A firm exercising the TQM philosophy would benefit from involving many personnel in forecasting sales. A firm may also use quantitative techniques in either time series or regression analyses. This is the application of statistical models to describe past relationships among quantitative data relevant to the firm's operations, and then projecting those relationships into the future. TQM firms will use statistical and benchmarking tools adapted from quality analysis in quantitative forecasting. The availability of desktop computers and sophisticated software for such statistical models has brought the process of quantitative forecasting into popularity among many managers.
Financial matters are among the most important items planned for.
The most important financial planning tool is the budget. Allocating financial resources to activities designed to accomplish a firm's mission provides an important exercise for managers. They can accomplish the management process through budgetary activities and see tangible results. Finally, we will see in the staffing unit that human resources planning is also an important action planning activity. Action planning processes are among the first functions that managers must accomplish.