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What Is a Project? Definition, Types & Examples

What is a project, exactly? We talk a lot about specific facets of project management, but it’s sometimes valuable to start at the root and dig into the basics.

To fully understand high-level project management concepts, it’s important to know the simple answers. When you can call on this knowledge, more complicated concepts are easier to master. Whether you’re the project manager or a stakeholder, give your next project definition with these project management tips in mind.

Project Definition

A project is a set of tasks that must be completed within a defined timeline to accomplish a specific set of goals. These tasks are completed by a group of people known as the project team, which is led by a project manager, who oversees the planning , scheduling, tracking and successful completion of projects.

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Besides the project team, projects require resources such as labor, materials and equipment. Organizations and individuals manage projects with a wide range of objectives. These can take many forms, from constructing a building to planning an event and even completing a certain duty. Retailers, for example, may pursue projects that improve the way they track order fulfillment. Construction teams complete projects any time they plan and build something—and so on!

Project management software gives you the tools to manage all the parts of a project so it is delivered on time and within budget. ProjectManager is award-winning project management software with features to plan, manage and track your project in real time. Organize tasks on our robust Gantt, link all four types of task dependencies to avoid costly delays and save your project plan by setting a baseline. This allows you to track your actual progress against your planned progress to help you stay on track. Get started with ProjectManager today for free.

What Are the Characteristics of a Project?

There are certain features or characteristics that are unique to projects and differentiate them from the daily operations or other types of activities of an organization. Here are the main characteristics of a project.

1. Any Project Needs a Project Manager and a Project Team

One of the most important characteristics of a project is that it’s a team effort. While the structure of project teams might change from one organization to another, projects usually involve a project manager and a team of individuals with the necessary skills to execute the tasks that are needed.

2. Every Project Needs a Project Plan

Project team members need clear directions from the project manager and other project leaders so that they can execute the work that’s expected from them. These directions come in the form of a project plan. However, a project plan is more than just a set of instructions for the project team. It’s a comprehensive document that describes every aspect of a project, such as the project goals, project schedule and project budget among other important details.

3. All Projects Go Through the Same Project Lifecycle

The project life cycle refers to the five phases all projects must progress through, from start to finish. The five phases of a project lifecycle serve as the most basic outline that gives a project definition. These five phases are initiation, planning, execution, monitoring and closure.

4. All Projects Share the Same Project Constraints

All projects no matter their size or complexity are subject to three main constraints: time, scope and cost. This simply means that projects must be completed within a defined timeline, achieve a defined set of tasks and goals and be delivered under a certain budget .

These project constraints are known as the triple constraint or the project management triangle and are one of the most important project features to know about.

5. Every Project Needs Resources

A resource is anything necessary to complete a project, such as for example, labor, raw materials, machinery and equipment. For example, in construction, raw materials such as wood, glass or paint are essential project resources . That said, other resources — like time, labor and equipment — are just as important.

A project manager must be able to identify all of the project resources in order to create a resource plan and manage the resources accordingly. When resources are left unaccounted for, it is easy to mismanage them.

Types of Projects

Projects can take many shapes and forms, which makes classifying them into types a very difficult task that requires different approaches. Here are some of the types of projects grouped by funding source, industry and project management methodology .

Types of Projects By Funding Source

One simple way to categorize projects is to look at their source of capital.

• Private projects: Projects that are financed by businesses or private organizations.
• Public projects: Projects which are funded by Government agencies.
• Mixed projects: Projects that are financed by a public-private partnership.

Types of Projects By Industry

Projects can be executed by large or small organizations from any industry. However, some industries are more project-intensive than others. Here are some of the most common types of projects by industry.

• Construction projects: The main goal of any construction project is to make a building that can be used for different purposes such as infrastructure, residential or commercial use.
• Manufacturing projects: Manufacturing projects consist of manufacturing physical products to generate profits for a company.
• IT projects: Information technology projects consist in establishing an IT framework for the processing of data at a company-wide scale.
• Software development projects: The main goal of a software development project is to create a software product for a client.
• Business projects: The term business project could refer to creating a new business, creating a new business unit for an existing company or simply launching a new business initiative.

Types of Projects By Project Management Methodology

Besides the types of projects mentioned above, projects can also be classified by the project management methodology that’s used to plan, schedule and execute them.

• Waterfall projects: Waterfall is the most traditional project management methodology, where the project plan is defined before the project begins and each major project phase must be completed in sequence.
• Agile projects: Agile projects are planned and executed in short iterations known as sprints , where project teams plan their activities as they execute the project.

Project Examples

Now that we’ve reviewed the main characteristics of a project and the various project types that exist, let’s review some common project examples to better illustrate what a project is.

Construction Project Examples

• Construction infrastructure projects: Building a bridge, a road, a mass transportation system or a water treatment facility.
• Residential construction projects: Building a house, a residential building or an apartment complex.
• Commercial construction projects: Building a shopping mall, a parking lot or a hotel.

Manufacturing Project Examples

• Building a factory from scratch
• Manufacturing products for retail sale
• Manufacturing products for a B2B purchase order
• Improving an existing production line by acquiring new machinery and training employees

Key Project Terms to Know

No matter the project, there are universal project terms that are used regardless of project type, project size or any other factor. Know these seven terms like the back of your hand and you’ll be a step ahead before the project begins:

Project Scope

Project scope is a key aspect of the project planning stage. In many ways, it is the starting point. Determining project scope requires the project manager and their team to set goals and objectives, detail deliverables, create tasks, establish important dates and more. Project scope defines desired outcomes and all specific factors which will affect reaching them.

Project Stakeholder

A stakeholder refers to anyone and everyone involved in a project. A stakeholder can be involved at every stage of the project, or just in a certain way. Stakeholder analysis helps categorize how investors, team members, vendors, contractors and more can affect your project.

Project Deliverables

A deliverable refers to the specific outcome(s) a project creates. Deliverables can be “tangible” or “intangible,” meaning they can be a physical product or something conceptual. Typically, deliverables are the need that inspired the project in the first place. If someone contracts a builder to design and construct an office space, the office is a tangible deliverable.

Project Milestones

Milestones are predetermined achievements that help track project progress. Think of milestones as checkpoints. These checkpoints are decided on before a project begins, so the project manager and team know when they are on track to achieve deliverables. Without milestones, it’s difficult to know if the project is on the road to success or needs to reroute.

Project Dependencies

Project dependencies refer to how resources must be shared and allocated within a project. Many projects will use the same physical materials for different purposes and across different stages. Understanding this dependency is the only way to ensure there is enough resources to go around. Similarly, all projects are broken down into tasks. When one task cannot begin before another is completed, these tasks share a dependency.

What It Means to Work on a Project

Whether it’s the project manager, a team member or any other project stakeholder, they’re a member of the greater project team and their actions directly affect other team members. Like any team, you “win” or “lose” as a unit, so it’s incredibly important to communicate and listen to other team members in order to coordinate efforts and succeed. Most project mishaps and project failures are the direct results of poor communication or lack of collaboration.

Why does this matter as long as the work is getting done? Working on a project is about understanding the project as a whole just as much as it is about doing the work. The only way to see this big picture is by listening to the team and learning from one another.

What Is Project Management?

The process of project management starts with the conception of the project and continues all the way through the project lifecycle. This requires detailed knowledge of company resources and how to assign them in order to complete tasks, duties, events and other projects.

A wide range of industries relies on project management methods and tools to execute projects. A few examples of these industries are construction, IT, engineering, marketing and advertising. Any team working together to reach a shared objective is engaging in some form of project management.

What Does a Project Manager Do?

A project manager is more than just a manager, in the traditional sense. This individual is the leader of the project team and oversees every aspect of the project, from beginning to end. The project manager will typically write the project plan, run team meetings, assign tasks and do quality control tests to ensure everything is running smoothly. A project manager can’t carry the entire project on their back, though. One of their key duties, in fact, is knowing how to entrust various responsibilities to team members.

With the help of their team, project managers will create project schedules and budgets. They will also create project reports throughout the project lifecycle.

As you can see, their responsibilities are widespread, but that doesn’t mean spreading too thin. Ideally, a project manager creates the foundation of the project—like the foundation of a house. They then appoint other individuals to finish out each room.

Project Definition: Best Practices for Project Management

Regardless of the project, the size of the team, or anything else, there are practices that exponentially increase the chances of success. As vital as it is to hit goals and achieve deliverables , it’s just as important to create a positive culture within the project. These five tips may seem simple, but they make a big difference:

Set Regular Team Check-ins

It’s easy to meet with the team “as needed,” but once a project begins it gets harder to find time in everyone’s schedule. Instead, schedule regular meetings before a project even starts. These meetings serve as check-ins where team members can give each other updates, voice concerns, ask questions, make adjustments and do anything else they may need. When these check-ins are already built into the schedule, no one is waiting to meet until there’s a mishap or issue.

Part of what gives a project definition is knowing how to delegate. Whether it’s the project managers or a team member, they’ll more than likely need help with a task at some point. Now, this doesn’t mean just passing along the task to someone else. It means that every team member has equal responsibilities. Instead, the best project managers know how to relinquish some control and delegate to team members.

Know the Team

Everyone on the project management team should be familiar with each other’s strengths, weaknesses and specialties. For example, if a team member needs information from a different department, they should know exactly who to ask. This familiarity cuts down on lost time. It is especially important for a project manager to know their team extremely well.

When a project member knows these things, they can make decisions that play to their team members’ strengths, not around their weaknesses. Knowing the team is a huge aspect of creating a positive culture within a project, as it celebrates everyone’s abilities.

Celebrate Milestones

Speaking of positive culture, never underestimate the power of taking a moment to mark meeting a milestone . Reaching one means the team has made significant progress and the project is still on track. At the very least, it’s important to announce reaching milestones during team check-ins. This keeps everyone on the same page and improves team efficacy.

Choose Superior PM Tools

Project management is an extremely complex job. Without the proper tools, it’s easy to make mistakes, become disorganized and even fail to complete the project. The best way to protect your project from these missteps is by choosing tools that simplify the entire process.

The best project management software does just that. Using project management software unleashes your team’s and the project’s full potential and takes the end result to new heights. The key is finding an intuitive, user-friendly project management software that makes no compromises in functionality.

How ProjectManager Makes Managing Projects Easy

ProjectManager is an award-winning project management software that makes managing projects easier than ever. Our online software allows the entire team to work on the project while in the field or on the go, and our modern interface combines functionality with user-friendly navigation. This means no more wasted time just trying to familiarize yourself with a new tool and more time perfecting your project definition.

Plan on Gantt Charts

Plan your projects from start to finish with ProjectManager’s powerful Gantt chart feature, which allows you to map out project tasks in phases. You can even create dependencies and set milestones. Plus, you can import Excel files and Microsoft Project files, so switching over to our software is seamless.

Track on Project Dashboards

As the project team moves forward with tasks, project managers can track every status update on our real-time dashboard that you can personalize to show the most important metrics. Every change to a task is tracked and automatically updates the colorful, easy-to-read charts and graphs. Keeping an eye on your project’s progress has never been easier!

Get all these features and more when you use ProjectManager. All of these tools are available in our software to help you plan, track and report on your project in real time. See what it can do for you by taking this free 30-day trial run!

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What Is a Business Plan? Definition and Planning Essentials Explained

Posted february 21, 2022 by kody wirth.

What is a business plan? It’s the roadmap for your business. The outline of your goals, objectives, and the steps you’ll take to get there. It describes the structure of your organization, how it operates, as well as the financial expectations and actual performance. 

A business plan can help you explore ideas, successfully start a business, manage operations, and pursue growth. In short, a business plan is a lot of different things. It’s more than just a stack of paper and can be one of your most effective tools as a business owner. 

Let’s explore the basics of business planning, the structure of a traditional plan, your planning options, and how you can use your plan to succeed. 

What is a business plan?

A business plan is a document that explains how your business operates. It summarizes your business structure, objectives, milestones, and financial performance. Again, it’s a guide that helps you, and anyone else, better understand how your business will succeed.  

Why do you need a business plan?

The primary purpose of a business plan is to help you understand the direction of your business and the steps it will take to get there. Having a solid business plan can help you grow up to 30% faster and according to our own 2021 Small Business research working on a business plan increases confidence regarding business health—even in the midst of a crisis. 

These benefits are directly connected to how writing a business plan makes you more informed and better prepares you for entrepreneurship. It helps you reduce risk and avoid pursuing potentially poor ideas. You’ll also be able to more easily uncover your business’s potential. By regularly returning to your plan you can understand what parts of your strategy are working and those that are not.

That just scratches the surface for why having a plan is valuable. Check out our full write-up for fifteen more reasons why you need a business plan .  

What can you do with your plan?

So what can you do with a business plan once you’ve created it? It can be all too easy to write a plan and just let it be. Here are just a few ways you can leverage your plan to benefit your business.

Test an idea

Writing a plan isn’t just for those that are ready to start a business. It’s just as valuable for those that have an idea and want to determine if it’s actually possible or not. By writing a plan to explore the validity of an idea, you are working through the process of understanding what it would take to be successful. 

The market and competitive research alone can tell you a lot about your idea. Is the marketplace too crowded? Is the solution you have in mind not really needed? Add in the exploration of milestones, potential expenses, and the sales needed to attain profitability and you can paint a pretty clear picture of the potential of your business.

Document your strategy and goals

For those starting or managing a business understanding where you’re going and how you’re going to get there are vital. Writing your plan helps you do that. It ensures that you are considering all aspects of your business, know what milestones you need to hit, and can effectively make adjustments if that doesn’t happen. 

