WIN95 Magazine
Kirt Christensen

The Best Business Plan Software

Rating:

The five programs that we've reviewed do more than just put your text and numbers on paper. They help you think logically and methodically about your business and what you are trying to accomplish. Most offer suggestions and tips to think about as you assemble your plan. The purpose of these packages is to bring together your plan into the generally accepted format, while also helping you "sell" your business to others. We've reviewed five of the top business plan software programs. This type of software falls into two categories: template based, and full interactive. We preferred the interactive packages, simply because it made our job that much easier. Here are the packages that we reviewed:

Plan Write was the easiest to use and the most comprehensive package that we reviewed. Even in the beginning questionnaire stage, the product leads you intuitively through the thought processes necessary to beginning working on your plan. The screen gives an explanation of each topic, which they call a "Rationale" and an example, which you can either use to seed your own ideas and phrases, or copy with one mouse click. The real difference between Plan Write and the other packages that we covered is in the financial information. Values are entered one at a time, with an accompanying explanation. As you go through the process, a summary spreadsheet appears and starts to make calculations and use formulas based on what you've entered so far. If a value that you've previously entered needs to be modified, just click on the summary spreadsheet and the change will be reflected in the rest of the formulas. This is a feature sorely lacking in the other packages that we reviewed.

Also reviewed in this article:
Automate Your Business Plan
BizPlanBuilder
Business Plan Pro
PlanMaker
Plan Write

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