Step 10: Replan

by John P. Hewlett, University of Wyoming

As the production year unfolds management will monitor and adjust as needed to keep the business on course and functioning smoothly. However, such mid-course corrections do not provide the strategic control needed when the destination itself changes. The replan step provides for the level of control needed to consider such fundamental shifts in the environment which would require drastic correction or an entirely new course.

Replan encompasses big changes in the landscape like retirement of key personnel, inclusion of new partners or children into the organization, starting or stopping an enterprise activity, opportunities to purchase the neighbor’s farm, or estate transfers. The replan step also considers smaller changes such as increases in debt capital due to unfavorable market conditions, higher than expected crop yields due to favorable weather, lower than expected feed costs, or faster than anticipated harvest due to higher labor efficiency.

The replan step is a reduced version of the goal setting process outlined in step 3, which should be completed annually. Its essential elements include an evaluation of resource performance and reconsideration of strategic goals in light of past performance.

Just as monitoring resource quantity, quality, and timing of inflow and outflow is important to the monitor and adjust step of the process, assessing changes in the resource base from one year to the next can provide much needed trend information. Such information is critical to making decisions about capital resource replacement, changes in the land base, or even changes in labor resources.

Adequate, accurate, and timely records are needed to allow for resource performance. Annual reports may be compiled from such a record-keeping system, which includes estimates for critical success indicators. Such reporting is routinely completed for the financial resources of a business. They are necessary for filing tax reports with the Internal Revenue Service. However, reports should also be compiled for the other resources of the business. This provides for a more holistic evaluation of the entire unit and all its resources.

The operational level of the SRMProcess is foundational to achieving the goals and objectives established at the strategic level. There are three basic steps at this level – implementation, monitor and adjust, and then replan. Each step is necessary to accomplish all the functions of the operational level. In essence the operational level is concerned with achieving the strategic goals and tactical objectives on a day-to- ay basis. The operational level puts the plans of the organization to work, on the ground, using the resources available, through the activities of the people in the business.