With a plan in place, you’ll have an idea of where you want your business to go as well as how you’ve performed in the past. This alone better prepares you to take on challenges, review what you’ve done before, and make the right adjustments.

Pursue funding

Even if you do not intend to pursue funding right away, having a business plan will prepare you for it. It will ensure that you have all of the information necessary to submit a loan application and pitch to investors. So, rather than scrambling to gather documentation and write a cohesive plan once it’s relevant, you can instead keep your plan up-to-date and attempt to attain funding. Just add a use of funds report to your financial plan and you’ll be ready to go.

The benefits of having a plan don’t stop there. You can then use your business plan to help you manage the funding you receive. You’ll not only be able to easily track and forecast how you’ll use your funds but easily report on how it’s been used. 

Better manage your business

A solid business plan isn’t meant to be something you do once and forget about. Instead, it should be a useful tool that you can regularly use to analyze performance, make strategic decisions, and anticipate future scenarios. It’s a document that you should regularly update and adjust as you go to better fit the actual state of your business.

Doing so makes it easier to understand what’s working and what’s not. It helps you understand if you’re truly reaching your goals or if you need to make further adjustments. Having your plan in place makes that process quicker, more informative, and leaves you with far more time to actually spend running your business.

What should your business plan include?

The content and structure of your business plan should include anything that will help you use it effectively. That being said, there are some key elements that you should cover and that investors will expect to see. 

Executive summary

The executive summary is a simple overview of your business and your overall plan. It should serve as a standalone document that provides enough detail for anyone—including yourself, team members, or investors—to fully understand your business strategy. Make sure to cover the problem you’re solving, a description of your product or service, your target market, organizational structure, a financial summary, and any necessary funding requirements.

This will be the first part of your plan but it’s easiest to write it after you’ve created your full plan.

Products & Services

When describing your products or services, you need to start by outlining the problem you’re solving and why what you offer is valuable. This is where you’ll also address current competition in the market and any competitive advantages your products or services bring to the table. Lastly, be sure to outline the steps or milestones that you’ll need to hit to successfully launch your business. If you’ve already hit some initial milestones, like taking pre-orders or early funding, be sure to include it here to further prove the validity of your business. 

Market analysis

A market analysis is a qualitative and quantitative assessment of the current market you’re entering or competing in. It helps you understand the overall state and potential of the industry, who your ideal customers are, the positioning of your competition, and how you intend to position your own business. This helps you better explore the long-term trends of the market, what challenges to expect, and how you will need to initially introduce and even price your products or services.

Check out our full guide for how to conduct a market analysis in just four easy steps .  

Marketing & sales

Here you detail how you intend to reach your target market. This includes your sales activities, general pricing plan, and the beginnings of your marketing strategy. If you have any branding elements, sample marketing campaigns, or messaging available—this is the place to add it. 

Additionally, it may be wise to include a SWOT analysis that demonstrates your business or specific product/service position. This will showcase how you intend to leverage sales and marketing channels to deal with competitive threats and take advantage of any opportunities.

Check out our full write-up to learn how to create a cohesive marketing strategy for your business. 

Organization & management

This section addresses the legal structure of your business, your current team, and any gaps that need to be filled. Depending on your business type and longevity, you’ll also need to include your location, ownership information, and business history. Basically, add any information that helps explain your organizational structure and how you operate. This section is particularly important for pitching to investors but should be included even if attempted funding is not in your immediate future.

Financial projections

Possibly the most important piece of your plan, your financials section is vital for showcasing the viability of your business. It also helps you establish a baseline to measure against and makes it easier to make ongoing strategic decisions as your business grows. This may seem complex on the surface, but it can be far easier than you think. 

Focus on building solid forecasts, keep your categories simple, and lean on assumptions. You can always return to this section to add more details and refine your financial statements as you operate. 

Here are the statements you should include in your financial plan:

• Sales and revenue projections
• Profit and loss statement
• Cash flow statement
• Balance sheet

The appendix is where you add additional detail, documentation, or extended notes that support the other sections of your plan. Don’t worry about adding this section at first and only add documentation that you think will be beneficial for anyone reading your plan.

Types of business plans explained

While all business plans cover similar categories, the style and function fully depend on how you intend to use your plan. So, to get the most out of your plan, it’s best to find a format that suits your needs. Here are a few common business plan types worth considering. 

Traditional business plan

The tried-and-true traditional business plan is a formal document meant to be used for external purposes. Typically this is the type of plan you’ll need when applying for funding or pitching to investors. It can also be used when training or hiring employees, working with vendors, or any other situation where the full details of your business must be understood by another individual. 

This type of business plan follows the outline above and can be anywhere from 10-50 pages depending on the amount of detail included, the complexity of your business, and what you include in your appendix. We recommend only starting with this business plan format if you plan to immediately pursue funding and already have a solid handle on your business information. 

Business model canvas

The business model canvas is a one-page template designed to demystify the business planning process. It removes the need for a traditional, copy-heavy business plan, in favor of a single-page outline that can help you and outside parties better explore your business idea. 

The structure ditches a linear structure in favor of a cell-based template. It encourages you to build connections between every element of your business. It’s faster to write out and update, and much easier for you, your team, and anyone else to visualize your business operations. This is really best for those exploring their business idea for the first time, but keep in mind that it can be difficult to actually validate your idea this way as well as adapt it into a full plan.

One-page business plan

The true middle ground between the business model canvas and a traditional business plan is the one-page business plan. This format is a simplified version of the traditional plan that focuses on the core aspects of your business. It basically serves as a beefed-up pitch document and can be finished as quickly as the business model canvas.

By starting with a one-page plan, you give yourself a minimal document to build from. You’ll typically stick with bullet points and single sentences making it much easier to elaborate or expand sections into a longer-form business plan. This plan type is useful for those exploring ideas, needing to validate their business model, or who need an internal plan to help them run and manage their business.

Now, the option that we here at LivePlan recommend is the Lean Plan . This is less of a specific document type and more of a methodology. It takes the simplicity and styling of the one-page business plan and turns it into a process for you to continuously plan, test, review, refine, and take action based on performance.

It holds all of the benefits of the single-page plan, including the potential to complete it in as little as 27-minutes . However, it’s even easier to convert into a full plan thanks to how heavily it’s tied to your financials. The overall goal of Lean Planning isn’t to just produce documents that you use once and shelve. Instead, the Lean Planning process helps you build a healthier company that thrives in times of growth and stable through times of crisis.

It’s faster, keeps your plan concise, and ensures that your plan is always up-to-date.

Try the LivePlan Method for Lean Business Planning

Now that you know the basics of business planning, it’s time to get started. Again we recommend leveraging a Lean Plan for a faster, easier, and far more useful planning process. 

To get familiar with the Lean Plan format, you can download our free Lean Plan template . However, if you want to elevate your ability to create and use your lean plan even further, you may want to explore LivePlan. 

It features step-by-step guidance that ensures you cover everything necessary while reducing the time spent on formatting and presenting. You’ll also gain access to financial forecasting tools that propel you through the process. Finally, it will transform your plan into a management tool that will help you easily compare your forecasts to your actual results. 

Check out how LivePlan streamlines Lean Planning by downloading our Kickstart Your Business ebook .

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What Is a Business Plan?

Understanding business plans, how to write a business plan, common elements of a business plan, how often should a business plan be updated, the bottom line, business plan: what it is, what's included, and how to write one.

Adam Hayes, Ph.D., CFA, is a financial writer with 15+ years Wall Street experience as a derivatives trader. Besides his extensive derivative trading expertise, Adam is an expert in economics and behavioral finance. Adam received his master's in economics from The New School for Social Research and his Ph.D. from the University of Wisconsin-Madison in sociology. He is a CFA charterholder as well as holding FINRA Series 7, 55 & 63 licenses. He currently researches and teaches economic sociology and the social studies of finance at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem.

A business plan is a document that details a company's goals and how it intends to achieve them. Business plans can be of benefit to both startups and well-established companies. For startups, a business plan can be essential for winning over potential lenders and investors. Established businesses can find one useful for staying on track and not losing sight of their goals. This article explains what an effective business plan needs to include and how to write one.

Key Takeaways

• A business plan is a document describing a company's business activities and how it plans to achieve its goals.
• Startup companies use business plans to get off the ground and attract outside investors.
• For established companies, a business plan can help keep the executive team focused on and working toward the company's short- and long-term objectives.
• There is no single format that a business plan must follow, but there are certain key elements that most companies will want to include.

Investopedia / Ryan Oakley

Any new business should have a business plan in place prior to beginning operations. In fact, banks and venture capital firms often want to see a business plan before they'll consider making a loan or providing capital to new businesses.

Even if a business isn't looking to raise additional money, a business plan can help it focus on its goals. A 2017 Harvard Business Review article reported that, "Entrepreneurs who write formal plans are 16% more likely to achieve viability than the otherwise identical nonplanning entrepreneurs."

Ideally, a business plan should be reviewed and updated periodically to reflect any goals that have been achieved or that may have changed. An established business that has decided to move in a new direction might create an entirely new business plan for itself.

There are numerous benefits to creating (and sticking to) a well-conceived business plan. These include being able to think through ideas before investing too much money in them and highlighting any potential obstacles to success. A company might also share its business plan with trusted outsiders to get their objective feedback. In addition, a business plan can help keep a company's executive team on the same page about strategic action items and priorities.

Business plans, even among competitors in the same industry, are rarely identical. However, they often have some of the same basic elements, as we describe below.

While it's a good idea to provide as much detail as necessary, it's also important that a business plan be concise enough to hold a reader's attention to the end.

While there are any number of templates that you can use to write a business plan, it's best to try to avoid producing a generic-looking one. Let your plan reflect the unique personality of your business.

Many business plans use some combination of the sections below, with varying levels of detail, depending on the company.

The length of a business plan can vary greatly from business to business. Regardless, it's best to fit the basic information into a 15- to 25-page document. Other crucial elements that take up a lot of space—such as applications for patents—can be referenced in the main document and attached as appendices.

These are some of the most common elements in many business plans:

• Executive summary: This section introduces the company and includes its mission statement along with relevant information about the company's leadership, employees, operations, and locations.
• Products and services: Here, the company should describe the products and services it offers or plans to introduce. That might include details on pricing, product lifespan, and unique benefits to the consumer. Other factors that could go into this section include production and manufacturing processes, any relevant patents the company may have, as well as proprietary technology . Information about research and development (R&D) can also be included here.
• Market analysis: A company needs to have a good handle on the current state of its industry and the existing competition. This section should explain where the company fits in, what types of customers it plans to target, and how easy or difficult it may be to take market share from incumbents.
• Marketing strategy: This section can describe how the company plans to attract and keep customers, including any anticipated advertising and marketing campaigns. It should also describe the distribution channel or channels it will use to get its products or services to consumers.
• Financial plans and projections: Established businesses can include financial statements, balance sheets, and other relevant financial information. New businesses can provide financial targets and estimates for the first few years. Your plan might also include any funding requests you're making.

The best business plans aren't generic ones created from easily accessed templates. A company should aim to entice readers with a plan that demonstrates its uniqueness and potential for success.

2 Types of Business Plans

Business plans can take many forms, but they are sometimes divided into two basic categories: traditional and lean startup. According to the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) , the traditional business plan is the more common of the two.

• Traditional business plans : These plans tend to be much longer than lean startup plans and contain considerably more detail. As a result they require more work on the part of the business, but they can also be more persuasive (and reassuring) to potential investors.
• Lean startup business plans : These use an abbreviated structure that highlights key elements. These business plans are short—as short as one page—and provide only the most basic detail. If a company wants to use this kind of plan, it should be prepared to provide more detail if an investor or a lender requests it.

Why Do Business Plans Fail?

A business plan is not a surefire recipe for success. The plan may have been unrealistic in its assumptions and projections to begin with. Markets and the overall economy might change in ways that couldn't have been foreseen. A competitor might introduce a revolutionary new product or service. All of this calls for building some flexibility into your plan, so you can pivot to a new course if needed.

How frequently a business plan needs to be revised will depend on the nature of the business. A well-established business might want to review its plan once a year and make changes if necessary. A new or fast-growing business in a fiercely competitive market might want to revise it more often, such as quarterly.

What Does a Lean Startup Business Plan Include?

The lean startup business plan is an option when a company prefers to give a quick explanation of its business. For example, a brand-new company may feel that it doesn't have a lot of information to provide yet.

Sections can include: a value proposition ; the company's major activities and advantages; resources such as staff, intellectual property, and capital; a list of partnerships; customer segments; and revenue sources.

A business plan can be useful to companies of all kinds. But as a company grows and the world around it changes, so too should its business plan. So don't think of your business plan as carved in granite but as a living document designed to evolve with your business.

Harvard Business Review. " Research: Writing a Business Plan Makes Your Startup More Likely to Succeed ."

U.S. Small Business Administration. " Write Your Business Plan ."

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Project Planning

What is project planning?

Definition: Project planning is a crucial part of project management focused on creating a detailed plan that outlines the steps and resources necessary to achieve the project's objectives, including identifying the project's scope, establishing a timeline, assigning tasks and resources, and budgeting for the project. 

Project planning is an iterative process , and the project plan may need to be adjusted as the project progresses. It is important to regularly review and update the project plan to ensure that it stays on track and meets its objectives.

