An operational plan bridges the gap between high ambitions and actual achievements. This essential integral section helps businesses thrive, achieve their goals, and handle challenges with accuracy and purpose.
But is it challenging for you to write one in a manner that shows a clear picture of your business operations? Drafting the operations plan section can be tricky due to the uncertainties of the business environment and the risks associated with it.
Well, worry not you’re at the right place! Here, we will see how to write an engaging operational plan in a business plan with an example. So let’s get going.
What is an operations plan?
An operations plan of a business plan is an in-depth description of your daily business activities centered on achieving the goals and objectives described in the previous sections of the plan. It outlines various departments’ processes, activities, responsibilities, and execution time frame.
The operations section explains in detail the role of a team or department in the collective accomplishment of your goals. In other words, it’s a strategic allocation of physical, financial, and human resources toward reaching milestones within a specific timeframe.
Key questions your operational plan should address
A successful operational plan section of your business plan should be able to answer the following questions:
- Who is responsible for a specific task or department?
- What are the tasks that need to be completed?
- Where will these operations take place?
- When should the tasks be completed? What are the deadlines?
- How will the tasks be performed? Is there a standard procedure?
- How much is it going to cost to complete these tasks?
Let’s see how to write the operations section that answers all the above questions:
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How do you write an operations plan section?
Writing an operations plan within a business plan involves summarizing the day-to-day tasks necessary to run the business efficiently and meet its goals in both the development and manufacturing phases of the business.
Here’s a step-by-step guide:
1. Development phase
In this stage, you mention what you’ve done to get your business operations up and running. Explain what you aim to change and improvise in the process. These are the elements your development section will contain:
Production workflow
Explain all the steps involved in creating your product. Provide a detailed description of each step, including any inefficiencies and the actions needed to address them. Here, you also mention any inefficiencies that exist and talk about the actions that need to be taken to tackle them.
Write down the risks involved in the production and potential problems you may face later down the line. State the safety measures employees take to avoid any misfortune while working. Explain how you store hazardous material and discard waste.
Membership
Mention any industry organizations and associations you’re a part of or plan to join. It’s essential to include this information to convey to the reader that you’re aware of the organizations and associations in your industry.
Supply chains
Here, you mention the vendors you work with to sell your products. Give a quick rundown of the agreements you signed with them. Mention the terms and conditions, prices, and timeframe of the contract. You can also mention if you have any backup suppliers if the existing ones fail to fulfill the requirements.
Quality control
Describe the measures you’re taking to assure and verify the quality of the end product. If you’re working towards getting a product certification, explain the steps you take to meet the set standards.
2. Manufacturing phase
The development stage acquaints the reader with the functioning of your business, while the manufacturing stage describes the day-to-day operation. This includes the following elements:
Outline of daily activities
Create an outline of the day-to-day activities of the production process. This includes the hours of operation, days the business will be open, and whether the business is seasonal or not.
Location
Mention the location of your business, other branches you have, and their locations. If available, include images or drawings of the buildings, lease documents, real estate agreements, and other relevant documents. If you include these in your plan, mention why they’re crucial.
Tools and equipment
Describe the tools and machinery you use. You should also include the cost of the equipment; these will be important to predict financial requirements.
Assets
List down all your assets. These include land, buildings, tools, machinery, vehicles, and furniture. Include a legal description and the value of these assets.
Special requirements
If you require any additional facilities like water supply or power requirements, you mention them here. Specify what you need to do or have already done to acquire permissions for these requirements.
Raw materials
Mention your raw material suppliers. If you need any extra materials, you can also include them in your operations plan. Here, you also mention the contracts and agreements with your suppliers.
Productions
Explain the production process and the time required to produce one unit. Include the factors that may disrupt the production flow. Further, mention your strategies to tackle these inefficiencies to avoid delays in manufacturing.
Inventory
Here, you state the process of storing manufactured products, managing the stock, and the costs of the storage spaces. Stringent management of inventory is essential to maintain product quality and assure customer satisfaction.
