There are several economic indicators that can be used as a decision-making aid. Simple and
easy to use are the ‘payback period (PP)’ and the ‘cost–benefit ratio (C/B)’. The payback period is the amount of time before the initial investments are earned back. A payback period of two to three years is usually acceptable in industry. The cost–benefit ratio is the ratio between the sum of all costs and the sum of all benefits. The smaller the ratio, the better. In more advanced analyses, it is possible to calculate indications like the return on investment in which depreciation is accounted for.