Every executive understands that the implementation of an idea requires proper planning. Proper planning requires a stated goal and clearly stated actions that need to be taken to achieve that goal.
TimeMaker’s planning component provides six user-defined planning levels suitable for creation of an entire plan – from broadly stated strategies to a series of targets, to individually assigned Production Tasks – all of which need to be accomplished to turn any idea into reality. These planning levels range from general concepts to specific tasks needed to achieve the final product desired. This then allows execution of the plan to begin with the specific tasks, working upwards to and including complete achievement of the broadly stated ideas.
Planning Level 1 might be a strategy consisting of broadly stated targets, such as:
Target 1: We want to price our product to be competitive with our top 30 competitors.
Target 2: We will sell our product in vertical markets.
Target 3: We will provide better service than our customers expect.
Target 4: We will constantly enhance our products and service.
Planning Level 2 might be a tactical planning level, consisting of the steps needed to achieve the broad targets in Planning Level 1, stated in a more specific manner, such as:
Target 1: We want to price our product to be competitive with our top 30 competitors.
Tactical Step 1: We will survey the prices of our top 30 competitors.
Tactical Step 2: We will survey the market as to their opinion of those
prices.
Tactical Step 3: We will establish our prices based on steps 1 and 2 above.
A Planning Level 2 Tactical Step can be written for each target identified in Planning level 1.
Planning Level 3 might then consist of operational planning and include each action needed to accomplish the Tactical Steps of Planning Level 2, for example:
Target 1: We want to price our product to be competitive with our top 30 competitors.
Tactical Step 1: We will survey the prices of our top 30 competitors.
Operational Action 1: We will create a database for the competitor pricing data collected.
Operational Action 2: We will hire a team of 10 hourly employees to research our competitors’ retail pricing at the top supermarkets in the area.
Operational Action 3: We will hire a company that specializes in marketing intelligence to investigate our competitors’ wholesale pricing.
TimeMaker’s planning component allows planning for up to six different user defined levels as needed, with each production item for each level specifying the person responsible for completion of the item, the start date, target date for completion and other relevant data. And unlike MS Project® and other project management tools, the TimeMaker allows the issuance of relevant orders from the plan that will then be automatically tracked for compliance at each level.