Business planning software and bureau

Business Builder - the 1 hour solution to the Business Plan problem.

Read DataSheet 4 about business planning and the need for it. Whether you are running a computer bureau or a window-cleaning franchise you MUST know what you expect to earn, and what you expect to pay out for the next year at least.

Your expectations (or guesses) will almost certainly be wrong first time around - that's fine, just correct your business plan from experience and re-forcast what will happen next week, next month, and next year. The longer you check, correct and re-plan, the better the forecast will get.

DON'T be tempted to spend money you can't afford - and DON'T borrow more or less than you need. A huge number of the problems reported to us are clearly a result of not planning ahead, and being hit by unexpected liabilities.

On your behalf we looked around the software market, and decided that if we were running ICI some of the products available would be ideal to take care of big-scale business. The problem with most of them seems to be that 85% of the features aren't required if you are a small company just trying to survive. Some require mega-PC systems to operate. Is no-one else out there still using 386's ?

Similar comments apply to some of the weighty volumes we have read on your behalf - any business trying to write a business plan would need to spend three weeks reading the book, several days sorting out which bits applied to a small business - and then still have to sit down and write the text.

We decided to approach this problem from the selfish point of view of the small business operator. "I have no time, no expertise, and no-one else to do this for me. Have fast can I get a business plan?"

We asked developers Marling Software Design to help us write a programme which will deliver a reasonable quality draft business plan in 1 hour or less (allowing for coffee breaks). "Business Builder" is the result - a Windows 3.x-based system requiring 6 meg of disk space and a 386 (or better).

The system asks the questions, and over one or more sesssions the user fills in the details. The more time you spend the better the plan - and drafts can be printed out as often as required for consultation with professional advisers, colleagues, family and friends.

Professionals can use Business Builder to provide business planning services for their clients - and in case you can't find someone local to you with the facility, Marling and NABC both operate bureau services to send out detailed questionnaires and input the information into their own system and generate draft plans.

The information can be useful to professionals too - think of the Plan as a corporate CV. Next time you talk to a new accountant or a new solicitor, wouldn't it be good just to hand over a booklet with most of your vital statistics already in there and up to date?

Business Builder is available at £60 per disk / Bureau Services £100 per business plan.

Screen shots of Business Builder will be available
Download the Business Plan Questionnaire (soon)

Marling Software Design

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