Plans are step by step guides for managing and completing common emissions account activities using CorEST. They define the associated Tasks and their prerequisite order. Assign to-do-by dates as well the users responsible for the tasks and user responsible for its approval of the task’s complementation. There are features for sending of reminders and notifications to users.
For out of the box CorEST has a set of IBM Planning Analytics Plans which are reflective of the CorEST best practices and the order of practices as we see them occurring. These can be access via the CorEST application in the IBM Planning and Analytic workspace (PAW).
Plans
CorEST has the following Plans:
- Setup CorEST
- Annual Planning
- End of Month
- Quarterly Planning
- End of Year
Plans are close related to the Roles that deliver and approve their tasks. The Roles for the plans are also detailed below.
IBM Planning Analytics is an adaptive platform, and Plans can be adjusted to meet organisational needs if required. These adjustments post often happening as part of the Setup Plan. Also, if you have other tools to allocate and manage tasks the IBM Planning Analytics Plan features do not have to be used.
Setup CorEST
This Plan establishes an organisations CorEST instance. A one-off Plan. The tasks will primarily be done by the CorPlan Consultant and the organisations Sustainability Lead. who will also do the Plan Approvals.
Tasks:
Tasks for the Setup Plan are:
- Establish the organisations IBM Planning Analytics instance
- Setup users and user access on the instance
- Load the out-of-the-box version of CorEST on the instance
- Perform basic configuration on CorEST:
- Set initial CorEST assumptions such as base year and target year(s)
- Create the organisations emission activities and groups in CorEST
- Map emissions activities to emission factors in CorEST
- Import historic emissions data to CorEST
- Review basic configuration and identify and implement any organisational customisations:
- Workshop customisation needs
- Document and sign-off statement of work
- Implement customisations
- Test organisation CorEST
- Perform training
- Approve organisation CorEST and sign-off setup
Annual Planning
This Plan set the annual top-down and bottom-up emission budget as well as reviewing emission targets. The tasks are done by the Sustainability Lead and Finance Lead, The Leadership Team will do the plans approvals. This plan should be incorporated in the organisations other Annual Planning activities.
Tasks
Tasks for the Annual Planning plan are:
- Review emissions targets
- Develop a top-down emissions budget with organisational leadership
- Develop the Projections scenario
- Develop any additional top-down scenarios
- Sign-off Projections and additional scenarios
- Develop a bottom-up emissions budget with planning centres
- Develop Initiative scenario
- Develop any additional bottom-up scenarios
- Sign-off Initiatives and additional scenarios
- Approve organisational emissions budget
End of Month
This Plan captures and reviews emissions data and is executed monthly. The tasks are done by the Sustainability Lead and Finance Lead, The Finance Lead will also do the plans approvals. This should be incorporated in the organisations other End of Month activities.
Tasks
Tasks for the End of Month Plan are:
- Gather emissions actuals by manual entry and automated processes
- Link source documentation to emissions actuals
- Review and approve emissions actuals
- Sign of end of month for emissions
Quarterly Planning
This Plan reviews actual emissions against budget quarterly and decides whether reforecasts are required. As with Annual planning, these tasks are done by the Sustainability Lead and Finance Lead, The Leadership Team will do the plans approvals. This should be incorporated in the organisations other Quarterly Planning activities.
Tasks
Tasks for the Quarterly Planning workflow are:
- Review variances between budget and actuals
- Adjust top-down and bottom-up scenarios as required
- Review organisation reforecast emissions budget
- Approve organisation reforecast emissions budget
End of Year
The End of Year plan closes out emissions for the year and produces required external stakeholder disclosures. The tasks are done by the Sustainability Lead and Finance Lead, The Finance Lead will also do the plans approvals. This should be incorporated in the organisations other End of Year activities.
Tasks
Tasks for the End of Year Plan are:
- Review and close out emission actuals
- Verification audit of emissions data and perform required adjustments
- Generate end of year reporting and commentary
- Sign-off and publish End of Year reports