The Visual Economic Analysis Tool is designed to provide users with an unintimidating interface to perform basic life cycle cost analysis. This tool is based on the IES RP-31-1996 'Recommended Practice for the Economic Analysis of Lighting'. If you have any questions about the calculation procedure not answered in the help documentation or videos refer to the RP or email VisualSupport@AcuityBrands.com.

We have created 3 tutorial videos to help you use and understand the Visual Economic Tool. Watch the Basic Video for a quick overview, watch the Advanced Video to learn about including lighting controls and HVAC, or watch the Walkthrough Video to follow along as we go through an entire analysis start to finish.

We have two training PDFs available that supplement this Help Viewer. Training Slides provide an over view of the Visual Economic Tool and definitions of common terms. FAQ Slides provide answers to the most common questions. There are also many explanations of common financial analysis terms available on the web, for example this Khan Academy video on the Time Value of Money that we HIGHLY recommend if you are struggling with that concept.

If you are having trouble saving your Economic File, you can either disable protected mode or add Visual-3D to your trusted sites. Making this change will prevent your browser from refreshing the page after flashing a security warning when you try to save. Updating to IE 9 will also fix this issue. Read more