TS EN 60300-3-3

TS EN 60300-3-3 is an application guide within dependability management that focuses on life cycle costing. It introduces an approach for evaluating not only the purchase price of a product, system, or service, but the costs that arise throughout its useful life.

What life cycle costing means

Life cycle costing is a way of looking at the total economic impact of an asset from design and acquisition through operation, maintenance, and end-of-life handling. In dependability engineering, this perspective matters because a solution with a higher initial cost may be more economical overall if it delivers fewer failures, lower maintenance demand, or a longer service life.

According to the scope of this standard, it provides a general introduction to the concept of life cycle costing and covers its applications. That means it offers a conceptual framework that can be used across different sectors and decision-making contexts, rather than a narrow sector-specific method.

Its place in dependability management

Dependability management brings together planning and analysis activities that support a system’s ability to perform its required function under stated conditions for a stated period. Life cycle costing complements that technical view by linking performance choices to economic consequences, helping teams compare design options, maintenance strategies, and procurement decisions on a whole-life basis rather than on first cost alone.

• The document provides a general introduction to life cycle costing.
• Its scope includes applications of the concept.
• It helps connect dependability management with economic evaluation.
• It supports whole-life thinking across acquisition, operation, maintenance, and end-of-life phases.