elements of an operational business plan

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12 Key Elements of a Business Plan (Top Components Explained)

Starting and running a successful business requires proper planning and execution of effective business tactics and strategies .

You need to prepare many essential business documents when starting a business for maximum success; the business plan is one such document.

When creating a business, you want to achieve business objectives and financial goals like productivity, profitability, and business growth. You need an effective business plan to help you get to your desired business destination.

Even if you are already running a business, the proper understanding and review of the key elements of a business plan help you navigate potential crises and obstacles.

This article will teach you why the business document is at the core of any successful business and its key elements you can not avoid.

Let’s get started.

Why Are Business Plans Important?

Business plans are practical steps or guidelines that usually outline what companies need to do to reach their goals. They are essential documents for any business wanting to grow and thrive in a highly-competitive business environment .

1. Proves Your Business Viability

A business plan gives companies an idea of how viable they are and what actions they need to take to grow and reach their financial targets. With a well-written and clearly defined business plan, your business is better positioned to meet its goals.

2. Guides You Throughout the Business Cycle

A business plan is not just important at the start of a business. As a business owner, you must draw up a business plan to remain relevant throughout the business cycle .

During the starting phase of your business, a business plan helps bring your ideas into reality. A solid business plan can secure funding from lenders and investors.

After successfully setting up your business, the next phase is management. Your business plan still has a role to play in this phase, as it assists in communicating your business vision to employees and external partners.

Essentially, your business plan needs to be flexible enough to adapt to changes in the needs of your business.

3. Helps You Make Better Business Decisions

As a business owner, you are involved in an endless decision-making cycle. Your business plan helps you find answers to your most crucial business decisions.

A robust business plan helps you settle your major business components before you launch your product, such as your marketing and sales strategy and competitive advantage.

4. Eliminates Big Mistakes

Many small businesses fail within their first five years for several reasons: lack of financing, stiff competition, low market need, inadequate teams, and inefficient pricing strategy.

Creating an effective plan helps you eliminate these big mistakes that lead to businesses' decline. Every business plan element is crucial for helping you avoid potential mistakes before they happen.

5. Secures Financing and Attracts Top Talents

Having an effective plan increases your chances of securing business loans. One of the essential requirements many lenders ask for to grant your loan request is your business plan.

A business plan helps investors feel confident that your business can attract a significant return on investments ( ROI ).

You can attract and retain top-quality talents with a clear business plan. It inspires your employees and keeps them aligned to achieve your strategic business goals.

Key Elements of Business Plan

Starting and running a successful business requires well-laid actions and supporting documents that better position a company to achieve its business goals and maximize success.

A business plan is a written document with relevant information detailing business objectives and how it intends to achieve its goals.

With an effective business plan, investors, lenders, and potential partners understand your organizational structure and goals, usually around profitability, productivity, and growth.

Every successful business plan is made up of key components that help solidify the efficacy of the business plan in delivering on what it was created to do.

Here are some of the components of an effective business plan.

1. Executive Summary

One of the key elements of a business plan is the executive summary. Write the executive summary as part of the concluding topics in the business plan. Creating an executive summary with all the facts and information available is easier.

In the overall business plan document, the executive summary should be at the forefront of the business plan. It helps set the tone for readers on what to expect from the business plan.

A well-written executive summary includes all vital information about the organization's operations, making it easy for a reader to understand.

The key points that need to be acted upon are highlighted in the executive summary. They should be well spelled out to make decisions easy for the management team.

A good and compelling executive summary points out a company's mission statement and a brief description of its products and services.

An executive summary summarizes a business's expected value proposition to distinct customer segments. It highlights the other key elements to be discussed during the rest of the business plan.

Including your prior experiences as an entrepreneur is a good idea in drawing up an executive summary for your business. A brief but detailed explanation of why you decided to start the business in the first place is essential.

Adding your company's mission statement in your executive summary cannot be overemphasized. It creates a culture that defines how employees and all individuals associated with your company abide when carrying out its related processes and operations.

Your executive summary should be brief and detailed to catch readers' attention and encourage them to learn more about your company.

Components of an Executive Summary

Here are some of the information that makes up an executive summary:

• The name and location of your company
• Products and services offered by your company
• Mission and vision statements
• Success factors of your business plan

2. Business Description

Your business description needs to be exciting and captivating as it is the formal introduction a reader gets about your company.

What your company aims to provide, its products and services, goals and objectives, target audience , and potential customers it plans to serve need to be highlighted in your business description.

A company description helps point out notable qualities that make your company stand out from other businesses in the industry. It details its unique strengths and the competitive advantages that give it an edge to succeed over its direct and indirect competitors.

Spell out how your business aims to deliver on the particular needs and wants of identified customers in your company description, as well as the particular industry and target market of the particular focus of the company.

Include trends and significant competitors within your particular industry in your company description. Your business description should contain what sets your company apart from other businesses and provides it with the needed competitive advantage.

In essence, if there is any area in your business plan where you need to brag about your business, your company description provides that unique opportunity as readers look to get a high-level overview.

Components of a Business Description

Your business description needs to contain these categories of information.

• Business location
• The legal structure of your business
• Summary of your business’s short and long-term goals

3. Market Analysis

The market analysis section should be solely based on analytical research as it details trends particular to the market you want to penetrate.

Graphs, spreadsheets, and histograms are handy data and statistical tools you need to utilize in your market analysis. They make it easy to understand the relationship between your current ideas and the future goals you have for the business.

All details about the target customers you plan to sell products or services should be in the market analysis section. It helps readers with a helpful overview of the market.

In your market analysis, you provide the needed data and statistics about industry and market share, the identified strengths in your company description, and compare them against other businesses in the same industry.

The market analysis section aims to define your target audience and estimate how your product or service would fare with these identified audiences.

Market analysis helps visualize a target market by researching and identifying the primary target audience of your company and detailing steps and plans based on your audience location.

Obtaining this information through market research is essential as it helps shape how your business achieves its short-term and long-term goals.

Market Analysis Factors

Here are some of the factors to be included in your market analysis.

• The geographical location of your target market
• Needs of your target market and how your products and services can meet those needs
• Demographics of your target audience

Components of the Market Analysis Section

Here is some of the information to be included in your market analysis.

• Industry description and statistics
• Demographics and profile of target customers
• Marketing data for your products and services
• Detailed evaluation of your competitors

4. Marketing Plan

A marketing plan defines how your business aims to reach its target customers, generate sales leads, and, ultimately, make sales.

Promotion is at the center of any successful marketing plan. It is a series of steps to pitch a product or service to a larger audience to generate engagement. Note that the marketing strategy for a business should not be stagnant and must evolve depending on its outcome.

Include the budgetary requirement for successfully implementing your marketing plan in this section to make it easy for readers to measure your marketing plan's impact in terms of numbers.

The information to include in your marketing plan includes marketing and promotion strategies, pricing plans and strategies , and sales proposals. You need to include how you intend to get customers to return and make repeat purchases in your business plan.

5. Sales Strategy

Sales strategy defines how you intend to get your product or service to your target customers and works hand in hand with your business marketing strategy.

Your sales strategy approach should not be complex. Break it down into simple and understandable steps to promote your product or service to target customers.

Apart from the steps to promote your product or service, define the budget you need to implement your sales strategies and the number of sales reps needed to help the business assist in direct sales.

Your sales strategy should be specific on what you need and how you intend to deliver on your sales targets, where numbers are reflected to make it easier for readers to understand and relate better.

6. Competitive Analysis

Providing transparent and honest information, even with direct and indirect competitors, defines a good business plan. Provide the reader with a clear picture of your rank against major competitors.

Identifying your competitors' weaknesses and strengths is useful in drawing up a market analysis. It is one information investors look out for when assessing business plans.

The competitive analysis section clearly defines the notable differences between your company and your competitors as measured against their strengths and weaknesses.

This section should define the following:

• Your competitors' identified advantages in the market
• How do you plan to set up your company to challenge your competitors’ advantage and gain grounds from them?
• The standout qualities that distinguish you from other companies
• Potential bottlenecks you have identified that have plagued competitors in the same industry and how you intend to overcome these bottlenecks

In your business plan, you need to prove your industry knowledge to anyone who reads your business plan. The competitive analysis section is designed for that purpose.

7. Management and Organization

Management and organization are key components of a business plan. They define its structure and how it is positioned to run.

Whether you intend to run a sole proprietorship, general or limited partnership, or corporation, the legal structure of your business needs to be clearly defined in your business plan.

Use an organizational chart that illustrates the hierarchy of operations of your company and spells out separate departments and their roles and functions in this business plan section.

The management and organization section includes profiles of advisors, board of directors, and executive team members and their roles and responsibilities in guaranteeing the company's success.

Apparent factors that influence your company's corporate culture, such as human resources requirements and legal structure, should be well defined in the management and organization section.

Defining the business's chain of command if you are not a sole proprietor is necessary. It leaves room for little or no confusion about who is in charge or responsible during business operations.

This section provides relevant information on how the management team intends to help employees maximize their strengths and address their identified weaknesses to help all quarters improve for the business's success.

8. Products and Services

This business plan section describes what a company has to offer regarding products and services to the maximum benefit and satisfaction of its target market.

Boldly spell out pending patents or copyright products and intellectual property in this section alongside costs, expected sales revenue, research and development, and competitors' advantage as an overview.

At this stage of your business plan, the reader needs to know what your business plans to produce and sell and the benefits these products offer in meeting customers' needs.

The supply network of your business product, production costs, and how you intend to sell the products are crucial components of the products and services section.

Investors are always keen on this information to help them reach a balanced assessment of if investing in your business is risky or offer benefits to them.

You need to create a link in this section on how your products or services are designed to meet the market's needs and how you intend to keep those customers and carve out a market share for your company.

Repeat purchases are the backing that a successful business relies on and measure how much customers are into what your company is offering.

This section is more like an expansion of the executive summary section. You need to analyze each product or service under the business.

9. Operating Plan

An operations plan describes how you plan to carry out your business operations and processes.

The operating plan for your business should include:

• Information about how your company plans to carry out its operations.
• The base location from which your company intends to operate.
• The number of employees to be utilized and other information about your company's operations.
• Key business processes.

This section should highlight how your organization is set up to run. You can also introduce your company's management team in this section, alongside their skills, roles, and responsibilities in the company.

The best way to introduce the company team is by drawing up an organizational chart that effectively maps out an organization's rank and chain of command.

What should be spelled out to readers when they come across this business plan section is how the business plans to operate day-in and day-out successfully.

10. Financial Projections and Assumptions

Bringing your great business ideas into reality is why business plans are important. They help create a sustainable and viable business.

The financial section of your business plan offers significant value. A business uses a financial plan to solve all its financial concerns, which usually involves startup costs, labor expenses, financial projections, and funding and investor pitches.

All key assumptions about the business finances need to be listed alongside the business financial projection, and changes to be made on the assumptions side until it balances with the projection for the business.

The financial plan should also include how the business plans to generate income and the capital expenditure budgets that tend to eat into the budget to arrive at an accurate cash flow projection for the business.

Base your financial goals and expectations on extensive market research backed with relevant financial statements for the relevant period.

Examples of financial statements you can include in the financial projections and assumptions section of your business plan include:

• Projected income statements
• Cash flow statements
• Balance sheets
• Income statements

Revealing the financial goals and potentials of the business is what the financial projection and assumption section of your business plan is all about. It needs to be purely based on facts that can be measurable and attainable.

11. Request For Funding

The request for funding section focuses on the amount of money needed to set up your business and underlying plans for raising the money required. This section includes plans for utilizing the funds for your business's operational and manufacturing processes.

When seeking funding, a reasonable timeline is required alongside it. If the need arises for additional funding to complete other business-related projects, you are not left scampering and desperate for funds.

If you do not have the funds to start up your business, then you should devote a whole section of your business plan to explaining the amount of money you need and how you plan to utilize every penny of the funds. You need to explain it in detail for a future funding request.

When an investor picks up your business plan to analyze it, with all your plans for the funds well spelled out, they are motivated to invest as they have gotten a backing guarantee from your funding request section.

Include timelines and plans for how you intend to repay the loans received in your funding request section. This addition keeps investors assured that they could recoup their investment in the business.

12. Exhibits and Appendices

Exhibits and appendices comprise the final section of your business plan and contain all supporting documents for other sections of the business plan.

Some of the documents that comprise the exhibits and appendices section includes:

• Legal documents
• Licenses and permits
• Credit histories
• Customer lists

The choice of what additional document to include in your business plan to support your statements depends mainly on the intended audience of your business plan. Hence, it is better to play it safe and not leave anything out when drawing up the appendix and exhibit section.

Supporting documentation is particularly helpful when you need funding or support for your business. This section provides investors with a clearer understanding of the research that backs the claims made in your business plan.

There are key points to include in the appendix and exhibits section of your business plan.

• The management team and other stakeholders resume
• Marketing research
• Permits and relevant legal documents
• Financial documents

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Martin loves entrepreneurship and has helped dozens of entrepreneurs by validating the business idea, finding scalable customer acquisition channels, and building a data-driven organization. During his time working in investment banking, tech startups, and industry-leading companies he gained extensive knowledge in using different software tools to optimize business processes.

This insights and his love for researching SaaS products enables him to provide in-depth, fact-based software reviews to enable software buyers make better decisions.

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Operational Planning: How to Make an Operations Plan

The operations of your business can be defined as the sum of all the daily activities that you and your team execute to create products or services and engage with your customers, among other critical business functions. While organizing these moving parts might sound difficult, it can be easily done by writing a business operational plan. But before we learn how to make one, let’s first understand what’s the relationship between strategic and operational planning.

Operational Planning vs. Strategic Planning

Operational planning and strategic planning are complementary to each other. This is because strategic plans define the business strategy and the long-term goals for your organization, while operational plans define the steps required to achieve them.

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Operational Plan Template

Use this free Operational Plan Template for Word to manage your projects better.

What Is a Strategic Plan?

A strategic plan is a business document that describes the business goals of a company as well as the high-level actions that will be taken to achieve them over a time period of 1-3 years.

What Is an Operational Plan?

Operational plans map the daily, weekly or monthly business operations that’ll be executed by the department to complete the goals you’ve previously defined in your strategic plan. Operational plans go deeper into explaining your business operations as they explain roles and responsibilities, timelines and the scope of work.

Operational plans work best when an entire department buys in, assigning due dates for tasks, measuring goals for success, reporting on issues and collaborating effectively. They work even better when there’s a platform like ProjectManager , which facilitates communication across departments to ensure that the machine is running smoothly as each team reaches its benchmark. Get started with ProjectManager for free today.

What Is Operational Planning?

Operational planning is the process of turning strategic plans into action plans, which simply means breaking down high-level strategic goals and activities into smaller, actionable steps. The main goal of operational planning is to coordinate different departments and layers of management to ensure the whole organization works towards the same objective, which is achieving the goals set forth in the strategic plan .

How to Make an Operational Plan

There’s no single approach to follow when making an operation plan for your business. However, there’s one golden rule in operations management : your strategic and operational plans must be aligned. Based on that principle, here are seven steps to make an operational plan.

• Map business processes and workflows: What steps need to be taken at the operations level to accomplish long-term strategic goals?
• Set operational-level goals: Describe what operational-level goals contribute to the achievement of larger strategic goals.
• Determine the operational timeline: Is there any time frame for the achievement of the operational plan?
• Define your resource requirements: Estimate what resources are needed for the execution of the operational plan.
• Estimate the operational budget: Based on your resource requirements, estimate costs and define an operational budget.
• Set a hiring plan: Are there any skills gaps that need to be filled in your organization?
• Set key performance indicators: Define metrics and performance tracking procedures to measure your team’s performance.

Free Operational Plan Template

Leverage everything you’ve learned today with our template. This free operational plan template for Word will help you define your budget, timeline, KPIs and more. It’s the perfect first step in organizing and improving your operations. Download it today.

What Should be Included in an Operational Plan?

Your operational plan should describe your business operations as accurately as possible so that internal teams know how the company works and how they can help achieve the larger strategic objectives. Here’s a list of some of the key elements that you’ll need to consider when writing an operational plan.

Executive Summary

An executive summary is a brief document that summarizes the content of larger documents like business plans, strategic plans or operation plans. Their main purpose is to provide a quick overview for busy stakeholders.

Operational Budget

An operational budget is an estimation of the expected operating costs and revenues for a given time period. As with other types of budget, the operational budget defines the amount of money that’s available to acquire raw materials, equipment or anything else that’s needed for business operations.

It’s important to limit your spending to stay below your operational budget, otherwise, your company could run out of resources to execute its normal activities. You can use our free operating budget template for Excel to track your operating costs.

Operational Objectives

It’s essential to align your operational objectives with your strategic objectives. For example, if one of your strategic objectives is to increase sales by 25 percent over the next three years, one possible operational objective would be to hire new sales employees. You should always grab your strategic plan objectives and turn them into one or multiple action items .

Processes & Workflows

Explain the various business processes, workflows and tasks that need to be executed to achieve your operational objectives. Make sure to explain what resources are needed, such as raw materials, equipment or human resources.

Operational Timeline

It’s important to establish a timeline for your operational plan. In most cases, your operational plan will have the same length as your strategic plan, but in some scenarios, you might create multiple operational plans for specific purposes. Not all operational plans are equal, so the length of your operational timeline will depend on the duration of your projects , workflows and processes.

Hiring Plan

Find any skills gap there might be in your team. You might need to hire a couple of individuals or even create new departments in order to execute your business processes .

Quality Assurance and Control

Most companies implement quality assurance and control procedures for a variety of reasons such as customer safety and regulatory compliance. In addition, quality assurance issues can cost your business millions, so establishing quality management protocols is a key step in operational planning.

Key Performance Indicators

It’s important to establish key performance indicators (KPIs) to measure the productivity of your business operations. You can define as many KPIs as needed for all your business processes. For example, you can define KPIs for marketing, sales, product development and other key departments in your company. This can include product launch deadlines, number of manufactured goods, number of customer service cases closed, number of 5-star reviews received, number of customers acquired, revenue increased by a certain percentage and so on.

Risks, Assumptions and Constraints

Note any potential risks, assumptions and time or resource constraints that might affect your business operations.

What Are the Benefits of Operational Planning?

Every plan has a massive effect on all team members involved, and those can be to your company’s benefit or to their detriment. If it’s to their detriment, it’s best to find out as soon as possible so you can modify your operational plan and pivot with ease.

But that’s the whole point of operational planning: you get to see the effect of your operations on the business’s bottom line in real time, or at every benchmark, so you know exactly when to pivot. And with a plan that’s as custom to each department as an operational plan, you know exactly where things go wrong and why.

How ProjectManager Can Help with Operational Planning

Creating and implementing a high-quality operational plan is the best way to ensure that your organization starts out a project on the right foot. ProjectManager has award-winning project management tools to help you craft and execute such a plan.

Gantt charts are essential to create and monitor operational plans effectively. ProjectManager helps you access your Gantt chart online so you can add benchmarks for operational performance reviews. You can also create tasks along with dependencies to make the operation a surefire success.

Whether you’re a team of IT system administrators, marketing experts, or engineers, ProjectManager includes robust planning and reporting tools. Plan in sprints, assign due dates, collaborate with team members and track everything with just the click of a button. Plus, we have numerous ready-made project reports that can be generated instantly, including status reports, variance reports, timesheet reports and more.

Related Operations Management Content

• Operational Strategy: A Quick Guide
• Operations Management: Key Functions, Roles and Skills
• Operational Efficiency: A Quick Guide
• Using Operational Excellence to Be More Productive

Operational planning isn’t done in a silo, and it doesn’t work without the full weight of the team backing it up. Ensure that your department is successful at each benchmark. ProjectManager is an award-winning pm software dedicated to helping businesses smooth out their operational plans for a better year ahead. Sign up for our free 30-day trial today.

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Operational Plan: Everything You Need To Know (2024 Guide)

The old way of planning no longer works in complex and unpredictable business environments, and companies are struggling to find their feet on shaky ground. As we’ve seen with many of our customers and strategies in Cascade, organizations can no longer count on executing three or even five-year strategic plans.

The new reality forces companies and their operations teams to adapt their operational plans more frequently and within shorter time frames if they want to reap benefits faster than their competitors. Organizations need to work on their strategic instinct and fast adaptability to enhance their operational efficiency .  

And that requires big changes—including building a flexible operational plan, supported by the right tools and systems that help you achieve real-time centralized observability and empower a strategic response to external disruptions.

Read this article to build a bulletproof operational plan that includes all the key elements necessary to overcome unpredictable business chaos. You’ll also get free templates that will help you rapidly adapt and align your teams.

✨Bonus: We’ve included pro tips from business leaders in our network to help you identify gaps in your strategy execution and build resilient business operations.

What Is An Operational Plan?

An operational plan is action and detail-oriented; it needs to focus on short-term strategy execution and outline an organization's day-to-day operations. If your operations strategy is a promise, your operational plan is the action plan for how you will deliver on it every day, week, and month.

Put simply, an operational plan helps you bridge the gap between business strategy and on-the-ground execution and ensures that the organization is on track to achieve its long-term goals.

