Document name:	Business Plan Progress Review	
Document date:	27/09/2013	
Copyright information:	Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 2.0 Licence 	
OpenLearn Study Unit:	GB093 Rural Entrepreneurship 	
OpenLearn url:	http://www.open.edu/openlearn/money-management/rural-entrepreneurship-wales/content-section-0	

Business Plan Progress Review
Name:		

This part of the course supports all the learning outcomes set out at the start and the final section addresses the last learning outcome. The assignment is practical in nature. You will be asked to work on this, section by section, as you study the content of the course. There is a requirement to complete this task satisfactorily for the certificate of completion. All that is required is that you complete all parts of the tasks that are set in a competent way. Please see the section on ‘Work-based activity’ for more guidance.
Please save this document to your own computer. You will need to access the saved document each time you want to add to it.
When you send it to the Learning Adviser at the end of the course, you will receive some feedback. This feedback will be personal feedback taking into account the context in which you work. Please make sure that you have sent a short pen picture to the Learning Adviser as suggested as this will help to ensure that the context in which you are working is understood. 
Your written style in this document can be relatively informal – tending towards note form, but still clear and intelligible to the reader. You may find the use of bullet points and lists particularly helpful here. Avoid using an essay style; it uses a lot of words and does not work well online. If the business plan is for your own use, this document may suffice. If you are producing a business plan for your bank manager or venture capital company aiming to secure finance, then this document will be a starting point as considerably more detail will be required.

Introduction: Tackling the SME rural challenge
The overall course learning outcome is to be able to prepare a business plan for a new business, taking account of the advantages and disadvantages of living in a rural location.
Draw from the activities you completed in the introduction to:
1.	Outline your personal objectives in studying this course. (max. 100 words)
2.	Describe your approach to rural living and how you feel it will influence your proposed new business. (max. 100 words)

Section 1: The business idea; goals, stakeholders and strategy for development 
Draw from the activities you completed in Section 1 to:
1.	Briefly describe your business idea. (max. 100 words – probably less)
2.	Record your SMART business goals such that the vision for your business is clear.
3.	Briefly summarise the strategy you plan to follow. (max. 200 words)
This entire section should be no more than 400 words.

Section 2: Customers, markets, competition, pricing
Draw from the activities you completed in Section 2 to:
1.	Describe your customers and how you will help them along the persuasion pathway. (max. 150 words)
2.	Choose one of the marketing mix models, 4 p’s, 7 p’s or 4 c’s. Share your understanding of what elements will work for your proposed business.
This entire section should be no more than 400 words.

Section 3: Capabilities and resources
Draw from the activities you completed in Section 3 to:
1.	Outline the resources and capabilities you need. What gaps have you identified? What do you think is your core competence?
2.	Conduct a SWOT analysis for your new business.
Expect to use around 400 words or less for this section.

Section 4: Finance and information
Draw from the activities you completed in Section 4 to:
1.	Outline the sources of funds you plan to access.
2.	Include a twelve-month cash-flow forecast. 
3.	Include a projected profit-and-loss statement for the first twelve months of trading.
4.	Identify your breakeven point (you may state any assumptions made).
Expect to use around 100 words or less for this section. Please attach spreadsheets in addition.

Section 5: Continuing your development 
5.1 Review
Your learning and development does not finish with completion of the course. Write a brief self-review of your skill levels and knowledge (i.e. at the end of the course) in the box below for each of the headings provided.
Do not use this to repeat earlier sections. Reflect on what you have learned that has surprised you in each section. 

1. The business idea; feasibility, goals, stakeholders and strategy for development

2. Customers, markets, competition, pricing

3. Capabilities and resources

4. Finance and information

5. What next?

5.2 Moving on using the learning from this course 
Summarise the actions you will now take in order to launch your business or move it forward. If you find it helpful to use the same section heads as above, please do so, but do not be confined by this structure. Indicate any areas where you need to acquire greater skills.

Completing and submitting your Business Plan Progress Review
Check through this document and save it as a Word file. 
Now go to ‘Work-based activity’ in the ‘Getting started’ section of the course for guidance on submitting your BPPR. When your BPPR is returned to you there will be constructive feedback – the learning from this is an integral part of the course.