Managing cost as an independent variable in warship design

摘要

Achieving a balanced and affordable warship design solution requires awareness of cost as an independent variable, particularly during the design and development phases of the contract. The constraints imposed by reductions in defence expenditure mean that designing to meet cost targets has become at least as important as meeting performance and programme requirements. Failure to provide an acceptable warship design within an approved cost budget is likely to result in the cancellation of the programme. An Integrated Cost Environment (ICE) has been developed for the new royal Navy Future Carrier Project known as CVF. It provides a capability to manage the relationships between cost information, product definition and associated requirements at all phases of the lifecycle. It also recognises the importance of being able to take the final tender estimate from the outline design phase into the final design and manufacture phases, and so form the basis of an earned value performance management system. The paper describes the development of a capability using internet-based technology to integrate leading `commercial-off-the-shelf' applications wihich will support distribution of cost, performance and programme information within an enterprise-wide shared data environment.