Phases of project planning

Project planning is a critical element of project management, as it sets the stage for the entire project. There are eight steps:

• Define the goals and objectives of the project

Set specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound (SMART) goals. This includes the milestones and smaller tasks the team must complete by the end of the project. It is important to get input from all stakeholders when creating the work plan to ensure that everyone is on the same page.

• Develop the project plan

Define the project's scope by creating a work breakdown structure, schedule, and budget. The work breakdown structure details the tasks that need to be completed, the schedule outlines the timeline for the project, while the budget identifies the resources required and costs associated with the project.

• Identify the project risks

The project manager makes a plan for the unexpected. This includes possible solutions to manage potential risk. A contingency plan is included in case something goes wrong.

• Create a communication plan

The communication plan dictates who's to be updated on the project’s progress and how often. This ensures everyone is on the same page.

• Assign roles and responsibilities

Each team member needs to know what is expected of them. This includes their deliverables and deadlines. The project manager assigns tasks depending on each member's strengths and weaknesses. This ensures tasks are completed effectively, and the project stays on track.

• Obtain approvals

The project lead presents the plan to the company's CEO for approval. Once approved, the head of marketing is responsible for ensuring that all tasks are completed on time and within budget. 

• Launch the project

A kickoff meeting marks the beginning of the execution phase. It sets the pace for the project. This is when the team puts all the pieces together and starts working towards the project goals. To organize a successful kickoff meeting:

• Ensure all the stakeholders are in attendance. Reschedule if a key person is unavailable on the chosen day.
• Create a detailed, clear and concise agenda.
• Monitoring and evaluation

The project manager monitors and adjusts the plan as needed to ensure the successful completion of the project.

Types of project planning

The type of planning depends on the nature of the project and personal preferences. There are three types of project planning: vertical, horizontal, and joint.

Vertical planning

Also known as waterfall planning, vertical planning is when the project manager plans the different phases of the project sequentially, from start to finish.

Horizontal planning

Horizontal planning is when the different parts of the project are planned simultaneously. This type of planning is also known as agile planning.

Joint planning

This is a mix of both vertical and horizontal planning. Part of the project is planned sequentially, and some parts are planned at the same time. This type of planning is also known as integrated planning.

Example of project planning

Company X plans to launch a new product, and the head of product marketing is assigned to create a project plan.

• Enhance awareness into an eco-conscious demographic subsection to strengthen customer relationships and brand loyalty.
• Aim to sell over 15,000 units in Q1.
• Achieve 80% customer satisfaction rating in user testing.

Stakeholders

Project sponsor: Molly - LiquiTech

Project lead : Graham

Development: Ridge

Design: Leah

Marketing: Mindy and Alec

Support: Dylan and Hope

Project plan

Project start: 01st April

Project end: 15th September

$5,000 - Advertising, market research, and product development

$3,000 - HR tasks including customer service, social media, and sales

$12,000 - Material resources for product development, packaging, and shipping

$2,000 - Contingency

Deliverables

• Update buyer personas
• Product documentation
• Legal obligations
• Usability testing plan
• Internal company education
• Sales training
• New product marketing campaign

Risks analysis  

• Increasing production costs
• Technology risks
• Market risks
• Performance risks
• Financial risk

Communication plan

Team to communicate primarily on Company X’s collaboration platform. Weekly reports to be shared via email on Fridays by COB. Individual progress reports to be uploaded on the platform every fortnight.

Kickoff meeting

Launch date

11:11 am, 1st April 2023

Marketing channels

To utilize social media platforms to run giveaways two weeks before and after the product launch, plus online ads to reach members of the intended audience.

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Table of Contents

What is a project management plan, what is a project management plan used for, what are the components of a project management plan, the importance of project management planning, things you need to know before writing a project plan, creating a project management plan, how to create a project management plan [ explained in 6 steps], how to turn your project management plan into a plan of action, project management plan approval, how is project management different from financial management, choose the right program, what is a project management plan and how to create one.

Many professionals think of a Project Management Plan as a Gantt chart or a Schedule . Professionals who carry this misconception into the PMP® certification exam are the least likely ones to pass the exam. As you will see in this article, a Project Management Plan is a document that defines how a project is executed, monitored, and controlled; it is much more than a schedule chart. A solid understanding of the project plan can pay rich dividends throughout your preparation for the PMP® certification , and also help in managing projects. 

The Project manager creates the project management plan following inputs from the project team and the key stakeholders. A Project management plan is a formal, approved document that defines how the project is executed, monitored, and controlled. It may be a summary or a detailed document and may include baselines, subsidiary management plans, and other planning documents. This document is used to define the approach the project team takes to deliver the intended project management scope of the project. 

As the work proceeds, the performance of the project is measured against the performance measurement baseline included in the project management plan. The scope baseline, schedule baseline, and cost baseline are collectively referred to as the performance measurement baseline. If there is a deviation from the baseline while the work is being done, the project manager deals with them by making adjustments to correct the deviation. If these adjustments fail to correct the deviations, then formal change requests to the baselines become necessary. 

Project managers spend a substantial amount of time ensuring baselines are achieved, ensuring the project sponsor and the organization get the full benefits of their projects. Besides proper planning, a project manager’s abilities also lie in efficiently controlling the project and ensuring project deliverables are on time—and that the project is completed per the project management plan.

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There are no shortcuts to a thorough understanding of your project than through a well-written, well-structured project plan document. 

When compared to the project charter, which is a high-level strategy for the program, your project management plan breaks down that high-level perspective into the practical day-to-day operation of your project, addressing everything you must accomplish in order to achieve your project objectives.

Everything from timeframes to budgets , resources to deliverables, and more will be plotted out in a complete project plan, providing you with a roadmap of what needs fixing that you could use to manage and analyze your project.

A project management plan is a collection of baselines and subsidiary plans that include:

• Baselines for scope, schedule, and cost
• Management plans for scope, schedule, cost, quality, human resources, communications, risk, and procurement
• Requirement management plan
• Change management plan
• Configuration management plan
• Process improvement plan

There is a tremendous amount of planning that goes into any successful project. When you're a project manager, you'll have a lot to remember at all times. As a result of your project plan, you will know precisely what to concentrate on at each stage of the project, where to allocate resources and time, as well as what to watch out for in case things run over schedule or over budget. 

In order to get the most out of a project, you need to put in a lot of effort upfront to create a project plan that will serve you well throughout the project's lifespan. Here are five reasons why project management planning is essential.

It Serves as a Starting Point for Your Project

Your project plan, based on the agreed-upon scope, timeframe, and budget, will be developed in accordance with the authorized project charter. Having these baselines in place, specified, and authorized by the project owner will allow you to compare the actual progress of your project to how it was expected to be achieved.

This is very beneficial since it allows you to rapidly assess whether or not your project is progressing according to plan and, if it isn't, what needs to be done to fix the situation.

The Project Is More Organized

There are no alarms or surprises when your project is written out in a clear project plan. To make sure there is no space for misunderstanding or miscommunication, your thorough project plan will lay out all of the deadlines and deliverables in great detail so that everyone involved is aware of exactly what is expected of them.

It Lays Down the Project’s Scope in Detail

Another advantage of this alignment is that it prevents scope creep. When the project plan document clearly defines the stakeholder's expectations and all agreed-upon deliverables, it's easy to identify when anything is out of scope.

In addition, it makes it simpler to deal with these issues. As a result, everyone can be persuaded of what they initially committed to, and there is no doubt about what is (or isn't) within the scope of the project, owing to a written contract or project planning sheet.

It Provides for More Efficient Project Management

Breaking down the project's work into digestible parts like deliverables, goals, or tasks makes it much simpler to figure out what resources you'll need to get it done.

Once again, you may have begun to explain this in the scope statement at a basic level, but your project management plan would be where you become more specific about how you're going to utilize the resources you have available.

It Instills Confidence in Your Endeavor

Project sponsors, stakeholders, and the project team (and, if you're feeling really down, even yourself) might be comforted by knowing where you're heading and why.

When you have a project plan document, everyone can understand how your expertise as a project manager is advancing the project's and the organization's objectives in unambiguous terms.

 You need to know these five things before you begin developing a project plan.

Determine the Project’s Baselines

The first step in creating a project strategy is to ensure you understand the fundamentals. Start with establishing the project's scope, timeline, and cost baselines, since these restrictions will dictate the remainder of your project planning.

Aside from the project charter, here is the place where you truly begin to map out these baselines and establish reliable estimations. Because you'll be comparing them to other projects to see how well yours does, be as specific as possible.

Determine the Repercussions of Your Project’s Failure to Meet Its Goals

Alternatively, you may ask yourself: what must happen first in order for the next step to be possible? Establishing your project's dependencies early on allows you to better manage your timetables, identify possible roadblocks, and minimize delays.

Select Key Players in the Undertaking

There are likely to be additional project stakeholders as you go through the project management plan as well as go through each step in more depth than you identified during your stakeholder analysis.

During this time, you should also consider which stakeholders have to be informed and engaged at which stages of the project in order to create a more thorough stakeholder management plan.

Identify the Project’s Key Milestones

What are the most important signs that your project is moving forward? Your project may be broken down into a series of smaller, more manageable parts, each with a clearly stated objective. This keeps the team engaged, enables you to celebrate your successes, and shows how the overall development is moving along.

Establish the Responsibilities of Everyone Involved in the Situation

With a clear picture of the labor and resources required, you can begin choosing who should be doing what. Each item must have a designated owner to ensure that it is completed.

As per the PMBOK® Guide , the project management plan is an output of the Develop Project Management Plan process in the Project Integration Management Knowledge Area.

The Project management plan is not created all at once. It is progressively elaborated, which means it is developed, refined, revisited, and updated. Since the project management plan integrates all the knowledge area management plans into a cohesive whole, it needs to be assembled after all the component plans have been created.

Most of the components of the project management plan are created in various processes defined in the PMBOK® Guide; for instance, the Communications Management Plan is developed in the Plan communications process.

However, the Schedule Management Plan, Cost Management Plan, and Scope Management Plan are created in the Develop Project Management Plan process. When a project charter is created in the initiating process group, it contains a summary of scope, budget, and a summary (milestone) schedule.

Since you already have these things at the time you begin developing the project plan, you can go ahead and develop the scope management plan, cost management plan, and schedule management plan. Later, when you perform the Plan Scope, Estimate Costs, and Develop Schedule processes, you can revise the components of the project plan with more detail to reflect a deeper understanding of the project.

Step 1 - Create a High-Level Template for Project Planning

When it comes to your company, what does a project plan appear like? Starting with any existing resources that you can use as a reference, such as project plan examples or project plan templates, is a good place to start when developing a project strategy.

Make use of whatever resources your company makes available, such as a high-level template for planning projects, a project planning worksheet, model plans, or a calendar for preparing projects

Step 2 - Define Your Project Objective 

There are many free templates and examples available to lend a helping hand with your preparation, but remember to choose the proper one for your project type when using one.

Your project management plan should be personalized to your project type, workforce type, and specific demands. IT project plans for new equipment rollouts, for example, are likely to vary from agile project plans, which in turn are likely to differ from more comprehensive strategic project plans.

Gantt charts, task lists, and other project management elements may help you ensure that your plan is effective.

Step 3 - Identify All Stakeholders

Once your project outline is ready, you have to identify the key stakeholders in the project success. Hence, it is important to collect all your requirements. Once you have collected this information, you need to define the scope of the project for each stakeholder and mention clear deliverables. To ace this step of project management good communication skills are required. 

Step 4 - Get Feedback From Your Customers, Project Stakeholders, and Team Members

A strategy written in a vacuum is less likely to acquire the support it needs when the time comes. Your stakeholders will feel more involved in the project planning process if you include them, and it sets the stage for an integrated team atmosphere that will benefit your project.

Make sure you gather feedback from the project's leading characters when you establish a project plan, whether it's a planning meeting, a brainstorming session, or a one-on-one interview. Also, as an additional perk? It's an excellent chance for you to continue establishing connections with key stakeholders that you began developing throughout the stakeholder and project charter and analysis.

Step 5 - Any Previous Project Management Planning You’ve Done Should Be Included

If you've already completed stages 1-5 of project planning, you should include the results of those steps into your project management plan, as well as any research you've done up to this point. 

The Project Management Institute's Project Management Body of Knowledge Guide and Standards recommend the following strategies for your project management plan:

• Plan for scope management
• Plan for the management of requirements
• A strategy for time management
• A cost-cutting strategy
• Plan for quality control
• A strategy for managing resources
• A strategy for managing communications.
• A strategy for risk management
• The procurement strategy
• Stakeholder outreach strategy

While the PMBOK suggests implementing these 10 strategies as a baseline, you may discover that various projects need different methods.

Each of these areas should be covered at some point in your project management planning, even if they aren't comprehensively documented.

Step 6 - Choose a Central Location for Your Project Management Strategy

Your project management plan, including your project charter, should be kept centrally so that all parties involved, including stakeholders, the team members, management, and clients, can easily access it.

Using a project management tool, you can bring your defined project management strategy to life, ensuring that you remain on schedule, hold your team responsible, and promote openness throughout the project.

Since the project management plan is a formal document that is used to manage the execution of the project , it must receive formal approval. Who grants the approval for the project management plan depends on the organizational structure and a number of other factors.

Usually, the customer or the senior management of an organization does not approve the project management plan document. The customer signs the contract but often leaves the internal workings of the organization delivering the project. Typically the project plan is approved by the project manager, project sponsor, or the functional managers who provide the resources for the project.

