Strategic Planning

and Priority Setting

Prepared by: Vanessa J. Dela Cruz
Luivie Jhon R. Bitongan
Strategic planning
• Strategic planning is a process used by organizations to
identify their goals, the strategies necessary to accomplish
those goals and the internal performance management
system that will be used to monitor and evaluate
progress.  Most organizations use a SWOT or gap analysis to
identify the underlying factors driving their current
performance.
A. Program Planning
Program planning is the process by which a
program is conceived and brought to fruition.
Program planning involves multiple steps including
the identification of a problem, selection of desired
outcomes, assessment of available resources,
implementation, and evaluation of the program.
Program planning is sometimes called program
design or program design planning.
STEPS IN Program Planning
1. Identify the Needs
What is the compelling issue that the program
will address, and how does it relate to the overall
mission of the organization? Who else in the
community is working to address this need, and
what is it about the new or revised program that
sets it apart or makes it compelling in the
community or larger market that it will serve?
2. Define the Scope of Work (SOW)
A defined SOW helps the program staff and
organizational leadership understand what the
program aims to achieve and in what time period.
3. Stakeholder Analysis
This type of analysis is especially useful when
implementing services that require community support or
partnerships. It can help the program planners understand
their allies, neutral parties, and opponents in order to
decide the most feasible route to accomplish their goals.
A stakeholder is a person who has something to gain or lose
through the outcomes of a planning process or project.
4. Needs/Resources Assessment
Conducting or accessing an existing community
needs/resource assessment enables program planners to
identify the context in which they operate and the
resources they must leverage to accomplish their goals. This
step is especially important when providing community
services or working with external partners. Program leaders
should also conduct an internal assessment that analyzes
the project’s Strengths, Weakness, Opportunities, and
Threats (SWOT).
5. Resource Development Plan
Once the resources needed to accomplish the SOW have been
identified, a plan for securing resources should be created. If
resources exist currently in the budget to begin the program, how
will the program be sustained in the future? How will you attract
the funding and additional resources to support achieving the
goal and impact? Creating a written development plan that
includes diversification of how resources will be secured is an
important next step before moving further. During resource
development, you may also want to begin to put together your
yearly and total project budget. Will funds be spent evenly in all
years of the project? Are there any unanticipated costs you might
allot funds for? A budget is an essential document for a successful
project.
6. Logic Model
Developing a logic model is an essential step in both the
planning and monitoring processes. How will you know if
your program has achieved success? First, you need to
identify the intended outcomes or impacts. Creating and
understanding your program’s logic model is one of the first
steps in measuring success and creating accountability.
7. Timeline/Project Schedule
A timeline or project schedule builds on both the SOW
and the logic model. It should outline the activities or tasks
required, the expected outcomes, the dates of
accomplishment, and who is responsible for execution.
There are some specific examples of project schedules such
as a GANTT chart or a Network approach.
8. Staffing Plan
Do you have all the staff you need? Will you be hiring new staff?
What additional skills will staff need to execute the project, and how
will staff be trained? Will you be hiring an external evaluator or
training current staff to conduct evaluation activities? Based on your
budget, a staffing plan will help you answer these questions so your
program is properly and efficiently staffed and your program can be
implemented strategically. Be realistic in the development of the
staffing plan. A common mistake many organizations make is to
integrate a new full-time program into the existing full-time
responsibilities of staff without planning how time will need to be
adjusted so staff are not overburdened and the project activities are
achievable with the staff available.
9. Job Descriptions/Roles and Responsibilities
Clearly written job descriptions, including roles and
responsibilities, for employees are essential not only in the
recruitment and hiring process but also for day-to-day staff
operations. Clear expectations regarding performance reduce
misunderstandings regarding duties and increase productivity. In
addition, team or department job descriptions help the program
administrators and employees understand how their work fits
together, their common goals, and how they serve the larger
mission of the organization.
10. Organizational Policies & Procedures
While a program under the umbrella of a larger organization
often develops its own subset of policies and procedures to guide
the program operations, these are designed in the context of the
larger organization’s governance and policy structure. All staff,
volunteers, and members of the Board of Directors (as applicable)
need to have a clear understanding of how the overarching
organization is governed, including its policies and procedures.
B. Project Planning
• A project plan, also known as the project management plan, is
the document that describes how the project will be executed,
monitored, and controlled, and closed. This outlines the
objectives and scope of the project and serves as an official
point of reference for the project team, larger company, and
stakeholders.
• Project planning is a crucial stage that comes right after
initiation in project management phases. Through proper
planning, you streamline the entire project into a series of
steps and ensure the availability of all the resources on time.
 Steps on How to Create a Project Plan