Feasibility
To ensure the viability and effectiveness of your product, detail any tests it has undergone. This includes prototype testing to evaluate the design and functionality.
Additionally, highlight product or service testing, such as performance, safety, and user experience assessments. These tests validate your product’s readiness for the market, ensuring it meets customers’ needs and regulatory standards.
Cost
Include the pricing strategy for your products or services. You can also include the final prices of your products.
Outline your pricing strategy including which approach you used, for example—cost-plus, value-based, or competitive pricing. Include the final prices of your products or services, providing a breakdown if there are different tiers or packages.
Why do you need an operations plan?
An operations plan is like an instruction manual for your business. It helps investors assess your credibility and understand the structure of your operations.
Internally, an operations plan works as a guide, which helps your employees and managers to know their responsibilities. It also helps them understand how to execute their tasks in the desired manner—all while keeping account of deadlines.
The operations plan helps identify and cut the variances between planned & actual performance and makes necessary changes.
It helps you visualize how your operations affect revenue and gives you an idea of when you need to implement new strategies to maximize profits. Some of the advantages of preparing an operations plan include:
Offers clarity
Operational planning makes sure that everyone in the audience and team is aware of the daily, weekly, and monthly work. It improves concentration and productivity.
Contains a roadmap
Operational planning makes it much easier to reach long-term objectives. When members have a clear business strategy to follow—productivity rises, and accountability is maintained.
Set a benchmark
It sets a clear goal for everyone about what is the destination of the company and how to reach it.
Manages resources
It supports you in allocating resources, such as human resources, equipment, and materials, ensuring that nothing is wasted and everything is used optimally.
Helps in decision making
An operations plan helps make smart decisions by showing how the business runs day-to-day. It provides details on resources, wise investments, and effective risk management, ensuring that decisions improve overall business operations.
Operations plan essentials
Now that you have understood the importance of the operations plan, let’s go through the essentials of an operations plan:
Strategic plan
Your operations plan is fundamentally a medium for implementing your strategic plan. Hence, it’s crucial to have a solid plan to write an effective operations plan.
Goals
Having clear goals is one of the most important things for an operations plan. For clear goals, you need to think SMART:
- Specific: Clearly define what employees should achieve
- Measurable: Quantify the goal to track progress
- Attainable: Set ambitious but achievable goals
- Timely: Provide a deadline
Different departments will have their objectives, all supporting the main goal. All these strategic objectives are flexible and should align with the company’s long-term goals.
Key performance indicators
It’s essential to choose the right Key Performance Indicators (KPIs). It’s a good practice to involve all your teams while you decide your KPIs. Some of the important KPIs can be revenue growth, customer acquisition cost (CAC), net profit margin, churn rate, etc.
Timeline
Creating a timeline with milestones is necessary for any business. It keeps everyone focused and helps track efficiency. If some milestones aren’t met in a certain period, then it’s time to re-evaluate them.
Examples of some milestones are:
- Hiring key team members in six months
- Setting checkpoints for different production phases like design, prototype, development, testing, etc.
- Acquiring the first 50 clients in a year
Now you’re all set to write an operations plan section for your business plan. To give you a headstart, we have created an operations plan example.
Operations Plan Example
| Operations plan by a book publishing house | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Goal | Strategy | Actions | Responsibility | Deadlines |
| Save capital spent on the raw materials for book pages | Cost reduction | Negotiate with the raw materials supplier to reduce the price | Sean Davis | August 2024 |
| Increase the number of books proofread by 10% |
Improve productivity | 1. Distribute manuscripts among all the editors to avoid burden on some.
2. Hire new editors to increase productivity. |
Rebecca Brown | December 2024 |
| Improve cover page quality |
Enhance quality | Repair (if not replace) the faulty machine that prints the covers of the books | Luke Williams | July 2024 |
Conclusion
We know this guide has been helpful for you in drafting a comprehensive operational plan section for your business plan.
If you’re still unsure or need help getting started, consider using business plan software like Upmetrics. It offers step-by-step guidance, so you won’t have to worry about what comes next.
