Business Plan

Business Planning Software

Before you begin any new business endeavor, you need a plan, a business plan!  Good business plan software will help you take

 your "great idea" from concept to reality.  Good business plan software will also aid you in ensuring that you've "thought through" the "ins and outs" of the business - everything from marketing and sales to the cost of paper clips for your office.  And, it will serve as a reflection of your understanding of the business and markets, financial plan and ability to execute on that plan as you seeking funding from banks and other financial institutions (or venture capitalists).

We at Home Office Reports, have spent a significant amount of time working with a variety of business planning software.   Having written a number of business plans, we believe that there are a number of key things to consider before you purchase

software - and before you enter into the process of building the plan itself.  From our standpoint:

• Discipline - you'll need a lot of it to complete your business plan.  Researching your market (even if you know it well, you'll need the "numbers"), documenting your competition's strengths and weaknesses against your idea, putting the financials together, having a marketing, sales and web plan...  Well, you get the idea.  Don't expect to spend a day putting together your business plan.
• Your friends - you'll want a few of your very good friends to review your plan for "sanity".  Are you dreaming just a bit too much?  Are your financials unrealistic?  Having good, trusted friends review your plan is always a good idea (especially the ones that can "let you down easy" when there is a problem!).
• Template versus personally developed text - it would seem that purchasing software with most of the text in place would be a wonderful idea.  However, most of the template text in the planning software we've reviewed is, frankly, very poorly written.  We're big believers that it is MUCH better for you to develop your own text and that the planning software should supply examples (best case multiple examples based on service versus product businesses) from which you can communicate the unique values of your business.  HOWEVER, if you are a TERRIBLE writer, you could consider a template-based plan implementation.  But, we believe a better idea would be to hire a friend (or partner) to write the plan with your input instead.

  Web Home Office Reports

• Financials - the best plan software will give you some options in how you want to develop the financial portion of the plan.  Is your business pretty straightforward - then wizards and templates are great.  However, if there is complexity to your plan (or funding and financing), make sure the software you purchase gives you the freedom to alter what you'll need to alter to make your plan realistic and "doable".

            Want to try a quick look at your start-up costs?   Starting Costs Calculator

• Compatibility - does the planning software work with standard "office" applications like Microsoft Word, Excel and PowerPoint and/or accounting software like QuickBooks (to import financial data from an existing business)?  What about PDF formats or export to the web (HTML)?  You'll need, and WANT, flexibility in how the plan is delivered - make sure your planning software can accommodate that flexibility requirement!
• Research help - some planning software provides nice extras like access to online market research (some $$ charges apply for some sources), quick links to free information provided by the government and more.  Extras to help you do your research is a big time saver.  Don't discount these capabilities when choosing your software.
• Time - our final word.  Take the time to develop a good plan.  It will help you understand your business better and help others to see why your business will be a big success (and invest in it!).  A personal story - when Deb Mielke started Treillage Network Strategies, she went to her local bank asking for a line of credit with only business plan in hand.  The loan officer never believed the bank would respond positively, however, based on the plan, Treillage DID indeed receive a line of credit.  Enough said.

For additional business planning information we also suggest:  http://www.businessplanhq.com and http://www.businessplanhq.com/. 

Ready to begin planning?  We're off!

Some vendors offer more than one package in this category.  We'll review them in table format within that vendor's detailed review.

Business Planning Software Review

Business Planning Software*

(Rankings - best, 5 symbols, worst, 1 symbol)

* A = Amateur, R = Rookie, P = Pro

Adarus

Simple Start-Up - ¹¹¹¹

Adarus Business Plan is basically a Visual Basic front end to Microsoft Word and Excel templates.  If you are comfortable with those applications, using the Visual Basic wizards, Word and Excel documents will be very easy to produce (obviously you'll have to already have Microsoft Word and Excel on your PC to run this software!)

Cost - $$$$

Adarus Business Plan is priced at $55.95 ($63.95 for residents of North Carolina).

Time Savings - ¹¹¹¹

Adarus Business Plan is a good tool to help you put together a solid business plan.  The financial area is especially helpful.

Ease of Use - @@@@

If you already use Word and Excel - you're there.

Works With - YYY

Adarus Business Plan is designed for the Windows environment only.

Support - pp1/2

Frankly, Adarus looks like a one or two person "shop" to us.  The online FAQ is pretty simplistic and technical questions are answered only via email (24 hour response promised).

Features - iii

Adarus gives you everything you need to write your business plan.  But understand what you are getting - a Visual Basic "wizard" and "one-step" front end to Microsoft Word templates and Excel workbooks.

