Business plans and strategies document templates, section by section

Twenty two plans, three horizons

Nine plans steer a whole business over a year or more: a three year strategic plan, a growth plan, a sales plan, a marketing plan, a council library's operational plan, a succession plan, a business exit plan, a business continuity plan and an IT disaster recovery plan. Eight plan one piece of work from start to finish: a product launch, a charity gala, a content calendar, a communication plan for a hospital system upgrade, a stakeholder engagement plan, a quality plan for an office fit out, a procurement plan for a school building and an implementation plan for a clinic's new practice management system. Five cover people, learning and fundraising: a training plan, a fundraising plan, a personal development plan, a lesson plan and a six week unit plan.

What every plan here has in common

Each plan states what it is for in its first page, then sets out the work in tables, with an owner and a date wherever work is assigned, because a paragraph of intentions cannot be checked at the next review. The money reconciles: budget lines add to the total, shares add to one hundred percent and quarterly targets add to the year. The marketing, sales and strategic plans add charts where a trend matters more than the figures. The longer plans open on a cover; the two page lesson and personal development plans and the three page unit plan start straight in. The longest run to nine pages. Three are Australian and name the local government or procurement rules they follow.

Picking the right plan

The names overlap, so choose by the question the plan has to answer. A strategic plan says where the organisation is going; an operational plan says what one team does this year to get there; an implementation plan turns one decision into ordered tasks. A business continuity plan keeps critical work going through a disruption, while a disaster recovery plan restores the systems behind it. Start from the plan whose question matches yours, then replace the organisation, the figures and the dates with your own. These are examples, not financial or legal advice.

Every page in this collection

• Business continuity plan template with recovery times

  A business continuity plan has to say which work must keep going in a disruption, how fast each piece must come back, and exactly who does what in the first hour. This nine page plan for a community pharmacy does that with nine critical functions ranked by recovery time, six disruption scenarios, numbered recovery steps, a contacts table and a testing log.

• Business exit plan template with options, valuation and timeline

  A business exit plan has to choose a way out, show what the business is worth and why, and list what must change before a buyer will pay that price. This five page plan for a cafe owner selling in mid 2029 compares five exit options, works from $200,000 of adjusted earnings to a $550,000 target, and sets readiness actions, a timeline, advisers and the net proceeds.

• Business growth plan template with levers and targets

  A business growth plan has to show where new revenue will come from, how it builds year by year, what it costs in people and equipment, and what could knock it off course. This five page plan for a landscaping company doubling revenue from $2.4 million to $4.8 million sets five growth levers, targets by year, $780,000 of investment, a hiring plan and risks with warning signs.

• Communication plan template with audience, message and channel

  A communication plan has to make sure each group affected by a change hears the right message, at the right time, from someone they trust, and that their questions come back to the people running it. This four page plan for a hospital clinical records upgrade does that with seven audiences, five key messages, nine channels with owners and a feedback loop with response times.

• Content plan template with pillars, cadence and calendar

  A content plan has to say what a business will publish, where and how often, who writes and approves it, and how anyone will know it is working. This five page plan for a four adviser financial practice sets four content pillars, a cadence across six channels, a 12 week calendar of 37 pieces, a compliance review rule and seven measures.

• Event plan template with budget, timeline and run sheet

  An event plan has to show why the event is happening, what it will cost against what it will bring in, and who does what from the first booking to the last guest leaving. This seven page plan for a charity gala dinner for 300 does that with objectives against last year, a $62,000 budget and $153,200 income target, a planning timeline, vendors, guest access, a run sheet and risks.

• Fundraising plan template with sources, targets and calendar

  A fundraising plan has to say how much a charity needs, where each dollar is expected to come from, when every appeal and event happens and what it costs to raise the money. This five page plan for an animal shelter raising $240,000 sets six income sources against last year, a month by month calendar, a donor journey, a $46,000 cost budget and six measures.

• Implementation plan template with workstreams and dates

  An implementation plan has to turn a decision that is already made into ordered work: who does what, by when, what depends on what, and what it costs. This five page plan for a medical clinic moving 14,200 patient records to a new practice system sets seven workstreams, eleven milestones to a 5 July 2027 go live, the dependencies on the critical path, resourcing, an $86,400 budget and risks.

• IT disaster recovery plan template with systems, RTO and restore steps

  An IT disaster recovery plan has to say which systems come back first, how much data each one can afford to lose, and the exact steps to restore them, so that a failed server or a ransomware attack becomes a procedure rather than a panic. This plan for a 22 person accounting practice ranks 11 systems by RTO and RPO and pairs them with a backup schedule, four restore procedures, contacts and a test log.

