• Search Search Please fill out this field.
  • Building Your Business
  • Becoming an Owner
  • Business Plans

How To Write the Operations Plan Section of the 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 operations in 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.

Keeping 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 disposed.

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, site, 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 crystalize 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.

Want to read more content like this? Sign up for The Balance's newsletter for daily insights, analysis, and financial tips, all delivered straight to your inbox every morning!

Grasshopper.com

  • 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.

Operations plan goals and objectives

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?

Operations plan timeline

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.

Facebook

Talk about this lesson

how to write operations in business plan

  • Business Plan Builder

Financial Forecasting

  • Canvas Modeling
  • Product Tour
  • Business Consultants and Advisors
  • Entrepreneurs And Small Businesses
  • Accelerators & Incubators
  • Educators & Business Schools
  • Students & Scholars
  • Sample Business Plans
  • business plan course

Strategic Canvas Templates

  • E-Books, Guides & More
  • Success Stories

Upmetrics AI Assistant: Simplifying Business Planning through AI-Powered Insights. Learn How

Upmetrics

  • 400+ Sample Business Plans

Business Plan Course

E-books, guides & more.

  • WHY UPMETRICS?

Customers Success Stories

Business planning, ai assistance, see how upmetrics works  →, stratrgic planning, business consultants, entrepreneurs and small business, accelerators and incubators, educators & business schools, students & scholars.

  • Sample Plans

How to Write an Operations Plan Section of your Business Plan

An Operations Plan Template

Free Operations Plan Template

Ayush Jalan

  • December 14, 2023

Operations Plan Section

Your business plan is an elaborate set of instructions stating how to run your business to achieve objectives and goals. Each section describes a part of the process of reaching your desired goal. Similarly, the operations plan section of your business plan explains the production and supply of your product.

An operations plan is formed to turn plans into actions. It uses the information you gathered from the analysis of the market , customers, and competitors mentioned in the previous parts of your business plan and allows for the execution of relevant strategies to achieve desired results.

Operations Plan Template

Need help writing an operations plan? Get our proven plan template.

Download Now

img

In this article, you will learn how to create an operations plan, its key elements, and an example to help get started drafting one for your business plan.

What Is an Operations Plan?

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

The operations section of your business plan 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.

A well-defined 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?

An Operations Plan Answers

How to Write an Operations Plan Section?

Creating an operational plan has two major stages, both addressing different aspects of your company. The first stage includes the work that has been done so far, whereas the second stage describes it in detail.

1. Development Phase

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 processes. These are the elements your development section will contain:

Production workflow

: Explain all the steps involved in creating your product. This should be a highly informative, elaborate description of the steps. Here, you also mention any inefficiencies that exist and talk about the actions that need to be taken to tackle them.

Supply chains

Quality control, 2. manufacturing phase.

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:

Tools and equipment:, special requirements:, raw materials:, productions:, feasibility:, why do you need an operations plan.

An operations plan is essentially an instruction manual about the workings of your business. It offers insight into your business operations. It helps investors assess your credibility and understand the structure of your operations and predict your financial requirements.

An operations plan reflects the real-time application of a business plan.

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 whilst keeping account of deadlines.

The operations plan helps identify and cut the variances between planned and actual performance and makes necessary changes. It helps you visualize how your operations affect revenue and gives you an idea of how and when you need to implement new strategies to maximize profits.

Advantages of Preparing an Operations Plan:

Offers clarity:, contains a roadmap:, sets a benchmark:, operations plan essentials.

Now that you have understood the contents of an operations plan and how it should be written, you can continue drafting one for your business plan. But before doing so, take a look at these key components you need to remember while creating your operational plan.

  • Your operations plan is fundamentally a medium for implementing your strategic plan. Hence, it’s crucial to have a solid strategic plan to write an effective operations plan.
  • Focus on setting SMART goals and prioritizing the most important ones. This helps you create a clear and crisp operations plan. Focusing on multiple goals will make your plan complicated and hard to implement.
  • To measure your goals, use leading indicators instead of lagging indicators. Leading indicators is a metric that helps you track your progress and predict when you will reach a goal. On the other hand, lagging indicators can only confirm a trend by taking the past as input but cannot predict the accomplishment of a goal.
  • It is essential to choose the right Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) . It is a good practice to involve all your teams while you decide your KPIs.
  • An operations plan should effectively communicate your goals, metrics, deadlines, and all the processes.

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

Operations plan by a book publishing house

Track and Accomplish Goals With an Operations Plan

Drafting the operations plan section of your business plan can be tricky due to the uncertainties of the business environment and the risks associated with it. Depending on variables like your market analysis, product development, supply chain, etc., the complexity of writing an operations plan will vary.

The core purpose here is to put all the pieces together to create a synergy effect and get the engine of your business running. Create an effective operations plan to convey competence to investors and clarity to employees.

Build your Business Plan Faster

with step-by-step Guidance & AI Assistance.

crossline

Frequently Asked Questions

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 on a daily basis 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?

  • 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 needs an operations plan to get a better idea of the roadmap they want for their business.

About the Author

how to write operations in business plan

Ayush is a writer with an academic background in business and marketing. Being a tech-enthusiast, he likes to keep a sharp eye on the latest tech gadgets and innovations. When he's not working, you can find him writing poetry, gaming, playing the ukulele, catching up with friends, and indulging in creative philosophies.

Related Articles

how to write operations in business plan

How to Write SMART Goals: Explained with Examples

how to write operations in business plan

6 Essential Milestones to Achieve in Your Business Roadmap

how to write operations in business plan

Write Products and Services Section of a Business Plan

Upmetrics logo

Reach Your Goals with Accurate Planning

No Risk – Cancel at Any Time – 15 Day Money Back Guarantee

trustpilot reviews

Popular Templates

operations-plan-template

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

Operations-Plan-Template

  • Contact sales

Start free trial

Operational Planning: How to Make an Operations Plan

ProjectManager

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.

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.

Gantt chart with operational plan

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.

how to write operations in business plan

Get your free

Operational Plan Template

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

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.

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.

ProjectManager's free operational plan template for Word.

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.

A screenshot of a gantt chart in ProjectManager

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.

project status report builder

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.

Click here to browse ProjectManager's free templates

Deliver your projects on time and under budget

Start planning your projects.

Growthink logo white

Expertly Writing the Operations Plan Section of Your Business Plan

Written by Dave Lavinsky

Operational Planning

Operational plans are important for any effective business plan . They provide a roadmap for how the company will operate on a day-to-day basis. The operational strategic plan should outline the company’s goals and objectives, as well as the strategies and actions that will be taken to achieve them.

Business Operations Section of a Business Plan

The operational plan or operations section of a business plan is where you describe how your business will function on a day-to-day basis. This includes everything from the resources you’ll need to run your business, to the people who will be responsible for carrying out various tasks, to the processes and procedures you’ll use to get work done.

Purpose of the Operational Plan Section of a Business Plan

An operational plan is essential for any business because it provides a roadmap for how it will function. It ensures that everyone involved in the business is on the same page and knows what their roles and responsibilities are. Having an operational plan also makes it easier to track and accomplish goals, while driving cost reduction and improving overall results. Finally, your operations plan section helps show readers that you can turn your vision and goals into reality.

Benefits of an Operations Plan Include:

  • Identifying the key processes your company must perform to achieve its goals
  • Mapping out short-term and long-term milestones so you have specific goals and a roadmap for achieving them
  • Understanding the human and other resources required to execute your vision

Writing an Operations Section of a Business Plan

When writing the operations section of a business plan, there are a few things you’ll want to keep in mind. First, be sure to describe the resources that will be required to run your business. This includes everything from office space and equipment to human resources. Next, detail the processes and procedures that will be used to get work done. Be as specific as possible so that there is no confusion about how things should be done. Finally, identify the people who will be responsible for carrying out various tasks. This includes both employees and contractors.

Tracking Key Performance Indicators with Operational Planning

As a business owner, it’s important to track your progress against your company goals. This is where KPIs come in. KPIs are performance indicators and an important part of creating a strategic plan that can help you track your progress and identify areas of improvement. You should document your KPIs in the operation plan of your business plan

There are a few things to keep in mind when choosing KPIs for your business:

  • Make sure that the KPIs you choose are relevant to your company’s goals.
  • Choose KPIs that can be easily measured.
  • Avoid choosing too many KPIs, as this can be overwhelming. Stick to a few key ones that will give you the most insights into your business’s progress.
  • Set realistic targets for each KPI. This will help you track your progress and identify areas of improvement.
  • Review your KPIs on a regular basis to ensure that they are still relevant and accurate, while also being in line with strategic plans.

Some Examples of KPIs that You Could Track with an Operational Plan

When creating an operations plan, it’s important to track key performance indicators (KPIs) to measure your progress against your company goals. Some examples of KPIs that you could track are:

  • Sales growth
  • Delivery times
  • Customer satisfaction ratings
  • Product Quality
  • Production Process
  • Employee retention
  • Operational costs

Creating an operational plan with KPIs will help you track your progress, identify areas of improvement, improve strategic planning and make necessary changes to reach your company’s strategic objective.

Example of an Operations Section of a Business Plan

Here is what an operations plan example might look like:

The XYZ Company will require the following resources to operate:

  • 1,000 square feet of office space
  • $10,000 for office furniture and equipment
  • 3 full-time employees
  • 2 part-time employees
  • 1 contractor

The XYZ Company will use the following processes and procedures to get work done:

  • All new clients will be contacted within 24 hours of the initial inquiry
  • Initial consultations will be scheduled within 48 hours of contact
  • Proposals will be presented within 10 days of the initial consultation
  • Work will begin within 2 weeks of proposal acceptance

The following people will be responsible for carrying out these tasks:

  • John Smith, full-time employee, will contact new clients
  • Jane Doe, full-time employee, will schedule initial consultations
  • John Smith and Jane Doe will conduct initial consultations
  • John Smith and Jane Doe will prepare proposals
  • John Smith and Jane Doe will manage projects
  • Joe Johnson, contractor, will provide support as needed

An operations plan is a critical part of any business planning work. It provides a roadmap for how the business will function on a day-to-day basis. This includes everything from the resources you’ll need to run your business, to the people who will be responsible for carrying out various tasks, to the processes and procedures you’ll use to get work done. Having operational plans in place will ensure that everyone involved in the business is on the same page and knows what their roles and responsibilities are. It will also make it easier to track and accomplish goals.

Key Takeaways

A few key things to remember when writing your operations plan:

  • Describe the resources that will be required to run your business
  • Detail the processes and procedures that will be used to get work done
  • Identify the people who will be responsible for carrying out various tasks

Following these tips will help you create a comprehensive and effective operations plan for your business.

A strategic plan is one of the critical components of any successful company. The operations plan outlines the roadmap for your business, outlining the steps you need to take to achieve your goals. If you’re not sure where to start, we can help. Our team of experts has created a comprehensive business plan template that will guide you through the process of creating an operational plan tailored to your specific business needs. Ready to get started? Download our template today and get access to all the tools and information you need to create a thriving business.

How to Finish Your Business Plan Template in 1 Day!

Don’t you wish there was a faster, easier way to finish your business plan template?

With Growthink’s Ultimate Business Plan Template you can finish your plan in just 8 hours or less!

Growthink logo white

  • Starting a Business
  • Growing a Business
  • Business News
  • Science & Technology
  • Money & Finance
  • Subscribers For Subscribers
  • Store Entrepreneur Store
  • Spotlight Spotlight
  • United States
  • Asia Pacific
  • Middle East
  • South Africa

Copyright © 2024 Entrepreneur Media, LLC All rights reserved. Entrepreneur® and its related marks are registered trademarks of Entrepreneur Media LLC

JUST RELEASED: View the 2024 Franchise 500 Ranking

First Steps: Writing the Operations Section of Your Business Plan This quick guide offers tips that will help you create the operations section for your business plan.

By The Staff of Entrepreneur Media, Inc. • Jan 4, 2015

In their book Write Your Business Plan , the staff of Entrepreneur Media, Inc. offer an in-depth understanding of what's essential to any business plan, what's appropriate for your venture, and what it takes to ensure success. In this edited excerpt, the authors discuss what type of information you should include in the operations section of your business plan.

Operations is concerned with how you buy, build and prepare your product or service for sale. That covers a lot of ground, including sourcing raw materials, hiring labor, acquiring facilities and equipment, and shipping the finished goods. And it's different depending on whether you're a manufacturer, a retailer or a service firm.

The basic rule for your operations section is to cover just the major areas—labor, materials, facilities, equipment and processes—and provide the major details—things that are critical to operations or that give you competitive advantage. If you do that, you'll answer investors' questions about operations without overwhelming them.

The simplest way to treat operations is to think of it as a linear process that can be broken down into a sequence of tasks. Once the initial task listing is complete, turn your attention to who's needed to do which tasks. Keep this very simple and concentrate on major tasks such as producing a product or delivering a service.

Operations for Retail and Service Firms

Retail and service firms have different operations requirements from manufacturers. Companies that maintain or repair things, sell consulting or provide health care or other services generally have higher labor content and lower investments in plants and equipment.

That's not to say operations are any less important for retailers and service firms. But most people already understand the basics of processes such as buying and reselling merchandise or giving haircuts or preparing tax returns. So you don't have to do as much explaining as, say, someone who's manufacturing microprocessors.

For service and retail firms, people are the main engines of production. The cost of providing a service is largely driven by the cost of the labor it entails. A service-firm plan, then, has to devote considerable attention to staffing. You'll want to include background information and, if possible, describe employment contracts for key employees such as designers, marketing experts, buyers, and the like. You'll want to walk the reader through the important tasks of these employees at all levels so they can understand how your business works and what the customer experience is like.

Operations plans for retailers also devote considerable attention to sourcing desirable products. They may describe the background and accomplishments of key buyers. They may detail long-term supply agreements with manufacturers of in-demand branded merchandise.

Operations for Manufacturers

The lead actor in manufacturing is the process of production, and the better your production process, the better a manufacturer you'll be. Business plan readers look for strong systems in place to make sure that personnel and materials are appropriately abundant. In your operations section, don't go into too much detail -- stick to the important processes, those essential to your production or that give you a special competitive advantage and be sure you show that you have adequate, reliable supply sources for the materials you need to build your products. Estimate your needs for materials and describe the agreements with suppliers, including their length and terms that you have arranged to fulfill those needs. You may also give the backgrounds of your major suppliers and show that you have backup sources available should problems develop.

You'll also need to include information on how you'll ensure a reliable supply of adequately trained people to run your processes. You'll first need to estimate the number and type of people you'll require to run your plan. Then show that you can reasonably expect to be able to hire what you need. Look at local labor pools, unemployment rates and wage levels using information from chambers of commerce or similar entities.

