Operation Plan

Operation Planning is figuring out what is the most efficient and effective way to produce your product or service and keep it working. It takes into consideration where you conduct business, how much you're prepared to produce and how you're going to support it. Even if you are a one-person operation, you still need to think out how to organize and schedule your own work.

For every business there is a location where the physical activity takes place, and a physical sequence in which the work is done. The business may make its own goods, or buy them from suppliers to be resold, but goods must be stored. Most businesses use general purpose business equipment, such as computers and cash registers, and some businesses also require special purpose equipment. This equipment, and inventory must be placed in specific locations so that work can be done most efficiently. IF you are strictly a resale or service based business, you will need to set up your office to make it the most efficient.

The goal here is to think through the entire process of providing your product or service to the customer, and preparing for any problems you can envision, before they present themselves.

Product Based Business
Location: Is the chosen location for your business appropriate? Why? How does it compare with your competitors locations? Could a better location be found at equal or less cost?
Equipment: Will general purpose business equipment - computers, cash register, phone, copier furniture etc.. - be adequate to run your business efficiently? Could additional or different equipment improve productivity or profitability?
Production: Where are you going to store your raw materials? The finished product? What order are you going to get them ready to ship out? Are they located in the best place for ease and efficiency? About how many can you make in an hour? What steps are you going to take to make your product?
Specialized Equipment: If your business uses special purpose equipment, such as metalworking machinery, will your business have enough of the right kind of equipment? Have provisions been made for maintenance? Has thought been given to renting or leasing, rather than buying some of the equipment?
Service & Internet Based Business
Location: Where is your office? Do you have the privacy you need to get the work done? Is everything accessible? Do you have the right electrical outlets? Phone lines?
Equipment: If your business in online - What hosting service are you using? Is there a better one that provides more assistance to small businesses? What business machines do you need? Are they the best for your business? Software - do you have what you need? will it work until you can upgrade?
Production: What tasks must be done to provide your service? What order do they need to be done to be most efficient? Can you automate or combine any of them?
Outsource: Can you do everything you need to provide your service? support your customers and equipment? Is there an area where you lack the skills and can outsource effectively? Is it better to hire an employee or outsource it to another company?

Support

Customer Support: How can your customers contact you? What questions will they probably have? Can they be covered in a faQ section? Will you need to hire or outsource this service?
Technical Support & Maintenance: Web sites always develop glitches, are being changed and updated, how are you going to manage that? How are you going to make sure all your links and images are still working? Equipment wears out, or becomes obsolete, will you be able to repair or replace them? How about a periodic maintenance schedule?
Software support: Do you have the software support you need to conduct business, to provide the services, to automate as much as possible? Do you have a source for your questions on making it work like you want?
Quality Control: What method are you going to use to make sure your product and/or services are what you really want? How are you going to handle a sudden influx of orders?

Summarize

Summarize the information you have gathered in this section. When compiling your business plan - this will be used in the Executive Summary section

Next: Identify your industry, your place in it, and its future

Back to Feasibility Study Homepage

Back to Business Plan