Abstract: An insurance product provides coverage for value escalation in a highly capitalized project. One or more indices are used to obtain a quantification of volatility of the value of the project over the project lifecycle. Probabilities of value changes over the project lifecycle can be generated from an index, which can be solely representative of the project value, or can be the result of combinations of one or more indices to approximate project value changes. The project value change probabilities are used to estimate an amount of insurance coverage that can be applied to cover project value changes. The party responsible for the project can purchase the insurance product with a premium derived from the amount and type of coverage tied to the index. The insurance product assists the responsible party in containing changes in project value over the course of the project life cycle.

Abstract: An insurance product provides coverage for value escalation in a highly capitalized project. One or more indices are used to obtain a quantification of volatility of the value of the project over the project lifecycle. Probabilities of value changes over the project lifecycle can be generated from an index, which can be solely representative of the project value, or can be the result of combinations of one or more indices to approximate project value changes. The project value change probabilities are used to estimate an amount of insurance coverage that can be applied to cover project value changes. The party responsible for the project can purchase the insurance product with a premium derived from the amount and type of coverage tied to the index. The insurance product assists the responsible party in containing changes in project value over the course of the project life cycle.

Abstract: A method is provided of modifying a hierarchal cost model of a multi-component system over a time period of the model extending from a historical time to a future time, wherein the model is built from item cost indices, each of which is built from one or more commodity price indices created from market data. The model is stored in memory of a computer system that includes a processor, a user input device and a display. The method includes the steps of selecting an item from the model, selecting a time from the model time period (the selected item time), and inputting a user selected cost of the item for the selected time. The processor modifies the item price index to create a custom item price index based on the input item price, the selected item date, and the item's constituent cost indices, and stores the custom price index in the memory. The method may further include modifying the cost model to create a custom cost model based on the custom item price index, and storing the custom cost model in memory.