Benefits of operational planning

• Clear definition of relationships between cross-functional teams in different departments and responsibilities for each to eliminate duplicated efforts.
• Tighter alignment between corporate or business unit strategic plans and on-the-ground execution, helping the organization meet its business targets.
• Strong operating system that enables the company to quickly adapt, deliver operations goals, and monitor performance.

Operational planning vs. strategic planning

Operational planning deals with the day-to-day details and short-term goals, while strategic planning focuses on the big picture and long-term direction of an organization.

To put it in simpler terms, operational planning is about the "how" of daily tasks, while strategic planning defines the "what" and "why" for future success.

📚Recommended reading: Strategic vs. Operational Planning

Kickstart Your Operational Planning Process: Lay The Foundation

The quality of your operational plan will depend on your input. A successful operational planning initiative will consider these aspects:

• Who will be involved? Identify and include employees, customers, and the management team in the planning process to gain valuable insights from the front lines, ensuring better strategy and execution buy-in.
• What are your internal capabilities? Assess internal capabilities by conducting an internal analysis , including resource requirements, operating budget, and talent skills. Talent management and employee engagement are just a few of the many challenges that COOs will have on their operations agenda.
• What environment are you operating in? Conduct an external analysis (e.g., PESTLE or Porter’s 5 Forces ) to inform your approach and identify optimization opportunities and risks, keeping you agile in a changing market.
• Is it aligned with your organization’s strategy? Ensure alignment of your operational plan with your organization’s strategic plan to actively support the company's long-term vision and contribute to key business metrics.

👉🏻 Once you’ve gathered this information, you can develop an operational plan to help you execute business strategies.

Key Elements Of Your Operational Plan

Enough chit-chat; it’s time to put your operational plan together. We've built this based on our proven and tested approach, used by over +45,000 Cascade users.

See how Cascade Strategy Execution Platform enhances operational efficiency by reducing duplication and aligning teams toward common goals. It effectively eliminates waste resulting from misalignment, fostering smoother operations and improved performance.

Here’s a recap of the five key elements your plan must consider:

Choose key metrics aligned with the company goals

Selecting your operational plan's key metrics isn't a mere exercise in tracking numbers; it's about laser-focused alignment with your business needs and objectives. These metrics are the tangible indicators of your organization's efficiency and performance. They serve as the compass, guiding your daily decisions and actions toward achieving concrete results.

By precisely aligning these metrics with your company's core objectives, you ensure that every initiative and action within your operational plan directly contributes to achieving tangible results.

An aligned operational plan makes it easier to:

• Communicate roles and responsibilities to all employees so they know how their efforts contribute to overall business success.
• Identify and address operational bottlenecks and inefficiencies that could derail strategy execution.
• Motivate and engage employees to work toward strategic objectives and deliver on business outcomes.

Remember that the role of operations is to close the gap between your organization's strategic goals and what is being done on a daily basis to make them happen.

👉🏻 How Cascade can help:

With Cascade’s Metrics Library , you can bring your operating and financial business-level goals together with your strategy under one single roof. This makes reporting & governance easy, accurate, and less time-consuming by connecting your business data to your key business initiatives.

Through Cascade’s integrations , you can consolidate your metrics in one place, importing your data directly from business systems, data lakes, BI tools, or even spreadsheets.

Define the focus areas of your operational plan

The focus areas of your operational plan are the key areas of the business that the plan will address.

This will depend on your business plan. Think about how the business operates and how it succeeds. Do you need to pursue short-term cost reductions while simultaneously pursuing longer-term growth and transformation initiatives? Your operational plans must be built on these strategic priorities.

For example, you can prioritize your focus areas based on the most relevant business strategies or by specific departments. Some examples of focus areas could be:

• Administration
• Human Resources

💡Tips to help define the focus areas of your operational plan:

• Identify the business's key challenges and opportunities.
• Consider the business's overall long-term strategy and key metrics and how the operational plan's focus areas can support these objectives.
• Bring other people on board to help you identify what needs to be addressed by the operations plan.

Create strategic objectives for your operational plan

Strategic objectives are specific goals aligned with the operation’s strategy and focus areas. They represent what you want to achieve in each focus area and will serve as the building blocks of your plan, ensuring that it’s focused and actionable.

Some examples of strategic objectives:

• Reduce costs by 10% within the next year by implementing more efficient processes and streamlining the supply chain over the next year.
• Launch three new products in the next fiscal year to expand your product lines and increase revenue.
• Increase customer satisfaction scores by 5% within the next six months.

💡Tips for defining strategic objectives include:

• Ensure your objectives are specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound (SMART).
• Consistently align objectives with your operational plan's focus areas and the company's goals.
• Don’t be afraid to get input from other people about your objectives.

Identify and prioritize projects

It’s time to identify and prioritize the projects that need to be executed. Remember, projects are action plans to help you achieve your strategic objectives.

Project planning should include thinking about time frames, task assignments, and deliverables (and prioritizing).

Here are some examples of project ideas:

• Localize sourcing for critical semi-finished materials.
• Streamline the supply chain to reduce costs and improve efficiency.
• Find and develop an alternative logistics channel.
• Implement a new customer service training program to improve customer satisfaction scores.
• Implement a new technology that will enable end-to-end supply chain visibility.

💡Tips for defining and prioritizing projects:

• Identify the specific actions and activities needed to achieve each strategic objective.
• Prioritize the projects based on their importance, feasibility, and potential impact on the business.
• Involve stakeholders in defining and prioritizing the projects to ensure their needs and concerns are heard.

Identify and track key performance indicators (KPIs)

Finally, you’ll need to know if your operational plan and day-to-day activities result in outcomes.

Set KPIs for key initiatives and strategic objectives to measure success, ensure alignment, and identify performance gaps in your operational plan.

Some examples of operations KPIs are:

• Inventory costs
• Costs of goods sold
• Revenue growth
• Employee retention rate
• Customer satisfaction score

💡Tips for defining and tracking KPIs:

• Align KPIs with your strategic objectives and focus areas so that you can track the plan's progress against these specific goals.
• Add both lagging and leading indicators .
• Instead of using multiple disconnected spreadsheets and project management tools, consider live dashboards or reporting systems to track the KPIs and monitor progress over time.

👉🏻 How Cascade can help build your plan:

Cascade’s planner feature enables you to build your operational plan with structure and ease by breaking down the complexity from high-level initiatives to executable outcomes. Define your key elements (focus areas, objectives, projects, and KPIs), and share the plan with your teams. You’ll get full visibility of the plan’s progress in real-time, allowing you to identify gaps, quickly update the plan, and communicate the change with your team with a single click.

👉🏻 If you don’t want to start building the plan from scratch, use our free Operational Plan Template pre-filled with examples of focus areas, objectives, projects, and KPIs that you can customize to meet your organization’s needs.

Operational Plan Examples & Templates

Here are five operational plan examples to help you create plans for your teams. You can use one master operational plan or set up an operational plan for each department.

Master Operational Plan Example

This Operational Plan Template will help you close the gap between business goals and day-to-day operations. You'll be able to set goals and KPIs for your top priorities and work with the operations team to deliver operational excellence and business results.

HR Plan Example

This HR Operational Plan Template can be used to meet staffing requirements, manage human capital and align human resources activities with your strategy. HR managers in any industry can create a clear operational plan that can be constantly monitored, adapted, and improved.

IT Plan Example

If you’re in the IT team, try out this IT Plan Template to get your IT operational planning up and running fast. It comes prefilled with focus areas and KPIs relevant to IT operations; you can easily customize workflows and deliverables to your needs.

Marketing Plan Example

This Marketing Plan Template can help you efficiently understand and plan your digital marketing operations using best practices. Use it to quickly set up priorities and get your social media and marketing teams moving on tasks that will make an impact.

Finance Plan Example

This finance-focused template is ideal if you want to get on top of your finance operations plan. Use it to allocate and distribute financial resources across your organization and get real-time updates through your dashboard and reports—which are great tools to create a visually compelling financial summary that clearly shows your key metrics.

💡Pro Tip: To ensure successful execution, it's crucial to align not just your master operational plan with your overarching strategic plan, but also all the operational department plans.

With the Alignment Maps feature, you’ll be able to visualize how your top-level business strategy breaks down into functional and operational plans. This empowers COOs and CFOs to consolidate their operational plans in one place, creating tighter alignment between the finance and operations teams and improving cross-collaboration to build more resilient operations.

Want to dig deeper? Use the Relationships feature to see the relationships between connected objectives from your plans and understand how your different department goals contribute to the core business metrics and goals. This view will allow you to clearly map dependencies, blockers, and risks that may lie along your journey.

5 Tips For An Effective Operational Plan And Its Execution

1. don’t underestimate the power of transparent communication.

Regularly communicate the operational plan and progress to all relevant stakeholders to build the necessary buy-in and support. Your employees must know your goals and the roadmap, and team members should understand their role in its execution. This business transparency will help everyone row in the same direction.

“Clarity regarding strategy is one of the key drivers of autonomous execution. If people understand what you’re working toward and have guardrails in place, they can be empowered to make their own decisions and don’t need everything to be ‘run up the chain’ to get approved. This allows you to move fast and at scale.” — Sam Sterling , Chief Strategy Officer, Akqa

2. Keep moving forward and adopt a growth mindset

Keep the momentum going and ensure that the plan is executed effectively. Regular monitoring and reviews can help identify and address any challenges or obstacles that may arise.

Schedule regular reviews and check-ins and provide the necessary support to ensure projects are on track and moving forward.

“I think adopting a growth mindset is super important. This means having the confidence to fail fast, try something new and empower people to do that.” — Ken Miller , General Manager, Azure Intelligent Cloud at Microsoft

With the Team Updates functionality, every team member can post updates on key measures, actions, and objectives. This will give you real-time visibility into performance and help you identify possible risks before it’s too late—without having to schedule extra meetings or nag your team members for updates.

3. Make strategic moves and change fast when you need to

Your operational plan should be flexible, adaptable, and open to adjustments. This means keeping an eye on progress, making corrections if needed, and being willing to adapt the plan to changing circumstances or new opportunities. As McKinsey suggests, you can consider creating a team that will be able to collect data, link analysis with action, and offer quick responses to rapid changes.

“Traditionally, companies would have taken that piece of paper and gone out and said: we're going to execute it, start to finish. Then get into the formulation of the strategy, what we need to hit, and what the end product result will be like. But what we do know is that’s never the case. Along the way, you're going to have bumps, and inevitably, you’ll need to change from that original picture.” — Annie Lucchitti , Marketing Manager, Unilever

4. Empower your operations team and boost efficiency

Effective operational planning requires the engagement and empowerment of your team. Involve stakeholders in the planning process and provide them with the necessary resources. Give them context and an opportunity to set goals and prioritize initiatives. This will help you boost engagement and hold them accountable for progress.

“I think it just works at every single level. Are people allowed to be themselves at work? Personally, are they at peace? Are they happy? Productivity happens when people have the right skills, but also when they are engaged and happy. If one of those fails a bit, productivity will start decreasing.” — Joan Torrents , Global Sourcing Manager, TESCO.

5. If it isn’t measured, it isn’t managed

Don’t underestimate the importance of tracking and measuring progress against the operational plan's goals and objectives. Set milestones, enforce KPIs, and stay on top of progress. Doing this will help you stay on course, empower you to act quickly, and provide valuable insights into what is going wrong.

“Data is a foundational element in the strategy definition phase as well as in the strategy execution phase as it helps create a baseline, identify key priorities, set goals, and measure progress.” — Erica Santoni , Principal, Diversity Equity & Inclusion, Intuit

Use Cascade’s Dashboards to monitor your day-to-day progress on key metrics and critical business and strategic information in real-time.

Compile the information in powerful reports and executive summaries in seconds with pre-built templates. Share them with your key stakeholders —internal and external— and invite them to collaborate on your strategy together.

Execute Your Operational Plan With Cascade 🚀

What good is an operational plan if no one executes it? If your organization wants to operate at a higher level, static tools like Excel spreadsheets, PowerPoints, Google Docs, and/or project management tools aren’t the solution.

❌They aren’t designed for adaptive strategy and planning.

❌They often lead to siloing and hinder effective cross-collaboration.

❌They make it challenging to measure progress and slow down decision-making.

With Cascade as your central operating system, you can stop running business operations blindfolded and embrace rapid, coordinated, and data-driven decision-making.

Get your Operational Plan Template to get started with a dynamic plan that will lead to actual outcomes for your business and see faster results from your strategy.

Or take Cascade for a spin! Start today for free or book a 1:1 product tour with Cascade’s in-house strategy expert.

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What is an Operational Plan? A Complete Playbook (+ Examples, Tips & More)

Without a plan, your business operations are as good as a children’s playground—everyone’s doing their own thing with no care in the world. 

An operational plan brings order to your organization. It defines the functional aspects of your long-term strategy, like goals, milestones, responsibilities and timelines, to build collaboration and make real progress toward your vision. 

Teams often overlook the importance of operational plan management, leading to miscommunication, unnecessary roadblocks and slow growth. 

If you don't want to end up in a chaotic playground with everything going south, read this start-to-finish guide on operational planning. We'll share a 6-step process of making your own operational plan with a few examples to inspire you.

TL;DR: What is an operational plan?

• An operational plan clarifies the details of your strategy, assigns responsibilities, and sets milestones and timelines.
• Use an operational plan to create a roadmap, assign roles, track progress, establish criteria for success, and minimize errors.
• To develop an operational plan, create a fail-proof strategic plan, establish clear goals and budgets, define the project scope, create the operational plan, get stakeholders' buy-in, and publish the plan using the right tool.

What is an operational plan?

An operational plan is a roadmap designed to implement your business strategies. It operationalizes your strategic plan by defining:

• Vision and objectives behind a strategy.
• Budget and resources required for execution.
• Weekly, monthly and quarterly milestones. 
• Relevant metrics to track progress consistently. 

‎An operational plan clarifies all the finer details about your strategy—like what, who, when and how—to help you realize the bigger vision. It’s a work plan for transferring the available inputs into the desired outputs. 

Operational planning vs. strategic planning

While operational and strategic planning might sound the same, they have significantly different meanings. Let's take a quick look at these differences to understand what an operational plan stacks up against a strategic plan.

5 reasons why you need an operational plan

Only setting goals without a solid operational plan to implement them is like making new year’s resolutions that never come true. 

Without a clear direction of what to do and how, you’d end up wasting your resources with little to no progress to show for it. An operational plan helps move the needle for your company by clarifying the steps to success and bringing more accountability. 

Still wondering how an operational plan can keep you on track? These five benefits will clue you in:

1. Creating an airtight roadmap

If a strategic plan defines the destination, an operational plan chalks out the itinerary to reach that destination. This actionable roadmap covers all bases to streamline collaboration within the team and set up the right systems to hit your milestones. 

2. Attributing roles to all stakeholders

Making an operational plan allows you to assign responsibilities to all internal and external stakeholders. It clarifies who’s responsible for what and sets expectations from the start. This is key for bringing everyone on the same page and avoiding roadblocks once the work is underway. 

3. Tracking progress & making strategic changes

Timelines and milestones are two of the most crucial components of an operational plan in business. They empower teams to analyze their performance and review progress objectively. You can use these insights to tweak your game plan for greater success and to improve operational efficiency .

4. Establishing criteria & metrics for success 

An operational plan outlines the parameters for success and metrics to monitor the same. These metrics give you a clear picture of your progress at every stage to ensure you’re moving as per the plan. They also highlight any potential red flags that can potentially derail the plan and need your attention. 

5. Minimizing discrepancies & errors

One of the most important benefits of making an operational plan is the clarity it brings to everyone. Instead of leaving your team clueless about the next steps, this work plan clarifies how and where they can start. It also reduces errors by laying down the ground rules for every task and process.

📌 ‎ Related resource: Operations Teams: How to Assemble and Lead a High-Performing Team

How to develop an operational plan strategy

There’s no standard rulebook for creating an operational plan. It’s a fully customizable document that depends entirely on your company’s goals, resources, timelines and overall approach. 

For example, a fast-paced team can work with shorter timelines and hit more goals than a large-scale organization with more levels of checks and a bigger hierarchy.  

So, instead of replicating other companies’ operational plans, let’s help you create your own plan with this 6-step process:

• Draw out a fail-proof strategic plan.
• Establish clear goals and budgets.
• Dig deeper into the project scope.
• Create your operational plan.
• Get all stakeholders’ buy-in for the plan.
• Publish the plan using the right tool.

1. Draw out a fail-proof strategic plan

A strategic plan is to an operational plan what a storyline is to a movie—it conveys the essence and creates a direction for the operational plan to become a masterpiece. 

So, naturally, the first step to operational planning is creating a strategic plan; here’s how:

• Define what success looks like for the entire organization. 
• Evaluate organizational readiness to implement this strategy. 
• Take inputs from people in the senior leadership. 
• Assign responsibilities to different stakeholders. 
• Prioritize goals against timelines. 

Once done, you can rely on this strategic plan throughout the operational planning process to prepare for what lies ahead. 

💡 ‎Use these 14 free customizable project plan templates to enhance communication, save time and achieve your strategic planning goals.

2. Establish clear goals & budgets

The next step is breaking your high-level goals into shorter, more actionable objectives. For example, you can divide the goal of achieving an X% growth in revenue into smaller targets, like increasing inbound leads, doubling down on cold outreach and rolling out a referral program. Implementing effective referral tracking within the program will allow you to monitor and optimize the success of your referral initiatives, providing valuable insights into the sources and impact of referred business.

Goal-setting makes your operational plan realistic and feasible. You're ideating the means to realize the long-term vision by hitting the right milestones. 

More importantly, once you have a list of goals, it's easier to determine the budget and resources required to achieve them. Before moving ahead, do your homework to set a solid budget that allows you to implement your strategy without splurging too much. 

3. Dig deeper into the project scope

Once you’re clear about your goals and resources, it’s time to define the finer details of your plan—specifying who’ll do what, when and how. 

Create a comprehensive project scope by outlining:

• Department-wise goals and tasks according to the goals.
• Different stakeholders involved within and outside your company. 
• Responsibilities for each stakeholder with primary KPIs for their role.
• SOPs  and  workflows  to perform a task or complete a process. 

This step brings more specificity to your operational plan. It concretely spells out each goal with details about milestones within each goal, roles and teams responsible for fulfilling these milestones and how they will work toward the end goals. 

💡 ‎ Scribe top tip: Creating a project scope document is a breeze when you use Scribe. You can use Scribe's project scope template to get cracking at the earliest. 

4. Create your operational plan

By this point, you've done all the legwork to get to work and start writing your operational plan finally.

Make it as actionable and value-packed as possible by answering these five main questions:

• Who: People involved in different tasks. Include a list of teams and specific roles involved in the business operations and clarify what’s expected of them. 
• What: Plan of action and targets to pursue. Create a milestone-based roadmap of the high-level goals to achieve and the smaller goals involved in the process. 
• Where: Platform(s) where daily operations will happen. Add all the tools and frameworks you'll use to run business operations through this plan seamlessly. 
• When: Deadlines for different tasks and activities. Map out the timelines for each job to ensure your team is on track for timely completion. 
• ‍ How much: Costs involved in hitting the designated goals. Mention your final budget and resource allocation for different tasks.

Use Scribe's free AI Writer for Operations tool to capture and document operational procedures.

‎Additionally, a good operational plan also lists the metrics to track your progress. Pick and explain relevant metrics in your plan to show employees how you'll analyze their efforts.  ‍

5. Get all stakeholders’ buy-in for the plan

No plan is perfect and there's always scope for improving your operational plan to make it perfect. So, once you've drafted the plan, don't forget to run it by a few select stakeholders to identify the gaps you can cover. 

Actively seek feedback from people in different ranks and departments to understand the missing links in your plan. Your plan will go through 2-3 rounds of iterations before it’s finally ready to roll out. 

6. Publish the plan using the right tool

The final step in the process is publishing the plan. The most important thing to remember is that your plan should be:

• Reader-friendly.
• Easily accessible.
• Quickly shareable. 

Clueless about the best way to hit all three points to roll out your operational plan? We have just the solution you need — Scribe . 

‎Scribe is a documentation tool designed to create intuitive documents, like an operational plan, in a few seconds. It significantly reduces the time spent on creating such documents and improves team efficiency in more ways than one.

‎You can create a single Scribe to explain a process or compile instructions with SOPs in a single place with Pages. You can even ask the AI to write your operational plan — just add a simple prompt and your Scribes, and the AI will build a customized document!

‎It's the easiest way to bring your team on the same page and power up your operations! 

✨ ‎See how operations teams use Scribe to tackle even the most daunting operational challenges.

3 operational plan examples (& why they work)

If you’re looking for some inspiration to get cracking with your planning process, looking at a few operations plan examples can help big time! Let’s look at three great examples, see why they work and how you can replicate the results. 

1. Carter Supply’s risk management plan

This detailed risk management plan by Carter Supply covers several aspects of managing risk at the organization. This 10-page document lists the key components of this plan, like a summary, the approval process and the end-to-end risk management process. 

