10 Elements of a Comprehensive Business Plan

The comprehensive business plan has 10 elements, a guide for management that helps in to achieve organizational goals.

A comprehensive business plan is essential as it enables a business enterprise to meet the desired possibilities of the future.

The following ten elements are included in some degree or other in any comprehensive planning activity.

1. Organization planning.
2. Product planning.
3. Facility planning.
4. Operations planning.
5. Material supply and inventory planning.
6. Financial planning.
7. Commercial planning.
8. Production planning.
9. Human resource planning.
10. Development planning.

1. Organization planning

Organization planning determines what functions an organization requires, relates these functions in a systematic fashion assign responsibility to individual positions, and installs and periodically reviews organization plans.

Organizational planning is the process of classifying an organization’s objectives and forming and monitoring precise strategies to achieve them.

It also entails staffing and resource allocation and is one of the primary responsibilities of a management team.

Organizational structures need to be formulated and executed with a view to achieving organizational goals in an efficient manner.

Thus, having a suitable organizational structure in place is a prerequisite for long-term success.

2. Product planning

As the name suggests, product planning is simply creating a product based on a particular plan.

Product planning coordinates the efforts of all departments in maintaining and developing the most profitable product line. It includes the addition of new products, the addition of new product lines, and the elimination of existing products.

However, it is not a simple task which can be performed in just one day.

Product planning is a long process during which it is important to take into consideration many factors, such as target demographics, financial aspects of the product preparation, deadline, etc.

Basically, all the market requirements that can be influential to product’s reception.

3. Facility planning

facility planning is the determination of needed production facilities, their types, capacities, quantities, and locations.

Strategic facility planning process helps to do better, more proactive delivery of services from a facility management organization to its stakeholders.

The time taken to carry out strategic facility planning is well spent in that it helps to avoid mistakes, delays, obstacles and customer dissatisfaction.

Strategic facility planning process make facility plan implementations to run more quickly and smoothly.

4. Operations planning

Operations planning is concerned with production methods, standard practices, types and quantities of production equipment, and production capacities.

5. Material supply and inventory planning

Material supply and inventory planning is concerned with the type and quantity of stock to be acquired and placed in inventory and its systematic location, storage, and control.

Its purpose is to supply the desired quantity of product to the customer and to the various segments of the enterprise.

6. Financial planning

Commercial planning provides a central point for determining the organizations’ future financial requirements and objectives, for developing plans and policies to fulfill those requirements and objectives and for developing controls to assure compliance with financial plans and goals.

The financial plan outlines ways and means for meeting the company’s’ financial requirements within a prescribed course and within a specified time.

7. Commercial planning

Commercial planning is the estimation of future commercial conditions, the appraisal of these conditions and the preparation of plans to capitalize on them.

Typically a commercial plan is used when a company launch a new product into the marketplace.

Companies will develop these plans to ensure they have operations in place to handle the distribution and feedback from consumers, among other things.

8. Production planning

Production planning deals with the effort for bringing together the necessary men, material, machinery, and tools to make and develop a product or service for offering in the market.

9. Human resource planning

Human resource planning aims to see that the company is provided with the number and type of people it will need in the future.

The human resource plan outlines ways and means of providing the enterprise with an adequate number of properly experienced and trained people when and as they are needed.

It also provides a means for helping management achieve the maximum utilization of human resources.

10. Development planning

Development planning investigates ways and means of securing opportunities for utilizing the enterprise’s total resources.

The development plan outlines ways and means whereby the company’s resources may be employed to the maximum advantage, considering all aspects of the company’s capabilities and appraising the effect of possible changes in social, economic and political conditions.

In conclusion, it may be re-iterated that planning is essential because it enables the business enterprise to meet the contingencies of the future.

But to be effective a plan must;

1. Be based on a clearly defined objective,
2. Be simple,
3. Provide for proper analysis and classification of actions, that is, which establishes standards,
4. Be flexible,
5. Be balanced, and
6. Use available resources to the utmost before creating new authorities and new resources.