Return on Software: Maximizing the Return on Your Software Investment

Equivalence with Varying Cash-Flow Instances

The idea of equivalence at the level of cash-flow instances can be extended to an entire cash-flow stream. Each of the cash-flow instances in the stream can be translated to a common reference time frame where they can be added together and given a single equivalent-to-the-entire-cash-flow-stream amount. Entire cash-flow streams can be translated into equivalent-in-some-other-time-frame terms.

There are two approaches for translating an entire cash-flow stream: an elegant approach and a brute-force approach. The elegant approach works better when the translation is being done by hand, but it tends to be too sophisticated for automation. The brute-force approach is easy to automate but usually takes ...