It becomes less difficult for a project manager to get the project management plan approved, if:

• All the stakeholders are identified along with and their requirements and objectives.
• The project manager handles conflicting priorities in advance.

Project Management involves all the practices required for managing a project to maintain its activities from its initiation till its termination, ensuring that the organizational goals and stakeholder demands are met. 

Financial Management is all about managing resources and financial operations to increase profit while achieving the organization’s and stakeholder’s objectives as soon as possible in a satisfactory manner.

1. How can I write a project management plan?

Writing a project management plan requires you to identify your project baselines. Write an executive summary and create your timeline/ team charts. Next, you will have to perform and write a risk assessment. Note down your communications and resource sub plans. Lastly, present your project management plan to the stakeholders. Collect their insights, feedback, and suggestions. You must try to incorporate the relevant ones before finalizing your plan.

2. What are the six parts of a project management plan?

A project management plan comprises an executive summary, Gantt chart/ timeline, stakeholder or team chart, risk assessment, communication sub-plan, and resource sub-plan.

3. What is the purpose of a project management plan?

With all the details and necessary steps laid, a project management plan reduces confusion, boosts confidence, and prevents obstacles during project execution. It provides a clear outline and value proposition, assigning essential roles, identifying and preventing risks, outlining milestones, and ensuring clear communication and availability of essential resources.

4. What is project management methodology?

A project management methodology comprises a set of principles, processes, and values that gauge how a team will complete a project. It structures several factors that would influence the project competition, including planning, design and documentation, communication methods within and outside of the team, timelines, and assessment modes. 

5. How can project planning software help plan projects?

Project planning software lends a helping hand and simplifies project planning from the beginning to the end. It supplies much-needed project management features and transparency in the planning and execution. It facilitates effective communication among and within teams, helps track key performance factors, store data in a central location, generate reports, and overcome any other project management challenges. 

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Recommended Reads

An Introduction to Project Management: A Beginner’s Guide

What Is Quality Planning and Why Is It Important in Project Management?

What is Project Planning: Tools and Fundamentals

Project Management Interview Guide

Difference between Project Management Plan and Project Documents

What Is Project Management?

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• Project planning |
• What is project planning? (Plus, 7 ste ...

What is project planning? (Plus, 7 steps to write a successful project plan)

Organize your projects with project plans to keep things on track—before you even start. A project plan houses all the necessary details of your project, such as goals, tasks, scope, deadlines, and deliverables. This shows stakeholders a clear roadmap of your project, ensures you have the resources for it, and holds everyone accountable from the start. In this article, we teach you the seven steps to create your own project plan.

Project plans are essential to keeping your project organized and on track. A great project plan will help you kick off your work with all the necessary pieces—from goals and budgets to milestones and communication plans—in one place. Save yourself time (and a few headaches) by creating a work plan that will make your project a success.

What is a project planning?

Project planning is the second stage in the project management process, following project initiation and preceding project execution. During the project planning stage, the project manager creates a project plan, which maps out project requirements. The project planning phase typically includes setting project goals, designating project resources, and mapping out the project schedule.

What is a project plan?

If you're still unsure about what a project plan is, here's how it differs from other project elements:

Project plan vs. work plan: A project plan and a work plan are the same thing. Different teams or departments might prefer one term or another—but they both ultimately describe the same thing: a list of big-picture action steps you need to take to hit your  project objectives .

Project plan vs. project charter: A project charter is an outline of your project. Mostly, you use project charters to get signoff from key stakeholders before you start. Which means your project charter comes before your project plan. A project charter is an outline of a simple project plan—it should only include your project objectives, scope, and responsibilities. Then, once your charter has been approved, you can create a project plan to provide a more in-depth blueprint of the key elements of your project.

Project plan vs. project scope: Your project scope defines the size and boundaries of your project. As part of your project plan, you should outline and share the scope of your project with all project stakeholders. If you’re ever worried about scope creep , you can refer back to your pre-defined scope within your project plan to get back on track.

Project plan vs. agile project: Agile project management is a framework to help teams break work into iterative, collaborative components . Agile frameworks are often run in conjunction with scrum and sprint methodologies. Like any project, an Agile project team can benefit from having a project plan in place before getting started with their work.

Project plan vs. work breakdown structure: Similar to a project plan, your work breakdown structure (WBS) helps you with project execution. While the project plan focuses on every aspect of your project, the WBS is focused on deliverables—breaking them down into sub-deliverables and project tasks. This helps you visualize the whole project in simple steps. Because it’s a visual format, your WBS is best viewed as a Gantt chart (or timeline), Kanban board , or calendar—especially if you’re using project management software .

Why are project plans important?

Project plans set the stage for the entire project. Without one, you’re missing a critical step in the overall project management process . When you launch into a project without defined goals or objectives, it can lead to disorganized work, frustration, and even scope creep. A clear, written project management plan provides a baseline direction to all stakeholders, while also keeping everyone accountable. It confirms that you have the resources you need for the project before it actually begins.

A project plan also allows you, as the person in charge of leading execution, to forecast any potential challenges you could run into while the project is still in the planning stages. That way, you can ensure the project will be achievable—or course-correct if necessary. According to a study conducted by the  Project Management Institute , there is a strong correlation between project planning and project success—the better your plan, the better your outcome. So, conquering the planning phase also makes for better project efficiency and results.

7 steps to write a project plan to keep you on track

To create a clear project management plan, you need a way to track all of your moving parts . No matter what type of project you’re planning, every work plan should have:

Goals and project objectives

Success metrics

Stakeholders and roles

Scope and budget

Milestones , deliverables , and project dependencies

Timeline and schedule

Communication plan.

Not sure what each of these mean or should look like? Let’s dive into the details:

Step 1: Define your goals and objectives

You’re working on this project plan for a reason—likely to get you, your team, or your company to an end goal. But how will you know if you’ve reached that goal if you have no way of measuring success?

Every successful project plan should have a clear, desired outcome. Identifying your goals provides a rationale for your project plan. It also keeps everyone on the same page and focused on the results they want to achieve. Moreover, research shows that employees who know how their work is contributing to company objectives are 2X as motivated . Yet only 26% of employees have that clarity. That’s because most goal-setting happens separate from the actual work. By defining your goals within your work plan, you can connect the work your team is doing directly to the project objectives in real-time.

What's the difference between project goals and project objectives?

In general, your project goals should be higher-level than your project objectives. Your project goals should be SMART goals that help you measure project success and show how your project aligns with business objectives . The purpose of drafting project objectives, on the other hand, is to focus on the actual, specific deliverables you're going to achieve at the end of your project. Your project plan provides the direction your team needs to hit your goals, so you can create a workflow that hits project objectives.

Your project  plan  provides the direction your team needs to hit your goals, by way of your project objectives. By incorporating your goals directly into your planning documentation, you can keep your project’s North Star on hand. When you’re defining your project scope, or outlining your project schedule, check back on your goals to make sure that work is in favor of your main objectives.

Step 2: Set success metrics

Once you’ve defined your goals, make sure they’re measurable by setting key success metrics. While your goal serves as the intended result, you need success metrics to let you know whether or not you’re performing on track to achieve that result. The best way to do that is to set  SMART goals . With SMART goals, you can make sure your success metrics are clear and measurable, so you can look back at the end of your project and easily tell if you hit them or not.

For example, a goal for an event might be to host an annual 3-day conference for SEO professionals on June 22nd. A success metric for that goal might be having at least 1,000 people attend your conference. It’s both clear and measurable.

Step 3: Clarify stakeholders and roles

Running a project usually means getting  collaborators  involved in the execution of it. In your project management plan, outline which team members will be a part of the project and what each person’s role will be. This will help you decide who is responsible for each task (something we’ll get to shortly) and let stakeholders know how you expect them to be involved.

During this process, make sure to define the various roles and responsibilities your stakeholders might have. For example, who is directly responsible for the project’s success? How is your project team structured (i.e. do you have a project manager, a project sponsor , etc.)? Are there any approvers that should be involved before anything is finalized? What cross-functional stakeholders should be included in the project plan? Are there any  risk management factors  you need to include?

Consider using a system, such as a  RACI chart , to help determine who is driving the project forward, who will approve decisions, who will contribute to the project, and who needs to remain informed as the project progresses.

Then, once you’ve outlined all of your roles and stakeholders, make sure to include that documentation in your project plan. Once you finalize your plan, your work plan will become your cross-functional source of truth.

Step 4: Set your budget

Running a project usually costs money. Whether it’s hiring freelancers for content writing or a catering company for an event, you’ll probably be spending some cash.

Since you’ve already defined your goals and stakeholders as part of your project plan, use that information to establish your budget. For example, if this is a cross-functional project involving multiple departments, will the departments be splitting the project cost? If you have a specific goal metric like event attendees or new users, does your proposed budget support that endeavor?

By establishing your project budget during the project planning phase (and before the spending begins), you can get approval, more easily track progress, and make smart, economical decisions during the implementation phase of your project. Knowing your budget beforehand helps you with resource management , ensuring that you stay within the initial financial scope of the project. Planning helps you determine what parts of your project will cost what—leaving no room for surprises later on.

Step 5: Align on milestones, deliverables, and project dependencies

An important part of planning your project is setting milestones, or specific objectives that represent an achievement. Milestones don’t require a start and end date, but hitting one marks a significant accomplishment during your project. They are used to measure progress. For example, let’s say you’re working to develop a  new product for your company . Setting a milestone on your project timeline for when the prototype is finalized will help you measure the progress you’ve made so far.

A project deliverable , on the other hand, is what is actually produced once you meet a milestone. In our product development example, we hit a milestone when we produced the deliverable, which was the prototype. You can also use project dependencies —tasks that you can’t start until others are finished. Dependencies ensure that work only starts once it’s ready. Continuing the example, you can create a project dependency to require approval from the project lead before prototype testing begins.  

If you’re using our free project plan template , you can easily organize your project around deliverables, dependencies, and milestones. That way, everyone on the team has clear visibility into the work within your project scope, and the milestones your team will be working towards.

Step 6: Outline your timeline and schedule

In order to achieve your project goals, you and your stakeholders need clarity on your overall project timeline and schedule. Aligning on the time frame you have can help you better prioritize during strategic planning sessions.

Not all projects will have clear-cut timelines. If you're working on a large project with a few unknown dates, consider creating a  project roadmap  instead of a full-blown project timeline. That way, you can clarify the order of operations of various tasks without necessarily establishing exact dates.

Once you’ve covered the high-level responsibilities, it’s time to focus some energy on the details. In your  work plan template , start by breaking your project into tasks, ensuring no part of the process is skipped. Bigger tasks can even be broken down into smaller subtasks, making them more manageable.

Then, take each task and subtask, and assign it a start date and end date. You’ll begin to visually see everything come together in a  cohesive project timeline . Be sure to add stakeholders, mapping out who is doing what by when.

Step 7: Share your communication plan

We’ve established that most projects include multiple stakeholders. That means communication styles will vary among them. You have an opportunity to set your expectations up front for this particular project in your project plan. Having a communication plan is essential for making sure everyone understands what’s happening, how the project is progressing, and what’s going on next. And in case a roadblock comes up, you’ll already have a clear communication system in place.

As you’re developing your communication plan, consider the following questions:

How many project-related meetings do you need to have? What are their goals?

How will you manage project status updates ? Where will you share them?

What tool will you use to manage the project and communicate progress and updates?

Like the other elements of your project plan, make sure your communication plan is easily accessible within your project plan. Stakeholders and cross-functional collaborators should be able to easily find these guidelines during the planning and execution phases of your project. Using project planning tools or task management software that integrates with apps like Slack and Gmail can ensure all your communication happens in one easily accessible place. 

Example project plan

Next, to help you understand what your project management plan should look like, here are two example plans for marketing and design projects that will guide you during your own project planning.

Project plan example: annual content calendar

Let’s say you’re the Content Lead for your company, and it’s your responsibility to create and deliver on a content marketing calendar for all the content that will be published next year. You know your first step is to build your work plan. Here’s what it might look like:

Goals and success metrics

You establish that your goal for creating and executing against your content calendar is to increase engagement by 10%. Your success metrics are the open rate and click through rate on emails, your company’s social media followers, and how your pieces of content rank on search engines.

Stakeholders and each person’s role

There will be five people involved in this project.

You, Content Lead: Develop and maintain the calendar

Brandon and Jamie, Writers: Provide outlines and copy for each piece of content

Nate, Editor: Edit and give feedback on content

Paula, Producer: Publish the content once it’s written and edited

Your budget for the project plan and a year’s worth of content is $50,000.

Milestones and deliverables

Your first milestone is to finish the content calendar, which shows all topics for the year. The deliverable is a sharable version of the calendar. Both the milestone and the deliverables should be clearly marked on your project schedule.

You’ve determined that your schedule for your content calendar project plan will go as follows:

October 15 - November 1: The research phase to find ideas for topics for content

November 2 - November 30: Establish the topics you’ll write about

December 1 - January 1: Build the calendar

January 1 - December 31: Content will be written by Brandon and Jamie, and edited by Nate, throughout the year

January 16 - December 31: Paula will begin publishing and continue to do so on a rolling basis throughout the year.

You’ll have a kick-off meeting and then monthly update meetings as part of your communication plan. Weekly status updates will be sent on Friday afternoons. All project-related communication will occur within a  project management tool .

How ClassPass manages project plans from start to finish

Kerry Hoffman, Senior Project Manager of Marketing Operations at  ClassPass , oversees all marketing projects undertaken by the creative, growth, and content teams. Here are her top three strategies for managing project plans:

Identify stakeholders up front: No matter the size of the project, it’s critical to know who the stakeholders are and their role in the project so you ensure you involve the right people at each stage. This will also make the review and approval process clear before the team gets to work.

