Patent ID: 7734517

Claim:
A computer-implemented method of computing the cost of a securities research department to service a plurality of clients of the department, comprising: receiving by one or more computer devices, survey data of a plurality of analysts of the research department, wherein the survey data comprises: (i) first data indicative of an analyst's categorization of a plurality of clients listed in a survey into one of a plurality of pre-determined client use categories, wherein each client-use category reflects the client's level of consumption of the analyst's time over a time period; (ii) second data indicative of the analyst's estimation of how a percentage of the analyst's time spent providing services to the clients was divided among each of the client-use categories over the time period; (iii) third data indicative of the analyst's estimation of a percentage of how the analyst's time was spent with the clients listed in the survey versus non-listed clients over the time period; calculating, by one or more of the computer devices, for each analyst and for each client-use category a first value indicating an estimated portion of the analyst's time spent on clients in the client-use category, wherein the first value is calculated by allocating a total portion of the analyst's time spent servicing clients in the client-use category pro rata over each client in the client-use category, and wherein calculating the first value comprises calculating the estimated portion based on the first data, second data and third data; calculating, by one or more of the computer devices, for each analyst and for each client-use category, a second value indicating a compensation-weighted portion of the analyst's time spent on clients in the client-use category, wherein calculating the second value comprises considering the first value and data indicative of the compensation of the analyst; and calculating, by one or more of the computer devices, for each listed client, a compensation-weighted time spent by the analyst servicing each client over the time period, wherein calculating the compensation-weighted time comprises summing, for each client, the second values corresponding to each analyst that serviced the client over the time period, and wherein the one or more computer devices comprise a processor and an operatively associated electronic storage device.