Domain 2: Planning Flashcards
Accountability
Responsibility for meeting a goal, strategy, or tactic as defined by the timeframe, champion, and documented process.
Action Plan
A results-focused plan of deliberate actions that will support the achievement of a desired outcome or result.
Action-confirming research
Research performed after action has been taken and a hypothesis developed, and that ,ensures the effectiveness of enacted change.
Action-driving research
Research performed without a hypothesis and before any action is taken, and that obtains knowledge that will allow the researcher to make an informed decision.
Agenda
A structural outline for the planning strategy session.
Analysis
The dissection of data with an objective and historical view.
Benchmarking
A method used to create a basis for comparison. Most often used to compare one AEC firm to peer firms., it can also be used to determine best practices or key trends within a specific design.
Business Development Plan
A plan that focuses on developing and maintaining client relationships to achieve growth objectives.
Capture Plan
The action plan specifically focused on winning over and securing work from a particular client, also commonly referred to as a pursuit plan.
Causation
A predictive relationship between two variables where one causes the other.
Client Relationship Management
A strategic framework for information management.
Communication Plan
A plan that sets forth activities and engagements related to corporate visibility and publicity.
Consultant
Experienced professional who provides expert knowledge for a fee. They most often work in an advisory role; thus the AEC firm and its leaders retain responsibility for outcomes.
Correlation
A statistical relationship between two variables.
Drivers
Actions and achievements that directly determine success.
Expenses
The cost a firm expends in the process of doing business.
Facilitator
The person responsible for guiding a group of people as they identify their objectives and make plans for achieving them. A facilitator remains neutral throughout the discussion and abstains from taking any particular position.
Financial Statements
Documents that provide and overview of how money is moving through a firm. Generally, includes a balance sheet and a profit/loss or revenue/expense statement.
Goals
Measurable targets that help a firm plan how to move forward in the direction they want.
Goal-based budgeting method
A budgeting method based on revenue goals and the implementation costs to meet them. Also called the bottom-up method.
Historical Data
Research conducted in the past that may inform why something - a market sector, a geographical site, a firm’s values, etc. - exists in the form it does currently.
Hypothesis
A general or specific proposal of conjecture, typically based on experience and working knowledge used to guide research and/or accepted as a highly probable outcome until proven otherwise.
Implementation
The process of putting a plan into effect and executing the actions set forth in the plan.
Indicators
Actions and achievements that indicate a firm or person is on the right track to success, but don’t in and of themselves constitute success.
Interest-Based Relational (IBR) Approach
A method for managing conflict that includes focusing on the issue at hand and determining what actions should be taken to solve the problem.
Interpretation
Using both objective and subjective viewpoints to identify patterns and trends and predict future behavior.
Key Performance Indicators (KPIs)
Quantitative, reportable measurements that can be used to determine how close a person or firm is to achieving an objective.
Labor Costs
The compensation paid to and costs incurred by a firm to employ the personnel hired by a firm.
Marketing cost data
Data concerning how firms within a particular industry spend thier marketing budget.
Marketing Plan
A plan that implements a roadmap of goals, strategies, and tactics to meet strategic plan priorities.
Mission Statement
A statement that describes the direction in which your firm is headed.
Network
A select group of individuals in your firm, the industry, and your socioeconomic life that have the potential to provide information that can be of assistance.
Objectives and Key Results (OKRs)
A collaborative, goal-setting framework that helps teams and organizations reach their goals through identifiable and measurable results.
Objectives, goals, strategies, measures (OGSM) model
A one page model for goals setting and action planning used by firms, departments, and teams to define and track measurable goals and actions to achieve an objective.
Opportunity Cost
The loss of potential revenue (or other value) that could have been gained from using resources in a different way than they were actually used.
Percentage Method
A budgeting method that allocates a set percentage of a firm’s total net service revenues to support a specific area of cost. Also called the top-down method.
PESTEL, PEST, EPISTLE, or STEEPLE frameworks
A method of analyzing market forces that examines the economic, political, international, socio-cultural, technological, legal, environmental, and ethical factors that might affect a firm.
Planning participants
Individuals who partake in planning strategy sessions due to their influence in the firm, knowledge of the subject matter, or accountability for elements of the plan.
Planning strategy session
Meeting of stakeholders to prepare for the planning exercise.
Porters Five Forces
3.4.3.1
A framework analyzing the external forces that have an impact on the market.
Bargaining Power of Buyers - what amount of power do clients have to affect your firm’s prices and output? How many alternative firms does a client have to choose from?
Bargaining power of suppliers -who supplies you with your resources such as software, equipment, or field staff?
Threat of new competitors- how easy or hard is it to enter or leave the market? The best market is one that is difficult to enter but easy to leave
Threat of substitute products or services - what is your ability to substitute another product or service for the one your firm provides? How unique is your firm’s offering?
Rivalry among existing competitors- how intense is the competition and what resources will it take to compete?
Post Planning
Activities following the completion of planning sessions to commit the plan to a documented and actionable form including the development of an action plan and budget.
Prework Assignments
Required or suggested action actions expected of planning strategy session participants prior to the meeting.
Primary Research
Proprietary research that you conduct yourselves.
Projection method
A budgeting method that uses costs from prior years as a basis for development.
Pursuit Plan
A plan that organizes the winning elements of a proposal.
Qualitative Research
Research aimed at gathering in depth understanding of behavior and the reasons behind it.
Quantitative Research
Research of measurable properties and their relationships. The process of measurement is central to quantitative research.
Return on Investment (ROI)
Refers to the ratio between the investment gains compared to its costs; used to evaluate the efficiency of an investment or effort and compare it to other options.
Secondary Research
Research that comes from a source that is different from the originating source of the information.
Strategic Plan
A plan that defines the firm’s long-term business strategy for achieving its ambitions.
Strategy
The actions and means by which goals and objectives are reached.
Strengths, Opportunities, Aspirations, and Results (SOAR) Analysis
An analytical tool that concentrates on recognizing and improving what a firm is already doing well - its strengths, opportunities, aspirations, and results.
Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats (SWOT) Analysis
A situational analysis tool that is based on assessing the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats your firm faces, either as a whole or in a specific market.
Tactics
Specific and narrowly focused actions that respond to a strategy.
Variance
A measure of the distance between a certain number and the mean.
Vision Statement
An expression of what a firm aspires to become.
Zipper Relationships
The pairing up of multiple relationships between a firms so no one contact is the sole connection; individuals leave companies and development of zipper relationships helps preserve relationship longevity.
