Business Planning Flashcards
In terms of Business Planning, what tools does your company use to ensure you are making a profit?
- Timesheets
- Using resource planners (to ensure full utilisation)
- Fee/cost reconciliation tools
- Project reviews
- Yearly performance reviews
- Team meetings
- Director one-to-ones
What is benchmarking (on a construction project)?
A process by which the estimated performance (often cost) of a project is compared to other similar projects. This can highlight areas of design that are not offering good value for money; or, if the price offered by the contractor is in line with the wider market.
What is SWOT analysis?
- SWOT analysis is a strategic planning method used to evaluate Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats involved in a project or business venture.
- SWOT analysis can be used as a basis for business strategy
What is PEST analysis?
PEST is an acronym for Political, Economic, Social and Technological. It is a way of understanding how external forces impact the business.
What are the issues relating to staff turnover?
- It can be expensive and time consuming to hire staff, often having to pay agency fees to help find the right people.
- Training new people is time consuming and expensive.
- Turnover can also affect team dynamic, productivity and continuity
What are SMART targets/objectives as part of a business plan?
Objectives which are:
Specific Measurable Achievable Realistic Time related
What things do you need to consider when setting up this business?
- Advise RICS that you are starting a business and comply with the Rules of Conduct for members and firms
- Create a business plan
- Create a H&S policy
- Register the business with Companies House and inform HMRC
- Set-up company and client bank accounts
- Set-up a Complaints Handling Procedure
Get the relevant insurances in place such as:
- Professional indemnity & run-off cover
- Directors liability
- buildings insurance
- Public liability insurance
What is an investment appraisal?
An investment appraisal is used to assess whether a business or project would be worthwhile investment in terms of return (both financially and/or added value).
Considerations:
- Rate of return
- Payback period
- Net Present Value
It might be worth looking t what is included on the ExCo sheet to see what we present to ExCo to decide if a site is worth buying?
What is an investment appraisal?
An investment appraisal is used to assess whether a business or project would be a worthwhile investment in terms of return (both financially and/or added value).
Considerations:
- Rate of return
- Payback period
- Net Present Value
It might be worth looking t what is included on the ExCo sheet to see what we present to ExCo to decide if a site is worth buying?
Give examples of fee earning and non-fee earning staff?
Fee earning - QS, P, architect.
Non fee earning - Admin staff, IT technicians
What is the purpose of an organisation chart?
- A graphical representation of the roles, responsibilities and relationships between individuals within the organisation.
- It can be used to depict the structure of an organisation as a whole or broken down into smaller business units.
How do you contribute to your company’s goals?
- Sharing knowledge within my team(s)
- Keeping up to date with new technologies and systems
- Delivering and exceeding my responsibilities
- Understanding my personal/project objectives, exceeding expectations where possible
- Bringing in new business
- Focus on safety
What is meant by business strategy?
- A business Strategy is an outline of the actions and decisions a company plans to take to reach its business goals and objectives.
- The strategy define what the business needs to do to reach its goals, which can help guide the decision-making process for hiring and resource allocation
What is meant by strategic planning?
The managerial process of developing and maintaining a strategic fit between the organisation objectives, resources and changing market opportunities
What is the difference between business strategy and business planning?
- A business strategy is concerned with the entire organisation, such as what it produces, where it competes and how it allocates resources. It deals with the fundamental choices that will affect the entire organisation.
- Business plans are concerned with detailed implementation after the big choices have been made. A business plan deals with the detailed implementation of specific aspects of the overall strategy.
