Archive for category Sample Project Plan
Business Plan Example – How to Write a Killer Business Plan in 5 Steps
Posted by admin in Sample Project Plan on August 18, 2011
Starting a business plan is a detailed process that is both revealing and educational. To get started find a good business plan example and decide what the purpose of your plan will be. For existing businesses it is an opportunity to re-evaluate profit margins and focus on successful areas of the business while cutting out the departments that are not profitable. For business plans in start up companies it is an opportunity to really focus on, and understand the industry and evaluate whether your shiny new opportunity will be successful before you make an investment of time and money.
Although up to 44% of new companies survive 4 years or more the success of any new start up is based on proper planning and projection, capital resources, and good business management.
Here are the top 5 tips for creating a killer business plan that will undoubtedly impress any lender:
1) Don’t Skip the Research
Creating a solid plan is the very first step in knowing your industry and understanding what it will take to be successful in your chosen field. Part of creating your plan should be to evaluate the competition, refine your business strategy and begin to understand if your value proposition meets a tangible need in the marketplace. Going through the steps of creating a business plan is an invaluable process that will help to ensure that your business will be able to survive the market trends. Don’t pay someone else to do this part for you or it may end up costing you more than you think.
2) Consider Your Audience
Business plans are created for many different reasons. Will it be for presenting to a board for project approval? Will it be to submit for funding? Is it simply to re-evaluate the business and profitability? Each of these areas will require adjustments to the plan format and style you choose to use throughout the document. Find a good business plan example to use as a starting point to help focus your project. If you are trying to get funding then you will need to have very detailed cost and ROI projections that are realistic and measurable. If you are presenting to a board or non-profit it is likely that you will need to include a focus on community impact or involvement and impact (either positive or negative) to the existing organization. Keep your audience in mind as you create your document to ensure you hit the right points and leave no questions unanswered.
3) Use Quality Reference Material
It is important to use a good mix of reference material in your plan. The internet is great for up to date news but is not nearly as reliable and printed publications. Be sure to use a good mix of reputable website research along with solid facts and industry statistics commonly found in printed books. Industry publications and magazines are a great way to get the latest news and trends in a reputable place. Include research from industry publications as well to enhance your plan and build credibility in your due diligence. Always be sure to cite your research or any quotes you may use. This will also build credibility while ensuring you are not infringing on any copyright protections of the content you use. To quickly and easily cite your sources there is an online tool that you can use to enter in your info and get back the properly formatted entry for a works cited page. It makes the process a breeze: http://www.easybib.com. Read the rest of this entry »
Introducing Projects and Project Management
Posted by admin in Project Plan, Sample Project Plan on July 2, 2011
There are many definitions of what project management is, but if we review some technically worded definitions, you may not understand what it is any better than you do now. For this reason this article will take a different approach – to consider it in terms of the tasks it typically involves on a daily basis.
In its most basic form project management is about getting things done. This finished state (getting things done) results in some common characteristics between different projects, whether you are building a complicated computer system or simply installing a shower. The commonality that most projects share is that:
They are unique. Replacing a shower isn’t something you’d do every day and neither is building a complex computer system, and in this sense projects are considered to be unique as they are not part of normal day-to-day operations.
They are temporary. They have a start and an end. The project ends when specific objectives have been met, for example, when the shower is installed and working.
The have scope. This refers to the deliverables the project will deliver, and also the time it will take to complete the work, the cost needed to do the work, and the quality at which the work should be delivered. These three elements can be traded against one another, for example, we can install a shower more cheaply if we reduce the quality of the shower itself. So, now that we understand what a project is, what exactly is project management?
Well, project management is about running our project in a controlled manner so things get done in the most efficient way. Project management involves performing lots of different tasks but the main ones are outlined below.
1. Understanding Requirements. This itself refers to a number of things. What needs to be done? Who needs to do it? When does it need to be completed? To what standards does the work need to be completed?
2. Project Planning. This is about scheduling the tasks so things get done in the most efficient way.
3. Risk Management. This is about managing any potential problems which threaten to make the project a failure in some way.
4. Monitoring the work being done. This involves making sure the work is being done according the plan, and also that the work being done is actually meeting the requirements. Read the rest of this entry »