Instructions for the Step 4 Plan Review
For the Planning Practicum for this class, I endeavor to provide my students with practical knowledge and skills that will be helpful to them in the future, regardless of their career path. In most public and private organizations or businesses, and especially for emergency management organizations, planning is an important core process within the organization, whether that be strategic planning or emergency/contingency planning. In emergency management organizations, for example, “Planner positions” are a typical job category for everything from an entry level Planner to a mid-level management Senior Planner/Manager. A common job requirement for these positions are to review plans. Therefore, given the restrictions for safely interacting with the public during our present Covid crisis, your Step 4 assignment will entail utilizing an actual “real world: planning checklist/crosswalk to review the Basic Plan portion of a county Emergency Operations Plan. I encourage you to try to use a Florida County since you are using a Florida Plan Review Crosswalk, however, I will accept any county Plan that can be found on the internet so that I can verify your work.
First, again find a county level Comprehensive Emergency Management Plan, or Emergency Operations Plan (titles will vary) on the internet. Do not use a Recovery or Mitigation Plan for this activity. Look through the plan to determine the Basic Plan portion. Review your past PowerPoint slides on planning, or the FEMA CPG you were provided, if you are unsure what I mean by the Basic Plan. You do not have to review any supporting annexes or Emergency Support Function sections of the plan.
Using the Excel spreadsheet crosswalk provided in the Module, first read the information in the Executive Summary and Special Instructions tab at the bottom of the Spreadsheet. Then, using your chosen Comprehensive Emergency Management Plan, or Emergency Operations Plan (titles will vary) locate the Basic portion of the plan (again you will see a tab at the bottom of the spreadsheet that indicates “Basic Plan”. Make sure to re-save your excel spreadsheet when you begin with a title including the name of the county/state/your name, e.g, Leon_Florida_Dilling and save as an Excel Workbook file. This is the document you will use to complete the assignment, and upload into Canvas.
The spreadsheet columns are fairly self explanatory. You are only required to complete the following 3 columns:
Actual Location Found – include the page number(s) that you found what they are asking for, e.g., pp 2-3
Reviewer’s comments – describe briefly in a few sentences or more how they did or did not satisfy this specific planning criteria
Compliant? Yes or No – Simply indicate with a “Y” if they met the spirit of the criteria or if shortcomings were identified in the previous section, note a “N”.
Remember, with this activity, you are playing the role of an actual state Emergency Management Planner, who is tasked with reviewing the county plan to ensure it meet’s planning guidance criteria. I expect you to treat this as a professional assignment with professional language as if you were getting paid a salary to do this.
If you have questions, as always, feel free to contact me.
The Spreadsheet is provided in a separate downloadable file link in the Module for this week as CEMP-compliance-criteria-2017-Editable.xlsx
