State/Urban Area Improvement Planning Conference

[Date] [Exercise Name] State/Urban Area Improvement Planning Conference SAA: Name Title Agency SAA: Name Title Agency Exercise Program Managers: Names Exercise Program Managers  DHS

[Date] [Exercise Name] Today’s Agenda 0800Registration 0830Welcome and Introductions 0845Improvement Planning Concept Summary 0900Improvement Plan Review 1200Lunch 1300Priorities Development

[Date] [Exercise Name] Today’s Goals  Review Improvement Planning concepts and goals  Review State/Urban Area strategic goals and priorities addressed in recent exercise activities  Work to answer three questions:  How prepared are we?  How prepared do we need to be?  How do we prioritize efforts to close the gap?  Enable State/Urban Area to identify critical deficiencies and develop strategies for tracking and reporting on progress

[Date] [Exercise Name] Assumptions  Attendees will:  Be familiar with the State/Urban Area Homeland Security Strategy including the State/Urban Area Priorities  Have a working knowledge of the State’s/Urban Area’s Improvement Program  Have access to the State/Urban Area Improvement Plan (IP) Matrix  Have authority to revise State/Urban Area Priorities

[Date] [Exercise Name] Evaluation and Improvement Process

[Date] [Exercise Name] HSEEP  HSPD-8: establish a “national program and multi-year planning system to conduct homeland security preparedness-related exercises that reinforce identified training standards, provide for evaluation of readiness, and support the National Preparedness Goal”  Help homeland security professionals assess capabilities built through planning, training, and equipment procurement by providing them with the tools to plan, conduct, and evaluate exercises to improve overall preparedness  HSEEP After-Action Reports (AARs) and IPs document and summarize performance as part of the comprehensive preparedness assessment described in the National Preparedness Goal

[Date] [Exercise Name] Capabilities-Based Program Approach  Provides the foundation for developing exercise program objectives, identifying sets of capabilities to exercise, and determining the conditions and scenarios that should be included and addressed in exercises  Exercise programs should integrate and support capabilities-based planning, both through long-term strategic program management and through the design, development, conduct, and evaluation of exercises  Strategies should address not only terrorism, but a broad range of other threats and hazards founded on the capabilities-based planning approach

[Date] [Exercise Name] Capabilities-Based Planning Structure Homeland Security Strategy Priorities Multi-Year Training and Exercise Plan Improvement Plans Capabilities Assessment

[Date] [Exercise Name] Training and Exercise Program

[Date] [Exercise Name] Improvement Planning in HSEEP

Improvement Plan Review

[Date] [Exercise Name] Improvement Planning Overview  Post-exercise activities designed to provide feedback on tasks identified as critical through the planning process  An AAR includes recommendations for improvements based on the analysis  The IP converts lessons learned from the exercise into concrete, measurable steps  State/Urban Area should track recommendations, due dates, and action items identified in the IP  This information should be incorporated into the capabilities-based planning process and addressed annually in the Multi-Year Training and Exercise Plan and Schedule

[Date] [Exercise Name] Identifying Improvements  Improvement planning should always take into account the current operational picture  Plans should be targeted to a specific timeframe  Budgetary concerns may be limiting, but grant funding is available based on need  Resources are limited  Stress improvements that have the highest impact-to- cost ratio

[Date] [Exercise Name]  Short-term goals should be completed within one exercise planning cycle  Long-term goals may stretch out over multiple exercises or exercise planning periods  All goals should be assigned to a position or organization for ownership of the change  IPs should include the assigned position or organization  Organizations or assigned patrons should have a plan for communicating progress Assigning Goals

[Date] [Exercise Name]  Based on the building-block approach  Based on the current information and resources available  Take into account events that may delay implementation such as major events or holidays Developing a Timeline

[Date] [Exercise Name] Improvement Plan Tracking and Analysis  An automated online tool for action item tracking  Following development of an IP, the improvement action manager should enter the contents of the IP into the system  The improvement action manager should then monitor the progress toward implementation of each action item  Ensures a comprehensive exercise program that demonstrates continual improvement of capabilities relevant to the State/Urban Area

[Date] [Exercise Name] Improvement Plan Tracking  Improvement actions should be written to include attainable benchmarks that gauge process toward implementation  Each jurisdiction should have a method for monitoring improvements; improvement action manager  Benchmarks should be defined against concrete deadlines so that gradual progress toward attainment of improvement actions can be tracked  Reviewing improvement progress should occur during the Training and Exercise Planning Workshop (T&EPW) if not more frequently  If progress is not made toward completing improvements, the IP should be reviewed for potential alternatives

[Date] [Exercise Name] Improvement Plan Matrix  A template for identifying recommendations and improvement actions and assigning responsibilities  Includes  Tasks  Recommendations  Improvement actions  Responsible party (by agency)  Completion date

[Date] [Exercise Name] Improvement Plan Analysis  Begin review of previous year’s IP Matrices  Identify IP action items that have been completed  Identify IP action items that have not been completed  Identify IP action items relevant to training and exercises that should be addressed in the upcoming year’s Training and Exercise Plan and Schedule  Prioritize these action items and align them with capabilities from the Target Capabilities List (TCL)  Draft State/Urban Area Priorities

[Date] [Exercise Name] Improvement Plan Analysis  List Improvement Planning Action Items that have been completed

[Date] [Exercise Name] Improvement Plan Analysis  List incomplete Improvement Planning Action Items that will be addressed in the upcoming year

[Date] [Exercise Name] Improvement Plan Analysis  Prioritize Action Items

State/Urban Area Training and Exercise Priorities Development

[Date] [Exercise Name] [Insert State/Urban Area Priority 1] Improvement Plan References

[Date] [Exercise Name] What capabilities are relevant to State/Urban Area Priority 1?

[Date] [Exercise Name] Insert State/Urban Area 1 Priority [ Insert description of capability-based State/ Urban Area Priority]

[Date] [Exercise Name] [Insert State/Urban Area Priority 1] Desired Training and Exercises

[Date] [Exercise Name] List Draft State/Urban Area Priorities  Priority 1 –  Priority 2 –  Priority 3 –  Etc.

Upcoming Actions

[Date] [Exercise Name] Multi-Year Training and Exercise Plan Workshop  Multi-year Training and Exercise Plan outlines  State/Urban Area Priorities  IP reference(s) (if applicable)  Associated target capabilities  Training  Exercises  Contains the Multi-Year Training and Exercise Schedule

[Date] [Exercise Name] Upcoming Actions  Contract Support   State   DHS 

[Date] [Exercise Name] Questions and Conclusion  SAA Name  Title  Agency  Phone /  SAA Name  Title  Agency  Phone / Exercise Program Managers: Names Exercise Program Managers DHS