Town water supply and sanitation programme : volume II - guidelines for preparing a business plan

The objective of this document is to provide the theory behind the business planning process to help senior managers who are undertaking to organise business planning in their water and sanitation utilities and that they can better understand the concepts of business planning. Information is presented in a discussion style aided by a structure to assist in maximising learning. This Introduction document (Volume 1) and the Guidelines to Preparing a Business Plan (Volume 2) should be considered as an integral part of the Business Planning Toolkit. In the Guidelines document you will find a copy of the Toolkit spreadsheets as an excel file on disc and as hardcopy spreadsheets in the relevant chapters. The Guidelines document will assist the utility manager and team to undertake the preparation of the business plan. Readers of this introduction document are expected to gain an appreciation of the arguments and theory of a particular subject in the “Concepts and principles”. “Tools and skills” contain useful models or step by step guides where applicable to assist in practical analytical work. The “Exercises” are intended to facilitate drawing out important decisions out of the participants which customise the discussion to their utility or identify areas of misunderstanding which should be corrected. [authors abstract]