el. 4. A computer-supported business flow model. 4.5.1 A MAIN TOOL: THE BUSINESS PLAN The business plan is a management tool for the operational work towards profitability in a company. The business plan defines the operator strategy, which might include: The end-user services they can deliver and will deliver over the forecast period by market segment. The position in the value chain and relations to other actors, including roaming. Customer segmentation and priorities. The market share targeted for end-user services. The access services they offer and will offer. The market share for access services. Development of the 'machine' (if any): O&M (operation and maintenance), capacity, billing, security, QoS, technologies. Development of the staff. Financial goals. The business plan always contains a business concept, for example: 'The business concept is to offer telecommunication services and systems which facil- itate personal contact between individuals and enables companies to develop and operate more efficiently.' 'Services and systems offered should be easy to use, competitively priced and reli- able. The network is the nucleus of the operations and infrastructure must support the network services'. Let us start with a simplified profitability model. See Figure 4.30. The main elements of this particular model are a telecom network as a service factory, the staff extending, operating and maintaining the factory, the marketing expenses for supporting the service sales on the market, the market battle field and finally the resulting monetary streams and the related financial calculations. Operating expenditure is often called OPEX. Investment expenditure is often called CAPEX (capital expenditure). A common action plan by the actor when choosing business concept may look like this: Examine the market and the competitive situation carefully and choose suitable role(s) in the value chain. The future market share should be sufficient to achieve economy of scale. Choose customer segments within the existing regulati