Manufacturing a product naturally requires equipment. Naturally, investors are very interested in your plans for purchasing equipment. Many plans devote a separate section to describing the ovens, drill presses, forklifts, printing presses and other equipment they'll require. This part of your plan doesn't have to be long, but it does have to be complete. Make a list of every sizable piece of equipment you anticipate needing. Include a description of its features, its functions, and, of course, its cost.

Be ready to defend the need to own the more expensive items. Bankers and other investors are loath to plunk down money for capital equipment that can be resold only for far less than its purchase price. Also consider leasing what you need if you're starting out.

The Facilities Section

Unless you're a globe-trotting consultant whose office is his suitcase, your plan will need to describe the facilities in which your business will be housed. Land and buildings are often the largest capital items on any company's balance sheet, so go into detail about what you have and what you need. Decide how much space you require in square feet. Don't forget to include room for expansion if you anticipate growth. Now consider the location. You may need to be close to a labor force and materials suppliers. Transportation needs, such as proximity to rail, interstate highways, or airports, can also be important. Next determine whether there's any specific layout that you need.

To figure the cost of facilities, first decide whether you'll lease or buy space and what your rent or mortgage payments will be. Don't forget to include brokerage fees, moving costs and the cost of any leasehold improvements you'll need. Finally, take a look at operating costs. Utilities including phone, electric, gas, water, and trash pickup are concerns; also consider such costs as your computer connections, possibly satellite connections, as well as maintenance and general upkeep.

These aren't the only operations concerns of manufacturers. You should also consider your need to acquire or protect such valuable operations assets as proprietary processes and patented technologies. For many businesses, intellectual property is more valuable than their sizable accumulations of plants and equipment.

Entrepreneur Staff

Want to be an Entrepreneur Leadership Network contributor? Apply now to join.

Editor's Pick Red Arrow

  • For Years, This Black Founder Learned an Uncommon But Essential Craft on the Side. Now His Creations Are Beloved By Celebrity Chefs — and Can Sell for More Than $1,000 .
  • Three Buddies Wanted to Have a Better Time at an Outdoor Festival. Their Invention Turned Into a $43 Million Business .
  • Lock This Fun, Flexible Side Hustle Pays $35 an Hour and Gets You Into Exclusive CEO Summits, Music Festivals, and Sports Events
  • Lock This Retirement Trend Is Helping People Ease 'Financial Anxieties' and Avoid 'Loss of Purpose,' Workplace Expert Says
  • Lock These 3 Quotes From Jeff Bezos Will Change How You Run Your Business
  • The Job Is Finished, Now What? 7 Lessons and Cautionary Tales About Life After Power From Former Presidents .

Related Topics Red Arrow

Most popular red arrow, the side hustle she started in her princeton dorm room led to a $510 million business: 'don't take no for an answer'.

Danielle Cohen-Shohet launched a successful side hustle in college, combining her love for design and entrepreneurship, which ultimately led to GlossGenius.

These Are the Highest-Paying Side Hustles for a Single Day of Work

Earn the most money in the least amount of time.

10 Leadership Lessons From Successful CEOs — An Insightful Guide for the Ambitious Entrepreneur

Valuable lessons you can learn from successful CEOs like Steve Jobs, Jeff Bezos and Elon Musk.

The All-in-One, Super-Sized Ethical Hacking Bundle Is Only $40 for Presidents' Day

Get 18 cybersecurity courses for a great price (regularly $1,098).

Companies Are Spending $21.2 Billion on Corporate Swag — Only For It to End Up in the Donation Pile. Here's What You Need to Do to Stand Out.

How entrepreneurs can transform promotional products into meaningful, story-driven tokens that captivate, connect and create lasting brand impressions.

55 Small Business Ideas to Start in 2024

We put together a list of the best, most profitable small business ideas for entrepreneurs to pursue in 2024.

Successfully copied link

comscore

We earn commissions if you shop through the links below.  Read more

How to Write the Operations Section of the 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 20, 2023 Updated on December 12, 2023

How to Write the Operations Section of the Business Plan

Among the countless tasks involved in starting a business is writing a business plan . Many entrepreneurs who don’t need funding view this as a step they can skip, but that’s never a good idea. 

A sharp and detailed business plan is essentially a business owner’s commitment to and preparation for the road ahead, detailing the operations, strategies, and potential growth.

The operations section is the real heart of a business plan, detailing how your venture will operate on a day-to-day basis. Researching and writing this section will prepare you to run your business, structure your operations, and deal with any hurdles.  

This guide delivers all the insight you need to whip up a fantastic operations section of your plan.

  • What Are Operations?

Operations are the assets, processes, and people necessary to keep the business running and making money on a day-to-day basis. They include how the product or service is developed or sourced, what needs to be done for that to occur, and the resources required. 

You’ll also detail the activities that need to occur to attract customers, make sales, and deliver the product or service. 

Keep in mind that operations are different for every company. If you’re running an online shoe store , for instance, you won’t learn much by examining the operations of a cement manufacturer. 

  • Elements of the Operations Section

The operations section of the business plan has several key elements. 

1. Assets Required

Your business’s required assets may include a physical space, such as a shop or office, as well as equipment, vehicles, computers, and other physical assets needed to develop your product and operate the business. List all these assets, the expected cost, and how you’ll acquire them. 

2. Product Development or Sourcing

Detail all the steps necessary to produce or acquire your product or service. Include details of your suppliers, how you will acquire products and raw materials, and the estimated cost. If you’re manufacturing products, detail the processes and production oversight plan, as well as costs. 

If your product involves technology, detail the stages of development and how you’ll maintain and advance the product on an ongoing basis.

Your goal should be to paint a picture of exactly what will happen on a day-to-day basis to produce a product or service that’s ready to sell, who will be involved, and how much it will cost. 

3. Technical Processes

If you expect to use any technical processes, explain them and who will be involved. These could be anything from business process automation and workflow management systems to project management or AI analytics for marketing. 

Detail the initial and ongoing costs for any software and hardware used.

4. Marketing and Sales Activities

To clarify, this section will not explain your business’s marketing and sales strategies. Rather, here you detail how marketing and sales will be conducted, who’ll be responsible, and the expected cost. For example, you might have your own internal team or outsource to a marketing agency.  

If you plan to hire marketing staff, detail what roles you’ll fill, what they’ll do, and how they’ll be paid. For example, your salespeople may receive a base salary and commissions.

5. Product or Service Delivery Activities

Detail how you will get the product or service to the customer. If you’re selling a product online, describe how products will be shipped and who is involved in packaging products and getting them to the delivery provider. 

If you’re delivering a service, detail how this is done and who is responsible for performing the service. 

6. Operational Objectives

Finally, you’ll include your operational objectives. These could include:

  • Acquiring equipment by a certain date
  • Hiring employees
  • Short-term production goals
  • Engaging with a supplier

It’s important to illustrate that you have specific operational plans and goals that will enable you to meet your overall business objectives.

Every business is different, so you may need to include all of the elements described above, or just a few of them. What’s important is that the reader is able to grasp how your company will function on a day-to-day basis. 

By writing the operations section, you’ll learn exactly what it will take to keep your business chugging along and bringing in revenue – and that knowledge will likely be invaluable down the road.  

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment.

Subscribe to Our Newsletter

Featured resources.

Crafting the Perfect Business Plan: A Deep Dive with Upmetrics’ Vinay Kevadiya

Crafting the Perfect Business Plan: A Deep Dive with Upmetrics’ Vinay Kevadiya

Carolyn Young

Published on October 13, 2023

In the first segment of our conversation with Vinay Kevadiya, the visionary behind Upmetrics, we explored the platform’s origins and itsunique ...

LivePlan Software Review

LivePlan Software Review

Published on September 15, 2023

When you’re starting a business, a business plan is essential whether you’re going to obtain financing or not. Creating a business plan helpsyou ...

What to Include in Your Business Plan Appendix?

What to Include in Your Business Plan Appendix?

Published on September 13, 2023

Launching a business involves countless tasks, and one of the crucial early hurdles is writing a business plan. Many entrepreneurs who aren’tlooki ...

No thanks, I don't want to stay up to date on industry trends and news.

  • Line of Credit
  • Custom Financing
  • How It Works
  • Small Business Resources
  • Small Business Blog
  • Business Stories
  • Our Platform
  • Lender and Partner Resources
  • Our Company
  • How to Write an Operational Plan in 13 Easy Steps
  • Learning Center
  • Business Owners

A quote attributed to baseball great Yogi Berra should be top of mind for entrepreneurs interested in expanding their business: “If you don't know where you are going, you might wind up someplace else.” Do you know where your business is headed and how you’ll get there?

One way to reach future long and short term goals is to have a detailed strategic plan, and one important element to include in your strategic plan is the operational plan.

See if you're eligible for a line of credit

What is an operational plan?

An operational plan outlines the day-to-day basis of a department’s work. It establishes the daily operations of each department and aligns these operations with the business goals of the whole company.

When you take the steps to create an operational plan for your company, you should ensure that it addresses the below concerns:

  • The delegation of tasks and strategic work shared among departments
  • The delegation of the above to individual positions within a department
  • Recurring deadlines for each task and strategy
  • Costs anticipated for each task and strategy

Why is an operational plan important?

A thorough operational plan ensures that all your employees know their daily work requirements. It also tells your employees how to best complete their work within a specified timeframe. With these duties appropriately delegated and mapped out, your company can more easily achieve its business goals.

How do operational plans differ from strategic plans?

In some cases, operational plans and strategic plans are one and the same. In other cases, strategic plans are broader than operational plans. That’s because strategic objectives are long-term business goals, whereas operational objectives are milestones regarding the systems through which your company achieves its strategic goals. In either case, writing an operational plan is a key first step for developing a fruitful small business strategy.

Steps for how to write an operational plan

This section will help you determine what needs to be done to reach your vision. To get started, keep the SMART guidelines below in mind. Your plan should be:

M easurable

A ttainable

When completed, your plan should clearly outline the day-to-day operations required to run your business successfully. The steps for how to write an operational plan are:

1. Focus on important goals

It can be tough for a busy entrepreneur to narrow down business goals . Prioritize the ones that are attainable and will help strengthen your business.

For example, if you own a bakery, you might set a reasonable goal of increasing business 20% by introducing new and creative menu items. An unattainable goal might be to relocate to an expensive high-rent neighborhood without a plan to increase profits and cover the higher expenses.

Lofty goals are great but you don’t want to cause frustration if they’re just not realistic. Create goals that can be reached with your current employees and available resources.

2. Set KPIs

Put key performance indicators (KPIs) in place to measure your success. KPIs can be financial, like increasing your net profit, or non-financial like increasing website traffic or improving customer service quality.

While there are a large range of KPIs you can measure, knowing where to focus your attention when evaluating your business can help you be more effective and use your time wisely. Small Business Trends has an article to help you choose the KPIs you should measure: 14 Key Performance Indicators That Matter.

3. Communicate and discuss KPIs with employees

Research from Harvard Business School found that 95% of a typical workforce doesn't understand the strategy and goals of the business they work for. How can employees perform at a high level if they don’t know this important information? You want your team to make the right decisions based on your operational plan to help you meet your objectives.

There are several ways to engage with your employees . You can hold a good old fashioned brainstorming session when you’re putting your operational plan together. You can also hold regular company-wide meetings to discuss where the company is headed.

The SmartBiz Loans team is updated on goals and where the company stands during a monthly OGSM meeting. OGSM stands for objectives, goals, strategies and measures. Management presents their results and employees are encouraged to ask questions and make comments.

See if you pre-qualify

4. Discuss the production process

Here’s where you outline how your product is produced or the resources needed to implement your services. The production process section of your operational plan may include:

  • Necessary resources like computers, phone systems, and software
  • Required equipment like machinery used for production of your product or service
  • Cash and cash equivalents
  • Special requirements you might need such as zoning permits, drainage, ventilation, etc.
  • Materials you need to produce your product and the suppliers you’ll use to secure them.

5. Address costs

What funds are needed for your team to successfully complete their jobs and meet KPIs? Are there ways to reduce costs and still meet goals? Don’t forget to add in the costs of payroll taxes and benefits, equipment repair or replacement, and legal or other fees.

6. Set a budget?

Describe in detail your operating process and budget . Here’s where you can discuss outside funding and explore how much it would take for working capital, equipment, inventory, and other important areas. Speaking of working capital:

7. Develop a hiring plan

Even the most straightforward operational plan requires a trustworthy team to execute. That’s why your operational plan should explicitly outline your hiring practices. It should answer the following questions:

  • Which positions does my business need, and by when will it need these roles filled?
  • What does the ideal candidate for each position look like?
  • How will my company find its new hires?
  • What salary will I pay my employees?
  • What benefits will I give my employees?

As mentioned earlier, you should also discuss your company’s goals and KPIs with your entire team. Once you’ve built a reliable team, you should also figure out when and where you’ll need your employees to work – and an operational plan is the perfect place to set these requirements.

8. Establish your work hours

Can you run your operation with employees working a typical 9 to 5 schedule during a 40 hour work week? Are there tasks that need to be completed in off hours? Let employees know when they are expected to work and if flexible hours are available. Remote work can help you retain employees as well.

9. Set employee location requirements

Do employees need to work in an office or onsite? Can work be performed remotely? Again, your employees need to know your expectations and how it fits in with the overall operational plan goals. Include the costs of rent and required insurance . If you run a home-based business , outline the tax breaks you might qualify for.

10. Address possible risk

The process of identifying risks, assessing those risks, and developing strategies to manage risks is known as risk management. Include a risk management plan within your operational plan. Reduce risks where possible and prepare contingency plans where necessary.

11. Set quality control measures

You don’t have to have a quality control team. Have one employee own quality control from beginning to end with a system of checks and balances in place.

12. Devise project management plans

To better control your products’ quality and optimize your production process, project management plans may prove helpful. Although no two projects are quite the same, adding loose project management plan templates or workflows to your operational plan can reduce operational inefficiencies that hinder you from achieving your goals.

For example, let’s say your company’s main source of revenue is light bulb production and sales. If you regularly develop new lights to sell, you’ll need a set of reliable constraints to work within every time you roll out a new product. These constraints can include product goals, production budget and timeline, and internal and external deliverables.

With a sturdy project management plan in place, you increase the likelihood of consistent quality, revenue, and new product releases. As such, successfully achieving your business goals may be easier.

13. Create timeline and milestones

Set project deadlines so your team is clear about their responsibilities and objectives. Clearly outline a timeline for meeting important milestones. Employee input can be valuable here. It’s good to know the bandwidth each team member has when working on deadlines.

Final Thoughts

SmartBiz Loans CEO Evan Singer has 20-plus years of business experience. He offers this advice to entrepreneurs in every stage of business planning:

“Remember that your plan doesn’t have to be perfect to achieve your goals. And possibly most importantly, don’t hesitate to ask for help. A financial professional or even members of your team can offer direction and advice if you’re feeling stuck.”

