Web Based Business Planning Service

The Blue Sky's business planning system provides a comprehensive structure covering all the key aspects that investors / funders want to know about. The user interface guides you through all the sections with help and examples and the system tracks the completeness of the plan. A draft of the plan can be produced at any time together with an evaluation on key completed sections to assist with review and revision. The completed plan is delivered as a Microsoft Word document, which includes a generated table of contents, financial data inserted and supporting documents added in the appendices.

For clients requiring help in producing their business plans and reaching an "investment readiness" position, we can provide assistance with this process. Our services cover "hand holding" for inexperienced clients ("Get you Started", Mentoring / Plan Review, General Consultancy) through to specialised consultancy for key aspects of the plan. We can also help with interim management if your management team is currently not complete or needs support.Click here and we will provide a quotation for support services tailored to your specific requirements.

Our current service packages offered are:

Please see ourproduct demonstration

Business Plan Specification:

Plan Structure

The plan is structured into following sections: Executive Summary, Business Opportunity / Business Background, Products /Services, Marketplace and Market, Management, Financial Summary, Risk and Rewards, and Objectives & Milestones and Appendices. The Appendices include detailed financial projections and management CV's together with supporting documentation which has been uploaded.

Plan Narrative

Each section of the plan is completed using a question and answer approach, supported with pop up help and model answers. As a guide to producing a concise but complete, each question has a recommend minimum and maximum word count for the answer. The current word count is shown when answering the question.
The user interface provides basic word processing functionality including spell checking, with picture/image insertion and the creation of tables. For clients that have already started work on a their plan, text can be cut and pasted from local files with a specific option for Microsoft Word files.

Company Profile and Management CVs

Data input forms capture details of the company's profile, trade and market sector classifications, legal and shareholding arrangements. The past experience of the management team is also entered using input forms from which CVs are generated.

Financial Projections

Clients download a Microsoft Excel application to produce financial projections for the plan. The application is menu driven and does not require users to be experienced Excel users or have an accountancy background.
The application will produce projections for the next three years and together with three years of history in summary form. The projections are held on a month by month basis.
The projections are organised into a set of financial statements. These consist of a Sales Forecast, a Trading Statement, a Profit & Loss Account, a Balance Sheet and a Cash Flow Statement. In addition Key Financial Ratios, Charts, a Risk Analysis and a SWOT Analysis are produced by the application.
For clients that have already built a spreadsheet business model, we provide a template for importing data from their spreadsheet.

When the financial projections are completed, the client uploads the data back via the Blue Sky web site where it is automatically incorporated in the business plan.

Appendices

The plan can have up to 10 appendices. The system automatically creates appendices for the detailed financial projections, management CVs and SWOT analysis. Users can upload any supporting documents or images to support the plan. Examples include organization charts, market research, technical specifications, and marketing literature.

Client Support Services (UK only at present)

Entrepreneurs often need help with producing business plans typically with financials, marketing, business valuations and exit strategy. It is also a good idea to have your plan reviewed and your assumptions challenged. Blue Sky can provide consultancy services on a per day basis at reasonable daily rates.

Get You Started

For clients that have little previous experiences of producing business plans or who would like help using IT systems, we will spend a day with you on site. We will help you setup and run through the system and explain how use it and provide advice on how to complete the business plan.

Mentoring / Plan Review Service

While preparing your plan, it can help if you have an experienced business person to periodically mentor and assist you with this process. This may be to challenge the assumptions you are making or to sound out your ideas and to help you prepare you for investor presentations. We can provide an experienced consultant to perform this service. The extent of the work involved will agreed with you in advance with a quotation provided.

Consulting Services

We can provide consultancy services to prepare the complete business plan or specific parts of plan for you. We would prepare a project plan for this type of work, allocating the responsibilities/tasks and timeframes between us and yourself. Our charges will be based on an agreed quotation before the project is started

Interim Management

For startup businesses through to late stage financing, fulfillment of all key management positions may not possible until investment is secured. To support the business and reassure potential investors, it is frequently necessary to have interim cover until a permanent replacement is recruited. We can provide interim management or help with arrangements for specialised interim cover. Periods of engagement and number of days per week/month can be tailored to clients' requirements.

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