SYSTEM COST ANALYSIS: A MANAGEMENT TOOL FOR DECISION MAKING
Abstract
A generalized, integrated conceptual approach is presented for the major steps involved in estimating the costs of a military system. The common methodological problems and tasks involved in costing all military systems are identified. The entire process of costing a system is discussed and the methodological relationships of each sequential step to preceding and subsequent steps are shown. Fundamental principles are stressed as opposed to a catalog of resource costs and estimating relationships or a case book detailing the specific procedures used to cost particular systems in the past. The approach is task oriented in the sense that discussion centers around such highly practical questions as the following: what an analyst should learn about the client's intended application of the estimate and about the details of the system he is to cost before he begins the costing task itself; the criteria an analyst can use to help him realize the greatest benefit in a limited time; the types of activities and resources he should cost and in what detail; the types of data he should seek as a basis to cost such activities and resources, and the sources from which he should try to collect these data; how he should proceed to evaluate and synthesize his data inputs to arrive at his system cost estimate; how he should present the details of his findings to be most meaningful to his client.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Nov 01, 1965
- Accession Number
- AD0624893
Entities
People
- M. V. Jones
Organizations
- MITRE Corporation