See if you pre-qualify

Have 5 minutes? Apply online

Get Started

  • Follow SmartBiz

Access to the right loan for right now

See if you pre-qualify

  • Business Credit
  • Business Finances
  • Business Marketing
  • Business Technologies
  • Emergency Resources
  • Employee Management
  • Small Business Loans
  • SmartBiz University
  • More SBA Articles

Related Posts

Bank term loans 101: understanding the basics for small business, getting a small business loan may become easier, loan proceeds and scaling for the holidays, smart growth is smart business.

See if you pre-qualify, without impacting your credit score. 1

*We conduct a soft credit pull that will not affect your credit score. However, in processing your loan application, the lenders with whom we work will request your full credit report from one or more consumer reporting agencies, which is considered a hard credit pull and happens after your application is in the funding process and matched with a lender who is likely to fund your loan.

The SmartBiz® Small Business Blog and other related communications from SmartBiz Loans® are intended to provide general information on relevant topics for managing small businesses. Be aware that this is not a comprehensive analysis of the subject matter covered and is not intended to provide specific recommendations to you or your business with respect to the matters addressed. Please consult legal and financial processionals for further information.

  • Professional Services
  • Creative & Design
  • See all teams
  • Project Management
  • Workflow Management
  • Task Management
  • Resource Management
  • See all use cases

Apps & Integrations

  • Microsoft Teams
  • See all integrations

Explore Wrike

  • Book a Demo
  • Take a Product Tour
  • Start With Templates
  • Customer Stories
  • ROI Calculator
  • Find a Reseller
  • Mobile & Desktop Apps
  • Cross-Tagging
  • Kanban Boards
  • Project Resource Planning
  • Gantt Charts
  • Custom Item Types
  • Dynamic Request Forms
  • Integrations
  • See all features

Learn and connect

  • Resource Hub
  • Educational Guides

Become Wrike Pro

  • Submit A Ticket
  • Help Center
  • Premium Support
  • Community Topics
  • Training Courses
  • Facilitated Services

Operational Planning: How to Make an Operational Plan

June 6, 2022 - 10 min read

Yuvika Iyer

Having a strategic plan is essential to any company, but it's not enough. To ensure that the broader organizational goals are within reach, you need an operational plan for day-to-day work..

In this blog post, we’ll explain what an operational plan is, show you how to create one without feeling overwhelmed, and provide you with an example of an operational plan. We’ll also share our pre-built templates that you can start with to streamline the process.

What is an operational plan?

An operational plan is a document that outlines the key objectives and goals of an organization and how to reach them.

The document includes short-term or long-term goals in a clear way so that team members know their responsibilities and have a clear understanding of what needs to be done.

Crafting an operational plan keeps teams on track while guiding them in making crucial decisions about the company's long-term strategy.

Operational planning vs strategic planning

Though related to each other, these two planning strategies differ in their focus.

Operational planning is the process of the day-to-day work to execute your strategy. It ensures you have all the resources and staff necessary to get work done efficiently.

On the other hand, strategic planning is about looking ahead into the future, identifying the upcoming pipeline, and figuring out how you can prepare for it.

According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor, nearly 7 million Americans are self-employed, with an additional 10 million employed by small businesses. 

If you're working at a large corporation, chances are your company will have some form of strategic goals in place. However, if you're one of the millions who work remotely and independently, your success will rely on operational planning instead.

What are the key elements of an operational plan?

The success of operational planning largely depends on setting realistic expectations for all teams.

Here are the key elements of a functional operational plan:

  • Clearly define the ultimate vision or objective for the plan
  • Review and break down the smaller goals for the operating budget, team, and resources required to put the plan into action
  • Assign budgets, team members, key stakeholders, and resources
  • Monitor progress with consistent reports
  • Refine the operational plan and be ready to pivot if needed

Mobile image promo promo

Ensure all teams understand the parameters of success. Doing this shows how their work contributes to wider company goals and ensures better decision-making for the business operation.

How to create an operational planning process

Think of an operational plan as a key component in a team puzzle. It provides employees with a manual on how to operate the company.

It should be created in tandem with other foundational documents like an organizational mission statement, vision document, or business strategy. Daily, it can help answer questions such as:

  • Who should be working on what?
  • How can we mitigate those risks?
  • How will resources be assigned for different tasks?
  • Are there any internal and external risks facing the business?

To create a successful operational plan, it's important to define goals clearly. Here are several steps that will help you develop a functional operating plan:

Start with the strategic plan

Before defining an operational goal, make sure your strategic objectives are in place and relevant.

Prioritize the most critical activities first

Once these goals have been decided on, prioritize the most critical activities required to achieve these aims.

Stop diluting team efforts and let them focus on the most important goals first. Doing this means everyone works on a smaller set of tasks, instead of spreading themselves thin in multiple areas. It also helps in optimizing available resources.

Use predictive indicators

For a robust operational plan, consider using key performance metrics or indicators that can help you determine project progress and lend visibility to team activities. 

While lagging indicators look backward, leading indicators look to the future. Think of the plan as a car — the rear-view mirror would be a lagging indicator, while the windshield would be the leading indicator.

A leading indicator could be a new product, higher customer satisfaction levels, or new markets. Examples of lagging indicators include the number of people who attended an event or the monthly operating expenses for specific departments. 

Instead of lagging indicators, use leading indicators. Lagging metrics will show that your efforts are falling short only after you execute the operations.

Leading KPIs include predictive measures that allow early identification of problems before they become critical and impact business performance negatively.

Get team buy-in

The key to defining appropriate KPIs is involving the whole team in the process. Meet to discuss the business goals and figure out what measurements are right for the team instead of working independently or outsourcing them.

Ensure consistent communication

Communication is key. By understanding your company's metrics and what they mean, you'll be able to work together more effectively with colleagues to reach common goals.

Operational plan example

Let’s say that a company plans to increase production volume by 50% at the end of a fiscal year.

When the company goal is clear, the team will make a strategic plan with three main components: marketing, sales, and operations.

This can be further broken down into an operational plan, which will assign resources, teams, budgets, and timelines for different departments such as manufacturing, sourcing, accounts, finance, and logistics to achieve the increase in production. Such a plan should include a financial summary and financial projections as well.

Operational plan template

Think about the example above. The goals and parties involved are clear as part of the operational plan. At the same time, to remain on track, the plan requires continuous analysis and reviews. An operational plan template can be extremely helpful to achieve that.

An operational template can be a simple document that is reused for different plans by the same organization. However, it is also possible and extremely helpful to make use of project management software tools to create one.

For instance, Gantt charts can serve exactly that purpose. Using a Gantt chart as an operational plan template, it is possible to create and manage plans, track changes and edit project-related activities in real time. The chart allows clear visibility for timelines, tasks, responsibilities, and team members.

Operational planning advantages and disadvantages

Most businesses utilize an operational plan to keep track of their daily tasks. 

The plan outlines the day-to-day activities for running the organization — teams, managers, and employees are then able to visualize their contribution, which is crucial for reaching company goals.

But every process has two sides. Let’s review the operational planning advantages and disadvantages in more detail.

Operational planning advantages

Clarifies organizational goals.

An operational plan helps managers and department heads define their daily tasks, responsibilities, and activities in detail.

It also illustrates how individual team members contribute to the overall company or department goals. Without a clearly defined plan, managers and employees have no way to measure their daily tasks against predefined outcomes.

Boosts team productivity

Business owners are always looking for ways to increase productivity, which in turn translates into higher profits. One of the best and easiest ways to boost efficiency is through an operational plan.

Employees are more productive when they know their daily objectives and responsibilities. Conversely, if they're unsure of what is required of them, chances are their productivity will suffer. 

An operational plan provides this vital information to employees in each department and across the company as a whole.

Enhance organizational profitability

Having a plan helps in keeping projects and teams on track.

When operations are managed properly, teams are able to consistently increase revenue and develop new products.

Innovation pays off. A BCG survey points out that 60% of companies that are committed to innovation report steadily increasing revenues year after year. With an operational plan in place, teams are able to innovate better and faster.

Improves competitive advantages

Competitive advantages are made up of multiple levels and components.

Coordinating the different parts with an operational plan will make your workflows run more smoothly. This allows you to deliver high-quality deliverables on time, creating an outstanding customer experience and keeping you ahead of the competition.

Operational planning disadvantages

Possibility of human error.

Human error is a common problem in manufacturing that can often occur when transitioning from production to sale.

Operations management teams will need to coordinate effectively with diverse cross-functional teams such as finance, accounting, engineering, and human resources. In doing so, each team will have a clear understanding of the end goals of each department.

Interdependency amongst parts

One of the main disadvantages of implementing an operations planning process is that its success depends on coordination across parts.

Plans end up failing due to one part not working, which can have an adverse impact on the subsequent process. Disruptions in one process can end up affecting the entire process, making the entire operational plan useless.

Using Wrike for operational planning

Boost your organization by ensuring every project starts off on the right foot. Wrike's award-winning project management tools can help you create and execute operational plans with various pre-built templates . 

Establish your plan, monitor progress, and be prepared to pivot if necessary. With Wrike, you can share real-time data, making all milestones crystal clear for your team and helping them stay updated and on track. 

Choose the most suitable template and start a free two-week trial of Wrike today!

Yuvika Iyer

Yuvika Iyer

Yuvika is a freelance writer who specializes in recruitment and résumé writing.

Related articles

What Is a PMIS and How Does it Work?

What Is a PMIS and How Does it Work?

Discover how a PMIS can help your team deliver high-quality projects faster in this in-depth guide. Learn what is PMIS and how you can set one up.

Google Workspace for Project Management Guide

Google Workspace for Project Management Guide

Google project management tools include Google Sheets, Docs, and Slides. Read on to discover everything you need to know about Google project management.

