An operational plan is a term that describes detailed plans aimed at achieving short- or medium-term goals, where they are developed and strategies that must be followed are determined to enable the company to achieve its complex goals by organizing daily tasks and completing them according to plan, leading to a specific final goal. This type of planning is characterized by being simple and short-term. Setting long-term goals exposes the company to numerous unanticipated difficulties and challenges, including resource deficiencies and implementation errors, that impede its achievement. Therefore, the operational plan was an effective compromise to achieve the goals in a more realistic and professional manner.
What is the operational plan?
The operational plan, also referred to as the work plan, is a comprehensive plan that the company establishes through daily goals. These goals have specific completion dates and hours, and they are associated with specific individuals to ensure timely implementation. This approach guarantees the achievement of the organization’s primary objectives.
Operational plans do not necessarily involve repetitive daily tasks, but rather involve integrated tasks implemented sequentially to achieve larger goals that significantly impact the company’s performance. They also often cover one area in the company, focusing on it in an accurate and appropriate manner that helps in reaching the final goals.
Factors that make up operational plans
You must carefully determine five factors to develop the appropriate operational plan for your company. These factors are:
- Actions to be planned or steps to be followed to achieve goals.
- Employees who are responsible for completing tasks as required.
- Specific deadlines for completing each task.
- The capabilities or resources that the company possesses and is supposed to rely on to achieve its goals.
- Methods are used to measure progress at each stage.
Objectives of operational plans
The operational plan primarily aims to define a mechanism and the necessary steps to achieve the company’s strategic and detailed goals. This is achieved through the implementation of the following goals.
- Measuring the extent to which the organization’s plans and strategies are implementable is necessary to prevent their failure due to setting goals without ensuring the ability to implement them.
- Study the budget available to the company and whether it can help achieve the goals or not, comparing it to previous years to measure the extent of its growth and how it was used before.
- Realistically measure the possibility of achieving tasks within the specified time, while including the factors that prevent the success of tasks to study how to overcome them.
- Study the situation of the team in the organization, whether they have the necessary experience and skill to work, and provide what is asked of them at the appropriate level or not.
- Knowing the organization’s ability to access the information it needs to carry out tasks and achieve goals.
- Identify alternatives that can be adopted to achieve goals faster or less expensively in terms of time and money.
The importance of the operational plan
It is important for companies to adopt operational plans that are organized and linked to reality because it gives them the following:
- Clear goals that have been measured and ensured that they are effective and achievable.
- Increasing the efficiency of performance in companies by organizing daily activities and tasks. This places the focus on the tasks and how to implement them correctly.
- Facilitating the achievement of major goals is important because each operational plan relates to a specific aspect of the company, and by developing a plan for each aspect, interconnected goals can be reached within a short time.
- Exploiting resources in the best possible way while studying the correct ways to utilize them ensures that they will not be wasted.
- Accurately identifying shortcomings, thanks to each department performing its own tasks, which reveals any errors that occur in the work.
- Linking tasks to people enhances the sense of responsibility among employees, which improves their productivity and commitment to the work required of them.
- Communicating between team members more effectively makes the team spirit more visible, which gives them happiness with every achievement they make and improves communication and integration between them.
The difference between an operational plan and a strategic plan
It is well-known that strategic plans are typically larger and more comprehensive than operational plans. As a result, companies often develop strategic business plans while ignoring the operational plan, a common cause of organizational failure. The fundamental differences between strategic and operational plans necessitate their integration, making them essential for every company. These differences can be summarized as follows:
| Comparison | Strategic plans | Operational plans |
| the definition | Big plans made by an organization’s senior management to achieve long-term goals. | Plans are developed by management for each department separately in order to achieve small, short-term goals. |
| Time period | You set goals to achieve within 3 to 5 years. | Its goals do not exceed one year. |
| Plan focus | It focuses on comprehensive strategic planning for the organization as a whole. | Focuses on the possibility of achieving small goals for each department separately. |
| Who makes the plan? | Higher Management. | Department leaders or CEO. |
| budget | Plan company-wide, not piecemeal. | Plan according to the budget allocated to the department alone. |
| Reports preparation | Requires formal, structured reports (quarterly or annual). | It does not require a formal report; only what has been accomplished should be recorded daily or monthly to measure progress. |
| the details | It is not considered detailed, but only outlines are provided. | It requires specifying the finest details of the tasks required, how to perform them, and the time required to complete them. |
How is the operational plan prepared?
When you are able to create a clear operational plan that guarantees success in achieving long-term goals thanks to attention to short-term tasks, then follow these steps to prepare your operational plan correctly:
See the strategic plan.
Operational plans are not created without knowing the complex, long-term goals that the company seeks to achieve, so make sure that your strategic plan is effective and that all employees of your department have seen it and understand what goals are intended to be achieved through it.
Set goals specific to your department.
Choose the goals that the department should achieve and begin by informing the employees about them in the simplest possible way, making sure to choose the right person for the appropriate task, and setting a logical time to complete each task, so that faltering in the performance of a task does not lead to the accumulation of other tasks that burden the employee and make him lose the ability to continue.
Follow performance indicators.
