CAIO guides the user through an analysis of the incremental cash flows generated by future decisions about investments in the operations, maintenance, renewals and total replacement of an asset under review.

 It then calculates a Relative Economic Performance Indicator (REPI) that compares different investment scenarios – be these for a single asset or for a related group of assets in a defined portfolio.

The concepts underpinning the model are simple and well-established in the financial and economics literature.   Its novelty stems from the integrity of its structured analysis, and not from any “black-box’ calculations.

The level and timing of outlays on asset replacements, or on elements such as the labour to maintain or operate an asset,  can be varied to allow for a range of scenarios to be tested.  But the model can also be applied longitudinally to track the relevance of a single issue for a specific asset that changes over time.

Examples of applications for CAIO include evaluating the benefits and costs of replacing key assets in the IT and communications sectors where there may be a high level of technological obsolescence; or for monitoring the potential impacts of a future carbon trading regime on the costs of operating assets that have higher energy demand profiles than their modern alternatives.