Work Skills You Need on Your Resume in 2021

Work Skills You Need on Your Resume in 2021

Navigating the highly competitive job market can be brutal. In a recent Jobvite survey, nearly three in four respondents said they believe finding a job has become much harder following the pandemic.  It’s clearer now more than ever how important it is for your resume to stand out. In fact, nearly 24% of hiring managers spend 30 seconds or less reviewing a resume to determine whether a candidate is qualified for a position or not. You quite literally have seconds to catch their attention before your resume ends up in the recycling bin with the rest of the candidates that didn’t make the cut. So, how exactly do you set yourself apart and stand out from the crowd? Highlighting your work skills on your resume is the best place to start. We did some digging and pulled together some work skills examples in various categories to inspire you to revitalize your resume.  Important social work skills for the workplace What are social work skills? Social skills, otherwise known as interpersonal skills, are essential in helping us communicate with one another in the workplace. These skills allow us to build relationships, interact, and communicate with those around us in a meaningful and effective way. This includes verbal and nonverbal cues.  Social work skills are essential in every job. Whether you work on a team, are in a client-facing role, or are an individual contributor reporting to a direct manager, solid social skills will help you succeed in your position.  Let’s take a look at some of the most important social work skills for the workplace:  1. Empathy One of the best ways to interact well with others is to put yourself in their shoes and understand how they feel. Empathetic people can understand how others are feeling and can identify with those feelings in some way.  Having empathy is a vital trait, especially for those who hold leadership positions. Being empathetic isn’t something you can force, and it doesn’t happen overnight if it doesn’t come naturally to you. This skill takes a conscious effort to build and will help you forge and maintain stronger workplace relationships. 2. Active listening Have you ever been in the middle of a conversation with a colleague and felt like they weren’t paying attention to a single word you were saying? Or have you ever been chatting with a coworker and felt like they heard you and gave you their utmost attention? The latter is known as active listening.  Active listening involves giving someone your full, undivided attention and it allows you to build trust and strong relationships with your colleagues and clients. Active listening requires practice, but it is a skill that can be acquired with proper training and effort. 3. Emotional intelligence At a high level, emotional intelligence refers to recognizing and being aware of the emotions of both yourself and other people. Those with high emotional intelligence are known for being self-aware and can practice self-regulation, particularly in stressful and potentially overwhelming situations at work. Emotional intelligence is critical in the workplace because it contributes to strong, long-term relationships and can help you manage and appropriately tailor your reactions.  4. Conflict resolution According to recent research, 65% of workers experienced conflict with another coworker. Conflict is inevitable in the workplace, which means developing a solid set of conflict resolution skills can help you manage and navigate these situations efficiently.  Conflict resolution is the ability to address the root cause of disagreements and devise a solution that works for all parties involved. You can use various techniques to help resolve conflicts, so it’s essential to learn and understand how to address different disputes. 5. Written communication Social skills refer to how we communicate with one another, which means written skills are a must. Some forms of written communication include emails, instant messages, documents, reports, slide decks, and your resume. Using appropriate grammar, proper spelling, and following formatting guidelines will allow you to communicate effectively with others. 6. Nonverbal communication When it comes to communication, it’s easy to think about what we are saying, but we don’t always focus on how we are saying it. Nonverbal skills can dramatically impact the way your message is received.  Your body language, eye contact, facial expressions, and tone can completely change the message you are trying to deliver to your coworkers. It’s important to be aware of these subtle cues so that you can make sure your message isn’t misconstrued or misinterpreted.  Work-related skills for virtual environments You might not be working with your colleagues side-by-side in the same office. In addition to the skills we discussed above, remote work requires some different skills and disciplines.  Below are a few competencies that you’ll definitely want to have when collaborating in virtual work environments:  Self-motivation: There’s a big difference between in-person office environments and virtual workplace settings. At the office, your manager can simply stop by your desk or quickly check in to see how things are going. While your supervisor can technically do the same via email or instant message, you ultimately don’t have anyone looking over your shoulder 24/7 at your home office (unless you have pets, children, or spouses nearby!). That means self-motivation and knowing how to hold yourself accountable to get your work done are vital to helping you thrive in a virtual role. Adaptability: Adaptability is beneficial in any setting, but it’s a particularly beneficial skill in virtual environments. Whether you’re working with a distributed team and constantly trying to navigate time zones or your presentation gets interrupted due to an unreliable internet connection, adaptability is an important skill to help you navigate the unexpected and ever-changing conditions you may find yourself running up against. Digital and technical knowledge: In virtual environments, employees work remotely and generally rely on several tools to collaborate and tackle their to-do lists. Between project management software, instant messaging, video conferencing, document sharing, and email, there are many different technologies to navigate daily. If you’re working in a virtual environment, it’s essential to feel comfortable using these platforms if you want to keep up with the pace of your work. It’s also worth mentioning that, while you still may be able to reach the IT help desk, you may not receive assistance as quickly as you would in an office setting. That means you might have to do some troubleshooting and problem-solving on your own. What teamwork skills are important for 2021? Teamwork makes the dream work, right?  Teamwork skills are a subset of skills that enable us to work well with groups of people (meaning, our teams) to achieve a shared goal or outcome. In 2021 and beyond, as we see a shift toward hybrid work models, honing in on your teamwork skills can help you land your dream gig. Here are the teamwork skills that are important to develop for 2021 and beyond: 1. Reliability Being reliable is arguably the most crucial teamwork skill. Those who are reliable can be depended on and trusted to do their part time and time again. They show a certain level of commitment to their work and colleagues, meet deadlines (or even get work in early), and follow through on any action or task they say they will do.  You want to be a reliable teammate so your colleagues and your employer will have faith in you. And the more trustworthy you are, the more responsibility you will be trusted with over time, which may boost your career growth in the long run. It’s even more important to showcase your reliability in a virtual workplace environment through clear and frequent communication. 2. Accountability Accountability goes hand-in-hand with reliability. But beyond being reliable, accountability is all about taking responsibility for one’s work — even when that includes mistakes or failures.  There’s no room for the blame game or pointing fingers on teams that work well with one another, which means you have to hold yourself accountable and take fault when necessary. Your teammates will likely think more of you if you’re willing to admit you’re wrong, as opposed to constantly shifting blame or pointing fingers when issues arise. 3. Respectfulness A little bit of respect goes a long way, especially at work. According to Indeed, respectfulness in the workplace reduces stress, increases productivity and collaboration, improves employee satisfaction, and creates a fair environment. You need to respect your team members, manager, and clients to do your best work together.  Acts of respect include acknowledging others and calling them by name, encouraging and exchanging opinions and ideas without judgment, giving credit where it’s due, and listening to and understanding your teammates. 4. Collaboration There is no successful teamwork without collaboration. Collaboration is working together with one or more people on a project or toward a shared goal.  When employees can work together and collaborate successfully, they can share ideas and come up with practical solutions to complex problems. Brainstorming, open discussions, workshops, and knowledge sharing sessions are all examples of collaboration that lead to great teamwork.  5. Persuasion Have you ever worked with a teammate who insists on working their way, even if the rest of the team agrees to pursue another route? How do you keep making progress on your project or goal if one team member isn’t on the same page? That’s where your skills of persuasion come in handy.  Sometimes you might have to persuade a team member to see another point of view and change their mind to benefit the rest of the group. But persuasive skills are more than just getting someone to change their mind and see your perspective — it’s about doing so in an empathetic and respectful way in order to maintain a healthy working relationship. 6. Constructive feedback for improvement You should be able to offer your teammate constructive feedback to help them improve and vice versa. Exchanging feedback not only benefits individuals and the team as a whole but also adds value to your organization by creating an opportunity for constant growth.  Giving feedback requires offering suggestions for improvement in a positive way, while receiving feedback requires listening with an open mind and a willingness to change.  Work skills that work on any resume Sure, there are specialized skills for different roles and industries. Engineers add their programming skills to their resume, project managers add project management certifications and relevant skills, and HR professionals add the performance management and HRIS systems they’ve previously used. While there are specialized skills you’ll want to emphasize on your resume based on your industry and role (and trust us, those are important), there are also some work skills that are relevant on any resume. These include:  Creativity: Creativity is an essential component of innovation and complex problem-solving. In its most basic form, creativity requires thinking about a problem or task differently and using your imagination to form and test new ideas. Problem-solving: All employers value problem-solving abilities because they want to hire people who can break down problems and develop effective solutions. To showcase your problem-solving skills, you might possess a range of qualities such as analysis, evaluation, decision-making, and communication. Time management: No employer wants to hire someone who doesn’t make good use of their time and will have a hard time getting their work done. Your future employer wants to know that you’ll be able to meet deadlines, effectively use your workday to get tasks accomplished, and handle your workload without a lot of babysitting. Examples of specific time management responsibilities include goal setting, prioritizing tasks, meeting deadlines, and minimizing or eliminating distractions for optimal focus. Leadership: Showcasing how you’ve demonstrated leadership in your previous roles can demonstrate to your future potential employer what type of employee you are. Being an effective leader can increase your advancement opportunities within your organization. Use specific examples of successful leadership on your resume for the most significant impact.  So how do you showcase these skills on your resume? Now that you know what work skills for resumes employers want to see, you’re bound to have this question: Where do you put them? Keep in mind that the goal of your resume is to prove that you’re a qualified, no-brainer fit for the role you’re applying for. That’s why your smartest move is to tailor your resume to a specific job. Take a fine-tooth comb to the job description and identify words or skills that are repeated or emphasized. Those are traits that you should be incorporating in your own resume (provided you honestly possess them, of course). The most important skills should go as close to the top of your document as possible, because remember, hiring managers are only skimming for a few seconds. As for where you can work these skills in, you have a number of options, including:  Your professional summary at the top of your document A dedicated key skills section where you can bullet out your most relevant abilities Your past positions, where you can demonstrate how you applied your skills in previous jobs Finally, remember that many of your work skills and social work skills — from communication and time management to problem-solving and active listening — will be on display throughout the hiring process and your interviews.  So, it should go without saying, but show up on time, respond to messages promptly and respectfully, and treat everybody respectfully. After all, when it comes to your work skills, employers want you to show — and not just tell.

Wrike

Get weekly updates in your inbox!

You are now subscribed to wrike news and updates.

Let us know what marketing emails you are interested in by updating your email preferences here .

Sorry, this content is unavailable due to your privacy settings. To view this content, click the “Cookie Preferences” button and accept Advertising Cookies there.

Bit Blog

Operational Plan: What is it & How to Create it? (Free Template Included)

' src=

Want to create an operational plan to ensure smooth implementation of daily activities of your business? No worries, we have got you covered. Read on…

Always plan ahead. It wasn’t raining when Noah built the Ark. ~  Richard Cushing

Running a business is quite similar to sailing a ship! You have to make sure that every aspect is working in the correct motion for you to stay afloat. Can you sail if you have no clear vision of where you’re headed, your destination, or how you will get there?

To answer these questions, you might need to create an intuitive  operational plan  for your business which would work as a lighthouse to guide you through the way and highlight any upcoming risks that could arise in the near future.

An operational plan lucidly describes the business vision and mission! This document is coherently chalked out for the day-to-day running of any business and outlines the operations related to finance, recruitment, marketing, and other resources required for a successful company.

However, crafting such documents can be time-consuming! Therefore, we decided to create a free plug-and-play operational plan template for your team! But before we hop onto our awesome template, let us first understand what exactly is an operation plan and what to include in such documents.

Read on…

What is an Operational Plan? (Definition)

An operational plan is a strategic document that outlines all the planning related to daily operations and processes required for running a successful business. It entails all the activities that different teams or departments like recruitment, marketing, and finance, need to perform to achieve company goals and objectives.

The main objective of a well-defined operational plan ensures each manager and employee knows their specific responsibilities, as well as how they should execute them within a definite timeline.

An employee creating checklist for operational plan

Why is an Operational Plan Important?

The whole point of operational planning is to see the effect of your operations on the business’s working in real-time, so you know exactly when to execute your major strategies.

An operational plan helps you identify areas that are not generating enough revenue or are causing losses, and then assists you with formulating the necessary changes. This document also plays a crucial role in keeping all key stakeholders, management, and board members on the same page.

Everyone needs to be aligned with the company’s mission, goals, risks, hiring needs, financial projections, key performance indicators (KPIs), etc. An operational plan will help every department focus on their contribution to the larger vision by bringing all leading members together under one roof!

Bit.ai Home Page CTA

Read more:  Operational Efficiency: Definition, Importance & Ways to Improve it!

How to Create an Operational Plan? Follow these Steps!

Step 1. create a title page.

While writing an operational plan, the first thing to do is to create a title page for it. This provides all the information about the topic at a single glance.

Here, you will include the title of your document, the registered name of your company, the designation, and the name of the person who creates the document.

Step 2. Write an Executive Summary

An executive summary refers to a section that deals with what a topic is all about in a brief manner. This is to ensure that your readers have a rough idea of the content and encourage them to read on.

In this section, you emphasize the gist of your overall plan and provide a concise explanation of all the important sections in a few sentences.

Step 3. Define Mission and Objectives

Define your organization’s mission and determine your company’s goals and objectives.

Ask yourself what the company is trying to accomplish over the next year and what the major goals and milestones are that support the need for this operational plan.

Describe the company mission, vision, and the reasons this plan is important. Have there been changes in the competitive landscape? Have you raised a round of capital?

Doing this will help you evaluate and measure your company’s performance against your missions and objectives and see how well you are doing in terms of achieving or meeting your goals.

Step 4. Provide Key Performance Indicators

In this section, you can break down each part of your business by evaluating all the major KPIs and metrics involved in measuring your results.

Provide proof of the importance of the operational plan by sharing key numbers that support the ideas in this document.

Step 5. Include a Financial Summary

The next section to be included in your operational plan is the financial summary. Here, you can give an overview of all the projects that will be included during the operational plan and include its financial breakdown. Make sure that there is enough capital to execute this plan.

Step 6. Create a Hiring Plan

Your company will have different hiring needs for each department, therefore, it is essential that you create a hiring plan to decide how many team members will be hired across different departments on a monthly/quarterly basis.

Step 7. Determine the Key Assumptions & Risks

No plan is ever free from risks and problems, so it’s important that you determine the risks to the business and address how the company could work towards mitigating those risks.

This will help your employees be prepared for any possible and potential risks and problems that may arise over the course of their projects.

Step 8. Include the Next Steps

Now that you have included all the major sections, it becomes crucial that you mention what’s going to happen next. Share the next steps, which could include the approval process, updates and reporting time frames, etc.

Step 9. Proofread

The last and final step is to proofread your document and ensure that all the major points are intact and the message is properly conveyed.

Check for spelling errors, grammatical mistakes, typos, or poorly constructed sentences. Make a colleague or another person go through your proposal to double-check everything.

Read more:   Standard Operating Procedures (SOP): What, Types, and How to Write?

Key Benefits of Creating Your Operational Plan Documentation on Bit.ai

To create an effective operational plan, you need a proficient tool that can help you create, share, and collaborate with stakeholders and work efficiently. This is where Bit comes in!

Bit.ai: Document collaboration platform

Bit serves as a central hub where collaborators, content, and communications can be accessed in one all-inclusive document. Managers can use Bit to create an operational plan document, collaborate with the team in real-time, and store all product assets in one place for easy and fast access.

Whether your team is creating the operational plan documents, project documentation, status report, release notes , roadmap, project charter , product requirements, API documentation, product launch marketing documents, pitch decks, business plan, SWOT analysis, competitive research, project management plan, etc, they can easily add spreadsheets, Slideshares, Google Slides, YouTube videos, PDFs, maps, charts, graphs, and more to your documents and make them visually stunning.

Bit features infographic

Organization of information:   Organizational information is often scattered in cloud storage apps, emails, Slack channels, and more. Bit brings all your information in one place by allowing you to organize information in Workspaces and folders. Bring all your documents, media files, and other important company data in one place.

Brand consistency: Focus on the content and let Bit help you with the design and formatting. Bit documents are completely responsive and look great on all devices. With amazing templates and themes, Bit docs provide you with the type of brand and design consistency which is unheard of in the documentation industry

Smart search:  Bit has very robust search functionality that allows anyone to search and find any files, images, documents, etc quickly and easily across all of their workspaces. Users can search their digital assets using keywords, titles, descriptions, or tags. They can even search for files based on their source. (i.e., YouTube).

Media Integrations:  Companies use an average of 34 SaaS apps! No wonder why most of our time is spent hopping from one app to the next, looking for information. This is why Bit.ai integrates with over 100+ popular applications (YouTube, Typeform, LucidChart, Spotify, Google Drive, etc) to help teams weave information in their documents beyond just text and images.

Recommended power links and files you can add to your operational plan template:

  • Google Sheets, OneDrive Excel, Airtable
  • Social Media posts
  • YouTube, Vimeo
  • Draw.io, Lucidcharts
  • Sketchfab, Figma, Marvel
  • PDFs, PowerPoint in Google Drive/OneDrive

Sharing : Bit documents can be shared in a live state meaning that all changes that you make to the document will update in real-time. If you are sharing your documents with clients, they will always get your most up-to-date changes. You can even embed Bit documents on any website or blog.

Tons of other features:  Bit has a plethora of amazing features like document tracking, cloud-upload, templates, and themes, document locking, document expiration, and much more, making it a well-rounded documentation tool.

Bit provides a common workplace for project members to collaborate, document, share their knowledge, brainstorm ideas, store digital assets, and innovate together. The best part is that this knowledge is safely secured in your workspaces and can be shared (or kept private) with anyone in your organization or the public!

Here are some of the man benefits of using Bit:

  • Collaborate in real-time
  • Interlink operational plan documents and other documents
  • Create fully responsive documents
  • Create private operational plans only visible to yourself or your team
  • Track engagement on shared operational plans with consultants, partners, etc.

Read more:  Business Development Plan: What Is It And How To Create A Perfect One?

  • Operational Plan Template

To make the process of creating your operational plan documentation easier, we have created a ready-made operational plan template for you! Check it out below:

How to Use the Operational Plan Template with Bit

The process of creating an operational plan on Bit is insanely easy! Just follow these four simple steps to create your document quickly:

Step 1: Create a Bit Account

Go the home page of  Bit.ai  and click on Get Started for Free or Sign Up to get started. Enter your  email address  to sign up. Once in, you can create your personal profile.

Step 2: Create a Workspace

Workspaces are where the work gets done. Click on the  ‘Create Workspace’  button on the right. A popup will show up prompting you to add a name for your new workspace.  

You can create a workspace around a team, department, large project, client, partner, etc. Inside each workspace, you can create an unlimited amount of Bit documents and access your content library (storage area for all of your digital assets – web links, files, cloud files, rich embeds, etc.).

Step 3: Add Team Members

Bit allows your team members to collaborate in real-time and get work done. Collaboration starts at the workspace level.

You create private workspaces by default. However, you can invite others to join you inside of a workspace and collaborate together with the knowledge, projects, documents, and content inside of the workspace.

Step 4: Create Your Desired Document

Once you are in the workspace, click on the ‘ Create New’  button. Select  ‘From Template’  in the dropdown. A pop up will display allowing you to select a template from the gallery.

In the search box on the top left corner, you can search for an “operational plan template”. Once your desired template pops up, click on it and click on the  “Use Template ” button on the bottom right corner.

That’s it! Your document is ready for use!

Few more templates you might be interested in:

  • SWOT Analysis Template
  • Transition Plan Template
  • Scope of Work Template
  • Business Plan Template
  • Status Report Template
  • Competitor Research Template
  • Training Manual Template
  • Project Proposal Template
  • Company Fact Sheet
  • Executive Summary Template
  • Pitch Deck Template

🎥Watch this video to learn more👇

Over to You!

