Ten years of M&A reference model
The story
Finally, the M&A reference model covering all phases of the process is available, an effort that took me about ten years. Why did it take me so long? The goal was to create an end-to-end M&A process and data model to leverage it for the automation of the M&A process. You can say it is a specification of the M&A process with the goal of documenting and automating the M&A process.
I started with post-merger integration. Since there are massive dependencies of integration activities and data on the earlier phases of the process, I had to dive into the details of strategy and due diligence phases before I work on the details of the merger integration phase. So, I published contents of the M&A reference model for the strategy and the due-diligence phases first (see books below) and now I was able to relate to earlier phases in a complete and consistent manner.
So, i worked on details of the due diligence phase and then on the strategy phase, resulting in a number of books shown in the tiles below. The most recent book is called “Automating the deal“ and shows detailed scenarios for innovative tools automating large parts of the M&A process.
The content
The M&A reference model as of today has the following content:
70 Tasks with detailed descriptions and goals and objectives, the data objects used by the task, the questions you should ask and the roles that are typically involved in the execution of the task. A task is carried out in several actions, which are also assigned to the task. In addition, you see tools that can be used to automate the task.
2200 Questions are assigned to tasks and help during the execution of the tasks
935 Data Objects are in the corresponding data model of the M&A reference model with thousands of relationships. Each of the data objects is assigned to one or more tasks
55 roles which execute the tasks are assigned to each task.
52 tools are in the model that automate tasks. For each tool, one or more of 49 different technologies are assigned.
In the figure below you see the information for the task “Evaluation of the fit of a target“.
The tool and database
Many M&A tools are assigned to tasks and show if and how much of the task can be automated.The M&A reference model is not just a load of text, it is an automated model that allows to run analytics. Here is a screenshot of the tool
The data model is also part of the database. Each data object is also assigned to tasks that use the data object. Data objects like Target Business Model show their relationships with the target business and the parts of the business model.
Since many tools are assigned to tasks and each task´s actions, you can show how much of a task is automated by a tool. Here is an example of PATEV, that shows automation of tasks in the M&A strategy phase.
The future
The plan is to share the model with the community and work on further details. In addition, the release of an API definition is planned to foster integration between different tool vendors and the use of AI.
Now, continue to
