planning tools available in business management

Strategic Planning Tools for 2024

What is strategic planning, what are the benefits of strategic planning, types of strategic planning tools, which strategic planning method is right for your business, charting your course.

Ever feel like your small business is navigating a never-ending maze of decisions, deadlines, and daily demands? You're not alone. Small and midsize businesses (SMBs) struggle with many issues, like being short-staffed, having limited resources, and more. In this environment, making the right decisions and keeping things running can seem like monumental tasks.

But they don't have to be. Strategic planning can help you conquer this chaos. It's not a magic wand, but it's a structured step-by-step process that enables you to define your vision, set achievable goals, and chart a course for growth.

Strategic planning is the process of laying out a clear path for your business. It's about defining what you want to achieve, how you'll get there, and what steps you need to take along the way. Think of it as a map that guides you from where you are now to where you want to be.

SMBs often grapple with many challenges, including limited resources and fierce competition. Strategic planning is the antidote to these challenges. It's not just a theoretical exercise but a practical solution that allows you to identify, prioritize, and tackle the hurdles obstructing your path to success.

Strategic planning can unlock tangible benefits for your business by removing the obstacle of uncertainty and opening up a path to smoother, more efficient growth . Here are just a few of the benefits:

Sharper focus and increased clarity : By defining your core values, long-term goals, and target audience, you give everyone in your organization a shared understanding of where you're heading.

Improved decision-making: Strategic planning facilitates important big-picture conversations among leadership about capabilities, market forces, and scenarios. This aligns everyone on where they should be heading in the future.

Increased productivity: Strategic planning provides a roadmap for action, streamlining your workflow and maximizing your team's potential.

Better motivation and improved morale: By creating a shared vision and purpose, you give your team a reason to feel invested in the business's success, leading to a more engaged and productive workforce .

Greater adaptability: Strategic planning equips you with the tools to anticipate change and adapt quickly. By identifying potential risks and opportunities early on, you can develop contingency plans and adjust your course as needed.

There are many tools for strategic planning, each offering a unique perspective and approach. These tools serve as the strategic gears that set your business in motion toward its envisioned future.

According to Gartner, “CIOs should use strategic principles to provide a framework that ensures all decisions made when creating and executing strategy are aligned with the enterprise's objectives, goals, and strategies.” [1]

Strategic principles come first, and they guide how you use strategic planning frameworks. Here are some common strategic planning tools, along with strategic plan examples.

SWOT analysis

In SWOT analysis, strategic planning teams brainstorm to come up with several strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats for their business and list those items in four quadrants.

Teams identify connections between the quadrants—especially connections between strengths and opportunities—to inform their strategy. The thing about SWOT analysis is that you can use it for annual strategic planning or everyday decision-making. Adapt SWOT analysis to a rapidly evolving market by using it at the individual project level.

For example, say your office cleaning service is considering expanding. Using SWOT, you could come up with the following assessment:

Strength: Efficient, established cleaning teams

Weakness: Limited client base

Opportunity: Expand services to home cleaning

Threat: Market is nearly saturated with existing home cleaning services

In this case, the business could match its strength to the opportunity to expand and leverage its experienced teams to make headway in an already competitive market.

OKRs work by establishing a clearly defined goal (the objective ) along with a handful of key results —that is, measurable checkpoints that are designed to achieve the target goal. Here is how it works:

Define your objective: Articulate a clear and inspiring goal that captures your team's aspirations.

Identify key results: Establish three to five measurable outcomes that, when achieved, will demonstrate meaningful progress toward your objective.

Track and adapt: Regularly assess your progress for each key result, typically on a quarterly or monthly basis.

The key to OKRs is their adaptability. They empower you to respond to shifts in market conditions, seize emerging opportunities, and pivot strategies when needed. An example is adapting to the Great Resignation:

Original objective: Achieve a 95% employee retention rate

By adjusting key results, the company can tackle the challenges of the Great Resignation head-on, fostering a more engaged and resilient workforce.

PEST analysis

With PEST (political, economic, socio-cultural, and technological) analysis, strategic planning teams weigh socioeconomic factors into their business forecasting . PEST analysis can also include legal and environmental factors (PESTLE analysis). For PEST analysis to be used effectively, it helps to have representatives on the strategic planning team with a working knowledge of the component factors.

PEST analysis is somewhat complex due to the breadth and depth of the factors it accounts for. On one hand, this necessitates an experienced strategic planning team to use PEST analysis effectively. On the other hand, this makes PEST adaptable to changing conditions. Think of each of the factors that make up PEST as levers. When the market changes, you may have to pull one or more of those levers to adjust your planning.

Here is an example of PESTLE analysis on the rise of electric vehicles:

Political: Government incentives for EV adoption

Economic: Fluctuations in oil prices

Social: Growing awareness of climate change

Technological: Advancements in battery technology

Legal: Intellectual property rights for battery technology

Environmental: Impact of lithium mining on natural resources

Balanced scorecard

Balanced scorecard is a strategic planning model designed to incorporate both financial and non-financial (customer, internal, innovation) measures.

To use the balanced scorecard, strategic planning teams seek to answer the following four questions:

How do customers see us?

What must we excel at?

Can we continue to improve and create value?

How do we look to shareholders?

Teams should answer those questions in four quadrants, linking them together where possible (similar to SWOT analysis), then translate those answers into operational strategy , individual performance goals , and business planning.

Here is an example of balancing financial goals with non-financial measures using this model for a small independent bookstore:

Customer perspective: Achieve a 95% positive rating on online review platforms.

Internal process perspective: Train staff on hosting author talks and literary workshops to create engaging experiences.

Growth and learning perspective: Invest in staff development by sponsoring book club memberships and industry conferences.

Financial perspective: Increase revenue year-over-year by 5% through diversified income streams from events and merchandise.

Hoshin planning

Hoshin planning guides your organization toward long-term goals through a collaborative, step-by-step process. Its core lies in a top-down vision, where leadership sets ambitious company-wide objectives. These goals then cascade down through the organization, transforming them into smaller, achievable objectives customized for each department and team.

Through open dialogue and feedback, every level of the organization participates, fostering understanding, buy-in, and a shared sense of ownership. Visual management tools, like strategic boards, become the canvas upon which progress is tracked, keeping everyone on the same page and celebrating victories along the way.

Here's an example of Hoshin planning in a manufacturing company that wants to increase production by 20%:

This vision cascades down to departments and goals like reducing setup time by 10% and minimizing waste by 5%, which become part of it.

Each department then creates action plans to achieve its objectives.

Regular meetings facilitate communication, address roadblocks, and ensure alignment.

Progress is visualized on Hoshin boards, motivating teams and celebrating success.

Throughout the process, the company learns from setbacks and adapts its strategies for continuous improvement.

Selecting the ideal strategic planning techniques requires considering your unique needs and goals. While each tool offers valuable insights, its strengths and complexities cater to different business types. Here's a quick guide to finding the best match:

Common mistakes to avoid during strategic planning

Once you choose a strategic planning method, make sure to steer clear of these pitfalls:

Going solo: Strategic planning thrives on collaboration , with perspectives from different levels of the organization. According to Gartner, CIOs should work with key stakeholders to develop strategic principles to provide a shared view of business goals. [1]

Vagueness: Set clear, measurable goals with concrete timelines and actionable steps.

Data blindness: Back up your decisions with data and insights to avoid guesswork and ensure evidence-based planning.

Ignoring reality: Be realistic about your resources, capabilities, and market conditions. Don't set yourself up for failure with unrealistic goals.

Static vision: The world is constantly changing. Be flexible and adaptable, revisiting and adjusting your plan as needed.

Navigating the ever-changing business landscape doesn't have to be a guessing game. By exploring the diverse world of strategic planning processes, you can identify the perfect map for your specific journey. From the adaptable flexibility of OKRs to the comprehensive foresight of PESTLE analysis, there's a tool perfectly suited to help you achieve your vision.

Now it's your turn to:

Evaluate your business context and goals to identify the tool that best fits your size, stage, and industry context.

Involve key stakeholders , gather diverse perspectives, and leverage the collective intelligence of your team.

Regularly revisit and adapt your strategic approach and embrace the mindset of continuous improvement.

In the meantime, here are some resources that will help you plan your business's future:

Strategic Planning Software

How to Balance Short-Term Execution and Long-Term Strategy

How To Track Project Progress Effectively in 4 Easy Steps

Use Strategic Principles to Provide Direction for Strategic Planning and Execution , Gartner

9 Strategic Planning Models and Tools for the Customer-Focused Business

Published: July 11, 2023

As the economist and business strategy guru, Michael Porter, says, “The essence of strategy is choosing what not to do.”

With strategic planning, businesses identify their strengths and weaknesses, choose what not to do, and determine which opportunities should be pursued. In sales operations, having a clearly defined strategy will help your organization plan for the future, set viable goals, and achieve them.

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So, how do you get started with strategic planning? You‘ll begin with strategic planning models and tools. Let’s take a look at nine of the most prominent ones here.

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Strategic planning models.

Strategic planning is used to set up long-term goals and priorities for an organization. A strategic plan is a written document that outlines these goals.

Don't confuse strategic planning and tactical planning . Strategic planning is focused on long-term goals, while tactical planning is focused on the short-term.

Here are a few strategic planning models you can use to get started.

1. The Balanced Scorecard

The Balanced Scorecard is one of the most prominent strategic planning models, tailored to give managers a comprehensive overview of their companies' operations on tight timelines. It considers both financial and operational metrics to provide valuable context about how a business has performed previously, is currently performing, and is likely to perform in the future.

The model plays on these concerns: time, quality, performance/service, and cost. The sum of those components amount to four specific reference points for goal-setting and performance measurement:

• Customer: How customers view your business
• Internal Process: How you can improve your internal processes
• Organizational Capacity: How your business can grow, adapt, and improve
• Financial: The potential profitability of your business

Those four categories can inform goals that are more thoughtful and focused while surfacing the most appropriate metrics with which you can use to track them. But the elements you choose to pursue and measure are ultimately up to you. As there's no definitive list, they will vary from organization to organization.

That being said, there‘s a universally applicable technique you can use when leveraging the model—creating a scorecard. This is a document that keeps track of your goals and how you apply them. Here’s an example of what a scorecard might look like:

Image Source

The Balanced Scorecard is ideal for businesses looking to break up higher-level goals into more specific, measurable objectives. If you're interested in translating your big-picture ambitions into actionable projects, consider looking into it.

Example of the Balanced Scorecard

Let‘s imagine a B2B SaaS company that sells a construction management solution. It’s been running into trouble from virtually all angles. It‘s struggling with customer retention and, in turn, is hemorrhaging revenue. The company’s sales reps are working with very few qualified leads and the organization's tech stack is limiting growth and innovation.

The business decides to leverage a Balanced Scorecard approach to remedy its various issues. In this case, the full strategic plan—developed according to this model—might look like this:

• The company sets a broad financial goal of boosting revenue by 10% year over year.
• To help get there, it aims to improve its customer retention rate by 5% annually by investing in a more robust customer service infrastructure.
• Internally, leadership looks to improve the company's lead generation figures by 20% year over year by revamping its onboarding process for its pre-sales team.
• Finally, the business decides to move on from its legacy tech stack in favor of a virtualized operating system, making for at least 50% faster software delivery for consistent improvements to its product.

The elements listed above address key flaws in the company‘s customer perception, internal processes, financial situation, and organizational capacity. Every improvement the business is hoping to make involves a concrete goal with clearly outlined metrics and definitive figures to gauge each one’s success. Taken together, the organization's plan abides by the Balanced Scorecard model.

2. Objectives and Key Results

As its name implies, the OKR strategic planning model revolves around translating broader organizational goals into objectives and tracking their key results. The framework rests on identifying three to five attainable objectives and three to five results that should stem from each of them. Once you have those in place, you plan tactical initiatives around those results.

After you‘ve figured out those reference points, you determine the most appropriate metrics for measuring their success. And once you’ve carried out the projects informed by those ideal results, you gauge their success by giving a score on a scale from 0 to 1 or 0%-100%.

For instance, your goal might be developing relationships with 100 new targets or named accounts in a specific region. If you only were able to develop 95, you would have a score of .95 or 95%. Here's an example of what an OKR model might look like:

It's recommended that you structure your targets to land at a score of around 70% — taking some strain off workers while offering them a definitive ideal outcome. The OKR model is relatively straightforward and near-universally applicable. If your business is interested in a way to work towards firmly established, readily visible standards this model could work for you.

Example of the Objectives and Key Results

Let's consider a hypothetical company that makes educational curriculum and schedule planning for higher-education institutions. The company decides it would like to expand its presence in the community college system in California, something that constitutes an objective.

But what will it take to accomplish that? And how will the company know if it's successful? Well, in this instance, leadership within the business would get there by establishing three to five results they would like to see. Those could be:

• Generating qualified leads from 30 institutions
• Conducting demos at 10 colleges
• Closing deals at 5 campuses

Those results would lead to initiatives like setting standards for lead qualification and training reps at the top of the funnel on how to use them appropriately, revamping sales messaging for discovery calls, and conducting research to better tailor the demo process to the needs of community colleges.

Leveraging this model generally entails repeating that process between two and four more times, ultimately leading to a sizable crop of thorough, actionable, ambitious, measurable, realistic plans.

3. Theory of Change (TOC)

The Theory of Change (TOC) model revolves around organizations establishing long-term goals and essentially “working backward” to accomplish them. When leveraging the strategy, you start by setting a larger, big-picture goal.

Then, you identify the intermediate-term adjustments and plans you need to make to achieve your desired outcome. Finally, you work down a level and plan the various short-term changes you need to make to realize the intermediate ones. More specifically, you need to take these strides:

• Identify your long-term goals.
• Backward map the preconditions necessary to achieve your goal, and explain why they're necessary.
• Identify your basic assumptions about the situation.
• Determine the interventions your initiative will fulfill to achieve your goals.
• Come up with indicators to evaluate the performance of your initiative.
• Write an explanation of the logic behind your initiative.

Here's another visualization of what that looks like.

This planning model works best for organizations interested in taking on endeavors like building a team, planning an initiative, or developing an action plan. It's distinct from other models in its ability to help you differentiate between desired and actual outcomes. It also makes stakeholders more actively involved in the planning process by making them model exactly what they want out of a project.

It relies on more pointed detail than similar models. Stakeholders generally need to lay out several specifics, including information related to the company's target population, how success will be identified, and a definitive timeline for every action and intervention planned. Again, virtually any organization — be it public, corporate, nonprofit, or anything else — can get a lot out of this strategy model.

Example of the Theory of Change

For the sake of this example, imagine a business that makes HR Payroll Software , but hasn‘t been doing too well as of late. Leadership at the company feels directionless. They think it’s time to buckle down and put some firm plans in motion, but right now, they have some big picture outcomes in mind for the company without a feel for how they're going to get done.

In this case, the business might benefit from leveraging the Theory of Change model. Let‘s say its ultimate goal is to expand its market share. Leadership would then consider the preconditions that would ultimately lead to that goal and why they’re relevant.

For instance, one of those preconditions might be tapping into a new customer base without alienating its current one. The company could make an assumption like, “We currently cater to mid-size businesses almost exclusively, and we lack the resources to expand up-market to enterprise-level prospects. We need to find a way to more effectively appeal to small businesses.”

Now, the company can start looking into the specific initiatives it can take to remedy its overarching problem. Let's say it only sells its product at a fixed price point that suits midsize businesses much more than smaller ones. So the company decides that it should leverage a tiered pricing structure that offers a limited suite of features at a price that small businesses and startups can afford.

The factors the company elects to use as reference points for the plan's success are customer retention and new user acquisition. Once those have been established, leadership would explain why the goals, plans, and metrics it has outlined make sense.

If you track the process I‘ve just plotted, you’ll see the Theory of Change in motion. It starts with a big-picture goal and works its way down to specific initiatives and ways to gauge their effectiveness.

4. Hoshin Planning

The Hoshin Planning model is a process that aims to reduce friction and inefficiency by promoting active and open communication throughout an organization. In this model, everyone within an organization—regardless of department or seniority—is made aware of the company's goals.

Hoshin Planning rests on the notion that thorough communication creates cohesion, but that takes more than contributions from leadership. This model requires that results from every level be shared with management.

The ideal outcomes set according to this model are also conceived of by committee to a certain extent. Hoshin Planning involves management hearing and considering feedback from subordinates to come up with reasonable, realistic, and mutually understood goals.

The model is typically partitioned into seven steps:

• establishing a vision
• developing breakthrough objectives
• developing annual objectives
• deploying annual objectives
• implementing annual objectives
• conducting monthly and quarterly reviews
• conducting an annual review.

Note: The first three steps are referred to as the “catchball process.” It's where company leadership sets goals and establishes strategic plans to send down the food chain for feedback and new ideas. That stage is what really separates Hoshin Planning from other models.

Example of Hoshin Planning

For this example, let‘s imagine a company that manufactures commercial screen printing machines. The business has seen success with smaller-scale, retail printing operations, but realizes that selling almost exclusively to that market won’t make for long-term, sustainable growth.

Leadership at the company decides that it's interested in making an aggressive push to move up-market towards larger enterprise companies. However, before they can establish that vision, they want to ensure that the entire company is willing and able to work with them to reach those goals.

Once they‘ve set a tentative vision, they begin to establish more concrete objectives and send them down the management hierarchy. One of the most pressing activities they’re interested in pursuing is a near-comprehensive product redesign to make their machines better suited for higher volume orders.

They communicate those goals throughout the organization and ask for feedback along the way. After the product team hears their ideal plans, it relays that the product overhaul that leadership is looking into isn‘t viable within the timeframe they’ve provided. Leadership hears this and adjusts their expectations before doling out any sort of demands for the redesign.

Once both parties agree on a feasible timeline, they begin to set more definitive objectives that suit both the company‘s ambitions and the product team’s capabilities.

Strategic Plan Example

The strategic plan above is for a fictitious shoe company and outlines the way in which it'll differentiate itself within the market. It effectively uses each step in the strategic planning model framework and is written in a way to give a brief overview of how the company will enter the market and sustain longevity.

If you're working on a strategic planning model for an existing business, your plan will look similar, but have a few tweaks to the goals, including more goals about improving sales and processes. When drafting the action plan and evaluation parts of the plan, be sure to think tactically about the actions that will help you achieve the goals, and use your mission, vision, and values to guide the choices you make.

Strategic Planning Tools

There are additional resources you can use to support whatever strategic planning model you put in place. Here are some of those:

1. SWOT Analysis

SWOT analysis is a strategic planning tool and acronym for strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats. It's used to identify each of these elements in relation to your business.

This strategic planning tool allows you to determine new opportunities and which areas of your business need improvement. You'll also identify any factors or threats that might negatively impact your business or success.

2. Porter's Five Forces

Use Porter‘s Five Forces as a strategic planning tool to identify the economic forces that impact your industry and determine your business’ competitive position. The five forces include:

• Competition in the industry
• Potential of new entrants into the industry
• Power of suppliers
• Power of customers
• Threat of substitute products

To learn more, check out this comprehensive guide to using Porter's Five Forces .

3. Visioning

Visioning is a goal-setting strategy used in strategic planning. It helps your organization develop a vision for the future and the outcomes you'd like to achieve.

