Chargebacks – the promised land for customers seeking accountability and transparency. But what happens when we move beyond the buzzwords and into the nitty-gritty? Where do you even start? And how do you ensure a smooth ride without rocking the boat for your business units?

1. Engage Finance Early: Chargeback plays a huge role in the PnL.  Consider how this activity and change to the business will impact tax, transfer pricing, accounting etc. Bringing in Corporate Finance early will contribute to ease of decision making and adoption.
2. Know Your Costs: Dive into the IT cost structure. Work with IT leaders to identify services in terms that the business will understand.   Identify which applications and services are truly consumptive. Determine which services should be transparent to the business but that may not be controllable by the business.  Can you compare actual costs to planned volumes?
3. Identify Business Volumes:  For consumptive services, determine if volume data is available by department or business unit.  Does IT or Finance have a mechanism to gather business demand for those consumptive services to contribute to service planning and rate setting?
4. Plan Ahead: Anticipate adjustments and errors. How will your business handle over/under recovery? Determine how often rates and allocation approaches can be adjusted. Is the organization receptive to mid-year rate changes due to significant cost and/or volume changes? What's the protocol for addressing rate charges that are off the mark? 
5. Engage Business Owners Early: Don't go it alone. Bring business owners into the fold early on. Help them understand cost drivers of IT Services, how their consumption of IT services can optimize IT spend, and how chargeback processes impact the cost of business services, incentives and P&L.
6. Quarterly Business Reviews: Keep communication channels open. Hold regular reviews to provide insights and recommend behavior changes. Empower business owners to shape chargeback strategies.
7. Catalog and Change Control: Have a clear service or product catalog with robust change control processes. Tag service owners for accountability.

Conclusion:

Embarking on a chargeback journey can be daunting, but with the right approach, it can lead to better accountability and cost management. By understanding your costs, planning ahead, engaging stakeholders, and maintaining clear Service or Product catalogs, you'll navigate the chargeback maze with confidence. And when in doubt, ask one of the amazing Advisors who contributed to this great feedback!