As an operational plan, it gives the entire team clear insights into the risk management plan, highlights why it’s in place and explains how this plan will be used. 

This plan also covers different aspects of the plan and lays down the process of working on each element. For example, for risk quantification, the plan specifies that the risk manager will work with the risk owner to understand the exposure. 

2. Upscope’s go-to-market plan

Upscope ’s go-to-market (GTM) plan is another excellent example of operational planning. The SaaS company created this plan to execute its strategy for breaking into the co-browsing market. 

Pursuing this goal, the team created an airtight plan with a rundown of its target audience, pain points the product solves and the buyer journey. 

The Upscope marketing and sales teams could use this GTM plan to launch targeted campaigns and reach the right people. They were also well aware of the main value propositions to share with the target buyers, nudging them towards a purchase. 

📌 ‎Related resource: How Product Operations Can Help Your Team Build Better Products 📌 ‎

3. SmartNet’s project quality management plan

The quality management plan by SmartNet is a detailed document explaining the company’s entire operations framework, from the management structure to project reporting, risk assessment, deliverable production and more. 

Instead of a single department, this operational plan documents the complete business operations. Despite being so lengthy, the document is easy to read and understand—exactly how the plan should look like.

It also includes all the critical information to guide new employees about the company's operations from scratch.

Make operational planning your road to success 

When done right, operational planning can be a game-changer for streamlining your operations. It’s an in-depth roadmap to work toward your vision and hit all goals. 

Even though making an operational plan isn’t the most exciting task and it can get extremely time-consuming, the right process and tools can do the trick for you. Follow the six steps we’ve highlighted in this guide and when you’re ready to roll, use Scribe to put the plan in place. 

Scribe takes the pain out of documentation to empower teams for seamless operational planning. Try it today to see how it works!

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Operational planning: 5 steps to create a better business operational plan

Learn how to conduct operational planning to enhance collaboration, streamline workflows, and unlock peak productivity in all your company’s teams.

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Operational planning enhances collaboration and streamlines workflows to unlock peak efficiency.

Transforming a strategic vision into business success demands meticulous planning. It requires navigating unexpected obstacles, coordinating team activities with long-term goals, and implementing practical steps to realize organizational objectives.

Organizational planning plays a pivotal role in this context by translating high-level strategies into actionable day-to-day tasks.

But an operational plan is more than a structured to-do list — it’s a comprehensive framework that outlines roles, responsibilities, and timelines. By breaking down grand strategies into executable actions, operational planning ensures cohesive teamwork and transforms ambiguous business strategies into achievable realities.

What’s operational planning?

Operational planning is how companies organize day-to-day tasks to align with broader strategic goals. It’s a road map guiding teams through operational decisions about daily operations, ensuring every task contributes to the company’s long-term and high-level objectives. This typically involves setting short-term objectives, defining key activities, and establishing clear timelines.

In practice, operational planning often blends traditional and innovative methods to maximize efficiency. Conventional strategies like Gantt charts and flowcharts help leaders visualize data , tasks, and timelines to make complex projects more manageable. And digital tools like enterprise project management software introduce automation, real-time collaboration, and data analytics into the mix. These platforms enable agile plan adjustments and offer insights through predictive analytics.

By integrating these mixed methodologies, operational planning helps enterprises build a system that’s efficient and responsive to evolving business needs. It bridges the gap between meticulous organization and the agility needed in a fast-paced business environment.

Benefits of operational planning

Operational planning offers a structured approach to decision-making, but its advantages extend beyond planning. Here’s why it’s a crucial tool for achieving organizational goals.

Clarifies goals

Operational planning turns abstract ideas into concrete objectives. It encourages setting explicit goals with definitive timelines. This clarity benefits leadership and the entire team, ensuring everyone understands what needs doing, who’s doing it, and by when.

Enhances productivity

An operational plan enhances productivity by establishing timelines, outlining objectives, and allocating resources. This structure helps team members prioritize their work and manage their time efficiently because they have clear deadlines to guide them.

By defining precise objectives, the plan ensures every team member understands their specific tasks and expected outcomes, preventing unnecessary work and deviations from the plan. And knowing what resources are available helps team members prepare realistically for their taskwork.

Improves efficiency

A well-crafted operational plan boosts efficiency by optimizing workflows and streamlining organizational processes . By mapping out immediate and long-term objectives, the plan establishes a clear blueprint for task execution. As team members better understand their roles, task sequence, and the rationale behind each, they can execute them more seamlessly. This clarity and structure are also invaluable for onboarding new team members and allow them to integrate and understand the workflow with less friction.

Strategic planning vs. operational planning

Both plan types are distinct yet essential components of an organization’s overall planning process. Let’s break down the primary differences:

• A strategic plan defines your company’s “what,” outlines your business’s direction, and sets broad, long-term objectives. It’s a high-level overview that articulates your mission statement, establishes key business objectives, and outlines strategies for achieving them. This plan typically spans several years into the future and aligns the company’s efforts with its overarching vision.
• An operational plan focuses on the “how” by detailing how to execute the strategies and goals laid out in the strategic plan. This is where you get into the specifics — setting milestones, crafting a detailed road map, and establishing short-term, incremental goals that steer your company toward achieving strategic objectives. And at this point, you’ll focus on more immediate factors, like dealing with daily management and task implementation, that are necessary to achieve strategic organizational goals.

Types of operational plans

Departmental goals and needs vary significantly, and tailored operational plans ensure you optimally manage each area. While a sales department might need a plan focused on customer engagement and retention, an IT department might emphasize technology upgrades and cybersecurity . Combining various plan types — like a couple of those that follow — ensures optimal management and effectiveness in each area, aligning departmental activities with broader objectives.

Project operation plans

Project operation plans are indispensable documents for breaking projects into actionable milestones and assigning teams to relevant tasks. A well-developed project plan organizes tasks and anticipates resource requirements such as personnel, infrastructure, and time. By identifying these requirements early on, project operation plans provide planning foresight that helps avoid resource shortages and last-minute scrambles to ensure projects progress smoothly and stay on track.

Say you’re designing a website . Your project operation plan will outline key steps, such as user research , wireframing , user testing , and launch. Each step would have assigned teams, deadlines, and specific objectives, like establishing focus groups by a certain date and finalizing prototypes. The project manager would monitor progress to ensure resource availability and timeline adherence.

Enterprise operation plans

Enterprise operation plans translate broader strategic goals into smaller, manageable milestones. They involve assigning responsibility for these milestones to department directors to ensure accountability for each plan segment.

When creating an enterprise operational plan, it’s vital to identify resource gaps, dependencies, and other potential obstacles to ensure seamless execution. This lets you set realistic, achievable milestones and achieve smooth interdepartmental coordination. Involving directors from the start is also crucial because their insights can reveal critical aspects you might otherwise overlook.

Consider a web design agency planning to expand their service offerings to include mobile app development over the next year. The enterprise operational plan might include milestones such as hiring app developers, training current staff in responsive mobile design , and marketing these new services to potential leads. You might also ask the development head to oversee recruitment and training and involve the marketing director in developing strategies to promote the new services.

IT operation plans

IT departments confront unique challenges due to rapid cybersecurity threats and their critical role in every business sector. Unlike other departments focusing on sales and marketing, IT departments must ensure the organization’s technological structure is robust, secure, and current.

IT operation plans typically outline how the department will adapt to business changes, like scaling up for new hires, migrating from a legacy system to a new one, and safeguarding the organization against evolving cybersecurity threats.

If you’re preparing for a major server infrastructure upgrade, for instance, an IT operation plan will outline steps like evaluating current server and hosting capacities, selecting new hardware and infrastructure, and scheduling website migration to new servers. The plan would include specific timelines — such as completing server evaluations by the end of the first quarter and starting the migration in the second quarter — to ensure minimal downtime and a smooth transition for all hosted websites.

Discover how the right CMS can allow teams to efficiently scale rich, complex content – all without writing code.

Key elements of an operational plan

No matter the type you’re creating, most operational plans include the following core traits.

Operational plans should be clear and to the point. While comprehensive coverage is important, elaborating too much risks misinterpretation and becoming bogged down in the details. Focus on concise, direct explanations and allow the details to unfold during project execution.

Team buy-in is essential for success. Instead of leaving the executive team to dictate the plan exclusively, involve team members in its creation. A collaborative approach helps garner buy-in and fosters feelings of ownership and responsibility toward the plan’s objectives. This involvement translates to increased motivation and commitment because team members feel more likely to invest effort in a plan they helped shape.

Consistency

Consistency in operational plans is crucial for their effectiveness and for establishing organizational trust. It involves applying the same standards and procedures uniformly across all departments and teams. By consistently applying rules and policies, you ensure every organizational element operates under the same guidelines, enhancing fairness and reducing confusion. Consistent execution of your operational plan also streamlines progress and success tracking because the criteria and methods used for each remain uniform.

Specify the processes and methodologies each department should use. If the design team uses an agile, iterative process , for instance, implement similar practices in other departments like IT. This standardization enables smoother collaboration and operational harmony.

Key performance indicators

Every operational plan needs well-defined key performance indicators (KPIs) from the outset. These should include:

• Leading indicators provide early insights into your strategy’s effectiveness by signaling shifts and trends ahead of their full realization. By monitoring these indicators, you can gauge your strategy’s immediate impact and proactively adjust your approach. Indicator examples include customer satisfaction levels, changes in market share, and fluctuations in sales figures.
• Lagging indicators reflect the outcomes of your operational efforts by providing historical data on your plan’s efficacy after execution. Key lagging indicators include metrics like the time taken to complete projects, support ticket volumes, and total expenses incurred. Analyzing these metrics also helps identify improvement areas, like optimizing resource allocation, enhancing customer support processes, and streamlining operational workflows.

Constraints

Acknowledge any assumptions and constraints within your plan, such as technological limitations, tight deadlines, and regulatory requirements. Being upfront about these factors is essential for setting realistic expectations and guiding effective task execution. And it ensures everyone involved understands the framework they’re operating in.

Say you’re building an agency website in the European Union (EU). A critical constraint would be compliance with data protection regulations like the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). You must keep this constraint in mind as you develop your operational plan because it affects the technology and processes used for data handling and shapes your website’s design and functionality. For instance, you’ll likely need to integrate clear consent mechanisms for data collection, prominent user data management tools into the website’s layout, and GDPR-compliant technologies for data processing and storage.

The 5 steps of the operational planning process

Enterprises develop operational plans through five strategic steps, each essential for shaping an actionable and effective strategy. Let’s explore what this planning process looks like.

1. Set goals

Establish specific, immediate business goals that align with your strategic plan. This might include launching a redesigned website, increasing online sales by a specific percentage, or reducing digital marketing expenses.

Make these goals ambitious yet adaptable, allowing for flexible responses to unexpected challenges. This step lays the foundation for your operational strategy and aligns every subsequent action toward these well-defined objectives.

2. Allocate resources

After establishing your goals, evaluate your capacity to achieve them. Analyze your current resources and identify what additional expertise, technology, and budget you require. This step isn’t just about highlighting what’s missing — it’s about strategizing how to scale your business to accommodate these needs.

3. Define KPIs

Select KPIs that align closely with your operational goals and ensure they reflect key aspects of your strategy. These KPIs should include leading indicators, like website traffic and user engagement rates for predictive analytics, and lagging indicators, such as satisfaction scores post-launch, to evaluate past performance. Consistently apply these KPIs throughout your project to monitor progress and keep the team focused on core objectives.

Consider using digital analytic platforms like Google Analytics to track KPIs. These tools offer detailed insights into traffic and user behavior. And you can set up dashboards to visually represent these metrics to help spot trends and patterns without combing through data.

Suppose you notice rising bounce rates on a specific webpage — this might indicate user disinterest or navigational issues. In response, you might pivot to revise the page’s copy, restructure its visual hierarchy , or simplify the navigation structure to make it more engaging and user-friendly.

4. Prescribe processes

Develop clear and detailed plans for how your teams should execute tasks. This clarity guides them through each stage, reducing confusion, ensuring consistency, and enhancing productivity.

To communicate these procedures to your team, use tools like flowcharts. They simplify and clarify each operational plan phase and help ensure everyone understands their responsibilities.

For large-scale projects, consider using project management software like Asana, Trello, or Jira. These platforms offer features like task assignment, deadline tracking, and real-time communication, and they provide a centralized platform for monitoring progress and maintaining team alignment.

5. Determine milestones

Create a road map that outlines clear, measurable goals and specific objectives. This map transforms your operational plan into achievable targets, helping teams visualize where they’re headed and the benchmarks they need to hit. Host regular meetings when outlining your milestones — this consistent evaluation ensures everyone moves forward in sync, maintaining the necessary momentum to achieve the plan’s goals.

In a web development project, for example, these evaluations might reveal if certain phases, like design or development, have too few or surplus resources. Identifying these imbalances lets you efficiently reallocate resources to ensure each department has what it needs to meet its milestones effectively and on schedule.

Get started with Webflow

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Learn how Webflow Enterprise can be a part of your operational strategy, and harness a visual-first design platform that lets you create and adapt web content in real time.

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Create a Strategic Business Plan: Operations & Execution

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Businesses may utilize operational plans to lay out objectives, set reasonable timelines, and define expectations. They can increase productivity and efficiency at work by studying how to write compelling and thorough operational plans. An operations plan specifying goals and objectives may be made using various techniques.

What is an Operational Business Plan?

An operational business plan is a detailed document that gives a window into the company's mission, vision, goals, and operational techniques that will steer it in the right direction. It is a pathway, a helpful instrument for the organization that gives answers on, for example, resource allocation, the running of operations, and efficiency measurement. 

An operational business plan is an indispensable tool for entrepreneurs to make the right decisions, create new opportunities, and ensure the business's sustainable long-term development goals. By establishing strategic directions, dealing with risks, procuring funding, and promoting accountability, businesses can overcome barriers and get the maximum benefit.

Why Do Businesses Need an Operational Business Plan?

A proper business plan is a must for any business, regardless of its size and industry, as it is like a roadmap to help reach success. It is common as it gives a clear vision and a specific direction, defining tactics, strategies, and objectives to achieve them. Companies must prioritize their chores and delegate resources adequately with a clear plan.

Let’s look at the reasons why an operational plan is a significant part of your business strategy: 

1. Providing Strategic Direction and Focus.

An operational business plan delivers strategic orientation and specialization by describing short-term and long-term goals. It lays out the boxes of reaching these objectives; this allows the companies to stay focused even when the market changes or the customers embrace different products.

2. Ensuring Risk Mitigation and Adaptability.

Companies can identify business threats and problems using inclusive market studies and competitors' analysis. An operational business plan provides a way to preemptively manage such risks and change strategies to take advantage of opportunities in a changing business environment.

3. Overcoming the Fear of Funding and Stakeholder Consent.

A properly drafted business plan is vital in getting investment funds from investors or lenders. You can use Google Workspace to draft a solid business plan streamlining operations. It shows you have researched the market, identified the business plan’s growth potential, and have a path to profit, thus inspiring confidence in stakeholders to provide you with the financial support needed for business initiatives.

4. Measuring Performance and Holding the Leadership Accountable.

An operational business plan is an important accountability tool, ensuring that the organization's goals and performance metrics are set. Teams can monitor growth, pinpoint mistakes, spot and reward accomplishments, build a culture of persistent improvement, and earn overall business influence. You must schedule appointments with your clients and discuss the minutes with the team to enhance the outcomes. 

Key Components of an Operational Business Plan

An operational business plan comprises several key components essential for guiding the organization toward its objectives: 

1. Executive Summary

The executive summary introduces the whole business plan and highlights its salient points, such as the company's mission, the aims, and the proposed strategies.

2. Business Description

This business plan component is highly focused and provides details, such as type of venture, products and services, market segment, competitive environment, and unique selling points.

3. Market Analysis

Market analysis is a comprehensive process involving the evaluation of industry trends, customer needs, competition, potential market openings, and information critical for making strategic decisions. Based on the market analysis, you need to create marketing strategies. There are various forms of marketing, including email marketing through email newsletters , social media marketing, and many other things.

4. Operational Strategies

Operational strategies essentially describe how the business plans to function effectively, utilizing methods such as production processes, supply chain management, quality control, and technology utilization.

5. Financial Projections

The financial projections involve expected revenues, expenses, cash flow statements, and breakeven analysis to evaluate the business's financial viability and long-term sustainability.

6. Implementation Plan:

The plan encompasses the project schedule, tasks, responsibilities, and milestones. It outlines the implementation of how the execution strategies were developed in the business plan and how the progress was effectively monitored.

7. Risk Management

Preparing for assessing possible risks and developing contingency plans to respond to them is what the business should do to protect itself against unpredictable obstacles or threats.

8. Monitoring and Evaluation

The setting of metrics and performance indicators facilitates performance monitoring and evaluation of the business progression towards its objectives in a continuous fashion, thus permitting the implementation of timely changes and upgrades when needed.

Crafting an Operational Business Plan

Crafting an operational business plan is critical to any business as this is the key to setting the business's targeted goals, strategies, and tactics. It defines the strategies and guidelines for success, thus ensuring productive use of available resources and effective decision-making.

1. Conducting Market Research for Your Operational Business Plan.

Market research is the most important part of creating an operational business plan . It means getting data on your intended audience, competitors' market trends, and the industry. This will assist you in defining your target market, familiarizing yourself with their needs and preferences, and analyzing the competition. After conducting thorough market research, you can decide on pricing, positioning, and marketing strategies. This is the right way to create opportunities for success.

2. Setting Realistic Goals and Objectives in Your Operational Business Plan.

To ensure the success of any work plan, it is essential to set clear and achievable aims and objectives. To do this, you must have a sense of direction and purpose. Goals should be defined in a way that makes them specific, measurable, attainable, relevant, and time-bound. When defining goals and objectives for your company, it's important to consider its core strengths and weaknesses, trends in the market, and industry standards. Setting attainable goals and objectives can motivate your team, keep track of progress, and make any necessary changes.

3. Building Plans and Techniques to Reach Your Objectives.

After you have identified your target and objectives, the next thing to do is develop the strategies and tactics to help you achieve these goals. Strategies are the broad approaches that tell you how you will attain your goals, while tactics are the specific actions or initiatives you will take to support those strategies. In strategy and tactics of development, consider your market segment, competitive advantages and resources, and market trends. By doing so, you can produce a comprehensive and well-thought-out action plan.

4. Creating an Organizational Structure and Assigning Responsibilities.

The operational business plan requires a well-defined organizational structure, and roles and responsibilities must be clearly defined. As a result of such an approach, people from all company positions unanimously know their role. While developing an organizational structure, establish the optimal size of the company, the complexity of the production, and the skills and needs of your employees. Closely define the reporting lines, generate communication channels, and share the responsibility to roll out smooth operations and make the staff accountable.

5. Financial Analysis and Budgeting in Your Operational Business Plan.

Financial analysis and budgeting are the key features of an operational plan of action. They guide you in your business's profitability and break-even point determination, investment allocation, and monitoring performance. Perform a financial statement analysis by investigating your earning streams, expenses, break-even points, and cash flow. Bring this information to learn how to create a realistic budget that matches your priorities and objectives. Make it a point to periodically assess and revise your financial projections to ensure that, from a financial standpoint, your business remains stable and on track.

6. Implementing and Monitoring Your Operational Business Plan.

To make your operational business plan successful, you need full communication, execution well, and continuous control. Communicate the plan to your team so everyone understands their roles and contributions. Create a set of key performance indicators (KPIs) to help you track progress and monitor them regularly to ensure you hit your targets. Monitor market conditions, customer feedback, and performance metrics to identify problems and adjust appropriately. Consistently deliver information on the achieved milestones and result in positive outcomes.

7. Updating and Reviewing Your Operational Business Plan.

An operational business plan is a dynamic document that requires constant updating and review. When your business is going through changes and markets are expanding and contracting, it is wise to audit and update your plan. Make sure to carve out time to review the main plan at least once yearly, if needed. Assess your strategies and tactics to see if they need adjustment, update the financial projections, and implement any further revisions. By constantly revising and monitoring your operational business plan, you can make it widely applicable and efficient in achieving your business success.

Common Mistakes to Avoid in Operational Business Planning

An operational business plan constitutes detailed work and an advanced strategic approach. Nevertheless, frequent mistakes often obstruct the implementation and may prevent the plan’s success.

Avoiding mistakes in operational business planning is worthwhile, as it can facilitate the development of more effective and sustainable strategies. Through creating specific goals, keeping risks low, designing realistic financial projections, planning the implementation, and monitoring progress, businesses can greatly increase their success potential and achieve their long-term objectives. Look for some key pitfalls to avoid when building a successful operational business plan.

1. Inadequate Definition of Goals.

If definite and attainable goals are specified, the organization will be in a state of haze and clarity. Establishing clear, specific, measurable, attainable, relevant, and time-bound (SMART) goals is vital to staying focused on achieving the overall objectives of the business plan.

2. Inadequate Market Research.

Ignoring market research can lead to poor estimations about buyers’ expectations, market tendencies, and competitors’ strategies. Thorough market research is essential in an organization's branding since it gives the management the knowledge they need to make good decisions and develop good strategies.

