Introduction
It is common that within the companies in the administration, the planning point is one of the most important since it presents the challenge of knowing how are they going to face the competition of the globalization of the economy? A fundamental technique to be able to successfully answer that question is strategic planning and management.
Planning is an extremely important factor on which all organizations start in order to determine the successes or failures that have been obtained as a result of planning, since it analyzes the current situation and defines strategies.
Any company that does not have some kind of formality in its planning system and administrative strategies to achieve the stated objectives, is exposed to an inevitable disaster.
We consider that for the use of all this theory it is necessary to adapt it to the conditions of our organization and work for an application according to the need of the same organization.
Conceptualization (Wershingroup, 2012).
Planning is the first thing that must be done in an administrative process to start from a problem, plans, programs, courses of action of the strategies or activities are analyzed and created to achieve the objectives to obtain successful results.
Planning tools are essential since they are those resources that we have to define, analyze and create plans within a problem.
Planning tools
These tools tend to improve the manager's work in decision-making, as he looks for the most appropriate alternative to the situation at hand, increasing productivity and job performance.
Planning tools evaluate:
Analysis of the environment: A series of variables, situations or conditions that affect or may positively or negatively imply the development of a company in the present or future are analyzed through detailed information.
The competitor: This factor is important to see what it does and how its actions affect the organization's focus through the competitors.
Scenario: uses a range of techniques to investigate, gather ideas and write stories, in an attempt to capture in narrative form all those events that define the competitive terrain of the future.
Forecast: Predictions of positive results that can help us to have a reference of the behavior of certain actions.
In planning there are many tools, some more applied than others because it leads to better results.
The planning time depends on the planned objectives, we have three different types of planning according to the projection time which are the following:
- Short-term planning is generally one year. Medium-term planning is one to three years. Long-term planning is more than three years.
Most applied planning tools
SWOT Analysis
SWOT Analysis is an acrostic that indicates the strengths, opportunities, weaknesses and external threats that can influence the achievement of our objectives.
Strengths: these are the special capabilities that the company has, and that allow it to have a position compared to other companies. They are the resources that are controlled, capacities and abilities that are possessed, etc.
Opportunities: are those factors that are positive and favorable, which must be discovered in the environment in which the company operates, and which allow obtaining competitive advantages.
Weaknesses: these are factors that cause an unfavorable position against the competition, skills that are not possessed, resources that are lacking, etc.
Threats: these are situations that come from the environment and can even threaten the permanence of the organization.
It is a tool that allows a diagnosis to be made of the current situation of the object of study that allows decisions to be made in accordance with policies and objectives (SWOT Matrix, 2011).
Probability theory
Probability theory is concerned with assigning a certain number to each possible outcome that may occur in a random experiment, in order to quantify those outcomes and find out their most likely event. It is the use of statistics to analyze previous predictable patterns and reduce risk in future plans, which can be applied within the organization of companies.
PERT Network Analysis
It is a qualitative planning and control tool, to make an optimization model that has the optimal solution of a sequence of activities in time to finalize the action plan, allows the comparison of the time of what is planned with what is real.
The PERT network schedules a project in advance and calculates the time required for its completion.
Benchmarking
Tool to find the best characteristics, processes, and services of the product that is possible, in order to use them as a parameter to improve the products, processes and services of the company itself. Typically the company is compared against the industry leader to add value to the comparison.
Flowchart
It is a tool that graphically represents a process, offers a visual description of activities involved in a process showing the sequence and facilitating the understanding of each activity with the others.
Each step in the process is represented by a symbol. The graphical process flow symbols are linked together with arrows to indicate the direction of the process flow.
Flow Chart Benefits
- It facilitates the study and application of actions that refer to time and costs. Obtaining a transparent vision of the process. It facilitates the identification of clients. It provides a more effective method of communication, by introducing a common language. It constitutes an excellent reference to establish mechanisms of control and measurement of the processes, as well as of the concrete objectives for the different operations carried out. It allows defining the limits of a process. (Pleguezuelos, 1990).
Symbols and Meaning Used in a Flowchart
Table 1. Symbols and Meaning Used in a Flowchart
Gantt diagram
The Gantt chart is a horizontal bar graph that shows the duration that we dedicate to each of the tasks in a specific project, being especially useful to show the relationship that exists between the time dedicated to a task and the workload that it supposes. These diagrams are used to organize goals over time. The charts are designed to show the benchmarks that must be met to achieve the overall objective in a specific period. In addition to providing a visualization the tasks that are required Gantt charts are used to show where the responsibility of reaching the various benchmarks lies.
Benefits
Creating a complete Gantt chart provides a significant return on investment for business owners. This is because by fully planning and establishing responsibilities, all parties involved know precisely what is expected of them and when they are required to meet those expectations. (Vallejo, 2012).
Manuals
Manuals are documents that allow coordination and communication and allow to record and document in an orderly and systemic way the information of an organization.
There are various types of manuals, among which the most common are:
- Operations manual. Departmental manuals. Quality manuals. Organization manuals.
Linear programming
It is a problem solving approach developed to help make decisions. It is a mathematical model that solves an indeterminate problem, formulated through linear equations, optimizing a linear function called objective function.
Many applications can be found in today's business environment. The objective function defines the quantity to be maximized or minimized in a linear programming model. Constraints limit or reduce the degree to which the target can be pursued.
Variables are the controllable inputs to the problem.
To solve a linear programming problem it is recommended to follow certain steps, which are:
- Understand the problem thoroughly. Describe the objective. Describe each constraint. Define the decision variables. Write the objective based on the decision variables. Write the constraints based on the decision variables. (Galeon.com Hispavista, 2004).
Waiting lines
It is a technique in inferential statistics and knows the time spent in waiting lines as well as the service time and compares the cost of a queue waiting to receive attention against the cost of attending that queue. In each situation what is intended is to minimize costs such as banks, supermarkets, car washes, etc.
Simulation
Process simulation is one of the tools that is used to represent one process through another that makes it much simpler and understandable and that, through computer software, allows the construction of a model of a system based on one of the real life. This simulation is in some cases almost essential, it is used at the design stage to assist in the achievement or improvement of a process or design or to an existing system to explore some modifications.
Simulation example with ProModel
Simulation example with ProModel
conclusion
Those who have the responsibility of leading the organizations must try to anticipate future changes in the environment and design flexible plans and structures that allow adaptation, innovation and face any unforeseen situation.
Planning is supported by tools which will determine the impact of your strategy through the analysis of internal and external factors, diagnosing the environment about your business, will recognize what is important when carrying out your strategic process and will define strategic competencies for your organization.
The objective of the planning techniques formulates in which the administrator uses them, and makes the pertinent decisions according to the situation of the environment and the organization where it is operated. These techniques serve to obtain an overview of the strategic planning process, by using tools and techniques that allow us to make business plans and adapt strategies to the competitive and economic environment in which your company operates.
Bibliography
- Galeon.com Hispavista. (2004). Retrieved 2014, from Introduction to linear programming: http://metodoscuantitativo2.galeon.com/Matriz SWOT. (2011). Retrieved on March 31, 2014, from http://www.matrizfoda.com/ Pleguezuelos, T. (1990). Total Quality in Public Administration. Retrieved on March 31, 2014, from Aiteco Consultores: http://www.aiteco.com/que-es-un-diagrama-de-flujo/Vallejo, C. (August 15, 2012). Technological observatory. Retrieved on March 31, 2014, from MONOGRAPH: Project Learning and Gantt Chart: http://recursostic.educacion.es/observatorio/web/es/Wershingroup. (November 21, 2012). Retrieved on March 31, 2014, from
