Once you have recorded your business goals and milestones in your marketing plan and strategic plan, you will create an operational plan that outlines just how to reach them. Operational planning includes the day-to-day operations of your business. It includes everything from design and development, to manufacturing and transportation, to marketing and distribution. Here, you’ll go over just what it costs to run your business. You’ll include the duties of employees and associates that make your business possible.
Why Entrepreneurs Need Operational Planning
Operational planning turns your goals into actions. While you will use strategic planning (inbound hyperlink) to set long-term objectives, your corresponding operational plans are where you show how your business will achieve them. Any time your business makes a major change or undertakes a new process, an operational plan will help you coordinate the necessary steps with your employees or partners.
You will need to create at least one operational plan for each fiscal year. This plan can be used to help create and manage your annual budget. You will refer to it as costs and operations change, and as you review milestones to decide if your business is keeping up with its forecasted progress.
How To Create An Operational Plan
Before creating your operational business plan, you will need your strategic plan, marketing plan, income statements, cash flow statements, balance sheets, as well as details regarding the roles and wages of your employees.
Begin by creating a flowchart of your business from the creation of your product, to the marketing and distribution and everything in between. A flowchart is a visual representation of each stage of operations. For each stage, you’ll branch off with details about the cost of supplies, wages for employees delegated to each department, service fees, maintenance costs and other expenses.
The first page of your operational plan is where you will create an executive summary, briefly going over each stage of operations. This can be created last. Your executive summary will be under a page long and may include page numbers and bulleted formatting to help readers easily navigate the rest of the plan.
Then, you will use your flowchart to make sections based on each stage of operations. You might create a section about research and development of new products, as well as sections about manufacturing, advertising, distribution and customer service. Each section will include who is responsible for each role and associated costs. Milestones, project dates and resources should also be included in each section.
You may decide to create an additional section about how the next year’s operations will be funded. Will you seek venture capital funding? How much will it cost to run your business each month? This section will help you create your budget. You’ll refer to it as unexpected costs and changes in operations occur.
Refer to your operational plan when creating a budget, allocating resources, and setting priorities for your business. While you will be planning each year, you may continually revise and brainstorm to keep your goals relevant.