New Features in OSCAM JSF v2
OSCAM JSF Version 2 has been developed around feedback received from OSCAM users from all partner countries. The new version has undergone significant improvements, with increased flexibility, faster simulations, more intuitive input forms and enhanced tools to analyse results. A summary of the main changes is shown below.
The OSCAM JSF model is now available as a runtime version, in addition to the installation. The runtime version allows the model to be run directly from CD without needing to install anything. Both versions are available from the download section of the website.
Due to the extensive changes in the business processes and the input data that is used by OSCAM to build a cost estimate, it is not possible to load an OSCAM JSF v1 data record directly into OSCAM JSF v2. Any datasets created using OSCAM JSF v1 will have to be converted manually. The majority of inputs have been carried over to version 2 making dataset conversion relatively straightforward.
The latest F-35 JPO country specific datasets are in OSCAM JSF v2 format.
Aircraft introductions are now specified annually, with the option to introduce all aircraft at the start of each year, or spread introductions evenly over the year. Aircraft introductions can be spread over a 30-year period. More…
Disposal costs have been moved from the Operations sector to the Program Profile. The Salvage cost has been renamed Attrition Cost. Attrited aircraft no longer incur the disposal cost, they will only incur the attrition cost. More…
A new facility has been added allowing cost reporting to be deferred to a given year. More…
Allocating Aircraft to Environments
All aircraft now allocated to environments using a single input form with an option to prevent over-allocation of aircraft introduced. The absolute number of aircraft required each year is now specified. Tools have been developed to speed up the process of allocating aircraft to environments. More…
The default environment priorities have changed. The Reserve environment has been moved from second priority to fourth priority. More…
There are now two alternative approaches available to specify flying hours; Average Flying Hours per aircraft per month or target annual flying hours per operating environment. In either case the maximum number of flying hours an aircraft can fly in a month can now be specified. More…
OpTempo Flying Hours – Average Flying Hours
In average flying hours mode, the average number of flying hours per aircraft per month are specified for deployed and non-deployed aircraft. Options on how OSCAM behaves in the event of a shortfall are available (an interactive help page has been added to illustrate the options). The maximum number of flying hours an aircraft can fly in a month can be specified. The deployed / non-deployed graph has been changed to show the total number of aircraft deployed per year. More…
OpTempo Flying Hours – Environment Flying Hours
In environment flying hours mode, the total number of annual flying hours per environment are specified for deployed and non-deployed aircraft. The maximum number of flying hours an aircraft can fly in a month can be specified. The deployed / non-deployed graph has been changed to show the total number of aircraft deployed per year. More…
The Training sector has undergone a comprehensive re-write. Training costs can now be entered in either Simplified or Detailed mode. In Simplified mode, training costs are based on turnover of personnel and the number of new aircraft introductions. In Detailed mode, training costs are specified annually in a table, for different training centers. In either mode, additional annual costs can be added (as a Throughput-style table). There are more ways to specify Simulator Operations costs; per year, per squadron per year, or an annual cost profile can be entered. More…
Unscheduled / Scheduled Maintenance
The level of detail (Simplified or Detailed) can now be set differently for Scheduled and Unscheduled Maintenance, for Air Vehicle and Propulsion. The Aging Parts Cost factor has been replaced with two aging curves; Aging AVDLR Cost and Aging Consumables Cost. Both new aging curves are based on the year rather than the percentage of life. More…
All Overhaul inputs are now disabled until an Overhaul frequency is supplied. Overhaul CLS costs can now be specified per action, per year, per aircraft per year or per Flying Hour. More…
All Emergency Repair inputs are now disabled until an Emergency Repair Frequency is supplied. The Emergency Repair frequency is now specified in flying hours, rather than actions per 1000hrs. Emergency Repair CLS costs can now be specified per action, per year, per aircraft per year or per Flying Hour. More…
A Recurring Modification annual cost table has been added. Post-modification factors affecting scheduled / unscheduled maintenance are now specified separately for Air Vehicle and Propulsion. The parts cost factor has been replaced by two new factors; DLR Cost Factor and a Consumables Cost Factor. More…
An annual cost table has been added to the Other sector input form to allow a more flexible representation of other costs. More…
An additional Throughput input has been added allowing costs to be specified per flying hour. An inflation appropriation category can now be associated with each Throughput item. This allows Throughput data to be updated automatically when the Cost Base Year is changed and also it allows it to be included in the calculation of Then Year $ results. Each Throughput can be assigned to a CAIG element in the Results Tree. More…
It is now possible to undo previous data changes. An undo button is used to undo the last change. Previous changes can be selected from a pull-down list. Alternatively, double-clicking on an input will show the traditional dialog to select values from Primary or Reference data records, to which an extra tab has been added to allow previous data values to be selected. Data tables also have a list of undo items.
