DIP – 3. Planning function

1. DIP – 3. Planning function Lim SeiKee @ cK

2. What is Planning?

3. Planning is the process of • Setting objectives • Determining what should be done to accomplish them • Implementing the plan • Evaluating the results of the plan

4. Planning helps management answer the following questions: • Where are we now? • How did we get here? • Where would we like to be? • How do we get there? • Are we on course to achieve our targets?

5. Stages involved in the planning process • Analyze the external environment • Analyze the internal environment • Define the business and mission • Set corporate objectives • Formulate strategies • Make tactical plans • Build in procedures for monitoring and controlling

6. Task 2: Diagnose opportunities and threats Task 4: Develop strategies Task 5: Prepare strategic plan Task 3: Diagnose strengths and weakness Task 8: Continue planning Task 7: Control and diagnose results Task 6: Prepare tactical plans The Planning Process(adapted from Figure 7.3) Task 1: Develop vision, mission and Goals

7. Planning takes place at different levels of a business – the main levels being: • Strategic plan • Tactical plan • Operational plan

8. Strategic Plans • Strategic plans are designed with the entire organization in mind and begin with an organization's mission. • To develop long-term strategies for achieving growth, improving productivity and profitability, boosting return on investments, improving customer service and finding ways to give back to the community in which it operates. • Strategic plans also tend to require multilevel involvement so that each level of the organization plays a significant role in achieving the goals being strategically planned for.

9. Tactical Plans • Tactical plans support strategic plans by translating them into specific plans relevant to a distinct area of the organization. Tactical plans are concerned with the responsibility and functionality of lower-level departments to fulfill their parts of the strategic plan. • EXAMPLE: As a tactical planner, Martha needs to create a set of calculated actions that take a shorter amount of time and are narrower in scope than the strategic plan is but still help to bring the organization closer to the long-term goal

10. Operational Plans • Operational plans are the plans that are made by frontline, or low-level, managers. All operational plans are focused on the specific procedures and processes that occur within the lowest levels of the organization. • Operational planning activities would include things like scheduling employees each week; assessing, ordering and stocking inventory; creating a monthly budget; or outlining an employee's performance goals for the year. • Operational plans can be either single-use or ongoing plans. Single-use plans are those plans that are intended to be used only once. Ongoing plans are those plans that are built to withstand the test of time. Ongoing plans are typically a policy, procedure or rule.

11. Contingency Plans • Even the best plans can fail, especially in today's fast-paced, chaotic business environment, and as such, it is important for managers at all levels to engage in contingency planning. • Contingency plans allow a manager to be flexible and change-savvy by providing an alternative course of action, which can be implemented if and when an original plan fails to produce the anticipated result.

12. Purpose of business planning • Clarify direction of the business • Ensure efficient use of resources • Provide a way of measuring progress • Support effective decision-making • Co-ordinate activities • Allocate responsibility • Motivate & guide people

13. Don’t forget that planning is different from forecasting: • Forecasts are predictions - they concern events and trends over which the business has little or no control • Plans are about what the business intends to do • But forecasts (especially sales forecasts) are essential in planning