Once you reflect on the goals you‘d like to reach within the next five years or more, you and your team can identify the steps you need to take to get where you’d like to be. From there, you can create your strategic plan.

4. PESTLE Analysis

The PESTLE analysis is another strategic planning tool you can use. It stands for:

• P: Political
• E: Economic
• T: Technological
• E: Environmental

Each of these elements allow an organization to take stock of the business environment they're operating in, which helps them develop a strategy for success. Use a PESTLE Analysis template to help you get started.

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Module 3: Planning and Mission

Types of plans and common planning tools, learning outcomes.

• Differentiate between the uses of long-term plans, short-term plans, and operational plans.
• Differentiate between standing plans and single-use plans.
• Explain how policies, procedures, and regulations impact operational plans.
• Explain the role of budgets in the planning process.
• Differentiate between forecasting, scenario planning, and contingency planning.
• Explain the use of “management by objectives” (MBO), SMART goals, and benchmarking in planning.

You can view the transcript for “Long term and short term planning animated” here (opens in new window) .

Watch the short animated video for a brief overview of the importance of long-term and short-term planning.

Long-term and Short-term Plans

When you decided to attend college, you had a long-term plan in mind. You would spend the next four or five years preparing to become a teacher, a businessperson, or perhaps an ecologist. Or, you may have committed two or three years to become a nurse, a medical technician, or an electrician. Your long-term goal was necessary to make sure that your daily activities would help you achieve your desired outcome. You could have just enrolled in a school and taken classes that looked interesting, but then where would you be in four years? You most likely would not have taken the courses required to qualify you for the job you want. An organization, especially a business, is not so different. It also needs a long-term plan to make sure that the daily activities of its employees are contributing to the mission and value statements of the organization.

A long-term plan is crucial to the ultimate success of the organization. A long-term plan for many businesses, such as construction, hospitality, or manufacturing, generally extends four to five years into the future. For other faster-changing industries, especially technology companies, a long-term plan may only look two or three years into the future. After that, it becomes too difficult to predict the future with any degree of certainty.

Top management is responsible for the development of the long-term plan. It is up to the CEO to make sure that changing conditions (both external and internal) are reflected in the organization’s long-term plan. The larger and more complex the organization, the larger and more complex the long-term plan will be to include all of the individual departments and functions.

Short-term plans generally allocate resources for a year or less. They may also be referred to as operational plans because they are concerned with daily activities and standard business operations. Like long-term plans, short-term plans must be monitored and updated, and this is the role of middle- and first-level management. Different managerial levels have responsibility for implementing different types of short-term plans. For example, a department manager may be comfortable implementing an operational plan for the entire year for her department. A marketing manager may direct a three- to four-month plan that involves the introduction of a new product line. A team leader may only be comfortable planning and implementing very specific activities over the period of a month.

Figure 1. Organizational Plan Hierarchy: The figure above summarizes the relationship between these types of management planning

Practice Question

Operational plans: standing plans and single-use plans.

An operational plan describes the specific goals and objectives and milestones set by an organization during a specific period. ( Objectives are specific tasks undertaken to meet broader goals. A goal may be to increase product sales by 3 percent; an objective may be to hire two additional sales agents.) It will allocate the tangible resources (labor, equipment, space) and authorize the financing necessary to meet the objectives of the plan. There are two types of operational plans: standing plans and single-use plans.

• Standing plans are plans designed to be used again and again. Examples include policies, procedures, and regulations. The advantage of standing plans is that they foster unity and fairness within an organization and help to support stated organizational values. Managers don’t have to make unique decisions already addressed by various organizational policies. Standing plans also save time because managers know in advance how to address common situations. Finally, standing plans aid in the delegation of work, because employees are already familiar with the procedures and regulations followed by the organization.
• Single-use plans refer to plans that address a one-time project or event. The length of the plans varies, but the most common types are budgets and project schedules. The obvious advantage of a single-use plan is that it can be very specific in how it addresses the needs of a particular situation.

PRactice Question

Policies, procedures, and regulations.

As stated above, the most common examples of standing use plans are policies, procedures, and regulations. These plans are usually published and handed out to new hires or posted on the organization’s employee website for easy reference.

• Policies provide broad guidelines for the smooth operation of the organization. They cover things like hiring and firing, performance appraisals, promotions, and discipline. For example, a company may have a policy to encourage recycling in the workplace or a policy that prohibits personal cell phone use in manufacturing areas.
• Procedures are steps to be followed in established and repeated operations. Procedures should reflect the policies of the company and support the organization’s long-term goals. Procedures may also detail steps that should be followed to ensure employees are disciplined in a fair and unbiased manner. For example, if employees feel that other employees interacted with them in an inappropriate manner, then they should follow the procedure for bringing this to management’s attention. Or, the organization may establish procedures for what to do in cases of emergencies, such as a fire or toxic spill.
• Regulations refer to what is allowable and what is strictly prohibited in an organization. In other words, a regulation is a kind of rule that addresses general situations. In many hospitals and laboratories, for example, there are safety regulations against wearing open-toed shoes or shoes with slippery soles. State and federal governments frequently issue regulations for industries that impact public safety.

The Role of Budgets in the Planning Process

Refer back to Figure 1 and locate the box labeled “Budgets.” Notice that budgets are examples of single-use, short-term plans. An organization’s budget is a document that details the financial and physical resources allocated to a project or department. They are single-use plans because they are specific to a particular period or event. For example, departments may have a hiring budget that allocates a certain number of positions and a total salary value for a calendar year. Next year, that budget may be the same or it may change, depending upon conditions in the organization. But it cannot be assumed that the budget will stay the same. Zero-based budgets look at each budget as if it were brand new and require managers to justify each of the budgeted items. This process ensures that budgets are closely tied to the latest organizational goals.

Managers deal with a variety of budget types:

• Financial budgets include balance sheets, income/expense statements, and statements of cash flow.
• Operating budgets project revenue against expenditures.
• Nonmonetary budgets allocate resources such as labor, workspace, and equipment use.
• Fixed budgets are budgets that do not change with increased or decreased activities, such as sales revenue. They are also called static budgets.
• Flexible budgets will vary with the level of activity (grow or be reduced according to changing conditions).

Budgets are a very important planning tool, and organizations take their budgeting process very seriously. Some managers spend most of their time making sure that the expenses and projects they control do not exceed authorized spending limits. To routinely “go over budget” is a sign of a poor planning—and planning is one of the basic management functions. In some cases, to routinely come in under budget is also viewed negatively, because with more accurate budgeting those committed resources could have been allocated to other projects. Often, projects compete for limited resources so the best budget is the one that most closely projects actual expenses and revenue.

Forecasting, Scenario Planning, and Contingency Planning

Forecasting is simply making a prediction about the future. Anyone can make a forecast—the trick is to be right or close enough so that important planning decisions can be based on the forecast. Some “botched” forecasts by business leaders follow:

“This telephone has too many shortcomings to be seriously considered as a means of communication.” – President of Western Union, 1876

“There is a world market for maybe five computers.” – Chairman of IBM, 1943

“Television won’t be able to hold on to any market it captures after the first six months. People will soon get tired of staring at a plywood box every night.” – Darryl Zanuck, president of 20th Century Fox, 1946

“There is no chance that the iPhone is going to get any significant market share.” – Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer, 2012

There are actually much better ways to predict the future than resorting to fortunetellers.

Scientific forecasting is using mathematical models, historical data, and statistical analysis to make predictions about what will happen in the future. Businesses use short-term forecasting all the time when creating budgets and anticipating expenses. Mostly, these forecasts are based on what they sold and what they paid providers in the recent past. Long-range forecasting requires both quantitative numerical data and qualitative data based on expert opinions and insights. Often, organizations will create a number of long-range forecasts based on “best-case” and “worst-case” scenarios. They will then make plans on how they would respond to each situation and, as time goes on, they will update and adapt the long-term plan.

Scenario planning takes into account alternative futures. Managers consider using different strategies under varying economic conditions. This type of planning typically involves gradual change. For example, a non-profit organization that relies upon donations will have different plans for times when the economy is booming and donors have more discretionary income versus times of recession when people tend to cut back on spending.

In contrast,  contingency planning addresses sudden market change or business disruptions. Usually, contingency plans are designed to handle emergency situations. For example, airports have contingency plans for plane crashes on takeoffs or landings, and popular tourist attractions have begun developing contingency plans in case of terrorist threats.

An example of the critical importance of contingency planning involves the Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico in 2010. Eleven people lost their lives and seventeen were badly injured when an explosion on an oil rig released almost five million barrels of oil into the Gulf of Mexico. It was the worst marine oil spill in history, and its effects were even more devastating because BP Oil did not have contingency plans in place for that kind of disaster. The spill went on for months while BP and its partners tried to figure out how to shut off the oil’s source. Even though BP spent $62 billion on the response and cleanup activities, there was extensive damage to marine and wildlife habitats and fishing and tourism industries. Getting employees involved in planning may help prevent tragedies similar to this one.

Practice QUestion

Management by objectives (mbo) and smart goals.

Management by objectives , or MBO for short, is a tool that can be used to improve the performance of an organization by creating clearly defined objectives agreed upon by management and by the employees. Peter Drucker, a prolific author and a leader in management theory, coined the phrase “management by objectives” in 1954. The intent of MBO is to improve employee motivation and organizational communication by focusing on aligning individual goals to corporate objectives. In MBO, a manager and an employee do the following:

• jointly set goals and objectives for a period.
• together plan tasks that the employee performs with the support of management.
• agree on the standards for evaluating performance of the task.
• regularly meet to review progress.

MBO must be a top-down management tool, because organizational goals are cascaded down to create the various operational levels. Drucker showed that as long as employee goals support short-term and long-term organizational objectives, MBO will help move the company forward. Critics, however, charge that managers using the approach focus more on creating goals than on helping the employee achieve them.

SMART goals are a technique often paired with MBO. SMART stands for specific, measurable, achievable, realistic, and time-bound. The SMART goal paired well with MBO theory by

• Providing incentives to employees by rewarding them when they meet key goals.
• Empowering employees by allowing them to set their own objectives for achieving their individual goal.
• Communicating honestly about what went well and what did not, and focusing on developing the missing skills.

The chart that follows summarizes the most important characteristics of each part of a SMART goal.

For example, let’s say you set a goal to become a recognized department expert in a subject relevant to advancement within the organization. How could you turn this into a SMART goal?

• Specific: I will learn about the liabilities of six major nonprofit organizations.
• Measurable: I will make presentations to the advertising, grant writing, and donor/client committees.
• Achievable: I will interview one nonprofit organization every week for six weeks.
• Relevant: This expertise will fill a current knowledge gap in the new client department.
• Time-bound: I will fulfill this goal before my next scheduled annual performance evaluation.

Benchmarking

The last planning tool we’ll discuss in this section is benchmarking. You may think that your organization has an excellent long-term plan and effective short-term plans, but how do you really know? Even if your company is showing growth, is it growing as fast as your competitor? A benchmark is a standard used for comparison purposes. Benchmarking is looking at performance levels outside of your organization, or sometimes across departments or divisions inside your organization, to evaluate your own performance. You can benchmark using several different criteria:

• Industry: Let’s say you produce technology widgets. Benchmarking can answer questions about how your company is doing in comparison to other tech widget makers. This approach is a type of competitive benchmarking.
• Geography: Your state is showing a lot of economic growth. You can use benchmarking to determine if your company is sharing in that wealth or underperforming compared to the regional economy.
• Organization: You are a small business owner. Benchmarking can help answer questions about whether the economic climate is friendlier to big business than it is to small business, or whether nonprofits are failing whereas for-profits are succeeding.
• Processes: You can use benchmarking to determine what processes other firms are using that are helping or hurting them. Are there lessons to be learned from them? This is also called strategic benchmarking or process benchmarking.
• Innovation: Benchmarking can help you discover what partners or techniques your competitors are using that are missing in your organization. Are there functions in your products or programs that should be eliminated and others that could be added? Functional benchmarking is key in technology-related organizations.

Internal benchmarking means comparing a department’s performance with another department in your company or branch within the same larger organization. The important thing about benchmarking is that it gives you a standard against which to compare your progress.

Planning tools are designed to help you determine goals, guide behaviors within the organization, and help you evaluate your performance against external benchmarks. Plans are essential, but good managers know to be flexible when conditions demand.

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• Types of Plans and Planning Tools. Authored by : John/Lynn Bruton and Lumen Learning. License : CC BY: Attribution
• Image: Organizational Plan Hierarchy. Authored by : Lumen Learning. License : CC BY: Attribution
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• description of scenario planning. Authored by : Pro CFO Partners. Located at : https://procfopartners.com/goals-strategies/scenario-planning-vs-contingency-planning-for-not-for-profit-organizations/ . License : All Rights Reserved
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• What is strategic planning? A 5-step gu ...

What is strategic planning? A 5-step guide

Strategic planning is a process through which business leaders map out their vision for their organization’s growth and how they’re going to get there. In this article, we'll guide you through the strategic planning process, including why it's important, the benefits and best practices, and five steps to get you from beginning to end.

Strategic planning is a process through which business leaders map out their vision for their organization’s growth and how they’re going to get there. The strategic planning process informs your organization’s decisions, growth, and goals.

Strategic planning helps you clearly define your company’s long-term objectives—and maps how your short-term goals and work will help you achieve them. This, in turn, gives you a clear sense of where your organization is going and allows you to ensure your teams are working on projects that make the most impact. Think of it this way—if your goals and objectives are your destination on a map, your strategic plan is your navigation system.

In this article, we walk you through the 5-step strategic planning process and show you how to get started developing your own strategic plan.

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What is strategic planning?

Strategic planning is a business process that helps you define and share the direction your company will take in the next three to five years. During the strategic planning process, stakeholders review and define the organization’s mission and goals, conduct competitive assessments, and identify company goals and objectives. The product of the planning cycle is a strategic plan, which is shared throughout the company.

What is a strategic plan?

A strategic plan is the end result of the strategic planning process. At its most basic, it’s a tool used to define your organization’s goals and what actions you’ll take to achieve them.

Typically, your strategic plan should include: 

Your company’s mission statement

Your organizational goals, including your long-term goals and short-term, yearly objectives

Any plan of action, tactics, or approaches you plan to take to meet those goals

What are the benefits of strategic planning?

Strategic planning can help with goal setting and decision-making by allowing you to map out how your company will move toward your organization’s vision and mission statements in the next three to five years. Let’s circle back to our map metaphor. If you think of your company trajectory as a line on a map, a strategic plan can help you better quantify how you’ll get from point A (where you are now) to point B (where you want to be in a few years).

When you create and share a clear strategic plan with your team, you can:

Build a strong organizational culture by clearly defining and aligning on your organization’s mission, vision, and goals.

Align everyone around a shared purpose and ensure all departments and teams are working toward a common objective.

Proactively set objectives to help you get where you want to go and achieve desired outcomes.

Promote a long-term vision for your company rather than focusing primarily on short-term gains.

Ensure resources are allocated around the most high-impact priorities.

Define long-term goals and set shorter-term goals to support them.

Assess your current situation and identify any opportunities—or threats—allowing your organization to mitigate potential risks.

Create a proactive business culture that enables your organization to respond more swiftly to emerging market changes and opportunities.

What are the 5 steps in strategic planning?

The strategic planning process involves a structured methodology that guides the organization from vision to implementation. The strategic planning process starts with assembling a small, dedicated team of key strategic planners—typically five to 10 members—who will form the strategic planning, or management, committee. This team is responsible for gathering crucial information, guiding the development of the plan, and overseeing strategy execution.

Once you’ve established your management committee, you can get to work on the planning process. 

Step 1: Assess your current business strategy and business environment

Before you can define where you’re going, you first need to define where you are. Understanding the external environment, including market trends and competitive landscape, is crucial in the initial assessment phase of strategic planning.

To do this, your management committee should collect a variety of information from additional stakeholders, like employees and customers. In particular, plan to gather:

Relevant industry and market data to inform any market opportunities, as well as any potential upcoming threats in the near future.

Customer insights to understand what your customers want from your company—like product improvements or additional services.

Employee feedback that needs to be addressed—whether about the product, business practices, or the day-to-day company culture.

Consider different types of strategic planning tools and analytical techniques to gather this information, such as:

A balanced scorecard to help you evaluate four major elements of a business: learning and growth, business processes, customer satisfaction, and financial performance.

A SWOT analysis to help you assess both current and future potential for the business (you’ll return to this analysis periodically during the strategic planning process). 

To fill out each letter in the SWOT acronym, your management committee will answer a series of questions:

What does your organization currently do well?

What separates you from your competitors?

What are your most valuable internal resources?

What tangible assets do you have?

What is your biggest strength? 

Weaknesses:

What does your organization do poorly?

What do you currently lack (whether that’s a product, resource, or process)?

What do your competitors do better than you?

What, if any, limitations are holding your organization back?

What processes or products need improvement? 

Opportunities:

What opportunities does your organization have?

How can you leverage your unique company strengths?

Are there any trends that you can take advantage of?

How can you capitalize on marketing or press opportunities?

Is there an emerging need for your product or service? 

What emerging competitors should you keep an eye on?

Are there any weaknesses that expose your organization to risk?

Have you or could you experience negative press that could reduce market share?

Is there a chance of changing customer attitudes towards your company? 

Step 2: Identify your company’s goals and objectives

To begin strategy development, take into account your current position, which is where you are now. Then, draw inspiration from your vision, mission, and current position to identify and define your goals—these are your final destination. 

To develop your strategy, you’re essentially pulling out your compass and asking, “Where are we going next?” “What’s the ideal future state of this company?” This can help you figure out which path you need to take to get there.

During this phase of the planning process, take inspiration from important company documents, such as:

Your mission statement, to understand how you can continue moving towards your organization’s core purpose.

Your vision statement, to clarify how your strategic plan fits into your long-term vision.

Your company values, to guide you towards what matters most towards your company.

Your competitive advantages, to understand what unique benefit you offer to the market.

Your long-term goals, to track where you want to be in five or 10 years.

Your financial forecast and projection, to understand where you expect your financials to be in the next three years, what your expected cash flow is, and what new opportunities you will likely be able to invest in.

Step 3: Develop your strategic plan and determine performance metrics

Now that you understand where you are and where you want to go, it’s time to put pen to paper. Take your current business position and strategy into account, as well as your organization’s goals and objectives, and build out a strategic plan for the next three to five years. Keep in mind that even though you’re creating a long-term plan, parts of your plan should be created or revisited as the quarters and years go on.

As you build your strategic plan, you should define:

Company priorities for the next three to five years, based on your SWOT analysis and strategy.

Yearly objectives for the first year. You don’t need to define your objectives for every year of the strategic plan. As the years go on, create new yearly objectives that connect back to your overall strategic goals . 

Related key results and KPIs. Some of these should be set by the management committee, and some should be set by specific teams that are closer to the work. Make sure your key results and KPIs are measurable and actionable. These KPIs will help you track progress and ensure you’re moving in the right direction.

Budget for the next year or few years. This should be based on your financial forecast as well as your direction. Do you need to spend aggressively to develop your product? Build your team? Make a dent with marketing? Clarify your most important initiatives and how you’ll budget for those.

