Overview

Planuscript is the first business planning toolkit anywhere in the world with the Product Management System as its source of international best practice. The Product Management System defines core managerial principles in the major multinationals.

• Superb template for a growing company aspiring to developmental success
• Integrated managerial and functional disciplines
• Proprietary simulation model with powerful algorithms for advanced forecasting, fully integrated with Microsoft Word
• Progressive version control through each successive draft
• Profitplan for superior managerial responsibility and control
• Project plan with multifaceted project costing and implementation
• Full five-year financial projections including volume, revenue, costs, profitability, cash flow and balance sheets
• Funding options for different scenarios with risk evaluation
• Last minute changes no problem
• Perpetual option to be rolled forward at the end of each year
• Professional presentation to principals, bankers and investors
• Supported with mature strategic consulting and training to help you along the way

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Give or take, there are about 25 functions that must be managed in all companies, almost irrespective of size. The number of people employed will vary with growth but hardly the functions themselves – or at least not very much. Technology is another factor that impacts significantly on employment but only impacts marginally on the functions to the extent that technology replaces jobs. In that regard, the functions broadly remain constant and lay the foundation for the definition of roles and jobs. The functions are the building blocks and the important interpretation is the how the functions are structured and defined.

Imagine trying to build a house without a design for floors, windows and doors – including the relationship between them, as a simple analogy. There is not much difference between a small house and a large house in that regard – the features must be included irrespective – and indeed so obvious, you would have thought the same would apply if you were trying to build a company.

It sounds bizarre but this is rarely the case. How often do you see a basic design concept for growing a company? Too often the growth gets merged with strategy – as in, strategy defines the structure, leading to chaos due to the exceptional growth in complexity that occurs as a company expands, plus randomized. However, what would you say if this design already existed – that there is a concept or paradigm already to do it? That this paradigm now forms part of the most successful multinationals on the planet – welcome to Planuscript!

Planuscript is much more than just a business plan – it’s a whole new way of managing your business. It is a business plan that offers to integrate big ideas and strategy, personnel and systems under a single paradigm that will build a business to any size. It is a sophisticated piece of corporate engineering that brings new understanding to business functions – essentially, the ability to control complexity for major gains in productivity and efficiency.

This is based on the Product Management System – the most successful management system in the world as measured by the success of the companies that have adopted its precepts and modus operandi. It includes major multinationals such as P&G, Nestle, Unilever and many more. These companies are simply too successful to have got this wrong. Further background research is available by clicking the About menu.

Planuscript is also productivity toolkit that will help you write a better five-year business plan to a higher standard than heretofore possible, more quickly and at a lower cost. Your business plan will include the following sections:

Executive Summary

This introduces the reader to your plan and summarises your vision, mission, objectives and strategies. It includes ownership and governance in addition to summary financial projections. It is also designed to be stand-alone in order to provide a pen-picture of the business as a teaser for investors. However, it must also attach seamlessly to the other sections of your business plan, avoiding duplication and repetition at the same time.

Implementation

This section includes your dreams and ambitions for the business, set out in tangible projects for implementation. It is biased towards the first year of your business plan – as each successive year is rolled forward, you are always implementing the first year.

Expansion Programme

In this section, you set out your analysis and rationale for growth. It is broken back to each of the control functions for evidence that your business plan is secure and worthy of approval and investment. It includes the five-year financial projections.

Appendices

The appendices provide supplementary information in the form of data and analysis to complement the assumptions and strategies in your plan.

Cloud

Technology is revolutionising the way we do business and the cloud is here to stay. Amazon Web Services (AWS) is the world’s leading provider of Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) in the cloud. According to Gartner research, AWS has become the “safe choice” in the market, appealing to customers who desire the broadest range of capabilities and long-term market leadership.

The EU data protection authorities announced in March 2015 that AWS meets all the relevant standards of EU data protection and privacy laws for security in the cloud. Werner Vogels – Vice President of Amazon.com, in charge of driving technology and innovation in the company expresses the view that the cloud is now more secure than in-house systems. If you are new to the cloud, this is a great opportunity to get you started and learning.

Planuscript is hosted on AWS and available exclusively through a consultancy assignment with full training and support. It uses familiar Microsoft Word templates for ease of use that can be tailored to your specific industry or individual needs.

It incorporates a simulation model with data structuring and forecasting algorithms to take care of the most challenging business assumptions and projections. It also includes a Profitplan that links senior management to operational control of the business. Planuscript can also be setup in your company as a perpetual business plan – so that you never have to write a business plan from scratch again, saving both time and money.

Writing a business plan in the cloud could not be easier with Planuscript. You simply logon securely through the nearest internet access point, using your company secured PC. Normally, there are three drafts required for a business plan with all the data integration taken care of by the simulation model.

It means your data is in perfect sync with the tables and charts in the plan as you go through each progressive draft. It can be used to simulate, technological developments, market dangers, new product development and financial risks. You do this by running various risk scenarios to mitigate potential hazards on the horizon. Last minute changes are never an issue either because re-forecasting can be accomplished in the blink of an eye.

Sectors

Planuscript is applicable anywhere there are uniform manufactured products or service combinations, including a supply chain requirement that will benefit from complexity reduction. It includes a multitude of manufactured product categories such as food, pharmaceutical, engineering, life sciences, clothing, medical devices etc.

It is also applicable to pure service providers such as financial services, retailing, transportation, logistics, life sciences, medical and scientific, which are easier because they do not have the complications of manufacturing.

It is particularly suited to companies that want to develop or refine branding strategies because the product portfolio can be structured by brand or category as required.

Start-ups

The advantage for start-ups is that Planuscript will define the future scaling requirements from the beginning and this will help avoid mistakes through the all-important incubation period. We believe that this can be achieved in a cluster or group learning environment – thus, reducing start-up costs.

SMEs

Our consultancy experience with SMEs means that they tend to evolve haphazard structures time that can prove detrimental in the long term. Planuscript has one major advantage in that it can separate ownership from operational efficiency without the handicap of multiple corporate layers.

Distressed Banking

Distressed banking can require a restructured business with changes at all levels to improve performance. This needs to be handled sensitively and Planuscript has the toolkit to help in that regard. We believe that Planuscript offers a simpler perspective for a better solution.

Interim Management

This is an ideal scenario for considering Planuscript where a new division is being spawned that invariably will benefit from a paradigm that includes a business plan, personnel and systems integration from the start. Planuscript offers all three with the ability to realise a lower cost base due to its integrated approach.

Developmental Agencies

Planuscript offers advantages to developmental agencies in implementing initiatives. For example, everyone accepts that R&D is extremely important to companies. However, success crucially depends on integrating product management to an existing structure that sometimes can be very difficult. The Planuscript paradigm can help because it is based on the Product Management System.