Information Technology Service

Management
1

Level V

UC6: Match IT Needs With the Strategic

Direction of the Enterprise

LO 1: Evaluate current business

strategy
 LO1:Evaluate current business strategy
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1.1 Current strategic plan of organization is analyzed to understand the industry
environment and current organizational goals.
1.2 Information related to current operational practices and the strategic plan is compared
to determine possible IT gaps and improvement opportunities.
1.3 Information regarding the impact of IT developments is reported to appropriate
person(s)
How to Evaluate Business Strategies
One of the most important and challenging parts of an executive's job is evaluating and
determining the company's strategy. The process can be intensive and often requires the
expertise of internal subject matter experts as well as outside consultants. Even in small
businesses, this process can take significant amounts of time and resources from the
owner. However, if done well, it can be the defining factor in the company's ultimate
success.
 Instructions
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1) Analyze the company's industry and competitors. Describe the properties of the industry in terms
of its maturity, growth rate and fragmentation (whether there are a few major players or hundreds
of tiny competitors). List each of the major competitors and what role they plan in the industry;
for example, the low-cost leader, aspiration brand or up-and-coming startup. Describe the
customers available in the industry, such as small businesses, government branches, and middle-
class consumers and so on.
2) Evaluate the capabilities of the business or its founders. Perform a SWOT (strengths, weaknesses,
opportunities, threats) analysis that lists the organization's internal strengths and weaknesses, and
its external opportunities and threats. Prioritize a list of the company's strengths in order from
strongest to weakest, and its weaknesses in order of most to least crippling.
3) Assess the business's current strategic approach and how well it is implementing that approach. If
the business has positioned itself as the low-cost leader, examine whether it has achieved that
position. Some businesses may have not defined a strategy yet; in that case, determine what role it
has been playing in the industry and how well it is performing financially in comparison to its
competitors.
4) Perform a gap analysis between the company's competencies and opportunities within the
marketplace or industry. Make a list of each market need that has not been completely fulfilled,
such as underserved customers, operational approaches that haven't been tried or a lack of
competition in one of the traditional roles, such as aspirational brand. Then compare that list to the
business's strengths and weaknesses. If the business has not performed as well as its competitors
nor reached its targets, the company may be trying to compete in an area that is crowded or be
relying on skills in which it is weak.
 4

How to evaluate business strategy

Businesses of all sizes develop strategies to help them reach their goals. You can evaluate
business strategies before you implement them or after the activities they specify are
finished. Evaluating a strategy before implementation lets you make improvements if
necessary, while an evaluation afterward helps avoid mistakes in future strategic initiatives.
Such evaluations analyze the effectiveness of a strategy and are a key factor in improving
overall business performance.
Internal Consistency
If a strategy is to be effective, it cannot be internally inconsistent or have policies or
targets that conflict with overall company structures or goals. The evaluation verifies
whether its approach to the internal organization of the company and operations
reinforces the valuable aspects of existing structures. The targets specified by the
strategy have to match overall company goals. The internal elements of the strategy
have to all further the same objectives and avoid conflicting measures.
 External Environment 5
In addition to being consistent with the internal company structures, a strategy has to match
its external environment. Companies exist in a marketplace that includes customers,
competitors and regulatory bodies. Businesses create value and deliver benefits. They incur
costs and make profits within an existing pricing structure. The evaluation analyzes to what
extent the strategy addresses these factors in a consistent manner — for example, verifying
that the value creation specified by the strategy matches target market needs.
Strategic Advantages
A strategy has to create advantages to make its implementation worthwhile. The benefits of
the strategy have to be substantially greater than the costs of carrying it out, and the strategy
has to create competitive advantages in the marketplace. It could, for example, change a
product to increase its value for a specific market segment that needs the change. The
evaluation compares the costs related to strategy activities, the benefits to the company and
what strategic advantages the strategy predicts.
Feasibility
An evaluation of strategy feasibility asks whether the company has the ability to implement
the strategy. It checks that company resources, personnel available for carrying out the work
and the expertise of the available staff are adequate. It compares what is available with what
the strategy needs for its implementation. It analyzes the consequences of doing the work and
identifies any new issues that may surface as a result. A test of its effectiveness is whether it
has reached its targets.
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What is Strategic planning?
Strategic planning is an organization's process of defining its strategy, or direction,
and making decisions on allocating its resources to pursue this strategy. In order to
determine the direction of the organization, it is necessary to understand its
current position and the possible avenues through which it can pursue a particular
course of action. Generally, strategic planning deals with at least one of three key
questions:
1."What do we do?"
2."For whom do we do it?"
3."How do we excel?"
In many organizations, this is viewed as a process for determining where an
organization is going over the next year or—more typically—3 to 5 years (long
term), although some extend their vision to 20 years.
Key components
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The key components of 'strategic planning' include an understanding of the firm's
vision, mission, values and strategies. (Often a "Vision Statement" and a "
Mission Statement" may encapsulate the vision and mission).
•Vision: outlines what the organization wants to be, or how it wants the world in which it
operates to be (an "idealized" view of the world). It is a long-term view and concentrates
on the future.
•Mission: Defines the fundamental purpose of an organization or an enterprise, succinctly
describing why it exists and what it does to achieve its vision. For example, the charity
above might have a mission statement as "providing jobs for the homeless and
unemployed".
•Values: Beliefs that are shared among the stakeholders of an organization. Values drive
an organization's culture and priorities and provide a framework in which decisions are
made.
•Strategy: Strategy, narrowly defined, means "the art of the general combination of the
ends (goals) for which the firm is striving and the means (policies) by which it is seeking
to get there. A strategy is sometimes called a roadmap - which is the path chosen to plow
towards the end vision.
 8

