INTEGRATING A COST ARCHITECTURE METHODOLOGY WITHIN A DYNAMIC WORK STATION ENVIRONMENT

THE PROPOSED PROJECT WILL DESIGN A SOUP-TO--NUTS COST ANALYSIS METHODOLOGY AUTOMATED WITHIN A USER-FRIENDLY COMPUTER WORK STATION ENVIRONMENT. THE TOOLS AVAILABLE VIA THE WORKSTATION WILL BE CAPABLE OF ASSESSING THE IMPACT THAT DOD BUDGETS AND FORCE STRUCTURE DECISIONS HAVE ON SYSTEM COSTS AND SYSTEM AFFORDABILITY. AT THE OPPOSITE END OF THE SPECTRUM OF COSTING CAPABILITY, TOOLS WILL BE AVAILABLE THAT CAN GENERATE DETAILED UNIT COSTS WITH A COMPLETE COMPONENT COST BUILD-UP WHEN PROVIDED DETAILED SYSTEM DESIGN DATA. IN THE MIDDLE GROUND AREA OF COSTING CAPABILITY ARE TOOLS THAT WILL ENABLE THE DESIGN ENGINEER, ALONG WITH THE COST ANALYST, TO DETERMINE THE IMPACTS THAT UPPER-LEVEL DESIGN PARAMETER TRADE-OFFS HAVE ON A SYSTEM COSTS. FOR THE FIRST TIME, THE PRELIMINARY DESIGNER CAN INVESTIGATE THE SENSITIVITY THAT DESIGN PARAMETERS HAVE ON NOT ONLY AIRCRAFT WEIGHT, PERFORMANCE, AND EFFECTIVENESS, BUT ALSO ON AIRCRAFT COSTS. ENPHASIS WILL BE PLACED ON ESTIMATING THE COSTS ASSOCIATED WITH INNOVATLNG NEW TECHNOLOGIES INTO ADVANCE WEAPON SYSTEMS. PHASE I WILL ESTABLISH SOUND AND REASONABLE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE COST ESTIMATING METHODOLOGY. BASED UPON THE REQUIREMENTS, A FUNCTIONAL DESIGN WILL BE DEVELOPED. CANDIDATE COST MODELS FOR SATISFYXNG THE FUNCTIONAL DESIGN WILL BE SURVEYED. AN UPPER LEVEL SPEC WILL BE DEVELOPED. AS A LAST TASK, A DRAFT DEVELOPMENT PLAN WILL BE GENERATED, IDENTIFYING REQUIRED MODEL MODIFICATIONS, MODEL INTEGRATIONS AND REQUIRED NEW METHODOLOGY DEVELOPMENT. COMPLETION OF PHASE I ENSURES THAT ALL ASPECTS OF THE PROBLEM HAVE BEEN THOROUGHLY RESEARCHED AND RESOLVED TO MINIMIZE RISK, SO THAT A PHASE II DETAILED SYSTEM DESIGN AND A DEVELOPMENT/PROCUREMENT PLAN CAN BE GENERATED.