| Financial analysis: | --- |
| Environmental impact analysis: | --- |
| Waste management/P2: | --- |
| Environmental cost listing/database: |  |
| Cost estimation: | --- |
| Alternative product/process comparison: | --- |
| Financial analysis: | --- |
| Environmental impact analysis: | --- |
| Waste management/P2: | --- |
| Environmental cost listing/database: | |
| Cost estimation: | --- |
| Alternative product/process comparison: | --- |
All data in HCAS is defined according to a five level hierarchy. These are:
Each of these levels contain records into which users enter specific project-related information. Records in different levels are related to each other through 'key fields'. A number of HCAS fields are mandatory such as contract number, project ID number, project name, state, and area. In each level, users have the option to enter up to 32 pages of notes, such as for contract information, or detail information.
HCAS has a 5-level WBS. Information entered in the task and detail level has to relate to specific WBS level numbers. For example, the WBS number will describe the work being done at the detail level. Non-standard items can be specified and also explained. The pre-defined categories for the second WBS level are as follows.
| Raw material acquisition | --- |
| Manufacturing stage | --- |
| Use/reuse/maintenance | --- |
| Recycle/waste management | |
HCAS is limited to considering HTRW remediation projects. It does not provide cost data for the entire life-cycle.
| Conventional | |
| Potentially hidden | |
| Contingent | --- |
| External | --- |
The cost categories at the phase and task level are construction cost, operating cost, and supporting facility cost. Cost data in all levels of HCAS needs to be specified as burdened or direct costs.[1] The two cost fields that do not have this setting are the design cost field in the projects level, and the contingency fund in the phase level. Costs correspond to user-selected units of measure (including one user-defined unit). Costs may also be entered as lump-sum amounts.
A number of items that correspond to potentially hidden costs are present in the WBS, and can be specified in the detail level. Other activities that are not included in the original WBS can also be specified in the 'other' cost categories in each level. Thus, users can further detail their estimates to include contingent costs and external costs as well. However, HCAS currently does not contain items reflecting external costs. The contingency fund may or may not reflect contingent environmental costs. This cost data cannot be rolled up to reflect totals in the above mentioned categories. For example, total hidden costs and total external costs cannot be separately computed. This is due to the fact that additional categories cannot be added, and the original coding and WBS structure cannot be changed.
The system is not designed for cost estimation.
| Net present value (NPV) | --- |
| Payback period | --- |
| Internal rate of return (IRR) | --- |
| Benefits cost ratio | --- |
| Other | --- |
The WBS is a listing of tasks performed in HTRW work and has been standardized by several government agencies. For each HCAS revision, new items that have been entered as non-standard WBS items, are considered for inclusion in the standard WBS. Both government and private users are encouraged to provide cost data for HCAS.
The system features mouse support, pop-up lists, pull-down menus, and on-line help to facilitate ease of use. HCAS allows import and export of data, by sending and receiving contracts to disk. Only entire contracts (not parts) may be sent or received. HCAS includes a reporting feature for pre-defined and customized reports. Users can query HCAS by specifying criteria for individual fields. There are some options for customizing HCAS, such as selecting the cursor size, editing at different levels, and restricting the number of tasks and details viewed.
The HCAS WBS does not currently contain items related to less-tangible (internal) external, or contingent environmental costs (fees, fines). HCAS can be used to assist in the cost estimating process, but is not an estimating tool by itself. It is limited to HTRW remediation projects. Although HCAS can be used by private industry as well, its data is (currently) primarily supplied by governmental agencies.
The program requires some expertise for setting up projects to be entered into HCAS. Users need to first break-down their projects into a five-level hierarchical formats, consistent with the HCAS WBS. Users cannot query for fields that contain free-form text, such as project name, or notes. HCAS does not normalize or manipulate data. A test run of HCAS by for the MDAP concluded that HCAS does not provide sufficient parametric information. Their recommendations (among others) were that HCAS be updated to include fields to record the parameters associated with a technology, and that it be converted into a true Windows format. The data screening and quality checks are crucial to reliable data quality in HCAS.
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