A high-level project roadmap . A project roadmap is a tool in project management that helps you visualize the timeline of a complex initiative, but you can also create a very high-level project roadmap for your strategic plan. Outline what you expect to be working on in certain quarters or years to make the plan more actionable and understandable.

Step 4: Implement and share your plan

Now it’s time to put your plan into action. Strategy implementation involves clear communication across your entire organization to make sure everyone knows their responsibilities and how to measure the plan’s success. 

Make sure your team (especially senior leadership) has access to the strategic plan, so they can understand how their work contributes to company priorities and the overall strategy map. We recommend sharing your plan in the same tool you use to manage and track work, so you can more easily connect high-level objectives to daily work. If you don’t already, consider using a work management platform .  

A few tips to make sure your plan will be executed without a hitch: 

Communicate clearly to your entire organization throughout the implementation process, to ensure all team members understand the strategic plan and how to implement it effectively. 

Define what “success” looks like by mapping your strategic plan to key performance indicators.

Ensure that the actions outlined in the strategic plan are integrated into the daily operations of the organization, so that every team member's daily activities are aligned with the broader strategic objectives.

Utilize tools and software—like a work management platform—that can aid in implementing and tracking the progress of your plan.

Regularly monitor and share the progress of the strategic plan with the entire organization, to keep everyone informed and reinforce the importance of the plan.

Establish regular check-ins to monitor the progress of your strategic plan and make adjustments as needed. 

Step 5: Revise and restructure as needed

Once you’ve created and implemented your new strategic framework, the final step of the planning process is to monitor and manage your plan.

Remember, your strategic plan isn’t set in stone. You’ll need to revisit and update the plan if your company changes directions or makes new investments. As new market opportunities and threats come up, you’ll likely want to tweak your strategic plan. Make sure to review your plan regularly—meaning quarterly and annually—to ensure it’s still aligned with your organization’s vision and goals.

Keep in mind that your plan won’t last forever, even if you do update it frequently. A successful strategic plan evolves with your company’s long-term goals. When you’ve achieved most of your strategic goals, or if your strategy has evolved significantly since you first made your plan, it might be time to create a new one.

Build a smarter strategic plan with a work management platform

To turn your company strategy into a plan—and ultimately, impact—make sure you’re proactively connecting company objectives to daily work. When you can clarify this connection, you’re giving your team members the context they need to get their best work done. 

A work management platform plays a pivotal role in this process. It acts as a central hub for your strategic plan, ensuring that every task and project is directly tied to your broader company goals. This alignment is crucial for visibility and coordination, allowing team members to see how their individual efforts contribute to the company’s success. 

By leveraging such a platform, you not only streamline workflow and enhance team productivity but also align every action with your strategic objectives—allowing teams to drive greater impact and helping your company move toward goals more effectively. 

Strategic planning FAQs

Still have questions about strategic planning? We have answers.

Why do I need a strategic plan?

A strategic plan is one of many tools you can use to plan and hit your goals. It helps map out strategic objectives and growth metrics that will help your company be successful.

When should I create a strategic plan?

You should aim to create a strategic plan every three to five years, depending on your organization’s growth speed.

Since the point of a strategic plan is to map out your long-term goals and how you’ll get there, you should create a strategic plan when you’ve met most or all of them. You should also create a strategic plan any time you’re going to make a large pivot in your organization’s mission or enter new markets. 

What is a strategic planning template?

A strategic planning template is a tool organizations can use to map out their strategic plan and track progress. Typically, a strategic planning template houses all the components needed to build out a strategic plan, including your company’s vision and mission statements, information from any competitive analyses or SWOT assessments, and relevant KPIs.

What’s the difference between a strategic plan vs. business plan?

A business plan can help you document your strategy as you’re getting started so every team member is on the same page about your core business priorities and goals. This tool can help you document and share your strategy with key investors or stakeholders as you get your business up and running.

You should create a business plan when you’re: 

Just starting your business

Significantly restructuring your business

If your business is already established, you should create a strategic plan instead of a business plan. Even if you’re working at a relatively young company, your strategic plan can build on your business plan to help you move in the right direction. During the strategic planning process, you’ll draw from a lot of the fundamental business elements you built early on to establish your strategy for the next three to five years.

What’s the difference between a strategic plan vs. mission and vision statements?

Your strategic plan, mission statement, and vision statements are all closely connected. In fact, during the strategic planning process, you will take inspiration from your mission and vision statements in order to build out your strategic plan.

Simply put: 

A mission statement summarizes your company’s purpose.

A vision statement broadly explains how you’ll reach your company’s purpose.

A strategic plan pulls in inspiration from your mission and vision statements and outlines what actions you’re going to take to move in the right direction. 

For example, if your company produces pet safety equipment, here’s how your mission statement, vision statement, and strategic plan might shake out:

Mission statement: “To ensure the safety of the world’s animals.” 

Vision statement: “To create pet safety and tracking products that are effortless to use.” 

Your strategic plan would outline the steps you’re going to take in the next few years to bring your company closer to your mission and vision. For example, you develop a new pet tracking smart collar or improve the microchipping experience for pet owners. 

What’s the difference between a strategic plan vs. company objectives?

Company objectives are broad goals. You should set these on a yearly or quarterly basis (if your organization moves quickly). These objectives give your team a clear sense of what you intend to accomplish for a set period of time. 

Your strategic plan is more forward-thinking than your company goals, and it should cover more than one year of work. Think of it this way: your company objectives will move the needle towards your overall strategy—but your strategic plan should be bigger than company objectives because it spans multiple years.

What’s the difference between a strategic plan vs. a business case?

A business case is a document to help you pitch a significant investment or initiative for your company. When you create a business case, you’re outlining why this investment is a good idea, and how this large-scale project will positively impact the business. 

You might end up building business cases for things on your strategic plan’s roadmap—but your strategic plan should be bigger than that. This tool should encompass multiple years of your roadmap, across your entire company—not just one initiative.

What’s the difference between a strategic plan vs. a project plan?

A strategic plan is a company-wide, multi-year plan of what you want to accomplish in the next three to five years and how you plan to accomplish that. A project plan, on the other hand, outlines how you’re going to accomplish a specific project. This project could be one of many initiatives that contribute to a specific company objective which, in turn, is one of many objectives that contribute to your strategic plan. 

What’s the difference between strategic management vs. strategic planning?

A strategic plan is a tool to define where your organization wants to go and what actions you need to take to achieve those goals. Strategic planning is the process of creating a plan in order to hit your strategic objectives.

Strategic management includes the strategic planning process, but also goes beyond it. In addition to planning how you will achieve your big-picture goals, strategic management also helps you organize your resources and figure out the best action plans for success. 

Related resources

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Unmanaged business goals don’t work. Here’s what does.

How Asana uses work management to effectively manage goals

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9 effective strategic planning models for your business

Strategic planning models can make a big difference to your organization. That remains true whether you’re a startup developing an overall strategy or an established business fine-tuning internal processes.

But there are many strategic planning models, and it’s vital to pick one that suits your purpose and needs. The right framework will help you streamline processes, drive alignment, and propel your business.

To help your research process, we’ve compiled a list of the most effective strategic planning models and their top use cases. Let’s take a look.

🧐 Looking for a flexible framework to help you reach your business objectives? Leapsome’s goal management tools fit any strategic planning process. 👉 Learn more

What is a strategic planning model?

A strategic planning model is a framework that allows organizations to map out their short- and long-term business plans. They can help:

• Identify and overcome obstacles 
• Improve and streamline operations
• Reach overarching business goals
• Create alignment between different departments
• Track progress over time

And you don’t have to limit your organization to one strategic planning model. Businesses can benefit from using multiple approaches, even simultaneously. But different strategic planning models are best suited for different situations, so make your choice based on your business type, growth stage, priorities, and goals. 

9 models for strategic planning

These are some of the most popular strategic planning models. Our list covers a definition of each model, an example of it in action, and which use cases it works best for.

1. Objectives & key results (OKRs)

OKRs are a popular goal-setting framework that organizations, teams, and individuals use to define long-term objectives and track progress. To better understand the meaning of OKRs , let’s unpack the acronym:

• Objectives — ambitious but achievable long-term goals
• Key results — milestones used to measure progress toward each objective

When establishing your OKRs, create quarterly objectives for all company levels — Leapsome has a free OKR template to help you get started. Then, revisit your OKRs regularly to monitor your progress and make adjustments if necessary. You can also introduce regular OKR meetings to your organization’s internal processes.

OKR example

Here’s an example of an OKR for a B2B SaaS company:

Objective | Significantly scale our customer base and deliver our great product to more people

• Key results: 
• Increase sales conversion rate from 25% to 30%
• Reduce user churn from 5% to 3%
• Publish a successful case study on our website every quarter
• Achieve a minimum of 4.7 out of 5 rating across all major review sites

OKRs work best for organizations that want to create more alignment behind their goals. By breaking down company-wide objectives into smaller, more manageable tasks, OKRs ensure everyone works toward a common purpose.

‍ OKRs also show employees how their work contributes to the big picture, giving them a sense of purpose and boosting employee engagement . Research by Gallup links engaged employees to lower turnover rates, better work performance, and a thriving work culture. Consequently, OKRs help companies build successful workplaces.

💡 Wondering how to introduce OKRs to your organization? Use Leapsome’s flexible framework to set company-wide objectives and track them in one intuitive place. 👉 Learn more

2. SWOT analysis

SWOT stands for strengths , weaknesses , opportunities , and threats . Use the SWOT model to define internal and external factors affecting your business. Then, compare the different factors to assess the risk of a potential strategy. 

For example, if your organization’s strengths match opportunities in the market — say, you have a lot of capital, and your competitors don’t — you know you have a competitive advantage. In that scenario, you can take an offensive business strategy with relatively low risk.

SWOT example

Here’s a SWOT example for a sales-based organization:

• Strengths — We have an excellent rapport with our customers and a loyal customer base.
• Weaknesses — Our current supply chain is inadequate.
• Opportunities — There’s high customer demand for one of our products.
• Threat — Our main competitor is developing a similar product.

Based on this SWOT analysis, our example organization isn’t in a strong strategic position. There’s a risk they won’t produce or distribute enough of their product to meet demand, and their competitor has the potential to outperform them. They should prioritize optimizing their product offering and solving supply chain issues over generating leads or working on an aggressive marketing campaign.

Any business can benefit from SWOT analysis. However, it’s best to use it at the beginning stages of a new strategy and with a specific goal in mind. You could try a SWOT approach when deciding priorities, like implementing new technology or restructuring your organization.

3. PEST or PESTLE analysis

PEST analysis focuses on external factors that can affect your organization. The letters stand for:

• Socio-cultural
• Technological

And depending on your industry, you might add legal and environmental factors to make PESTLE. 

PEST or PESTLE example

Here’s an example of a PESTLE analysis for a multinational confectionery company:

• Political factors — The government of a country where we sell many products is planning to raise import tariffs.
• Economic factors — Our target demographic (13 to 21-year-olds) has more disposable income now that Covid-19 restrictions have been lifted.
• Socio-cultural factors — Surveys report that customers consider our products healthy.
• Technological factors — Engineers devised a more efficient way to farm the main ingredient in half our products.
• Legal factors — The FDA approved our latest chocolate bar.
• Environmental factors — NGOs are pressuring us to use more environmentally friendly processes.

PEST analysis lets you assess the business environment for a product or service, so it’s best used during the beginning stages of a project.

4. The Balanced Scorecard framework

The Balanced Scorecard framework lets you take a holistic approach to business planning that doesn’t just focus on economic performance. Instead, you look at four perspectives: 

• Financial perspective — how well your organization is performing economically
• Customer perspective — your customer satisfaction and retention levels
• Internal business perspective — the quality and efficiency of your internal operations
• Innovation and learning perspective — your ability to improve, pivot, and grow your business

Then, create objectives and define measures to track your progress for each perspective. Those measures will support you in planning and executing initiatives to achieve your goals. And as you carry out this strategy, you can update your scorecard to show your progress.

Balanced Scorecard example

The management at ECI (Electronic Circuits Inc.) wanted to improve their delivery times. But when they talked to customers about the issue, the organization received unreliable feedback — different people had different definitions of being ‘on time.’

Using the Balanced Scorecard framework, managers shifted focus to their operations and checked the efficiency of their manufacturing process. They discovered ways to optimize the business’s cycle time, yield, and costs. 

Despite not having a reliable customer perspective, the Balanced Scorecard’s comprehensive overview of the ECI organization provided a versatile solution for reducing delivery times and streamlining the business’s overall operations.

The Balanced Scorecard framework is best for understanding your business health and creating alignment across your company.

5. Porter’s Five Forces

Porter’s Five Forces is an approach that lets you assess your product or service’s competitive advantage in the market. Identifying potential threats can guide your organization in developing a more dynamic strategic plan.

The ‘Five Forces’ that may affect your product are:

• The threat of new competitors — Are many new businesses popping up in your industry? How easy is it for new companies to develop a product or service similar to yours?
• The number of existing competitors — How many direct competitors are you contending with? What about adjacent competitors? Are any of them growing quickly?
• The bargaining power of suppliers — Could suppliers put pressure on you to lower costs or change your business model?
• The bargaining power of customers — Are your products or services available elsewhere? Is there a demand for them? Do people have issues with your pricing or quality?
• The threat of a substitute — How likely is a similar product or service to enter the market?

Porter’s Five Forces example

Let’s take the example of a cosmetics company planning to release a shampoo with SPF 50:

• The threat of new competitors — The shampoo requires expertise to develop, which is an obstacle for competitors entering the market.
• The number of existing competitors — Two companies with similar products are poised to grow. They could create an almost identical product and pressure them to lower costs.
• The bargaining power of suppliers — There’s a large number of suppliers, so they have little bargaining power.
• The bargaining power of customers — Depending on where customers live, they’ll consider the shampoo a seasonal product. As it’s almost winter in the countries with the largest customer base, demand is lower.
• The threat of a substitute — Research suggests that no products currently in development could fill the same need (protecting the scalp from sunburn).

Porter’s Five Forces are best for evaluating your product or service after development but before entering the market. It’s also helpful for assessing an organization’s overall competitive position. 

6. The VRIO framework

The VRIO framework helps organizations determine whether they can turn a resource into a competitive advantage. These can be physical resources like inventory, tools, and technology, or nonphysical ones like patents, skills, and work culture.

Let’s break down the VRIO acronym to understand how to evaluate each resource:

• Valuable — The resource increases revenue or decreases operational costs.
• Rare — The resource is limited or you control the supply.
• Inimitable — The resource is unique or complex, meaning it’s difficult for competitors to copy.
• Organizational — Your organization can exploit the full potential of the resource.

VRIO example

Here’s an example of a delivery company determining whether they can exploit their resource — distribution centers — to gain a competitive advantage:

• Valuable — All the distribution centers are in strategic positions, which makes them a valuable resource as the company can use their location to create more efficient delivery routes.
• Rare — The distribution network is a scarce resource because there are only a few ports for international delivery.
• Inimitable — Competitors could build distribution centers in nearby locations.
• Organizational — Delivery drivers aren’t using the most efficient routes between distribution centers.

The delivery company could have a temporary competitive advantage, but they’re not exploiting this resource. Management needs to address whatever stops delivery drivers from using the fastest route before rival delivery companies copy and control the same resource. ‍

The VRIO framework works best for businesses deciding how to launch a new product or service or determining how to improve their existing business model. 

Specifically, the organizational metric shows how efficiently your organization uses its resources. If you have a high score for the first three metrics but consistently fail to capture the value of your resources, it’s a sign you need to improve your internal processes.

Combine the VRIO framework with Porter’s Five Forces for a clear strategic direction when launching a new product.

7. The Hoshin Planning framework

The Hoshin Planning framework is mainly a top-down approach. This method outlines seven strategic planning stages, which are:

• Define your vision to clarify your organization’s primary purpose.
• Develop your main objectives to give your organization a competitive advantage.
• Break down objectives into smaller annual goals.
• Set goals across your entire organization — at C-level, managerial, departmental, and individual levels.
• Implement your plans.
• Perform monthly reviews to reflect and monitor progress.
• Do an annual review to determine if you’ve achieved your goals and what to work on next.

It’s worth noting that the Hoshin Planning framework doesn’t have to be strictly top-down. Another core idea behind this method is that managers should ‘play catch ball’ — that is, bounce ideas between management, department heads, and team members during the first four stages.

Hoshin Planning example

Here’s how a car manufacturer might implement the Hoshin Planning framework:

• Management shares their vision of developing the most innovative technology on the market.
• They decide their main goal is to develop the first self-driving car by the end of 2025. But when leadership talks to the head of engineering, they say this breakthrough won’t be possible by 2025. They collectively adjust the deadline to 2027.
• Management breaks this goal down into smaller targets. One of them is mapping out what the self-driving car should be able to do in every scenario. The engineering department agrees with this plan.
• ​​Those targets inform detailed initiatives, like observing real-life driving incidents and collecting data on traffic and accidents.
• All parties carry out the agreed-upon initiatives. After a month, management conducts a meeting to check everyone’s progress.
• A year later, the engineering department has data on most scenarios the self-driving car would encounter on the road.

Companies with complex processes — like manufacturing and tech businesses — are more likely to use the Hoshin Planning framework. Their operations benefit from the ‘catch ball’ idea because it’s easier to spot problems when you filter them through diverse teams.

The Hoshin Planning Framework is also ideal for creating alignment within your company. Consider it for a larger organization that’s experienced project issues and bottlenecks.

8. The Theory of Change model

The Theory of Change model involves establishing long-term goals and working backward. Start with your desired outcome and go through all preconditions necessary for it to become a reality. During this process, you determine what needs to change to reach your objectives.

Theory of Change example

Nonprofit organizations with specific missions often use the Theory of Change model. Take adult literacy, for example. The project team would start with an ideal situation — like their country having a 100% literacy rate — and work backward to find out what’s preventing them from achieving that aim. The issues might range from a lack of funding to a need to increase awareness about resources that are already available. Then, the nonprofit team could start addressing the issues they identified.

Any organization can benefit from the Theory of Change framework. Still, it works best for specific projects, like expanding your company abroad or opening a new department, as it involves scenario planning. 

9. The Blue Ocean strategy

The Blue Ocean strategy is a strategic planning model that’s become popular recently. Developed in 2004, this method assesses whether your organization operates in a saturated market. If so, the underlying assumption of the Blue Ocean strategy is that it’s better to create new demand.

In the strategy, the ‘ocean’ is a metaphor for the market. The ‘red ocean’ is full of predators (large companies) competing for food (customers) and turning the water red, whereas the ‘blue ocean’ is deep, unexplored water that’s full of potential (uncontested market space). Here’s a list of indicators that you’re in a ‘blue ocean’:

• You’ve found uncontested market space
• You’ve made the competition irrelevant
• You’re creating and capturing new demand
• You’re breaking the value-cost trade-off

Blue Ocean example

Apple is a famous example of a business that operates in a ‘blue ocean.’ Although it’s one of the leading technology companies in the world, the Apple team still prefers to innovate new products rather than beat the competition.

The Blue Ocean strategy is ideal for small businesses and start-ups trying to establish themselves among larger organizations. Established companies in dynamic industries like tech can also use it to stay ahead of their competition.