Operational plans bring accountability into your everyday tasks. They help you analyze the performance of your business, goals, strategies and identify the resources required to achieve those targets. These documents are a great way of managing other performance measures too like team efficacy, staff optimization, or the number of employees achieving beyond their targets.

Bit is a great tool to manage all essential resources associated with creating an operations plan. It brings all stakeholders under one roof for the smooth execution of the plan. If you need any help with the operational plan template or want to know how Bit can help your business, let us know by tweeting us @bit_docs. Cheers!

Further reads: 

How to Write an Operations Manual?

How to Create a Killer Sales Plan Document?

How to Create a Product Plan the Right Way?

What is an Implementation Plan & How to Create One?

How to Create a Strategic Process Improvement Plan?

How to Create a Procurement Management Plan: Step by Step Guide

How To Make A Full Proof Business Plan?

How To Create a Partnership Marketing Plan?

How to Create a Clear Transition Plan for your Business?

Smarter docs for smarter teams banner

Scope of Work: What is it & How to Create it? (Template Included)

Project Charter: What is it & How to Write it Perfectly? (Template Included)

Related posts

How to embed figma designs inside your documents, performance management: improve employee engagement & productivity, what is ux strategy a complete guide to success, project proposal: what is it & how to write an impressive one, best roadmap software you need to try (free & paid), small business trends that’ll continue to stay in 2023.

how to write operations in business plan

About Bit.ai

Bit.ai is the essential next-gen workplace and document collaboration platform. that helps teams share knowledge by connecting any type of digital content. With this intuitive, cloud-based solution, anyone can work visually and collaborate in real-time while creating internal notes, team projects, knowledge bases, client-facing content, and more.

The smartest online Google Docs and Word alternative, Bit.ai is used in over 100 countries by professionals everywhere, from IT teams creating internal documentation and knowledge bases, to sales and marketing teams sharing client materials and client portals.

👉👉Click Here to Check out Bit.ai.

Recent Posts

User guide: how to write an effective one (tips, examples & more), ai-powered writing tools & generators (free and paid), 10 chatgpt use cases in software development, how to lead distributed engineering teams: best practices, time management for developers & engineers: techniques & tips, 7 best ai tools for time management.

Advisory boards aren’t only for executives. Join the LogRocket Content Advisory Board today →

LogRocket blog logo

  • Product Management
  • Solve User-Reported Issues
  • Find Issues Faster
  • Optimize Conversion and Adoption

How to create an operating plan: Examples with template

how to write operations in business plan

In today’s business environment, clear and consistent communication enables your team to have a shared understanding of the status and direction of your product. To this end, an operating plan collects your strategic objectives in one place, allowing everyone to grasp what they need to do, and how the product will remain successful.

How To Create An Operating Plan: Examples With Template

In this article you will learn what a product operating plan is, how it can help you achieve your objectives, and best practices for effectively implementing one within your project team.

What is an operating plan and why is it important for product managers?

A product operating plan is a document that outlines the strategic actions your team will take to achieve a specific goal. Most operating plans only cover a period of one to two years and serve a crucial role in the product development process . You can expect your operating plan to include budgets, resource allocation, timelines, and key performance indicators (KPIs).

The operating plan moves away from the big picture vantage point of vision and strategy, towards a more granular and tactical plan for the execution of product strategy.

The operating plan helps product managers assess the impact of changing business priorities and customer needs on the product roadmap . Product managers can use the operating plan as a tool to factor in and communicate changes across the organization, allowing the product development process to remain agile.

What goes into an operating plan?

An operating plan seeks to outline your product strategy to guide decisions and deliver on your stated goals. The operating plan comprises of the following:

  • Product goals and objectives — Define the product goals and objectives based on your product vision. Objectives should have clear deadlines and measurable outcomes that align with the business strategy
  • Milestone based plan — Create a milestone oriented plan to map your goals and objectives that can be tracked and measured against target
  • Structure of team, budget, resource, and timeline — Design your team, resources for the project, and budget allocation in order to work on the scope of the project and adhere to the milestones
  • Product metrics to measure progress — Identify and create the product metrics which can be used to measure the success of the product once it goes live to customers
  • Status check and interactive corrections — Iterate to customer requirements and watch for opportunities to make changes to the product

How to develop an effective operating plan

To better understand what goes into an effective operating plan we will breakdown each step and discuss best practices for approaching the following:

Identifying the product goals and objectives

Aligning with the strategy and vision of the product, selecting and tracking the product metrics.

The product goals derive from the product vision and strategy. To define these you should:

  • Break your vision into executable tasks (include the ‘what’ and not the ‘how’)
  • Ensure consistency with the product vision
  • Make you have a way to measure success

In order to align with the product strategy and vision, one should:

  • Infuse the product strategy and vision into all the steps of the product life cycle
  • Align the product vision with customer and business needs, as well as the values and principles of the company
  • Check alignment and correct any deviations with the vision

Identifying and tracking the right metrics is key to the success of any product and therefore the product team. Below are the steps to identify and track the right product metrics:

  • Identify the goal of your business and business strategy
  • Ask the right questions to help determine which goals would help track the success of your product against the business goals
  • Assign metrics as acquisition, engagement, retention, revenue, or referral
  • Create a platform to visualize and track the metrics

Implementing and monitoring an operating plan

A product operating plan provides you with an instrument to ensure your product will deliver on the stated vision, strategy, and goals. However, the success of your operating plan depends upon your ability to manage and monitor it throughout the course of the product lifecycle. Proper management of the operating plan includes:

Tracking success

Adjusting and/or pivoting course, keeping stakeholders aligned.

You can measure the success of a product operating plan by developing product metrics which allow you to quantify and track the progress of the plan. Also, having a visual representation of the metrics allows you to make better interpretations and display your progress visually.

Product metrics let you determine whether a product operates to plan or not. When your team performs as planned, there’s no need for further adjustment.

However, when the team misses, or finds themselves falling short of the agreed upon target, you need to take corrective action and pivot course.

Here, corrective action could come from aligning or augmenting resources, changing the budget allocation, or moving around the tasks based on the dependencies in the plan.

Because the operating plan has many moving parts and stakeholders involved, you need to ensure that you have the buy-in from all the stakeholders involved.

The best practices for ensuring stakeholder buy-in include:

  • Communication — Constant and consistent communication with all stakeholders will allow all everyone to be on board and aligned with the operating plan
  • Transparency — Being transparent with all stakeholders in terms of progress updates and any challenges/roadblocks that crop up during the course of executing the operating plan will ensure all stakeholders are are able to provide their full support
  • Status updates — Providing status updates to leadership and obtaining regular status communication from other stakeholder teams will ensure everyone remains aware of the state of your product

Common challenges and how to overcome them

As with anything, challenges will arise while working with a product operating plan. Rather than allowing these to grow into a bigger problem, you should work to mitigate following issues before they impact the health of your product:

Lack of authority

Communication challenges, visibility restraints.

Similar to the product manager role, the product operations or operating plan team has to work without direct authority, or people management responsibilities. You should be aware of this while trying to push the team towards your deliverables and use the operating plan as an influencing tool.

Communication is key to maintaining the flow of delivery across the product lifecycle. Insufficient communication or communication gaps can result in teams and stakeholders missing out on necessary changes or tasks. These knowledge gaps could result in misalignment, which impacts the product delivery timelines, as well as the scope.

Since the product operations team is a level above the product management, the product operations team may have limited visibility of the roadmap, customer needs, or the technical architecture/design information.

how to write operations in business plan

Over 200k developers and product managers use LogRocket to create better digital experiences

how to write operations in business plan

Operating plan example

Below is an example of an operating plan that provides an illustration of what the process might look like for you. The operating plan focuses on two main steps:

Product vision and strategy

Product operating plan components.

To provide a mobile based shopping experience for a retail grocery store shopper (in addition to in store shopping which is currently available)

Product goal(s):

  • Complete an end-to-end customer journey on a mobile app (viewing inventory by categories, adding to cart or wish list, checkout, and completing payment)
  • Seamless experience in terms of navigation on the site, as well as understanding the pricing and assortment to the mobile platform users
  • Additional benefits of the mobile shopping experience in terms of reordering items, mobile based return/refund for eligible items
  • Discuss the scope of work needed to deliver complete functionality in terms of the mobile shopping experience to the mobile platform users
  • Create the plan for delivering the identified scope (e.g., to have the first version of the mobile grocery shopping platform released to customer within the next six months)
  • Identify the data engineering needs to provide a seamless mobile platform experience for grocery shopping (e.g., identify what categories of products will be available for user selection in the first version of mobile application and how many concurrent users can shop on the platform)
  • Determine the structure of the team and resourcing needs to deliver to scope and planned timelines (e.g., scrum team would develop the mobile platform in terms of frontend and backend and user experience engineers)
  • Identify the success metrics for the product (e.g., how many users were activated on the mobile platform, how many users could complete one successful workflow of the mobile grocery shopping experience, or the time taken to complete a checkout in store checkout)

Operating plan template

To help you get started on your own operating plan, use this template . The template includes all the key parameters that need to be tracked and mobilized in order to make the product operating plan successful.

The product operating plan is a key component of the product development and delivery lifecycle. Having a product operating plan allows you to outline the tactical steps and ensure successful product delivery and tracking of your product.

The product operating plan also fosters alignment with the vision, stakeholder buy-in, and sets the product and the product organization up for success.

Featured image source: IconScout

LogRocket generates product insights that lead to meaningful action

Get your teams on the same page — try LogRocket today.

Share this:

  • Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Reddit (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on LinkedIn (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)
  • #product strategy
  • #project management

how to write operations in business plan

Stop guessing about your digital experience with LogRocket

Recent posts:.

Ayan Basu Leader Spotlight

Leader Spotlight: Localizing global products, with Ayan Basu

Ayan Basu talks about what it’s like to work on a product that spans more than 160 countries and differs slightly in various markets.

how to write operations in business plan

How availability heuristics shape product thinking

Availability heuristics refer to your brain preferring to use information that’s readily available at the expense of being comprehensive.

how to write operations in business plan

Leader Spotlight: Meeting customers where they are, with Bernadette Fisher

Bernadette Fishertalks about ButcherBox’s product offerings and how they have changed over time to meet customers where they are.

What To Do If Your Customers Dont Want To Talk To You

What if your customers don’t want to talk to you?

Startups with fewer than 500 customers and startups targeting niche target audiences especially have a hard time.

how to write operations in business plan

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

  • SOCIAL MEDIA
  • INFOGRAPHICS
  • FEATURED STORIES
  • WRITE FOR US
  • TERMS OF USE

how to write operations in business plan

How to Write Operations and Management Plan

The operations and management plan deals with day-to-day planning and managing the business operations. It is designed to describe that how the management operations will work on continue basis.  A good operations management plan always highlights the logistics of the small businesses that includes the various authorities and responsibilities of the management team, the tasks assigned to the firm’s each department, the capital expenditures requirements to run the business operations.

In this section, you will need to create the financial tables of the operations and management plan . Three types of tables, you will need to create such as the table of

  • Operating Expenses
  • Capital Requirements
  • Costs of Goods

The sum value of these tables will be carried forward in the “ financial plan ” – the last part of the startup business plan .

The operations and management plan is further categorized into two sub-sections. The first section will be related to the business structure, while the second one will be on capital/expense requirements of your business.

Operations and Management Plan of your Business Plan

1). Business Structure (Operating Expense Table)

Developing a business structure is an important part of every startup business plan . Investors usually pay attention to the organizational structure, because it provides the operating expenses projections. These projected expenses are also the critical part of the financial statements. That’s why, the business structure should be well-defined and developed properly.

The organizational structure of every business varies from one another, but traditionally businesses often divided into the following broader areas.

  • Accounting and Finance
  • Marketing and Sales
  • Administration

It is worth to mention here that the nature of the businesses differ from each other so every business usually develops its own organizational structure according to its requirements.

To create a well-defined business structure, you need to go through from 5 stages.

  • Create a list of tasks that need to be done.
  • Divide these tasks into relevant departments.
  • Determine the type of skills which are required to perform each task.
  • Find the right employee which has the certain skills as determined in stage 3.
  • To generate revenues within the firm, you need to establish the functions of each task.

Ok, now luckily you’ve got the main points on “ how to develop an organizational structure?” The next step is to find the skilled persons (employees) that will help your business to achieve the pre-determined goals.

To determine the number of employees you need to accomplish your goals, the following equation will help you to find the right numbers of employees that you need to hire in your departments.

Total Numbers of Customers ÷ Total Numbers of Customers that will be served by each customer = Total Numbers of Employees/Personnel or (C ÷ S = P)

Let suppose, 20 thousand customers will get services from your marketing department and 150 customers will be served by each employee than approximately you need to hire 133 employees.

e.g. 20,000 ÷ 150 = 133 approximately

You May Like to Read: 4 Types of Employees you should know at Workplace

Once you determined, the total number of employees you need. The next step is to calculate the labor expenses. While calculating the labor expenses, you should keep in mind that the labor skills and personnel requirements also vary from each other, so the salaries of employees will also be different from each other.

For your convenience, let’s say you need to hire 133 employees in your marketing department and the salaries of employees will be identical. Following equation will help to calculate the labor expenses.

Personnel Requirements × Salary Level = Labor Expense or (P.R × S.L = LE)

e.g. 133 × $15,000 = 1,995,000

Once you will successfully develop your business structure, then you can easily calculate your overhead expenses, which will be associated with your business operations. Overhead expenses are also known as indirect/non-labor expenses. Some overhead examples are utility bills, travel, promotion and advertising expenses etc.

These overhead expenses are further classified as

  • Fixed Expenses (Remains same regardless of the business volume)
  • Variable Expenses (Changes with respect to business volume)

2). Overheads (Capital Requirement and Cost of Goods Table)

In overheads section, you need to develop two tables such as expense table and capital requirement table.

To calculate the OH expenses (overheads) in expense table, you need to multiple your workers’ strength with expense on each worker. In this way, you will get the total overhead expense figure. Here is the equation.

O.H = N.W × E.W

Apart from the expense table, you will also need to develop capital requirement table . In this table, you need to assess the money that will be used to purchase equipment/machines to run the business operations. Later, you will also have to calculate the equipments’ depreciation expenses in capital requirement table.

In capital requirement table, there will be lots of elements that will require capital investment. Identify them and put these elements in capital requirement table.

Note down that capital requirement table will entirely depend on business nature. If your business is offering services then the capital is tied with business equipments that will be used to provide services to customers.

On the other hand, if you are going to start a manufacturing business then you will have to purchase manufacturing equipments. These equipments will further produce/manufacture other products.

