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.
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