility.
Executive summary
[Add a short Executive summary here]
Your decision is crucial for moving this initiative forward. Please select one of the following options to indicate your decision.
- Approve
- Request changes
- Decline
3. 💬 Indicate whether you consider this initiative capitalizable.
Indicate whether you consider this initiative capitalizable. Regardless of your decision, please provide any additional comments, questions, or specific feedback regarding the Capital Authorization Request (CAR) or Capital Expenditure Request (CER). Note that tracked work will be strictly limited to the application development stage and will exclude preliminary activities such as brainstorming and feasibility studies
- 🏗️ Capital Expenditure (CapEx) New feature development, major enhancements, architecture build
- 🛠️ Operational Expenditure (OpEx) Maintenance, bug fixes, operational support, minor tweaks
4. 🎯 Next Steps & Actions
Based on the decision and feedback, outline the immediate next steps to ensure progress. If approved, list the actions required to initiate the project. If changes are needed, specify the revisions. If declined, capture any final considerations or alternative paths.
Ensure these tasks are concrete and assignable.
5. Capitalization Tagging & Audit Verification Task
Once the Head of Product, Finance team, and CEO (or designated team) have reviewed and marked an initiative as capitalizable or not, update the corresponding Jira tickets (or your selected platform) to reflect its capitalization status. This ensures that any export generated during an audit contains complete information.
Additional Requirements to Ensure:
✔✔ Mark as done.