ABSTRACT
A pre-requisite of any kind of cost management system, including cost planning, is the need for reliable, cost data in the form of cost information which reflects the range of cost management being undertaken. In fact it was through the recognition of this need and that an abundant and readily available source of cost data existed, in a form which could readily be processed to form useful, extensive and reliable cost information that provided the catalyst for the cost planning process to be established as highlighted in the above quotation. It is worth going back a little in time to explore where this cost data source came from and how it became so useful in the cost planning process.