3. Overlooking Risk Management.

Neglecting to recognize and address risks can leave the business vulnerable to unexpectedly challenging situations or disruptions. Integrating risk management strategies into the business plan mitigates risks and enhances resilience.

4. Unrealistic Financial Projections.

Financial mismanagement can occur from overly optimistic financial projections, damaging the business plan's credibility and implementation. Financial projections must rely on credible data, anticipated plausible outcomes, and lower probable estimations.

5. Planning Implementation.

A zero focus on the implementation plan indicates that execution will likely fail. A practical implementation strategy, including timelines, tasks, assignments, and resources, is necessary for the plan to be successful.

6. Lack of Monitoring and Failure to Respond Accordingly.

Failure to monitor progress and manage changes that arise after implementing the business plan will likely result in missed opportunities or inefficient strategies. The major performance indicators (KPIs) should be routinely monitored and evaluated to adjust and refine them for continuous betterment.

Wrapping Up,

To sum up, building a working operational business plan is an inseparable part of a successful business strategy. In doing so, you’ll have a detailed strategy that fits your expectations, explains your goals, and indicates direction for progress. It is essential to conduct thorough market research, have feasible goals, objectives, strategies, and tactics, build the organizational structure, analyze the financials, implement and control the plan, and constantly update and review it.

Frequently Asked Questions

1. what is a business plan for the operations.

A business plan to implement operations includes the company's daily procedures and strategies to realize its strategic goals. It portrays how these operational areas, including production, marketing, finance, and human resource management, will support the business goals.

2. Why is a business operating plan important?

A complete business plan indicates who will do what and helps the company achieve its strategic goals. It strengthens efficiency, minimizes risks, and guides decision-making to ensure the strategy moves in the right direction.

3. What are the main parts of the operational guide?

The main components include mission, vision, operational strategies, organizational structure, resource allocation, performance metrics, risk management, and contingency alternatives.

4. What steps involve drawing up an operational business plan?

The business creates operational planning by

• Comparing current organizational status and goal setting as well as strategy development
• Resource allocation and implementation,
• Re-rolling to results and changing the environment.

5. How often should businesses revise and amend their operational plans?

The operational business plan should undergo a periodic review and revision, usually every quarter or annually, to keep it in line with the changes in market conditions, business priorities, and internal issues. Periodic reviews are imperative for keeping up-to-date with the dynamics and consistency in realizing business goals.

• Grasshopper

Operations Plan

• Lesson Materials Operations Plan Worksheet
• Completion time About 40 minutes

The operations section of your business plan is where you explain – in detail – you company's objectives, goals, procedures, and timeline. An operations plan is helpful for investors, but it's also helpful for you and employees because it pushes you to think about tactics and deadlines.

In the previous course, you outlined your company's strategic plan, which answers questions about your business mission. An operational plan outlines the steps you'll take to complete your business mission.

Your operations plan should be able to answer the following:

• Who – The personnel or departments who are in charge of completing specific tasks.
• What – A description of what each department is responsible for.
• Where – The information on where daily operations will be taking place.
• When –The deadlines for when the tasks and goals are to be completed.
• How much – The cost amount each department needs to complete their tasks.

In this session, we explain each item to include in your operations plan.

Goals and Objectives

The key to an operations plan is having a clear objective and goal everyone is focused on completing. In this section of your plan, you'll clearly state what your company's operational objective is.

Your operational objective is different than your company's overall objective. In Course One , you fleshed out what your strategic objective was. Your operational objective explains how you intend to complete your strategic objective.

In order to create an efficient operational objective, think SMART:

• Specific – Be clear on what you want employees to achieve.
• Measurable – Be able to quantify the goal in order to track progress.
• Attainable & Realistic – It's great to be ambitious but make sure you aren't setting your team up for failure. Create a goal that everyone is motivated to complete with the resources available.
• Timely – Provide a deadline so everyone has a date they are working towards.

Different departments will have different operational objectives. However, each department objective should help the company reach the main objective. In addition, operational objectives change; the objectives aren't intended to be permanents or long term. The timeline should be scheduled with your company's long-term goals in mind.

Let's look at the following example for a local pizza business objective:

• Strategic objective : To deliver pizza all over Eastern Massachusetts.
• Technology department operational objective : To create a mobile app by January 2017 to offer a better user experience.
• Marketing department operational objective : To increase website visitors by 50% by January 2017 by advertising on radio, top local food websites, and print ads.
• Sales department operational objective : To increase delivery sales by 30%, by targeting 3 of Massachusetts's largest counties.

Sales department operational objective: To increase delivery sales by 30%, by targeting 3 of Massachusetts's largest counties.

Production Process

After you create your objectives, you have to think strategically on how you're going to meet them. In order to do this, each department (or team) needs to have all the necessary resources for the production process.

Resources you should think about include the following:

• Suppliers – do you have a supplier (or more) to help you produce your product?
• Technology team: app developing software
• Marketing team: software licenses for website analytical tools
• Sales team: headsets, phone systems or virtual phone system technology
• Cost – what is the budget for each department?

In addition to the production process, you'll also need to describe in detail your operating process. This will demonstrate to investors that you know exactly how you want your business to run on a day-to-day basis.

Items to address include:

• Location – where are employees working? Will you need additional facilities?
• Work hours – will employees have a set schedule or flexible work schedule?
• Personnel – who is in charge of making sure department tasks are completed?

Creating a timeline with milestones is important for your new business. It keeps everyone focused and is a good tracking method for efficiency. For instance, if milestones aren’t being met, you'll know that it's time to re-evaluate your production process or consider new hires.

Below are common milestones new businesses should plan for.

When you completed your Management Plan Worksheet in the previous course, you jotted down which key hires you needed right away and which could wait. Make sure you have a good idea on when you would like those key hires to happen; whether it’s after your company hits a certain revenue amount or once a certain project takes off.

Production Milestones

Production milestones keep business on track. These milestones act as "checkpoints" for your overall department objectives. For instance, if you want to create a new app by the end of the year, product milestones you outline might include a beta roll out, testing, and various version releases.

Other product milestones to keep in mind:

• Design phase
• Product prototype phase
• Product launch
• Version release

Market Milestones

Market milestones are important for tracking efficiency and understanding whether your operations plan is working. For instance, a possible market milestone could be reaching a certain amount of clients or customers after a new product or service is released.

A few other market milestones to consider:

• Gain a certain amount of users/clients by a certain time
• Signing partnerships
• Running a competitive analysis
• Performing a price change evaluation

Financial Milestones

Financial milestones are important for tracking business performance. It's likely that a board of directors or investors will work with you on creating financial milestones. In addition, in startups, it's common that financial milestones are calculated for 12 months.

Typical financial milestones include:

• Funding events
• Revenue and profit goals
• Transaction goals

In summary, your operations plan gives you the chance to show investors you know how you want your business to run. You know who you want to hire, where you want to work, and when you expect projects to be completed.

Download the attached worksheet and start putting your timelines and milestones together on paper.

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How to Master Operational Planning: A Practical Approach

Navigating the complex landscape of business success requires more than just a grand vision. While strategic planning sets the course, it’s the operational plan that truly steers the ship. This crucial component bridges the gap between lofty aspirations and daily realities, transforming abstract goals into concrete actions. Operational planning serves as the backbone of organizational efficiency. It’s the process that breathes life into strategies, providing a clear roadmap for teams to follow. By breaking down overarching objectives into manageable tasks, it ensures that every team member understands their role in the bigger picture.

But operational planning isn’t just about task allocation. It’s a dynamic framework that adapts to challenges, aligns resources, and keeps everyone moving in the same direction. In essence, it’s the secret ingredient that turns strategic dreams into tangible results, making it an indispensable tool for any business aiming for sustainable success.

What is Operational Planning?

Operational planning is the execution of a strategic plan, creating a series of team-based activities that support it. It involves mapping out daily, weekly, and monthly operations to ensure that an organization achieves its long-term objectives. Essentially, operational planning turns high-level goals into actionable steps that guide the daily activities of every department within a company.

Operational planning is crucial because it aligns the actions of different teams and departments with the organization’s strategic goals. This alignment ensures that every activity supports the company’s broader objectives, optimizing resource use and increasing efficiency. Effective operational planning clarifies roles, reduces redundancy, and helps track progress in real-time, enabling teams to pivot quickly when challenges arise.

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Tactical vs. Operational vs. Strategic Planning

Operational planning is often compared to other types of planning, such as tactical and strategic planning. Here’s a quick overview:

Tactical Planning: Focuses on the short-term actions and initiatives that achieve strategic goals. Tactical plans are more granular and detail the “how” of executing strategies.

Operational Planning: Addresses the day-to-day operations required to run the organization efficiently. It translates strategic objectives into specific, actionable tasks with timelines and resource allocations.

Strategic Planning: Defines the long-term vision and goals of an organization over a period of 1-3 years. It outlines the high-level strategies required to achieve these goals.

Strategic planning doesn’t stand alone; It’s dependent on flawless operational and tactical planning. Together, these planning types ensure coherent execution from the overarching vision down to the smallest daily tasks. For more details on the difference between strategy and planning, check out our guide on strategic vs tactical planning .

Keys to effective operational planning include incorporating the use of strategic planning tools like Strategic Planning Tools , and creating detailed action plans for daily operations. This interconnectedness facilitates holistic planning and efficient execution.

Strategic Planning: An Overview

Strategic planning is the process of defining long-term business goals and determining the best strategies to achieve them. Typically spanning one to three years, strategic plans provide a macro view of the organization’s future. They focus on high-level objectives such as market expansion, product development, and revenue growth, offering a comprehensive roadmap for where the business aspires to be in the upcoming years.

Operational Planing VS Strategic Planning

While both operational and strategic planning are essential, they serve different purposes. Strategic planning lays out the long-term vision and overarching goals. In contrast, operational planning zeroes in on the short-term actions and procedures necessary to achieve these strategic objectives on a day-to-day basis. The operational plan breaks down the high-level goals into manageable tasks, ensuring that each department and team knows their role in the bigger picture.

Strategic Planning Tools: Provides solutions to map out long-term strcategies.

Operational Planning: Turns these strategies into actionable steps aligned with daily business activities.

For businesses to succeed, it is crucial to align both strategic and operational plans. An effective operational plan operationalizes strategic goals, ensuring all efforts are coherent and directed towards the organization’s vision. This alignment also helps in identifying resource requirements, setting feasible timelines, and fostering team collaboration.

Benefits of Operational Planning

Effective operational planning offers a range of advantages for organizations, aligning daily operations with long-term strategic goals. Here are some of the key benefits:

Provides Clarity: A well-drafted operational plan sheds light on the company’s goals, ensuring that each team member understands their role in achieving them. It offers a clear roadmap, defining tasks, responsibilities, and deadlines, which contributes to efficient task execution and team alignment.

Comprehensive Guide for Day-to-Day Activities: By outlining specific activities, timelines, and resource allocations, operational planning serves as a practical guide for daily, weekly, and monthly operations. This helps in maintaining consistency in performance and workflow, making sure that everyone knows their tasks and priorities. To learn how to master your day to day activities check out our guide on how to write an action plan .

Avoids Teams Going Off Track: Operational planning prevents ambiguity and distractions that could derail the project. By defining and assigning specific roles and responsibilities, it helps in keeping the teams focused and oriented towards the strategic goals, minimizing the chances of tasks slipping through the cracks.

These benefits underscore the necessity of integrating robust operational planning into your business strategy. Utilizing tools like Creately’s visual work management platform can greatly enhance the planning process. Creately offers features such as data-linked templates, real-time dashboards, and collaboration tools, which ensure that planning, tracking, and executing tasks become streamlined and effective. By leveraging these tools, organizations can not only plan meticulously but also monitor progress and adapt to changes promptly.

What to Include in Operational Planning

Building an effective operational plan requires including several essential components. These elements act as the foundation for guiding daily activities and ensuring successful execution of strategic goals. Here are the key elements to consider:

Executive Summary: A concise overview of the entire plan, providing quick insights for stakeholders.

Operational Budget: A detailed breakdown of expected costs and revenues, which is crucial for ensuring resource availability without overspending.

Objectives: Clearly defined operational objectives that align with the strategic goals of the organization.

Processes and Workflows: Well-documented processes and workflows that outline the tasks and resources needed to achieve the objectives.

Timeline: An operational timeline to coordinate the duration for executing business operations efficiently.

Hiring Plan: A plan detailing skills gaps and steps to acquire necessary human resources.

Quality Assurance and Control: Implementing procedures to meet regulatory compliance and ensure quality standards.

Risk Management: Identifying potential risks, assumptions, and constraints that may impact the plan, along with mitigation strategies.

KPIs: Key Performance Indicators to measure and track the productivity and success of business operations.

Detailed Breakdown of Essential Components of Operational Planning

For a deeper understanding, let’s break down some of these components:

For those looking to streamline the process, using a operation planning gantt chart can simplify complex procedures and save time by providing predefined structures for various jobs.

Step-by-Step Operational Planning Process

Step 1: create a strategic plan.

Before delving into the specifics of daily operations, it’s crucial to establish a comprehensive strategic plan. This foundational step provides the long-term vision and goals that will guide your more detailed planning. The strategic planning process encompasses four key steps: first, determine your current position; second, develop your strategy; third, build your strategic plan; and finally, share, monitor, and manage your strategic plan. Each of these steps plays a vital role in creating a robust framework for your organization’s future.

Step 2: Set Goals

Next, set clear, actionable goals that align with your organization’s overarching strategic objectives. Involving your team in the goal-setting process ensures that the goals are realistic and achievable. Remember to make your goals SMART (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-bound) to provide a clear direction.

Step 3: Develop Action Plans

Action plans are essential for converting strategic objectives into daily activities. Define the tasks, allocate responsibilities, and set timelines to ensure that each aspect of the project is covered.

Step 4: Allocate Resources

Effective resource allocation ensures that your team has the necessary tools, budget, and personnel to complete their tasks. Review your operational budgeting to distribute resources efficiently and ensure that each department has what it needs to succeed.

Step 5: Monitor Progress

Regular monitoring is crucial for keeping the project on track. Use Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) and real-time dashboards to measure progress and performance. This helps identify any deviations from the plan early, allowing for timely adjustments.

Step 6: Revise the Plan

The final step is to revise the plan as needed. Operational plans should be flexible to accommodate changes and unexpected challenges. Make adjustments based on performance data, and continuously involve your team to ensure that the plan remains relevant and effective.

By following these steps, you can create a robust operational plan that drives your organization toward its strategic goals while maintaining efficiency and accountability.

Encouraging Team Collaboration

Ensuring team buy-in and collaboration is crucial for the success of an operational plan. When team members are actively involved in the planning process, they are more likely to take ownership of their tasks and responsibilities, ultimately leading to better execution. Use collaborative tools and platforms to facilitate communication and ensure everyone is on the same page.

Common Challenges in Operational Planning

Identifying common challenges.

Even with a thorough approach, operational planning comes with its share of challenges. Common issues include:

Human errors : Mistakes are inevitable but can significantly disrupt plans if not identified and corrected swiftly.

Poor cross-functional collaboration: Teams working in silos can lead to misaligned objectives and delayed project timelines.

Ineffective task coordination: Without a robust framework, tasks can become mismanaged, causing bottlenecks and reduced productivity.

Resistance to change: Employees may be reluctant to adopt new processes, impacting overall efficiency.

Strategies to Overcome Planning Hurdles

To tackle these challenges head-on, consider implementing the following strategies:

Real-time dashboards : Utilize tools like Creately’s strategic planning tools and templates to monitor progress and quickly identify areas needing attention.

Collaboration tools: Encourage cross-functional collaboration by using platforms that offer real-time communication features, such as integrated video calls and live commenting.

Clear communication channels: Establish regular check-ins and update meetings to keep everyone on the same page.

Training and support: Offer ongoing training sessions to help teams adapt to new methodologies and tools efficiently.

By adopting these strategies and leveraging technology, organizations can minimize disruptions and keep their operational planning on track. Utilizing platforms like Creately can provide the necessary tools to streamline processes, improve task coordination, and enhance overall productivity.

Adapting Plans Based on Feedback

Flexibility is key to accommodating changes and unforeseen challenges. Regular reviews and feedback sessions allow teams to reassess their operational plans and make necessary revisions. For example, if a specific strategy isn’t yielding expected results, teams can pivot and allocate resources to more promising areas.

Case studies highlight the importance of adaptability in operational planning. For instance, a company facing supply chain disruptions might revise its plan by diversifying suppliers and adjusting procurement strategies to maintain production schedules. Such proactive measures ensure that the operational plan remains viable and effective under changing conditions.

To effectively monitor and revise operational plans, businesses can benefit from tools offered by Creately’s smart visual work management platform. With templates, real-time dashboards, and collaboration tools, teams can streamline their planning processes, enhance efficiency, and improve overall outcomes.

How Creately Improves Operational Planning

Operational planning is crucial to achieving strategic goals, and leveraging technology can take your planning process to the next level. Our smart visual work management platform, Creately, is designed to simplify operational planning, making it more efficient for teams and individuals involved in project management, HR planning, IT infrastructure, and beyond.

Creately is more than just a visual tool; it’s a comprehensive platform that connects ideas, people, and data. This makes it the perfect solution for operational planning, allowing for seamless collaboration and ensuring all team members are on the same page. With Creately, planning becomes a visual and dynamic process, helping you stay focused on your business objectives.

Templates and Dashboards : Our platform offers various strategic planning templates and real-time dashboards that streamline complex workflows. These tools make it easy to manage operational plans, track progress, and adjust strategies as needed.

Enhanced Collaboration: Real-time collaboration tools ensure that every team member can contribute effectively. Whether you’re performing tactical planning, operational budgeting, or aligning with strategic planning, our platform facilitates smooth communication and coordination.

Visual Work Management: The visual nature of Creately helps teams to understand the relationships between different tasks and processes. This clarity aids in resource allocation, timeline management, and ensures that everyone is moving in the same direction.

Flexibility and Adaptability: Our platform is designed to adapt to your changing needs. For instance, you can easily revise operational plans based on real-time data and feedback, ensuring your team can pivot and respond to new challenges swiftly.

By leveraging these tools, companies have seen marked improvements in project outcomes, resource management, and overall team productivity.

Join over thousands of organizations that use Creately to brainstorm, plan, analyze, and execute their projects successfully.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) about Operational Planning

How does operational planning differ from business planning, can small businesses benefit from operational planning, how does operational planning impact employee productivity, how does tactical planning fit into the operational planning process, what’s the relationship between an operational plan and a business plan, how does operational budgeting differ from other types of budgeting, how do long-term and short-term planning intersect in operational planning, more related articles.

Chiraag George is a communication specialist here at Creately. He is a marketing junkie that is fascinated by how brands occupy consumer mind space. A lover of all things tech, he writes a lot about the intersection of technology, branding and culture at large.

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Operational Planning

Operational planning definition.

What does operational planning mean? Operational planning is a process that involves creating a detailed roadmap to align with a strategic plan.

The operational plan itself is a document that outlines timelines, action items, and critical milestones for executing the strategic plan. This document defines the organization’s objectives and goals and clarifies how to achieve them.

An operational planning process involves examining how a business operates and laying out who’s responsible for what and when.

Remember, every company approaches this differently, and annual operational plans are constantly updated or changed. The key to making it work? Clear and collaborative communication.

The timeframe to execute a plan typically depends on an organization’s velocity. For example, creating an annual operational plan is a fluid, changing process.

A well-conceived business operational plan keeps team members collaborating smoothly, ensures everyone knows what needs to be done and what their part is, and guides critical decisions about long-term strategy.

Critical steps of operational planning

Clearly define the goal or vision for the operational plan.

Analyze and identify essential business stakeholders, team members, budgets, and resources.

1. Clearly define the goal or vision for the operational plan.

2. Analyze and identify essential business stakeholders, team members, budgets, and resources.

3. Accurately plan for risk.

4. Consistently track performance.

5. Communicate to team members and stakeholders about progress.

6. Adapt the operational plan to broader company goals as needed.

What Is Operational Planning?

Operational planning faqs, what is operational planning.

What is operational planning for the business? Operational planning in business entails a team or department working to carry out a strategic plan. It’s a forward-looking process that outlines departmental goals, resources, and budget to ensure team-based activities align with the strategic plan.

Effective operational business plans rely on the commitment of the entire team or department. This buy-in ensures issues are promptly reported, goals are identified, timelines are adhered to, and business collaboration is optimized.

When there’s transparent communication between the finance department and the rest of the business, operational plans become even more efficient in driving the organization toward its objectives.

Examples of operational planning:

• A manufacturing company is developing a plan to boost revenue by 30%.
• Finance collaborating with sales, marketing, operations management, and other vital areas to align strategies supporting revenue growth and achieving business goals.
• A brand planning to launch a new product involves market research, R&D, manufacturing, supply chain, logistics, distribution, sales, marketing, and customer support.

Why is Operational Planning Important?

Just as a roadmap helps you navigate a physical journey, an operational plan guides your organization on its path to success.

Everyone on the team can refer to a single source of truth to understand the organization’s direction and how their roles contribute to achieving the overall goals. An operational plan is a living document that should be reviewed and updated regularly. It should be adaptable to changing circumstances and also provide stability and direction for your organization.

