Professional Example: True Value Corporation is a wholesale hardware company that partners with independent retailers to act as their primary supplier of goods and products in the hardware and home improvement channel. An aspect of that partnership is assisting retailers with the establishment of new hardware store locations. In these cases, True Value will supply an opening stock order of merchandise to the retailer to set the store for retail operations. As a part of the planning process, the True Value business development team members use a Pro-Forma business analysis tool, which is a multi-tabbed report that contains pre-formatted calculations concerning various aspects of the business, including the size of the selling space, sales per square feet, inventory turns, labor expense, anticipated cash flow, net profitability, etc. True Value Finance and Sales team members partner and use this tool to make a recommendation as to whether the project is financially viable and ultimately a sound investment. The use of this tool ensures a consistent approach for the True Value team with regard to new business investment.
OPA's have to do with elements that can affect the project; but these elements are only within the organization in which the project is taking place.