Basically, there are three types of equipments falls in manufacturing businesses, such as

  • Testing equipment
  • Assembly equipment
  • Packaging equipment

At the same time, you also need to check that how many customers/unites will be served or handled by each equipment. It is very important because capital requirements are the product of income and it is produced through sales unit. Businesses usually spend more money to increase the production of units. More production means more chances of meeting the sales projections. Capital requirement is basically associated with the projected sales as mentioned earlier in the revenue model.

For example: if equipment handles/serves 2000 customers at avg. sales of $25 then the sales will be $50,000.

If you spend more money in production to produce/serve more units or customers then the chances of sales will be increased. But at the same time, you will face another factor in capital requirement and that is equipment cost. To calculate the cost, you need to multiply the numbers of customers with equipment cost. In this way, you will get the capital requirement of specific equipment. To check the capital requirement, you can use the following equation:

C.R = [(S÷N.C) ×A.S] × C.C

i.e. C.R = Capital Requirement

S = Sales supported by each equipment

N.C = Numbers of Customers

A.S = Average Sales

C.C = Capital Cost

The C.R table will be developed by adding all the equipments elements to generate total new capital (T.N.C) for the year.

In the first year, the total capital requirement (T.C.R) is equal to the total new capital (T.N.C). But in later years, the other factors will be included such as plus total capital and depreciation. It means the T.C.R will be equally to the sum of total new capital , plus total capital (P.T.C) and less depreciation. The capital requirement model equation would looks alike:

First Year, T.C.R = T.N.C

For Successive years,

T.C.R = T.N.C + P.T.C – Depreciation

It is important to mention here that depreciation is an expense which will be incurred after the use of equipment. With the passage of time, the depreciation will also decrease the equipment value until the equipment will go in scrape. There are different methods used in businesses to record the depreciation expenses. Basically these are also known as depreciation schedules. Some of the famous methods are as follow:

  • Straight Line Method
  • Diminishing Method

So, it is highly recommend to you that when you are going to choose the schedule be careful and select the one that best fits your small business. You should keep in mind that deprecation factor is also used while calculating tax deductions and Cash flows for new capital. To choose the best depreciation schedule, you should consult this matter with business expert and ask him/her which one is best for your business.

At the end of the operations and management section , you will need to generate the cost of goods table . This table is usually used in businesses when the purchased products are places in inventory section. Keep in mind that the meaning of all cost of sales, cost of goods sold, inventory cost or the purchase of products for resale is same. When the product is not yet sold then it remains in inventory section but when it is sold out to the customers then it is referred as cost of goods sold.

Let’s say, if you are going to start a manufacturing business then the cost, which will be incurred while manufacturing the products, will be termed as cost of goods. Cost of goods will further categorized into three elements such as

The cost of goods always accounted in the business operations because it is an important tool to measure the business profitability for the income statement and cash flow statement.

While generating the income statement, you should check that which inventory is in manufacturing process and which is sold out. This is important because it can affect the income statement and balance sheet of your startup business.

Developing cost of goods table is one of the complicated tables of operations and management section that you will create in your startup business plan. It is an important part because it shows the inventory flow in your business operations, the rate at which your inventory is turned and the assets placement within the firm.

To successfully generate the cost of goods table in operations and management plan, you will need to do some market research and find the information about the current labor hours and material cost per unit. After that, you also need to predict that how many units your business will sell for that year. Additionally, you also need to know about the percentage of units which are ready to sale, the percentage of units which are in manufacturing process and the percentage of units which are still placed in inventory section as raw material.

Keep in mind that these figures greatly rely on the equipment capacity and inventory control system, which you will develop in your small business. At the same time, you also need to know that at what time/stage the majority of workers is performed.

To cut the long story short, all you need to download the operations plan template for your business plan. Fill the operations plan template with your projected figures with the help of above mentioned guidelines and that’s it.

The next and last part of business plan is financial section. Read that article and complete your startup business plan 🙂

RELATED ARTICLES MORE FROM AUTHOR

12 ways to generate high-quality solar sales leads, how to find success in navigating algorithms in seo trends, 5 things to consider when you start a b2b rental marketplace, how to set up a magento dropshipping business, 5 tips on how to start a kid-friendly business, how to get more spotify plays, small business seo: winning locally in the digital world, why customer satisfaction should be a top priority for your business, 7 ai trends in healthcare 2024, editor picks, popular posts, 55+ best small business ideas in the philippines 2024, how to start freelancing in pakistan, 75+ best small business ideas in pakistan 2024, popular category.

  • Featured Stories 668
  • Small Business News 551
  • Technology Trends 445
  • Finance 183
  • Marketing 177
  • Investing 127
  • Business 126
  • CONTRIBUTION
  • Business Plan for Investors
  • Bank/SBA Business Plan

Operational/Strategic Planning Services

  • L1 Visa Business Plan
  • E1 Treaty Trader Visa Business Plan
  • E2 Treaty Investor Visa Business Plan
  • EB-1 Business Plan
  • EB-2 NIW Business Plan
  • EB-5 Business Plan
  • Innovator Founder Visa Business Plan
  • Start-Up Visa Business Plan
  • Expansion Worker Visa Business Plan
  • Manitoba MPNP Visa Business Plan
  • Nova Scotia NSNP Visa Business Plan
  • British Columbia BC PNP Visa Business Plan
  • Self-Employed Visa Business Plan
  • OINP Entrepreneur Stream Business Plan
  • LMIA Owner Operator Business Plan
  • ICT Work Permit Business Plan
  • LMIA Mobility Program – C11 Entrepreneur Business Plan
  • USMCA (ex-NAFTA) Business Plan
  • Franchise Business Plan
  • Landlord business plan
  • Nonprofit Start-Up Business Plan
  • USDA Business Plan
  • Cannabis business plan
  • Ecommerce business plan
  • Online boutique business plan
  • Mobile application business plan
  • Daycare business plan
  • Restaurant business plan
  • Food delivery business plan
  • Real estate business plan
  • Business Continuity Plan
  • Buy Side Due Diligence Services
  • ICO whitepaper
  • ICO consulting services
  • Confidential Information Memorandum
  • Private Placement Memorandum
  • Feasibility study
  • Fractional CFO
  • How it works
  • Business Plan Examples

What Is Operational Planning? How to Write an Operational Plan?

FEB.15, 2024

how to write operations in business plan

What Is a Business Operational Plan?

Operational planning converts strategic goals and objectives into tangible, actionable tactics. An operational plan outlines the specific day-to-day activities and tactics required to align with an organization’s broader strategy and vision. An operational roadmap guides how a business will implement its strategy through specific programs, budgets, procedures, and processes.

An operational plan is typically prepared for a 1-3 year timeframe and includes detailed action plans for each department or function. It describes the resources needed, tasks and activities to be done, deadlines, and who is in charge. The short-term execution of the strategic plan in the focus.

Examples of Operational Planning in Management

Some common operational planning examples in management are:

  • Production planning
  • Inventory management
  • Workforce planning
  • Facilities management
  • Logistics and distribution
  • Service operations
  • Maintenance planning
  • OPS planning
  • Contingency planning

The overall operational plan integrates these different functional plans to ensure alignment toward common business objectives. It is updated periodically by an operational planner to keep pace with changing internal and external conditions.

Who Performs Operational Planning?

Operational planning involves collaboration across various levels within an organization:

1. Managers and Department Heads

Role: Managers and department heads play a central role in the plan of operation. Their expertise guides the process, and they ensure that the plan aligns with the overall strategy.

Responsibilities:

  • Ensure that operational goals are consistent with the organization’s strategic vision.
  • Allocate financial, human, and material resources based on strategic priorities.
  • Assign specific responsibilities to team members.
  • Track progress and make adjustments as needed.

2. Cross-Functional Teams

Role: Operational planning requires input from different functional areas—finance, marketing, production, logistics, etc.

  • Teams collaborate to create a comprehensive plan.
  • Each team brings specialized knowledge to the table.
  • Ensure that departmental plans align seamlessly across functions.

3. Individual Contributors

Role: While managers and teams drive the process, individual contributors also play a vital role.

  • Implement the operational plan on a day-to-day basis.
  • Provide valuable feedback based on their frontline experience.
  • Adapt to changing circumstances and contribute to continuous improvement.

4. Top Leadership (CEO, Board of Directors)

Role: Although not directly involved in the nitty-gritty of operational planning, top leadership sets the overall tone.

  • Define the overarching vision and long-term goals.
  • Ensure that operational plans align with the organization’s mission.
  • Approve major resource allocations and strategic & operational initiatives .

Strategic Planning vs Operational Planning

LendingTree research revealed that many businesses struggle to survive in the long term. Among private sector businesses in the United States, approximately 20.8% experience failure within the initial year, while 48.4% face challenges within the first five years. The numbers escalate further, with 65.1% encountering difficulties within the initial decade. A significant contributing factor to this elevated failure rate is the absence of efficient operational practices.

Operations are influenced by two essential yet distinct types of organizational planning: strategic planning and operational planning. While they are complementary and interlinked, let’s start with understanding what is strategic planning and operational planning before understanding the key differences:

Strategic Planning

Strategic planning is all about defining the core purpose and vision for an organization. It involves looking ahead 3-5 years to set broad goals and priorities across the business. The aim is to determine the path ahead – where we want to go, what we want to achieve, and how we’ll stay competitive.

Some key questions strategic planning tries to answer:

  • What’s our raison d’être as a company – why are we here?
  • What’s the dream for our future – where do we envision ourselves in 3-5 years?
  • What high-level accomplishments do we want to target over that timeframe?
  • How will we maintain an edge over competitors in our industry?

The strategic plan sets the long-term targets and big goals that show what we want to become in the future.

Operational Planning

While strategic planning focuses on the “what,” operational planning focuses on the “how.” Operational plans detail the concrete strategies, initiatives, resources, processes, and actions required over a 1-3 year timeframe to deliver on the goals outlined in the strategic plan. Operational plans answer questions such as:

  • How will we organize resources to deliver on strategy?
  • What specific actions, projects, tactics, and steps must each department undertake?
  • What budgets, systems, processes, and timelines are needed?
  • Who will be responsible for each element?

Operational planning deals with the short-term, practical planning and implementation required to turn the strategic vision into reality through day-to-day operations.

The key differences between operational vs. strategic planning are summarized in the table below:

Remember, while strategic planning provides the big picture, operational planning ensures that the organization’s wheels keep turning smoothly. Both are essential for sustained success.

Operational Planning Process

The operational planning process is the sequence of steps that are followed to create, implement, and evaluate an operational plan. Here are the primary steps in operational planning:

Step 1: Develop a Strategic Plan

  • Define vision, mission, goals, and objectives
  • Identify key stakeholders, resources, risks, and opportunities
  • Align with organizational values and culture
  • Use tools like SWOT analysis, SMART goals, and balanced scorecard
  • Set a time frame of 1-3 years

Step 2: Prioritize Your Goals

  • Identify and prioritize the most important and urgent goals for the short-term
  • Align them with your strategic plan and make them specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound
  • Use tools like the Eisenhower matrix, MoSCoW method, or Pareto principle

Step 3: Use Leading Indicators

  • Choose measurable factors that indicate progress and performance
  • Track and evaluate the effectiveness of strategies and actions
  • Examples: customer satisfaction, employee engagement, quality, productivity, revenue, etc.

Step 4: Draw on Your Organization

  • Identify people, departments, teams, and processes involved in the execution
  • Assign roles and responsibilities, define expectations and standards
  • Establish communication and collaboration channels
  • Use tools like the RACI matrix, Gantt chart, or resource allocation matrix

Step 5: Communicate Your Plan

  • Share the operational plan with stakeholders, employees, customers, and partners
  • Explain the purpose, benefits, and challenges of the plan
  • Solicit feedback and suggestions, address concerns or issues
  • Keep everyone informed and updated on the status and results
  • Use tools like newsletters, presentations, meetings, or surveys

Step 6: Monitor and Evaluate

  • Use leading indicators and other tools to measure outcomes and impacts
  • Compare actual results with expected results, identify gaps or deviations
  • Analyze root causes and effects of gaps, determine corrective actions or improvements

Step 7: Review and Revise

  • Regularly review the operational plan and assess relevance and alignment with the strategic plan
  • Make adjustments or changes as necessary, based on feedback, data, and lessons learned

An operation plan in a business plan covers aspects such as production, facilities, technology, resources, and market requirements. Here are some common components of an operational plan:

  • Executive summary – A brief overview of your operational plan and its main points and purpose.
  • Operational budget – A financial plan that estimates the income and expenses of your business operations.
  • Operational objectives – The specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound (SMART) goals that you want to accomplish through your business operations.
  • Processes and workflows – The steps and procedures that you and your team will follow to create and deliver your products or services.
  • Operational timeline – A schedule that outlines the milestones and deadlines for your operational objectives and projects.

Benefits of Operational Planning

Good operations planning is really important for companies to meet their big picture goals. By thoughtfully designing, syncing up, and managing the everyday work needed to run a business, operations planning gives some key benefits:

  • Provides a clear direction and guidance for the team members, and defines their roles and responsibilities.
  • Helps to monitor the progress and performance of the team, and to identify and resolve any issues or challenges that may arise.
  • Enables the team to adapt to changing circumstances and to respond to new opportunities or threats.
  • Improves the communication and collaboration among the team members and other stakeholders.
  • Increases the productivity and quality of the work, and enhances customer satisfaction and loyalty.

At OGSCapital, we have a team of expert business plan writers and consultants who can provide operational and strategic planning services . Our high-quality and customized business plans have helped thousands of clients in different industries raise billions of dollars. We can help you create a realistic and achievable operational plan to guide your daily operations and decision-making. We also offer full customization, revisions as needed, and strategic advice for your operational plan. Contact us today to help you take your operations to the next level.

Frequently Asked Questions

Q. What are the disadvantages of operational planning?

Some disadvantages of operational planning are:

  • Multi-level dependency , which means that the success of the operational plan relies on the coordination and collaboration of different components of the organization; 
  • Human error , which means that mistakes can occur during the execution or evaluation of the operational plan; and 
  • Loss of creativity , which means that the operational plan can inhibit innovation and adaptation to changing conditions.

Q. What is a good operational plan?

A good operational plan should be clear and precise that helps in preparing strategies and directs the day-to-day operations and choices of a business or organization. It explains what the business or organization wants to do, how it will do it, what it will need, how it will measure its progress, and what results it expects.

OGSCapital’s team has assisted thousands of entrepreneurs with top-rate business plan development, consultancy and analysis. They’ve helped thousands of SME owners secure more than $1.5 billion in funding, and they can do the same for you.

how to write operations in business plan

Add comment

E-mail is already registered on the site. Please use the Login form or enter another .

