FDC — LMS Investment ROI

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.