Organizations sometimes summarize goals and objectives into a mission statement

and/or a vision statement. Others begin with a vision and mission and use them to
formulate goals and objectives.
For an organization’s vision and mission to be effective, they must become
assimilated into the organization's culture. They should also be assessed
internally and externally. The internal assessment should focus on how members
inside the organization interpret their mission statement. The external
assessment — which includes all of the businesses stakeholders — is valuable
since it offers a different perspective. These discrepancies between these two
assessments can provide insight into their effectiveness.
A vision statement is a declaration of where you are headed—your future state
- to formulate a picture of what your organization's future makeup will be, and
where the organization is headed.
Strategic planning process
There are many approaches to strategic planning but typically one of the
following approaches is used:
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Situation-Target-Proposal Draw-See-Think-Plan

 Situation - evaluate the current  Draw - what is the ideal image or the
situation and how it came about. desired end state?

 Target - define goals and/or  See - what is today's situation? What

objectives (sometimes called ideal is the gap from ideal and why?
state)  Think - what specific actions must be
 Path / Proposal - map a possible taken to close the gap between today's
route to the goals/objectives situation and the ideal state?

 Plan - what resources are required to

execute the activities?
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Situational analysis
When developing strategies, analysis of the organization and its
environment as it is at the moment and how it may develop in the future, is
important. The analysis has to be executed at an internal level as well as
an external level to identify all opportunities and threats of the external
environment as well as the strengths and weaknesses of the
organizations.
There are several factors to assess in the external situation analysis:
1.Markets (customers)
2.Competition
3.Technology
4.Supplier markets
5.Labor markets
6.The economy
7.The regulatory environment
 11
It is rare to find all seven of these factors having critical importance. It is also
uncommon to find that the first two - markets and competition - are not of critical
importance. (Bradford "External Situation - What to Consider")
Analysis of the external environment normally focuses on the customer.
Management should be visionary in formulating customer strategy, and should do so
by thinking about market environment shifts, how these could impact customer sets,
and whether those customer sets are the ones the company wishes to serve.
Goals, objectives and targets
Strategic planning is a very important business activity. It is also important in the
public sector areas such as education. It is practiced widely informally and formally.
Strategic planning and decision processes should end with objectives and a
roadmap of ways to achieve them. The goal of strategic planning mechanisms like
formal planning is to increase specificity in business operation, especially when
long-term and high-stake activities are involved.
One of the core goals when drafting a strategic plan is to develop it in a way that
is easily translatable into action plans. Most strategic plans address high level
initiatives and overarching goals, but don't get articulated (translated) into day-to-day
projects and tasks that will be required to achieve the plan.
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The following terms have been used in strategic planning: desired end states,
plans, policies, goals, objectives, strategies, tactics and actions. Definitions vary,
overlap and fail to achieve clarity. The most common of these concepts are specific,
time bound statements of intended future results and general and continuing
statements of intended future results, which most models refer to as either goals or
objectives (sometimes interchangeably).
People typically have several goals at the same time. "Goal congruency" refers
to how well the goals combine with each other. Does goal A appear compatible with
goal B? Do they fit together to form a unified strategy? "Goal hierarchy" consists of
the nesting of one or more goals within other goal(s).
One approach recommends having short-term goals, medium-term goals, and
long-term goals. In this model, one can expect to attain short-term goals fairly easily:
they stand just slightly above one's reach. At the other extreme, long-term goals
appear very difficult, almost impossible to attain.
In an organizational setting, the organization may co-ordinate goals so that they
do not conflict with each other. The goals of one part of the organization should
mesh compatibly with those of other parts of the organization.
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Business analysis techniques