How to implement a strategic planning model

Once you’ve set up your strategic plan, you’ll want to utilize it to its full potential. Here are some tips to make sure your strategy goes into action.

Align your approach to strategic planning with your values

There are many strategic planning models to choose from, and your organization can only implement so many. Although all of them have pros and cons, none are necessarily better than the others. So, choose the strategic planning models that reflect your organization’s values. That way, it’ll be easier to introduce your strategy and get all team members on board.

If you’re a people-first organization, OKRs are an ideal choice. OKRs involve your employees in company initiatives, make internal decisions more transparent, and give everyone a sense of purpose. 

Allocate resources to the strategic planning process

Strategic planning is like any other task: It requires resources like funding, time, and research. You should have a budget and schedule for every part of the process.

The employees helping you with strategic planning and implementation are also vital assets — offer them training and consistent support. Free up their schedule for strategic planning and create a timeline for the entire process to set your team up for success. ‍

Review your progress

Aside from planning and implementing your strategy, you’ll need to check on your progress regularly. That means monthly and annual reviews at all levels.

Many strategic planning models already have reviews built into their stages. But even if they don’t, you should reevaluate at regular intervals. You can define some key performance indicators (KPIs) to measure the success of your initiatives and your overall business health. Popular KPIs include revenue growth, client retention rate, and employee satisfaction.

Be ready to adjust your strategic plan

As the saying goes, even the best-laid plans often go awry. You may find that conditions change as you implement your strategic plan or that you didn’t predict certain issues. The key isn’t necessarily to strategize better, but to have a dynamic strategy. This will allow you to adjust your plan and deal with problems as they arise.

For instance, you might opt for the PEST analysis, but be open to considering important legal and environmental factors when they come up. You can try to predict what new legislation or world events may affect your industry. Then, if any conditions arise that affect your business, you’ll be able to pivot your strategy without too much additional effort.

Boost your organization’s performance with strategic planning models

Strategic planning models help you assess the current state of your organization, decide which direction to take in the future, and communicate your plans to your employees. They can be the difference between your business merely sustaining itself and thriving.

If you’re wondering how to implement a new strategic planning model, Leapsome can offer professional support. Our Goals and OKR Management Software provides an adaptable framework for your chosen strategic model.

🚀 Kickstart your strategic plan with Leapsome Our goals and OKR management tools make it easy to implement your strategy of choice. 👉 Book a demo

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The 11 Best Strategic Planning Software On The Market in 2024

• Julie Simpson
• March 11, 2024

By definition, strategic planning is the process of establishing a vision for the future and creating a strategy for achieving shared business goals. Strategic planning involves making decisions that allocate resources, setting performance standards, and assessing results over time. Typically, this sort of visionary planning is done by leadership, and is communicated to teams throughout the business.

Over the last few years, keeping strategic planning front-of-mind has become even more critical in our new hybrid and remote world. As businesses navigate their way through this unprecedented time of disruption, it is now essential to develop strategies tailored to their particular needs and challenges, which is where strategic planning tools become essential.

What is strategic planning?

With acronyms like KPI to ROI to CI, it can be challenging to keep up with all the terminology and jargon that comes with strategic planning. However, if we remove the acronyms and focus on the nuts and bolts, strategic planning is simply a process that helps organizations maximize their resources and achieve long-term goals.

Strategic planning involves:

• Analyzing an organization’s current state.
• Setting overall objectives.
• Developing action plans to reach those objectives.
• Measuring progress.

This process can be simplified using strategic planning software that helps streamline the process by automating and tracking many of the manual steps associated with it. It’s a magic wand for planning, tracking, and achieving your long-term business goals .

Not all strategic planning software is created equal

There are specific features that help teams ensure success when planning for the future, but that doesn’t mean that the same strategic planning software is right for everyone. Here are a few elements that you should think about before committing to a strategic planning software for your team:

User-friendly interface : Look for software that is easy to navigate and understand, even for non-technical users.

Customization options : Don’t just settle for the cookie-cutter option. Choose a software that allows you to tailor its features to meet the unique needs of your business – think integrations, automations and more.

Collaboration tools : Make sure the software you choose has full ability to communicate via chat, as well as within the project and tasks themselves.

Data visualization and reporting : Look for software that can help you quickly and easily understand complex data and present it clearly and concisely.

Integration options : Your business should not be built in a silo and only use a single type of software (at least, I hope not). Make sure that the software you choose integrates with any other tools and systems you already use in your business, such as project management platforms , financial tools, and customer relationship management software.

Mobile compatibility : While this isn’t a make or break element for most teams, ensure the software can be accessed from any device, including smartphones and tablets. It’s nice to be able to work on your plan on the go – but keep your work-life balance manageable!

Scalability : Always, always, always look for software that can grow and evolve with your business. Changing software to meet your needs can be extremely pricy and resource-draining. So pick one and stick with it for the long haul.

Support and training : A good customer service portal (not just an AI asking/responding to arbitrary prompts) and good training are always necessary. Pick one that provides comprehensive support and training to get the most out of it and maximize its benefits.

Top Strategic planning software tools of 2024

Now that we’ve reviewed the basic components of strategic planning solutions, here’s a roundup of the best strategic planning software to help you zero in on the best choice for your business. While this isn’t an exhaustive list, it will help you determine some of the key features offered and if they would compliment your workflow.

Hive is a strategic planning software built for teams that need to plan, coordinate and track their work. Made by teams, for teams, Hive has thought of everything within the project management pipeline.

Our unique strategic planning features help teams define objectives, set milestones, and assign tasks to whole teams. Hive Goals, a new goal setting and OKR software, is also used by teams to create, set and visualize progress, keeping everyone aligned under one large company-wide goal.

Underneath the company-wide goal, teams or individuals can set sub-goals which help route strategy across the business. Goals in Hive can be measured either by the completion of associated tasks, by team progress or with manual updates. Teams can also bring their Goals, tasks, projects and Notes into one centralized dashboard with Hive Pages – a one-stop shop for strategic tracking.

The best part? You can try Hive free for 14 days to see why thousands of teams choose Hive to plan their projects and achieve their strategic goals.

Key features:

• Assign, review and track progress on multiple tasks
• Use Hive Goals to centralize and automate your goal-tracking and reporting
• Automated notifications keep teams informed of changes in a project
• Gantt charts and Calendar views help visualize project timelines and roadmaps
• Portfolio management for keeping track of multiple projects
• Reporting and analytics

ClickUp is a much-loved project management platform with versatility for strategic planning. It offers a range of third-party integrations and is easily accessible on mobile devices. While it may be more involved than some of our other choices, it has an excellent customer service department and in-depth how-to articles if you ever get lost along the way. 

• Strategic planning whiteboard templates to get your team started 
• Users can set and track goals, monitor progress, and adjust plans as needed.
• Facilitates team collaboration and communication through features like comments, mentions, and real-time updates.

3. Airtable

Airtable is a cloud-based platform allowing users to create, organize and store data for their projects. It isn’t just a strategic planning software, as it is often used for reporting and customer relationship management and can easily align with strategic planning. With Airtable, you can create custom boards in minutes to track goals, monitor progress and assign tasks efficiently. While we love a good customized option, if you’re unsure where to start, the strategy planning templates are excellent and simple to follow and understand.

Key features: 

• Create custom fields as needed to track specific data points
• Designed for remote teams – access from any device.
• Real-time collaboration allows for seamless communication between team members.

4. Adobe Workfront 

For those enterprise clients, Adobe Workfront is a massive centralized hub for all your work activities and processes. It integrates with many of Adobe’s products, including Creative Cloud and Acrobat, to make it easier for teams in larger organizations to collaborate on complex projects.

As far as your strategic planning goes, Adobe Workfront offers various strategic planning features that allow teams to set goals, track progress, and analyze results. This might be the best program for you if you are a creative business and use Adobe projects religiously.

• Customized reports that tie in from all adobe platforms
• Real-time reporting capabilities so you always know where you stand
• Advanced analytics tools that let you measure success over time

Any.do is a strategic planning software that offers a free planner and customized managed workflows — ideal for any business looking to keep track of its strategic planning. You can easily access and share your plans across teams and with clients. Any.do also lets you assign tasks, chat in real-time, and onboard an entire team. Plus, Any.do can be accessed online from multiple devices, making it a great solution for remote and hybrid teams. 

• Multiple views dashboard — try personal space, workspace and my day views 

From easy access (mobile app and web-based) to flexible dashboard views (kanban-style, calendar, list views), Trello is a strategic planning software with several capabilities to track strategic planning. 

It allows you to invite new members to collaborate in your workspace, track tasks, and use color-coded labels to organize your data. Its no-code automation features help you optimize the time spent on repetitive tasks, keeping your team on target. Trello has a free version; its paid plans start at $5 per user/month. 

• See your work from multiple angles: Kanban board, timeline, table, calendar, and more
• Automate repetitive tasks and enhance workflow
• Integrate with over a hundred of your favorite tools
• Dozens of premade templates

Unito Strategic Planning Software is an innovative and intuitive tool that helps organizations develop and manage their business and project plans. Its powerful features provide users with a streamlined and results-driven framework. Unito’s unique methodology is on open-source software to ensure flexibility, scalability, and security. With an intuitive interface, users can quickly and easily access the features they need to create and maintain strategic plans.

• Team management
• Portfolio tracking
• Quick start templates – use a custom-made workflow from personal to industry-related templates.
• Protect your privacy – limit boards to a private viewing for you alone or a selected group of users.

8. Monday.com

Monday.com is a project management software with highly customizable features, making it adaptable to your specific strategic planning needs. It offers robust collaboration capabilities, powerful automations, timeline and Gantt chart views for project planning, and a multitude of integrations to seamlessly connect with your other tools. With the ability to create dashboards for high-level insights, Monday.com is able to provide a comprehensive overview of your plans, helping ensure everyone on your team stays aligned with the overall objectives. You can get started with Monday.com for free and plans start at $8/user/month.

Key Features:

• Time tracking
• Document management
• Task dependencies
• Remote collaboration tools.

Check out some alternatives to Monday.com and compare them to find the best strategic planning platform for your organization.

9. Planview AdaptiveWork

Previously known as Clarizen, Planview AdaptiveWork helps project managers gain real-time visibility across all their work, automate workflows and proactively manage risks. When it comes to strategic planning, one of the coolest features of Planview is the ability to create “what if” scenarios, where you can gain insights about your resources and reallocate them accordingly.

Planview Adaptive Work makes reporting easy with its Slide Publisher feature. It creates automatic real-time (up-to-the-minute) status reports with impressive accuracy. Planview also integrates with most common third-party applications, such as Slack, Jira and Salesforce, and offers great customization and integration capabilities. But all this flexibility comes at a price, Planview AdaptiveWork does not have a free plan and its initial plan starts at $1,495/month. You can, however, get a free trial before making the commitment.

Key Features: 

• Resource Planning
• Portfolio Management
• Request Intake 
• Dynamic Reports and Dashboards

Wrike is a project management platform with robust features tailored for strategic project monitoring. Wrike has built-in time tracking, advanced reporting, and resource management features that make it more suitable for larger teams working with complex, multi-stage projects. Wrike also offers a variety of integrations with other tools, such as CRM systems, ERP systems, and BI tools. This can help teams to streamline their workflow and automate tasks while targeting their strategic goals and projects.

Wrike has a free plan with limited capabilities. Their most popular plan starts at $24.80 per month/user, but you can get great features under a lower tier called “Team” for $9.80 per month/user.

• Integrates with various applications like Google Drive, Slack, Salesforce, and Adobe Creative Cloud
• Personalized dashboards for important tasks, updates, and project overviews
• Workflow automation to eliminate manual tasks

11. MindMeister

Some people are visual learners and for those, MindMeister works as a great strategy planning tool. The software allows users to create visual mind maps effortlessly, making it an ideal tool for brainstorming and organizing thoughts. With real time collaboration features and integration capabilities, MindMeister also works as a decent task manager. MindMeister has a free plan with limited capabilities. Its Pro plan — ideal for teams —costs at $6 per user/month and include word export, PowerPoint export and Google Workspace for domains sign-on.

Key features: 

• Visual mind maps
• Real-time collaboration
• Presentation Mode 

What’s next for your team’s strategic planning?

Ultimately, there is no one-size-fits-all solution when choosing a strategic planning software platform. From small business to enterprise-level, you need to determine what specifics you want for your business and then try out a few tools to see if it fits the mold. Hopefully, this roundup will offer you an excellent starting point as you explore your options.

Have a strategic planning software platform you love? Tell us in the comments below.

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Choosing the Best Planning Tools for Your Business + 5 Examples

Learn how to choose the right planning tools with the best features for your business and five examples to consider.

To run a business effectively as a business owner, you need the right tools. Planning for short and  long-term goals  takes time and organization. That’s why you need a planning tool (or two).

But how do you know which planning tool or app is right for your business? Paying a year’s subscription for a tool that turns out to be something you don’t need is disappointing and, frankly, a waste of time and money.

In this article, we share five project planning tools to consider while you’re on the search. For best results, follow the tips outlined in this guide, and you’ll be planning effectively in no time.

What is a planning tool, and why is it important for business?

A planning tool is a specialized software,  app , or framework that helps businesses set, organize, and manage goals and objectives. It provides a structured approach to strategic, operational, tactical, and contingency planning. Planning tools cover many areas, in both professional and personal aspects.

Most importantly, a planning tool can and should support efforts to optimize resources and efficiently achieve desired outcomes. Here are some reasons planning tools are essential in business and even personal projects:

• They help plan and organize deliverables and break them down into tasks.
• They help assign resources to the tasks, including the people who’ll work on them.
• They help determine task duration and dependencies, as well as deadlines.
• They help establish a schedule and budget to track progress and performance.

Planning tools are integral to every project you undertake in your business, from digital marketing to financial projection and everything in between. That’s why it’s critical to know how to choose the right one for your needs.

Types of planning tools

There are many types of planning tools, from project planning tools to financial tools. There are also tools for  every kind of planning , strategic, operational, tactical, or contingency.

To choose a planning tool, you must first understand the options available for what you need. Here are some of the most common types of planning tools in business:

• Project management tools : These are tools designed to plan, execute, and track progress on projects.
• CRM software : Customer Relationship Management tools help plan and manage communication with customers in marketing and sales efforts.
• Scheduling apps:  Applications for organizing and optimizing schedules, ensuring tasks and appointments are well-structured.
• Accounting software:  Tools for financial planning and management, including budgeting, invoicing, and expense tracking.
• Content planning tools:  Resources to streamline content creation and distribution, aiding content strategy and editorial planning.
• Roadmap apps : Applications for visualizing and communicating a strategic plan or product development roadmap.
• Kanban boards:  Visual project planning tools that facilitate task tracking and workflow optimization.
• SWOT analysis aids:  Tools for assessing strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats in business planning.
• Objectives and key results (OKR) tools : Instruments for setting, tracking, and achieving measurable objectives and results.
• Risk planning and management apps:  Software to identify, assess, and mitigate risks in various business operations and projects.
• Time-based planners:  Apps that help you plan day-to-day or month-to-month. Most tools fit into these categories, but others concentrate on  daily planning , for example.

Planning tools are also targeted to specific types of teams. In some cases, the tool will be unique for a particular kind of work, and in others, they’ll offer solutions for many team types. Make sure to look at what type of work they offer solutions for before digging too deep into the features.

How to choose the right planning tool for your business

Choosing the ideal planning tool requires discernment and an analytical approach. Here are some tips to help you decide about the planning tool you seek.

Use a notebook or a sheet to help you track the research and your options. Add labels for the tools that seem to have the best solution for your needs as research progresses. To help you distinguish among them perhaps rank them from best to worst.

Begin by clearly outlining your specific planning needs. What are your objectives and project goals? Are you planning strategically, operationally, tactically, or for contingency?

Let’s say your goal is to plan a project. What exactly do you plan to achieve with your project and your planning? Technically, you have a second goal, which is to choose a planning tool that fulfills your requirements.

Define your requirements for the planning tool.

Create a list of features and functionalities that are essential to your planning process. Consider all the possible things you’d like to achieve with a planning tool and use a priority matrix to know what features are must-haves and which others can be optional.

For planning a project, consider factors such as:

• Task and activity management
• Timelines and Kanban boards
• Resource allocation
• Collaboration and communication
• Document management
• User-friendly interface
• Feedback and evaluation
• Integration with other tools you already use
• Easy to create and track to-do lists
• Wide range of planning views
• Variety of features for undone work and time tracking

Here’s an example to get you started:

Our project needs a tool to strategically and operationally plan what needs doing, how, and when. We need to plan for key objectives and scope. We also need to organize our team and who’ll be in charge of what, with deadlines and a tracking system. We need project timelines, an intuitive interface, and a Google Calendar integration.

‎Research the tools and use free trials

Research and identify potential planning tools that align with your requirements. Seek recommendations, read reviews, and compare options to create a long list of promising candidates.

Narrow your choices down to a shortlist by evaluating each tool’s suitability for your needs and requirements. Select the ones that check the most boxes and then make a shortlist.

Before making a final decision, take advantage of trial versions or demos offered by the planning tools in your shortlist. Ask for or search online for tours and demos of the tool. If you can, ask plenty of questions, especially about advanced features.

Assess how the tools performed against each other and make a decision. Then, learn everything about the tool you chose so you can get the most out of it.

5 of the best project planning tools to try

Part of choosing the right planning tool is knowing what's available. These are five of the best planning tools available for planning. There are many more, but these are the most used by project managers.

Motion is an all-in-one productivity app where you can manage projects and tasks in an efficient interface with AI-backed features that optimize scheduling and tracking work and meetings for your team.

‎Key features

• Integrated AI-assisted calendar and task manager.
• Project planner and manager with Kanban boards and other views.
• Detailed task manager with dependencies and assigned resources.
• Coordinated meeting assistant that considers everyone’s schedules.
• Helps users focus on what matters most – the work.
• Easy set-up with drag-and-drop interface.

Unique selling point

Using AI, Motion automatically builds all your schedules, not just projects, according to your preferred working hours, priorities, and work-in-progress. It makes sure you meet deadlines, tracks your priorities, limits meetings, and guards time for uninterrupted work.

Motion pricing is as follows:

• Individual - $19/month
• Team - $12/month

Asana is a cross-functional productivity platform that helps teams work together faster. This tool helps organize complex projects across teams using different planning solutions and features. When you finish tasks and tick them off, a flying unicorn across your screen celebrates with you.

• Shared project boards with assigned tasks and subtasks
• Custom fields
• Approval sequences
• Plenty of view options

Asana focuses on efficiency and making complex work simple. There are several views to work on: lists, timelines, and boards. Additionally, different teams with different boards can work together thanks to tasks that can be applied simultaneously to different projects.

Asana pricing is as follows:

• Basic - Free
• Premium - $10.99/user per month
• Business - $13.49/user per month
• Enterprise - $24.99/user per month

ClickUp combines all planning tools to cut costs and eliminate chaos. This tool offers solutions for marketing, product, engineering, and agency teams. It also offers 15 different work views to help organize any type of work.

• Hierarchy in workspaces
• Command Center
• Bulk actions
• Resource Center
• Customization

ClickUp offers high-quality customization options for teams of any style and work type. Choose between time tracking, sprints, and custom fields. ClickUp also boasts AI-powered productivity with an AI assistant tailored to your role.

