![\"ProjectManager's](\"\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/Implementation-Plan-Template-argo-redesign.jpg\")
<\/a>What Is a Strategic Roadmap?<\/h2>\n
A strategic roadmap is a tool to visually communicate an organization\u2019s strategy and the steps that will be taken to achieve its long-term goals and objectives. It\u2019s a powerful means to deliver the strategy and the vision of an organization and its plan to execute its goals and objectives by visualizing the key outcomes.<\/p>\n
However, a strategy roadmap is different from a strategic plan<\/a>. The strategy roadmap is a way to communicate the what and the why, while the plan is the how. The strategy roadmap looks like a Gantt chart and in many ways it is, but it isn\u2019t populated with activities, start and end dates. It describes what the organization must change and why that change is happening, which is to achieve its strategic vision.<\/p>\n The strategic roadmap is a bird\u2019s eye view of where an organization is and how it’ll get to where it wants to be in the future. A strategic roadmap is something that’ll change over time, too, as business conditions and strategic objectives change. This means you\u2019ll want one that can be easily edited and shared to best communicate the strategic goals throughout the organization.<\/p>\n Our free strategic roadmap template helps you by laying out all the elements of a strategy. All you have to do is fill in the blanks. This creates a consistent action plan<\/a> that can be replicated for future strategic goals. You can also customize it to add sections you need or take away those that you don\u2019t need.<\/p>\n In general, a strategic roadmap is essential to prepare your organization for moving from where it currently stands to where it wants to be over the next number of years. If an organization thinks it can just go from having a strategy to executing it, they\u2019re in for a rude awakening. Communicating that strategy throughout the organization is key to aligning everyone for the implementation<\/a> of that strategy. The strategy roadmap accomplishes this.<\/p>\n Since the strategic roadmap is an organization-wide document it is used by everyone. The strategic roadmap is a bridge that links the vision and mission of a company with the execution of how it will achieve its long-term goals. Therefore, everyone from CEOs, CMOs to CTOs is going to use it. But the list goes beyond C-level executives. Below is a short list of those whom our free strategic roadmap template is for.<\/p>\n A strategic roadmap template is the output of the strategic planning process. Therefore, it’s developed during an organization\u2019s long-term strategic planning. That\u2019s because a strategic roadmap provides a clear and detailed product development process from vision to launch.<\/p>\n The strategic roadmap template is used by research and development teams, product leaders and product teams that are launching a new product or service. As noted above, the strategic roadmap will serve multiple purposes. Besides a bridge, it\u2019s also a tool for communicating the strategic plan to stakeholders<\/a> and tracking progress against objectives. Here are some other examples of when to use a strategic roadmap.<\/p>\n A roadmap is like a Gantt chart<\/a> timeline only it tracks several projects from start to finish on one page. This provides program managers, portfolio managers and PMOs with an overview of all the projects, which allows them to better allocate resources to ensure that all projects progress on time and within budget.<\/p>\n As stated earlier, the roadmap can be used as a tool to track progress<\/a>. That\u2019s because it provides a benchmark for measuring progress by outlining the desired outcomes and timelines. This allows an organization to track its progress toward its strategic goals, identify deviations and respond promptly.<\/p>\n Of course, the most obvious use of a strategic roadmap is when illustrating an organization\u2019s long-term plan. This visual depiction of a company\u2019s strategic goals and the steps to get there is used to illustrate those steps and help align projects<\/a> with those long-term goals.<\/p>\n Download our free strategic roadmap template for Excel and you have a fully customizable document that can be adapted to reflect your long-term plans. While there are many ways to create a strategic roadmap, the most common is building on a Gantt chart. However you choose to make a strategic roadmap, it should include the following.<\/p>\n This strategic roadmap template has a simple calendar timeline<\/a> that shows your initiatives and tasks for each quarter of the year. It’ll help you track progress and manage expectations.<\/p>\n Also called actions, these are specific tasks that are related to each strategic initiative<\/a>. They are the action steps the organization needs to execute to achieve its strategic objectives.<\/p>\n Deliverables<\/a> are what is created to fulfill the project objective. These are actual items, tangible or intangible, that come out of the project to accomplish your strategic goals.<\/p>\n A milestone is any significant event or achievement on the strategic roadmap<\/a>. It indicates that there’s progress towards achieving your strategic objectives.<\/p>\n There is a column where you can list the various teams that make up your organization. In most cases, a strategic roadmap\u00a0shows the activities that each business department such as production, marketing, HR, or sales will execute in the upcoming year.<\/p>\n To better understand a strategic roadmap, here\u2019s an example of one. Let\u2019s say a manufacturer wants to exploit a niche in the market for smart sneakers that track a runner\u2019s health. They will create a strategic roadmap to show how they will get this product to customers over a couple of years.<\/p>\n If they already have the technology, then the next step is the plan, which includes assembling resources, creating working plans and securing a team and contracting with suppliers or vendors. The next milestone<\/a> is testing the product that will be manufactured by making a prototype.