Planning in the modern world of economics occupies a significant place. The planning process has its own tools, the main of which is a business plan. The business plan of the company is used for the production, economic and technical justification for the implementation of projects.

How to develop a business plan?

The most important thing is to clearly define the goals and objectives that need to be solved with the help of a business plan. Two main types of business plans can be distinguished: a business plan for a project (for example, the construction of a factory or a business center) and a business plan for the development of a company. In this case, you need to use resident listing by address. 

The differences between them are both in structure and content. For example, the company's business plan should focus on the organizational structure, internal processes and potential, through which the development of the company is planned. Classification of business plans can also be carried out according to the following parameters: the purpose of preparation, the end user (recipient) of the document.

Business plans can be formed for own management of a company (or project), for provision to potential investors, for business evaluation, for justifying costs, for approving a dividend policy, etc.

There is no single universal structure of a business plan for all occasions. Often consultants rely on UNIDO methodology standards.

But, in any case, this is just a guideline. In practice, there are examples when, for the implementation of a project, it is required to create two plans that are completely different in form and content.

One is for a potential investor, and the other is for their own use in the process of implementing this project. In the first version, the essence of the project itself, the risks and economic results for the investor are revealed in more detail, in the second, the organizational system of project management is given in expanded form.

Electronic model of the project

The next important step in creating a business plan is building an electronic model of the project. It is on its basis that a business plan is created, corrected and updated in the future. To create a model, you must have the initial data:

1. The main parameters of the project: project implementation period, planning period, discount rate, inflation rate, project tax scheme, etc.;
2. Forecast of all income for the project;
3. Forecast of all expenses for the project: fixed assets, raw materials, personnel, services of third parties, etc.;
4. Parameters and attraction of project financing sources.

Based on the initial data entered, the electronic model calculates all the main financial indicators of the project, the terms and procedure for repaying loans, the return of own investments, and the forecast indicators of accounting forms.

There are two approaches to creating an electronic model: using ready-made specialized software, or on your own.

There are several software products for creating and evaluating investment plans on the Russian market (Project Expert, Alt-Invest, etc.). These are universal products for calculating projects of any direction.

The versatility of such systems is both a plus and a minus. After all, they are not able to take into account all the features of complex projects. Another way is to develop an electronic model yourself. This is the surest, but also the most time-consuming way. It is suitable for people who are professionals in financial modeling and have developed business plans repeatedly. Most often, MS Excel is used to develop such models. The following advantages of this method can be mentioned. This is a complete link to a specific project, taking into account all its subtleties, the ability to easily track and check all calculation formulas and data bundles, ease of adjustment at any stage of work. Among the minuses, first of all, the enormous labor intensity. By the way, you use legacy people directory to find any person which you need for your business.

The choice between the ways to create an electronic model of the project remains with the developer of the business plan, who decides this issue, taking into account the features and complexity of the project. After compiling an electronic model, the project proceeds to the stage of drawing up a business plan, which reflects both the initial data and the results of calculations.

The main sections of the business plan

The composition of the sections of the business plan may vary depending on the goals and objectives of the project. General recommendations on the composition of sections can be easily found in the specialized literature. We will talk about the important points in the preparation of individual sections.

1. Project summary

This section contains key information for: investors, company management, shareholders - that is, persons for whom a business plan is being drawn up. The summary contains brief information about the project itself, its advantages, information about the project organizer, financial indicators, loan parameters, project sensitivity. There is an opinion that this section should not exceed 2-3 pages. But this is only partly true. Quite often, there is a need for more detailed disclosure of information already in the resume section. For example, if a company is introducing a new product/service to the market, more space should be given to the marketing briefs. In the case of drawing up a business plan for the development of a company, the management needs to show in the resume how the company plans to achieve the stated indicators (organizational chart,

2. Marketing block.

The main part of this business plan block can begin with the following sections:

• the concept of the created business;
• company development strategy;
• description of the promoted products/services.