The pricing for ClickUp is as follows:

• Free Forever - Free, with limited functionality
• Unlimited - $7/user per month
• Business - $12/user per month
• Enterprise - Upon request

Jira is part of the Atlassian product family, including Confluence and Trello. As a productivity tool, Jira helps you plan, track, release, report, and automate according to how you and your team work.

• Scrum and Kanban boards
• Bug and issue tracking
• Custom workflows
• Agile reporting
• Solutions for DevOps teams

Jira boasts to be the #1 software development tool used by Agile teams. Break down complex ideas with user stories, issues, and tasks. Take advantage of the ready-to-use templates for Scrum, Kanban, bug tracking, and DevOps.

Pricing for Jira cloud-based software is as follows:

• Standard - $8.15/user per month
• Premium - $16/user per month
• Enterprise - Contact sales

Notion lets you write documents, organize knowledge, and manage projects in the same workspace using building blocks. Teams that can benefit from Notion include engineering, design, product, marketing, operations, and HR.

• Customizable blocks for tasks and projects
• Text editor
• Public pages
• AI assistance

With Notion, you can visualize, filter, and sort any way you want. The customizable views are board, table, timeline, calendar, gallery, and list. Also, Notion has a unique UI in black and white, so you can concentrate on your work and creativity.

Notion pricing is as follows:

• Free - Free
• Plus - $8/user per month
• Business - $15/user per month

Plan better with the right planning tools

Choosing the right planning tool(s) for your business is essential and isn’t a decision to take lightly. Use the tips in this guide to make an informed decision that will positively impact your business. Be it a project planning tool or a contingency planning framework, try it out first to see how it fits your needs.

Choosing Motion as your project management app will help you save time and increase productivity because:

• The calendar always delivers you the most important task as the next thing to be done.
• You and your team never have to waste time trying to figure out what’s next or what’s the most urgent.

You can organize projects by tasks, dependencies, resources, and time, which all work together to help the Motion AI plan your days effectively, no matter how much you need to do.

Motion’s AI-based scheduling and time-blocking capabilities will assist you in planning effectively, no matter what your workload looks like. When you set up a team account with Motion, the scheduler will know when everyone’s free to meet for a planning meeting or subsequent monitoring meetings.  Try out Motion today , the tool that plans all your work for you and helps you work better.

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Only 35% of project managers are satisfied with the systems they use.

It's not only about the tools, but the processes you put in place. However, some tools can help you create exponential growth and output while others slow you down.

To reduce that friction, you may need an upgrade to consolidate your team processes.

What are the best planning tools?

As we go through this, you'll notice a few things.

Not all of these tools have the same functionality. They aren't direct competitors. In many cases, they're complementary.

You may need more than one of these. Some are built for task management, others for synchronous collaboration, others for better meetings and check-ins. All of them should help you plan your team's work more effectively.

How to use Range for planning:

Start your day by adding your key tasks. Either directly input them into Range or grab them from your project management tool of choice, such as Asana, ClickUp or JIRA. Or bring in info from more than 75+ tools , including Github, Gitlab, and more.

Then add a document for your team to reference. Pull from Google Docs, Microsoft Office (coming soon!) or Notion.

Have an important meeting? Add that calendar event to your check-in and provide the key details about what you're sharing to the stakeholders.

You can do all of that with a Range check-in .

Your whole team will know the key details about how the project is moving forward, without all of the specs and information that task management provides. It's an overview of your day.

It replaces your daily standup or morning huddle, while providing flexibility across timezones for remote work. Reduce your overall meeting load at work by quickly sharing your work plans and what you accomplished each day.

But when you do have a meeting, Range is there for you, too. Meetings in Range allow you to build incredible multi-player agendas and create action items to move projects forward.

Key planning features

• Set check-ins to share your work no matter where your team is located
• Build meeting agendas , record actions, and share notes automatically with metings
• Check-in on a personal level and stay in-the-know
• Set goal for metrics, objectives, and KPIs
• With hashtags, see all artifacts, updates, and day-to-day progress in one place
• Integrate tools from across your workflow, including Github, Google Docs, Google calendar, and more
• Share check-ins in Slack or MS Teams
• Waste less time in meetings with async check-ins & better meeting management
• Easily share your work plan and what you accomplished
• Connect daily work from 75+ tools to top-level goals
• Free: Up to 12 users
• Standard: $8 per user per month
• Premium: Enhanced security features.

Invite your team to Range & start for free.

How to use Slack for planning:

Teams that need to be in constant communication often rely on Slack .

On Slack, you can set up various communication channels, which is an intuitive way to keep different projects organized and confined to their relevant topics or team members.

• Create a channel for your specific project
• Pin key documents, tasks, or decks in the description
• Use the channel to communicate on project tasks
• Share documents & updated files within the Slack channel
• Have status updates & check-ins from Range sent directly to Slack. Integrate Range with Slack.
• Chat commands offer useful functions — like sending reminders to your team about important messages
• Multiple channels for different teams and topics
• Integrations with top cloud storage providers like Google Drive and Dropbox
• Robust messaging features
• Lots of integrations with productivity apps
• Works with Google Calendar
• Free: $0 per user per month
• Pro: $6.67 per user per month
• Business+: $12.50 per user per month
• Enterprise Grid: Custom quote

How to use Trello for planning:

Trello uses a card system inspired by Kanban boards to help you manage workflows and assign tasks.

• Break tasks down into easily followable step-by-step processes, which makes it easy to track project progress on a granular level.
• Create as many columns as you need for your workflow
• Cards and projects are easily organized with tags, and you can also attach files and set deadlines.

Integrate Range with Trello to share team updates.

• Ability to create cards to outline and organize tasks
• Checklists for managing and marking off tasks and subtasks
• Column stretch structure lets users see where tasks are within the workflow
• Works well for businesses of all sizes, from individuals and small teams to enterprises
• Free to use
• Get started in minutes
• Lots of customization options
• Free: Unlimited users
• Standard: $5.00 per user per month
• Premium: $12.50 per user per month
• Enterprise: Starts at $17.50 per user per month

How to use Asana for planning

Asana is another popular task management tool that keeps your team management on track.

• Create individual or team tasks
• Create projects for ongoing work in multiple formats: including lists, boards, and calendar views
• Add multiple projects to a portfolio
• Then ask for status updates as the projects progress
• When it comes to working with teams, you can assign individuals to certain cards on a Kanban board, or assign them to tasks on a list project. Either way, Asana gives you a lot of features plus storage so that you can attach files, create subtasks, organize everything with labels, and add comments to tasks.

Integrate Range with Asana to share team updates.

• Lets users add milestones, create deadlines, and define dependencies
• Conversation section for designated project discussions
• Easy access to attachments in the files section
• Upgrade to portfolios for team workload management
• Timeline and Gantt chart for easy task management
• Task automation for streamlined work
• Project boards and project lists to keep team members focused
• Reliable and user-friendly task management and project tracking
• Integrates with OneDrive, SharePoint, and other popular services
• Displays milestones and status updates easily in the portfolio layout
• Uses tags and statuses for organization
• Basic: Free
• Premium: $10.99 per user per month
• Business: $24.99 per user per month
• Enterprise: Custom quote

How to use JIRA for planning:

If you’re in software development, Jira might be the right project management software app for you.

• Use its agile project management system designed with the needs of scrum/agile teams
• Create boards and Kanban boards, and you can also use it to measure and track performance along the way.
• Use storypoints to estimate work in issues & epics
• Create bug reports to be solved and track the work
• With the Roadmap feature, you can plan and prioritize work and assignt tasks to individual software developers

Integrate Range with Jira to share team updates.

• Scrum templates to manage your backlog
• Lots of features for software developers, including bug tracking
• Features to plan and manage sprints
• User-friendly interface
• One of few apps geared specifically toward software development, scrum, and agile methodologies
• Lots of filters, details, and reporting features
• Best suited to software engineers — not marketing teams, finance, or other departments
• Free: Up to 10 users, monthly subscription only
• Standard: $7.50 per user per month
• Premium: $14.50 per user per month
• Enterprise: Custom quote (starts at 801 users, annual subscription only)

How to use ClickUp for planning:

ClickUp is designed to help teams plan and track projects. As such, its features revolve around the ability to break big projects down into smaller elements. ITs feature set has grown larger and is now one of the most feature-rich planning tools.

• Plan tasks in projects but use different views (Board, list, box) to understand who is working on what & the amount of work they have
• Create a doc to share project details
• Share and map out workflows with Whiteboards
• Use the dashboard to understand how projects are progressing & who is working on what
• Create Gantt charts/timelines to see if work is on time and on schedule

Integrate Range with ClickUp to share team updates.

• Stylized company wikis available through Docs
• One space to track goals , timelines, due dates, and deliverables
• Free to use; upgrades are inexpensive and offer great extras
• Extremely organized, giving teams potential access to reference information, deadlines, and more
• A single, centralized solution — no skipping between multiple apps
• Free Forever: Unlimited free plan members
• Unlimited: $5.00 per user per month
• Business: $12.00 per user per month
• Business Plus: $19.00 per user per month

7. Microsoft Teams

How to use Teams for planning:

Microsoft Teams is a popular team collaboration tool centered around a chat hub where everyone can communicate in real time via text or video.

• Add Tasks by Planner or To-Do to share details and due dates with your Teams posts
• Connect your tasks to Teams and even conduct approval requests
• Create docs for OneNote right inside Teams
• Share files from across the Microsoft multi-verse, including docs, spreadsheets
• Teams becomes your hub -- and then you can check tasks, or discuss work in real-time or during meetings

Integrate Range with Microsoft Teams to share team updates.

Teams integrates with all Microsoft applications, which is also useful since many businesses use at least some of Microsoft’s apps to do various tasks.

Key planning features:

• Integrates with multiple Microsoft apps, such as Microsoft Planner & docs
• Notifications on desktop or on mobile apps for Android and iOS
• File sharing through the Teams app and via OneDrive
• Chat, audio, screen sharing, video conferencing, and more through Teams
• Request control to show a remote team member how to do things when screen sharing
• Integrations with apps like SharePoint
• Video conferencing has a background blur feature
• Microsoft Teams: Free (Unlimited group meetings up to 60 minutes long)
• Microsoft Teams Essentials: $4.00 per user per month
• Microsoft 365 Business Basic: $6.00 per user per month (includes access to 8 Office apps and services)
• Microsoft 365 Business Standard: $12.50 per user per month
• Cloud-based only, which may be a drawback for some organizations
• Free storage maxes out at 15GB
• Initial setup can be time-consuming

How to use Notion for planning:

When your team works remotely, being able to collaborate, upload documents, and manage projects all in one place can help things run much more smoothly and efficiently.

• It's a blank page, but don't be intimidated
• Start a block for a task
• Nest pages and spreadsheets within other pages
• Tag others to participate in your next project
• Share links like with other docs while creating databases to share across workspaces
• Ability to create documents and checklists
• Easy note organization for all users
• Task management tools
• Simple and intuitive interface with a clean user experience
• Available in both desktop and mobile apps
• Customizable views for each user
• Integration with other popular apps, such as Evernote for note-taking

9. Monday.com

Think of this as your WorkOS for projects and workflows. Teams like Monday.com because it's simple to get started and its blend of amped up table and spreadsheet views makes the learning curve easy.

• Each task has a clear owner in Monday
• Add task details with links to your other docs or spreadsheets
• The status and task priority is also clear to all users, making it simple to know if you'll meet your deadlines or not
• The timeline view in the chart cell also shows how your projects are progressing
• Create automations (or "recipes" as they call them) to quickly update Monday when new info is received

Integrate Monday with Range to share team updates.

• Simple dashboard
• Integrates with dozens of other tools
• Supports docs and files
• Visual editor to provide feedback on designs or files
• Multiple file supports, including large designs & videos
• Several views & workload capacity features
• Starter: Free (up to 2 users)
• Basic: $8.00 per user per month
• Standard: $10 per user per month

How to use Loom for planning:

Rather than giving you synchronous communications, Loom is big on asynchronous communications.

• Capture any concerns or issues with a task with Loom
• Record your screen and then send a video with your commentary/thoughts to teammates
• Loom is great for clarifying project or task details and can be linked from task management software, within Range, or shared in a Slack channel
• Integrates seamlessly with Google Chrome
• Almost automatic screen recordings
• Unlimited video storage plus sharing directly from the platform
• Simple to use
• Good way to explain things that would be tough to explain via text
• Relatively inexpensive compared to similar tools
• Great option for small businesses who don’t have huge communication or team management needs
• Starter: Free (up to 5 minutes per video, 50 users, and 25 videos per user)
• Business: $8.00 per user per month

11. Harvest

How to use Harvest for planning:

Harvest is a little bit different than some of the other tools on this list--you'll still need a tool for team updates and tasks.

• Connect time tracking from Harvest to particular tasks and projects
• Understand how long team members are focused on a task -- this helps for future planning and time estimates
• This works well for any contractors or employees who need to report their timesheets
• Integrates with Slack and Asana and other task tools
• Visual reports and timeline views
• Mobile app for iOS and Android for time tracking on the go
• Simple to set up multiple projects with individual tasks and team members
• Some automation makes weekly task creation easier
• High-level time management tools are available
• Free: Includes 1 seat and 2 projects
• Pro: $12 per seat per month

What do you look for in a planning tool?

Planning tools should help you coordinate your workflows, with features that help you check-in with teammates, assign tasks, schedule work, create meetings, and more.

You can choose multiple tools to help you move your work forward. Think about:

• How do you let others know what you're working on?
• How do you surface what you hope to accomplish vs what you actually accomplish?
• What about meetings ? How do those fit in your workflows (for notes, action items, and tasks?)
• How will teams work asynchronously--both with their communication and their files + tasks?
• How is your planning tool a help and not a hindrance that interferes with productivity?
• How will you build a custom workflow that has the integrations you need?
• How will you schedule meetings and check-ins ?
• How will report and analyze project metrics?

Range is one of the most powerful team tools you can add to your tech stack and workflow. Start here and let us know what you think.

Try Range for Free

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The Ultimate Guide To Using Project Planning Tools

October 20, 2021 - 7 min read

There’s no getting around it: Project planning tools are the foundation of any successful project . Without the right project planning tools, project managers and their teams risk missing or forgetting key details like tasks, dependencies, and resources that are critical to on-time and on-budget delivery. With so much riding on any given project, that’s a risk that business owners, stakeholders, and PMs can’t afford to take. 

So, what kind of project planner tools will help you and your teams get the most out of the planning phase? What are the best project planning tools and project planning apps out there? Read on to find out!

What are project planning tools?

Project planning is the process of putting structures, guidelines, and timetables in place at the start of a project to set yourself up for success. Project planning includes estimating costs, identifying and assigning tasks, organizing teams, setting deadlines, resource planning for professional services , and more. That’s a lot for any project manager to take on. That’s precisely why the right set of project planning tools is so crucial. 

Project planning tools are the instruments that help you during the critical planning phase of a project. Project planning tools can include: 

• Software systems
• Scheduling apps or programs
• Gantt charts
• PERT charts
• Kanban boards
• Scrum boards
• Flowcharts 
• Checklists 
• Reporting systems and dashboards

For example, project planner tools like templates can save you and your team tons of time on tasks and campaigns that are often repeated from project to project. Templates are reusable project outlines that reduce the amount of rework and serve as starting points for new work. With templates, you can set up projects, tasks, reports, and other files without having to start from scratch every time. 

Depending on the project management methodology your team or organization uses, your project planning tools may also include Gantt charts or PERT charts . If you follow the Agile PM method, you’ll likely utilize a Scrum or Kanban board as well. At their core, all of these project planner tools are designed to help you visualize projects from beginning to end, along with the individual tasks that comprise them. 

What are the advantages of project planning tools?

Harnessing a powerful set of project planning tools is advantageous for a few different reasons. First, project planning software facilitates full team collaboration by making file sharing a snap. With a tool like Wrike , team members, managers, and stakeholders can access all the files, checklists, charts, templates, assets, and plans related to a project in one single, centralized source. Online planning tools can also help with file management so that critical documents don’t get lost in endless email chains. 

Another great thing about project planning tools is that they can help you identify and plan for known risks that could threaten the success of your project. In fact, a RAID log is a project planning tool designed specifically to define and track all the risks, assumptions, issues, and dependencies associated with a project. RAID logs are particularly useful during the planning and execution phases of a project. 

Additionally, project planning tools improve overall project efficiency by helping you:  

• Identify, organize, and prioritize tasks 
• Set due dates for those tasks and assign them to individual team members 
• Structure review and approval processes for project assets and deliverables

Features to look for in project planning apps

As important as business resource planning is to the success of your project, it’s critical to choose project planning apps that provide the features you really need to optimize your planning phase. 

First, any project planning strategy should include a tool or app that allows you to compile documents and teams at the outset of the project. 

Additionally, you’ll also want some type of feature that facilitates capacity planning . Capacity planning is the process of determining how to organize your resources so that you optimize your ability to achieve the project’s stated objectives with the resources available to you. 

Finally, you’ll want to look for a resource planning feature so that you can utilize your resources effectively while avoiding burnout and project delays. 

• Task management Task management is another highly desirable feature to look for in a project planning app or software solution. Many tools offer the ability to create tasks and sub-tasks; assign task owners, reviewers, and approvers; give each task a deadline; and classify and organize tasks according to priority and/or dependencies. 
• Ready-to-use templates Another highly useful feature found in many project planning apps and online planning tools is templates. Templates allow you to cut down production time on projects and tasks that your teams repeat on a regular basis. Templates for Gantt charts and Scrum or Kanban boards will also help you visualize projects and all their moving pieces — which is a huge benefit during the planning phase. 
• Ability to integrate with other apps Finally, you’ll want to ensure that the project planning app or system you choose is capable of integrating with the other key apps and tools that power your project teams. Some of the big ones include Slack , Gmail, Google Drive, Adobe Creative Cloud , and Salesforce . 

Are project planning tools expensive?

As you’d expect, there are plenty of project planning tools on the market that can suit any budget — from free tools all the way to enterprise-grade software. If you’re a startup of 10 people, you probably don’t need to invest as heavily in project planning technology as a Fortune 500 company. 

Of course, it’s important to also consider the cost of not using project planning tools to help organize and structure projects from the outset. Failing to properly plan can lead to avoidable issues that can ultimately cause project failure. These might include a blown budget, a blown deadline, or even worse, a lost customer. 

Introducing Wrike: The best project planning tool for teams

With robust task and file management features, capacity and resource planning tools, extensive integrations, and templates galore, Wrike is the best project planning tool available for PMs in organizations of all sizes. With Wrike, you can build everything from customized Kanban boards that automatically organize tasks by due date and priority to one-click Gantt charts that allow you to visualize priorities, create dependencies, and adjust as needed. 

Wrike is available in a range of plans and packages to suit every budget. Get started today with a free trial and see the difference Wrike can make in your next project!

Jeremy McAbee

Jeremy is a former contributor of Wrike.

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15 Best Project Planning Software Tools for 2024

Senior Content Marketing Manager

March 31, 2024

Remote work is the name of the game these days—and that’s not going anywhere.

We all got a taste of what it’s like to join meetings from the comfort of our pajama pants, and we never looked back!