You entered an incorrect username or password

Comments (0)

mentioned in the press:

Search the site:

how to write operations in business plan

OGScapital website is not supported for your current browser. Please use:

how to write operations in business plan

Business Tips from SCORE: A business plan gives owners a guide to their operations

One of the sure ways of launching a business that will fail is not to plan its launch and growth.

Most budding entrepreneurs’ eyes roll back in their head when they hear “business plan.” It doesn’t have to be complicated or voluminous. It might be as simple as a one-page Business Model Canvas – BMC − plan or if needed a deeper dive with a full business plan . But there’s no better way to think through important issues and gain focus in your business than by creating a guide.

Not only will building a business plan help you get a better handle on where you are and how you’ll grow, but it’s an absolute necessity if you seek outside investment.

A business model is a way of describing how the enterprise will make money.  Strategyzer’s Business Model Canvas is a 9-block process that explores, initially, value proposition (your offer, but not what you are selling), customer segments (to whom are you making the offer(s)), communication channels (how will you reach your customer segments). Then validate your assumptions. Then follow-up with customer relationships , activities, resource and strategic partners , expenses and revenue streams . The right side of the BMC canvas focuses on the customer and market or external factors that are not totally under your control. The left side focuses on the internal that is mostly in your control. The middle is the value proposition that represents the exchange of value between your customers and your business.

Here’s an easy guide on how to build a business plan step-by-step.

Step 1: Describe the “Big Idea” in an executive summary

Think of the executive summary as an explanation of your unique selling proposition. You want someone to be able to immediately grasp what your company does and the value you bring to the market.

This section should include a mission statement, brief explanations of the products or services you plan to offer, a basic introduction of key team members and where your company is located. If you’re seeking financing, you’ll also need to include basic information about your finances and plans for use of borrowed funds.

Step 2: Conduct a market analysis

This is where you’ll get into more detail by describing your industry and where your business fits into its landscape. Some questions to answer:

  • What exactly does your business do? 
  • What do you sell and why do you sell it? 
  • Why is your product or service needed? 
  • Who’s going to benefit from the products or services you provide?

Step 3: Introduce your team with a company description

In this section, include information like the legally registered name of your company, your business address, the company’s legal structure (LLC, sole proprietorship, etc.) and key team members. 

If your company is large, consider using an organizational chart to show who’s in charge of what. Also, include any special skills or unique experience your team has that will help advance your mission.

Step 4: Describe the value of your products and services

Piggyback on what you wrote in your market analysis to give details about your products and/or services. Give a thorough explanation of what your product or service does, how it works, your pricing structure, your ideal customer and your distribution strategy.

If you have intellectual property like patents, copyrights or trademarks, mention those as well, along with any research you plan to conduct or have completed.

Step 5: Describe your “go to market” strategy with a marketing and sales plan

How are you going to acquire customers? How are you going to create loyalty? There’s no right or wrong strategy here, only the strategy that makes sense given your current circumstances, the market and your customers’ attitudes. Over time, this may evolve, which is fine!

You can describe your sales process, how you’ll initially attract prospects, how you’ll deepen that attraction into a purchase, what a typical sales cycle might look like, what happens after the sale and so on. 

Step 6: Dive into the numbers with a financial analysis

Depending on how long you’ve been in business, you may not have a lot of concrete numbers for this section. Or, you may have a lot.

If you’re a startup, you’ll have to supply financial projections — forecasted income statements and balance sheets, for example. Be detailed for the first year, breaking down your projections quarterly or, even better, monthly.

If you’re established and are writing the plan to guide your growth strategy, you should include profit and loss statements, balance sheets, cash flow statements, a section for metrics like profit margin and a statement of your total assets and debts. This is also a great place to include any charts and graphs that help tell the financial story of your business. 

Step 7: If you need funding, explain why and for what 

If you’re seeking outside investment, use this section to provide details about your capital needs. How much do you anticipate needing over the next three to five years, what will it be used for, what are the terms you’re seeking, what opportunities will it allow you to exploit, and how will it help you meet your growth targets? And, don’t forget to include your “skin in the game” investment.  A critical step for lender evaluations.

Step 8: Anything else to include?

If you want to include additional information — resumes, leases, permits, bank statements, contracts, photos, charts, diagrams, etc. — include them at the end of your plan in an appendix.

Regardless of which format you select remember that a business plan is a guide, compass and companion for you to reach your business objectives.

Contributed by Marc L. Goldberg, Certified Mentor, SCORE Cape Cod & the Islands, www.score.org/capecod , 508-775-4884.  A SCORE Mentor Can Help You Build a Detailed Business Plan.  Sources: ASK Score 2023, An Easy Guide to the Business Model Canvas, Creately Blog, May 18, 2022.

  Thanks to our subscribers, who help make this coverage possible. If you are not a subscriber, please consider supporting quality local journalism with a Cape Cod Times subscription.  Here are our subscription plans.    

How to Write a Cleaning Service Business Plan + Free Sample Plan PDF

' src=

Elon Glucklich

7 min. read

Updated February 17, 2024

Free Download: Cleaning Service Business Plan Template

With busy schedules and job demands, not everyone has time to clean up after themselves. 

That’s why nearly 10 percent of Americans hired residential cleaning services as of 2020, and the demand for cleaners is rising. And despite a resistance to return to the office, commercial cleaning remains a $100 billion industry . Building owners still need pristine spaces if a lease or sale opportunity arises.

If you’re getting into the cleaning industry, or trying to grow your existing business, you’ll need to do some upfront work. That’s where a business plan comes in. This article will help you ensure that you’re meeting the right market opportunity, and that your business brings in enough revenue to be profitable long-term. If you need a bank loan or investment , a business plan will be crucial.

Are you looking for a free, downloadable cleaning service sample business plan PDF to help start your own business plan, Bplans has you covered.

  • What should you include in a cleaning service business plan?

Keep your plan concise, and focus only on the most important sections for your business. Your plan will likely include some or all of these sections:

  • Executive summary
  • Market analysis
  • Products and services
  • Marketing and sales strategy
  • Company overview
  • Financial plan

It’s especially important for a cleaning service business plan to consider the wide range of services and related products you may offer. Your business might provide specialized cleaning services, or sell eco-friendly cleaning products along with cleaning homes or office spaces.

You’ll need to detail your strategies for promoting each of these products and services to maximize the revenue you generate from each client.

Here’s an example of a cleaning service business plan outline.

A sample outline for a cleaning service business plan.

Brought to you by

LivePlan Logo

Create a professional business plan

Using ai and step-by-step instructions.

Secure funding

Validate ideas

Build a strategy

  • The 8 elements of an effective cleaning service business plan

1. Executive summary

The executive summary is a broad overview of your plan. Without going over one to two pages, outline all of the components of your cleaning service business. 

Include a mission statement in your executive summary. This simple, action-oriented statement explains your company’s purpose. Maybe your goal is to grow into your area’s leading residential cleaning service. Or to expand the market for eco-friendly cleaning solutions. It summarizes what your company does for customers, employees, and owners. It also helps someone reading your business understand in greater detail what sets your business apart from competitors, and how it will be profitable.

If you’re writing your plan for a bank or investor, they will start with the executive summary. So it’s where you’ll want to make a good first impression. Try to draw them in right away by showing you have a clear value proposition.

2. Market analysis

The market analysis section is where you make the case that your business can generate enough demand to be successful. To do that, you’ll need to thoroughly assess your market, identifying key trends in the region’s home or commercial real estate sectors that might indicate a need for your services.

Evaluate the size of your potential market , including residential and commercial segments. You should also analyze the competition . Start by identifying the number of existing providers and their service offerings, and highlight any gaps you observe in the market that your business can fill.

3. Cleaning services and products

This section should detail the cleaning services and products you offer. These may include various residential and commercial cleaning services, like standard cleaning, deep cleaning, specialized disinfection services, or eco-friendly cleaning options.

If you plan to use specific cleaning products or specialized equipment, also detail these. Emphasize any services or products that set your business apart from the competition, like allergen-free cleaning services for homes or exclusively green cleaning products.

4 . Marketing and sales strategy

Your marketing and sales strategy is how you put your market research into action to attract and retain customers for your cleaning service.

Start by identifying the most effective marketing channels for reaching your target market, such as online advertising, social media , local flyers, or partnerships with real estate agencies.

To reach the broadest customer base possible, outline your digital and traditional marketing strategies. Discuss the importance of a strong online presence, including a user-friendly website and active social media profiles to build brand awareness and credibility. 

You should also provide information about your pricing strategy , and whether you’ll offer special promotions or loyalty programs to encourage repeat business and referrals.

5. Milestones

The milestones section is where you outline the key objectives for your business and timelines for achieving them. This section can be short, with individual milestones listed as bullet points.

Milestones could include securing initial funding, acquiring necessary licenses, launching your marketing campaign, reaching a certain number of clients, or hitting revenue targets. Be sure to list when you expect to achieve each milestone, and which members of your team will be responsible for reaching them.

6. Company overview

The company summary gives a brief overview of your cleaning business. Include the legal structure , target service area, and history of your business if it already exists.

If you’re writing your plan because you’re seeking funding for your business from a bank, clearly state how much you’ll need, how you plan to use it, and how it will benefit the business. Funding uses could include purchasing new equipment to expand your services, or hiring additional staff to widen your service area.

You can also include a brief management team section covering your key employees, their roles, responsibilities, qualifications, and experience. 

If you plan to contract with cleaning crews instead of hiring employees, describe how this arrangement will work and why you think it will benefit your business.

7. Financial plan and forecasts

Your financial plan should present detailed financial projections, including revenue , costs , and profitability .

If you’re a new business, list your startup costs , including initial equipment, supplies, licensing, and marketing investments. Also, outline your funding sources, such as loans, investments, or personal savings going into the business.

Include a cash flow statement , income statement , and balance sheet . The financial statements and projections should demonstrate your cleaning service’s potential to generate sustainable profits over the long term.

8. Appendix

The appendix is an optional section for you to add supporting information or documents that don’t fit within the plan. This could include market research data, lease agreements, employee contracts, or licensing and permit documents.

  • Writing an effective cleaning service business plan: Key considerations

When writing your cleaning service business plan, focus on these areas to increase your likelihood of success.

1. Offer diverse service offerings

The cleaning industry caters to a wide array of customer needs, from residential homes with regular upkeep, to commercial spaces that need specialized sanitation. Offering services to the broadest customer base you can manage will help you expand your share of the market .

2. Pricing strategy  

Your pricing strategy is vital to balance attracting and retaining customers to ensure your business remains profitable. 

Extensive market research into competitors should help you understand what represents a competitive pricing structure in your target area. Offering flexible pricing models, like flat rates for certain services or discounts for recurring appointments, can also appeal to a broader customer base. Just make sure your forecasts show that you’ll generate more revenue from repeat business through any discounts you decide to offer.

3. Protect your reputation

Trust and reputation are crucial in the cleaning service industry, where small mistakes can cost you customers. Consider in your marketing plan whether your branding and customer feedback policies emphasize your commitment to quality work and reliable service. And make sure to check how your business is being reviewed online.

4. Professional training and standards

To achieve a reputation as a high-quality cleaning service, your standards as a business owner need to trickle down to your employees. The operations section of your plan should include training your workers on the latest cleaning techniques, customer service best practices, and safety protocols to ensure your team meets those high standards you’ve set.

5. Online marketing and presence

We touched on this in the marketing and sales strategy section, but strong online and social media presences are fairly low-cost tactics for reaching new customers. Consider how much a professionally designed website that’s search engine optimized, active social media engagement, and strategic online advertising might increase your visibility.

  • Download your cleaning service sample business plan PDF

Download this cleaning service sample business plan PDF for free right now, or visit Bplans’ gallery of more than 550 sample business plans if you want more options.

Don’t get hung up on finding a sample business plan that exactly matches your cleaning service. Whether you’re setting up a boutique eco-friendly cleaning service or a broad-scale commercial cleaning operation, the core elements of your business plan will largely be consistent.

There are plenty of reasons cleaning service business owners can benefit from writing a business plan — you’ll need one if you’re seeking a loan or investment.

Even if you’re not seeking funding, thinking through every aspect of your business will help you ensure you’re not overlooking anything critical as you grow.

See why 1.2 million entrepreneurs have written their business plans with LivePlan

Content Author: Elon Glucklich

Elon is a marketing specialist at Palo Alto Software, working with consultants, accountants, business instructors and others who use LivePlan at scale. He has a bachelor's degree in journalism and an MBA from the University of Oregon.

Check out LivePlan

Table of Contents

Related Articles

how to write operations in business plan

6 Min. Read

Agriculture business plan

how to write operations in business plan

7 Min. Read

Laundromat business plan

how to write operations in business plan

8 Min. Read

Trucking business plan

how to write operations in business plan

13 Min. Read

Online fitness business plan

The LivePlan Newsletter

Become a smarter, more strategic entrepreneur.

Your first monthly newsetter will be delivered soon..

Unsubscribe anytime. Privacy policy .

Garrett's Bike Shop

The quickest way to turn a business idea into a business plan

Fill-in-the-blanks and automatic financials make it easy.

No thanks, I prefer writing 40-page documents.

LivePlan pitch example

Discover the world’s #1 plan building software

how to write operations in business plan

More From Forbes

How to start a new business with no money.

  • Share to Facebook
  • Share to Twitter
  • Share to Linkedin

How To Start A Business With No Money

The idea of starting a business often conjures up images of big venture capital deals, beautiful offices, and catered lunches. However, not every successful business begins with a ton of money or an overflowing expense account. In fact, many of today's iconic brands started in garages and from the most modest of financial means.

Entrepreneurship, at its core, is about vision, innovation, and resourcefulness. A true entrepreneur will take a great idea and get it moving on a small budget.

Here are some steps to follow when starting your business with no money or a tiny budget:

1. market research.

Finding a business idea that will resonate with your target market is one of the first, and most crucial, steps in launching a business. It should be something you are passionate about, but also something that fills a gap in the market. Start your market research by surveying those close to you, ask questions, and get feedback. Research online about the market you want to enter and learn about it.

2. Validate your idea

An idea might seem great in theory, but it needs to be viable in the real world. Validation ensures that you aren’t investing time and resources into an unsustainable venture. Test the waters of your new product by offering it to a small group of people first. Another way to validate at low cost is before you build it, see if people are willing to buy it. Offer a discounted rate for early adopters to mitigate the risk.

3. Create a business plan

Your business plan is like a roadmap that outlines your business goals and how you plan to achieve them. It's a key document for potential investors or lenders, but it also helps you clarify your vision and path forward. Take the time to create a comprehensive business plan that sets your business up for financial success.