The above options can be included in the business plan not only one by one, but also sequentially, complementing each other. When compiling a section devoted directly to the description of a product / service / object / company, you can safely use standard approaches that are described in any open source. However, it is important to remember one thing: it is not necessary to present your object of a business plan as something unique and deserving of attention. Often, it is much clearer for potential investors to deal with something familiar that has already proven itself in practice.

It is also necessary to include information about the market analysis in the conditional marketing block. In particular, it is necessary to consider the segment in which the project organizer plans to operate. Typically, companies turn to marketing agencies if the market is not fully understood or if an investor needs an agency visa to make a decision to enter a project. In the process of conducting market analysis, special attention should be paid to the competitive environment. The clearer the positioning of the object of the business plan, the more justified the plan for the project's income will look.

3. Sales plan

This information can be highlighted in a separate section or go in the general composition of the marketing block. Here it is necessary to disclose the issues of distribution channels, the organizational scheme of sales, pricing and direct marketing activities planned for implementation.

4. Organizational plan

Here you need to provide detailed information about the organizer of the project:

• information about the management team;
• shareholders;
• company history;
• main financial performance indicators;
• information about previous projects.

Potential investors will also be interested in what assets the project organizer has and how the assets can be used as collateral. A significant advantage for the investor will be the experience of implementing similar projects or rich successful experience in the represented area.

After analyzing this section, it should be clear to the investor who he is dealing with, because the investor is actually going to invest resources not only in the project itself, but also in the team. It is very important to convince him of the qualifications of the organizer and his team. In the second part of this section, the organizational scheme for the implementation of the project should be reflected directly. Here, in addition to a simple description of the entire implementation mechanism, distribution of contributions and results of the project, it is necessary to use visual graphic forms.

5. Investment plan

In this section, you need to talk about previously made capital investments in business development or product / service development of the facility. Separately allocate fixed assets planned for acquisition. Show a set of measures and costs for intangible assets (brand, permits, approvals, etc.), the cost of work and services for the further development of the business/product/service/object. The section can contain both the project organizer's own data, obtained on the basis of business experience, and specific proposals from suppliers and contractors who are planned to be involved in the project.

6. Calendar schedule for project implementation

All stages of the investment cycle, the timing and cost of these stages, responsible persons should be clearly presented here. It is convenient, for example, to draw up such graphs in such software products as MS Project, Project Expert.

7. Operating plan

As a rule, this section presents plans for the current income and expenses of the project. In its first part, it is necessary to present a sales plan, which is closely related to the marketing unit on pricing issues. It is recommended to present the Sales Plan very clearly, using graphs and diagrams. Most projects are very sensitive to revenue volumes, so the issues of determining the price and sales volumes must be worked out very carefully. The overall plan for current income and expenses is usually displayed at the end of the section in the pivot table, broken down by planning intervals. The operational block is of interest, first of all, to those who will be responsible for the implementation of the project.

8. Financial plan

In this section, the investor will be most interested in the procedure for financing the project and the repayment schedule, interest payments / return on investment. In the financial plan, in addition to the schedules for the introduction and return of own and borrowed funds, it is customary to include indicators of the macroeconomic environment of the project, the tax scheme of the project, as well as the main reporting accounting forms of the project for the entire planning period.

This block must fully contain the results of calculations of the electronic mathematical model of the project:

• financial results;
• relationships with creditors;
• funding needs;
• predictive accounting and management reports;
• indicators of the financial solvency of the project.

9. Project effectiveness and risk tolerance

The final block of the business plan is presented based on the financial plan. The evaluation of the commercial effectiveness of the project, as a rule, is carried out both for the full investment costs and only for the own funds invested in the project. The list of performance indicators presented depends on the purpose of preparing the business plan. The recommended number of key indicators is no more than 6 (six). It is desirable to calculate all indicators automatically so that, by varying the initial data on the project, it is possible to determine the optimal scheme for the implementation of the project. In the same way, by artificially changing the initial indicators, it is determined which factors and risks the project is resistant to and which are not. We also note that risk analysis must be carried out not only quantitatively, but also qualitatively: with a description of the initial provisions, possible scenarios for the development of situations,