Various business analysis techniques can be used in strategic planning, including
SWOT analysis
 SYSTEM
 System Pyramid
Successful and sustainable transformation efforts require leaders who know how to
manage change. At the simplest level, managing change means:
 Knowing what you want to accomplish and creating a compelling vision that motivates
others
 Understand stakeholders and communicating with them early, consistently and often
 Managing the varying levels of support and resistance that will inevitably emerge in
response to any change
 Change Leadership is a skill set that is required throughout any deployment, from
planning and executing to sustaining improvements.
 Change Leadership is essential for both high level executives and program leaders,
who are responsible for setting the vision, communicate the vision and make the
changes happen.
 14

What is IT Strategic planning, and why do we need it?

There is an old saying that states, “How will you know when you get there if
you don’t know where you are going?” All successful organizations must
clearly articulate their vision, goals, and objectives as a function of their
organizational mission. IT Strategic Planning is important to ensure the
technology infrastructure and services support the mission of the business
unit or organization.
 15
There are many threats to an organization that test its overall resiliency.
Strategic planning is an important method to look into the future to identify
risks and opportunities and develop the strategic direction of the organization.
Strategic planning is a collaborative process involving organizational
stakeholders and technology professionals in sessions designed to better
understand the future direction of the organization and how technology can
enable the organization to be successful. Each organization is unique.
Therefore, each strategic plan is unique as well, and should be tailored
specifically for an organization’s specific mission.
What goes into an IT Strategic plan?
A comprehensive IT strategic plan generally contains the following:
• Mission and vision statements
• Organizational values
• Stakeholders analysis
• Strength, Weakness, Opportunities, and Threats (SWOT) analysis
• Identification of key goals, objectives, strategies and associated action plans
• Identification of performance indicators
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What are the components of an IT Strategic plan?
The planning process includes three distinct phases:
Pre-planning and discovery
Planning workshops
Plan development and presentation
The pre-planning and discovery phase assists organizations in the identification of
business priorities, key initiatives and goals, the mapping of critical business processes
and supporting technology systems, the collection of IT departmental performance
metrics, an assessment of the organization’s current IT infrastructure, and a review of
any existing IT strategic plans.
The planning workshop provides workbooks and templates for each participant,
the use of group decision making technology, and the facilitation by a seasoned
professional. The facilitator guides the participants through the planning process and
documents all of the proceedings.
The plan development and presentation produces a final IT strategic plan for the
organization and develops a formal presentation and review for all the stakeholders.
The final report also includes any specific observations or recommendations from the
planning facilitator. This allows for stakeholder buy-in of the organizational IT strategic
plan.
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The Center for Advanced Technologies has extensive experience in the facilitation and development of
comprehensive IT strategic planning. Members of the Center staff have over 40 years of experience in
the field of information technology and understand all of the challenges that face an IT organization,
large or small, on a daily basis.
Criteria to Evaluate a Business Strategy
Whether you are running a small business or have a leadership role within an enterprise,
you can grow your business without confusion if you are clear about your business strategy.
What sets a business objectives and strategy in context is the mission of a business.
A mission guides business objectives. It is important for the mission to be clearly defined,
embraced by the employees, and visibly maintained. Business owners and executives should
also translate their mission into a set of well-defined objectives.
1. Does your strategy fit with what’s going on in the environment?
Is there healthy profit potential where you’re headed? Does your strategy align with the
key success factors of your chosen environment?
2. Does your strategy exploit your key resources?
With your particular mix of resources, does this strategy give you a good head start on
competitors? Can you pursue this strategy more economically than competitors?
3. Will your envisioned differentiators be sustainable?
Will competitors have difficulty matching you? If not, does your strategy explicitly include a
ceaseless regimen of innovation and opportunity creation?
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4. Are the elements of your strategy internally consistent?
Have you made choices of arenas, vehicles, differentiators, and
staging, and economic logic? Do they all fit and mutually reinforce
each other?
5.Do you have enough resources to pursue this strategy?
Do you have the money, managerial time and talent, and other
capabilities to do all you envision? Are you sure you’re not spreading
your resources too thinly, only to be left with a collection of feeble
positions?
6. Is your strategy implementable?
Will your key constituencies allow you to pursue this strategy?
Can your organization make it through the transition? Are you and
your management team able and willing to lead the required
changes?
 LO2: Evaluate impact of changes
