Introduction to the Investment Plans

Investment Plans are a blueprint of the social investment goals that a company is trying to accomplish for a given reporting period (usually a year).

Investment Plans are used in the Community Contribution and Strategic Social Investment registers, so at least one Investment Plan must be set up prior to using either of these registers.

Budget Management

Budget management and investment plans are interconnected elements of financial management. Budgeting helps you define the way to allocate resources to ensure a successful and sustainable social investment strategy.

When creating an Investment Plan it is important to define the right Budget management option that reflects the level of detail and control the organization requires. There are two options:

• Single amount involves allocating a fixed amount of resources to the organization as a whole. This approach provides a high degree of flexibility. However, it also requires careful monitoring and accountability.
• Per area of investment involves the allocation of resources to specific Areas of investment. Each Area of Investment receives an amount specific to its needs and objectives. This approach offers greater control and transparency, as it allows for a more detailed and targeted allocation of resources. However, it can also be more rigid and less adaptable to changing circumstances.

Note that even if you select the Single amount option, you will still have the ability to specify the Area of Investment for your Community Contributions and SCI programs

Create and edit an Investment Plan

Create an Investment plan

1. Click on the social investment icon and select ‘Investment plans’ below the 'Governance' menu.
2. Click the '+ create' button and a new record entry will open.
3. Give your screening policy a 'title', 'start date', 'end date' and assign to a 'project'
4. Select your Budget management type; either Single amount or Per area of investment.
5. Click 'save and view'
6. Click the 'Targeted areas of investment' tab
7. Click '+ Targeted areas of investment'  and link to an 'area of investment' (if your area of investment is not available, refer to 'Create and edit strategic areas of investment')
8. Click 'save and view' or select the 'add another' box to create many records sequentially, the new record entry will remain open until you are finished creating. 

Edit an Investment plan

1. Click on the social investment icon and select 'Investment plans' below the ‘Governance'' menu.
2. Locate the record to edit, and select it, opening the record
3. Hover to the right side of the record and select the 'edit' button
4. Editable fields will appear in white, edit the record as required 
5. Click 'save', new information will appear immediately 

Workflow for Investment Plan

After you add a new 'investment plan' record, the system automatically sets the status to active. The active status means that the investment plan is still in use.

If the investment plan is no longer required select ‘deactivate’ below the ‘workflow’ menu. This will not impact any contributions that have already been allocated to the investment plan. However, when the status is deactivated, you will not be able to make changes to the record or select as an investment plan for any future community contributions.

To reactivate an investment plan, select 'reactivate' below the ‘workflow’ menu, you will now be able to make changes to the record.