But we’re not alone here. In fact, three-quarters of the global workforce believes remote work is the new normal, and companies have followed suit as roughly 85% of businesses now offer flexible work policies.

With this rise in dispersed teams comes a greater need for powerful and collaborative project management software to align members on key goals and streamline daily processes.

Whether you work from home, from the office, or a little of both, project planning software is a must-have tool. Designed to assist you in every step of your workflow, project management software cuts down the time-consuming nature of project planning with features for managing tasks, teams, communication, and productivity from anywhere and at any time.

The issue we face isn’t whether we need project management software. It’s which one do we choose? Of the hundreds of tools on the market, we’ve done our homework to bring you the best of the best.

Follow along for everything you need to know about the best project management software including the top 15 tools for your business, key features, pros and cons, pricing plans, customer ratings, and more. 🙌🏼

3. Monday.com

5. teamgantt, 6. meistertask, 7. proofhub, 8. teamwork.

What to Look for in a Project Planning Tool

The right project planning tool for you hinges entirely on your team’s unique needs. This includes the size of your team or company, the product or service you provide, whether your team collaborates in real-time , budget, and more.

That’s not all though.

More than just finding a tool that can do it all, it’s important to invest in software your team will actually use which makes UI, ease of use, and convenience a major factor to consider.

So, how do these factors really impact your decision long term and what else should you keep an eye out for before settling on your next project management software? We’ll show you!

Ease of use : Efficient project planning software should provide an intuitive and uncluttered user interface without compromising its functionality. The more accessible and easy to navigate the tool is, the more attractive it will be to each team member. Plus, fewer headaches! While the right software shouldn’t require hours-long tech training, still make sure there are plenty of customer support resources like webinars , help documents, and YouTube channels for fast solutions.

Features and functionality : Consider the software’s ability to support key project planning strategies and tools like Gantt charts , multiple project views, workflow automation , workload management , and more.

Collaboration : Especially if your team works asynchronously , make sure your project management software supports in-app chat, integrates with communication tools like Slack, and has the capacity to add comments.

Customization : Project management software works for you —not the other way around. Choose a tool that is flexible enough to scale with you and seamlessly align with your current processes and project plans . This will not only help the team adopt the tool faster but give you a fresh perspective on your workflows.

Integrations : Integrations extend the functionality of any project management software and help streamline your processes faster. Merging the power of project management software with tools you already use to manage your email, scheduling, meetings, data, and more.

Price : With so many tools at your disposal, there is no reason why you should have to break the bank for the project planning tool of your dreams. You don’t need an enterprise-worthy budget for rich features and zero compromises, trust us on this.

Customer satisfaction : Purchasing software without reading user reviews is like ordering seafood from a restaurant before looking it up on Yelp—it’ll come back to haunt you. Sure, a tool might sound great on paper, but what do its top customers think? Check official review sites like G2 or Capterra to see how well products follow through on their promises.

That might sound like a lot to ask of a single software, but it’s completely doable! We’ve sorted through every contender to bring you 10 of the very best project management tools for every team.

15 Best Project Planning Software Tools in 2024

ClickUp is a productivity platform designed to bring teams and work together—all in one place. From daily tasks to complex projects, ClickUp’s intuitive interface creates a seamless experience for everyone to stay connected. Whether your team works asynchronously or in real-time, you’ll have the context and tools needed to keep projects moving.

Take your productivity to new heights by integrating ClickUp with your favorite apps and software so you’ll always have a single source of truth. Plus, ClickUp integrates with 1,000+ other work tools including Slack, Hubspot, Zapier, Chrome, Microsoft Teams, and more!

ClickUp features

• User roles and permissions that make it easy to work with internal and external partners
• Sharable screen recordings that can be converted directly into a task
• Automations that will simplify your workflows
• Project planning templates for every use case in the ClickUp Template Center

ClickUp pros

• Board View is separated by status columns so you can visualize where you are in your workflow with each task (useful for Sprint planning )
• Threaded comments that you can delegate to the team from any task, Doc, or Whiteboard
• Capacity planning tools like project briefs for resource management
• Task management tools like global time tracking and time estimates

ClickUp cons

• The level of customizability and the number of features available may lead to a learning curve

ClickUp pricing

• Free Forever
• Unlimited : $7 per month per user
• Business : $12 per month per user
• Enterprise : Contact for pricing

ClickUp ratings and reviews

• G2 : 4.7/5 (1,400+reviews)
• Capterra : 4.7/5 (2,000+ reviews)

Bonus: Download ClickUp’s project plan template for website development , non-profits , or even writing a book .

Hive is a project management software designed with a focus on team collaboration which shows in its variety of communication features. Project teams can collaborate with Hive Chat, Hive Mail, comments, project access, and multiple and shared inboxes.

With Hive , you can choose between the numerous ways to get your team focused on what you are working on through messages, card priority levels to alert them of urgent tasks, and tagging them in the comments.

Hive features

• Flexible views
• Instant messaging functionality
• Executive summary templates
• Portfolio management
• Time tracking
• Kanban boards, Gantt charts, tables, and calendars for easy planning
• Excellent communication features
• Intuitive and  pleasant user interface
• Easy to integrate with various tools
• Steep learning curve due to the vastness of capabilities
• Limited functionality for mobile versions
• Limited views

Hive pricing

• Solo : Free
• Teams : $12/month per user
• Enterprise : Contact Hive for details

Hive ratings and reviews

• G2: 4.6/5 (370+ reviews)
• Capterra: 4.5/5 (150+ reviews)

Monday.com is one of the popular project management software helping project managers handle basic and complex projects. The platform enables users to easily collaborate, customize workflows, track project progress, and analyze information.

Built for transparency and collaboration, Monday offers features that allow you to handle all your tasks. Teams can view data through highly visual dashboards and manage multiple projects efficiently.

Monday features

• Resource management
• Third-party collaboration
• Reporting dashboards
• Numerous custom integrations

Monday p ros  

• Ability to add custom integrations with Open API architecture
• You can add freelancers as well as third-party agents
• Enables detailed reporting

Monday cons

• Integration with store inventory can be confusing 
• No download or export button

Monday pricing

• Free:  Accommodates up to 2 seats
• Basic:  $12 per seat/month ($36 billed monthly)
• Standard:  $14 per seat/month ($42 billed monthly)
• Pro:  $24 per seat/month ($72 billed monthly)

Monday ratings and reviews

• G2 : 4.7/5 (5,000+ reviews)
• Capterra: 4.6/5 (2,000+ reviews)

This is another leading, free project management app built for teams and freelancers in various industries. nTask offers a simplified user interface in a robust software solution incorporating sophisticated and powerful features to manage projects in all phases.

nTask provides numerous features that help you monitor multiple projects at the same time. It lets you set the basis for an efficient project management system with its transparent and easy-to-use collaboration channel.

nTask features

• Multiple workspaces
• Visual project management to track projects
• Ability to add comments or convert comments to tasks
• Gantt charts to monitor project progress
• Efficient tracking
• Optimizes tasks and planning with kanban board views
• Custom statuses for a personalized workflow 
• Lacks advanced reporting features
• Not built for large teams

nTask pricing

• Premium : $3/month per user
• Business : $8/month per user
• Enterprise : Contact nTask for details

nTask ratings and reviews

• G2 : 4.4/5 (10+ reviews)
• Capterra : 4.1/5 (10+ reviews)

TeamGantt is project planning and project management software helping project managers, teams, and organizations visualize project plans in an easy-to-use online Gantt chart.

It helps teams set project milestones, manage projects, create dependencies, and receive real-time updates. It also provides functionality to share project plans with clients, vendors, or other stakeholders—keeping everyone informed and aligned on project goals.

TeamGantt features

• Easy-to-access availability tab for resource management
• Portfolio views and reports
• Planned timeline vs. actual timeline

TeamGantt pros

• Flexible setup for project tracking
• No recipient logging in when sharing charts
• Available on Mac (Check out the best project management software for Mac )

TeamGantt cons

• Complex dependency functionality
• No in-app notifications
• Views are often behind changes

TeamGantt pricing

• Limited Free plan
• Lite: $19/month
• Pro: $49/month
• Enterprise: Starting at $99/month

TeamGantt ratings and reviews

• G2 : 4.8/5 (800+ reviews)
• Capterra : 4.6/5 (189+ reviews)

Check out these TeamGantt alternatives !

MeisterTask is a project management software designed to help teams of all sizes and across industries collaborate on their project planning, tasks, and deadlines. It’s an Agile planning tool that offers intuitive task boards for project planning and task tracking.

MeisterTask features

• Activity stream on each board for team collaboration
• Customizable project dashboards with real-time updates
• Comment tags help keep everyone informed 
• User friendly

MeisterTask pros

• Allows numerous integrations with solutions like Slack, Microsoft Teams, and GitHub
• Ability to customize project boards
• Easy team collaboration

MeisterTask cons

• Mobile app is not as powerful as the desktop app (delayed notifications)
• No dedicated task priorities feature

MeisterTask pricing

• Pro Plan: $14.50/month per user
• Business Plan: $29/month per user

MeisterTask ratings and reviews

• G2: 4.6/5 (150+ reviews)
• Capterra: 4.7/5 (850+ reviews)

ProofHub is a project management software that enables teams to complete time-bound projects. It is a highly customizable platform project managers use to personalize reports, workflows, dashboards, and request forms.

ProofHub’s visual interface lets you quickly determine priorities by moving between powerful Kanban boards, table views, and interactive drag-and-drop Gantt charts to stay on top.

ProofHub features

• Good team collaboration
• Resource allocation
• Calendars for proper scheduling
• Interactive Gantt charts
• Customizable dashboard 

ProofHub pros

• Customizability features
• Effective security features such as custom access rights
• Powerful mobile app for Android and iOS

ProofHub cons

• No additional functionality like budgeting
• Not built for complicated project management

ProofHub pricing

• Essential: $45/month
• Ultimate Control: $89/month

ProofHub ratings and reviews

• G2: 4.5/5 (30+ reviews)
• Capterra: 4.4/5 (40+ reviews)

Teamwork is among the best project management software due to its core modules that focus on task management and, particularly, project planning. Teamwork’s Gantt charts, milestones feature, desktop timer for time tracking, and clean user interface makes this software a winning choice.

Teamwork features

• Intuitive task boards
• Email integration
• Color project templates and themes
• Budget management with invoicing capabilities

Teamwork pros

• Lots of customizability
• Numerous native features, like an invoicing tool for users with built-in timesheets
• Functional mobile apps

Teamwork cons

• The free plan is limited to only small teams working on a maximum of two or fewer projects
• Not meant for complex project management

Teamwork pricing

• Starter: $5.99/user per month
• Deliver: $9.99/user per month
• Grow: $19.99/user per month
• Enterprise: Contact Teamwork for details

Teamwork ratings and reviews

• G2: 4.4/5 (1,000+ reviews)
• Capterra: 4.5/5 (600+ reviews)

Toggl is a project management tool that helps project managers keep track of project tasks and prioritize their workload. It comes with powerful project, task, and time management features that make project tracking and collaboration straightforward.

Toggl features

• Simple drag-and-drop interface for unlimited project plan timelines
• Backlog to save unscheduled project tasks
• Color-coded milestones
• Highly visual
• Allows unlimited project timelines
• Best for time tracking
• Manage workloads visually
• Save unplanned tasks for later
• Lacks extensive features
• The free plan is limited to solo users

Toggl pricing

• Team plan : $9/user per month
• Business:  $15/user per month
• Enterprise plan : Contact Toggl for details

Toggl ratings and reviews

• G2: 4.6/5 (1,500+ reviews)
• Capterra: 4.7/5 (1,800+ reviews)

Another simple but fantastic project management tool on the list is Trello . Famous for its iconic cards, this application functions like supercharged sticky notes. It is an excellent tool for managing projects and various tasks and features associated with the project using Trello boards.

The Trello boards display all the information required by the project manager to organize all the activities team members must complete.

Trello features

• Easy drag-and-drop functionality
• Simple task management solution
• Allow power-ups for additional functionality
• Deadline reminders
• Email notifications

Trello pros

• User-friendly, simple interface
• Easy scheduling and task management
• Easy to upload files and attachments
• Ability to archive card records

Trello cons

• No views apart from Kanban views
• Lacks reporting functionality
• It relies on various external integrations
• No advanced features such as Gantt charts, Mind maps, and Docs

Trello pricing

• Standard : $5/user per month
• Premium : $10/user per month
• Enterprise: $17.50/user per month

Trello ratings and reviews

• G2: 4.4/5 (12,000+ reviews)
• Capterra: 4.5/5 (22,000+ reviews)

Wrike is a powerful project management tool that offers a comprehensive solution for planning, tracking, and managing projects of all sizes. With features like Gantt charts, task dependencies, and real-time updates, Wrike helps teams stay organized and productive.

Wrike features

• Gantt charts for visual project planning and timeline management
• Customizable workflows to suit different project needs
• Task dependencies to ensure efficient task sequencing
• Time tracking and reporting for better project management
• Robust project management features for planning and tracking tasks
• Collaboration tools for seamless team communication and file sharing
• Automation capabilities to streamline repetitive tasks
• Integration with popular tools like Google Workspace, Microsoft Teams, and more
• Steeper learning curve for new users compared to simpler project management tools
• Pricing may be on the higher end for smaller teams or individuals
• Limited customization options for reports and dashboards

Wrike  pricing

• Team:  $9.80/month per user, billed annually
• Business:  $24.80/month per user, billed annually
• Enterprise:  Contact for pricing
• Pinnacle:  Contact for pricing

Wrike ratings and reviews

• G2:  4.2/5 (3,500+ reviews)
• Capterra:  4.3/5 (2,500+ reviews)

Check out these Wrike alternatives !

Asana is a popular project management tool known for its user-friendly interface and extensive features for task management, team collaboration, and project tracking. With options for both simple to-do lists and complex project workflows, Asana caters to teams of all sizes and industries.

Asana features

• Task assignment and due dates for efficient task management
• Project timelines and calendar views for better planning
• Customizable project templates for recurring workflows
• Integration with popular tools like Slack, Dropbox, and more
• Intuitive interface for easy onboarding and quick adoption
• Variety of project views to suit different work preferences
• Collaboration features like commenting and file attachments for seamless team communication
• Limited customization options for project views and dashboards
• Basic automation capabilities compared to other project management tools
• Higher pricing tiers for advanced features like custom fields and portfolio management functionality

Asana pricing

• Basic : Free forever
• Premium : $10.99/month per user
• Business : $24.99/month per user

*All listed prices refer to the yearly billing model

Asana ratings and reviews

• G2 :   4.3/5 (9,000+ reviews)
• Capterra :   4.5/5 (12,000+ reviews)

Check out these Asana alternatives !

Miro is a versatile project planning tool that enables teams to collaborate visually in real-time. With an intuitive interface and a wide range of templates, Miro is a go-to tool for project planning, brainstorming, and agile workflows.

Miro features

• Real-time collaboration for seamless team interaction
• Extensive library of templates for various project planning needs
• Integration with popular tools like Jira, Trello, Slack, and more
• Customizable boards for organizing tasks, ideas, and workflows
• User-friendly interface for easy adoption across teams
• Great for remote collaboration and brainstorming sessions
• Supports agile methodologies with features like Kanban boards and sprint planning
• Offers extensive integrations to streamline workflows
• Occasional lags and performance issues when working on large boards
• Pricing may be a bit high for smaller teams or individuals
• Learning curve for utilizing advanced features like automation and integrations

Miro pricing

• Starter : $8/month per user
• Business : $16/month per user

Miro ratings and reviews

• G2 : 4.8/5 (4,800+ reviews)
• Capterra : 4.7/5 (1,300+ reviews)

Check out these Miro alternatives !

As one of the most popular project management tools, Jira is known for its robust features and flexibility in handling complex projects. With its agile project management capabilities, customizable workflows, and integration with popular development tools, Jira is a powerhouse for teams looking to implement agile methodologies and track project progress effectively. While Jira may have a learning curve for new users, its extensive reporting features and active community support make it a go-to choice for many organizations.

Jira features

• Agile project management capabilities for scrum, kanban, and other methodologies
• Issue tracking and bug reporting functionalities
• Customizable workflows and boards for team collaboration
• Integration with development tools like GitHub and Bitbucket
• Highly customizable to fit a variety of project management needs
• Extensive reporting and analytics features for in-depth project insights
• Scalable for small teams to large enterprises
• Active community support and resources for user assistance
• Steep learning curve for new users unfamiliar with agile methodologies
• Higher pricing compared to some other project planning tools
• Limited options for visual customization of project boards

Jira  pricing

• Standard:  $8.15/month per user for 10 users
• Premium:  $16/month per user for 10 users

Jira ratings and reviews

• G2:  4.3/5 (5,600+ reviews)
• Capterra:  4.4/5 (13,700+ reviews)

Check out these Jira alternatives !

Paymo is a versatile project planning tool that offers a range of features for easy project management and collaboration. With its intuitive interface and robust capabilities, Paymo allows teams to track tasks, manage time effectively, and streamline workflows. From customizable project templates to in-depth reporting and analytics, Paymo is designed to help teams of all sizes stay organized and on track to meet their project goals .

Paymo features

• Task management and time tracking capabilities
• Team collaboration tools such as file sharing and messaging
• Customizable project templates to streamline workflow
• Reporting and analytics for tracking project progress
• User-friendly interface for easy navigation
• Integration with popular tools like Slack, Google Apps, and QuickBooks
• Affordable pricing plans for teams of all sizes
• Mobile app for on-the-go project management
• Limited customization options compared to some other project planning tools
• Some users may find the reporting and analytics features lacking in depth
• Advanced features may require upgrading to a higher pricing tier

Paymo pricing

• Starter:  $5.9/month
• Small Office:  $10.9/month
• Business:  $16.9/month

Paymo ratings and reviews

• G2:  4.6/5 (500+ reviews)
• Capterra:  4.8/5 (400+ reviews)

Check out these Paymo alternatives !

The Ultimate Project Planning Tool? Look No Further

Finding the most effective project management solution for your team sounds simple enough, but with all of the options available and the variety of functionality between them, there’s a lot more to consider before making your purchase.

These 15 options will give your search the kickstart it needs to find your desired software as quickly as possible. But if you’re looking for a tool designed to boost productivity and collaboration regardless of your team size, industry, or budget—look no further than ClickUp. 🙂

ClickUp is the only software on this list powerful enough to bring your work together across apps, saving you time and key resources that would’ve otherwise been spent hopping between tabs, navigating other tools, or waiting on updates.

With its rich set of features and vast Template Library for every use case, ClickUp helps teams streamline their planning processes and empowers them to work the way they want to. Plus, it can do it all at the fraction of the cost.

Access tons of dynamic project planning features, unlimited tasks, unlimited members, over 1,000 integrations, and more when you sign up for any ClickUp pricing plan , including the Free Forever Plan!

Gain the customization you’ve been searching for in project planning software without compromising on functionality when you sign up for ClickUp today .

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The Peak Performance Center

The pursuit of performance excellence, seven management and planning tools.

Seven Management and Planning Tools are a set of tools and techniques used to help effectively plan and manage various types of business operations. These tools are intended to guide you in the planning, analysis, and decision making processes.