As The Ukrainians Fling 50,000 Drones A Month, The Russians Can’t Get Their Drone-Jammers To Work

Google reveals much needed google photos upgrade but there s a catch, taylor swift fans reportedly forced travis kelce to move out of his brand new house, 4. build a website.

Whether you're selling a product or offering a service, you need a place to do business. The good news is that your shop doesn't have to be a physical space right away. Many businesses start with a virtual store or by offering services online. You don’t need to pay an agency to build an expensive website for you at the outset of your business. You can build your website yourself relatively low cost and by learning through free video instruction.

5. Market your business

Digital marketing levels the playing field for small businesses, allowing you to reach a global audience with a relatively small budget. Start a blog using SEO to get organic traffic to your website, start an email list and email your list regularly, and use social media platforms to start marketing and promoting your products and services.

6. Keep your expenses at a minimum

To stretch your budget, implement a lean operational model. This approach focuses on keeping costs low without sacrificing quality. Some ways to do this include using free or inexpensive software, negotiate prices with suppliers, and wait for sales to start investing in paid tools.

7. Be your own sales team

In the early stages of your business, you are your most significant asset. You know your product or service better than anyone and are likely the most passionate salesperson you'll ever have. To take advantage of this you can network with others and get the word out about your business.

8. Prioritize clients

Finding new customers is more expensive than getting repeat business from existing ones. Focus on customer service and retention at the outset. Happy customers can lead to repeat business and referrals, which are both powerful growth engines. Get testimonials and advertise them to your community.

The bottom line is that a new business requires some hustle and creativity. When you are starting a business with little money you need to take advantage of the low-cost methods you can use to start and promote your business. Once your business starts making money you can use that money to reinvest into your business and focus on growing it profitably.

Melissa Houston, CPA is the author of Cash Confident: An Entrepreneur’s Guide to Creating a Profitable Business . She is the founder of She Means Profit, which is a podcast and blog . As a Finance Strategist for small business owners, Melissa helps successful business owners increase their profit margins so that they keep more money in their pocket and increase their net worth.

The opinions expressed in this article are not intended to replace any professional or expert accounting and/or tax advice whatsoever.

Melissa Houston

  • Editorial Standards
  • Reprints & Permissions

BHP considers closure of Nickel West operations that employ about 3,300 workers

Sparks flying near workers operating near a furnace.

The WA premier has hinted at royalty relief for the embattled nickel industry, as mining giant BHP revealed it is considering mothballing its Nickel West division in a move that could affect thousands of workers.

It would be the biggest blow yet to the state's once-booming nickel industry, which has seen mine closures and hundreds of job losses this year amid a sharp fall in metal prices. 

In a statement to the stock exchange on Thursday, BHP flagged a $US3.5 billion ($5.4 billion) pre-tax impairment against the value of Nickel West ahead of its half-year results announcement on February 20. 

Nickel West employs about 3,300 workers in WA, including mines at Leinster and Mt Keith in the northern Goldfields, the Kalgoorlie nickel smelter, Kambalda nickel concentrator and its Kwinana refinery.

The company said it expected to report a circa $US200 million loss for the first half from its Nickel West operations, and estimated it would cost about $US900 million for closure and rehabilitation costs.  

BHP CEO Mike Henry at the company's global headquarters in Melbourne. February 2022.

BHP, which supplies nickel to electric vehicle manufacturers Toyota and Tesla, acquired the Nickel West business in its $9.2 billion takeover of WMC Resources in 2005.  

It said it was focused on preserving cash during the current downturn and placing Nickel West into a "period of care and maintenance" was under consideration. 

"This is an uncertain time for the WA nickel industry and we are taking action to address the current market conditions," chief executive Mike Henry said in a statement.  

"We are reducing operating costs at WA nickel and reviewing our capital plans for Nickel West and West Musgrave."

Sunset at a mining operation with a big smoke stack.

Premier concerned for workers

Premier Roger Cook said the announcement was not a good sign for the future of the state's nickel industry. 

"I think all the workers will be concerned by today's announcement and we'll do everything we can to support them," Mr Cook said. 

"It will not only need the state government, it will need government at all levels to do the heavy lifting to make sure we can assist the industry to deal with these global trends."

He hinted that royalty relief was among the options being considered to help the sector.

"I've been speaking with [federal resources] minister Madeline King almost daily over the past week and meeting with industry representatives as recently as last night," Mr Cook said.

"Obviously we have some levers around royalty relief and rebates and we are looking at all options in terms of how we can support the industry." 

The WA Premier Roger Cook in a suit jacket and business shirt crossing the street in Kalgoorlie-Boulder

Nickel, a key ingredient in stainless steel and lithium-ion batteries used in electric vehicles, is a historically volatile commodity prone to periods of boom and bust.  

In the past five years, nickel has traded as high as $US21.98 per pound and as low as $US5/lb, according to Kitco data. 

The price on Thursday morning was trading about $US7.28/lb — 41 per cent lower than the price 12 months ago.  

BHP blamed the fall in prices on the increase of nickel supply from Indonesia through the London Metals Exchange.  

"These unfavourable operating conditions are expected to endure for a considerable time," BHP said in its statement.

"Due to the deterioration in the short-term and medium-term outlook for nickel, BHP has lowered its nickel price assumptions." 

'We all knew it was coming'

Mining analyst Tim Treadgold said the announcement reflected the state of the industry.

"We all knew it was coming, but the surprise is the amount of money involved," he said.

"They're talking about writing off billions of assets. Writing off simply means that asset is no longer worth anything.

"For a big company to say its entire nickel division has been written down to zero, so you've got 3,000 jobs, goodness knows how many mines and processing plants operating, but it now has a value of nothing.

"That is a very, very powerful statement about the health of the nickel industry in Western Australia or lack of health."

Industry hit by mine closures

While the potential closure is considered, BHP is also weighing up whether to continue construction at the $1.7 billion West Musgrave nickel-copper mine, which it inherited in last year's $9.6 billion takeover of Oz Minerals .  

Work at West Musgrave, near the WA, Northern Territory and South Australian border, was 21 per cent complete, BHP said. 

BHP's Kambalda nickel concentrator will be placed into care and maintenance from June following the decision by Andrew Forrest's Wyloo Metals to suspend mining at its Kambalda mines from May 31.

Wyloo's Cassini and Long mines provide the majority of ore that feed into the Kambalda concentrator, which BHP said made it "no longer viable".  

The review of BHP's operations also throws into doubt a proposed furnace rebuild at the Kalgoorlie nickel smelter , which would require up to 2,000 construction workers during peak periods.   

Thursday's announcement follows January's mothballing of the Savannah nickel mine in the Kimberley , and the decision by First Quantum Minerals to cease mining at the Ravensthorpe nickel mine on WA's south coast and cut 30 per cent of its workforce. 

By May, the Cosmos nickel mine in the northern Goldfields will also shut, resulting in another impairment hit of between $150 million and $175 million for its Perth-based owner IGO.  

IGO has said its Nova and Forrestania nickel mines in WA were cash positive in the current market.  

  • X (formerly Twitter)

Related Stories

Struggling nickel sector asks for urgent support, but analysts say 'folly' to give a taxpayer-funded lifeline.

Two Caucasian hands holding a large rock, person wearing jeans and hello and grey mining shirt, dirt and grass behind.

Plummeting critical mineral prices are causing near panic. What's behind it and what comes next?

Ardea Goongarrie Hub rock

Kambalda nickel mines to close less than a year after $760m sale

mine worker with nickel ore

Another blow for WA's nickel boom as Ravensthorpe mine suspends mining

An aerial shot of the closed Ravensthorpe nickel mine

  • Company News
  • Kwinana Town Centre
  • Mining (Rural)
  • Mining and Metals Industry

IMAGES

  1. Business Operational Plan

    how to write operations in business plan

  2. 14+ Operational Plan for Business Plan Examples

    how to write operations in business plan

  3. Operational Plan for Business Plan

    how to write operations in business plan

  4. Operational Plan for Business Plan

    how to write operations in business plan

  5. The Ultimate Guide To Creating An Operating Plan Template

    how to write operations in business plan

  6. Operational Plan for Business Plan

    how to write operations in business plan

VIDEO

  1. How to Write an Effective Business Plan: The 12 Building Blocks for Success

  2. How to Write a Business Management Organization Plan for your Business

  3. How to Write a Business Plan, Step by Step

  4. কি ভাবে ব্যবসা করবেন #shortvideo #shots #bussinesidea #business #motivation

  5. How to Write a Business plan? 10 Important Steps of Business Plan

  6. How to write a Business plan with the use of AI

COMMENTS

  1. How To Write the Operations Plan Section of the Business 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. The operations plan and financial plan tackle similar issues, in that they seek to explain how the business will turn a profit.

  2. How to Create a Business Operations Plan

    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.

  3. How to Write an Operations Plan Section of your Business Plan

    How to Write an Operations Plan Section? Creating an operational plan has two major stages, both addressing different aspects of your company. The first stage includes the work that has been done so far, whereas the second stage describes it in detail. 1. Development Phase

  4. How to Write About Operations in Your Business Plan

    2 min. read Updated January 3, 2024 Download Now: Free Business Plan Template The operations plan covers what makes your business run. It explains the day-to-day workflows for your business and how you will deliver the product or service that you offer.

  5. How To Write A Business Plan (2024 Guide)

    Describe Your Services or Products. The business plan should have a section that explains the services or products that you're offering. This is the part where you can also describe how they fit ...

  6. Writing A Business Plan: Operations And Management

    Writing A Business Plan: Operations And Management Feb 1, 1997 Share Generally, there are seven major components that make up a business plan. They are: 1. Executive summary 2....

  7. Operational Planning: How to Make an Operations Plan

    by Peter Landau | Feb 24, 2023 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.

  8. How to Write a Great Business Plan: Operations

    Your ops plan should detail strategies for managing, staffing, manufacturing, fulfillment, inventory... all the stuff involved in operating your business on a day-to-day basis. Fortunately,...

  9. Writing a Business Plan Operation Plan

    Writing an Operations Section of a Business Plan. When writing the operations section of a business plan, there are a few things you'll want to keep in mind. First, be sure to describe the resources that will be required to run your business. This includes everything from office space and equipment to human resources.

  10. First Steps: Writing the Operations Section of Your Business Plan

    The basic rule for your operations section is to cover just the major areas—labor, materials, facilities, equipment and processes—and provide the major details—things that are critical to...

  11. How to Write an Operational Plan for Your Business

    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.

  12. 4 Examples of an Operations Plan

    Strategy. Most business strategies have an operations component. For example, if a train manufacturer develops a plan to expand revenue by 50% that plan will include a marketing, sales and operations component. The operations component of the plan would include procurement, manufacturing and logistics strategies that enable the firm to boost ...

  13. How to Write the Operations Section of the Business Plan

    A sharp and detailed business plan is essentially a business owner's commitment to and preparation for the road ahead, detailing the operations, strategies, and potential growth. The operations section is the real heart of a business plan, detailing how your venture will operate on a day-to-day basis.

  14. How to Write an Operational Plan in 13 Easy Steps

    Steps for how to write an operational plan This section will help you determine what needs to be done to reach your vision. To get started, keep the SMART guidelines below in mind. Your plan should be: S pecific M easurable A ttainable R elevant T imely

  15. Operational Planning: How to Make an Operational Plan

    June 6, 2022 - 10 min read Yuvika Iyer Having a strategic plan is essential to any company, but it's not enough. To ensure that the broader organizational goals are within reach, you need an operational plan for day-to-day work..

  16. Operational Plan: What is it & How to Create it? (Free Template Included)

    Step 4: Create Your Desired Document. Once you are in the workspace, click on the ' Create New' button. Select 'From Template' in the dropdown. A pop up will display allowing you to select a template from the gallery. In the search box on the top left corner, you can search for an "operational plan template".

  17. How to create an operating plan: Examples with template

    How to develop an effective operating plan. Identifying the product goals and objectives. Aligning with the strategy and vision of the product. Selecting and tracking the product metrics. Implementing and monitoring an operating plan. Tracking success. Adjusting and/or pivoting course. Keeping stakeholders aligned.

  18. How to Write Operations and Management Plan

    In this section, you will need to create the financial tables of the operations and management plan. Three types of tables, you will need to create such as the table of. Operating Expenses. Capital Requirements. Costs of Goods. The sum value of these tables will be carried forward in the "financial plan" - the last part of the startup ...

  19. How To Write an Operating Plan (With Steps and Example)

    Some elements of an operational plan include: Goals and objectives: Your plan includes your central vision for your team or department. These goals are measurable, and they typically have short deadlines. Assigned tasks: The operational plan includes specific tasks that employees perform during business operations.

  20. How To Make an Operational Plan (With Steps and Examples)

    Here are a few steps you can take to create an effective operations plan: 1. Create a strategic plan. Creating a strategic plan before an operational plan can help you clearly outline long-term goals and expectations to ensure alignment with business processes, values and initiatives. Your operations plan can then help you accomplish the goals ...

  21. How to Write an Operational Plan in Business Plan

    Learn 8 steps to write a business operational plan in business plan.Watch full business plan writing course here - https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PL1O57nC...

  22. How to Write Your Restaurant's Operations Plan

    With this guide, you can confidently create a plan to rely on. Just remember - your restaurant is unique. Without efficient operations, your delicious dishes may not make it to the table. So, make sure you give your operations plan the time and attention that you would do your food! Related Business Plan Resources. Restaurant Business Plan

  23. What Is Operational Planning? How to Write an Operational Plan?

    An operation plan in a business plan covers aspects such as production, facilities, technology, resources, and market requirements. Here are some common components of an operational plan: Executive summary - A brief overview of your operational plan and its main points and purpose.

  24. How to build a successful business plan in eight steps

    A business plan is a guide, compass and companion for you to reach your objectives. ... A business plan gives owners a guide to their operations. ... If you're established and are writing the ...

  25. How to Write a Food and Beverage Business Plan + Sample Business Plan

    The operations strategy may be the most detailed section of your business plan, especially if you're writing it for a bank loan or investment. This section describes how you will run your business day to day. When writing the operations section, describe the following: Physical space

  26. How to Write a Cleaning Service Business Plan

    When writing your cleaning service business plan, focus on these areas to increase your likelihood of success. ... The operations section of your plan should include training your workers on the latest cleaning techniques, customer service best practices, and safety protocols to ensure your team meets those high standards you've set. 5 ...

  27. How To Start A New Business With No Money

    5. Market your business. Digital marketing levels the playing field for small businesses, allowing you to reach a global audience with a relatively small budget. Start a blog using SEO to get ...

  28. BHP considers closure of Nickel West operations that employ about 3,300

    The review of BHP's operations also throws into doubt a proposed furnace rebuild at the Kalgoorlie nickel smelter, which would require up to 2,000 construction workers during peak periods.