UNbizplanner: herramienta de software para preparar planes de negocios UNBizPlanner: a software tool for preparing a business plan

Universities are currently expected to play a new role in society (in addition to research and teaching) by engaging in a third mission concerning socio-economic development. Universities also play an important role in encouraging entrepreneurs through training them in business planning. A business plan is a document summarising how an entrepreneur will create an organisation to exploit a business opportunity. Preparing a business plan draws on a wide range of knowledge from many business disciplines (e.g. finance, human resource management, intellectual property management, supply chain management, operations management and marketing). This article presents a computational tool for drawing up a business plan from a Colombian viewpoint by identifying the most relevant stages which are born in mind by national entities having most experience in creating and consolidating companies. Special emphasis was placed on analysing, designing and implementing a systems development life cycle for developing the software. Reviewing the literature concerning business plans formed an important part of the analysis stage (bearing a Colombian viewpoint in mind).