Lifecycle Costing

The LCC module allows users to define life cycle costs other than those predicted by the RCMCost and AvSim modules. These costs may be integrated with predicted costs in the LCC cost breakdown structure to provide a time-dependent analysis of a system's whole life cycle cost process.

The items may be further subdivided until the cost of each element can be defined as a mathematical equation. At a simple level this can be the number of man-hours multiplied by a cost rate. The elements of cost will then be added together to give the total cost for each item and a grand total for the system through its full life. Life Cycle Cost analysis is used to evaluate the through-life cost of new plant or equipment. The user builds a hierarchical Cost Breakdown Structure (CBS) through an unlimited number of indenture levels, starting at the conception stage and continuing through research and development, design, operations and maintenance and ending with system disposal.

The CBS can be directly linked to cost predictions produced by the RCMCost or AvSim modules. Other costs may be defined as time-dependent cost equations or simple numerical values. Global variables may be defined and utilised in the cost equations.

High level costs are determined either by summating the cost values for child nodes in the CBS or by applying a user-defined cost equation. The syntax of cost equations is easy to understand and the construction of cost equations is assisted by an intelligent code-recognition utility that automatically reveals global variable lists as the user types in an equation.

Phase-dependent cost equations may also be defined. Phases are shared between the LCC and AvSim modules.