Agree on how you want to communicate about your project: Establish where and when communication should take place for your project to ensure that key information is captured in the right place so everyone stays aligned.

Be adaptable and learn other people’s working styles: Projects don’t always go according to plan, but by implementing proper integration management you can keep projects running smoothly. Also, find out how project members like to work so you take that into account as you create your plan. It will help things run smoother once you begin executing.

Write your next project plan like a pro

Congratulations—you’re officially a work planning pro. With a few steps, a little bit of time, and a whole lot of organization, you’ve successfully written a project plan.

Keep yourself and your team on track, and address challenges early by using project planning software like Asana . Work through each of the steps of your project plan with confidence, and streamline your communications with the team.

Related resources

Unmanaged business goals don’t work. Here’s what does.

How Asana uses work management to drive product development

How Asana uses work management to streamline project intake processes

How Asana uses work management for smoother creative production

Need advice? Call: +353 1 6614677 or Contact Us

What is a Project Plan and How to Create One? 

The Project Plan is crucial for successful project delivery. In addition, the project plan saves time and resources.  

For example, imagine a project manager faced with uncertainty and the project failed to go as planned. The time and resources invested in the project will be wasted. 

Nearly thirty-seven per cent of projects fail because of a lack of clearly defined project objectives and milestones. In addition, a study suggests that forty-seven per cent of projects fail to achieve the targets when team leads don't effectively manage requirements. 

You can create a well-thought-out and effective plan for your next project by following a few simple steps.  

Project planning is a critical step in project management.  

Therefore, project management skills are necessary to complete such projects efficiently, whether you are a team lead or leading significant projects and their execution process.  

But, how do you learn the required project management skills? The effective ways to successfully deliver the projects? 

The IPM's Certified Project Management Diploma course may interest you if you wish to learn how to manage project resources effectively. 

What is a Project Plan?  

The project plan defines how the project is executed, monitored, controlled, and closed. In addition, the project plan shows the chain of events that need to happen throughout the project. 

Project planning as a process is output oriented. In simple words, the project plan is concerned with deciding what, when, how, and who will take the necessary actions to accomplish established objectives. 

The project management plan's content varies depending upon the application area and complexity of the project. 

The project plan integrates and consolidates the subsidiary plans and baselines from the planning processes. The project management plan contains subsidiary plans concerning all aspects of the project.

Project baselines include, but are not limited to: 

• Scope baseline,  • Schedule baseline, and  • Cost baseline. 

Subsidiary plans include, but are not limited to: 

• Scope management plan,  • Requirements management plan,  • Schedule management plan,  • Cost management plan,  • Quality management plan,  • Process improvement plan,  • Human resource management plan,  • Communications management plan,  • Risk management plan,  • Procurement management plan, and  • Stakeholder management plan. 

The project management plan may also include the following components: 

• Project life cycle selected for the project and the processes that will be applied to each phase; 

• Details of the tailoring decisions specified by the project management team are as follows: 

• Project management processes selected by the project management team, 
• Level of implementation for each selected process throughout the project, and 
• Descriptions of the tools and techniques to be used for accomplishing those processes. 

• Description of how project tasks will be executed to accomplish the project goals; 

• Change management plan that documents how changes will be monitored and controlled; 

• Configuration management plan that documents how configuration management will be performed; 

• Requirements and techniques for communication among stakeholders; and 

• Key management reviews for content, the extent and timing to address open issues, and pending decisions. 

Why are Project Plans Important? 

Project plans form the foundation for future actions, using the planning document as a guide. Behind every successful project is a lot of planning. 

The project planning process is one of the most critical steps in ensuring the successful execution of a project. 

During this process, the project manager creates a detailed plan that outlines all aspects of the project, including the project schedule, scope , and budget. 

Project planning is essential for several reasons. First, it allows the project manager to gain a better understanding of the project and its objectives. Second, it helps to identify potential risks and issues that may impact the project. Third, it ensures that all stakeholders are aware of their roles and responsibilities. Lastly, it allows the project manager to track and monitor the project's progress. 

Thus a project plan can help you to: 

• Stay on track and meet deadlines 
• Allocate resources effectively 
• Anticipate and solve problems 
• Communicate with stakeholders 

How to Create a Project Plan in 12 Steps 

Creating a good project plan is essential to the success of any project. Yet, many project managers struggle to create a project plan or what should be included in one. 

Knowing what is required, who is to perform specific tasks, how they are to be performed, and when the events should be scheduled allows project managers to organise their activities more efficiently. 

By following these 12 project planning steps, you can create a project plan to help you manage your project successfully. 

Step 1. Understanding Stakeholder's Requirements 

After creating a project charter and identifying the key project stakeholders, gathering requirements is essential. The planning process starts with collecting requirements from stakeholders. 

This discussion will be used to understand their needs and expectations and set a baseline for the project scope, timeline, and budget. 

This information in the process will help define the project's scope. 

Step 2. Establish the Scope of the Project 

The scope statement forms a strong base for the rest of the project. The scope statement lays out the number of tasks that must be completed to achieve each deliverable.  

In this step, you'll need to determine the scope of your project. What is the project's purpose? What problems is it trying to solve? What are the goals you hope to achieve? What are the deliverables you need to produce? Once you clearly understand the scope, you can begin creating your project schedule. 

The scope statement should include the following:  

• Justification 
• Scope description 
• Business needs and business problems 
• Project deliverables 
• Project exclusions 
• Project constraints  
• Assumptions 

Step 3. Craft a Work Breakdown Structure 

Break down the project's scope into smaller, more manageable deliverables and groups of related tasks, also known as "work packages." 

The step will help assign resources to different project parts based on the skills needed. In addition, the work breakdown structure facilitates planning and coordination, two essential project management functions. 

Step 4. Define Project Tasks 

Break down work packages into a list of project tasks. Consider this an action plan. It can help to ask yourself: “What are the activities that are important to create the project deliverables?" 

You'll need to identify the tasks that need to be completed to reach your goals. Then, for each activity, you'll need to estimate how long it will take to complete. Once you have all of your tasks and estimates mapped out, you can start creating your project timeline. 

Step 5. Sequence Project Tasks 

When planning a project, it's important to sequence the tasks so that you can complete the project efficiently and effectively. To do this, you'll need to create a project schedule. This schedule will detail all the tasks that need to be completed and when they need to be completed. Once you have your schedule, you can start working on each activity in the order that makes the most sense. 

For example, if you're working on a design project, you might want to start by sketching out some ideas, then move on to refining those designs, and finally, create a prototype or mock-up. By sequencing your activities this way, you can ensure that you're making the most efficient use of your time and resources. 

Step 6. Estimate Tasks Duration, Cost, and Resources 

Estimating activity duration, costs, and resources are essential when creating a project plan. This will give you a good idea of what is needed to complete the project and whether the plan is viable. It also helps you ensure that your project is completed on time and within budget. 

Step 7. Define Roles, Responsibilities, and Resources 

Once you have your timeline and tasks finalised, it's time to start assigning roles and responsibilities. For example, who will be responsible for each activity? When do they need to have it completed? By giving roles and responsibilities, you can ensure that everyone on your team knows what they need to do to help the project succeed. 

Resources may include humans, materials, equipment, space, and technology. Any organisation has limited resources. After identifying the resources required, it is crucial to define who will perform which activity and the skill level needed for each activity.  

Defining roles and responsibilities from the beginning is necessary to avoid vagueness over roles. Some of the key players in project management are:  

• Project sponsor 
• Designated business experts 
• Project manager 
• Project team 
• End users 
• Stakeholders and the wider business  

Step 8. Building Contingencies 

You might be an expert in project planning, but you cannot ignore twists and turns that occur in a project, and that's what makes it challenging. Before you start your project, take some time to identify potential problems, like team members going on leaves, resigning, or changes in sponsorship.  

Be upfront about the risks with the whole team so they can be prepared to tackle them and build backup plans.  

Step 9. Create a Performance Measurement Baseline 

Develop an integrated scope-schedule-cost baseline for the project work, which will serve as a control tool for your project. Then, compare the execution of the project to your baseline to measure and manage performance. These baselines can be established through status reports within project management software applications. 

Performance should be measured throughout the project lifecycle. This way, you can identify issues and take corrective action before it's too late. It's equally important to measure performance upon completion of the project. This allows you to compare actual results to their baselines to evaluate overall and individual performance. 

Step 10. Develop All Subsidiary Plans 

Developing a comprehensive and realistic project plan requires time and effort. However, planning can make your life easier during the project execution phase by preventing nasty surprises and misunderstandings. 

Most project plans need to incorporate the following subsidiary plans: 

• Scope management plan        
• Schedule management plan   
• Cost management plan 
• Quality management plan      
• Resource management plan 
• Communications management plan   
• Risk management plan 
• Procurement management plan         
• Stakeholder engagement plan 
• Requirements management plan 
• Change management plan    
• Configuration management plan     

Step 11. Document The Project Plan 

Document the scope, schedule, and cost of the project. In most cases, plans include cost management, quality management, resource management, communication management, risk management, procurement processes, and ongoing stakeholder engagement through the project's lifecycle. 

Step 12. Build a Knowledge Base 

In some organisations, project managers document and share their plans when it is mandatory. In other organisations where the knowledge is not documented, it may be important to speak to other project managers to gain insights.  

Tips to Write an Effective Project Plan 

An effective project plan is key to the success of any project. By outlining the tasks, milestones, and resources required, a project plan provides a roadmap for the project manager and team to follow.  

Writing a project plan can seem daunting, but it doesn't have to be with the right tools and tips. Here are some tips to keep in mind when creating a project plan: 

Involve Your Project Team in The Process 

Collaborate with your team and key stakeholders on creating a project plan. Remember, you need input to generate the output. 

Refer to Past Project Plans 

It takes time and effort to write project plans. At the beginning of every new project, you may look at other successful project plans for knowledge—and refer to those as a guide when writing the plan for your project. 

Go through the project management templates and plans for similar projects or other projects within your organisation or industry to get insights for structuring and drafting your plan. 

Be Flexible and Open to Adjusting Your Project Plan  

In the process of project planning, you might want to write and rewrite your project plan to write a perfect one. Be willing and flexible to adjust your project plan when required.  

Don't forget the objective is to successfully deliver on project goals, which may require you to be responsive to changing needs and situations as you move forward.    

Regularly review and update the plan as needed. It will ensure that it remains relevant and accurate as the project progresses. 

Stay Organised  

Make a list of all the tasks that need to be completed. It will help you stay organised and on track. 

A project plan is an essential skill for any project manager. It allows you to track your progress, identify risks and potential problems, and keep your team on track. By following the steps outlined in this article, you can create a project plan to help ensure your next project's success. 

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What is a Business Plan? Definition, Tips, and Templates

Published: June 07, 2023

In an era where more than 20% of small enterprises fail in their first year, having a clear, defined, and well-thought-out business plan is a crucial first step for setting up a business for long-term success.

Business plans are a required tool for all entrepreneurs, business owners, business acquirers, and even business school students. But … what exactly is a business plan?

In this post, we'll explain what a business plan is, the reasons why you'd need one, identify different types of business plans, and what you should include in yours.

What is a business plan?

A business plan is a documented strategy for a business that highlights its goals and its plans for achieving them. It outlines a company's go-to-market plan, financial projections, market research, business purpose, and mission statement. Key staff who are responsible for achieving the goals may also be included in the business plan along with a timeline.

The business plan is an undeniably critical component to getting any company off the ground. It's key to securing financing, documenting your business model, outlining your financial projections, and turning that nugget of a business idea into a reality.

What is a business plan used for?

The purpose of a business plan is three-fold: It summarizes the organization’s strategy in order to execute it long term, secures financing from investors, and helps forecast future business demands.

Business Plan Template [ Download Now ]

Working on your business plan? Try using our Business Plan Template . Pre-filled with the sections a great business plan needs, the template will give aspiring entrepreneurs a feel for what a business plan is, what should be in it, and how it can be used to establish and grow a business from the ground up.

Purposes of a Business Plan

Chances are, someone drafting a business plan will be doing so for one or more of the following reasons:

1. Securing financing from investors.

Since its contents revolve around how businesses succeed, break even, and turn a profit, a business plan is used as a tool for sourcing capital. This document is an entrepreneur's way of showing potential investors or lenders how their capital will be put to work and how it will help the business thrive.

All banks, investors, and venture capital firms will want to see a business plan before handing over their money, and investors typically expect a 10% ROI or more from the capital they invest in a business.

Therefore, these investors need to know if — and when — they'll be making their money back (and then some). Additionally, they'll want to read about the process and strategy for how the business will reach those financial goals, which is where the context provided by sales, marketing, and operations plans come into play.

2. Documenting a company's strategy and goals.

A business plan should leave no stone unturned.

Business plans can span dozens or even hundreds of pages, affording their drafters the opportunity to explain what a business' goals are and how the business will achieve them.

To show potential investors that they've addressed every question and thought through every possible scenario, entrepreneurs should thoroughly explain their marketing, sales, and operations strategies — from acquiring a physical location for the business to explaining a tactical approach for marketing penetration.

These explanations should ultimately lead to a business' break-even point supported by a sales forecast and financial projections, with the business plan writer being able to speak to the why behind anything outlined in the plan.

Free Business Plan Template

The essential document for starting a business -- custom built for your needs.