Overall Rating - %%%

Not a bad solution - gives you what you need.  Our concern is the long term survivability of the company and software, software support and the fact that there just aren't any extras here to help you - advice, links to helpful sites.  You'll get your software and that is all (and make sure you have Microsoft Word and Excel already!)

Atlas Business Solutions, Inc.

Simple Start-Up - ¹¹¹¹

Atlas' Ultimate Business Planner and Ultimate Financial Forecaster installs easily and are simple to setup and begin building your business or financial plan. 

Cost - $$$1/2

Ultimate Business Planner is $99.00, Ultimate Financial Forecaster is $79.00 download or CD.

Time Savings - ¹¹¹¹

Ultimate Business Planner will help you complete a solid business plan quickly and efficiently (if you have your information in order).  Ultimate Financial Forecaster gives you the tools you need to understand where you company is going (or will go if you're a "start-up") from a financial perspective.

Ease of Use - @@@@

The applications are simple and straightforward to use, but their origins in old Windows environments are obvious.  Some updating of the user interfaces would be nice.

Works With - YYY

Ultimate Business Planner and Ultimate Financial Forecaster  work in the Windows environment only.

Support - ppp

Atlas Business Solutions, Inc. web FAQ is very simplistic.  They offer 30 days free tech support.  Thereafter you'll pay $35 per incident, although support plans are available (contact the vendor for more information).  Atlas also offers email support, but has no guarantee of response time.

Features - iii1/2

Ultimate Business Planner has all the features you'll need to build a solid business plan.  The nice extras they add are the resources for financing and governmental help.  If you need some $$'s, this type of information is invaluable.  Ultimate Financial Forecaster gives you the capability to put together important business planning reports including Profit and Loss Statements, Cash Plans, Sales Projections, Ratio and Break Even Analyses and more.  The big plus for this software is access to start-up business resources and integration with QuickBooks.

Overall Rating - %%%1/2

Ultimate Business Planner and Ultimate Financial Forecaster are a solid entrants in the business/financial planning software segment.  We do wish however, that Atlas would invest in updating and upgrading the user interface.

Business-Plan-Success.Com

Simple Start-Up - ¹¹¹¹

Business-Plan-Success' Professional Business Plan Success, is, like the product from Adarus, a front-end and template to Microsoft Word and Excel.  If you are a Word and Excel user, it won't take long to begin building your business plan.

Cost - $$$$

Business Plan Success is priced at $39.99.

Time Savings - ¹¹¹¹

If you're a Word and Excel user and need to build a business plan, Business Plan Success will boost your productivity and get the job of building your business plan done quickly and efficiently.

Ease of Use - @@@@

If you are comfortable with Word and Excel, you'll be comfortable with Business Plan Template 3.0.

Works With - YYY

Business Plan Success 3.0 is for the Windows environment only.

Support - pp

Email only (no phone support due to "abuse" according to their web site and to keep costs low).

Features - iii1/2

It's a template so, what you are purchasing is a nice front end to Word and Excel.  The resources for small businesses that are included are a nice touch.

Overall Rating - %%%1/2

Competitive price and the template approach is especially good for those of you who know Word and Excel well.  However we are very concerned about support.  This company, like Adarus has one product - and a very inexpensive one at that.  The long term viability and your ability to get support are questionable.

Business Resource Software

Simple Start-Up - ¹¹¹¹

Business Resource Software's Plan Write business planning as well as marketing, sales and other business management software are all straight forward to install and set up for use.

Cost - $$$$

Business Resource Software offers a number of business planning solutions.  Pricing for them is detailed in the table below.

Time Savings - ¹¹¹¹

Business Resource Software's solutions can provide a comprehensive "look" at your business - from planning to execution of sales and marketing plans and assessing the business itself.  Any one of these packages can save you time - and money!

Ease of Use - @@@@

Business Resource Software's applications offer very standard  "Windows" interfaces that are straight forward to understand and use.

Works With - YYY

Business Resource Software's packages are designed for the Windows environment.

Support - pppp

The Business Resource Software web site includes a FAQ and areas to help you understand how to more effectively build your plan.  If you need more help, you can email tech support or call them on their "800" number weekdays from 8:30 AM to 4:30 PM Central time.

Features - iiii1/2

The most attractive version in our opinion is Plan Write Expert Edition which includes a business model evaluation function that can help you better identify the strengths and weaknesses of the plan - and your business strategy.  The other plusses are the ability to collaborate with remote team members to construct the plan (everyone must have a copy of the software however) and the organization chart builder (nice if you don't have a tool like Microsoft Visio to help you out).  We also, however like Plan Write for Pricing, and for the more complex business Business Insight.  Lots of help to ensure that the decisions you're making are good ones.

Overall Rating - %%%%+

Competitively priced, solid business planning  and business execution software.