When looking to start a new project, the first thing that you are thinking of is the outcome: what do you want to happen or see when the project is complete.
If you are looking at the bigger picture, it can be easy to miss the smaller details as you are starting to plan and this is where forecast analysis comes in to be extremely useful in your rail planning software.
What Is Forecast Analysis?
When you look at forecast analysis, you are seeing what is projected to happen in the future. This is used in many different ways for everyday life: traffic predictions, number of people attending an event or the most popular one – weather forecast.
A weather forecast is created by using statistics and metrics collected previously to put together an accurate prediction of what can happen in the future – this is similar to the technology business intelligence railway software uses to create a forecast of how your project will plan out.
By using data from previous rail planning projects, combined with a set of parameters provided for the new project (and pulling data in from a central data warehouse), the planning platform can create an accurate prediction of how a project will run and for further accuracy use simulations (such as the Monte Carlo simulation) to provide different forecasts so you can see a range of possible outcomes.
Why Should I Use Business Intelligence To Plan A Project?
When you are using Business Intelligence to plan a rail planning project, you are giving yourself all of the data available to create the best cause of action.
By ensuring you have correct data to begin with (and storing it in a central location that can be called at any point during the project to ensure your data is accurate throughout), you can create cost estimates for maintenance, timescales for older technology to be phased out and see how certain assets and technologies have linked relationships with other parts of your railway network in real time.
Using the best business intelligence rail tools available to provide you with insight from things like the Monte Carlo risk assessment method, you can be sure that your project doesn’t surprise you when you are ready to submit a business case with costs that are far higher then you through during the planning stage.
How Can I Find Out More About Forecast Analysis:
Using business intelligence tools (such as our rail planning software platform) gives you the confidence to make better decisions, view asset and technology relationships in real time and enhance productivity and efficiency. We can help you get the best results and the correct information every time when producing your business plan and planning forecast.
For more information about our product and to see how using business intelligence can significantly improve your planning for rail maintenance, upgrades and more, contact one of our team today for a demo of our rail planning platform.