• Outline your idea.
• Pitch to investors.
• Secure funding.
• Get to work!

You're all set!

Click this link to access this resource at any time.

Free Business Plan [Template]

Fill out the form to access your free business plan., 3. legitimizing a business idea..

Everyone's got a great idea for a company — until they put pen to paper and realize that it's not exactly feasible.

A business plan is an aspiring entrepreneur's way to prove that a business idea is actually worth pursuing.

As entrepreneurs document their go-to-market process, capital needs, and expected return on investment, entrepreneurs likely come across a few hiccups that will make them second guess their strategies and metrics — and that's exactly what the business plan is for.

It ensures an entrepreneur's ducks are in a row before bringing their business idea to the world and reassures the readers that whoever wrote the plan is serious about the idea, having put hours into thinking of the business idea, fleshing out growth tactics, and calculating financial projections.

4. Getting an A in your business class.

Speaking from personal experience, there's a chance you're here to get business plan ideas for your Business 101 class project.

If that's the case, might we suggest checking out this post on How to Write a Business Plan — providing a section-by-section guide on creating your plan?

What does a business plan need to include?

• Business Plan Subtitle
• Executive Summary
• Company Description
• The Business Opportunity
• Competitive Analysis
• Target Market
• Marketing Plan
• Financial Summary
• Funding Requirements

1. Business Plan Subtitle

Every great business plan starts with a captivating title and subtitle. You’ll want to make it clear that the document is, in fact, a business plan, but the subtitle can help tell the story of your business in just a short sentence.

2. Executive Summary

Although this is the last part of the business plan that you’ll write, it’s the first section (and maybe the only section) that stakeholders will read. The executive summary of a business plan sets the stage for the rest of the document. It includes your company’s mission or vision statement, value proposition, and long-term goals.

3. Company Description

This brief part of your business plan will detail your business name, years in operation, key offerings, and positioning statement. You might even add core values or a short history of the company. The company description’s role in a business plan is to introduce your business to the reader in a compelling and concise way.

4. The Business Opportunity

The business opportunity should convince investors that your organization meets the needs of the market in a way that no other company can. This section explains the specific problem your business solves within the marketplace and how it solves them. It will include your value proposition as well as some high-level information about your target market.

5. Competitive Analysis

Just about every industry has more than one player in the market. Even if your business owns the majority of the market share in your industry or your business concept is the first of its kind, you still have competition. In the competitive analysis section, you’ll take an objective look at the industry landscape to determine where your business fits. A SWOT analysis is an organized way to format this section.

6. Target Market

Who are the core customers of your business and why? The target market portion of your business plan outlines this in detail. The target market should explain the demographics, psychographics, behavioristics, and geographics of the ideal customer.

7. Marketing Plan

Marketing is expansive, and it’ll be tempting to cover every type of marketing possible, but a brief overview of how you’ll market your unique value proposition to your target audience, followed by a tactical plan will suffice.

Think broadly and narrow down from there: Will you focus on a slow-and-steady play where you make an upfront investment in organic customer acquisition? Or will you generate lots of quick customers using a pay-to-play advertising strategy? This kind of information should guide the marketing plan section of your business plan.

8. Financial Summary

Money doesn’t grow on trees and even the most digital, sustainable businesses have expenses. Outlining a financial summary of where your business is currently and where you’d like it to be in the future will substantiate this section. Consider including any monetary information that will give potential investors a glimpse into the financial health of your business. Assets, liabilities, expenses, debt, investments, revenue, and more are all useful adds here.

So, you’ve outlined some great goals, the business opportunity is valid, and the industry is ready for what you have to offer. Who’s responsible for turning all this high-level talk into results? The "team" section of your business plan answers that question by providing an overview of the roles responsible for each goal. Don’t worry if you don’t have every team member on board yet, knowing what roles to hire for is helpful as you seek funding from investors.

10. Funding Requirements

Remember that one of the goals of a business plan is to secure funding from investors, so you’ll need to include funding requirements you’d like them to fulfill. The amount your business needs, for what reasons, and for how long will meet the requirement for this section.

Types of Business Plans

• Startup Business Plan
• Feasibility Business Plan
• Internal Business Plan
• Strategic Business Plan
• Business Acquisition Plan
• Business Repositioning Plan
• Expansion or Growth Business Plan

There’s no one size fits all business plan as there are several types of businesses in the market today. From startups with just one founder to historic household names that need to stay competitive, every type of business needs a business plan that’s tailored to its needs. Below are a few of the most common types of business plans.

For even more examples, check out these sample business plans to help you write your own .

1. Startup Business Plan

As one of the most common types of business plans, a startup business plan is for new business ideas. This plan lays the foundation for the eventual success of a business.

The biggest challenge with the startup business plan is that it’s written completely from scratch. Startup business plans often reference existing industry data. They also explain unique business strategies and go-to-market plans.

Because startup business plans expand on an original idea, the contents will vary by the top priority goals.

For example, say a startup is looking for funding. If capital is a priority, this business plan might focus more on financial projections than marketing or company culture.

2. Feasibility Business Plan

This type of business plan focuses on a single essential aspect of the business — the product or service. It may be part of a startup business plan or a standalone plan for an existing organization. This comprehensive plan may include:

• A detailed product description
• Market analysis
• Technology needs
• Production needs
• Financial sources
• Production operations

According to CBInsights research, 35% of startups fail because of a lack of market need. Another 10% fail because of mistimed products.

Some businesses will complete a feasibility study to explore ideas and narrow product plans to the best choice. They conduct these studies before completing the feasibility business plan. Then the feasibility plan centers on that one product or service.

3. Internal Business Plan

Internal business plans help leaders communicate company goals, strategy, and performance. This helps the business align and work toward objectives more effectively.

Besides the typical elements in a startup business plan, an internal business plan may also include:

• Department-specific budgets
• Target demographic analysis
• Market size and share of voice analysis
• Action plans
• Sustainability plans

Most external-facing business plans focus on raising capital and support for a business. But an internal business plan helps keep the business mission consistent in the face of change.

4. Strategic Business Plan

Strategic business plans focus on long-term objectives for your business. They usually cover the first three to five years of operations. This is different from the typical startup business plan which focuses on the first one to three years. The audience for this plan is also primarily internal stakeholders.

These types of business plans may include:

• Relevant data and analysis
• Assessments of company resources
• Vision and mission statements

It's important to remember that, while many businesses create a strategic plan before launching, some business owners just jump in. So, this business plan can add value by outlining how your business plans to reach specific goals. This type of planning can also help a business anticipate future challenges.

5. Business Acquisition Plan

Investors use business plans to acquire existing businesses, too — not just new businesses.

A business acquisition plan may include costs, schedules, or management requirements. This data will come from an acquisition strategy.

A business plan for an existing company will explain:

• How an acquisition will change its operating model
• What will stay the same under new ownership
• Why things will change or stay the same
• Acquisition planning documentation
• Timelines for acquisition

Additionally, the business plan should speak to the current state of the business and why it's up for sale.

For example, if someone is purchasing a failing business, the business plan should explain why the business is being purchased. It should also include:

• What the new owner will do to turn the business around
• Historic business metrics
• Sales projections after the acquisition
• Justification for those projections

6. Business Repositioning Plan

When a business wants to avoid acquisition, reposition its brand, or try something new, CEOs or owners will develop a business repositioning plan.

This plan will:

• Acknowledge the current state of the company.
• State a vision for the future of the company.
• Explain why the business needs to reposition itself.
• Outline a process for how the company will adjust.

Companies planning for a business reposition often do so — proactively or retroactively — due to a shift in market trends and customer needs.

For example, shoe brand AllBirds plans to refocus its brand on core customers and shift its go-to-market strategy. These decisions are a reaction to lackluster sales following product changes and other missteps.

7. Expansion or Growth Business Plan

When your business is ready to expand, a growth business plan creates a useful structure for reaching specific targets.

For example, a successful business expanding into another location can use a growth business plan. This is because it may also mean the business needs to focus on a new target market or generate more capital.

This type of plan usually covers the next year or two of growth. It often references current sales, revenue, and successes. It may also include:

• SWOT analysis
• Growth opportunity studies
• Financial goals and plans
• Marketing plans
• Capability planning

These types of business plans will vary by business, but they can help businesses quickly rally around new priorities to drive growth.

Getting Started With Your Business Plan

At the end of the day, a business plan is simply an explanation of a business idea and why it will be successful. The more detail and thought you put into it, the more successful your plan — and the business it outlines — will be.

When writing your business plan, you’ll benefit from extensive research, feedback from your team or board of directors, and a solid template to organize your thoughts. If you need one of these, download HubSpot's Free Business Plan Template below to get started.

Editor's note: This post was originally published in August 2020 and has been updated for comprehensiveness.

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Business Plan: What It Is + How to Write One

Discover what a business plan includes and how writing one can foster your business’s development.

What is a business plan? 

A business plan is a written document that defines your business goals and the tactics to achieve those goals. A business plan typically explores the competitive landscape of an industry, analyzes a market and different customer segments within it, describes the products and services, lists business strategies for success, and outlines financial planning.  

In your research into business plans, you may come across different formats, and you might be wondering which kind will work best for your purposes. 

Let’s define two main types of business plans , the traditional business pla n and the lean start-up business plan . Both types can serve as the basis for developing a thriving business, as well as exploring a competitive market analysis, brand strategy , and content strategy in more depth. There are some significant differences to keep in mind [ 1 ]: 

The traditional business plan is a long document that explores each component in depth. You can build a traditional business plan to secure funding from lenders or investors. 

The lean start-up business plan focuses on the key elements of a business’s development and is shorter than the traditional format. If you don’t plan to seek funding, the lean start-up plan can serve mainly as a document for making business decisions and carrying out tasks. 

Now that you have a clear business plan definition , continue reading to begin writing a detailed plan that will guide your journey as an entrepreneur.  

How to write a business plan 

In the sections below, you’ll build the following components of your business plan:

Executive summary

Business description 

Products and services 

Competitor analysis 

Marketing plan and sales strategies 

Brand strategy

Financial planning

Explore each section to bring fresh inspiration to the surface and reveal new possibilities for developing your business. You may choose to adapt the sections, skip over some, or go deeper into others, depending on which format you’re using. Consider your first draft a foundation for your efforts and one that you can revise, as needed, to account for changes in any area of your business.  

Read more: What Is a Marketing Plan? And How to Create One

1. Executive summary 

This is a short section that introduces the business plan as a whole to the people who will be reading it, including investors, lenders, or other members of your team. Start with a sentence or two about your business, your goals for developing it, and why it will be successful. If you are seeking funding, summarize the basics of the financial plan. 

2. Business description 

Use this section to provide detailed information about your company and how it will operate in the marketplace. 

Mission statement: What drives your desire to start a business? What purpose are you serving? What do you hope to achieve for your business, the team, your customers? 

Revenue streams: From what sources will your business generate revenue? Examples include product sales, service fees, subscriptions, rental fees, license fees, and more. 

Leadership: Describe the leaders in your business, their roles and responsibilities, and your vision for building teams to perform various functions, such as graphic design, product development, or sales.  

Legal structure: If you’ve incorporated your business or registered it with your state as a legal entity such as an S-corp or LLC, include the legal structure here and the rationale behind this choice. 

3. Competitor analysis 

This section will include an assessment of potential competitors, their offers, and marketing and sales efforts. For each competitor, explore the following: 

Value proposition: What outcome or experience does this brand promise?

Products and services: How does each one solve customer pain points and fulfill desires? What are the price points? 

Marketing: Which channels do competitors use to promote? What kind of content does this brand publish on these channels? What messaging does this brand use to communicate value to customers?  

Sales: What sales process or buyer’s journey does this brand lead customers through?

Read more: What Is Competitor Analysis? And How to Conduct One

4. Products and services

Use this section to describe everything your business offers to its target market . For every product and service, list the following: 

The value proposition or promise to customers, in terms of how they will experience it

How the product serves customers, addresses their pain points, satisfies their desires, and improves their lives

The features or outcomes that make the product better than those of competitors

Your price points and how these compare to competitors

5. Marketing plan and sales strategies 

In this section, you’ll draw from thorough market research to describe your target market and how you will reach them. 

Who are your ideal customers?   

How can you describe this segment according to their demographics (age, ethnicity, income, location, etc.) and psychographics (beliefs, values, aspirations, lifestyle, etc.)? 

What are their daily lives like? 

What problems and challenges do they experience? 

What words, phrases, ideas, and concepts do consumers in your target market use to describe these problems when posting on social media or engaging with your competitors?  

What messaging will present your products as the best on the market? How will you differentiate messaging from competitors? 

On what marketing channels will you position your products and services?

How will you design a customer journey that delivers a positive experience at every touchpoint and leads customers to a purchase decision?

Read more: Market Analysis: What It Is and How to Conduct One   

6. Brand strategy 

In this section, you will describe your business’s design, personality, values, voice, and other details that go into delivering a consistent brand experience. 

What are the values that define your brand?

What visual elements give your brand a distinctive look and feel?

How will your marketing messaging reflect a distinctive brand voice, including the tone, diction, and sentence-level stylistic choices? 

How will your brand look and sound throughout the customer journey? 

Define your brand positioning statement. What will inspire your audience to choose your brand over others? What experiences and outcomes will your audience associate with your brand? 