What are the Benefits of Operational Planning?

As we said, think of operational planning as the roadmap that keeps your business on the right track, regardless of size.

One of the most significant advantages of operational planning is getting everyone on the same page, working together like a well-oiled machine to reach your strategic company goals.

Operational planning helps leadership define responsibilities, daily tasks, and activities in detail. It also shows how team members support overall department and organizational goals and describes outcomes to measure against daily tasks.

It also boosts team productivity. Operational planning enhances efficiency, productivity, and profits by ensuring employees in each department and across the company know their daily responsibilities and objectives.

Here are some of the benefits of having a robust operational plan:

• Improved communication: An operational plan ensures everyone understands the organization’s goals and priorities.
• Increased efficiency: An operational plan streamlines your organization’s operations and improves its efficiency.
• Reduced risk: An operational plan allows organizations to identify and mitigate risks.
• Enhanced decision-making: An operational plan can help your organization make better decisions by providing a framework for evaluating different options.
• Improved accountability: An operational plan can hold your organization accountable for its performance.

Remember, operational plans are built by humans and are susceptible to human error. But when you weigh the pros against the cons, it’s clear that all organizations benefit from an operational plan in place to support growth.

Who is Responsible for Operational Planning?

Typically, an operational plan lives in the realm of middle management — in contrast to the C-suite’s strategic plan.

Operational plans have a narrower scope and focus on routine tasks that continuously evolve. Changes to the strategic plan are typically less frequent compared to operational plans.

There are several factors to consider when determining who creates operational plans: <H3>

• Scope. An operational plan is laser-focused on the initiative itself and the team, ensuring the scope is manageable. It should include the “who, what, and when” for every activity.
• Timeline . The duration of an operational plan can vary depending on the organization’s speed and velocity. It can cover a quarter, six months, or a fiscal year.
• Stakeholders. To accurately plan the work, involve operational planning stakeholders who are close to the work. Finance, in particular, plays a vital role in aligning tactical details with strategic execution.

Strategic Planning vs Operational Planning

Strategic, tactical, and operational planning are distinct yet interconnected processes organizations use to achieve their goals. Each level of planning has a specific focus and timeframe.

Let’s look at each type of plan in detail.

What is a strategic plan?

A strategic plan describes an organization’s high-level goals, long-term vision, and mission, usually over the next three to five years.

This type of plan also details any significant projects or initiatives that must happen to meet this vision and how the organization will broadly measure the goals.

A strategic plan provides a big-picture view of the organization’s direction and broad objectives. In other words, it’s a visionary plan that doesn’t address the steps needed to achieve them.

What is an operational plan?

An operational plan (also known as an operation plan, work plan, or operations plan) is a detailed outline of what a team or department will focus on in the immediate future, typically within the upcoming year.

The operational plan answers questions about weekly goals, tasks, and responsibilities, ensuring alignment with the organization’s strategic goals and mission.

What is a tactical plan?

A tactical plan maps out the steps an organization or team must take after creating their strategic and operational plans.

It involves breaking down strategic and operational plans into smaller, more manageable goals and objectives.

Tactical plans define the steps and actions needed to achieve the desired outcomes.

Critical differences between strategic planning, operational planning, and tactical planning

• Strategic plans focus on long-term goals and the overall direction of the organization.
• Operational plans focus on short-term, day-to-day activities and implementation.
• Tactical plans bridge the gap between strategic and operational planning, ensuring that the goals outlined in the strategic plan are achievable through specific actions.

The Best Plan for Your Team

Remember, strategic, tactical, and operational planning work together to ensure organizations have a clear and actionable roadmap for achieving their goals.

Strategic planning is essential for setting the long-term direction, while operational planning is crucial for executing day-to-day activities. Tactical planning can break down goals into smaller, achievable steps.

What is the Operational Planning Process?

Remember these best practices and operational planning techniques when building an operational planning cycle.

Research and Identify Goals

The goal of an operational plan is to address foundational questions.

Start by reviewing your strategic plan. Ask yourself, “How will our actions shape our organization?”

From there, consider the following factors:

1. Resources. What is your operating budget? How does it compare to previous years?

2. Staffing. Do you have enough talent to achieve your goals? How do you want to grow your workforce over one, two, and three years?

3. Tools. What operational planning methodology will you use to carry out your plan? What are the operational planning tools you will use?

4. Team alignment. Have you effectively communicated your organization’s vision for the future to your team members?

5. Performance benchmarks. How will you measure progress?

6. Prioritize feedback. Be willing to accept feedback and adjust the operational plan as necessary.

Visualize the Operational Plan

To bring your operational plan to life, you must clearly articulate it to your team.

Project management software can offer all stakeholders a high-level view of tasks and progress. Identify which operational business planning techniques and tools will best achieve the organization’s goals.

Operational planning software can be a valuable asset throughout the process.

Assign People and Budget

In operational planning, budgeting involves assigning tasks and allocating resources to team members to achieve specific financial goals.

Each budget item should align with the strategic objectives outlined in the operational plan, with corresponding timelines and deliverables.

Tracking and Informing Progress

To ensure effective monitoring and progress reporting, establish a reporting system that aligns with the goals, targets, deliverables, resource allocation, and timetables outlined in the operational plan.

This reporting process allows stakeholders to provide regular feedback on the plan’s implementation and track advancements toward achieving the desired outcomes.

Adjust the Operational Plan as Needed

The most effective operational plans can identify areas for improvement. The team can then strategically adjust the plan, involve additional members, and proceed toward the next benchmark with a refined approach.

What Should Operational Planning Include?

No two operational plans are alike. What is consistent across plans is that the primary goal is to create a functional operational plan that aligns with the organization’s mission and strategic plan.

A clearly defined operational plan ensures that every manager and employee understands their specific responsibilities and the methods and timing of their execution.

Here are key elements of an operational plan:

• A title page. This summarizes the operational plan.
• An executive summary. This provides a few sentences with a rough idea of the overall plan and its primary sections.
• Mission statement. A clear and concise statement of your organization’s purpose and values.
• Vision statement. A description of what your organization will achieve. This will come from your strategic plan.
• Goals and KPIs. Specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound objectives your organization wants to achieve.
• Timeline. A schedule of when your organization plans to achieve its goals and objectives.
• Financial summary. A detailed plan of how your organization will allocate its financial resources.
• Hiring plan. Determine how many monthly/quarterly team members to hire across different departments.
• Strategies. The methods your organization will use to achieve its goals.
• Tactics. The specific actions your organization will take to implement its strategies.
• Key assumptions and risks. Provide a risk analysis to mitigate issues before they arise.
• Metrics. The measures your organization will use to track its progress and evaluate its success.
• Next steps. Suggest next steps, if any.

Learn more: Download our annual planning checklist to ensure you cover all the essential bases.

What are the Steps to Build an Operational Plan?

Operational planning aims to create a practical plan that supports existing strategic goals, not to generate new ones.

Like project planning, operational planning is never a one-and-done task but a continuous process.

Here are the steps you need to get started:

1. Start with a strategic plan

Before diving into operational details, establish the long-term vision and goals through a strategic plan.

The leadership team should create and monitor the strategic plan, making necessary adjustments.

2. Sharpen the scope

Narrow down the operational plan’s scope to a specific department, team, or focus area.

Start big with the strategic plan, then narrow down to the operational plan. From there, focus on the tactical areas you need to see your plan through — in other words, a supporting action plan.

3. Identify key stakeholders

Before executing the operational plan, it’s crucial to recognize the key stakeholders involved in the operational planning process.

These team members play a vital role in leading and informing others. Identifying these team members in advance ensures effective communication and successful execution of the operational plan.

4. Create the operational plan

Your operational plan outlines the timeframe for achieving specific goals and presents the team’s actions. It must include objectives, deliverables, quality standards (if any), desired outcomes, operating budget, staffing and resource requirements, and progress and monitoring information.

5. Share the operational plan

Share the operational plan with key stakeholders so they understand mission-critical goals and the daily tasks that support them.

Track progress in real-time for best results. This also allows you to update the operational plan and report on progress to team members and stakeholders as needed.

Does Planful Help With Operational Planning?

Absolutely! Planful’s Financial Performance Management platform seamlessly integrates the demand for structured planning in finance with the business’s need for dynamic planning.

With Planful, you can create collaborative financial plans that align resources with strategic goals. Planful also automates the data collection process for operational planning, saving you from a time-consuming, manual process.

The platform’s agility enables you to adapt and pivot quickly in response to changing business conditions. You can reliably model numerous scenarios and effortlessly convert annual plans into quarterly or monthly rolling forecasts, all tailored to the organization’s current requirements.

Learn more about Planful’s Operational Planning solution .

Get Started with Planful

Operational Planning Guide for SaaS Companies (With Examples)

Joe Garafalo

Founder and COO

The 2024 Financial Planning Blueprint

When building plans for your SaaS company, it’s easy enough for finance to come up with strategic business goals — a revenue increase of 25%, a phased roll-out of new product features in Q3 and Q4, or a 1% reduction in customer churn each month. The hard part? Determining whether or not these company goals are realistic .

Does your org have the capacity to achieve the goals it has set? If not, will it be able to expand its capacity fast enough, all while ensuring new expenses don’t overrun revenue growth and shorten your cash runway to dangerous levels?

Answering questions like these is the purpose of operational planning and the bread and butter of your org’s short- and long-term strategy. Operational planning revolves around building financial models that track progress toward your goals, helping you create strategies that get you from A to Z in the most efficient way possible.

While efficiency and tight resource allocation are key to strategic finance , the best operational business plans leave room for flexibility, allowing the org to respond to crises or changes in the SaaS landscape while still remaining on track toward those goals.

Table of Contents

What Is Operational Planning?

Operational planning is the process of setting budgets and goals on a departmental level within your company. It transforms your annual strategic plan into a week-by-week, day-by-day roadmap for specific departments like sales, marketing, and customer success to follow.

Since operational planning works at the departmental level, it’s best to use a bottom-up approach. As opposed to a top-down approach, a bottom-up approach involves working with departmental heads, asking them questions about workflows or specific line items and how they contribute to the success of the operational plan.

This benefits the company in two ways: first, finance can optimize resource allocation based on leaders’ unique knowledge of their departmental workflows. Second, by involving everyone in the planning process, it increases buy-in and commitment. You have a collaborative game plan where team members understand how their daily activities are contributing to strategic objectives.

Operational Planning vs. Strategic Planning

The most obvious difference between operational and strategic planning is scale, with strategic planning considering the big picture, and operational planning more focused on the day-to-day.

A strategic plan includes your overarching, annual goals — they’re your long-term vision, the goals the whole company is working towards. Operational plans, on the other hand, are specifically built for individual departments. They’re the division of those long-term annual goals into smaller, achievable milestones that highlight the relevant stakeholders and detail things like resource requirements and timeframe.

So, operational and strategic planning are two sides of the same “ operational finance ” coin. The challenge is building realistic operational plans to understand what’s actually achievable within a fiscal year. When finance can build a deep understanding of departmental workflows, they can construct strategic and operational plans with the perfect rhythm, and that’s when your org really starts to see results.

Operational Planning Examples

So, what does an operational plan look like? Let’s say a SaaS company aims to increase revenue by 20% over the course of one year.

To build your operational plan, you’ll need to determine what each relevant department will have to do — and how many resources they’ll need — to achieve this. How many conversions will the sales team need to make each month? What are staffing requirements? What about marketing initiatives? Which channels will be prioritized based on the amount of new customers required?

Another example of operational planning would be to retain customer loyalty by adding new product features. How many engineers will you need?

The best way to answer business operations questions like these is with robust, data-driven financial models. To get a clear sense of why, let’s break it down and look at the key elements of a successful operational planning process.

5 Key Components of Effective Operational Planning

Key components of operational planning include:

• Defining realistic goals
• Allocating resources to those goals
• Building out an achievable timeline
• Collaboration
• Flexibility

The first three involve the construction of the plan, while inter-departmental collaboration helps secure the necessary details as well as company-wide buy-in. Flexibility, the final component, allows finance leaders to alter the plan if the assumptions it was built on change.

1. Clear, Realistic Goals

The first thing you’ll need for your operational plan is a clear, strategic, number-based goal. Common goals for SaaS companies include reducing customer churn, increasing revenue, or increasing market share.

Get an exact number and, as mentioned, use financial models to determine if it’s realistic. For example, let’s say the strategic goal your company decides on is to increase revenue by 20%. Why 20%, not 25% or 30%?

Because, using your financial model, you’ve determined that revenue won’t grow fast enough to make up for the money you’d need to pay for the increase in headcount required to hit a 25% increase in revenue. 20% is your sweet spot — your strategic goal that’ll guide your operational plans.

Get the SaaS Financial Model Template

2. proper allocation of resources.

Once you’ve decided on a goal, it’s time to build a strategic budget .

Especially in the early stages, most SaaS companies don’t have a huge amount of resources. In an environment where employees have to wear many hats, a well-designed operational plan is built with an understanding of how specific resource allocation correlates with specific results.

In other words, the best operational plans are driver-based. A driver-based plan ties your business drivers to specific key performance indicators (KPIs). For example, the key driver for revenue growth is the number of sales reps, while for customer acquisition , it’s marketing spend.

Get a head-start on driver-based planning with a sales capacity model

Keep in mind, it’s not always necessary to increase your budget from last year. Use historical data only insofar as it contributes to your strategic goals. For instance, if historical data shows a specific marketing channel, say social media, brought in 10% of new customers, you may want to increase funding on social media to bring in 5% more new customers, to match with the number of new sales reps you’re bringing on board over the next year.

3. Timeline

Next, you’ll need to think about how each component of your operational plan will be spaced out over time. This is where you divide it into short-term goals for each department.

Continuing with the revenue example, this means modeling out how long it’ll take to grow your topline by a specific percentage. How do you do that? Since the key driver for revenue is your number of sales reps, you’ll need to consider related metrics like headcount and sales capacity planning .

Plugging these values into your financial model helps your org plan out its hiring cadence and understand how fast you can realistically grow revenue. Furthermore, this information will feed back into your operating budget.

Tools like Mosaic’s Topline Planner help you get a more exact timeline as to sales rep ramp rate , so you know how long you’ll need for that driver-based KPI — revenue growth — to hit full stride when you make a hire.

According to CJ Gustafson, CFO of PartsTech, missing the sales rep ramp rate can “totally kill your plan.” Get it right from the beginning so that you don’t have to readjust your timeframe and push back your strategic goals.

When you do headcount planning using a tool like Mosaic, you can see the effects of hiring new sales reps. You can also stagger start dates to see the effects on revenue over time.

So, let’s say hypothetically, you determine you need to add 4 new heads every quarter to meet the revenue target of 20% over a year. That’s an operational goal for HR. Using your model and based on ARR , you determine that sales reps need to secure 15 new customers each month — an operational goal for the sales department.

4. Collaboration

Buy-in is crucial for your operational plans to succeed. That means everyone needs to be “speaking the same language,” understanding how their actions are contributing to the overarching, strategic goals.

A tool like Mosaic empowers finance to act as a central hub, showing departments how they’re tracking against specific KPIs in a way that’s understandable. With customizable metrics and dashboards, everybody “gets” what they need to be doing and why they’re doing it.

5. Flexibility

So you’ve ensured your operational goal is clear and attainable, have set out an exact timeline, and have ensured buy-in and collaboration across the org.

Congrats! Your operating plan is complete. But that’s just the first step. You’ll still need to refresh it month to month by reforecasting . The idea is to continuously monitor progress so that, if necessary, you can reallocate resources. This way, whatever factors pop up will be reflected in your model, and you can readjust accordingly.

Successful Operational Planning With Mosaic

Galley , a series A startup, helps food organizations prioritize purchases and inventory based on recipes. Towards the beginning of 2022, they were successful in raising over $14 million.

But sailing wasn’t always so smooth for Galley.

Granted, they did get things started right by leveraging flexible, driver-based planning and connecting short- and long-term goals to operational metrics .

The only problem? Their driver-based planning relied on spreadsheets. Things got very complicated, very quickly.

In order to keep on top of things, Galley ended up having to pay an outside firm to create and update their spreadsheets and dashboards.

Fortunately, they quickly realized paying someone to have an outsourced model was unnecessary and began searching for a new solution. When Jason Peretz, Galley’s chief business officer, saw a Mosaic demo, he thought, “That’s what we need!” Mosaic would allow Galley to build their own financial models and dashboards by integrating directly with their systems — no more outsourced, spreadsheet-based models.

After making the switch, Galley has a clear, continuously updated view of how they’re tracking against KPIs. This allows them to stay in line with their operational goals simply by logging into the platform.

Common Pitfalls of Operational Planning and How To Avoid Them

Operational planning is no simple task. Even at a small- or medium-sized org, finance leaders have to align different departments, different mindsets, and a range of resources all on one common goal. And that leaves room for plenty of pitfalls. Awareness is the first step to avoiding them.

Lack of Alignment

First things first — your operational plans won’t get you anywhere if they don’t align with your strategic plans. Seems obvious, right? But it’s not necessarily as easy as it sounds. Use financial models to test your operational plans. See if, when you model them out, your forecasts line up with your long-term plans.

Lack of alignment can also refer to a lack of buy-in from individual departments. To get them on board, it’s best to provide easy access to relevant KPIs through a tool like Mosaic. Involve departmental heads in planning, too.

Lack of Flexibility

Predicting a year out isn’t easy. While your strategic goals may remain largely the same, your pathway to those goals — that is, your operational plan — may need to change. To keep yourself from getting tied to outdated budgets, leverage agile financial planning processes such as driver-based planning and rolling forecasts so that you can shift if needed.

Lack of Transparency

Buy-in is important for the success of your operational plan. They’re bottom-up, departmentally-based plans, after all. With a tool like Mosaic, complicated metrics and KPIs that were formerly confined to finance become a guidepost for the entire company. Team members can see how their daily actions are contributing to those goals with clear, beautiful dashboards that display complex information in an easy-to-understand way.

Lack of Clear Visibility

Especially as an early-stage SaaS company, every resource counts. Disconnected spreadsheets are not going to give you a clear, real-time view. You need a platform that integrates your working capital, cash flow from operating activities , ERP, and CRM data, to name just a few, in order to get data to key stakeholders right when they need it.

Instead of relying on templates, it’s also best to build your own financial models. That’s because free templates available on Google can be hard-coded with assumptions — assumptions that don’t reflect your unique org.

Getting Too Ambitious

We get it — startups want to grow fast. But, to save yourself a lot of pain in the future, you need to make sure that growth is sustainable.

Use financial models to see what’s realistic and what isn’t. Understand headcount costs and sales rep ramp rate to achieve the right balance between your largest expense and revenue, always keeping your cash runway in view.

Use sensitivity analysis to understand which of your business levers are most critical, then model best and worst-case scenarios.

Using Tools That Can’t Scale

When your goal is to grow, it doesn’t make sense to rely on spreadsheets in Excel. As you secure more and more customers, the amount of user and transaction data will outpace spreadsheet capacity. They’re also very prone to human error, which builds flaws into your financial models.

For operational success — not to mention your own sanity — it’s better to use tools that have built-in integrations so you can automatically consolidate data from your org’s enterprise software and financial statements.

Future-Proofing Your Operational Plan With Mosaic

For SaaS companies, a year is a long time — arguably much longer than it is for other types of companies. That’s because, in the SaaS world, things move very fast, and quite a lot can change, even quarter to quarter. Sources of funding can dry up, competition can increase, or your target audience may shift. Without the ability to pivot, your best-laid annual operating plans could be laid to waste.

That’s why it’s important to build flexibility into them right from the get-go. With an agile, resilient approach to financial modeling, Mosaic was designed with SaaS companies in mind. By combining driver-based planning with rolling forecasts , you get a moving picture of the future of your business. With 150 out-of-the-box SaaS metrics, staying on track with your operational goals has never been easier.

Create accurate rolling forecasts with real-time data

Your goal is to future-proof your plan so that, even if the market shifts, your day-to-day, week-to-week action plans can still remain on target towards your long-term, strategic goals, and you can bring your startup to the next level. Request a demo to see Mosaic in action.

Operational Planning FAQs

How does operational planning differ from strategic planning for saas companies.

The difference between strategic planning and operational planning is one of scale. Strategic planning involves building high-level, long-term goals for the company. Operational plans detail the work each department will put in month-to-month, week-to-week, or even day-to-day to help make those high-level, strategic goals a reality.

What are some common challenges in operational planning for SaaS businesses?

SaaS companies often grow quickly. This can make it difficult to keep tabs on all the data and metrics required to build successful operational models, especially if you’re relying on spreadsheets.

SaaS companies are also subject to a constantly changing landscape. High levels of competition, shifting customer preferences, and unreliable access to funding can all make it difficult to determine what to prioritize in a SaaS business strategy.

How can Mosaic help in operational planning for SaaS companies?

Successful operational planning ultimately comes down to financial models. With a catalog of over 150 SaaS metrics, Mosaic helps you benchmark driver-based financial models that guide daily tasks and decision-making.

