Rustbelt
Analytics

Financial & operational analytics for industrial and service companies

Your business is bigger than any one system.

Your ERP knows part of it. Accounting knows part of it. So do your spreadsheets, service software, production records, reports, emails and years of company history.

Rustbelt Analytics brings the useful pieces together, builds financial and operational models around how your business actually works, and gives management a way to ask questions of that information in plain English.

Tell us what you're trying to understand See how RBA works

Advanced analytics without building an enterprise data department.

Existing systems & records→Rustic Lakehouse→Financial + operational models→Management answers

Much of the information is already in the business

Your company did not grow inside one software package.

Accounting may know the invoice. The ERP knows the job. Purchasing knows what material cost. Service software knows there was a callback. A spreadsheet contains a calculation everyone still relies on. A PDF holds the original quote.

None of those sources is necessarily wrong. They simply know different parts of the story.

NO RIP-AND-REPLACE PROJECT REQUIRED

Keep the systems that run your business.

RBA builds an analytical layer alongside the ERP, accounting, service, production, spreadsheet and other systems already in place. Relevant documents, email trails or digitized legacy records can be incorporated when they are useful to the analysis.

ERP stays ERPAccounting stays accountingService stays serviceSpreadsheets can remain

How the analytical system works · Synthetic example

From the systems you have
to the questions you need to answer.

Keep the software that runs the business. RBA builds a durable analytical capability alongside it.

01 / Existing sources

Much of the information is already in the business.

ERP, accounting, service, production, purchasing, spreadsheets, reports and documents each hold part of the story.

02 / Selective acquisition

Bring together what the question requires.

RBA acquires the records the question requires through APIs, syncs, exports, uploads, document intake or digitization.

03 / Rustic Lakehouse

Build the analytical memory of the business.

History is organized around customers, jobs, parts, vendors, invoices, purchases and work—not source-system tables.

04 / Business models

Connecting information is only the beginning.

Financial and operational models apply agreed definitions for contribution, completed work, direct cost and other management measures.

05 / Ask Rustic

Ask the business a question.

Ask Rustic interprets the question, resolves definitions, selects the relevant model and data, and performs the technical work underneath.

06 / Answer

See the pattern that deserves attention.

Results identify the repeat jobs with the largest contribution change and point to the next management question.

07 / Why?

The answer should reconcile.

One job opens into a verified calculation: $5,000 quoted contribution, $3,700 supported actual and a fully explained $1,300 difference.

08 / Evidence

Show me the records.

Results stay connected to calculations and records. Partial evidence qualifies the answer; missing information stays missing.

09 / Follow-up

One foundation. Many questions.

Pull back from one job to jobs, customers and periods. Rustic’s history, definitions and models make the next investigation easier.

01 / Systems → Rustic

Much of the information is already in the business.

ERP, accounting, service, production, spreadsheets and documents each hold part of the story.

ERPAccountingServiceProductionExcelDocuments
Ways in, as needed
APISyncExportUploadDocument
RusticLakehouse

Bring together what matters.

The systems stay in place. Rustic becomes the analytical layer alongside them.

02 / Organize + model

Connecting the information is only the beginning.

Business records become useful when they share meaning, structure and agreed definitions.

Organized around the business
CustomerJobPartVendorInvoiceWork order

The model makes it useful.

ContributionQuote vs actualPrice vs costProductionLaborService
Direct costCompleted jobRepeat partContribution

Not just aggregated records. A model of how the business works.

03 / Ask Rustic

Ask the business a question.

Plain language starts the investigation; the analytical work happens underneath.

Which repeat jobs lost the most contribution this year?
Question Interpret intent Resolve definitions Select data + model Generate analytical plan rank_by(contribution_delta) Answer
Repeat jobContribution change
JOB 24-071−$1,300
JOB 24-118−$980
JOB 24-203−$740

04 / Why? + evidence

The answer should reconcile.

Trace the change to a complete calculation, then open the records that support it.

