The role of an EPM in scenario modelling and projection certainty for Council rates modelling

From Spreadsheet Stress to Confident Decision-making with EPM (Enterprise Performance Management) software

The pressure is real

Rates modelling is one of the most consequential financial exercises a council undertakes. The numbers must be right.

They determine Council revenue for the year ahead, fund important services the community relies on, and affect every ratepayer on your books. And for many councils, this high-stake process still relies on a spreadsheet. 

That's not a criticism. Spreadsheets have carried councils through rates seasons for decades. But as rate bases grow more complex with tens of thousands of assessments, differential rating structures, caps, supplementary properties and multiple valuation approaches, the spreadsheet starts to become the problem rather than the solution. 

The hidden cost of doing it the hard way

Before a single scenario can be explored, councils typically spend significant time just getting the base data right. Importing assessment data, validating property details, reconciling valuations and accounting for capped properties, this is painstaking, manual work. And until that base is accurate, nothing downstream can be trusted. 

Councils participating in beta testing of the development of our Rates Modelling Application described “spending weeks on base model preparation alone watching calculation progress bars crawl through 54,000 assessments, unable to confidently move forward until every figure stacked up”. One rates officer described not moving into modelling at all until the base was confirmed accurate, knowing that errors at this stage compound through every scenario that follows. 

The real cost isn't just time. It's the analysis that doesn't happen. When a team is consumed by data preparation, the sophisticated scenario work, the what-ifs, the comparisons and the strategic thinking get squeezed into whatever time remains. 

Scenario modelling is where the real value is 

The purpose of rates modelling isn't to produce one number. It's to explore the range of possibilities - different rate structures, different revenue approaches, different assumptions about growth and valuation, and find the approach that best serves the community and meets the council's financial obligations. 

With Infor’s EPM (Enterprise Performance Management) software, that exploration becomes genuinely practical and achievable. Scenarios can be created, adjusted, and compared side by side without rebuilding from scratch each time. Rate drivers such as rate-in-the-dollar, minimum rates, valuation averaging across two or three years, CPI adjustments, projected supplementary growth can be changed and the revenue impact seen immediately. Councils currently undertaking a rates review, which can involve dozens of model iterations over several months, can run that process at a pace that was simply not possible before. 

The difference isn't incremental. It's the difference between committing to a model because you've run out of time to try another one and being able to commit because you've genuinely tested the alternatives and can demonstrate why this one is the right choice. 

Forecasting you can stand behind

Running scenarios is only part of the challenge. The other part is knowing, with confidence, that the model you've chosen will raise the revenue it projects. In a spreadsheet environment, that confidence is largely a matter of professional judgement whether the numbers look right and the logic seems sound. 

Infor EPM's integration with Infor Pathway closes that loop. Parameters from the chosen model can be exported and imported into Pathway as a test set, where a prediction report validates the projected revenue figure against actual assessment data. That's not a sense check, its confirmation. Prior year comparison reports are also built into the AcQuum Rates Modelling Infor EPM platform, making it straightforward to track changes over time, surface anomalies early, and understand the trend behind the number. 

For councils fielding questions from elected members or the community about why rates have moved, this level of documented, auditable analysis is genuinely valuable. 

Speed, accuracy, and better outcomes

The compounding benefit of doing rates modelling in a purpose-built platform is that every hour not spent on data preparation or manual calculation is an hour available for analysis. Councils that can move quickly through their base model can spend more time on scenario comparison. Teams that spend less time managing the tool can spend more time understanding what the results mean. 

There are also governance benefits that matter independently of efficiency. The AcQuum Rates Modelling Infor EPM solution maintains a full scenario history for every model created, its status, and the notes attached to decisions made along the way. Workflow steps are structured and logical, which means any qualified officer can follow the process, not just the person who built the original spreadsheet. Key-person dependency as a significant vulnerability is substantially reduced. 

A platform that grows with you

The Rates Modelling Application is purpose-built for local government, but it runs on the Infor EPM platform a cloud-based planning environment that supports the full breadth of council financial planning. Longterm financial planning, workforce and salary modelling, annual budgets, asset and infrastructure analysis can all be built as applications on the same Infor EPM platform, connected to the same data. 

For councils considering the investment, the question isn't just what the Rates Modelling Application can do today. It's what a modern planning platform can do for the finance function over the years ahead. 

Councils interested in early adopter pricing including those outside Queensland looking to validate jurisdiction specific requirements are encouraged to reach out to their Pathway account manager or contact AcQuum Consulting directly. 

 Get in touch to book a discovery session, to explore if this is a good fit for your council needs or visit our Rates Modelling solution page to learn more.

CONTINUE ON THE TOPIC OF RATES MODELLING : Learn from other councils and the pain points they are dealing with.