For SaaS companies, it’s critical that operational plans remain flexible. Mosaic helps you do this by simplifying driver-based planning and helping you build continuously updating rolling forecasts tied to your objectives.

Related Content

• 9 Financial Dashboard Examples for Strategic Decision Making
• How to Use AI for Business Financial Planning
• Revenue Forecasting Guide: 4 Models For Planning Your Top Line

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Learn how to do operational planning the right way

Some of this planning will be developed yearly—things like your yearly objectives and key results, for example, will naturally grow as time goes on. But to make sure you’re staying on track and executing against your long-term goals, you need an operational plan. 

What is operational planning?

Operational planning is the process of turning your strategic plan into a detailed map that outlines exactly what action your team will take on a weekly, or sometimes even daily, basis. An operational plan will include action items and milestones that each team or department needs to complete in order to execute your strategic plan. 

During the operational planning process, outline each team or person’s responsibilities for the next quarter, six months, or fiscal year. The level of detail and timeline you select for your operational plan should depend on how quickly your organization typically moves—if you’re a fast-paced team with an accelerated roadmap, consider creating an operational plan for the next quarter or half year. But if your organization tends to think more long-term, create an operational plan for the entire fiscal year.

Operational planning vs. strategic planning

A strategic plan is a business-level plan of your long-term strategy for the next three to five years. An operational plan is smaller in both scope and timeline. The goal of operational planning is to outline the daily actions you need to take to hit your strategic goals. 

Unlike a strategic plan, an operational plan should also focus on implementation . What daily and weekly actions does your team need to take in order to accomplish your longer-term strategic plan? What specific Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) do you need to track on a regular basis in order to ensure that your team is progressing towards your objectives? These details should be captured in your operational plan.

Who should create an operational plan?

To capture exactly who is doing what by when, an operational plan needs to be very detailed. For this reason, create an operational plan at a smaller scale than your strategic plan—both in terms of timeline and scope. Instead of trying to create an operational plan for your entire company, create one at the department or team level. At a larger company, you could even create an operational plan for a specific initiative—similar to a detailed work plan .

For example, create an operational plan to explain the daily tasks your IT department needs to do in order to support the company. Your IT department’s operational plan might include how frequently IT team members will check the IT requests project inbox , budgeting details for the program, how the IT team will onboard and equip new employees, and how frequently the team will meet. 

There are three levels to who should create an operational plan:

Scope: Your operational plan will capture the who, what, and when of each activity. It should be laser-focused on a team or initiative.

Timeline: Depending on how fast your organization moves, your operational plan should span a quarter, six months, or a fiscal year. 

Stakeholders: Make sure the people involved in operational planning are close to the work, so they can accurately project and predict what work should be included in the plan.

The benefits of operational planning

A strategic plan is a great way to proactively align your team around a shared purpose. By defining long-term goals, you can outline exactly where you want to go.

An operational plan helps you hit your strategic goals. According to our research, only 26% of knowledge workers have a very clear understanding of how their individual work relates to company goals. By creating a detail-oriented operational plan, you can define exactly what short-term goals you need to achieve in order to be on track towards your long-term objectives. It can help you think through the actions you’re currently taking or need to take in order to execute against your goals. 

In particular, an operational plan:

Clarifies exactly what your team will be doing on a weekly and daily basis.

Provides a comprehensive guide of the day-to-day operations your team members need to take in order to accomplish your long-term goals.

Sets a benchmark for daily expectations, so you can avoid getting off track.

5 steps to making an operational plan

During the operational planning process, you're not creating new plans or developing new goals. Rather, to create an operational plan, assess everything your team is currently working on and everything you need to do on a daily or weekly basis to hit your strategic goals. Here’s how:

1. Start with a strategic plan

If you haven’t already, create a strategic plan first. You need a long-term vision and goals before you can break down the day-to-day details. There are four steps to creating a strategic plan:

Determine your position

Develop your strategy

Build your strategic plan

Share, monitor, and manage your strategic plan

To learn more, read our article on strategic planning .

2. Narrow down your scope

In order to create a detail-oriented operational plan, you need to narrow the scope to a team, department, or focus area. The scope of your operational plan will depend on the size of your company.

For example, imagine you’re breaking down your strategic plan into action plans for various company departments. Your marketing team spans multiple functions—for example, design , product marketing, social media, content creation, and web promotion. To capture specific, daily functions within each team, you should create an operational action plan for each smaller team. 

3. Identify key stakeholders

Before creating an operational plan, decide who will be involved in the operational planning process. The team members creating the operational plan should be relatively close to the actions the plan describes. 

To continue our example, the design team’s operational plan should be created by the head of the design team and the team leads (depending on the size of the team). Once they’ve created their operational plan, the team should share the plan with the head of marketing for final approval.

4. Create the plan

Your operational plan explains the actions your team will take to achieve your goals within a set time frame. To create an operational plan, outline:

Your team’s objectives

The deliverables that will be achieved by the operational plan

Any desired outcomes or quality standards

Staffing and resource requirements , including your operating budget

How you will monitor and report on progress

If you’re struggling to figure out all the details that should be included in your operational plan, ask yourself the following questions: 

What do we need to accomplish? This information should come from your strategic plan or yearly goals.

What daily tasks do we need to complete in order to hit our goals? These can be daily tasks you’re currently doing or new work that needs to be kicked off.

Who are the people responsible for those tasks? Make sure each task has one owner so there’s no confusion about who to go to for questions or updates.

What are our metrics for success? If you haven’t already, make sure your goals follow the SMART framework . 

To continue our example, here’s the framework the design team might use to create their operational plan:

Part of the strategic plan for the marketing team is to increase share of voice in the market—which means more eyes on marketing materials and increased engagement with potential customers. To support these goals, the design team will: 

Create additional promotional materials for the social team

Revamp the website home page to attract more potential customers

To accomplish these two goals in the next year, the design team will:

Hire two new team members to focus on social media engagement

Partner with the web development team within the marketing department to create an interactive home page

To track and report on their progress, the design team will use Asana as their central source of truth for key performance metrics, including:

What designs they are creating

The level of engagement they’re getting on social media

The progress of the website update

This is just the framework the design team would use to create their operational plan. Bring this plan to life within a work management tool like Asana to share clarity on all of the work the team needs to do to hit their goals. With work management, every task can be tracked in real-time from inception to completion.

5. Share and update your operational plan

Once you’ve created the plan, share it with key stakeholders so they understand your team’s most important goals and the daily tasks it will take to get there. Manage your plan and updates in a shared tool that captures real-time progress, like Asana .

Like any element of project planning, things will inevitably change. Actively monitor your operational plan and report on progress so key stakeholders and team members can stay updated on how you’re tracking against your goals. Report on progress monthly through written status updates . 

Get started with operational planning

An operational plan can help you ensure you’re making progress on long-term goals. But in order for this plan to be effective, make sure you’re tracking your work in a centrally-accessible tool. Siloed information and goals don’t help anyone—instead, track your action items and goals in a work management tool.

Related resources

Everything you need to know about requirements management

How to streamline compliance management software with Asana

15 creative elevator pitch examples for every scenario

How Asana streamlines strategic planning with work management

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How to Write an Operations Plan Section of your Business Plan

Free Operations Plan Template

• June 26, 2024

An operational plan bridges the gap between high ambitions and actual achievements. This essential integral section helps businesses thrive, achieve their goals, and handle challenges with accuracy and purpose.

But is it challenging for you to write one in a manner that shows a clear picture of your business operations? Drafting the operations plan section can be tricky due to the uncertainties of the business environment and the risks associated with it.

Well, worry not you’re at the right place! Here, we will see how to write an engaging operational plan in a business plan with an example. So let’s get going.

What is an operations plan?

An operations plan of a business plan is an in-depth description of your daily business activities centered on achieving the goals and objectives described in the previous sections of the plan. It outlines various departments’ processes, activities, responsibilities, and execution time frame.

The operations section explains in detail the role of a team or department in the collective accomplishment of your goals. In other words, it’s a strategic allocation of physical, financial, and human resources toward reaching milestones within a specific timeframe.

Key questions your operational plan should address

A successful operational plan section of your business plan should be able to answer the following questions:

• Who is responsible for a specific task or department?
• What are the tasks that need to be completed?
• Where will these operations take place?
• When should the tasks be completed? What are the deadlines?
• How will the tasks be performed? Is there a standard procedure?
• How much is it going to cost to complete these tasks?

Let’s see how to write the operations section that answers all the above questions:

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How do you write an operations plan section?

Writing an operations plan within a business plan involves summarizing the day-to-day tasks necessary to run the business efficiently and meet its goals in both the development and manufacturing phases of the business.

Here’s a step-by-step guide:

1. Development phase

In this stage, you mention what you’ve done to get your business operations up and running. Explain what you aim to change and improvise in the process. These are the elements your development section will contain:

Production workflow

Explain all the steps involved in creating your product. Provide a detailed description of each step, including any inefficiencies and the actions needed to address them. Here, you also mention any inefficiencies that exist and talk about the actions that need to be taken to tackle them.

Write down the risks involved in the production and potential problems you may face later down the line. State the safety measures employees take to avoid any misfortune while working. Explain how you store hazardous material and discard waste.

Mention any industry organizations and associations you’re a part of or plan to join. It’s essential to include this information to convey to the reader that you’re aware of the organizations and associations in your industry.

Supply chains

Here, you mention the vendors you work with to sell your products. Give a quick rundown of the agreements you signed with them. Mention the terms and conditions, prices, and timeframe of the contract. You can also mention if you have any backup suppliers if the existing ones fail to fulfill the requirements.

Quality control

Describe the measures you’re taking to assure and verify the quality of the end product. If you’re working towards getting a product certification, explain the steps you take to meet the set standards.

2. Manufacturing phase

The development stage acquaints the reader with the functioning of your business, while the manufacturing stage describes the day-to-day operation. This includes the following elements:

Outline of daily activities

Create an outline of the day-to-day activities of the production process. This includes the hours of operation, days the business will be open, and whether the business is seasonal or not.

Mention the location of your business , other branches you have, and their locations. If available, include images or drawings of the buildings, lease documents, real estate agreements, and other relevant documents. If you include these in your plan, mention why they’re crucial.

Tools and equipment

Describe the tools and machinery you use. You should also include the cost of the equipment; these will be important to predict financial requirements.

List down all your assets. These include land, buildings, tools, machinery, vehicles, and furniture. Include a legal description and the value of these assets.

Special requirements

If you require any additional facilities like water supply or power requirements, you mention them here. Specify what you need to do or have already done to acquire permissions for these requirements.

Raw materials

Mention your raw material suppliers. If you need any extra materials, you can also include them in your operations plan. Here, you also mention the contracts and agreements with your suppliers.

Productions

Explain the production process and the time required to produce one unit. Include the factors that may disrupt the production flow. Further, mention your strategies to tackle these inefficiencies to avoid delays in manufacturing.

Here, you state the process of storing manufactured products, managing the stock, and the costs of the storage spaces. Stringent management of inventory is essential to maintain product quality and assure customer satisfaction.

Feasibility

To ensure the viability and effectiveness of your product, detail any tests it has undergone. This includes prototype testing to evaluate the design and functionality.

Additionally, highlight product or service testing, such as performance, safety, and user experience assessments. These tests validate your product’s readiness for the market, ensuring it meets customers’ needs and regulatory standards.

Include the pricing strategy for your products or services. You can also include the final prices of your products.

Outline your pricing strategy including which approach you used, for example—cost-plus, value-based, or competitive pricing. Include the final prices of your products or services, providing a breakdown if there are different tiers or packages.

Why do you need an operations plan?

An operations plan is like an instruction manual for your business. It helps investors assess your credibility and understand the structure of your operations.

Internally, an operations plan works as a guide, which helps your employees and managers to know their responsibilities. It also helps them understand how to execute their tasks in the desired manner—all while keeping account of deadlines.

The operations plan helps identify and cut the variances between planned & actual performance and makes necessary changes.

It helps you visualize how your operations affect revenue and gives you an idea of when you need to implement new strategies to maximize profits. Some of the advantages of preparing an operations plan include:

Offers clarity

Operational planning makes sure that everyone in the audience and team is aware of the daily, weekly, and monthly work. It improves concentration and productivity.

Contains a roadmap

Operational planning makes it much easier to reach long-term objectives. When members have a clear business strategy to follow—productivity rises, and accountability is maintained.

Set a benchmark

It sets a clear goal for everyone about what is the destination of the company and how to reach it.

Manages resources

It supports you in allocating resources, such as human resources, equipment, and materials, ensuring that nothing is wasted and everything is used optimally.

Helps in decision making

An operations plan helps make smart decisions by showing how the business runs day-to-day. It provides details on resources, wise investments, and effective risk management, ensuring that decisions improve overall business operations.

Operations plan essentials

Now that you have understood the importance of the operations plan, let’s go through the essentials of an operations plan:

Strategic plan

Your operations plan is fundamentally a medium for implementing your strategic plan . Hence, it’s crucial to have a solid plan to write an effective operations plan.

Having clear goals is one of the most important things for an operations plan. For clear goals, you need to think SMART:

• Specific: Clearly define what employees should achieve
• Measurable: Quantify the goal to track progress
• Attainable: Set ambitious but achievable goals
• Timely: Provide a deadline

Different departments will have their objectives, all supporting the main goal. All these strategic objectives are flexible and should align with the company’s long-term goals.

Key performance indicators

It’s essential to choose the right Key Performance Indicators (KPIs). It’s a good practice to involve all your teams while you decide your KPIs. Some of the important KPIs can be revenue growth, customer acquisition cost (CAC), net profit margin, churn rate, etc.

Creating a timeline with milestones is necessary for any business. It keeps everyone focused and helps track efficiency. If some milestones aren’t met in a certain period, then it’s time to re-evaluate them.

Examples of some milestones are:

• Hiring key team members in six months
• Setting checkpoints for different production phases like design, prototype, development, testing, etc.
• Acquiring the first 50 clients in a year

Now you’re all set to write an operations plan section for your business plan. To give you a headstart, we have created an operations plan example.

Operations Plan Example

We know this guide has been helpful for you in drafting a comprehensive operational plan section for your business plan.

If you’re still unsure or need help getting started, consider using business plan software like Upmetrics . It offers step-by-step guidance, so you won’t have to worry about what comes next.

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Frequently Asked Questions

What is the difference between a strategic plan and an operational plan.

A strategic plan outlines the long-term vision, mission, and goals of an organization, focusing on growth and direction over several years.

In contrast, an operational plan details the short-term tasks, processes, and resource allocation needed to achieve those strategic goals, emphasizing day-to-day efficiency and productivity.

What role does the operations plan play in securing funding for a business?

The operations plan defines the clear goals of your business and what actions will be taken daily to reach them. So, investors need to know where your business stands and it will prove the viability of the goals helping you in getting funded.

What are the factors affecting the operations plan?

Some of the factors that affect the operations plan are:

• The mission of the company
• Goals to be achieved
• Finance and resources your company will need

Can an operations plan be created for both start-up and established businesses?

Yes, both a startup and a small business need an operations plan to get a better idea of the roadmap they want for their business.

About the Author

Upmetrics Team

Upmetrics is the #1 business planning software that helps entrepreneurs and business owners create investment-ready business plans using AI. We regularly share business planning insights on our blog. Check out the Upmetrics blog for such interesting reads. Read more

Reach Your Goals with Accurate Planning

An Ultimate Guide for Better Operations

• Operates towards success
• Describe business milestones
• Plan such as financials, budget planning 
• Turn your goals into an actionable plan

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A Framework to Design an Effective Operations Strategy

Erica Golightly

Senior Writer

December 12, 2023

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Why do some companies align on strategic priorities and operate at peak efficiency while others have a stockpile of unsuccessful projects? 

The short answer is the shelf life of an operations strategy hinges on day-to-day implementation.

In a 2023 ClickUp global survey of hundreds of business leaders, 35% of respondents said operational efficiency is their top focus for business success. This is a call to action for Outcome Champions—operations management professionals coordinating resources, processes, and people to achieve operational excellence. ✨

The fundamental question to ask before taking any steps is a two-parter: What are your organization’s logistical and culturally relevant strategies, and how do you sustain a best-in-class partnership between all leadership levels and teams for success? 

Building strategies isn’t just about solving problems. Instead, it should leverage the capabilities of technology and build a workplace that removes fear-based opinions about trying new ideas. And that type of innovation is fuel for both strategic work and production .

• Types of operations strategies

Step 1: Define what the operations strategy will impact or transform 

Step 2: identify and secure the essential resources required for successful strategy execution, step 3: co-create an action plan to secure the flow of materials, information, and resources, step 4: leverage technology and be the driving force behind the strategy’s implementation, step 5: set checklists and decision rules for continuous improvement.

What is an Operations Strategy?

Operations strategy is the actionable plan that guides how a company manages its processes and resources in alignment with its overarching organizational goals. These processes involve the production and delivery of products or services that the company offers. 

Beyond the jargon, there’s a concept that molds a workplace’s culture, productivity, and business goals. Any company—small, mid, and large—does this to fit what they’re doing, where they’re doing it, and how they want to be different from others in their field.

While it could be perceived as an overlap with strategic planning , there is a distinction to be mindful of as we explore this guide: Strategic planning sets the overall vision and direction for the organization, often done annually or semi-annually. The operation’s main goals describe the processes and workflows that will be used to complete the work. ⚙️

Let’s take a look at operation strategy examples of specific functional areas within the organization:

Types of operations strategies for improvement, efficiency gains, and innovation

These operations strategies are not mutually exclusive. And this is good news! No one wants to be locked into a single business strategy. An integrated approach lets organizations optimize their operations for different products/services, customer segments, and markets. 🎯

When an organization invests in operations strategy and implementation, it invests in employee productivity. With a direct line of sight to the why and how behind their tasks, they aren’t forced to navigate high levels of ambiguity.

Instead, they are prepped with clear instructions to complete the right tasks. 

If you’re eager to begin process mining and outline your operational objectives right now, download the Operational Plan Template by ClickUp . It’s time to declutter your mental garage to make space for exciting, growth-oriented projects.

Extend invitations to your nearest collaborators and organize a systems architecture workshop, whether in real-time or asynchronously! 📧

So far, we’ve learned the inner workings of an operations strategy. Let’s see this in practice.

How to Build the Elements of an Operational Strategy Into Project Plans

This compact guidebook is built for an operations manager to implement the best core business processes and workflows into project plans. 

So, why is this guide compact? Disclaimer: We’re all in the same sitcom but reading different scripts. While there are business models and industries we can sort ourselves into, every company has a different set of core values that reflect its purpose and guiding principles. 

For this reason, the systems you’ll read below are the key success factors all operational strategies need. Teams can reach their peak performance by putting just one insight into action!

Think short-term perspective (competitive priorities) and long-term vision (trade-offs). 

Short-term planning meets immediate customer requirements, helps allocate resources at the right place and time, and provides benchmarks for evaluating team performance.

Long-term planning allows organizations to invest in modern technology solutions, guide market expansion opportunities, and redesign logistics. 

Your operational plan should have a narrower scope and be concerned with the day-to-day activities and actions necessary to implement the strategic plan . The key to securing leadership approval and support is articulating your plan’s value, feasibility, and alignment.

This is where co-creating easily measurable KPIs with teams and all levels of leadership is essential to provide each team member with a sense of ownership in their tasks. 🔑

Putting together a task force for the operations strategy is a group effort, especially when partnering with other teams. Collaborators in finance, marketing, human resources, and more will help fill knowledge gaps and advocate for enhancing efficiency , reducing costs, and delivering greater value.

Every department has business-as-usual tasks that keep the ship moving. If your operations strategy requires a significant chunk of time, there needs to be conversations with department leads about the best approach to minimize disruption. 💬

Because operation managers have a complex and multifaceted role, these discussions are teachable moments to influence the outcome of projects. 

Three valuable tools—capacity planning, resource planning, and process mapping—will take the guesswork out of this step. 

• Capacity planning gives visibility into whether you have enough company resources to meet the demands of a project’s needs
• Resource planning answers the question: What projects are our resources currently working on?
• Process design mapping outlines the sequence of events, tasks, and activities involved in a business process

This action plan will take multiple rounds to finish, but it won’t be complete even then because priorities may evolve as circumstances change. The best safeguard for transparency in any shift in the strategy is having a single source of truth to revisit and make micro-adjustments. ⚖️

The contents of your action plan will vary based on your company’s business model and operational processes. At minimum, the contents of your action plan document should include: 

If it feels as if the universe gets bored and starts making things happen on its own because it takes you over a week to draft an action plan, try ClickUp AI . We’ve covered you with 100+ tools that use research-based prompts tailored to specific roles! 🤖

Are teams feeling comfortable sharing their ideas, concerns, and feedback? Is there a rise in delayed projects because of a lack of accountability? Are team members asking, “What should I do today?”

