The service elements introduced in the preceding sections form the basis for customized SIMATIC PCS 7 Lifecycle Service Contracts. Additional specific contract parameters, so-called service KPIs (e.g. terms of payment) can be agreed upon individually.

A prerequisite for entering into a Lifecycle Service Contract is an in-depth knowledge of the installed system base.

Typical variants of a Lifecycle Service contract are:

• Standard
  mainly contains reactive service elements, such as Technical Support, on-call or even repair services
• Maintenance
  includes the "Standard" profile with added services such as preventive inspection and maintenance
• Basic Lifecycle
  includes the "Maintenance" profile with added Lifecycle Information Services and Asset Optimization Services
• Extended Lifecycle
  includes the "Basic Lifecycle" profile with added comprehensive modernizations as well as updates and upgrades

Long-term investment protection with predictable costs

A reactive service concept increases the risk of obsolescence – operating expenses and unplanned standstills can fluctuate and are hard to predict. The investment pressure increases until an upgrade becomes necessary. Long-term maintenance planning is extremely difficult, the risks are difficult to assess and the overall costs cannot be clearly calculated.

With a proactive service concept, however, the management of obsolescence risks and modernizations can be planned consistently. The continuous maintenance of the plant keeps the obsolescence risk low; the optimized costs for maintenance and modernization (OPEX) are mostly consistent and therefore predictable.