Any company divides performance indicators into two types: predictive and lagging. You should follow predictive performance indicators because they allow you to quickly identify and correct plan errors, whereas lagging indicators wait until the plans are complete.
Use resources appropriately.
Place the human resources you have in the right places, as well as the financial and other resources, in the form you deem appropriate for the required plan.
Create a comprehensive budget.
A budget that covers all aspects is required to maintain progress in completing tasks, so make sure that you cover what you need and what needs arise, and study your spending channels consciously to prevent wasting financial resources.
Make your communication effective.
Do not give the employee specific orders to follow without discussing what is required with him, because he who works consciously is better than he who works merely because he is responsible for the work, so the employee must be aware of what he wants to achieve from these tasks and the correct ways to implement them.
Don’t neglect reports.
Although the reports on the operational plan are not official, they are necessary to follow up on what has been accomplished and the extent of progress in the plan. They are also useful when senior management shows them to clarify the extent of success in implementation or highlight certain aspects that need to be exploited better or errors that must be corrected.
Examples of operational plans
After we learned how to prepare an appropriate operational plan, we applied the steps as required in the following examples:
Operational plan for a bakery (cupcake preparation department)
| Strategic objective | Increase bakery profits by 10% within 6 months. |
| Operational plan related to the cupcake department | · Introducing a new flavor of cupcake every week and marketing it professionally. · Create an online store to sell products online. · Giving online customers a 10% discount when they place an order online and come to pick it up in store. · Make an offer to buy two pieces and get a third piece of a different product for free. |
| Resources that can be exploited | · Cake-making molds in new and different shapes. · Powdered milk is available in quantities suitable for making white chocolate and decorating cupcakes with it. · Use healthy food colorings to give your cake a new look. |
| Time to implement the plan | Within 6 months since its date. |
| Reports | · Weekly reports to measure profits and compare them to costs. · Study the budget, identify deficiencies, and address them quickly. |
An operational plan for teaching programming at the university
| Strategic objective | Teaching university students programming |
| Preparatory activities | · Train those conducting training courses to learn programming. · Providing computers and software that students learn using. · Printing booklets containing scientific material. · Preparing air-conditioned and equipped halls for students to gather and receive effective education. · Develop effective strategies for rapid learning to ensure the production of a new generation of programmers within a short time. |
| Problems or obstacles that the project may face | · Lack of suitable places to hold courses. · Scheduling conflicts between students’ lectures and training courses. · Some students do not accept the new project due to their own circumstances. · Weak budget allocated to the project. |
| Arrangement of work steps | · Preparing places to hold courses. · Informing students of the advantages of learning programming and the good future it guarantees for them. · Determine different dates to suit most students. · Providing certified trainers. · Testing students and giving them accredited certificates. |
| The time period allocated for the project | Within 5 months, 2 hours per week. |
Types of operational plans
There are 5 types of operational plans used by each organization according to its needs, which are:
Operational plan for infrequent use
It is a plan that is created to achieve the objectives of a project for a limited time. This plan will not be repeated after its completion. It also includes precise details about the project and its objectives.
Continuing operational plan
It is a set of actions and goals that must be achieved periodically to maintain the performance of the institution or project, and it is one of the appropriate plans for profit-seeking commercial institutions.
A renewed operational plan
A plan is renewed from time to time to suit changes in the circumstances surrounding the business, such as price changes, the public’s desire to buy, or the like. It aims to avoid losses and enhance profits by seizing opportunities.
The department’s operational plan
A fixed plan is followed by a specific department within the organisation. The steps to be implemented are determined, the goal of implementing the plan in its stages is clarified, and the department’s progress in implementation is followed up.
Operational plan for the project
It is used when the intended project is part of a larger strategy. The major strategic goals are then intended to be achieved by completing tasks and planning all the details that contribute to the project’s success.
Operational plan models
You can view these forms that enable you to create your operational plan easily and follow it. All you have to do is download and modify these forms electronically or print them to record the data by hand.
Dox models
- Model 1: Download it from here.
- Model 2: Download it from here.
PDF forms
- Model 1: Download it from here.
- Model 2: Download it from here.
Factors for the success of operational plans
The operational plan needs some factors that must be ensured for it to succeed and bear fruit. These factors include:
- Continuous administrative support is needed to overcome the obstacles and difficulties faced by employees when implementing the plan.
- All employees agree on the importance of the plan and strive to implement it correctly.
- Avoid unrealistic goals and study the surrounding circumstances to identify alternatives and more efficient ways to achieve them.
- The concerned parties agree on the plan proposal and understand what must be implemented to achieve it.
- Follow up on immediate feedback to evaluate the course of the plan.
Conclusion
Together, we learned about the meaning of the term operational plan and its importance, in addition to clarifying the difference between the strategic plan and operational plan and how to maintain integration between them. The experts at Qoyod assist you in designing the appropriate plans for your company or project efficiently and professionally while paying attention to the smallest details that directly interfere with your ability to achieve your strategic and organisational goals. So you should start now with a free trial using the best accounting program, “Qoyod,” for excellent plans that suit your project and take into account the circumstances related to its implementation.
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