Quoted$5,000
Supported actual$3,700
Difference−$1,300
Materials−$600
Installation−$400
Other direct costs−$100
Callback / service−$200
Unexplained$0

Show me the records.

Synthetic example records

Materials+$600 cost
Supplier invoice · INV-8841

Additional adhesive and fastening material

$4,200 recorded − $3,600 quoted
Installation+$400 cost
Labor record · JOB 24-071

Eight additional installation hours

$2,400 recorded − $2,000 quoted
Other direct costs+$100 cost
Expense record · EXP-2194

Additional equipment rental

$350 recorded − $250 quoted
Callback / service+$200 cost
Service record · SR-1048

One return visit after installation

$200 recorded − $0 quoted

05 / Reuse the foundation

Show me every other job where this is happening.

Move from one explained result to a recurring pattern across the business.

JOB 24-071
Recurring pattern
History already organizedDefinitions already agreedModels already reusable

One foundation. Many questions.

The value is not one answer. Rustic keeps the history, definitions and models in place for what management asks next.

Analytical depth

The kind of analysis larger companies build teams to do.

RBA gives industrial and service companies access to sophisticated financial and operational analysis without requiring them to build an internal data organization first.

FINANCIAL
  • Customer & job economics
  • Quote vs actual
  • Price realization / price-cost drift
  • Margin leakage
  • Vendor & purchasing economics
  • Billing & receivables
  • Working capital
  • Trend & variance
OPERATIONS
  • Production & throughput
  • Job performance
  • Labor & utilization
  • Service performance
  • Callbacks & repeat work
  • Backlog & delivery
  • Bottlenecks & constraints
  • Cross-system operating trends

Across the business

Model what happens between departments and systems.

QuotePurchasingProductionLaborBilling
↓Job economics
Supplier costFreightCustomer priceRebateReturn
↓Price-cost / customer economics
Service contractTechnician timePartsRepeat visitsBilling
↓Service economics

One foundation. Different ways to use it.

Dashboards when they help. Questions when they don't.

Recurring measures belong in dashboards, reports and alerts. Questions nobody predicted belong in Ask Rustic. Both use the same organized history, business definitions and models.

Explore Rustic and Ask Rustic →
RUSTICFinancial + operational models
↓
DashboardRecurring measures
ReportScheduled review
AlertExceptions
Ask RusticNew questions + follow-up

A sensible way to begin

Start with one worthwhile problem.

The long-term capability can become broad. The first engagement does not have to be. Bring us a question that is difficult to answer today. We determine where the information lives, how it needs to be connected, and what analytical model is required.

The answer can become the beginning of a reusable analytical foundation rather than another spreadsheet that gets rebuilt next month.

FIRST QUESTION
  • Discover relevant sources
  • Reconcile the records
  • Agree the definitions
  • Build the first model
→
LATER QUESTIONS
  • Useful history already exists
  • Business objects are organized
  • Definitions are reusable
  • Models can be extended
The foundation becomes more useful as the company uses it.

Targeted AI + automation

Improve the workflow without replacing it.

Once the information and business logic are in place, RBA can add targeted AI or automation where it removes repetitive work, prepares recurring analysis or helps exceptions reach the right person faster. The purpose is to support a specific workflow—not to build an automation platform around everything.

Industrial and service companies

Close to the work.
Connected across the business.

01

Manufacturing & job shops

Quote-to-actual economics, repeat-part drift, labor, throughput, purchasing and delivery.

02

Industrial distribution & equipment

Price-cost drift, supplier economics, customer contribution, working capital and service relationships.

03

Field service

Technician time, callbacks, repeat visits, contract economics, billing and service patterns.

04

Specialty contractors & installation

Estimate-to-actual, labor and material variance, scope changes, contribution and billing.

Explore industries →

The human side of the system

You know your business. We help you see more of it.

Tell us what you are trying to understand, why it matters, and why it is difficult to answer today.

Tell us what you're trying to figure out Already a client? Open Client Portal ↗