Sports Interactive · Football Data Certification

LMS Investment
ROI Case

LearnUpon · 1,000 users · £35,500/yr — adjust the assumptions below to model your business case for the COO & BD Director.

Annual Benefit
Total estimated recoverable value
Net Annual Gain
After £35,500 LMS licence
3-Year ROI
Return on total LMS investment
Payback Period
Months to break even
Costs & Staff Rate
Internal Staff Hourly Rate £30/hr
Blended rate for DB/Research internal staff
£20£60
HR Hourly Rate (freelance) £15/hr
Imputed value of volunteer Head Researcher time
£0£40
Network Size
Head Researchers 150
50300
Assistant Researchers 1600
2002,000
Churn & Retention
AR Churn (per month) 12/mo
≈ 144/yr replaced
3/mo30/mo
HR Churn (per year) 6/yr
Men's ~2/yr · Women's ~4/yr
1/yr20/yr
AR Churn Reduction (FDC effect) 20%
Better onboarding keeps ARs engaged longer
0%50%
HR Churn Reduction (FDC effect) 15%
0%40%
Onboarding — Internal Time Saved
Current HR onboarding (internal hrs) 12 hrs
4 hrs30 hrs
FDC HR onboarding (internal hrs) 3 hrs
1 hr15 hrs
Current AR onboarding (internal hrs) 5 hrs
1 hr20 hrs
FDC AR onboarding (internal hrs) 1 hrs
0 hrs8 hrs
Research Process Q&A — Time Saved
Internal staff hrs/month answering process Qs 10 hrs
Methodology, rating guidance, disputes, best practice
2 hrs40 hrs
HR hrs/month answering AR process Qs 20 hrs
Across the whole HR network per month
5 hrs80 hrs
% reduction via FDC (Knowledge Base) 40%
10%70%
Data query/bug hrs answered internally (mo) 15 hrs
Separate from process Qs — specific data disputes
2 hrs40 hrs
% data query reduction (FDC effect) 30%
5%60%
FMDB Pro — Commercial
Clubs at risk from data quality gaps 5 clubs
Clients where data quality is a retention/growth concern
030
% of at-risk revenue recovered via FDC 50%
Improved standards & certified credentials retain clients
10%90%
New clubs enabled by wider recruitment pool 2 clubs
Regions/women's football now serviceable with structured training
015
Succession Planning
Succession risk mitigation value (£/yr) £15,000
Cost avoided from unplanned senior HR exits; AR→HR pipeline value
£0£100k
Annual Benefit Breakdown
Onboarding — internal time saved
HR & AR intake at current churn rates
Research process Q&A — internal staff time
Methodology, best practice, disputes
Research process Q&A — HR time
HRs freed from answering AR methodology queries
Data query & bug reduction
Fewer specific data disputes reaching internal team
Retention — reduced churn cost
HRs and ARs retained who would otherwise have left
FMDB Pro — revenue protected
At-risk client revenue secured via improved standards
FMDB Pro — new revenue enabled
Wider recruitment pool opens previously inaccessible markets
Succession risk mitigation
Structured AR→HR pipeline; reduced exposure to senior exits
Total Annual Benefit
Less: LearnUpon licence (£35,500)
3-Year Cumulative Net Gain
Year 1
Year 2
Year 3
3-Year ROI
Return on total LMS investment over 3 years
Strategic Value — Not Quantified
Research Philosophy Alignment
Five research pillars consistently practised across all nations. Foundational to data brand trust and FMDB Pro credibility — hard to price, impossible to ignore.
Researcher Audit Trail & Certification
Certified researchers create a defensible record of training standards. For professional clubs, this may become a contractual expectation. "Our researchers are certified to X standard" is a sales asset in FMDB Pro pitches.
Faster Time to Useful Output
New researchers who complete structured training don't just onboard faster — they reach production-quality output sooner. The gap between joining and being genuinely productive is longer than the onboarding window alone.
Game Simulation Quality
Poor regional data (e.g. China, women's football) degrades FM's simulation quality and affects player experience at scale. Improved research standards protect SI's reputation with its 20 million player base and review scores.
Knowledge Capture & Institutional Memory
Best practice currently lives in the heads of senior HRs and internal staff. Every module written extracts that knowledge and makes it durable — reducing dependency on individuals and protecting against loss.
LMA Partnership Credibility
The confirmed LMA integration gives FDC modules professional football education legitimacy. This strengthens the FMDB Pro proposition and opens doors to further institutional partnerships.
Platform for Future Commercial Products
LearnUpon infrastructure at 1,000+ users could support paid external offerings — scouting education, data literacy for clubs — as the LMA relationship matures.
Data Coverage at Scale (8% → ?)
Only ~41,000 of 500,000 active player profiles have a full attribute set. Structured training is the primary lever to move this number — and full coverage is a direct FMDB Pro commercial differentiator.