Expert systems for effective business planning and monitoring
Business planning should involve the fundamental review of all operating systems and organisational structures. Much of this work will not normally be published in the final document, which makes it important to separate the plan into two components: the final formal document and working papers supporting the investment decisions and operational changes that need to be made, which include all of the confidential data which should not be shared with competitors.
In the list that follows, the distinction between background material and plan material is identified with a “B” for background, and a “P” for that which should be incorporated into the final plan.
Different plans require varying levels of detail, and there is often no need to include all the components. Plan elements are identified on this list according to their importance with one to three stars:
*** Essential
** Important but not essential
* Useful additions to plan
An example of a best practice plan is provided as part of the Ibis training programme which incorporates all the P components. This plan is also used to embed expert systems into an enterprise or organisation during the implementation of knowledge center development and the accompanying enhancement of the management information system.
Introduction
Date of plan and plan approval (B)
Identification of those responsible for plan development (B)
Mentoring (B)
Resourcing the plan development (B)
Action planning for plan development – timelines, milestones (B)
Management overview including business model (P) *** Investment case summary(P)
*
Purpose of plan – including survival and
recovery, exit planning, change management(P) **
Strategic business unit or operational division used for analysis (P) ***
Planning horizon, planning cycle, planning effectiveness review (P) **
Vision statement (P) ***
Critical success factors (P) **
Objectives based on balanced scorecard (corporate, operational) (P) *** Corporate governance position and requirements
(P) * Core competence (B)
Investment appraisal methodology including hurdle rate (B)
Best practice Management by objectives (B)
Focus (B)
Cash is king (B)
Positioning (P) ***
USP (P) ***
Value chain (P) ***
Planning platform (B)
Abacus principle (B)
SCORE (B)
Recruitment appraisal (B)
Work study (B)
Rule of eight (B)
Pareto's Law (B)
Cascade investment (B)
Eighty five percent rule (B)
Decision making (B)
Strategic development directed vs emergent (B)
Legacy issues
Organizational, reporting systems in organogram, advisers (P) ***
Past financial performance (P) ***
Legal review – contracts, IPR, legislation, certification (B)
Stakeholder relationships – customers, employees, suppliers, government (B)
Successes, failures, lessons learnt (P) ***
Macro analysis
Defining market(s) for review and percentage of business gained in each (P) ***
Macro assessment – Political – impact analysis (P) ***
Macro assessment – Economic – impact analysis (P) ***
Macro assessment – Social – impact analysis (P) ***
Macro assessment – Technological – impact analysis (P) ***
Resource analysis
Personnel analysis – Eight “S” (B)
Production and service delivery analysis (B)
Suppliers – including supplier spread ratio (B)
Customer- including customer spread ratio (B)
Country – including country spread ratio (B)
Products – including product age and product spread ratios (B)
Management information system including information flow map, standard operating
procedures, business monitoring, information overload
(B)
Costing structures (B)
Finance profile (B)
Gap analysis
Competitive trends (P) ***
Competitive gap (P) ***
SWOT (P)***
TOWS (P)***
Baseline forecast (B)
Plan development requirements over the planning horizon (B)
Strategic options
Golden circle (P) ***
Do nothing (B)
Withdrawal options including SCORE (B)
Consolidation options (including cost cutting) and returns
(B)
Market penetration options and returns (B)
Market development options and returns (B)
Product development options and returns (B)
Diversification options and returns (B)
Implementation options – organic, partnering, joint venture, mergers and acquisitions, licencing, franchising (B)
Operational requirements
Knowledge centers (B)
Quality circles (B)
Team building (B)
Creativity (B)
Bonus systems (B)
Internal competition (B)
Administration knowledge centre – strategy, plan and objectives, projects, KPI, benchmark, targets, budgets (P) ***
IT knowledge centre – strategy, plan and objectives, projects, KPI, benchmark, targets, budgets (P) ***
Marketing and sales knowledge centre – strategy, plan and objectives, projects, KPI, benchmark, targets, budgets (P) ***
Finance knowledge centre – strategy, plan and objectives, projects, KPI, benchmark, targets, budgets (P) ***
Personnel knowledge centre – strategy, plan and objectives, projects, KPI, benchmarkm targets, budgets (P) ***
Product development knowledge centre – strategy, plan and objectives, projects, KPI, benchmark, targets, budgets (P) ***
Production or service delivery knowledge centre – strategy, plan and objectives, projects, KPI, benchmark, targets, budgets (P) ***
Finalizing the plan
Trade offs (B)
Synergyv (B)
Cannibalization (B)
People summary (P) **
Product summary (P) **
Customer summary (P) **
Region summary (P) **
Supplier summary (P) **
Investment requirements (B)
Initial cash flow (B)
Funding options (B)
Funding plan (B)
Sensitivity analysis (P) ***
Reality check (P) ***
Source and applications of funds (P) ***
Internal marketing (B)
Action plan Action and implementation for major projects – time, specification, budget
Budgets for each knowledge centre (B)
Financials
Cash flow (P) ***
Profit and loss (P) ***
Balance sheet (P) ***
Presentation
Graphics (B)
Communication (B)
Appendix
Research reports (P) **
Central to all planning is the creation of an effective planning platform based around the creation and maintenance of knowledge centres. This provides a bottom up rather than top down methodology and embeds monitoring of both key performance indicators and projects within the knowledge centres. Ibis provide an initial assessment of your planning platform with a no-commitment questionnaire.
E-mail Ibis.
More information on the way in which Ibis can contribute to your business plan development is provided at
Advantage Ibis
More information on the Ibis approach is also available on the FAQ
page..
Business Plan SOP
A comprehensive, easy to use 188 page manual containing scores of worksheets and notes. The contents follow the
business plan outline, and have been rigorously tested during years of
training throughout the world. The Ibis business plan manual is delivered in Word format, so that users can complete the worksheets and transfer them into the body of their own business plan.