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• Information on current IT systems supported by the organization is
reviewed.
•Advantages and disadvantages of current and proposed IT systems are
compared and documented.
•The objectives and implications of introducing changes are determined.
•Findings are document and forward to appropriate person(s) for feedback.
Change impact analysis (IA) is defined by Bohner and Arnoldas "identifying the
potential consequences of a change, or estimating what needs to be modified to accomplish a
change", and they focus on IA in terms of scoping changes within the details of a design. In
contrast, focus on the risks associated with changes and state that IA is: "the evaluation of
the many risks associated with the change, including estimates of the effects on resources,
effort, and schedule". Both the design details and risks associated with modifications are
critical to performing IA within change management processes.
Types of Impact Analysis Techniques
IA techniques can be classified into three types:
•Traceability
•Dependency
•Experiential
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Bohner and Arnoldidentify two classes of IA, traceability and
dependency IA. In traceability IA, links between requirements,
specifications, design elements, and tests are captured, and these
relationships can be analyzed to determine the scope of an
initiating change.[5] In dependency IA, linkages between parts,
variables, logic, modules etc. are assessed to determine the
consequences of an initiating change. Dependency IA occurs at a
more detailed level than traceability IA. Within software design,
static and dynamic algorithms can be run on code to perform
dependency IA.
 LO3: Develop action plans
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Action plans are developed for the proposed changes that can be implemented
according to organizational policies and procedures
Action plans that take account of appropriate operational, financial, legal, human
relations, internal and external operating environments and other relevant
considerations are ensured.
Document action plans, ensuring that standards, targets and
implementation methods are detailed
 Documentation is forwarded to appropriate person for feedback/approval.
What is action plan?
A sequence of steps that must be taken, or activities that must be performed well,
for a strategy succeed. An action plan has three major elements
1 Specific tasks: what will be done and by whom.
2 Time horizon: when will it be done.
3 Resource allocation: what specific funds are available for specific activities.
Also called action program.
Action planning is a process which will help you to focus your ideas and to decide
what steps you need to take to achieve particular goals that you may have.
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WHAT IS ACTION PLANNING?
Action planning is a process which will help you to focus your ideas and to decide
what steps you need to take to achieve particular goals that you may have. It is a
statement of what you want to achieve over a given period of time. Preparing an action
plan is a good way to help you to reach your objectives in life: don't worry about the
future, start planning for it!
It involves:
• Identifying your objectives
• Setting objectives which are achievable & measurable.
• Prioritizing your tasks effectively.
• Identifying the steps needed to achieve your goals.
• Using lists.
• Being able to work effectively under pressure.
• Completing work to a deadline.
• Having a contingency plan
Writing down your goals turns them into a plan, not a dream.
An effective action plan should give you a concrete timetable and set of clearly defined
steps to help you to reach your objective, rather than aimlessly wondering what to do
next.
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It helps you to focus your ideas and provides you with an answer to the question
‘‘What do I do to achieve my objective?’’.
It’s OK to have several objectives, but you will need to make a separate action
plan for each, otherwise things get confused.
Although here we shall be applying the techniques to careers, it can be used
effectively to help you to reach your goals in many other aspects of your life.
The following are all valid goals for an action plan:
• To get more involved in a student society to get to know more people.
• Deciding what skills I need to improve and deciding how I will improve them.
When careers action planning there are likely to be three main areas for action plans.
These are:
• Choosing the career you wish to enter.
• Working out a strategy to help you enter this career e.g. application and interviews.
• Developing skills that you need to acquire to allow you to enter the career of your
choice and to be successful in it.
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Action planning model
There are many different models of action planning, but a good starting point is
shown here. Action planning is a cyclical process, and once you have been
through one cycle, you can start again at the beginning. Of course, in real life
it’s not quite as simple as this. The process is more organic and stages will
overlap, or you may change your goals as you progress, and you must be
prepared to revise your plan as circumstances dictate. The stages are as
follows:
•WHERE AM I NOW? This is where you review your achievements and
progress, and undertake self-assessment.
•WHERE DO I WANT TO BE? This is where you decide your goals.
•HOW DO I GET THERE? This is where you define the strategy you will use to
achieve your goals, and to break down your goal into the smaller discreet steps
you will need to take to achieve your target.
•TAKING ACTION. This is the nifty gritty where you implement your plan!
•WHERE AM I NOW?
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Where am I now? Where do I want to be? How do I get there? Taking action?

The cycle begins again with a redefinition of your goals........

