A Statistical Activity Cost Analysis of Engineering Assets

In this paper, Statistical Activity Cost Analysis (SACA) is used to identify the interaction of mutually dependent physical and financial aspects of a fixed asset-like system configuration. The novelty of the approach is, having established a rational description of the uncertainty inherent in both domains, the analysis of their interaction. Little research to date has investigated the duality of engineering and accounting aspects, in a statistical setting. Our approach is conceptual rather than empirical. We use an illustrative 4-component model, a) to explain the concept of SACA by means of a software demonstration tool, b) to relate financial issues of cost to engineering asset capacity to perform specified tasks, and c) to demonstrate how to produce quantified measures of return and risk, both of which are relevant in areas of life-cycle analysis, budgeting and planning decision-making.