Location, timeline and financial parameters

Overview

Define various mandatory items required as part of the Scope of the Analysis.

Location

Select the Country to which the analysis applies. It has two main uses:

• It defines the default currencies to be used in the analysis
• It sets the geographical boundary for use in the GIS

Timeline

Enter the Analysis Start Year. This is the initial calendar year that marks the beginning of the multi-year life-cycle analysis period. It also anchors the timeline for multi-year cost streams, and acts as the initial year for triggering any work items that are scheduled or triggered relative to this initial year.

Enter the Analysis Period (years). This is the analysis horizon over which HDM5 simulates pavement performance, road deterioration, agency expenditures, and road user and other costs.

Financial Parameters

Select the Input Currency and Output Currency for the analysis, and the conversion rate if required.

All cost items throughout the application (e.g. maintenance activity costs, vehicle operating costs) are defaulted to the Input Currency, but they can be specified in the Output Currency if required. This allows, for example, specification of the costs of maintenance treatments using one currency, and costs related to fuel or vehicles in another.

The Output Currency is used in all HDM5 reporting.

If the user subsequently changes the currency of any cost item, then the application applies the Currency Conversion Rate to that cost item.

Only currencies listed in the Global Configurations may be used.

Define a Discount Rate to convert future benefits and costs into their present value. This is a key rate in economic analysis, particularly cost-benefit analysis. It reflects the time value of money and the opportunity cost of capital. It is used to discount future annual streams of road agency costs, road user costs, and exogenous benefits back to the chosen base year (typically the Analysis Start Year). It is expressed as a percentage (%).