Your leadership, communication, and problem-solving skills are essential to the operation strategy’s success. Because you’re working between different teams, you’ll have to organize assorted information that’s coming at you from different channels. 👨‍💻

You’ll need the right task management container to set everyone up for success and communicate expectations for executing projects. If you think the action plan you wrote in step 3 will be “good enough,” consider this: 

Managing tasks through a static action plan can overwhelm larger teams or complex projects. There’s too much noise and clutter to scroll through daily. Dedicated task and project management software sets the stage for individual and team productivity at scale.

Manual models can’t keep up with the demands of an agile workforce, and being agile is a non-negotiable in today’s marketplace as industry-tailored AI use cases continue to grow. Your time and attention should be spent on high-value tasks and activities that move teams closer to their goals.

Take a quick water break, then download the Daily Action Plan Template by ClickUp . This template has all the ingredients to organize task assignments, milestones, deadlines, and contributors. 

As ClickUp users, your teams and stakeholders have all the tasks and documentation within reach to monitor progress closely throughout the implementation phase!

Warning: The hidden costs of shortcuts

It’s easy to underestimate the impact of small, seemingly mundane tasks that accrue over time. However, these “save for later” tasks can quickly snowball into a significant team problem. 

Let’s take a closer look at the hidden costs of shortcuts: 

• Workplace cultural debt : Workplace cultural debt refers to the negative consequences of neglecting the company’s culture and core values, like low employee morale, high turnover, and decreased productivity, which can harm their long-term success
• Technical debt : Technical debt arises when software or technology solutions are developed quickly or with suboptimal coding practices to meet immediate needs
• Process debt : Process debt refers to accumulating inefficiencies and shortcomings in an organization’s workflows and procedures over time
• Knowledge debt: Knowledge debt occurs when organizations fail to invest in continuous learning and development for their employees

Tackling any debt is a team effort. Here are a few quick methods to pull out of your productivity toolbox and tackle small tasks for minimum impact on your production initiatives: 

• Prioritize tasks : Prioritize tasks using the Eisenhower Matrix (urgent and important tasks come first, followed by important but not urgent ones)
• Team session blocking : Schedule focused time blocks for small tasks, avoiding multitasking to minimize distractions
• Task batching : Group similar tasks together and address them in batches to reduce context-switching
• Delegate when appropriate : Delegate action items and tasks that others on your team can handle

Now, back to our regularly scheduled program! 🎬

Considering that other routine tasks and special projects are running simultaneously in your workload, how do you maintain group momentum in the operations plan?

Begin with questions to help the operations management team systematically gather and analyze data on a centralized dashboard. This will reduce cognitive burden and allow team members to make confident decisions. 

These checklists and rules can be as detailed as you need them to be for internal use. If it helps to assess their true usefulness, run it through a beneficiary test. Give them to project leads, stakeholders, and senior leadership to confirm whether or not they’re focusing on the right questions to evaluate day-to-day implementation. 📊

So, how can operations managers apply checklists and decision rules on a tactical level when they’re up against tight timelines? 

Deliver a consistent experience to your team with a scheduled routine. 

Here’s a breakdown of operational strategy tasks at intervals. Is there anything you notice that can be added to your personal or team schedule? 🗓️

What’s Next?

With your newly acquired operations strategy framework in hand, apply it in the context of your company’s operations and processes . From supply chain management to software and everything in between, you’ll have the tools to coordinate even the toughest operations strategies. 💪

Lastly, if you’ve ever experienced fleeting progress in your responsibilities, it might be because you’re not focusing on the right things at the right time. It’s okay—no, it’s allowed —to ask your peers to challenge your observations when you get stuck. 

Count on the team at ClickUp as one of your peers, and reach out if you need help stepping out of a revolving door of unsuccessful implementation. Happy planning! ✍️

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8 Components of a Business Plan

Back to Business Plans

Written by: Carolyn Young

Carolyn Young is a business writer who focuses on entrepreneurial concepts and the business formation. She has over 25 years of experience in business roles, and has authored several entrepreneurship textbooks.

Edited by: David Lepeska

David has been writing and learning about business, finance and globalization for a quarter-century, starting with a small New York consulting firm in the 1990s.

Published on February 19, 2023

A key part of the business startup process is putting together a business plan , particularly if you’d like to raise capital. It’s not going to be easy, but it’s absolutely essential, and an invaluable learning tool. 

Creating a business plan early helps you think through every aspect of your business, from operations and financing to growth and vision. In the end, the knowledge you’ll gain could be the difference between success and failure. 

But what exactly does a business plan consist of? There are eight essential components, all of which are detailed in this handy guide.

1. Executive Summary 

The executive summary opens your business plan , but it’s the section you’ll write last. It summarizes the key points and highlights the most important aspects of your plan. Often investors and lenders will only read the executive summary; if it doesn’t capture their interest they’ll stop reading, so it’s important to make it as compelling as possible.

The components touched upon should include:

• The business opportunity – what problem are you solving in the market?
• Your idea, meaning the product or service you’re planning to offer, and why it solves the problem in the market better than other solutions.
• The history of the business so far – what have you done to this point? When you’re just getting started, this may be nothing more than coming up with the idea, choosing a business name , and forming a business entity.
• A summary of the industry, market size, your target customers, and the competition.
• A strong statement about how your company is going to stand out in the market – what will be your competitive advantage?
• A list of specific goals that you plan to achieve in the short term, such as developing your product, launching a marketing campaign, or hiring a key person. 
• A summary of your financial plan including cost and sales projections and a break-even analysis.
• A summary of your management team, their roles, and the relevant experience that they have to serve in those roles.
• Your “ask”, if applicable, meaning what you’re requesting from the investor or lender. You’ll include the amount you’d like and how it will be spent, such as “We are seeking $50,000 in seed funding to develop our beta product”. 

Remember that if you’re seeking capital, the executive summary could make or break your venture. Take your time and make sure it illustrates how your business is unique in the market and why you’ll succeed.

The executive summary should be no more than two pages long, so it’s important to capture the reader’s interest from the start. 

• 2. Company Description/Overview

In this section, you’ll detail your full company history, such as how you came up with the idea for your business and any milestones or achievements. 

You’ll also include your mission and vision statements. A mission statement explains what you’d like your business to achieve, its driving force, while a vision statement lays out your long-term plan in terms of growth. 

A mission statement might be “Our company aims to make life easier for business owners with intuitive payroll software”, while a vision statement could be “Our objective is to become the go-to comprehensive HR software provider for companies around the globe.”

In this section, you’ll want to list your objectives – specific short-term goals. Examples might include “complete initial product development by ‘date’” or “hire two qualified sales people” or “launch the first version of the product”. 

It’s best to divide this section into subsections – company history, mission and vision, and objectives.

3. Products/Services Offered 

Here you’ll go into detail about what you’re offering, how it solves a problem in the market, and how it’s unique. Don’t be afraid to share information that is proprietary – investors and lenders are not out to steal your ideas. 

Also specify how your product is developed or sourced. Are you manufacturing it or does it require technical development? Are you purchasing a product from a manufacturer or wholesaler? 

You’ll also want to specify how you’ll sell your product or service. Will it be a subscription service or a one time purchase?  What is your target pricing? On what channels do you plan to sell your product or service, such as online or by direct sales in a store? 

Basically, you’re describing what you’re going to sell and how you’ll make money.

• 4. Market Analysis 

The market analysis is where you’re going to spend most of your time because it involves a lot of research. You should divide it into four sections.

Industry analysis 

You’ll want to find out exactly what’s happening in your industry, such as its growth rate, market size, and any specific trends that are occurring. Where is the industry predicted to be in 10 years? Cite your sources where you can by providing links. 

Then describe your company’s place in the market. Is your product going to fit a certain niche? Is there a sub-industry your company will fit within? How will you keep up with industry changes? 

Competitor analysis 

Now you’ll dig into your competition. Detail your main competitors and how they differentiate themselves in the market. For example, one competitor may advertise convenience while another may tout superior quality. Also highlight your competitors’ weaknesses.

Next, describe how you’ll stand out. Detail your competitive advantages and how you’ll sustain them. This section is extremely important and will be a focus for investors and lenders. 

Target market analysis 

Here you’ll describe your target market and whether it’s different from your competitors’.  For example, maybe you have a younger demographic in mind? 

You’ll need to know more about your target market than demographics, though. You’ll want to explain the needs and wants of your ideal customers, how your offering solves their problem, and why they will choose your company. 

You should also lay out where you’ll find them, where to place your marketing and where to sell your products. Learning this kind of detail requires going to the source – your potential customers. You can do online surveys or even in-person focus groups. 

Your goal will be to uncover as much about these people as possible. When you start selling, you’ll want to keep learning about your customers. You may end up selling to a different target market than you originally thought, which could lead to a marketing shift. 

SWOT analysis 

SWOT stands for strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats, and it’s one of the more common and helpful business planning tools.   

First describe all the specific strengths of your company, such as the quality of your product or some unique feature, such as the experience of your management team. Talk about the elements that will make your company successful.

Next, acknowledge and explore possible weaknesses. You can’t say “none”, because no company is perfect, especially at the start. Maybe you lack funds or face a massive competitor. Whatever it is, detail how you will surmount this hurdle. 

Next, talk about the opportunities your company has in the market. Perhaps you’re going to target an underserved segment, or have a technology plan that will help you surge past the competition. 

Finally, examine potential threats. It could be a competitor that might try to replicate your product or rapidly advancing technology in your industry. Again, discuss your plans to handle such threats if they come to pass. 

5. Marketing and Sales Strategies

Now it’s time to explain how you’re going to find potential customers and convert them into paying customers.  

Marketing and advertising plan

When you did your target market analysis, you should have learned a lot about your potential customers, including where to find them. This should help you determine where to advertise. 

Maybe you found that your target customers favor TikTok over Instagram and decided to spend more marketing dollars on TikTok. Detail all the marketing channels you plan to use and why.

Your target market analysis should also have given you information about what kind of message will resonate with your target customers. You should understand their needs and wants and how your product solves their problem, then convey that in your marketing. 

Start by creating a value proposition, which should be no more than two sentences long and answer the following questions:

• What are you offering
• Whose problem does it solve
• What problem does it solve
• What benefits does it provide
• How is it better than competitor products

An example might be “Payroll software that will handle all the payroll needs of small business owners, making life easier for less.”

Whatever your value proposition, it should be at the heart of all of your marketing.

Sales strategy and tactics 

Your sales strategy is a vision to persuade customers to buy, including where you’ll sell and how. For example, you may plan to sell only on your own website, or you may sell from both a physical location and online. On the other hand, you may have a sales team that will make direct sales calls to potential customers, which is more common in business-to-business sales.

Sales tactics are more about how you’re going to get them to buy after they reach your sales channel. Even when selling online, you need something on your site that’s going to get them to go from a site visitor to a paying customer. 

By the same token, if you’re going to have a sales team making direct sales, what message are they going to deliver that will entice a sale? It’s best for sales tactics to focus on the customer’s pain point and what value you’re bringing to the table, rather than being aggressively promotional about the greatness of your product and your business. 

Pricing strategy

Pricing is not an exact science and should depend on several factors. First, consider how you want your product or service to be perceived in the market. If your differentiator is to be the lowest price, position your company as the “discount” option. Think Walmart, and price your products lower than the competition. 

If, on the other hand, you want to be the Mercedes of the market, then you’ll position your product as the luxury option. Of course you’ll have to back this up with superior quality, but being the luxury option allows you to command higher prices.

You can, of course, fall somewhere in the middle, but the point is that pricing is a matter of perception. How you position your product in the market compared to the competition is a big factor in determining your price.

Of course, you’ll have to consider your costs, as well as competitor prices. Obviously, your prices must cover your costs and allow you to make a good profit margin. 

Whatever pricing strategy you choose, you’ll justify it in this section of your plan.

• 6. Operations and Management 

This section is the real nuts and bolts of your business – how it operates on a day-to-day basis and who is operating it. Again, this section should be divided into subsections.

Operational plan

Your plan of operations should be specific , detailed and mainly logistical. Who will be doing what on a daily, weekly, and monthly basis? How will the business be managed and how will quality be assured? Be sure to detail your suppliers and how and when you’ll order raw materials. 

This should also include the roles that will be filled and the various processes that will be part of everyday business operations . Just consider all the critical functions that must be handled for your business to be able to operate on an ongoing basis. 

Technology plan

If your product involves technical development, you’ll describe your tech development plan with specific goals and milestones. The plan will also include how many people will be working on this development, and what needs to be done for goals to be met.

If your company is not a technology company, you’ll describe what technologies you plan to use to run your business or make your business more efficient. It could be process automation software, payroll software, or just laptops and tablets for your staff. 

Management and organizational structure 

Now you’ll describe who’s running the show. It may be just you when you’re starting out, so you’ll detail what your role will be and summarize your background. You’ll also go into detail about any managers that you plan to hire and when that will occur.

Essentially, you’re explaining your management structure and detailing why your strategy will enable smooth and efficient operations. 

Ideally, at some point, you’ll have an organizational structure that is a hierarchy of your staff. Describe what you envision your organizational structure to be. 

Personnel plan 

Detail who you’ve hired or plan to hire and for which roles. For example, you might have a developer, two sales people, and one customer service representative.

Describe each role and what qualifications are needed to perform those roles. 

• 7. Financial Plan 

Now, you’ll enter the dreaded world of finance. Many entrepreneurs struggle with this part, so you might want to engage a financial professional to help you. A financial plan has five key elements.

Startup Costs

Detail in a spreadsheet every cost you’ll incur before you open your doors. This should determine how much capital you’ll need to launch your business. 

Financial projections 

Creating financial projections, like many facets of business, is not an exact science. If your company has no history, financial projections can only be an educated guess. 

First, come up with realistic sales projections. How much do you expect to sell each month? Lay out at least three years of sales projections, detailing monthly sales growth for the first year, then annually thereafter. 

Calculate your monthly costs, keeping in mind that some costs will grow along with sales. 

Once you have your numbers projected and calculated, use them to create these three key financial statements: 

• Profit and Loss Statement , also known as an income statement. This shows projected revenue and lists all costs, which are then deducted to show net profit or loss. 
• Cash Flow Statement. This shows how much cash you have on hand at any given time. It will have a starting balance, projections of cash coming in, and cash going out, which will be used to calculate cash on hand at the end of the reporting period.
• Balance Sheet. This shows the net worth of the business, which is the assets of the business minus debts. Assets include equipment, cash, accounts receivables, inventory, and more. Debts include outstanding loan balances and accounts payable.

You’ll need monthly projected versions of each statement for the first year, then annual projections for the following two years.

Break-even analysis

The break-even point for your business is when costs and revenue are equal. Most startups operate at a loss for a period of time before they break even and start to make a profit. Your break-even analysis will project when your break-even point will occur, and will be informed by your profit and loss statement. 

Funding requirements and sources 

Lay out the funding you’ll need, when, and where you’ll get it. You’ll also explain what those funds will be used for at various points. If you’re in a high growth industry that can attract investors, you’ll likely need various rounds of funding to launch and grow. 

Key performance indicators (KPIs)

KPIs measure your company’s performance and can determine success. Many entrepreneurs only focus on the bottom line, but measuring specific KPIs helps find areas of improvement. Every business has certain crucial metrics. 

If you sell only online, one of your key metrics might be your visitor conversion rate. You might do an analysis to learn why just one out of ten site visitors makes a purchase. 

Perhaps the purchase process is too complicated or your product descriptions are vague. The point is, learning why your conversion rate is low gives you a chance to improve it and boost sales. 

8. Appendices

In the appendices, you can attach documents such as manager resumes or any other documents that support your business plan.

As you can see, a business plan has many components, so it’s not an afternoon project. It will likely take you several weeks and a great deal of work to complete. Unless you’re a finance guru, you may also want some help from a financial professional. 

Keep in mind that for a small business owner, there may be no better learning experience than writing a detailed and compelling business plan. It shouldn’t be viewed as a hassle, but as an opportunity! 

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How to Write an Operational Plan for Your Business

In 2010, sean bandawat acquired jacob bromwell, a specialty housewares company that's been in existence since 1819. here, he shares his operational plan, focusing on his strategy to turn the company into a profitable business..

In most cases , entrepreneurs begin tackling the challenge of writing a business plan before the business exists. Doing that, of course, means that your plan will focus much more on the potential of the business and how you, as the entrepreneur, plan to take advantage of those opportunities. But, if you are writing a business plan for a 192-year-old business that you’ve just acquired, like Sean Bandawat did in 2010, with the intent to turn a money-losing operation into a cash cow, you’ll need to focus on an area neglected in many business plans produced by entrepreneurs: the Operating Plan.

The operating plan is the section of your business plan where you dig into more of the nuts and bolts of your business, areas like: production/manufacturing, inventory, and distribution. In other words, this is the time where you put aside the conceptual aspects of your business to get your hands dirty in terms of writing out the specific of how you’re going to make your product, store it, and then ship it out to your customers.

The topic you cover in your operational plan will vary based on the kind of business you run. For instance, if you are starting a retail business, you will want to think about things like inventory and distribution while a software company may be more focused on securing office space and computer equipment. Again, the point is that you need to think about the kinds of details you’ll be facing from the day you open the doors of your business.

Take it from Bandawat, who, as an undergraduate business student at the University of Southern California, crafted a business plan that involved turning around the operations of Jacob Bromwell , a specialty housewares company that has been continuously manufacturing authentic campfire, kitchen, and fireplace products for families since 1819. Bandawat, who comes from a family of successful entrepreneurs, teamed up with his longtime friend, Eric Stanton, to tap money from friends and family to buy Jacob Brownwell. But before they closed the deal in May 2010—just after Bandawat graduated—they wrote a business plan that won top undergraduate honors from the USC Marshall School of Business. 

The challenge for Bandawat and Stanton was that they wanted to continue to leverage the “Made in America” nature of their new company's products, which range from campfire popcorn poppers to chestnut roasters. That meant that, in crafting their operational plan, they needed to come up with specific strategies and actions they planned to take. “Taking over a business with 192 years of history presented very different challenges than creating a business from scratch,” says Bandawat. “So we relied on our advisory team to come up with a direction to take the company in.”

The key decision Bandawat and Stanton made in changing the operations of their business was to close the factory the company had been using in Michigan City, Indiana, and move the specialized equipment to a contract manufacturing facility in Glendale, California.

Bandawat and Stanton agreed to share their operational business plan with us as an example of how you, too, can come up with one for your business. You’ll see how they focused on concepts like operational efficiency, who their suppliers are, and how they planned to sell to new customers. “The key is to put something down and then start executing on it,” says Stanton. “And you’ll need to keep changing and updating it as you go and learn. You won’t know everything from the start.”

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Business Plan Example and Template

Learn how to create a business plan

What is a Business Plan?

A business plan is a document that contains the operational and financial plan of a business, and details how its objectives will be achieved. It serves as a road map for the business and can be used when pitching investors or financial institutions for debt or equity financing .

A business plan should follow a standard format and contain all the important business plan elements. Typically, it should present whatever information an investor or financial institution expects to see before providing financing to a business.

Contents of a Business Plan

A business plan should be structured in a way that it contains all the important information that investors are looking for. Here are the main sections of a business plan:

1. Title Page

The title page captures the legal information of the business, which includes the registered business name, physical address, phone number, email address, date, and the company logo.

2. Executive Summary

The executive summary is the most important section because it is the first section that investors and bankers see when they open the business plan. It provides a summary of the entire business plan. It should be written last to ensure that you don’t leave any details out. It must be short and to the point, and it should capture the reader’s attention. The executive summary should not exceed two pages.

3. Industry Overview

The industry overview section provides information about the specific industry that the business operates in. Some of the information provided in this section includes major competitors, industry trends, and estimated revenues. It also shows the company’s position in the industry and how it will compete in the market against other major players.

4. Market Analysis and Competition

The market analysis section details the target market for the company’s product offerings. This section confirms that the company understands the market and that it has already analyzed the existing market to determine that there is adequate demand to support its proposed business model.

Market analysis includes information about the target market’s demographics , geographical location, consumer behavior, and market needs. The company can present numbers and sources to give an overview of the target market size.

A business can choose to consolidate the market analysis and competition analysis into one section or present them as two separate sections.

5. Sales and Marketing Plan

The sales and marketing plan details how the company plans to sell its products to the target market. It attempts to present the business’s unique selling proposition and the channels it will use to sell its goods and services. It details the company’s advertising and promotion activities, pricing strategy, sales and distribution methods, and after-sales support.

6. Management Plan

The management plan provides an outline of the company’s legal structure, its management team, and internal and external human resource requirements. It should list the number of employees that will be needed and the remuneration to be paid to each of the employees.

Any external professionals, such as lawyers, valuers, architects, and consultants, that the company will need should also be included. If the company intends to use the business plan to source funding from investors, it should list the members of the executive team, as well as the members of the advisory board.

7. Operating Plan

The operating plan provides an overview of the company’s physical requirements, such as office space, machinery, labor, supplies, and inventory . For a business that requires custom warehouses and specialized equipment, the operating plan will be more detailed, as compared to, say, a home-based consulting business. If the business plan is for a manufacturing company, it will include information on raw material requirements and the supply chain.

8. Financial Plan

The financial plan is an important section that will often determine whether the business will obtain required financing from financial institutions, investors, or venture capitalists. It should demonstrate that the proposed business is viable and will return enough revenues to be able to meet its financial obligations. Some of the information contained in the financial plan includes a projected income statement , balance sheet, and cash flow.

