The program is targeted to estimators of process plant projects, revamps, or retrofits. The modeling system calculates process equipment costs and costs for complete process plants. It permits the evaluation of alternatives by inputting the design specification. The equipment design parameters are input and the package produces costs, bill of materials, and labor requirements, which can be used for scheduling. The design can be conceptual or detailed. This is an assembly-driven package. The database is built into the system. The system can estimate costs of refits, retrofits and revamps as well. The supplier is developing more models of plant/equipment options that will allow parametric input to create detailed equipment specifications and estimates.
The program was first released ~1986. There is one cost update and one technology update each year. The latest release is version 10.0 (released in1995).
The package is designed strictly for cost engineering and does not include project management capabilities. Users cannot define project work breakdown structures and activities. No sensitivity analysis can be performed within the system itself. No additional cost categories, including regulatory, liability, and less tangible costs, can be included in the estimate. Project Management capabilities are included in ICARUS' latest product: ICARUS Project Manager.
The company offers the system through a licensing plan where the cost of the single user or network version is $6900 for the first year and $2900 per seat(person) per year thereafter. The license has to be renewed annually. The maintenance fee is included in this. ICARUS offers consulting support, training, documentation, and an on-line tutorial. Demonstration disks are available, but these are primarily marketing tools, and are not interactive demonstrations of the program itself.
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