Emergency Plan Project Start Agreementv.2012-09-18

Subtitle (Plan Name)Page 1 of 3

{Text in GREEN is instructional and should be deleted before use.}

  1. At the beginning of the planning project, the Planner should use thisAgreement to frame some initial goals, ideas and participants for the planning project. Remember that planning is more successful when it includes all stakeholders both within and outside your organization, uses one planning system for the whole community and focuses on building flexible coordination.
  2. Leadership should review and comment on the Agreement, particularly on the goals of the project and the members of the Planning Team.
  3. The draft Agreement should be sent to the Planning Team members when they are invited to the first meeting for their comment, especially on missing members or stakeholders. Note that most tools in this Handbook contain information about how the response will work. This doucment, however, focuses on the structure of the planning process itself.
  4. At the first Planning Team meeting, the Agreement should be used as an agenda and brainstorming guide.
  5. The Agreement should be ratified by Leadership, the Stakeholders, the Planning Team and the Planner to kick off the planning project to ensure that goals are in agreement and that the project timeline has high-level consensus.

Purpose:To agree on the purpose, priorities, scope, timeline and stakeholders for the plan.

Plan Title/Name:
Start Date:
Target Completion Date: / Executive Sponsor:
Planner Assigned:

Problem:One clear sentence describing the problem the planning process is trying to solve.

Vision:One clear sentence that states how a disaster response will be improved at the completion of the planning process. Focus on benefit to the community.

What are the desired outcomes for this project (Major Goals)?[1]:

These goals should be measurable in some way, though kept high level. There will probably be three or four and may included improving coordination with other groups, specifiying what informaton will flow, describing responsibility for key tasks.

How does the project advance the Agency’s major priorities?

Many times getting approval for an emeregncy plan requires that it serve a dual-use function. Are there ways that the planning process will improve day to day activities? Will systems or resources for the planning process benefit you leadership’s other projects?

Who are the major stakeholders? What are their needs?:

Some of these stakeholders will serve as Core Planning Team memebers, but not all. Your core team shouldn’t grow beyond 5-7 members. Consider forming an advisory team with fewer meetings that will encompass all stakeholders or having separate meetings with key groups of stakeholders.

Stakeholders

/

Needs

/

Core Planning Team?

Yes or No (Proposed)

Are there budgetary needs?

Is there an attached budget for the project?

Should the plan be vetted with the community at large?

If this planning process will require cooperation from the community during a response, that should be noted and addressed in the project plan. Your disaster response will be much more successful if key community leaders have been involved in plan creation.

What other resources do we need for the project (people, equipment, material, facilities)?

Is it a big or small ask in terms of staff time, which has a budgetary component? Remember, these are resources needed for the planning process itself, not to enact the plan.

Plan Outline (Major Aspects)

This following chart outlines sample plan sections. It is not meant to be comprehensive, but is for key elements that should not be forgotten during the planning process. Remember, you don’t have to solve anything here. You don’t even have to use this plan structure. This is just a list of key elements to be included and key questions you should make sure and address.

Use this as an initial brainstorming tool to make sure you capture stakeholder or leadership priorities early on. That way, they can guide your process from the beginning. These priorities may or may not be part of the final products, but it’s important to know them. That way, you have context when discussing things with your leadership.

Section / Essential Elements / Questions or Priorities
Plan sections given by FEMA / Items that should be covered / Unknowns to solve or address

Situation and Assumptions

/ Consider Political, Environmental, Economic, Social, Infrastructural, Informational[2] aspects. Consider how the situation will change over time and the response capacity.

Concept of Operations

/ Consider Mitigation, Protection , Prevention, Response, Recovery as basic phases, but the plan may need customized phases, e.g., pandemic intervals or major logistical steps.
Are there different scenarios that should be included in planning (e.g. storm paths or detection mechanisms)?

Organization/Responsibilities

/ What key tasks should be assigned? Are there overlapping or redundant responsibilities to address?

Direction/Control

/ Who will be running which elements? Are there overlapping lines of authority?

Information Analysis

/ What key information is needed to accomplish the plan? Where will it come from?

Communications

/ What communications systems will be used? What specific communications problems between responders need to be solved in the planning process?

Logistical and Financial Requirements

/ Are the certain resource or monetary limitations that need to be address? What about the time it takes for certain resources to be procured or made available?

Needed Annexes/Tools

/ What tools may be helpful to make the plan operational (e.g., Job Action Sheets, Checklists, handouts,)? Remember, the only useful plans are the ones that concretely help manage a response.

Stored: Document4 | Author: Planning

[1] Some elements of this form from FranklinCovey 5-minute Project Planner.

[2] Categories from Joint Military Doctrine, Holistic View of the Operational Environment