9. Appendices and Exhibits

The appendices and exhibits part is the last section of a business plan. It includes any additional information that banks and investors may be interested in or that adds credibility to the business. Some of the information that may be included in the appendices section includes office/building plans, detailed market research , products/services offering information, marketing brochures, and credit histories of the promoters.

Business Plan Template

Here is a basic template that any business can use when developing its business plan:

Section 1: Executive Summary

• Present the company’s mission.
• Describe the company’s product and/or service offerings.
• Give a summary of the target market and its demographics.
• Summarize the industry competition and how the company will capture a share of the available market.
• Give a summary of the operational plan, such as inventory, office and labor, and equipment requirements.

Section 2: Industry Overview

• Describe the company’s position in the industry.
• Describe the existing competition and the major players in the industry.
• Provide information about the industry that the business will operate in, estimated revenues, industry trends, government influences, as well as the demographics of the target market.

Section 3: Market Analysis and Competition

• Define your target market, their needs, and their geographical location.
• Describe the size of the market, the units of the company’s products that potential customers may buy, and the market changes that may occur due to overall economic changes.
• Give an overview of the estimated sales volume vis-à-vis what competitors sell.
• Give a plan on how the company plans to combat the existing competition to gain and retain market share.

Section 4: Sales and Marketing Plan

• Describe the products that the company will offer for sale and its unique selling proposition.
• List the different advertising platforms that the business will use to get its message to customers.
• Describe how the business plans to price its products in a way that allows it to make a profit.
• Give details on how the company’s products will be distributed to the target market and the shipping method.

Section 5: Management Plan

• Describe the organizational structure of the company.
• List the owners of the company and their ownership percentages.
• List the key executives, their roles, and remuneration.
• List any internal and external professionals that the company plans to hire, and how they will be compensated.
• Include a list of the members of the advisory board, if available.

Section 6: Operating Plan

• Describe the location of the business, including office and warehouse requirements.
• Describe the labor requirement of the company. Outline the number of staff that the company needs, their roles, skills training needed, and employee tenures (full-time or part-time).
• Describe the manufacturing process, and the time it will take to produce one unit of a product.
• Describe the equipment and machinery requirements, and if the company will lease or purchase equipment and machinery, and the related costs that the company estimates it will incur.
• Provide a list of raw material requirements, how they will be sourced, and the main suppliers that will supply the required inputs.

Section 7: Financial Plan

• Describe the financial projections of the company, by including the projected income statement, projected cash flow statement, and the balance sheet projection.

Section 8: Appendices and Exhibits

• Quotes of building and machinery leases
• Proposed office and warehouse plan
• Market research and a summary of the target market
• Credit information of the owners
• List of product and/or services

Related Readings

Thank you for reading CFI’s guide to Business Plans. To keep learning and advancing your career, the following CFI resources will be helpful:

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What an operating plan is and why you absolutely need one.

Most companies spend valuable time and resources to create strategic plans, giving their best to outline a strategy that establishes a solid long-term vision. While having a strategic plan is necessary, a vast number of organizations often lack a critical strategy element: an operating plan.

An operational business plan outlines the details of your daily operations for over one year. It defines who does what, when they do it, and how they do it. When done well, an operation plan defines how you allocate human, physical, and financial resources to reach short-term objectives that support your larger business goals.

What Is An Operational Plan And Why Is It Important?

An operation plan is an extremely detail-oriented plan that clearly defines how a team or department contributes to reaching company goals. It outlines the daily tasks required for running a business. When properly created, an operating plan makes sure each manager and each employee know their specific obligations, as well as how they should execute them within a defined timeline. Mapping out the day-to-day tasks that ensure a clear path to your business and operational goals is essential to success.

On a daily basis, your operations plan should answer these crucial questions:

• What are the strategies and tasks that need to be completed or achieved?
• Who are the individuals responsible for those tasks and strategies?
• When must each strategy be completed?
• How much will it cost?

Your strategic plan is a manual that ensures your company and all its employees execute day-to-day operations in a way that ensures reaching your long-term business goals.

Operational Planning VS Strategic Planning

Very often, a strategic business plan also functions as an operating plan. The confusing of the two can cause problems because both plans are necessary for any company to achieve its goals.

A strategic plan helps your business outline long-term goals and fulfill the big vision. Operating plans define what processes need to be finished to achieve those goals. An operating plan supports the efforts of a strategic plan and makes sure everyone runs their day-to-day tasks as efficiently as possible. Both are action plans, and since the success of the strategic plan heavily depends on the efficiency of the operating plan, you should create it right after outlining your long-term strategy.

A successful company never chooses between an operational plan and a strategic plan. Instead, market leaders make sure they have both. Simply put, a strategic plan outlines your long-term goals for the future, while an operating plan defines how to get there through daily activities and processes.

The goal of an operating plan is to define how all departments join efforts to achieve your vision.

The Steps Of A Successful Operational Business Plan

You can't create a successful operational plan without clearly defining your operational goals. The template below walks you through several important steps to take if you want to develop a functional operating plan:

• Create your strategic plan first. An operating plan is a necessary tool for achieving the goals you've defined in a strategy, so first, you should make sure your strategic plan is in place.
• Focus on essential goals. All successful operating plan examples stick to one rule—focus on goals that matter the most. A complex plan with multiple unclear goals is hard to follow.
• Instead of lagging, use leading indicators. Lagging indicators will show your efforts are falling short only after you already execute the operations. By contrast, leading indicators include predictive measures that will prevent you from making a mistake in the first place.
• Choose the right KPIs. Defining the appropriate KPIs for your business is essential. You shouldn't develop them all by yourself. Instead, involve the whole team in the process.
• Communication is key. Everyone in the company should learn and understand what metrics you use, why they are important, and what everyone's roles are in working toward your goals.

Note, you can always check out our blog for more successful business tips like this!

Want additional insight? Read 4 Step Guide to Strategic Planning now to learn more

Operational Planning Examples

An operational plan template should help you define and improve the day-to-day actions and processes of your business. Any successful operational plan example indicates that the plans include everything your company does daily to deliver your products or services to customers. They may cover any section, department, and operation. You can find numerous examples of successful operational plan implementation, especially among powerful enterprises.

Let's go over the most common ways of utilizing a proper operational plan:

Planning for Processes and Practices

Businesses often create operational plans for specific processes and practices to ensure they’re meeting objectives in what they deem the important areas. These include efficiency, turnaround time, productivity, cost reduction, waste reduction, sustainability, quality, and customer satisfaction. You can find a successful operating plan example in any department.

Planning As a Strategy Component

Take a look at this operational planning example: let's say a company makes strategic efforts to expand volume production by 50% by the end of the year. The strategic plan will include several critical components: marketing, sales, and operations. The operations part of the plan will include manufacturing, financial, and logistic strategies to achieve a boost in production.

Bottom Line

An operational plan is the key element of every goal-oriented organization. Contact The Alternative Board today to schedule a meeting with our team of business advisory services specialists. We will help you produce an effective operations plan that will help you fulfill your long-term business goals.

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How to Write the Operations Plan Section of a Business Plan

Susan Ward wrote about small businesses for The Balance for 18 years. She has run an IT consulting firm and designed and presented courses on how to promote small businesses.

How to Write the Operations Plan Section of the Business Plan

Stage of development section, production process section, the bottom line, frequently asked questions (faqs).

The operations plan is the section of your business plan that gives an overview of your workflow, supply chains, and similar aspects of your business. Any key details of how your business physically produces goods or services will be included in this section.

You need an operations plan to help others understand how you'll deliver on your promise to turn a profit. Keep reading to learn what to include in your operations plan.

Key Takeaways

• The operations plan section should include general operational details that help investors understand the physical details of your vision.
• Details in the operations plan include information about any physical plants, equipment, assets, and more.
• The operations plan can also serve as a checklist for startups; it includes a list of everything that must be done to start turning a profit.

In your business plan , the operations plan section describes the physical necessities of your business's operation, such as your physical location, facilities, and equipment. Depending on what kind of business you'll be operating, it may also include information about inventory requirements, suppliers, and a description of the manufacturing process.

Staying focused on the bottom line will help you organize this part of the business plan.

Think of the operating plan as an outline of the capital and expense requirements your business will need to operate from day to day.

You need to do two things for the reader of your business plan in the operations section: show what you've done so far to get your business off the ground and demonstrate that you understand the manufacturing or delivery process of producing your product or service.

When you're writing this section of the operations plan, start by explaining what you've done to date to get the business operational, then follow up with an explanation of what still needs to be done. The following should be included:

Production Workflow

A high-level, step-by-step description of how your product or service will be made, identifying the problems that may occur in the production process. Follow this with a subsection titled "Risks," which outlines the potential problems that may interfere with the production process and what you're going to do to negate these risks. If any part of the production process can expose employees to hazards, describe how employees will be trained in dealing with safety issues. If hazardous materials will be used, describe how these will be safely stored, handled, and discarded.

Industry Association Memberships

Show your awareness of your industry's local, regional, or national standards and regulations by telling which industry organizations you are already a member of and which ones you plan to join. This is also an opportunity to outline what steps you've taken to comply with the laws and regulations that apply to your industry. 

Supply Chains

An explanation of who your suppliers are and their prices, terms, and conditions. Describe what alternative arrangements you have made or will make if these suppliers let you down.

Quality Control

An explanation of the quality control measures that you've set up or are going to establish. For example, if you intend to pursue some form of quality control certification such as ISO 9000, describe how you will accomplish this.

While you can think of the stage of the development part of the operations plan as an overview, the production process section lays out the details of your business's day-to-day operations. Remember, your goal for writing this business plan section is to demonstrate your understanding of your product or service's manufacturing or delivery process.

When writing this section, you can use the headings below as subheadings and then provide the details in paragraph format. Leave out any topic that does not apply to your particular business.

Do an outline of your business's day-to-day operations, including your hours of operation and the days the business will be open. If the business is seasonal, be sure to say so.

The Physical Plant

Describe the type, size, and location of premises for your business. If applicable, include drawings of the building, copies of lease agreements, and recent real estate appraisals. You need to show how much the land or buildings required for your business operations are worth and tell why they're important to your proposed business.

The same goes for equipment. Besides describing the equipment necessary and how much of it you need, you also need to include its worth and cost and explain any financing arrangements.

Make a list of your assets , such as land, buildings, inventory, furniture, equipment, and vehicles. Include legal descriptions and the worth of each asset.

Special Requirements

If your business has any special requirements, such as water or power needs, ventilation, drainage, etc., provide the details in your operating plan, as well as what you've done to secure the necessary permissions.

State where you're going to get the materials you need to produce your product or service and explain what terms you've negotiated with suppliers.

Explain how long it takes to produce a unit and when you'll be able to start producing your product or service. Include factors that may affect the time frame of production and describe how you'll deal with potential challenges such as rush orders.

Explain how you'll keep  track of inventory .

Feasibility

Describe any product testing, price testing, or prototype testing that you've done on your product or service.

Give details of product cost estimates.

Once you've worked through this business plan section, you'll not only have a detailed operations plan to show your readers, but you'll also have a convenient list of what needs to be done next to make your business a reality. Writing this document gives you a chance to crystallize your business ideas into a clear checklist that you can reference. As you check items off the list, use it to explain your vision to investors, partners, and others within your organization.

What is an operations plan?

An operations plan is one section of a company's business plan. This section conveys the physical requirements for your business's operations, including supply chains, workflow , and quality control processes.

What is the main difference between the operations plan and the financial plan?

The operations plan and financial plan tackle similar issues, in that they seek to explain how the business will turn a profit. The operations plan approaches this issue from a physical perspective, such as property, routes, and locations. The financial plan explains how revenue and expenses will ultimately lead to the business's success.

6 key elements of every operational plan

You’ve established vision, mission, and values for your credit union. You’ve decided how you intend to position yourself against competitors and identified strategic priorities.

Now it’s time to develop an operational plan. Make sure it contains at least these six elements:

• Set major, measureable objectives that are clearly linked —Avoid establishing objectives that don’t support your strategy.
• Create measureable goals that support major objectives —Ensure that success can be directly impacted by staff and management.
• Set up clear accountability and timeframes —Specify who is responsible for each objective and goal, and the deadline.
• Know the anticipated impact on financial performance —Project expected changes to revenue or expenses related to each goal, and their effect on financials.
• Articulate contingencies for goals with significant potential financial impacts —Identify actions that would be taken if actual results begin to stray significantly.
• Regularly track progress —Continually keep your strategic priorities and related objectives and goals front and center.

Mark Klinkert

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9 chatgpt prompts to write a business plan.

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Virgin Group founder Richard Branson once said , “If your pitch can’t fit on a beer mat, a napkin, or back of envelope, I’d rather listen to someone else’s pitch that can fit.” His thinking was that good ideas can be expressed very succinctly.

There’s a certain romance in those company-origin stories where inspiration strikes in the middle of a crowded bar and the founder jots down their idea on a napkin. In reality, starting a business requires more planning than just a brilliant idea. Whether trying to secure funding or simply creating a roadmap for your team, a well-thought-out business plan must be fastidiously organized and strategic—more than what could ever fit on a napkin. Entrepreneurs who write formal plans are actually 16% more likely to achieve viability than non-planners.

Fortunately for today’s aspiring entrepreneurs, the barriers to starting and planning a business have never been lower. Thanks to AI tools like ChatGPT, founders have efficient, relatively low-cost resources at their fingertips. Had ChatGPT been around nearly two decades ago, when I bootstrapped my online form business, I may have quit my day job sooner. Here are 9 ChatGPT prompts that today’s entrepreneurs can use to write a business plan.

1. Prepare An Executive Summary

Consider your executive summary your elevator pitch—where you concisely summarize your business plan, outline the concept, and spell out key financial data. It’s your reader’s introduction to your business, so you want to make a great first impression. Like the blurb on the back of a book, the purpose of your executive summary is to convince the reader to keep reading.

It’s arguably more efficient to write an executive summary after preparing the other sections of your business plan. That way, they can serve as a guide. With that in mind, here’s a prompt you can use once you’re ready to craft your executive summary.

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“I am developing a business plan for [my company/the company I plan to launch]. Below, I will provide key details about the business, including its mission, [products/services], target market, competitive advantages, growth objectives, and financial plan. Using this information, can you draft a compelling executive summary? If any information is missing or could be expanded, please highlight those areas and suggest what additional details I can provide to make the executive summary more impactful and comprehensive.”

2. Describe Your Company And Its Operations

It’s time to provide an overview of your company. What is the legal structure? What is your product or service? What unique value will your product or service offer your customers? Where is the company located? Is it brick-and-mortar, online, or both? Who are the key stakeholders?

In this section, you want to paint a more detailed picture of how your business will operate on a daily basis. Give this prompt a try:

“I am working on the company overview section of my business plan and need help crafting a detailed description. Here is some information on the company:

Legal structure: [LLC, corporation, etc.]

Product/service: [brief description]

Unique value proposition for customers: [brief description]

Company’s location: [brick-and-mortar address, online, or both]

Key stakeholders: [list key personnel]

How the business will operate: [brief description]

Can you help me draft a company overview using this information? If any important details are missing, please create a bulleted list and suggest how I can make the description more comprehensive.”

3. Draft A Mission Statement

Your mission statement should express why your company exists and its core values. Here, you can also explain what your company aims to achieve in the future.

You can simply draft your mission statement and ask ChatGPT to review it and offer any suggestions. Another option is to tell ChatGPT to rewrite your mission statement in a certain style, even channeling another company’s voice. For example, here’s a version of Jotform’s mission statement:

“Jotform is a powerful online form builder that makes it easy to create robust forms and collect important data. Jotform is a gateway to gathering better information to propel your business.”

Here’s a prompt to rewrite this mission statement:

“I am writing the mission statement of my business plan. Can you rewrite the below mission statement in the style of [Apple/Tesla/Canva/etc.]?”

To demonstrate, here’s how ChatGPT rewrote our mission statement in the style of Apple:

“Jotform empowers businesses to effortlessly create seamless forms and collect valuable data. It’s the intuitive tool that transforms how you gather information, driving smarter decisions and success.”

“Jotform is revolutionizing the way businesses collect and harness data. With powerful, intuitive tools, we empower you to create dynamic forms that unlock smarter insights, driving progress and pushing the boundaries of what your business can achieve.”

“Jotform makes it easy for anyone to create powerful, customizable forms and gather meaningful data, all in one place. We’re simplifying the way businesses collect information, helping you work smarter and unlock new possibilities.”

4. Identify Your Market And Audience

The market analysis part of your business plan begins with defining the target market and audience. Here, you want to describe your business’s current and/or future target audience: the group of people or businesses you plan to sell to and the number of people or businesses who fit that description. This section should show that you understand your target market and how you’re meeting their needs. While ChatGPT can lend a hand in editing, it can also help conduct your research at this juncture. With that in mind, here’s a prompt you can use.

“I am working on my business plan and need help identifying and describing my target market. Here are the key details about my business:

Product or service description:

Unique value or benefit it provides to customers:

Existing research or insights about the market or customer demographics:

Geographic location or regions I plan to serve:

Current competitors:

Pricing strategy and product positioning:

Using this information, can you help me describe the ideal customer profile and target market segments for my business? Please also suggest any additional information that would help make the target market analysis more precise.”

5. Describe The Competitive Landscape

Military strategist Sun Tzu said, “Keep your friends close and your enemies closer.” As a business owner, knowing the competition will enable you to understand their strengths and weaknesses, and figure out how to define yourself.

This section of your business plan should inform readers about the competitive landscape and highlight opportunities in the market. It includes a list of competitors—direct, indirect, and aspirational—and summarizes who they are, what they offer, and who they serve.

To enlist ChatGPT’s help with this section, try the following prompt:

“I'm working on the competitive analysis section of my business plan and need help identifying and analyzing competitors. My business offers [briefly describe your business]. My customers are [brief description, including geographic location, if relevant]. I’d like you to help me identify the following:

Direct competitors (businesses offering similar products/services) and provide a brief summary of their strengths and weaknesses.

Indirect competitors (businesses offering alternatives to my product/service) and outline their strengths and weaknesses.

Aspirational competitors (companies I’m not competing with now but aspire to be like) and explain what makes them successful.

Finally, can you help identify any market opportunities based on this competitive analysis?”

6. Differentiate Your Business

In this section, you carve out your unique selling proposition and explain how you will stand out from competitors. As I tell mentee entrepreneurs, a crowded market doesn’t mean you should shy away from trying—as long as you’re exploiting a gap in that market. Here, you should highlight the products and services, or customer experience aspects that will make your business stand out. Although this section may be brief, it really guides every aspect of your business strategy. Here’s a prompt you can use to continue the above discussion with ChatGPT:

“I’d like to work on the section of my business plan where I differentiate my business. My business offers [briefly describe your business], and I believe we stand out because [list the key factors that define your business, such as unique products, superior customer service, innovative technology, etc.] Can you help me refine this by comparing these differentiating factors against the strengths and weaknesses of the competitors we identified above? I’d also like to know how I can better highlight my unique value proposition in the marketplace, given what my competitors are offering.”

7 & 8. Outline A Roadmap And Define Key Performance Indicators (KPIs)

This section provides a more detailed roadmap of how your business will execute its mission and meet its larger objectives. How will you get from point A to point B on your map? You want to identify your goals and key performance indicators (KPIs) that you will use to measure whether the business is succeeding at each step in the journey.

You can set both short- and long-term objectives, spelling out where you want to be in 1, 5, 10 years, etc. Goals should be SMART (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-bound). Try this prompt:

“I'm working on setting SMART goals for my business plan. My business offers [brief description]. Could you help me formulate SMART goals for both short-term (6-12 months) and long-term (3-5 years) objectives? Make sure each goal is Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-bound. Can you also provide suggestions based on the following areas I want to focus on: [revenue growth, customer acquisition, product development, market expansion, etc.]? Also, can you create a list of any missing information that would help refine my SMART goals?”

To develop the goals and KPIs section of your business plan, you can use this prompt:

“I'm working on setting Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) for my business plan. My business offers [brief description], and I'm focused on tracking progress in areas like [list areas, like revenue growth, etc]. Can you help me identify:

Relevant KPIs for [areas listed above]?

Suggested benchmarks or targets for each KPI based on short-term (6-12 months) and long-term (3-5 years) goals?

Also, briefly describe how I can use these KPIs to measure success and make data-driven decisions?”

9. Develop A Financial Plan

The basic elements of your business’s financial plan are the income statement, cash flow projection, and balance sheet. This might be the least exciting part of your business plan, but it’s also one the most important. It proves that you’re not just presenting a back-of-the-napkin spark of an idea, but rather, a viable business.

ChatGPT can provide a template so that you can present this financial information in the most clear, organized manner possible. Here’s a simple prompt to try:

“Can you provide a template that I can use to create a clear, organized financial plan for my business plan?”

This alone will generate a thorough template, but feel free to add any information to tailor the template to your business. As always, the more context you can give ChatGPT, the more refined and relevant the answer.

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