Overview of Timescales and Interest

The calculation of interest in Prodev is cashflow-based.  The information that you have already provided in the Data List is used to calculate the costs and sales totals.  In order to calculate interest charges these individual costs and sales need to be timed so that they can be spread over the lifetime of the project. 

Certain items may be one-off costs (for example initial payments); others may be spread over several months (for example construction costs).  The same is true of sales items.  Investment Values tend to be one off receipts whereas Rents and Direct Sales may be spread over several months.  As your appraisal becomes more detailed you can, where necessary specify exact amounts in each month, for example site deposits or construction costs where the values are not evenly spread.

It does not matter whether you are using a spreadsheet, Prodev or even a pen and calculator, cashflows are as easy or as difficult to construct according to the level of detail that is required.  This is why Prodev has three separate levels of complexity when entering timescales.

There are no hard and fast rules as to which of the timescale methods is preferable.  If you are new to Prodev then the easiest is the Time / Finance section although once you become accustomed to the program you may prefer to use the Detailed Timing or Cashflow-Edit facilities.  All three timing methods are linked so any changes you make using any one of them will be common to all of them.