Real Property / Advanced Forecasting

Advanced Forecasting: Application Overview

Use the Advanced Forecasting application to plan and allocate space over a period of time, so that you can track current data, project future needs, and query historical data. You can create different portfolio scenarios so you can evaluate various uses of space: for example, you might have a scenario that calls for moving the entire business unit to a new building compared to a scenarios that splits the business unit between two buildings you currently occupy. You can also project costs for the space allocations you define.

Both Advanced Forecasting and Space Planning use the Space & Portfolio Planning Console. However, Advanced Forecasting is a super-set of the Space Planning application. Advanced Forecasting has everything found in Space Planning. plus:

• the ability to develop a cost forecasting and a chargeback system based on a building's real costs
• cost breakdown charts to analyze costs and trace them to each line of business
• portfolio cost analysis reports to support decision-making.

If a customer has the Advanced Forecasting application, they do not additionally need Space Planning.

Concepts and Examples

Review these topics for an understanding of the main concepts and how you can use Advanced Forecasting to manage your portfolio forecasting needs.

Concepts

• Portfolio Scenario
• Space Requirement
• Space Forecast
• Space Allocation
• Allocation Event
• Groups Table
• Remaining Area and Usable Area Calculations
• Portfolio Scenarios and Areas
• Linking Projects to Portfolio Scenarios and Space Requirements
• Space Planning Compared to Advanced Forecasting
• Tour of Space & Portfolio Planning Console
  • Display Stack Plans and Access Building and Floor Information (the Allocated Buildings pane of the Stack Plan tab)
  • View Allocation Events and Allocations (the Events pane of the Stack Plan tab)
  • View and Work with Stack Plans (Stack Plans pane of Stack Plan Tab)
  • View a Scenario's Allocations (Allocation Events tab)
• Functional Groups
  • Bring functional group space requirements into a portfolio scenario
  • Syncing
  • Syncing Examples

Examples

• Example 1: Plan for a Growth Forecast by Acquiring New Space
• Example 2: Plan for a Growth Forecast Using Existing Space
• Example 3: Join Together Different Departments as a Functional Group:
• Example 4: Join Together Different Staff as a Functional Group
• Example 5: Find Space for an Acquired Company
• Example 6: Share the Portfolio Scenario with Others

General Procedure

The below procedure generally outlines a general method for allocating space and comparing different allocations.

The exact steps that you take will depend on your goals and the features that you implement. For example, you may choose to directly enter all allocations into the scenario, and not import space requirements.

Prerequisite: Define background data and space standards.

1. Define your space or suite inventory and other background facilities data.
2. Define space standards by completing the Room Standards table.

Step 1: Generate the baseline inventory and create space requirements.

1. Review these concepts:
   • Space Requirements
   • Space Forecast
   • Overview to Define Space Requirements Task

2. Document your space needs with these methods:
   • Automatically generate a baseline inventory and space requirement items from current inventory.
   • Manually create a space requirement item.

3. As necessary, edit your space requirements:
   • Edit space requirement items, and enter projected values for the forecast periods.

4. If necessary, update your space requirement items with information from additional floors by adding baseline locations.
5. View space requirements in a chart.

Step 2: Create a portfolio scenario

1. Create a portfolio scenario or create a new portfolio scenario from an existing one
2. Add space to the scenario:
   • Add existing buildings and floors to a scenario.
   • Add space that you will acquire in the future to a scenario.

3. Document a floor's unavailable area.
4. Add your space needs to the scenario
   • Bring space requirements (created above) into a scenario.
   • Bring functional group space requirements into a portfolio scenario
   • Create new allocations in the scenario.
5. Optional: Delete or edit a portfolio scenario.
6. Optional: Link projects to portfolio scenarios.

Step 3: Work with a scenario's stack plan to allocate space

1. Review these concepts:
   • Allocation
   • Allocation Events

2. Become familiar with the Stack Plan tab of the Space & Portfolio Planning Console
   • Display stack plans and access building information (Allocated Buildings pane)
     • Display a building's stack plan
     • Access information about a building or floor
     • Display a floor plan
   • View allocation events and allocations (Events pane)
     • Scan the list of allocation events and allocations
     • Open and refresh stack plans for allocation events
   • View and work with the stack plans (Stack Plans pane)
     • Review the stack plan
     • Control the appearance of the stack plan
     • Set the As of Date for the stack plan

3. Work with the stack plan to:
   • add new allocations
   • edit an allocation
   • split an allocation
   • move an allocation
   • reduce allocated space (negative allocation)
4. Further work with a portfolio scenario:
   • change the placement of allocations within a stack
   • mark up images and floor plans
   • edit space requirements and sync the stack plan (functional groups only)

Step 4: Analyze scenarios and share them with others

1. Output a portfolio scenario to PowerPoint.
2. Review reports and charts, including the Space Gap Analysis chart which is available from the Space & Portfolio Planning Console.

Step 5. Using the Cost Forecasting process, allocate building recurring costs to the departments that are projected to occupy the space.

You can use the Cost Forecasting Wizard that guides you through the steps of adding Recurring costs for buildings. The program then projects an annual budget based on these costs and the space allocations you make using the Space & Portfolio Planning Console . This enables you to review historical cost allocations and project future costs.

See:

• Cost Forecasting Overview
• Allocate Costs
• Cost Forecast Wizard
• Cost Forecasting Reports and Charts

Step 6. Review space and costs by department or by department and building.

See Cost Forecasting Reports.