cost-core starter

Example workbooks for cost-core, ready to run. Clone it, install one package, and you'll have a cost risk analysis, an EVM forecast, a schedule check, a JCL, an analysis of alternatives and a portfolio choice, each as an Excel report and a PowerPoint briefing.

Quick start

git clone https://github.com/MichaelFowler1/cost-core-starter
cd cost-core-starter
pip install -r requirements.txt
python run_all.py

The install takes a few minutes the first time (it brings in numpy, scipy, matplotlib and friends). After that the cost risk example takes about 15 seconds and all eight under two minutes. Then open results/cost-risk/report.xlsx, or run just one: python run_all.py cost-risk.

No git? Click Code, then Download ZIP, unzip it and run the last two lines in that folder.

Rather click than type? After the install, ce-core gui opens cost-core in a window: pick a job, press See an example or Choose... one of the workbooks in examples, and press Run. The answer shows in the window, with the report and slides a click away. ce-core gui --shortcut puts it on your desktop.

What's here

File	What it is	What you get
examples/estimate.xlsx	A ground station upgrade: eight WBS elements with low, most likely and high, three risks, correlations	How likely the estimate is to overrun, the cost at 50/70/80/90% confidence, what drives the risk
examples/cer.xlsx	Twelve past radar programs, cost against weight and power, and two new radars to price	The CER fitted three ways (OLS, MUPE, ZMPE), what each driver does to cost, and each new radar's estimate with a range
examples/phase.xlsx	Five estimate lines across RDT&E, procurement and O&M, with a spending profile each and an invented 2% index	The budget by fiscal year and appropriation, in then-year dollars, and what inflation adds
examples/evm.xlsx	Monthly earned value for three control accounts	CPI, SPI, warning signs and a forecast at completion with a range
examples/schedule.xml	A small Microsoft Project schedule saved as XML	The DCMA 14-point check
examples/jcl.xlsx	A spacecraft from design to launch, with durations, costs and risks	The joint cost and schedule confidence of the plan
examples/aoa.xlsx	Three ways to replace a sensor, and keeping it, costed over their life	Which is cheapest, how often, which are dominated, and whether each pays for itself against keeping the current system
examples/portfolio.xlsx	Candidate programs, funding options and a budget by year	The best set to fund, and the chance each year goes over

In every workbook the cells to fill in are yellow, required columns have dark blue headings and optional ones light blue, and hovering over a heading says what goes there. A small arrow in a cell means a drop-down of the allowed answers, and each Instructions sheet opens with the colour key. Every number in them is invented.

Now with your own numbers

Copy an example into a folder called mine, edit it in Excel, and point the command at it:

mkdir mine
copy examples\estimate.xlsx mine\estimate.xlsx        # Windows (cp on Mac and Linux)
ce-core cost-risk --data mine/estimate.xlsx --out mine/results

mine/ and results/ are in .gitignore, so git never picks them up. Keep real program, contractor and sponsor data off GitHub, including forks of this repository. Everything cost-core does runs on your own machine; nothing is sent anywhere.

ce-core on its own lists everything it can do, and ce-core <command> --help explains each option. If ce-core isn't found after installing, python -m cost_core does the same.

Found a problem?

Open an issue on cost-core, with invented numbers only.

Licence

The example files and run_all.py here are under the MIT No Attribution licence (LICENSE): copy them, change them, build on them, no strings. cost-core itself, which pip install brings in, has its own licence: free for noncommercial and government work, contractors included. See its License section.