Read more: What Is a Brand Strategy? And How to Create One

7. Financial planning  

In this section, you will explore your business’s financial future. If you are writing a traditional business plan to seek funding, this section is critical for demonstrating to lenders or investors that you have a strategy for turning your business ideas into profit. For a lean start-up business plan, this section can provide a useful exercise for planning how you will invest resources and generate revenue [ 2 ].  

Use any past financials and other sections of this business plan, such as your price points or sales strategies, to begin your financial planning. 

How many individual products or service packages do you plan to sell over a specific time period?

List your business expenses, such as subscribing to software or other services, hiring contractors or employees, purchasing physical supplies or equipment, etc.

What is your break-even point, or the amount you have to sell to cover all expenses?

Create a sales forecast for the next three to five years: (No. of units to sell X price for each unit) – (cost per unit X No. of units) = sales forecast

Quantify how much capital you have on hand.

When writing a traditional business plan to secure funding, you may choose to append supporting documents, such as licenses, permits, patents, letters of reference, resumes, product blueprints, brand guidelines, the industry awards you’ve received, and media mentions and appearances.

Business plan key takeaways and best practices

Remember: Creating a business plan is crucial when starting a business. You can use this document to guide your decisions and actions and even seek funding from lenders and investors. 

Keep these best practices in mind:

Your business plan should evolve as your business grows. Return to it periodically, such as every quarter or year, to update individual sections or explore new directions your business can take.

Make sure everyone on your team has a copy of the business plan and welcome their input as they perform their roles. 

Ask fellow entrepreneurs for feedback on your business plan and look for opportunities to strengthen it, from conducting more market and competitor research to implementing new strategies for success. 

Start your business with Coursera 

Ready to start your business? Watch this video on the lean approach from the Entrepreneurship Specialization : 

Article sources

1. US Small Business Administration. “ Write Your Business Plan , https://www.sba.gov/business-guide/plan-your-business/write-your-business-plan." Accessed April 19, 2022.

2. Inc. " How to Write the Financial Section of a Business Plan ,   https://www.inc.com/guides/business-plan-financial-section.html." Accessed April 14, 2022.

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Everything You Need to Know about Project Definition

By Kate Eby | April 27, 2022

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We’ve created a comprehensive guide to project definition, including how to write an effective project definition document and expert tips. 

Included on this page, you’ll learn the essential components of project definition , as well as find a project definition assessment rubric and a project definition document checklist to get started.

What Is Project Definition?

The term project definition refers to the work a project manager, sponsor, and stakeholders undertake at the project onset to determine the goals and needs. The manager records that definition in a project charter or project definition document.

Teams perform project definition at the beginning of every project, regardless of the specific project management framework you use. The term is sometimes confused with scope definition, but the two are distinct.

Mike Clayton, the CEO and founder of OnlinePMCourses.com , notes that the confusion around project definition often occurs because there is “no fixed terminology in project management — it’s always changeable, with some more changeable than others.” The project size, school of thought, and location all influence the differentiating factors in terminology. 

For example, Clayton prefers the term project definition for what PMI calls project initiation . “If your team uses PRINCE2, the term project initiation is the same stage that PMI calls project planning . On smaller projects, the project initiation and planning can merge into one.”  

He also recommends that you “avoid being didactic about terminology. Sometimes project managers have been taught [terminology] one way, and then they join a different company that uses different terms.” The lack of standardization of terms can cause friction within a team if there isn’t a shared understanding of terminology or if team members get too tied to one way — the important thing is to understand the essence of the task. As Clayton continues, “As long as one of the first things you do is to define your project clearly, then you’re doing it well.” 

When defining project definition and the project lifecycle phases, this article refers to the five phases of a project lifecycle from the PMBOK Guide (Project Management Body of Knowledge), created by the Project Management Institute. 

Project definition occurs during the first project phase, called project initiation , and includes a high-level overview using basic information to get your project started. (Note that the definition does not contain extensive details at this point — you’ll determine specifics in the next phase, called project planning .) The goal of project definition is to guide preliminary conversations and decisions that will lead to the project’s goals and objectives. Upon approval, the team will expand the definition with more details that support its successful execution. 

Read our comprehensive guide to project planning or use our project plan templates to develop the specifics of your execution tasks. 

Regardless of the project management framework you use, project definition helps to create a shared understanding without expending a significant amount of effort to outline each of the following: 

• People: Who is involved in the project, and what are their roles?  
• Project Goals and Objectives: What are (and are not) the intended goals and output of the project? 
• Purpose: Why is this project necessary to meet business goals? 

By determining the above, the team and the project sponsor can make informed decisions from a shared understanding. Doing so helps you to do the following: 

• Determine Project Fit: Is this project the best solution to the business problem or needs at hand? Does the project actually solve the fundamental issue? Are there other projects or directions that would be a better solution?
• Inform Business Decisions: Is this project’s return on investment (ROI) worth dedicating valuable resources?
• Align Project Objectives: Have we answered how this project meets business goals? How does this project contribute to the business?
• Onboard Project Team: Do the project’s team, stakeholders, and sponsors truly agree on the project? What compromises are necessary to specify the project’s constraints, clarify project boundaries, and avoid scope creep? What trade-offs need to occur to ensure the project meets the schedule, budget, and scope?

What Is a Good Project Definition?

A good project definition identifies the purpose of a project. A strong definition helps you manage stakeholder expectations by clearly detailing how the project solves the problem at hand, and it should prevent confusion and miscommunication throughout the project lifecycle.

Once the project manager assembles a definition outline, the next step is to ensure the team reaches consensus on the project definition. As Mike Clayton says, “Good project definition is when everyone reads the definition, understands it in the same way, and agrees to it.” 

You can use the benchmarking method to maintain standards and objectives while measuring progress. Benchmarking is not a significant part of developing the objectives or goals during project definition, as this stage does not require such precision. Instead, teams use benchmarking techniques in project planning to establish performance indicators measuring the project’s performance during execution. 

That said, you can use benchmarks and standards to determine the strength of your project definition. Many project managers use a project definition checklist to ensure that the project is thoroughly detailed as they assemble the project charter, especially if they manage several projects. 

Once the team thoroughly specifies the project, evaluate its effectiveness and success against established criteria. No matter the industry, it is easy to place low value or feel rushed when taking the time to assess if the definition meets the standards of the project. However, if you avoid project definition, the project is vulnerable to more assumptions, scope creep, and costly risks.

Project Definition Document Template

Download Project Definition Document Template Microsoft Word | Adobe PDF | Google Docs

Use this customizable project definition document template to easily compile your project definition statement. This free template functions as an effective framework to quickly assemble your project’s overview, tentative schedule, scope, resources, costs, and customer benefits, as well as the risks, constraints, and assumptions.

Project Definition Document vs. Project Charter

A project definition document (PDD) is the umbrella term for a short document that describes a project. A p roject charter, project brief, and project description are types of PDDs. They all snapshot the work and resources required for a project. 

There is no difference between a project charter and a project definition document — they are the same document created during the project initiation phase. Project managers may prefer one term over the other, depending on their training or their workplace, though it is best to stay consistent on the terminology within your team to avoid confusion. 

Often, people confuse the project initiation document (PID) , the project plan, and the scope statement with the PDD, but they are distinct. A project initiation document is a highly detailed document that you complete during project initiation. A project plan expands the outlined details in the PDD during the project planning phase, and fills in specific details and tasks. A scope statement is also a detailed document completed during the project planning that defines the budget, schedule, and boundaries for the work and resources needed.

Project Definition Document Assessment Rubric

Project Definition Quality Assessment Rubric Microsoft Excel | Google Sheets

Regardless of the approach you choose for developing your project definition, you should use an assessment rubric to evaluate its clarity and strength. After completing your project definition document, weigh your document against the rubric’s value criteria to determine areas of improvement. This rubric evaluates five major components of the project’s definition (purpose, objectives, scope, uncertainties, and metrics) and includes a reviewer feedback section for each criterion.

How Do You Define a Project?

To define a project, start by choosing the parameters for the project’s goals. First, determine the project objectives in relation to larger business goals, and then build consensus on the outcome of the project with stakeholders. 

Your completed project definition will outline your project from start to finish without spending effort on the details. (Some project definitions may need to add more information in order to gain approval; these additional details include potential limitations, risks, and roles.) A project definition will ultimately validate the project’s primary benefit and the estimated cost to get there. 

Regardless of the format or framework of your definition, the elements of a sound project definition will always include the following: 

• Vision or Purpose: State why your project is necessary and how it serves a greater purpose to meet business objectives.
• Objectives: These include resulting products, goods, or services generated from the project. Project objectives can focus on tangible goals, such as a manufactured good, or on less tangible goals, such as building team efficiency or workplace culture.
• Scope: This is a high-level overview of the project’s deliverables, tasks, budget, and schedule. You can use a project scope template to help structure the overview.
• Negotiated Success Criteria: Stakeholders and the project manager must agree on how they will define project success. Specify the metrics and stick with them before you begin project work, and ensure that all stakeholders share an understanding to support future dialogue on the project’s progress. 
• Exclusions: In this section, determine what is and isn’t expected to be included at project close. Stakeholders must agree to the exclusions (or project scope boundaries) to prevent scope creep. 
• Additional Details: List any details needed to help communicate the project’s necessity to the approver (examples include potential risks, stakeholder priority, the sponsor, or activities required to complete the deliverables). Here, too, avoid being too detailed at this point in the process. 

The project manager’s role is to determine and document the definition. However, a project manager must also manage the people in the process in order to build consensus and buy-in, especially when scoping. Although the project management lifecycle looks linear on paper, remember that some activities will naturally overlap. Therefore, the project manager works independently to prepare the tactical information and concurrently leads conversations in a highly nuanced way to get the project team working together. 

Mike Clayton advises, “One of the skills a project manager must have is mediation. Your management starts with the most important stakeholders and project sponsor to learn the goals and objectives from them and to help them to articulate it. Next, figure out the scope, [which] will always be the hardest part. That’s because stakeholders want different things — it’s politics with all different sorts of views. You have to sit down with each of the stakeholders, understand their perspective, and then maybe get them in the same room to work toward an agreement.”

Project Definition Checklist

Download Project Definition Checklist Microsoft Excel | Microsoft Word | Adobe PDF | Google Docs | Google Sheets

Use a project definition checklist to ensure that you cover all areas as you define your project. This template includes space to highlight the project purpose, goal, objectives, scope, exclusions, dependencies, constraints, risks, issues, stakeholders, and budget, if available. You can also edit this checklist to meet the needs of your project or organization.

What Is a Project Definition Document?

A project definition document (PDD) , also known as a project charter , is a two- to three-page document that outlines a project’s requirements. A project manager creates the document with stakeholder input. Project teams reference this document throughout the project lifecycle.  

This initial document is essential for managing client and stakeholder expectations, since it functions as a tool to create shared understanding about project scope. This shared understanding creates transparency, which ultimately leads to greater project success.

How Do You Write a Project Definition?

To write a project definition, you need to articulate the purpose of the project. First, define the problem to determine if it makes sound business sense to proceed. Then, sketch ideas for how to deliver your solution to the problem. 

After formally defining your project, you will use the document to determine if it makes sound business sense to proceed. Write your project definition using the following steps: 

• Determine Which Ideas Are Suitable: Before writing the document, the project manager must approach the project with curiosity. Not all project ideas may be suitable for the business. Articulate the project’s purpose by asking what it seeks to accomplish and why.
• Estimate the Requirements: In this section, quantify the major cost, resources, and time requirements, as well as the risks the project faces.
• Identify the Project Benefits: Describe how the project positively contributes to the organizational goals, stakeholders, and clients or customers.

Antonio Nieto-Rodriguez , the former global chairman of the Project Management Institute, a PMI Fellow, professor, and the author of the Harvard Business Review Project Management Handbook , shares that it is essential to “keep project management tools simple. Most people struggle with writing a project definition because they start with the document. But really, the project definition document should not take too much time if you have spent time analyzing, discussing, and defining the key elements with your stakeholders in advance. We also need to simplify how we define projects. One of the biggest issues is focusing on the business case only. We should also spend time defining the purpose of the project —the ‘why’ are we doing the project.”

The document will help the project manager verbalize the project’s strategic alignment with the business. You can then weigh the tactical delivery of value against the time, risk, effort, expenses needed to execute the project. The most accurate PDDs are realistic about the actual time and costs. By understanding what the project is and is not, and building in room for error, you can make an informed decision with the least risk moving forward.

In the beginning, a project may also be full of ambiguity — for example, clients or sponsors may have a solution in mind that differs from the actual problem or don’t yet have enough information.

As Dawn Mahan, founder and CEO of PMOtraining , shares, “The initial definition might be, ‘I don’t have enough definition.’ If the project you’ve been tasked to lead only has three sentences, then you have to figure out what your client is looking for. Before your meeting, problem solve and think ahead of time to arrive at your client meeting prepared.” 