<\/p>\n Once the product has shown that it works and can be made at a cost that allows it to be sold at a competitive price, it can go into production. This involves ensuring that there is inventory and contracts with retailers have been secured. The last milestone is launching the product, including any marketing and advertising, and shipping the finished product to stores.<\/p>\n We have created other free strategic planning templates<\/a> for Excel and Word you can use in conjunction with your strategic roadmap.<\/p>\n The strategic plan is more detailed than a strategic roadmap. Our free strategic plan template for Work helps you outline your strategic plan from executive summary to financial projections and much more.<\/p>\n A strategy map shows the cause and effect of your strategic objectives in a visual way that addresses more than just the financial perspective. Our free strategy map template for Excel allows you to map your strategic objectives across four perspectives.<\/p>\n SWOT stands for strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats. Our free SWOT analysis template for Excel can help you evaluate each of those in your organization. This will be valuable information when coming up with a strategic plan.<\/p>\n Our free strategic roadmap template will help you visualize the steps that can take the organization from vision to achievement of your long-term goals. But it\u2019s not a great working document. Templates are static documents that need to be manually updated and aren’t great for collaboration. It\u2019s better to build your strategic roadmap in ProjectManager, an award-winning project and portfolio management software<\/a>, that allows you to create a detailed strategic roadmap that visualizes your strategic plan and can be easily shared and edited.<\/p>\n Unlike a strategic roadmap template, you can monitor progress in real time with our roadmap. You can also toggle over to the portfolio dashboard and get a high-level overview of all your projects and tasks. Our dashboard<\/a> doesn\u2019t require a lengthy and complicated setup like you\u2019ll find with lightweight alternatives.<\/p>\n It automatically collects live data and displays it on easy-to-read graphs and charts that show time, costs and more key performance indicators (KPIs). For more information, it\u2019s quick and simple to generate portfolio reports or reports on variance, timesheets and workload. All reports can be filtered and shared to keep stakeholders updated.<\/p>\n Having control over your resources and being able to allocate them across all your projects is one way to ensure that you meet your strategic goals. Managers can set the availability of their teams, which helps streamline assignments, by noting their PTO, vacation time and, if they\u2019re working with remote teams, global holidays. To keep your team working at capacity and productive, visit the workload management chart<\/a>. It\u2019s color-coded to make it easy to see their allocation.<\/p>\n You can then reallocate resources right from the chart and balance their workload. Finally, to keep an eye on labor costs and make sure you\u2019re not going over budget, use our secure timesheets to track that and how far each team member has gone in completing their tasks.<\/p>\n There\u2019s more to strategic planning than strategic roadmaps. ProjectManager is an online hub for all things related to project management<\/a>. We publish weekly blogs, tutorial videos and have a huge selection of free project management templates. Here’s a sampling of some of our articles on strategy.<\/p>\n ProjectManager<\/a> is online project and portfolio management software that connects teams in the office, out in the field and everywhere else in the world. You can share files, comment at the task level and stay updated with email and in-app notifications. Join teams at Avis, Nestle and Siemens who use our software to deliver successful projects. Get started with ProjectManager today for free<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":69728,"template":"","meta":{"_yoast_wpseo_title":"","_yoast_wpseo_metadesc":"This strategic roadmap template for Excel helps you map the actions & projects your business needs to execute to achieve its strategic goals.","head_code_insert":"","footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-69687","templates","type-templates","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","template_categories-project-planning"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n![\"Strategic](\"\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/Strategic-Roadmap-Template-for-Excel-ProjectManager-2.webp\")
Why Use This Strategic Roadmap Template?<\/h2>\n
Who Is This Strategic Roadmap Template For?<\/h2>\n
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When Should You Use This Strategic Roadmap Template?<\/h2>\n
When Managing Multiple Projects Across Business Departments or Teams<\/h3>\n
When Tracking the Action Steps for Reaching the Strategic Goals of an Organization<\/h3>\n
When Creating a Strategic Plan for Your Business<\/h3>\n
What Is Included in This Strategic Roadmap Template?<\/h2>\n
Timeline<\/h3>\n
Tasks and Activities<\/h3>\n
Deliverables<\/h3>\n
Milestones<\/h3>\n
Team<\/h3>\n
Strategic Roadmap Example<\/h2>\n
More Strategic Planning Templates<\/h2>\n
Strategic Plan Template<\/a><\/h3>\n
![\"strategic](\"\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/Strategic_Plan_Template_for_Word_Image.png\")
<\/a>\nStrategy Map Template<\/a><\/h3>\n
![\"strategic](\"\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/Strategy-Map-Template-600x414.png\")
<\/a>\nSWOT Matrix Template<\/a><\/h3>\n
![\"SWOT](\"\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/Swot-analysis-template-screenshot-600x513.jpg\")
<\/a>\nProjectManager Is Better Than a Strategic Roadmap Template<\/h2>\n
Track Costs and Budgets With Real-Time Project Portfolio Dashboards<\/h3>\n
![\"Portfolio](\"\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/Portfolio-dashboard-compressed-1600x918.png\")
<\/a>\nManage Resources and Track Labor Costs<\/h3>\n
![\"Workload](\"\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/Workload_Wide_Zoom-175.jpg\")
<\/a>\nRelated Strategic Planning Content<\/h2>\n
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