Budgeting Basics and Beyond

2.8. Operational Plan

The preliminary operational plan is an important part of the strategic plan. It examines the alternative strategies so as to select the best one. The final operational plan is much more detailed and is the basis to prepare the annual budgets and to evaluate performance. It also acts as the basis to integrate and communicate business functions. It is concerned with short -term activity or functions of the business. The operational plan typically includes production, marketing (selling), administration, and finance. It examines properly serving product or service markets.

The operational plan summarizes the major action programs and contains this information: objective, program description, responsibility assignments, resource needs (e.g., assets, employees), expected costs, time deadlines for each stage, input needed from other business segments, and anticipated results.