STEM help / Data dialogs

Data / Other Details

Label

The text used to identify an element in the Results program when selecting elements to draw on a graph and for labelling the subsequent graphs. If the Label is blank, the element name is used instead.

You can group a number of sensitivity parameters by giving them all the same Label. They will then be treated as a single group in the Results program.

There is also a global Label field which is just used within the Editor as an overall description for the model.

Default: none.

Production Function

A choice of whether the Capital Cost Structure of a Resource may change in time as individual Cost Index Cost Trends vary.

Zero Elasticity: the proportion of the Capital Cost associated with each Cost Index in the Calibration Period remains constant throughout the model run.

Cobb-Douglas: the unit Capital Cost is minimised in other years through substitution between increasing and decreasing trends, by varying the proportions associated with each Cost Index.

Default: Zero Elasticity.

Features See Cost Indices and Production Functions.

Use Average Connections

A choice of how connections are used to calculate various Service results.

No: end-of-year connections are used for all calculations, maintaining compatibility with versions of STEM prior to STEM 5.0.

Yes: the average number of connections over a year is used to calculate Annual Traffic, as well as Rental and Usage Revenues.

Default: Yes.

Features See Demand.

Pre-Run Installation

A choice governing the installation of equipment in the first period of the model run.

Yes: a range of different ages of each Resource are installed according to the respective per-Resource Installation Profiles.

No: the profiles are disregarded and all equipment is installed brand new.

Default: No.

Features See Pre-Run Installation.

Cost Breakdown (1)

A choice of whether STEM generates the Service allocated cost results broken down by individual contributing Resources.

None: allocated cost results are not broken down by individual Resources.

Opaque: allocated cost results are limited to a single layer of the network. In this mode, an intermediate Service presents a sub-total of all costs allocated from any secondary layers.

Transparent: allocated cost results are stored for all Resources that contribute costs to a given Service.

Default: None.

Features See Cost Allocation.

Slack

These parameters set how you allocate the costs to the different Services of any unused Resources or parts of Resources that are not used to satisfy Demand.

Past-Usage Significance

A discount factor governing the responsibility of Services for the costs of slack Resources which were previously used by those Services.

Slack costs are allocated to Services on the basis of their historical usage of a Resource, where usage in previous years is progressively discounted. For example, a factor of 0.5 would mean that only half of last year’s usage (and only one quarter of the preceding year’s usage) would be counted.

Slack costs are allocated on this basis, either when Resource capacity first becomes slack, or every year, depending on the Reallocation of Costs input.

Default: 0.0. Slack costs are allocated only on the basis of current-year usage.

Features See Cost Allocation.

Reallocation of Costs

A choice governing how the costs of slack Resource capacity are allocated between the Services which previously used it.

No: the costs of newly-slack capacity of a Resource are allocated according to each Service’s historical usage of that Resource; but the allocation of the costs of existing slack capacity remains unchanged.

Yes: the costs of all the slack capacity of a Resource are re-allocated each year, according to each Service’s historical usage of that Resource.

Default: Yes.

Features See Cost Allocation.

 

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