1. Step 1: Identify all stakeholders

• Your project has several stakeholders, and not all of them will be involved
in every detail of the project. Project stakeholders include your customer,
the end-users of the product, the company and its leaders, and the team
working directly on the project.
• Depending on the nature of the project, stakeholders may also include
outside organizations or individual community members that will be
affected by the project.
 Step 2: Define roles and responsibilities

• Once you’ve identified the stakeholders, you need to determine

the project management skills required for the project. When you have
that list, you can define roles and assign responsibilities to individual
stakeholders.
• Remember that a role is not the same as a person. In some cases, one
person can fill multiple roles, such as having a designated emergency
contact, a role that adds few additional work hours to a person’s
schedule. In other cases, multiple people may hold identical roles, as
when your project requires multiple workers.
• Typical roles include project sponsor, project manager, and
project team members. The different project team member
roles will vary depending on your project, but be sure to
include a vendor relations role and a customer relations role.
Step 3: Hold a Kickoff Meeting

• The kickoff meeting is a chance to bring all stakeholders

together and cast a vision for the project that everyone can
get behind. It’s an opportunity to make introductions and
establish good working relationships.
• At this stage, the specific details of the project haven’t been
determined, so you should include a discussion on the project
scope, budget, timeline, and goals in your meeting agenda.
This is also when roles are announced and a communication
plan is explained. The kickoff meeting sets the tone for the
working relationship among stakeholders for the duration of
the project.
Step 4: Define Project Scope, Budget,
and Timeline

• After the official kickoff, it’s time to define the project scope,
budget, and timeline of your project. Each of these items is
worthy of its own in-depth explanation, so we’ll just define them
briefly here
A. Scope:
• Project scope tells you what are we going to do (and not do)?
Given the requests of the customer and the vision discussed
by the team, what are the objectives of this project?
B. Budget:
• Taking into account the scope and the resources required to
meet the project objectives, what is the expected financial
cost of the project?
• c. Timeline:
• The project timeline itemizes the phases of your project and
the length of time you can reasonably expect them to be
completed.
Step 5: Set and prioritize goals

• Once your team understands the objectives of the project and

you’ve identified the phases to meeting those objectives,
break down the big picture objectives of your project into
individual goals and tasks. Prioritize tasks according to
importance and dependencies.
• Also, you need a system in place to ensure corrective actions
when goals aren’t met on time. You may need to adjust your
timeline in light of your goals.
 Step 6: Define deliverables

• A deliverable, as defined by the Project Management Institute, is

“any unique and verifiable product, result, or capability to perform a
service that is produced to complete a process, phase, or project.”
• Project deliverables are determined by the project objectives and are
an essential part of the project plan. If the customer’s objective is for
end-users to manage their own content, for example, the
deliverables might be a piece of software that enables users to
manage content as well as training materials for employees and end-
users on how to use the newly created software.
Step 7: Create a project schedule

• More than just a time table, a project schedule is a document

that details the project timeline and the organizational
resources required to complete each task. Its purpose is to
communicate critical information to the team, so it must be
comprehensive and easy to understand.
• To create a project schedule, you need to further divide the
phases of your project into individual tasks and activities,
determine dependencies, sequence the activities and estimate
the required resources and duration of each task. The
information you compile in this process may reveal necessary
adjustments in your roles, timeline, and/or budget.
• This is an important step in writing a simple project plan and a
beneficial part of the process. It’s much better to make these
adjustments before the project has begun than weeks or
months later.
 Step 8: Do a risk assessment

• A risk is a problem that may or may not arise over the course of your
project. It’s important to identify project risks and mitigate them at
the project planning phase rather than be caught off guard later.
Hold a meeting or ask for insight from all team members about the
risks you should consider.
• Areas of risk include:
• Project Scope
• Resources (personnel, financial, and physical)
• Project delays
• and Failures of Technology or Communication
• There’s no way to control for all potential risks, but thinking
through them ahead of time can save your project from
failure.
 Step 9: Communicate the project plan
• Once you’ve compiled your project plan, make sure to communicate it
clearly to the team and all other stakeholders. You may have created a 
project communication plan when you put together your project
schedule. If not, do it now!
• Establishing solid communications channels and expectations for project
communication is crucial. As a project manager, be sure to model the kind
of communication you expect from all stakeholders.
References:
• https://cyfar.org/tips-program-planning
• https://www.projectsmart.co.uk/project-planning-step-by-
step.php
• https://kissflow.com/project/steps-to-create-successful-
project-plan/