Data Collection and Management Flashcards
6 cards from real ACAP practice questions. Tap to flip, then mark Knew It or Still Learning — missed cards come back until you master them.
Read the first 6 Data Collection and Management flashcards as text
What is the 'Should-Cost' review concept in Army acquisition?
Answer: A government-led analysis to identify what a program should cost if managed efficiently, used to challenge contractor proposals
Should-Cost reviews challenge baseline assumptions and inefficiencies to determine the achievable cost under optimal management, and are used to negotiate better contract prices.
Which software metric is collected under CSDR requirements to help estimate future software development costs?
Answer: Source Lines of Code (SLOC) and equivalent SLOC (ESLOC)
SLOC and ESLOC quantify the size of the software product, which is the primary technical driver used in software cost estimating relationships.
What is the 'floor price' concept related to data quality in Army cost analysis?
Answer: The minimum credible cost below which an estimate is considered unrealistically optimistic given historical program performance
Cost analysts establish a floor to sanity-check estimates against historical data, flagging any estimate that falls implausibly below what similar programs have actually cost.
In Army cost data management, what is a 'data anomaly' and how should it be handled?
Answer: A data point that deviates significantly from the expected pattern due to special circumstances; it should be investigated, documented, and potentially excluded or separately analyzed
Anomalies may reflect unique program events rather than typical cost behavior, so they must be understood before deciding whether to include them in analysis or treat them separately.
What is the purpose of a 'cost data normalization worksheet' in Army cost analysis?
Answer: To document all adjustments made to raw historical data, ensuring transparency and reproducibility of the normalization process
The worksheet creates an auditable trail showing exactly what adjustments were made and why, allowing reviewers to verify or challenge the normalized data used in CER development.
What is the key difference between 'then-year' dollars and 'base-year' dollars in Army cost data management?
Answer: Then-year dollars include the effects of inflation to the year costs will actually be incurred; base-year dollars remove inflation to a fixed reference year
Converting between then-year and base-year requires applying inflation indices; base-year dollars enable comparison across programs while then-year dollars are needed for budget submissions.