As Prodev combines both development appraisal and cashflow, there are distinct areas of the program that deal with these two separate components. It is helpful to understand what these are and how they interact.
The Data List
The Data List deals solely with the appraisal (as opposed to cashflow) component. This is where all the elements of cost and sale are entered (e.g. Land Cost, Building Costs, Fees, Rents, Yields, etc.).
This can be compared to a "shopping list" of items that might form part of a project. It also follows the general time sequence of a typical development. The information in the Data List is used to calculate all the constituent revenues and costs but it does not provide for the entry of timescales which is done elsewhere.
The Data List is the central part of Prodev. It is the screen that displays when you first launch the program or complete any task within it. The best way to think of it is as a ‘home page’.
Time/Finance
Time/Finance deals with overall timescales and interest rates. It is also where you specify interest options and equity settings. The overall timescales are the default timescales for the main Data List sections.
Typically when you are looking at an appraisal for the first time the timescale information is simplistic but will become more complex during the course of ongoing analysis. The Time/Finance section allows you to create your first appraisal relatively quickly and simply using broad based timescale assumptions.
When more complex timescale information is required you can use the Detailed Timing and Cashflow-Edit facilities to refine the timing of each individual cost and sale heading in the Data List.
Detailed Timing
This is similar to entering overall timescales in the Time/Finance section except that it provides timescales for each individual cost and sale item in your appraisal rather than just timescales for the overall headings.
Initially the timescales will be set up using the default timescales in the Time/Finance section. You can also enter the standard overall debt interest rate here.
Cashflow-Edit
This offers the most sophisticated form of timing in Prodev.
The Cashflow-Edit screen displays the costs and sales in spreadsheet format and offers the same re-timing facilities found in the Detailed Timing section along with the capability to edit or profile the individual monthly or quarterly amounts. This is useful for items such as site deposits and balances where you wish to provide for differing periodic payments. Construction cost ‘s-curves’ can be provided in this way.
How to use these to build your Appraisal and Cashflow
First you must provide your cost and sales information in the Data List. Prodev cannot create a cashflow until there are cost and sales totals to use for this purpose.
Once this has been done Prodev can build the basics of your appraisal and work out the various total revenues and costs. This will provide you with an appraisal without any interest calculations. Quite often you will be omitting the Site Value as this will be the eventual component that you wish to calculate.
Interest calculations in Prodev come directly from the cashflow so you will need to use one or more of the timing functions to provide timescales and interest rates for the costs and sales in your appraisal. The best starting point is to use the Time/Finance section as this allows you to set up general timescales for all the major headings in the Data List.
As your appraisal model becomes more detailed, you can use the Detailed Timing and Cashflow-Edit facilities to refine those timescales that do not fit the overall model. The advantage of doing it in this way is that you can quickly arrive at an approximate assessment of your development model before then investing the time adding the necessary detail. In many cases development viability simply does not stack up. Prodev can quickly identify this at an early stage.
At any time you can view your appraisal and cashflow by using the ‘Print/Preview’ button. It is recommended you do this frequently as it is far easier to see where you are going with your figures when they are laid out in a familiar and structured report.
The following sections of this manual will explain in further detail the workings of the Data List and the various timescale and interest calculation options available.