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Gap Analysis Template: What a Quality Gap Analysis Should Include
Are you a project manager or financial analyst who needs to perform a gap analysis study on your business? Would it be helpful if you had a gap analysis template to ensure you address all of the required elements for this type of study? Despite its technical-sounding name, a gap analysis study is actually a fairly straightforward process. However, if you are unfamiliar with this type of study, chances are you could benefit greatly from a gap analysis example—one created by another business professional that illustrates the proper format for this type of document. To help you with this, in the following article we will provide a comprehensive definition of gap analysis and show you the topics and format that a quality gap analysis template should include.
What Is Gap Analysis?
All businesses, whether product or service related, aspire to meet certain goals, and the end result of meeting these goals is ideally supposed to translate to greater profits. This is why companies set benchmarks and sales goals. But what should a business do when it’s not achieving its expected results? One strategy businesses use is called gap analysis.
In simplest terms, a gap analysis is performed to take a closer look at why a business is failing to meet its expectations—failing to live up to the goals a company sets for itself. To make this a bit easier to understand, below we have provided a very simplified example of one of the more common gap analysis samples, along with the reasons a company may undergo the process:
Let’s say a company is currently earning a gross profit of $30,000 each month. Their monthly projection, however—a projection they set at the beginning of the calendar year—was to earn an average of $40,000 per month. As you can see, the company is falling short of its goal by $10,000 each month, and it is this $10,000 that represents the “gap” in gap analysis.
Using the example above, gap analysis is merely a study to determine why a business is earning $30,000 instead of the $40,000 that was projected. It’s a process that takes an in-depth look at where a company is at present, where it would like to be right now, and the various reasons that this gap exists.
Gap Analysis Template: What to Look for When Searching for Free Gap Analysis Templates
For those of you who are unfamiliar with gap analysis, there are many websites that offer gap analysis samples that can serve as a guide as you begin the process. Most of these samples are of very high quality and quite comprehensive, but occasionally you will run into one that fails to include all of the necessary information. To help you avoid choosing this type of lesser-quality template, below we have listed the three categories to look for—categories that a gap analysis template must include.
• The Company’s Current Position. Although in the example used above we defined a company’s current position in terms of monetary profits, the process is actually much more involved than that. When examining the status of a company, an analyst must look at all aspects of the business. This would include categories such as staff hours and salaries, business practices, company policies, current technology, customer service and feedback and, of course, existing profits.
• The Company’s Desired Position or Status. The second component of a gap analysis template is essentially a statement or report of where the company would like to be, either at present or in the very near future. Much like the section above, this component of the study must include much more than just current profits vs. projected profits. It must analyze the various factors that are keeping the company from reaching its goals, both on a financial level and in how their customers are being served. Here you will want to be very specific, including items such as present staffing levels and productivity, salaries, technology (how the current technology can be improved to meet the needs of the customer and increase profits), customer service policies and recommendations, and any other facet of the business that can be tweaked to reach the desired goal.
• The Gap. This section of the gap analysis example should provide ample space to address the “what’s missing” question or the current barriers and obstacles between Point A and Point B. Here is where, after completing the study, you will identify the changes that need to occur to move from the current state to the desired state. In essence, this section will consist of a realistic plan for moving forward, a type of game plan that will assign accountability to the various team members for each of the deficient areas identified in the study. There should also be a plan enacted as to how progress will be measured and how that progress, or lack thereof, will be communicated to the rest of the organization.
The Internet has made it very easy to find and borrow free gap analysis templates, but before you make a final selection, make sure it contains each of the three sections mentioned above.