Business Plan Writer

This is a slide-show or gallery of various on-screen views of the software. Click on the small pictures and they will expand to a bigger view (65% of actual size). Once a large image is open it will start to cycle through all the other images ...

The 'Words' Section

Enter text, view helpful content and control the structure of your business plan.

All your data is saved for you and will be there when you return to continue working on your business plan.

When you first open Business Plan Writer the table of contents on the left shows the default structure of your business plan. You can amend, add to, or delete this structure to make one that is exactly right for you. Use the buttons on the table of contents' bottom and left to delete, edit, undelete, add, move up, move down, promote or demote business plan sections.

As you move through the business plan via the table of contents, the contents of the central box (where you enter text) moves too. This allows you to navigate rapidly around your plan, and also (very importantly) encourages you to keep sections focused and to the point.

You will also notice as you move through the business plan that the contents of the boxes on the right of the screen change as well. The top-right box gives explanatory notes on each section of the default business plan structure. The bottom-right box shows what three sample social enterprise business plans wrote on each section of the default business plan structure (you can copy and paste from these samples into the main text box and edit to suit your needs).

The 'Products' Section

Enter details on up to 20 products - we are using the word 'product' to encompass goods and services. So try to break down your services in offerings (or products) which a customer might buy.

For each product you want to add you need an name, a description (optional), and its unit-based costs. These are materials costs and labour costs which together make up the 'cost of sales'.

For each product you also need to decide what percentage mark-up to charge in order to cover overhead costs and also (perhaps) an allowance for net profit.

Once you have these you can then enter the month-by-month sales volume in the singly row of cells - and in the summary grid below - you can view just for that one product, the gross profit, the cashflow, and if registered for VAT, a VAT report. Once you have moved to a new cell in the row the summary grid below will be updated.

Move between products by selecting different ones in the 'Products List' box on the left of the screen. Create new products by selecting a blank row in the 'Products List' box on the left of the screen.

The 'Personnel'  Section

Enter up to 25 personnel records (by name, role, or type). For each person/role/type you must enter a name, salary, which month they start in, in which month they leave, whether employer National Insurance Contributions are to be made and whether they get a pension (you can control the percentages of both NIC and pension payments).

Once you have moved to a new personnel record the summary grid below will be updated. Move between personnel records by selecting different ones in the 'Personnel List' box on the left of the screen. Create new personnel record by selecting a blank row in the 'Personnel List' box on the left of the screen.

The 'Total Overheads' Section

This is the Total Overheads screen where you can view and compare a summary of all the Overhead screens ... and of course go back and change whatever needs amending ...

Apart fom the Premises screen there are four other similar screens covering the remaining Overheads sections:

• Premises
• Transport
• Marketing
• Miscellaneous

For each of these screens you get five pre-named overhead items and you can enter up to 14 ones as well. For each overhead item that you want you need an name, a description (optional), and in the single month-labelled row of cells, enter the costs for that overhead.

The 'Funding Profile' Section

For start-ups, to ensure that things are accounted for properly you can detail the monetary value of things like premises and equipment donated or invested before start-up - as well as cash donated or invested prior to start up.

You can also enter donations or investments made during the year.

The 'Assets & Depreciation' Section

This is where you enter estimated capital expenditure (how much you think you will spend on capital items during the plan). Please note that for capital items you buy before start-up should be entered in the 'Funding Profile screen.

If you manage your capital items with these two screens Business Plan Writer will calculate your depreciation charges and balance sheet values for you.

The 'Loans' Section

Should you need a loan this page allows you to enter details of up to two loans.

Each of the two loans can be for completely different terms: amount to borrow, interest rate and the length of loan. Loan repayments are of course calculated for you and apportioned correctly in the Cashflow and Profit & Loss reports.

The 'Sales Forecast' Section

Combining all the products information (cost of sales, percentage mark-up, price, sales volume by month), this report allows you compare each product's figures with your other products - as well as giving an overall sales forecast for your business.

Finally, this screen also gives a snapshot of cost of sales and gross profit (see the Profit & Loss screen for more on this).

The 'Cash Flow' Section

Pulling together all cash movements influenced by products, overheads, funding profile, assets and loans, this is an overall cash flow forecast showing how much (if any) money you will have month-by-month during a full year of your business.

This is probably the most important financial report as it reports on your key asset - cash. After all, your business won't collapse if you run out of profit - but it will if you run out of cash!

The 'Profit & Loss' Section

Taking into account all trading activities, overheads and special charges such as depreciation and loan interest, this is a forecast profit and loss account showing the net profit (or loss) covering a full year of your business's operations.

These financial reports are there for you to review what you have put in and check that they all 'stack up'. View and compare all your trading activities - and of course you can go back to any screen and change whatever needs amending ...

The 'Balance Sheet' Section

A forecast balance sheet showing the estimated net worth of your business after one year's trading.

The Balance Sheet is accompanied by explanatory notes giving details of assumptions used and how various figures have been calculated - all in accordance with good practice.

The 'Sales Tax Report' Section

If you indicated the business was registered for Sales Tax in the User Settings dialog box, you can view a report showing Sales Tax on inputs and outputs as well as calculating quarterly and annual balances.

If you are going to register for Sales Tax (such as VAT in the UK), you need to hold on to the tax you charge on sales and offset it against the Sales Tax you would have paid on purchases if you were not VAT registered. This calculation is usually carried out once a quarter and will result in you either paying money to the Government or to them reimbursing you. These calculations are complex and this screen only gives outline forecast figures.

The 'View Business Plan' Section

This section pulls everything together to create your business plan document.

It can be printed directly, exported as a PDF file for distribution, exported as a RTF file for further editing in Microsoft Word, or even saved as an HTML document for publishing on the Internet.

After viewing your business plan you can go back to any of the other sections and change stuff and then return to the 'View Business Plan' section - your business plan will be automatically refreshed and you can review the changes. Items such as your business plan's title, author(s) and publication date are entered in the User Settings dialog box (see below).

The 'Mini Plan' Section

A good way to get started - just 10 questions - the resulting report can usually be printed on a single piece of paper ...

A mini-plan for your business plan can be a great way to get going - and it will pay dividends because you most definately need to be able to answer the questions it contains - and it is better to have these clear before you start!

Business Plan 'Projects'

Your work is saved in business plan project files (these are mini-databases actually - in case you are interested) and you have one business plan per business plan project file. You can create new business plan projects, rename them, save them to different locations and of course open and close them.

This screen shows the 'Open Project' dialog box.

'User Settings'

Found under the 'Tools' menu, here you can name your social enterprise, give details of the business plan, deal with VAT and create backups.

This dialog box is where you give your business plan a title and sub-title, set its publication date and indicate who the author(s) are.

You can also decide whether your enterprise will be registered for Sales Tax (which will populate the Sales Tax report).

'Sample Business Plans'

Depending on which 'Edition' of Business Plan Writer you purchase, you will have between three and five fully-worked sample business plans in your copy of Business Plan Writer.

These are primarily viewed in the bottom-right box of the 'Words' screen and the box's contents change as you scroll through the different sections of your business plan. This means that you are always seeing the most relevant part of the sample business plan(s) to your own business plan. Sample business plans can also be viewed as complete documents under the 'Information' menu.

'The Help System'

There is help in not only how to use the software, but in business planning concepts and techniques.

To access these help resources, just press the 'F1' key on your keyboard and the relevant section of the help files (relevant to where in Business Plan Writer the cursor was when you pressed 'F1') will open. You can also reach the help files via the 'Help' menu.