Bottom-Up Operating Plan
Definition
An annual operating plan constructed from granular departmental plans that aggregate to company-level targets, rather than from company-level targets allocated downward to departments. A bottom-up plan is more operationally credible than a top-down plan because it reflects the actual capacity and cost structure of the organisation. A company whose annual operating plan is constructed top-down, by setting a revenue target and then dividing costs across departments to fit a margin target, does not have a compliant operating plan under the FFI Standard.
Common Misapplication
The most common misapplication is constructing department-level plans that sum to the desired company total rather than plans that reflect what each department can genuinely deliver. This produces a bottom-up plan in form but a top-down plan in substance.
FFI Standard Reference
This term is defined and applied in Book 6, Section 6.1: The Annual Operating Plan Standard.
Related Terms
Citable URL
This term may be cited using the following permanent URL.
Full citation format: Founder Financial Infrastructure Standard, Beta v0.5, Glossary: Bottom-Up Operating Plan. https://ffistandard.org/glossary/bottom-up-operating-plan/. 2026.