Diverging Perspectives in Cost Driver Prioritisation for System-of-Systems Decision-Making

Sammanfattning

System-of-Systems (SoS), such as naval mine countermeasure (MCM) systems, con-stitute complex and uncertain environments in which cost analysis is challenging.Technological complexity and the involvement of multiple stakeholders throughoutthe life cycle make it difficult to develop cost models that capture full life-cycle costsand support informed system design. This thesis investigates how stakeholders inMCM systems perceive and prioritise cost drivers across the life cycle, with the aim ofsupporting more informed design decisions and better alignment between stakehold-ers. In particular, there is insufficient understanding of how organisational, technical,and operational factors influence the prioritisation of cost drivers in system design.Integrated approaches that combine a full life-cycle perspective with stakeholder ex-pertise are therefore needed to understand how capabilities, requirements, and costsare perceived and influence decision-making.The study applies a mixed-methods approach. Cost drivers were identified througha literature review and categorised according to five life-cycle phases: Research andDevelopment, Testing and Deployment, Operation, Maintenance, and Disposal. Anexpert panel from developer and end-user organisations then selected and evaluatedthe cost drivers through questionnaires, followed by in-depth interviews to explorethe underlying reasoning.The results show that the prioritisation of cost drivers varies between life-cyclephases and between organisations. Developers primarily emphasise technical andstructural aspects, whereas end-users focus more on integration, resource needs, andpractical system use, reflecting differences in roles and areas of responsibility. Thestudy indicates a low level of consensus between end-user and developer groups acrossall phases, although the result is not statistically significant. At the same time,the interviews show a shared understanding of the need for improved alignment,knowledge sharing, and feedback between the actors.In summary, the study shows that the prioritisation of cost drivers in MCMsystems is context-dependent and shaped by stakeholders’ interpretations, organisa-tional roles, access to information, and position within the life cycle. Cost driversshould therefore not only be understood as technical or economic variables, but alsoas organisational and context-dependent factors. This implies that cost models anddecision-support tools may need to include multiple stakeholder perspectives to pro-vide a sufficient basis for system design and enable more aligned decision-making.