Time To Complete: Approximately 10-40 hours
The Operational Plan is an essential component of the business plan and it tells the reviewer how you are going to get your product/service out to market.
That is, how are you going to get your product out of the production stage to the doorstep of your target customer. As an internal planning document, the Operations Plan should be a detailed and in-depth.
In a business plan, the Operations Plan should highlight the important facts for potential investors.The relative importance of an operational plan will depend on the nature of the business. For example, a production facility will probably require significant attention to operational issues.
Whats in it?
The Operations Plan will give you a detailed outline about the structure of your business. It will also answer how your product will be made and delivered to the customer, what regulations and organizations there are to monitor the industry, how you plan to stay up to date, who are your suppliers, how do you receive the product, how long will it take, how much it costs, what your backup plan is, and what quality control measures you have in place.
Operation plans also act as a guide book on inventory management and purchasing procedures.
Why its Important
The purpose of the Operations Plan is to describe the where’s and how’s of your business, meaning where you will locate the business (along with any physical necessities) and how you will produce products or services for your clients.
Business plan reviewers know the importance of a well thought out Operations Plan and place considerable weight on this section since it can mean the success or failure of a business. This document will also give the entrepreneur an opportunity to work out many potential problems on paper prior to commencing operations.
The next section will show you how to build an effective team. Remember, you can take a look at a sample business plan.