A re-do button and pull-down has also been added to reverse undo actions. The list of undo and re-do actions is cleared when a new data record is loaded. More…
Simulation Runs – Powersim Mode
The option to use of the Powersim simulation package with OSCAM has now been removed. This is because the Powersim Runtime package is 16bit and so is incompatible with 64bit operating systems and some administrative settings. OSCAM retains the F1 Help diagrams and illustrative equations to describe the logic of the causal relationships in the simulation model.
Simulation Runs – Auto Run Length
The required length of a simulation run is automatically calculated based on the year of the last aircraft introduction and the aircraft lifetime (plus 1 year). This can be manually overridden to allow for shorter runs that do not cover the whole of the program lifetime, or if Throughput costs are required to extend beyond the retirement of the last aircraft. More…
Results Screen – Cost Breakdown Structure
The cost breakdown structure has been organized using the CAIG 2005 structure and numbering. Some of the output lines have changed to reflect the business processes that are represented in OSCAM JSF v2. The results can now be viewed as a Pie-Chart. More…
Results Screen – Name Tab Functions
The results tabs at the bottom of the results table now display a popup menu when right-clicking the mouse on them. This allows quick access to view/change the results description, delete a results set, reload the dataset that was used to generate the results, and to specify whether or not that results set is displayed on the graph. More…
The Uncertainty Tool has been extended to allow more than 20 inputs to be selected. It also now allows a variety of probability distributions to be used. To help in the selection of a probability distribution a graphical display will show the shape of the distribution for the selected parameter values. The input data for an Uncertainty run is now saved as part of the input data record rather than the workspace. More…
Results that are saved via the option in the File menu now retain more decimal places. This allows more accurate calculations to be applied in Excel when exporting the results.
When Copying and Pasting the results from the OSCAM results tree into Excel, the pasted data will use the displayed number of decimal places and the displayed layout.
OSCAM JSF v2 Post Analysis Tool
OSCAM JSF v2 uses inputs specified in US$ and provides outputs in US$. The OSCAM JSF v2 Post Analysis Tool allows a saved OSCAM results file to be loaded and for further analysis to be applied using country specific conditions. The Post Analysis Tool will convert from US$ to the local currency using a fixed or annually specified conversion rate, allows inflation categories to be defined and associated with output items, provides a "color of money" mechanism where by budget categories can be defined and output items allocated to them, and the ability to add extra cost items such as risk provision. A country specific template can be set up once so that the impacts can automatically be applied to any OSCAM results file. More...
The default OSCAM Databases directory structure is no longer placed in the Program Files directory. The installation process now places the Databases directory structure in the users My Documents directory. The top level directory is called 'OSCAM' with a sub-directory called 'JSF v2 Databases'. Note that these locations may be changed during the installation process.
Data from the currently loaded data record can now be exported to a tab delimited file to enable viewing in Microsoft Excel. The exported file will be of fixed size regardless of which inputs are populated. This allows templates to be created that can extract the required information from the export file.
OSCAM JSF v2 Import Export Tool
The OSCAM JSF v2 Import Export Tool allows one or more input data records to be extracted from an OSCAM JSF database, edited in Microsoft Excel and exported into the same or alternative OSCAM JSF database. Additional worksheets can be created for intermediary calculations and inputs values can be entered as numbers, formulae or cell references. The tool allows detail switch values to be set in the spreadsheet using drop-down option boxes and shows which inputs will be enabled in OSCAM based on those settings. Data validation is performed on inputs values as they are entered and before export. Versions of the tool are available for Excel 2003 and Excel 2007/2010. These are interoperable but the Excel 2007/2010 version provides support for the ribbon toolbar. Both spreadsheets will work with 32bit and 64bit versions of Microsoft Office. More...