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The total life cycle approach makes use of data for various sub-systems and modules to describe the relevance of a defined system under consideration. The different processes and steps take place in several locations. The life cycle approach is an assessment tool beyond this spatial dimension. Often these basic information is not available any more or never has been considered as valuable. By this, different emission sources and different receiving environments are simply neglected by summing up for the total life cycle contributions. The spatial dimension is of outstanding importance for the determination of relevance and meaning of environmental burdens. A more advanced life cycle concept should cover this. Besides the spatial differentiation within on product system, life cycle consideration are also often used to compare different production sites.

Total Life Cycle studies of systems like automotive parts, systems or entire vehicles are characterized by an enormous complexity and amounts of individual data points. A full assessment of this variety of information and data requires suitable and reliable data processing systems. The recently developed software system GaBi 3 allows the flexible modeling of life cycles with parameterized process modules. In this way GaBi 3 provides the basis for parameter variation and scenario analysis. Besides these essential elements for identifying improvement potentials, the system enlarges the environmental calculations by an economic and a technical dimension.

LCA studies aim at an integrating system assessment as a comprehensive and holistic approach to prevent tradeoffs and guide users and decision makers for better informed decisions. The total life cycle approach aims at informing and supporting decision making and management support. LCA, like other management techniques as well, has inherent limitations, making choices, assumptions etc. inevitable. Before using the findings of life cycle studies, a consideration of those uncertainties, the effects of value choices and assumptions, as well as the inherent data inaccuracies must be examined in more detail. Traditional error and uncertainty analysis failed in practical use due to the specific system modeling, the data availability and the respective data collection procedures in life cycle studies. New approaches to identify and understand the system specific uncertainties are necessary for this purpose.

LCA studies aim at an integrating system assessment as a comprehensive and holistic approach to prevent tradeoffs and guide users and decision makers for better informed decisions. The total life cycle approach aims at informing and supporting decision making and management support. To better inform the decision making process for product design or product optimization, reliable tools are necessary which mirror the complexity and provide enough concentrated information at the same time. These management tools also need either to be included into the existing technical and economical information at the same time, or, as a minimum, allow interfaces to those other disciplines. Often full LCA studies are too expensive and also to time intensive, as they could really serve as input into decision making. Therefore new approaches are inevitable to supply relevant information in time. Screening LCA's have been proposed from different sides.