BFRL:Cost-Effectiveness Software Tool

Cost-Effectiveness Software Tool

The cost-effectiveness software tool helps users make straightforward and consistent comparisons of risk mitigation strategies based on established economic evaluation practices. The uncertainty about natural and man-made hazards complicates the task of building owners and managers to identify and choose which hazards to guard against. The wide range of potential remediation measures, the permanence of investment-based solutions, and the expense of their implementation, installation, and maintenance necessitate an evaluation tool that systematically and consistently evaluates competing alternatives.

The cost-effectiveness software tool performs such evaluations by incorporating life-cycle cost analysis based on an industry consensus standard, ASTM E 917. The software allows building owners and managers to define hazard scenarios, identify possible consequences of those scenarios, and compare combinations of strategies to mitigate those consequences. The software's standardized measures allow life-cycle comparisons of alternative combinations of risk mitigation strategies based on user-defined scenarios.

Version 4.0

Version 4.0 of the software is now available for download. Version 4.0 produces the types of analysis results that provide decision makers with the basis for generating a risk mitigation plan and includes help files to assist users. Additional information on the software is available by clicking on the on-line Users Manual.

(PDF)

Version 4.0 runs on Windows 95, 98, 2000, NT, and XP on a computer that has at least a 600MHZ Pentium-level processor, 64MB of RAM, and 20MB of available hard disk space. A printer must be installed.

Please send your comments about Version 4.0 to robert.chapman@nist.gov. If you experience an error in the software, please include in your email information about the steps that led up to the error, any error screens that showed, and information about your system including operating system, processor speed, and amount of RAM.

"This software was developed at the National Institute of Standards and Technology by employees of the Federal Government in the course of their official duties and is in the public domain. NIST assumes no responsibility whatsoever for its use by other parties, and makes no guarantees, expressed or implied, about its quality, reliability, or any other characteristic. We would appreciate acknowledgement if the software is used."