These tools were developed independently by different people for diverse purposes. However, they were assembled as a set of methods in order to achieve efficiencies in the planning and management of operations.

The Seven Management and Planning tools are:

• The Affinity Diagram
• The Tree Diagram
• The Interrelationship Diagram
• The Matrix Diagram

Prioritization Matrices

• The Process Decision Program Chart (PDPC)
• The Activity Network Diagram

About The Seven Management And Planning Tools

The seven management and planning tools are collectively used by organizations to make better decisions and implement new solutions effectively. When used as individually, these tools provide a systematic and organized way of assessing ideas and making decisions. However, when used in combination with each other, they provide an extremely effective way to systematically solve complex issues an organization may face.

The Seven Management and Planning Tools

Affinity Diagram

An Affinity Diagram is a tool used for organizing a large amounts of disorganized information into groups based on their natural relationships and affinity (similarity of characteristics). It is often used for solving problems with issues that seem to be very complex and difficult to manage.

An Affinity Diagram is a type of brainstorming technique that allows you to generate, organize, and consolidate information concerning complex processes, issues, or problems.

Tree Diagram

A Tree Diagram (also referred to as a systematic diagram) is a systematic method to outline all the details needed to complete a given objective or process. It is used to break down broad categories or complex processes into minute details allowing you to examine the finer details.

The Tree Diagram is an orderly structure similar to an organization chart or family tree diagram. It helps in understanding a process by graphically breaking down complex processes to smaller levels of detail.

This technique encourages you to direct your thinking from generalities to specifics.

Interrelationship Diagram

An Interrelationship Diagram (also referred to as a relations diagram) identifies and displays all the interrelated cause-and-effect relationships among different concepts or ideas. Basically, it establishes links between ideas or concepts, and shows that they can be logically linked with more than one other idea or concept at a time.

The process of creating an Interrelationship Diagram allows you to systematically identify and analyze the cause-and-effect relationships that exist among all critical issues. This process helps you understand the natural links between different aspects of a complex issue so you can better develop an effective solution.

This technique encourages you to think in multiple directions (lateral thinking) rather than just thinking linearly.

Matrix Diagram

A Matrix Diagram is a tool that shows the connection or correlation between ideas or variables in a table format. It enables you to analyze relatively complex issues by revealing interactions and dependencies between different elements or variables.

The Matrix Diagram graphically establishes relationship between two or more sets of items in such a way as to provide logical connecting points between each item. The diagram displays the strength of relationships using a grid of rows and columns. A relationship is indicated at each intersection of rows and columns as either present or absent.  Thus, allowing you to identify the presence and strengths of relationships between two or more items.

Prioritization Matrix is a tool that sorts and ranks various options into an order of importance using weighted criteria. This technique helps identify which problems are the most important to work on solving first.

A Prioritization Matrix graphically displays options and criteria in row and column format. Weights are assigned to each criteria. The matrix allows you to identify an item’s relative importance by deriving a numerical value for its priority. This allows you to select and prioritize some options over others.

Process Decision Program Chart (PDPC)

A Process Decision Program Chart (PDPC) is a tool for identifying and documenting the steps required to complete a process. It is intended to help you prepare contingency plans by mapping out every conceivable event that can occur when moving from a problem to possible solutions.

This technique allows you to systematically identify what might go wrong with a plan.  Therefore, you can create appropriate contingency plans to limit risks.

Activity Network Diagram

Activity Network Diagram (also referred to as an Arrow Diagram) is a tool used to map activities and tasks for a project in sequential order. Basically, it graphically depicts a project timeline.

This tool displays interdependent relationships between activities, tasks, and groups as they all impact a project. Boxes and arrows are used to depict these activities and the links between them as well as chart the sequential order of the entire process.

Additional Links

Process Decision Program Chart

SWOT Analysis

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15 Online Project Planning Tools For Remote Teams

As two out of three companies expect employees to work-from-home permanently or at least in the long-term, teams are looking for ways to make remote work simpler.

Project planning is no different.

However, unlike other work, planning is a unique activity. First, it needs all essential stakeholders — customers, partners, managers, and workers — to work together. And second, it involves a lot of ideation, discussion, clarification, and approval.

As more people prefer working from home, teams can no longer site face-to-face to chalk out a plan. Instead, they have to work virtually to overcome project management challenges including working across timezones to communicate and collaborate.

As a result, 73 percent of teams see the need for more collaboration tools.

Thankfully, today we have a rich set of tools that help teams collaborate and plan projects remotely. This article shares the top online project planning tools to help remote teams plan and manage projects effectively.

Let’s dive in!

Project planning activities

Project planning activities include everything from gathering requirements to creating a timeline . In between, teams identify activities, prioritize tasks, estimate costs, and seek approval from stakeholders.

Planning activities can be summed up into:

1. Ideation and Brainstorming

All essential stakeholders come together to capture, prioritize, and organize project ideas. These ideas include project goals, outcomes, activities, and risks.

These help finalizing the project requirements , timeline, and scope.

2. Planning a Task Timeline

After identifying the activities and their outcomes, the next step is to identify project milestones . Milestones break a project into manageable phases and help reduce unseen risks.

Next, teams identify tasks for each milestone. Finally, tasks and milestones are added to the timeline based on priorities and dependencies.

3. Resource Allocation

Last but not least, managers identify the resources and assign them to tasks. Based on resource availability and risks, managers often need to re-adjust the task timeline.

You can learn more about resource allocation here .

Online project planning tools help managers overcome remote planning challenges. The end result is a clear plan that outlines:

• What needs to be done,
• And by whom.

Top project planning tools for remote teams

So far, we’ve looked at the activities involved in project planning. Next, let’s look at the tools that can make planning easy.

Ideation and Brainstorming Tools

As discussed earlier, this is the stage to ideate on project outcomes, activities, and risks. At this stage, visual techniques such as sketching, mindmapping, and idea boards help. These techniques help teams better understand stakeholder needs. As a result, teams are able to refine existing ideas as well as discover new ideas.

Here are three ideation and brainstorming tools to kick-start the project planning process:

1. Toggl Plan’s Idea Boards

Toggl Plan is a simple project planning and execution tool. It offers a flexible project timeline to plan your projects.

In addition, Toggl Plan also has flexible boards tool. Using this boards tool, teams can visually manage tasks as well as organize ideas.

• Capture and organize ideas on a virtual idea board. For example, you can organize ideas by status, roadmap phase, iteration, feasibility, etc.
• Create a custom ideation workflow with customizable board columns. Drag and drop idea cards into columns to visually track progress.
• Include a detailed description for each idea. Plus, attach files and discuss them with other team members.
• Classify and filter ideas using color-coded tags.
• Add start/end dates to convet an idea into a timeline task.

Toggl Plan comes with project planning, task management, and workload management features.

You can use it for free if you’re a consultant or a freelancer. If you need more users, Toggl Plan comes at $9 per user, per month.

Miro is an online whiteboard tool for remote teams. Teams can collaborate using Miro to plan projects using its extensive set of features.

• Mindmaps, video conferencing , screen sharing, and presentation mode enable team members to brainstorm and plan projects in real-time.
• Users can attach PDFs, documents, and spreadsheets to a task (sticky note)
• The Stickies Capture feature enables you to capture handwritten sticky notes and convert them into their digital counterpart.
• Apart from Miro’s built-in template library, it also consists of community-generated templates.
• Miro offers native apps for both – desktops and smartphones.
• No timeline feature to translate ideas into plans.
• The day pass for one-off collaboration costs $3 per user, per day, which is expensive.

Miro’s free plan offers three editable boards and unlimited users. The paid plan starts at $8 per user, per month.

GitMind is a free brainstorming tool. You can create mindmaps to brainstorm ideas. Also, you can flowcharts to draw process maps.

• Straightforward user interface and experience (UI/UX).
• The tool lets you create mindmaps, flow charts, organizational charts, UML diagrams, swimlanes, and analysis charts.
• It consists of an exhaustive template library, with over 100 templates for mindmaps alone.
• Users can export their work in PDF, TXT, SVG, and other formats.
• Limited set of features compared to other tools on this list.

Gitmind is completely free tool.

Gantt Chart and Timeline Tools

Gantt charts play an important role when planning a project. You can create a high-level project roadmap or a full-fledged task timeline. With tasks and milestones laid out on the timeline, everyone in your team get a clear idea of what needs to be done.

4. Toggl Plan’s Project Timeline

Toggl Plan makes it really easy to plan a task timeline. It’s simple drag and drop interface helps you create plans quickly. Plus, adjusting your plan is easy as well.

• Create color-coded project timelines with milestones.
• Bulk import tasks using a CSV file.
• Duplicate tasks with one click.
• Easily drag and drop tasks to accommodate plan changes.
• Drag task endpoints to change start and end dates.
• Zoom in on a week, month, quarter, or year to see all planned tasks.
• Share a read-only view of the timeline with clients and stakeholders.
• Assign a task to multiple team members.

5. GanttPRO

GanttPRO is a Gantt chart-driven project planning tool. It’s great for teams looking for a solid project road-mapping tool.

• Automatically reschedules a plan whenever you change the date of a task.
• Powerful user trail and auditing. Track every activity and change in the project made by anyone in the team. And, revert the changes if necessary.
• Powerful filter and bulk edit features let you make changes to projects quickly.
• A common complaint found on review sites is that the GantPRO UI can be slow and cumbersome.

The team plan starts at $8.90 per user, per month for a five-member team. The cost goes down as the team size grows.

Asana is a familiar name in the list of top online planning tools. Its timeline view helps teams plan tasks and milestones.

• Import tasks on the timeline using a CSV file.
• Get all updated in a centralized communication inbox.
• Set up automation rules for common task activities.
• Asana integrates with over 100 third-party apps.
• Complex, confusing user interface.
• Can be expensive, starting at $13.50 per user.

The timeline view is not available in the free plan. You need to upgrade to Asana’s premium plan, starting $13.50 per user, per month.

Resource Allocation & Capacity Planning Tools

Every project needs resources — people, tools, and budgets. That’s why every manager needs a capacity and resource plan.

With the right resource management tools, managers can optimize resource allocation. Plus, it also helps identify over-worked employees. Thus, prevent burnout.

Here are three tools that can help you plan your resources better.

7. Toggl Plan’s Team Timeline

Toggl Plan’s team timeline feature makes it easy to see what each team member is working on. That way, you can easily identify overwhelmed team members.

• Get a quick, visual overview of your team’s capacity.
• Understand what each team member is working on across projects.
• Quickly see who’s on vacation, who’s available, and who’s overwhelmed.
• Add team members to multiple teams.
• Automatically syncs changes across project timelines and boards.
• Only tracks people resources.

8. Monday.com

Monday.com is a popular visual workload planning tool. It comes with an optional Workload view. You can add this view to your board to visualize team members’ workloads.

• Get a clear overview of your team’s workload distribution.
• Use this tool to allocate resources such as rooms and resources.
• Customizable working days and work hours.

The basic plan starts at $10 per user, per month, with a minimum of three users. The workload view feature is available in the $20 per user, per month plan onwards.

Teamup is different than other work planning tools on this list. You can add tasks to a Teamup calendar and share it with your team. A color-coded view visually shows the capacity of each team member.

• Get a visual view of who is working on what in the team calendar.
• Create sub-calendars for people, tools, and other resources.
• Organize calendars in folders for easy management.
• Doesn’t have as many features as some of the other tools on this list.
• Can become cluttered for large and hierarchical teams.

The free plan is useful for small teams and allows up to eight sub-calendars. Premium plans start at $8 per month.

Agile Planning Tools

Agile is a popular methodology among software teams. However, in recent years, non-software teams too are embracing Agile management. The Agile method involves incrementally delivering projects in short iterations.

Agile planning is very different compare to timeline driven project planning. Here are three tools that help plan Agile project iterations.

10. Toggl Plan’s Kanban Boards

Toggl Plan’s boards are extremely flexible. As we saw earlier, you can use a board to manage ideas. In addition, you can also use a board to plan a sprint or a scrum iteration of your Agile project.

• Easy drag and drop user interface to visually manage tasks.
• Collaborate on tasks via comments and file attachments.
• Create custom board columns to match your team’s workflow.
• Improve delivery quality by adding a checklist to the task.
• Classify and filter tasks using color-coded tags.

11. PlanningPoker

Planning Poker is a sprint estimation tool for agile projects. The planning tool gamifies the scrum estimation process.

• Using effort pointing, the team can identify the level of effort needed for the development of each backlog item
• You can integrate with Jira to import tasks/stories
• Allows you to export data in the CSV format.
• Other than sprint planning, the tool has very little to offer.

The tool is free for up to five users. The paid plan costs $14.95 per month for ten users, whereas the $49.95 per month plan accommodates unlimited players.

12. Backlog

Backlog is an Agile project management tool. It has all the features you might need to plan and manage a project using Agile methods.

• Use Kanban boards to track task completion.
• Also support a basic Gantt chart timeline feature.
• Support for code management and bug tracking features.
• The progress bar graphically shows a burndown chart, along with the number of tasks remaining and completed.
• Collaborate with your team with robust role-based access controls.
• May feel overwhelming for non-software teams.

The free plan comes with one project and up to ten users. Premium plans start at $35 per month and includes 30 team members.

Software Planning Tools

The software development niche is unique. To create a plan for a software project, managers need brainstorming, timeline, and resource management features. In addition, they also need code and bug management features.

We’ve already looked at Backlog. Here are three more tools you can use to plan a software project.

13. GitHub Project Management

GitHub is a popular code management tool. Its project management tool is simple, yet is useful for planning software development projects.

• Set up milestones for big features or monthly tasks. The progress tracker keeps you updated as you check off tasks
• Manage projects via kanban boards
• Assign tasks up to ten members. Mention other team members to keep them updated
• Integrate apps like CodeTree, Stale, Zube, and ZenHub to expand the product usage.

Offers a free plan with basic features. Team plans start at $4 per user, per month.

Jira is another popular Agile project planning and execution tool. You can further expand its feature set with integrations.

• Teams can visualize the project in both – Kanban boards and timeline views
• Custom workflows help you cater to your customized software development process
• Detailed reports shed light on the user workload, the average time required to resolve an issue, newly created issues, etc.
• Highly useful for bug tracking.
• The user interface feels slow and cumbersome for large projects.

Free for up to ten users. Paid plans start at $7 per user per month.

15. Codegiant

Codegiant is a comparatively newer addition to the software project management tools list. However, it has the cleanest and most modern-looking user interface.

• Track issues using kanban board and scrum templates
• Collaborate on code via inline comments, threaded conversations, and mentions
• Add documentation, project roadmaps, etc. for end-users and other developers.

Codegiant offers a free plan with limited features. However, premium features like merge approvals, roadmaps, etc. are only available in the paid plans. Paid plans start at $3 per user, per month.

Project planning is a collaborative activity. Teams and stakeholders need to:

• Ideate and brainstorm,
• Plan task timelines,
• And, plan resource allocation.

Most project planning tools focus on doing one thing really well. However, there are a few which can help you manage a project end-to-end. But, often these tools are saturated with features. Thus, become confusing, and cumbersome.

Toggl Plan is a simple project tool that helps you visually manage projects. With Toggl Plan, you can:

• Plan project roadmaps and task timelines,
• Track task progress using boards and timelines,
• And, manage team member workloads across teams using the team timeline.

If you need a tool that your team will actually use every day, you may want to give Toggl Plan a try.

Get started with Toggl Plan for free .

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7 Proven Planning Techniques for Better Projects

A project without a plan is like a car without a driver. The project plan is the guide that gets a project manager from concept through execution, and a finished product at its destination. There’s an argument that a project plan supersedes everything else in a project.

While that’s a bit of an overstatement, it does prove the rhetorical point that planning for a project is crucial. Therefore, whether you’re new to project management or a journeyman with years of experience under your belt, there’s always more planning tools and techniques to learn.

There are possibly as many planning methods as there are projects, so we boiled down the potential pot of planning techniques to seven essential ingredients that will make your next project plan a feast for your team and stakeholders.

1. Critical Path Analysis

Planning a simple project has its hurdles to clear: but when that project is complex, then planning can feel almost insurmountable. That’s where a planning technique such as critical path analysis comes in handy. It is a planning method designed to address projects with many tasks, especially when there are those that are done at the same time and are dependent on one another.

Critical path analysis will help you determine if some tasks can run parallel, what the sequence of tasks should be, as well as prioritize them. This takes a complicated project and finds the most efficient path through it. That’s because critical path analysis follows a timeline that shows where tasks are in the schedule and what must be done when.

There are three steps to critical path analysis:

• Write out all the tasks on a project timeline
• Identify which of those tasks must occur at the same time
• Note the task dependencies

This timeline will now expose the spots in the project that need more resources and those that are most important to keep the project on track.

2. Brainstorming

Brainstorming can be looked at as the plan before the plan. A plan for anything is a way to organize an approach. But before that can be done well, the project must be clearly understood and the various techniques to manage it examined. Brainstorming is a tool that uses the collective experience and skills of the project team in order to give project managers the full picture before they attempt to frame it in a plan.

Therefore, brainstorming should be the first step in any planning technique. It is a creative and lateral way of thinking that can help identify project risk and other concerns that are not immediately apparent. There will be time to formalize a plan and add the needed structure that every project rests on to reach a successful end. The creative nature of a brainstorming session, and the fact that it’s contrary to typical project management methodology, make it a highly revealing planning technique.

The only trouble is that people who excel in project management are often the types who work best within a template. Getting them to think “outside the box” can prove a challenge. But it will help your project and your team expand their own resources. Don’t forget to get stakeholders and other experts in on the brainstorming, too.

Related: How to Create a Project Plan

3. Work Breakdown Structure

Another great project planning method is the work breakdown structure (WBS), which is a way to rank tasks in the project. Again, when a project is great in scope it helps to get a handle on it, which is where the WBS comes in. As the name implies, the WBS breaks down the larger project into manageable tasks. It’s like putting something in a crucible and breaking it down to its primary elements.

Begin with the project, then start breaking it down: first into phases and then from those milestones, into tasks. In a sense, you’re starting at the end of the project and working backwards. The breakdown is considering the size of the task, how long it will take and who will be responsible for that task. You can use our free work breakdown structure template to get started.

Think of the WBS as a framework for planning. It provides a picture of all the pieces of the project puzzle. With this knowledge, a project manager has the big picture and the smaller parts that make it up, so they can now act to control the project over the course of its life cycle. From the WBS, a statement of work will develop, as well as scheduling, budget and other resources.

4. Gantt Chart

The old standby for project planning is the Gantt chart. For decades, the Gantt chart has been included in the feature set of a slew of project management software platforms, which has given it a flexibility that emphasizes its many positive attributes.

ProjectManager.com has an online Gantt chart that allows you to upload your task list from any Excel or CSV spreadsheet or even an MS Project file. Once that task list is uploaded, and you set the column names, the tasks populate the left-hand side of the Gantt chart, which is an outline for the entire project. Adding start and end dates create a line across that timeline illustrating the task’s duration.

If a task is dependent on another, it can be linked, so that team members are aware of the task dependency and aren’t blocked. This also avoids bottlenecks in the schedule, as email notifications can be set to automatically alert team members of coming deadlines. That keeps the project on track.