Mahan’s patented four-step process is as follows: Form the initial definition, determine the essential problem, devise an appropriate solution, and help manage client expectations: 

• Define the Problem or Opportunity as Clearly as You Can: Get to the root of the problem. A common pitfall is that your client creates a solution to their perceived problem, but their solution doesn’t truly solve the core problem. Your job is to determine if the problem they’re solving for is the correct problem. For example, your client may have called your services to install a pool. But the root of the problem is a boredom issue, and they need an entertainment space for adults and kids to solve it. Starting from the root problem opens up new potential solutions that can address the real issue.
• Identify and Force Rank the Five Delivery Objectives: After determining the root issue, outline the project’s goals and objectives using the triple constraint triangle , which refers to the project scope, budget, and schedule. Dawn notes that the PMI’s triple constraint actually contains five delivery objectives: time, budget, scope, quality, and stakeholder satisfaction. She says that, given the choice, a client would always rank all five objectives equally. It is, therefore, the responsibility of the PM to determine a client’s priorities regarding a particular project and then to force rank those priorities for such project. Once the project manager determines the client’s priorities, they can plan accordingly and offer relevant recommendations. By offering your client desirable solutions, you achieve two goals simultaneously: You build trust, and you reinforce your expertise as the project manager.
• Generate Alternatives: Now that you know your clients’ priorities, there are a multitude of solutions. Consider the possible alternatives and get creative with developing multiple solutions.
• Determine the Solution: From the solutions you’ve generated, pick the approach that best meets the needs and the objectives. That might mean that the project manager has additional work if resources are limited — if this is the case, consider finding more funding or creating a phased approach.

Project Definition Best Practices

Successful project definition starts with identifying your project’s purpose, and then with aligning your sponsor and stakeholders to this purpose. It is the project manager’s job to move the team to a consensus, and doing so requires advanced people management skills. 

It’s easy for project managers and their team to overlook the project definition, only to later find issues that could have been avoided with a clear PDD. Remind yourself of the following commonly understood best practices before the start of your next project: 

• Slow down and make time for project definition. 
• Be a project definition ambassador and educate your team. 
• Understand the problem you’re trying to solve.  
• Communicate clearly and often with your team and all relevant stakeholders, and get everyone on the team to articulate the goals to establish consensus. 
• Align project goals with business goals. 
• Use business cases as a reference.

Dawn Mahan shares the following: “A project manager is not just an order taker. If that were the case, there would be a lot of project disappointment because the project manager failed to ask ‘why.’ Project managers and clients or sponsors are interviewing each other — doing so builds trust and human connection and helps the project manager understand the client. This process also answers if the client truly knows what they want, which helps the project manager navigate how to work with the client. 

Additionally, Neito-Rodriguez says, it’s important to engage your sponsors and stakeholders: “You need to have strong sponsorship — not just C-level-titled sponsors, but true engagement. Get buy-in from your sponsors, make sure they know their role and the expectations. Meet with your sponsor at the beginning of the project and offer to explain/define the role of the sponsor.  

“Don’t assume sponsors will engage — it’s your job to drive the agenda in the early stages of the project. With a strong sponsor and clear purpose, your project may still have struggles in it, but it will be successful in the end.”

Mike Clayton provides suggestions to help hone your negotiation and influencing tactics when working with your stakeholders: “Be careful not to anchor your beliefs around the first conversation and let it take over. Avoid [doing so] by anchoring on your own beliefs and being aware of your sources of bias.” 

As you work to understand your stakeholders from the beginning and make decisions, Clayton continues, “Don’t overpromise. Overpromising usually happens because the project manager focuses on one group of stakeholders. Approach the stakeholders without bias toward significant or more senior people. Your tactics can also help to move the stakeholder group to consensus by presenting a compromise to hesitant stakeholders. For example, you may say, ‘We can’t give you X, but if we can give you Y, would that help?’”

Drive Successful Project Definition with Smartsheet for Project Management

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The Smartsheet platform makes it easy to plan, capture, manage, and report on work from anywhere, helping your team be more effective and get more done. Report on key metrics and get real-time visibility into work as it happens with roll-up reports, dashboards, and automated workflows built to keep your team connected and informed.

When teams have clarity into the work getting done, there’s no telling how much more they can accomplish in the same amount of time. Try Smartsheet for free, today.

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What is a Business Plan? Definition and Resources

9 min. read

Updated April 10, 2024

If you’ve ever jotted down a business idea on a napkin with a few tasks you need to accomplish, you’ve written a business plan — or at least the very basic components of one.

The origin of formal business plans is murky. But they certainly go back centuries. And when you consider that 20% of new businesses fail in year 1 , and half fail within 5 years, the importance of thorough planning and research should be clear.

But just what is a business plan? And what’s required to move from a series of ideas to a formal plan? Here we’ll answer that question and explain why you need one to be a successful business owner.

• What is a business plan?

A business plan lays out a strategic roadmap for any new or growing business.

Any entrepreneur with a great idea for a business needs to conduct market research , analyze their competitors , validate their idea by talking to potential customers, and define their unique value proposition .

The business plan captures that opportunity you see for your company: it describes your product or service and business model , and the target market you’ll serve. 

It also includes details on how you’ll execute your plan: how you’ll price and market your solution and your financial projections .

Reasons for writing a business plan

If you’re asking yourself, ‘Do I really need to write a business plan?’ consider this fact: 

Companies that commit to planning grow 30% faster than those that don’t.

Creating a business plan is crucial for businesses of any size or stage. 

If you plan to raise funds for your business through a traditional bank loan or SBA loan , none of them will want to move forward without seeing your business plan. Venture capital firms may or may not ask for one, but you’ll still need to do thorough planning to create a pitch that makes them want to invest.

But it’s more than just a means of getting your business funded . The plan is also your roadmap to identify and address potential risks. 

It’s not a one-time document. Your business plan is a living guide to ensure your business stays on course.

Related: 14 of the top reasons why you need a business plan

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What research shows about business plans

Numerous studies have established that planning improves business performance:

• 71% of fast-growing companies have business plans that include budgets, sales goals, and marketing and sales strategies.
• Companies that clearly define their value proposition are more successful than those that can’t.
• Companies or startups with a business plan are more likely to get funding than those without one.
• Starting the business planning process before investing in marketing reduces the likelihood of business failure.

The planning process significantly impacts business growth for existing companies and startups alike.

Read More: Research-backed reasons why writing a business plan matters

When should you write a business plan?

No two business plans are alike. 

Yet there are similar questions for anyone considering writing a plan to answer. One basic but important question is when to start writing it.

A Harvard Business Review study found that the ideal time to write a business plan is between 6 and 12 months after deciding to start a business. 

But the reality can be more nuanced – it depends on the stage a business is in, or the type of business plan being written.

Ideal times to write a business plan include:

• When you have an idea for a business
• When you’re starting a business
• When you’re preparing to buy (or sell)
• When you’re trying to get funding
• When business conditions change
• When you’re growing or scaling your business

Read More: The best times to write or update your business plan

How often should you update your business plan?

As is often the case, how often a business plan should be updated depends on your circumstances.

A business plan isn’t a homework assignment to complete and forget about. At the same time, no one wants to get so bogged down in the details that they lose sight of day-to-day goals. 

But it should cover new opportunities and threats that a business owner surfaces, and incorporate feedback they get from customers. So it can’t be a static document.

For an entrepreneur at the ideation stage, writing and checking back on their business plan will help them determine if they can turn that idea into a profitable business .

And for owners of up-and-running businesses, updating the plan (or rewriting it) will help them respond to market shifts they wouldn’t be prepared for otherwise. 

It also lets them compare their forecasts and budgets to actual financial results. This invaluable process surfaces where a business might be out-performing expectations and where weak performance may require a prompt strategy change. 

The planning process is what uncovers those insights.

Related Reading: 10 prompts to help you write a business plan with AI

• How long should your business plan be?

Thinking about a business plan strictly in terms of page length can risk overlooking more important factors, like the level of detail or clarity in the plan. 

Not all of the plan consists of writing – there are also financial tables, graphs, and product illustrations to include.

But there are a few general rules to consider about a plan’s length:

• Your business plan shouldn’t take more than 15 minutes to skim.
• Business plans for internal use (not for a bank loan or outside investment) can be as short as 5 to 10 pages.

A good practice is to write your business plan to match the expectations of your audience. 

If you’re walking into a bank looking for a loan, your plan should match the formal, professional style that a loan officer would expect . But if you’re writing it for stakeholders on your own team—shorter and less formal (even just a few pages) could be the better way to go.

The length of your plan may also depend on the stage your business is in. 

For instance, a startup plan won’t have nearly as much financial information to include as a plan written for an established company will.

Read More: How long should your business plan be?  

What information is included in a business plan?

The contents of a plan business plan will vary depending on the industry the business is in. 

After all, someone opening a new restaurant will have different customers, inventory needs, and marketing tactics to consider than someone bringing a new medical device to the market. 

But there are some common elements that most business plans include:

• Executive summary: An overview of the business operation, strategy, and goals. The executive summary should be written last, despite being the first thing anyone will read.
• Products and services: A description of the solution that a business is bringing to the market, emphasizing how it solves the problem customers are facing.
• Market analysis: An examination of the demographic and psychographic attributes of likely customers, resulting in the profile of an ideal customer for the business.
• Competitive analysis: Documenting the competitors a business will face in the market, and their strengths and weaknesses relative to those competitors.
• Marketing and sales plan: Summarizing a business’s tactics to position their product or service favorably in the market, attract customers, and generate revenue.
• Operational plan: Detailing the requirements to run the business day-to-day, including staffing, equipment, inventory, and facility needs.
• Organization and management structure: A listing of the departments and position breakdown of the business, as well as descriptions of the backgrounds and qualifications of the leadership team.
• Key milestones: Laying out the key dates that a business is projected to reach certain milestones , such as revenue, break-even, or customer acquisition goals.
• Financial plan: Balance sheets, cash flow forecast , and sales and expense forecasts with forward-looking financial projections, listing assumptions and potential risks that could affect the accuracy of the plan.
• Appendix: All of the supporting information that doesn’t fit into specific sections of the business plan, such as data and charts.

Read More: Use this business plan outline to organize your plan

• Different types of business plans

A business plan isn’t a one-size-fits-all document. There are numerous ways to create an effective business plan that fits entrepreneurs’ or established business owners’ needs. 

Here are a few of the most common types of business plans for small businesses:

• One-page plan : Outlining all of the most important information about a business into an adaptable one-page plan.
• Growth plan : An ongoing business management plan that ensures business tactics and strategies are aligned as a business scales up.
• Internal plan : A shorter version of a full business plan to be shared with internal stakeholders – ideal for established companies considering strategic shifts.

Business plan vs. operational plan vs. strategic plan

• What questions are you trying to answer? 
• Are you trying to lay out a plan for the actual running of your business?
• Is your focus on how you will meet short or long-term goals? 

Since your objective will ultimately inform your plan, you need to know what you’re trying to accomplish before you start writing.

While a business plan provides the foundation for a business, other types of plans support this guiding document.

An operational plan sets short-term goals for the business by laying out where it plans to focus energy and investments and when it plans to hit key milestones.

Then there is the strategic plan , which examines longer-range opportunities for the business, and how to meet those larger goals over time.

Read More: How to use a business plan for strategic development and operations

• Business plan vs. business model

If a business plan describes the tactics an entrepreneur will use to succeed in the market, then the business model represents how they will make money. 

The difference may seem subtle, but it’s important. 

Think of a business plan as the roadmap for how to exploit market opportunities and reach a state of sustainable growth. By contrast, the business model lays out how a business will operate and what it will look like once it has reached that growth phase.

Learn More: The differences between a business model and business plan

• Moving from idea to business plan

Now that you understand what a business plan is, the next step is to start writing your business plan . 

The best way to start is by reviewing examples and downloading a business plan template. These resources will provide you with guidance and inspiration to help you write a plan.

We recommend starting with a simple one-page plan ; it streamlines the planning process and helps you organize your ideas. However, if one page doesn’t fit your needs, there are plenty of other great templates available that will put you well on your way to writing a useful business plan.

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

Tim Berry is the founder and chairman of Palo Alto Software , a co-founder of Borland International, and a recognized expert in business planning. He has an MBA from Stanford and degrees with honors from the University of Oregon and the University of Notre Dame. Today, Tim dedicates most of his time to blogging, teaching and evangelizing for business planning.

Table of Contents

• Reasons to write a business plan
• Business planning research
• When to write a business plan
• When to update a business plan
• Information to include
• Business vs. operational vs. strategic plans

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• Implementing Project Financial Management and Grants Management

Project Unit Components

Project units are operational subsets of an enterprise that conducts business operations using projects and enforces consistent project planning, management, analysis, and reporting.

Project units often represent lines of business, such as Consulting Services, Sales, and Research and Development. You must set up at least one project unit to use in Oracle Project Portfolio Management.

Maintain independent setup data for each project unit while sharing a common approach to financial management across all project units. The following graphic shows two project units that share a common approach to financial management and data. Each project unit maintains separate reference data for managing projects.

General Properties

General property options include the default reference data set the application uses for any new reference data object associated with the project unit. You can override the default set for each reference data object. The method of project number creation, either manual or automatic, is also included in general properties.

Set Assignments

Assign sets to project units to determine how the application shares reference data across different lines of business in a company. A project unit is a set determinant for the following objects.

Project Definition: Includes set-enabled reference data for the project definition including:

Financial plan type

Project Transaction Types: Includes set-enabled reference data for project transactions including:

Project expenditure type

Project work type

Set assignment configuration includes the following options for each project unit.

Reference Data Object: For the project definition and project transaction types.

Reference Data Set Code: By default, the set for each reference data object is from the default set specified for the project unit.

Related Business Units

You associate business units with a project unit to identify the business units that are accountable for financial transactions of projects in each project unit. You can change the project unit and business unit association if you haven't used the combination on a project or project template. If a business unit isn't associated with any project unit, then the business unit is valid for all project units.

Reporting Setup

Project performance reporting configuration includes the following options for each project unit.

Commitments to include in the summarization.

Planning amount allocation basis for summarization.

Related Topics

• Example of Set Association with Financial Plan Types