• Lesson plan template with objectives, sequence and assessment

  A lesson plan has to say what students will be able to do by the end, what happens minute by minute to get them there, how different learners are supported and how the teacher will know it worked. This two page plan for a 60 minute year 8 science lesson on density does that with three objectives, a timed sequence, expected results, differentiation for three groups and an exit ticket.

• Marketing plan template with channels, a $36,000 budget and a calendar

  A marketing plan has to turn a growth goal into the leads, channels, money and dates that will deliver it, with numbers that check out. This seven page plan for a boutique strength gym does that, taking 240 members to 340 through 1,210 enquiries across six channels, a $36,000 budget split by line and by quarter, and a measures table checked every month.

• Operational plan template with activities, owners and budget

  An operational plan turns a long term strategy into the work one team will deliver this year, with a named owner, a date and a budget line for every activity. This eight page plan for a Queensland council library service does that with 16 activities linked to the corporate plan, a $4.86 million budget by program, staffing, KPIs, operational risks and quarterly reporting to council.

• Personal development plan template with goals, actions and evidence

  A personal development plan has to turn a career aim into a year of specific goals, dated actions, the support needed from an employer and the evidence that will show progress. This two page plan for a junior accountant sets four goals with measures, eight dated actions, five requests for support, an evidence table and monthly and quarterly reviews with a manager.

• Procurement plan template with packages, method and dates

  A procurement plan has to decide, before any tender goes out, how each part of a program will be bought, why that method fits its value and the rules, when each contract is needed and who approves it. This five page plan for an $18.6 million Victorian school building program sets eight packages with value and method, a timeline, evaluation weightings, approvals and a probity file.

• Product launch plan template with phases, owners and launch day

  A product launch plan has to get a product from finished formula to repeat buyers on a fixed date, with every phase owned, every dollar of launch spend placed and launch day scripted hour by hour. This six page plan for a $59 skincare serum does that with four gated phases, an $84,000 channel budget, a launch day run sheet, measures with trigger points and a sustain plan.

• Quality management plan template with standards, checks and records

  A project quality management plan has to set the standard the work must meet, the points where it is checked before being covered up, who can release each check, the records that prove it, and what happens when something is wrong. This five page plan for a three floor office fit out covers six quality roles, eight standards, a 13 point inspection and test plan with nine hold points, records and non conformance.

• Sales plan template with quarterly targets and pipeline maths

  A sales plan has to turn a revenue number into the deals, pipeline, meetings, territories and people needed to reach it, so the team knows by the first week of each quarter whether it is on track. This six page plan for a B2B software company does that for a $4.8 million target, working back from 120 deals to 414 opportunities and 920 first meetings.

• Stakeholder engagement plan template with map, level and actions

  A stakeholder engagement plan has to name everyone with a stake in a decision, tell each group how much influence it really has, and show how its views will reach the decision makers and come back as an answer. This five page plan for a Victorian council park redevelopment does that with an 11 row stakeholder map, five engagement levels, ten dated actions, an issues log and a reporting table.

• Strategic plan template with three pillars and yearly milestones

  A strategic plan has to say where an organisation is going over several years, why, and how anyone will know it is getting there, in a form a board can check each quarter. This nine page three year plan for a community health service does that with consultation findings, three pillars and nine goals, priority actions with leads, yearly milestones, six measures with targets and a funding table.

• Succession plan template with critical roles and readiness

  A succession plan has to name the roles a business cannot lose, who could step into each and how ready they are, and what will be done to make them ready before the day comes. This five page plan for a second generation engineering firm covers five critical roles, eight candidate ratings, ten development actions, a handover timeline to 2029 and the triggers that bring it forward.

• Training plan template with needs table, calendar and cost

  A training plan has to show who needs which training and why, who will deliver it, when, what it costs and how anyone will know it changed the work. This five page plan for a 46 person warehouse links a needs analysis to eight courses, a calendar built around peak season, an $18,000 cost table and an evaluation that ends at a measurable result.

• Unit plan template with weekly sequence and assessment map

  A unit plan has to show how several weeks of lessons build towards a set of outcomes, when and how each outcome is assessed, and what resources and adjustments the teaching team needs. This three page plan for a six week year 9 history unit on the Industrial Revolution does that with five outcomes, a weekly sequence, an assessment map weighted to 100%, a resource list and adjustments for four groups.