Once the project has been planned, the Gantt chart keeps on giving. With ProjectManager.com, our online Gantt chart gives the project manager the ability to assign the tasks. It is also a collaboration platform, allowing those assigned team members to freely communicate in comments, where they can attach files and images. They are notified of these comments in real-time, so the team can communicate no matter where or at what time. Try this planning technique today with a free trial of ProjectManager.com.

5. Cause and Effect Diagram

This planning technique was created by Kaoru Ishikawa, a Japanese organizational theorist, to show the causes of an event. It is also called an Ishikawa or fishbone diagram.

It gathers and identifies issues that can develop over the course of a project. By doing so, this planning method helps project managers figure out solutions to those problems. There is risk inherent in every project, and planning against those risks is another way to make sure the project proceeds as planned, without costly interruptions.

The cause and effect diagram has a central backbone from which bones are drawn that represent any major factor that might impact the final outcome of the project. It can be used to take those issues that came up during a brainstorming session and organize them.

The factors that could impact the project (or the bones that come from the backbone) could be equipment or other resources, a legal problem, new technology, training, etc. Each of these bones is then divided into even smaller bones to get a full view of the cause and effect they might have on a project and its plan.

Program evaluation and review technique or PERT is a tool to help project managers estimate the amount of time a project will likely take. Scheduling is one of the pillars of planning techniques, so you can see the importance of having a planning method like PERT to make your schedule more accurate.

The more variables you can control, the better your outcome when estimating. But there are so many unknowns when dealing with a project that it can feel impossible to hit your target. But that’s just what PERT does: it manages the complex probability of a project with simple statistical methods.

With PERT, tasks are broken down like with the WBS, but adding these activities to a Gantt chart to link the task dependencies. This creates a map of the project’s interdependencies. Each of the task are then given a time-to-complete estimation: optimistic (O), being the quickest it will take to complete the task; mostly likely (M), the required deadline; or pessimistic (P), being the most time it will take.

E, being the expected time for each task, is derived by the equation: E = (O + 4M + P)/6. The variance is found by solving this equation: V= [(P – O)/ 6] ^2. When the E and V for every task is calculated, the total Es is an accurate time estimation for the project. The added Vs show the expected variance.

7. SMART Goals

Another acronym that can help with your planning methods is SMART, which stands for specific, measurable, attainable, relevant and time bound. What SMART does when in the planning process of a project is making sure, before you start, that your goals fit within the SMART criteria.

That means that they should be specific, as in clear and concise. They must also be measurable, so you can quantify your project. Attainable is obvious, in that if the project is a pie-in-the-sky impossibility then the odds are it’s going to fail.

The last two initials are for relevant, which speaks to the project’s goals being aligned with the overall business strategy of the organization, and time bound, as in having a deadline. If your project meets all these points, then you can start planning.

ProjectManager.com is a cloud-based project management software that makes planning a snap. It not only uploads spreadsheets and MS Project files, but once in the software, they’re easily shared and updated instantly, for a more collaborative platform. The real-time dashboard keeps project managers and teams updated and makes reporting to stakeholders easy. See for yourself by taking this free 30-day trial.

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• Business Management

10 Popular Business Management Tools in 2024

Home Blog Business Management 10 Popular Business Management Tools in 2024

When managing a project, what would you do: Hard work or Smart work?

In a market where time is running, and trends are raging, you need an assortment of resources to grow your business. However, tasks like managing day-to-day operations, collaborating with the team, handling invoices and allocating resources can burden your shoulders. And you may end up wishing there were more hours in a day!

That’s why automation has become a necessity. According to McKinsey & Company’s 2020 global survey, 66% of organizations from various industries had already implemented automation or were planning to pilot it. Companies are revamping their workflows and adopting some of the best business management tools to enable automation in the system. 

There are various types of business management tools available out there. While the options are viable, everything depends on your business needs and goals. To help with your search, we have compiled a list of the best online business management tools that are designed to cater to a wide range of tasks - and simplify your to-dos. Keep reading to learn more about them.

What are Business Management Tools?

Business management tools or business software refer to a set of applications, systems, or methods that help businesses automate one or more business processes. These tools offer solutions like task management, expense management, collaboration, etc., which reduce manual workload, help teams focus on tasks that are directly linked to the growth of the business, and achieve productivity.

Why are Business Management Tools Important?

There are different types of business management tools available at disposable, and they are as important for you as Business Management certification programs . Managing a business is not solely a matter of skills. It requires two crucial factors: time and money. Here is how business management tools can help you save both and enhance the overall performance of business functions:

1. Time Management

Management tools allow you to manage your time by planning and dividing it as per the requirements. With a list of all your tasks prepped up on the screen and the option to check each off as it wraps up, it becomes easy for you to keep track of projects and the time a particular task consumes. You can also track the time taken by your team members to complete tasks and set a realistic deadline for them.

2. Task Management

Be it small business management tools or a management tool for mid-size businesses– automated functions help every team organise tasks on the basis of urgency, requirements, and level of complexity. These tools allow teams to break down projects into bite-sized chunks so that they can determine an actionable plan required to achieve the final outcome efficiently. Moreover, managing and monitoring all your work in one place also helps you delegate tasks if and when needed.

3. Seamless Communication

Business management tools strengthen collaboration between all departments that are involved in the project development process. These tools bring features like notes, timers, trackers, risk assessment metrics, inbuilt chat rooms, etc., that keep the whereabouts of tasks and concerned team members in one place. By eliminating the need to switch between systems, business management tools simplify communication.

4. Tracking

That’s the benefit of the best online business management tools. They let you work with complete transparency. As you plan, organise, and divide tasks for various purposes at a central location, it becomes plain sailing to monitor the progress and track them in real-time. You can identify the tasks that indicate delays and determine the requirements for more resources. Isn’t that the best part? 

Popular Business Management Tools

1. trello .

Say goodbye to sticky notes! If you want to surpass the everyday challenges of project management– consider using Trello. The tool allows you to keep track of tasks that you and your team have to perform. It works like a digital bulletin board where you can organize tasks as per priority, deadlines, allocation, and more categories. Trello is one of the free business management tools that facilitates a platform where you can invite your team members and ensure a smooth collaboration among them.

With Trello, you can

• Use digital boards, lists, and cards for project management tasks and subtasks.
• Assign cards to the team members respectively.
• Set due dates and reminders to keep track of the status of tasks.
• Simply drag and drop email attachments to the concerned task to avoid switching between multiple tools.
• Add specific processes, guides, and other relevant information to the card.

Trello Pricing

• Free: for standard requirements and basic ogranization. 
• Standard: for small teams. Costs about $5 (per member/per month) if billed annually and $6 (per member/per month) if billed monthly.
• Premium: for more extensive teams and large-scale projects. Costs about $10 (per member/per month) if billed annually and $12.5 (per member/per month) if billed monthly.
• Enterprise: for organization-level projects and teams with 50+ members. Cost about $170 (per member/per month) or $210 (per member) billed annually. 

2. HubSpot 

Whether you are looking for MSP business management tools or one that works for large enterprises - HubSpot is the go-to solution for you in many ways. The tool brings various solutions like Service Hub, Marketing Hub, Sales Hub, and CRM to help you stay on top of your performance. These solutions enable you to establish customer relationships, attract more traffic, and execute marketing campaigns. Moreover, you can use HubSpot to gain better insights into tasks and marketing activities. It is one of the most populous technology business management with over 135,000 clients across 120 countries.

HubSpot lets you

• Manage marketing activities with features like marketing automation, lead generation, etc.
• Automate and track emails.
• Organise tasks related to services with features Knowledge Base and Tickets, etc.
• Export data to external tools with the help of integration.

The HubSpot pricing range is based on four services or four hubs:

• HubSpot Sales: Starts at $20/month ($18/month if billed annually) for two users.
• HubSpot Marketing: Starts at $20/month ($18/month if billed annually) for 1,000 leads.
• HubSpot Customer Service: Starts at $20/month ($18/month if billed annually) for two users.
• HubSpot CRM Suite: Starts at $50/month ($30/month if billed annually).

3. Lightspeed 

Managing inventory? Do it with Lightspeed. The tool comes in handy at times when you want to keep a record of stock, online and in-store sales, and a whole lot of inventory tasks. Going through it all manually can be tricky and lead to errors. Lightspeed is one of the best technology business management tools that eliminate the risk of mistakes in inventory tracking by offering the option to label and organise tasks as per the requirements and priorities.

With Lightspeed, you can

• Create multiple product variations, like size, colour, etc., with a matrix system.
• Assign and track serial numbers to all the products.
• Start a live chat with the team members or partner vendors whenever you want.
• Track inventory and sales using the reports that provide a detailed view of overall sales, profits and any changes. 
• Manage access to the system. 

Lightspeed Pricing

• Basic:  Starts at $79/month; offers features like retail POS and payments.
• Starter:  Starts at $119/month; offers features like retail POS, payments, and eCommerce.
• Standard:  Starts at $139/month; offers additional features like accounting.
• Advanced:  Starts at $189/month; offers features like retail POS, accounting, and loyalty.
• Pro:  Starts at $259/month; offers features like accounting and analytics.

4. NTask 

nTask is an all-encompassing business management tool that enables the team to organise and manage everyday tasks. One of the best online business management tools, nTask gives teams a complete view of the work in progress. It facilitates a one-stop solution for smooth collaboration between departments and teams. The tool brings options like tracking, sharing, assigning tasks, and workflow management which boosts productivity and saves time.

nTask enables you to

• Check the development of a project and keep track of the overall workflow with Gantt charts.
• Use an automatic task timer to find the tasks that are taking more time or vice versa.
• Identify and address risk factors with a risk assessment matrix.
• Customise task fields and contacts to improve management.
• Set budgets and get an overview of spending through a financial summary.

nTask Pricing

• Basic: Free
• Premium:  for startups, enterprises, SMEs; $3/month.
• Business:  for teams planning to create projects; $8/month.

5. ZoomShift 

ZoomShift is a feature-rich business tool that changes the way you schedule, manage payroll functions, and track employee performance– for good. This scheduling software gives you a hand in saving time and money by automating a number of tasks. You can check reports, gather analytics, view employee schedules and track them whenever you want. Moreover, it speeds up payroll tasks by helping you fetch only the necessary information quickly.

With ZoomShift, you can

• From time-offs to overtime, keep track of everything in one place.
• Sort schedules as per day, week, and month to avoid overlaps.
• Check availability, shift swaps, and time offs to plan daily, weekly and monthly schedules.
• Share schedules with the team via email or text.
• Provide access to the team members to keep schedules streamlined and avoid communication gaps.

ZoomShift Pricing

• Starter: Starts at $2.50/month with features including employee scheduling and payroll reports.
• Standard: Starts at $5/month including all Starter features, geofence time clock, and custom individual overtime.
• Advanced: Customisable.

6. Slack 

To make a project thrive, it is crucial to encourage transparent and seamless communication, as it helps avoid confusion and promotes effectiveness. Slack is one of the best free business management tools that helps you remove all communication barriers by providing an all-in-one platform for all things collaboration. You can communicate with the team 1:1, create groups, share files, set up calls, and manage all interactions in one place. This popular channel is used by 65 out of 100 Fortune companies and also has users like Amazon and PayPal.

With Slack, you can

• Manage communication with the team and other departments from anywhere, anytime.
• Share files personally or in the group.
• Keep tabs on the employee’s availability.
• Set reminders for meetings.
• Use integrations with services like HubSpot, Todoist, Google, Trello, etc., to enjoy other features.

Slack Pricing

• Free: Basic features
• Pro: for small teams; starts at $7.25/month.
• Business+: for mid-/large-size businesses; starts at $12.50/month.
• Enterprise: for enterprises; customisable.

7. ProProfs Help Desk 

Managing piles of query tickets, keeping customer data organised, scavenging for the desired information– customer support grapples with the manual load of such tasks every day. One mishap can lead to customer dissatisfaction! To avoid that, you can implement ProProfs Help Desk, a cloud-based customer support tool that helps you establish strong relationships with your customers. The tool is packed with plenty of handy features that automate a number of tasks and take the risk off the head of your support team.

ProProfs Help Desk lets you

• Track customer issues and requests.
• Prioritize tickets and use canned responses to timely address customer queries.
• Check the agent availability and response time of your team members.
• Capture feedback in real-time with the help of customer and NPS (Net Promoter Score) surveys.

ProProfs Help Desk Pricing

• ProProfs Help Desk offers a single plan at $30/month ($20/month if billed annually).

8. ConvertKit 

ConvertKit is an all-in-one email marketing tool offering businesses to fuel their customer interaction practices with automation. It is one of the best business management tools for fast-growing marketing companies. The easy-to-use tool features a pretty straightforward, clean interface where you can manage and organise tabs based on different types of emails. Moreover, you can check the increase and drop in email subscribers count using its analytics function.

ConvertKit comes in handy when you 

• Create landing pages and forms for subscribers instantly.
• Send emails to the entire subscribers' list using the broadcast option.
• Keep subscribers list organised using tags/labels.
• Manage and customise leads, contacts, and campaigns.

ConvertKit Pricing

• Free: for budding creators; $0/month.
• Creator: for creators who are planning to automate their business; $9/month.
• Creator Pro: for creators who are scaling their business; $25/month.

9. Proofhub 

ProofHub is one of the best small business management tools that help you stay on top of management by consolidating your tasks in one place. It is a comprehensive platform where the team can steer clear of the clutter by centralising project requirements and organizing tasks accordingly. The tool also has a group chat feature that allows the members to communicate instantly. With multiple options at your disposal, ProofHub eliminates the need to shuffle different apps, helping you and your team save time.

ProofHub enables you to

• Keep an eye on the time management habits of your team members with an automated time-logging option that records the time taken to complete a task.
• Store files in one place to manage, sort out and search one seamlessly anytime you need.
• Check project reports to gain insights into the detailed status of the project and its progression.
• Customise tasks as per priority and any specific requirements.
• Collaborate with the team with the inbuilt chat feature.

ProofHub Pricing

• Essential: $45/month with essential features.
• Ultimate Cont:   $89/month with additional features.

10. QuickBooks 

While there’s always an option to outsource accounting errands, QuickBooks is a powerful solution to keep track of invoices and expenses if you’re running a small business. It is one of the popular business management tools used by businesses to keep financial records in check. You can accept online payments and email invoices. Moreover, the tool can also integrate with third-party applications like Paypal.

QuickBooks can

• Make timely payments with automated payment reminders.
• Customize invoices, purchase orders, statements, and payment receipts using logo, colour, and any valuable data.
• Use classic, express, and advanced bank feeds to manage and record transactions.
• Track invoice history with all the necessary information.

QuickBooks Pricing

• Simple Start plan: offers features, including income and expenses, invoice and payments, and Connect 1 sales channel for $30/month.
• Essentials: offers additional features like bill management, Connect 3 sales channels, and enter time for $55/month.
• Plus: offers inventory, project profitability, along with many other features for $85/month.
• Advanced: offers a comprehensive set of features for $200/month.

What Features to Look for in a Business Management Tool?

The best business management tool isn’t the one that’s free or has truckloads of features; It is simply what makes your life easy. When you look out for the right options, you must:

• Keep your business goals in focus
• Determine the processes where the tool can bring value
• Consider your budget

If you are planning to advance your business analysis skills, consider enrolling in KnowledgeHut’s CBAP training program . The program offers courses that help you equip yourself with the techniques and knowledge to combat a market with a dramatic landscape and drive the best results for your business.

Identifying the goals and objectives of your business and analysing the market trends will help you narrow down your hunt for the right business management product. With a thorough understanding of both your requirements and challenges, you will be able to make a sound investment in a viable option.

• Organization : Whether you run a marketing agency or manage a supply chain, organization is crucial. From resources to invoices, tasks, and urgent matters, it's essential to have a user-friendly management tool. Look for features like a dashboard, tagging, chat options, and a streamlined interface to ensure easy navigation and efficient management.
• Security : The right tool makes data readily available. However, it should not make data accessible to everyone. When choosing a business tool, keep in mind the security features to avoid any threat to the company's assets. You can expect practices like end-to-end encryption and multi-factor authentication in a safe and secure business management tool.
• Tracking : With multiple people working on a project, it becomes important to manage and keep track of all their tasks in one place. The tool should not only help you check the progress but will also build transparency around the performance and any challenges that team members might face.
• Chat : When you notice any issues or discrepancies, you can quickly launch a chat within your business management tool instead of using another app. These tools typically have built-in chat features that simplify collaboration. Additionally, the chat function allows for file sharing, tagging, and scheduling meetings, reducing the need for multiple applications.

Wrapping Up

Business tools have become integral in management. While they automate several functions, your team does not have to learn top-notch techniques to use them. The tools mentioned above are easy-to-use, and each offers one or more solutions to simplify the way a plan transitions to an outcome. 

While business management tools boost efficiency with automation, you must also develop management skills like communication, risk management, change management, analysis, and more to see through the market landscape, identify the p, and mitigate challenges. KnowledgeHut’s Business Management certificate programs can help you ace these skills through courses such as ECBA, CBAP, and Agile Business Analysis. In these courses, you can acquire knowledge and skills with the help of case studies, current trends, assignments, and other techniques and take a big step forward to an advanced portfolio and a lucrative job.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

Business management tools are software or applications that allow businesses to manage a project or multiple processes by providing various automation and management features. 

Planning, managing and allocating resources to complete a task or more, collaboration, and tracking, are some of the topmost functions of business management. 

The fundamental role of business management is to plan, organize, and control the processes that take place within a business and make sure that they align with business goals and objectives. 

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AEM 3020 Farm Business Management

Course description.

Course information provided by the Courses of Study 2023-2024 . Courses of Study 2024-2025 is scheduled to publish mid-June.

Intensive study of planning, directing, organizing, and controlling a farm business, with emphasis on the tools of managerial analysis and decision making. Topics include financial statements, business analysis, budgeting, and acquisition, organization, and management of capital, labor, land, buildings, and machinery.

When Offered Fall.

Permission Note Not open to: first-year students.

Course Attribute (CU-SBY)

View Enrollment Information

  Regular Academic Session.   Choose one lecture and one laboratory.

Credits and Grading Basis

4 Credits Graded (Letter grades only)

Class Number & Section Details

 8368 AEM 3020   LEC 001

Meeting Pattern

• MWF 9:05am - 9:55am To Be Assigned
• Aug 26 - Dec 9, 2024

Instructors

Knoblauch, W

To be determined. There are currently no textbooks/materials listed, or no textbooks/materials required, for this section. Additional information may be found on the syllabus provided by your professor.

For the most current information about textbooks, including the timing and options for purchase, see the Cornell Store .

Additional Information

Instruction Mode: In Person Enrollment limited to: Sophomore standing or higher. On days farms are visited, the lab section period is 2:00-6:30 pm.

 8369 AEM 3020   LAB 401

• W 2:00pm - 4:30pm To Be Assigned

Instruction Mode: In Person

 8370 AEM 3020   LAB 402

• R 2:00pm - 4:30pm To Be Assigned

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Available Syllabi

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The schedule of classes is maintained by the Office of the University Registrar . Current and future academic terms are updated daily . Additional detail on Cornell University's diverse academic programs and resources can be found in the Courses of Study . Visit The Cornell Store for textbook information .

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