Add or revise a funding plan
Overview¶
This guide walks through the full life of a funding plan: setting the numbers it builds on, creating and revising the plan itself, comparing it against other options, and carrying your board's choice into your adopted budget.
It is for property managers, finance managers, CFOs, account admins, and reserve analysts who set an association's reserve contributions for an upcoming budget year.
The work spans two modules. You set assumptions and build plans with Funding Plans access, then adopt the plan your board selects in Reserve Studies. Each step below names the module and links to the article that covers it in full.
Setup¶
You need edit access to Funding Plans to set assumptions and to create, revise, or remove a funding plan. Without edit access, those controls are not shown.
"Plans" appears in the left navigation only while a future planning year is selected, or while the current fiscal year allows planning. SmartProperty sets up which fiscal years allow planning. If "Plans" does not appear at all, contact SmartProperty.
The first time you open a planning year, SmartProperty walks you through a short setup before "Plans" becomes available. This creates a copy of your component data for that year, so you can build and test plans without touching your live components.
Adopting a plan later, through "Advance to planning", needs edit access to Reserve Studies. Without that access, the Advance banner is not shown. That step also needs at least one funding plan already built for the year, and the year has to have started.
How-to¶
Set your shared assumptions¶
Start with the reserve balance, fees, and rates your plans will build on. Every plan you create uses these same numbers, so set them once before you start building plans.
See Set your financial assumptions.
Build and revise your plans¶
With your assumptions in place, create the funding plans you want your board to consider. You can start from one of SmartProperty's default plans or build your own, and you can hold several at once to compare side by side.
To change a plan you already built, whether it is a figure in financial assumptions, or a plan you want to adjust before your board meets, open that plan and revise it directly. Removing a plan frees up room for a new one.
See Create and compare funding plans for your next budget year for building, revising, comparing, and removing plans, and for recording which plan your board recommends ahead of its final decision.
Adopt the plan your board selects¶
Once your board has made its choice and the budget year has begun, advance the property into that year. This records the selected plan, updates your financials and components to match it, and opens the next year for planning.
See Advance to Planning: move your association into the next budget year.
Confirm your reports reflect the adopted plan¶
After you advance, your reports update to the figures from the plan you adopted. Check the reports you rely on and confirm they show the year you expect.
See Advance to planning: what it changes, and what your reports show afterwards.
Reference¶
When a report does not match the plan you expect¶
A reserve study can show two different annual reserve contributions for the same fiscal year because one report reads a plan's own figure and another reads the figure saved in financial assumptions. If your report does not match the funding plan your association approved, see How do I make my reserve study match my approved Funding Plan?
Where each part of this journey happens¶
| Phase | Module | Article |
|---|---|---|
| Set assumptions | Funding Plans | Set your financial assumptions |
| Build, revise, and compare plans | Funding Plans | Create and compare funding plans for your next budget year |
| Adopt the selected plan | Reserve Studies | Advance to Planning: move your association into the next budget year |
| Read the reports afterward | Reports | Advance to planning: what it changes, and what your reports show afterwards |
Troubleshooting¶
"Advance to planning" cannot be undone, and a year cannot be advanced twice. Review the plan and figures on each step before you submit.
If you need to plan inside a fiscal year that has already started, or reopen a year after advancing, contact SmartProperty.