General Considerations

Consolidated vs Non-consolidated Data

It is possible for the entity, for planning and analysis, to be either an individual housing association or a consolidated group. The CAPACITY model is not designed to produce consolidated accounts from data on a number of housing associations.

If data on several business streams are entered then the model will simply aggregate them without any adjustments for intra-group items. Any such consolidation adjustments required by the housing association would have to be made prior to the input of the data.

Linking to Housing Association's Data Systems

Because of the complex working of the model regarding the "reconciliation" and forecast flexing features any formulae entered in the Input sheets will be replaced by values, so any links with internal information systems will be lost.

Any such links should be built to an interim "dump" sheet, which needs to replicate the content and the format of CAPACITY’S input screens exactly. Data can then be transferred from the interim sheets to the CAPACITY input screens by using standard Excel functions, ie. "copy" , "paste special”, “values". The formulae links would then remain in place for later use.

Re-formulation of Input Data

For inputs other than the financial statement inputs the housing association's in-house data will have to be re-formulated in various ways to match Capacity’s input format. For example, under General Assumptions, the required input of "Average rate on fixed-rate debt" each year will need to be extracted from the RSL's detailed schedule of fixed-rate debt instruments as an overall weighted average.

A second example, under Housing Accommodation, and for each category of housing-based business streams, the "Average weekly rental income per existing unit" is a required input. Housing associations’ own models will certainly have many types of housing with varying weekly rentals, which will need to be averaged for input to Capacity.

Colour Coding of Inputs Rows

You should assume that each input is required for both generating a forecast and reconciling a forecast unless the guidance notes specifically indicate otherwise.

denotes items which are required only when generating a forecast, but not when reconciling a forecast.
denotes items which are required only when reconciling a forecast, but not when generating a forecast.

These two types of items are colour-coded on all CAPACITY input screens as yellow and green respectively.


Forecasting versus Reconciliation

The forecasting routines in CAPACITY are fundamentally different from the reconciliation routines. The required inputs are quite different but, in case of doubt, a zero value total for Income from Social Housing plus Total Fixed Assets, in the first forecast year of the Business Plan Accounting Data input screen, will trigger a forecast rather than a reconciliation.