The main steps in preparing an action plan are as follows:
• Have a clear objective. (‘‘Where do I want to be?’’). To be motivating a goal needs to be
challenging enough to stimulate us, but not too difficult enough to be demoralizing. It should be
just outside your comfort zone: stretching but not highly stressful. Be precise about what you
want to achieve,
• List the benefits you would gain by achieving your goal.
• Start with what you will do NOW. There is no point in having an action plan that will start in six
months time.
• Define clearly the steps you will take. ("How do I get there?’’) Think of all the possible things you
could do to take you closer to achieving your goal, no matter how small. Break down any large
steps into smaller components, so it doesn’t seem so difficult to achieve. What is the biggest
obstacle? What could go wrong?
• Identify the end point for each step and give yourself a small reward for achieving it! This could
be sweets, clothes, a gadget, book or CD or meal out with friends.
 26
• Arrange the steps in a logical, chronological order and put a date by which you will start each
step. Put these dates into your diary or onto a calendar. Try to set yourself weekly goals: what
research you will do into jobs, what skills you will concentrate on learning etc. It’s also a good
idea to get into the habit of planning a timetable each evening listing your tasks for the next day
or two.
• You need to consider if your plans are attainable and what would happen if you failed to achieve
your goals. Try to map out several paths to your goal, then if one becomes blocked another is
available: build flexibility into your planning. People tend to strongly underestimate how long a
project will take, especially if working in a group because they tend to visualize everything going
to plan with no problems. Think about the type of problems you might encounter at each step.
What are the barriers in the way of achieving your goal? What you would do to overcome these
problems? Concentrate 10% on the problem and 90% on the solution. Try to turn every problem
into a challenge and every challenge into an opportunity.
• Review your progress. Keep a diary or blog of your daily activities and record your progress as
things happen: this keeps your plan as concrete as possible. A good time to start your review is
about two weeks after you have begun. Review how far you have got towards your objective,
identify any mistakes you made and what you can learn from them, look at any new ideas or
opportunities that may have presented themselves and then revise your plan to incorporate these.
• Mix with positive people who will encourage you to keep going! Tell your friends or relatives
about your goals. They will provide support when going gets tough and will also give you an
incentive to keep going as you'll feel embarrassed if you have to tell them you've given up!
 27
When the going gets tough, the tough get going!
If you take a stand that is visible to others, a drive arises to maintain that stand in order to
look consistent.
Public commitment makes people stubborn::
A hardened smoker desperately wanted to stop smoking. She made a list of all the people
who she really wanted to respect her, then got some blank cards and wrote on the back of
each card, “ I promise you that I will never smoke another cigarette” and signed it. She gave
or sent the cards to her family, friends and boyfriend. Stopping was the hardest thing she had
ever done, but every time she thought about having a cigarette, she pictured how all the
people on her list would think of her if she broke her promise. She never smoked again.
If you write your commitments on paper you tend to live up to what you have written
down as written commitments require more effort to make than verbal ones and there is also
a reminder for you. The process of writing things down also seems to embed the commitment
in your brain:
"One final tip before you get started: set a goal and write it down. Whatever the goal, the
important thing is that you set it, so you've got something for which to aim- and that you write
it down. There is something magical about writing things down. So set a goal and write it
down. When you reach that goal, set another and write that down. You'll be off and running."
Amway Corporation
 that goal, set another and write that down. You'll be off and running." Amway Corporation

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EXAMPLE COMPLETED ACTION PLAN
MY OBJECTIVE IS: To choose my future career!
My reward for
TO ACHIEVE THIS I NEED TO: Date I expect to
completing this
List the steps you need to take. Be detailed and specific (not ‘‘I'll contact some complete this step by
step will be
employers’’, but ‘‘Find email addresses of 5 local employers who have marketing
departments & contact them"
I will tell my plan to: my three best friends, my parents!
I will start my action plan on (date): 3rd March
Step 1. I will use the Prospects Plannerc omputer guidance system to help me to identify Some nice
4th March
jobs of interest chocolate!
Step 2. I will use the "What can I do with my degree in ..." pages to find out what jobs More nice
6th March
graduates from my subject can enter chocolate!
Time in gym to
Step 3. I will pick up booklets from the Career Service on some of the careers suggested
9th March burn off
and browse through these.
chocolate!
Step 4. I will use the Careers Network to arrange a day shadowing the work of a graduate Book by
Over Easter vacation
in the Career that seems to be most of interest. favourite author
Step 5. I will see my careers adviser to discuss the ideas I have got from the above and to Meal out with
By 10th May
narrow these down. friends
What problems am I likely to face? What will I do to overcome these?
Fear of life after university. Have procrastinated too long and now realise that I must take action or miss opportunities.
Will I be able to arrange a suitable work-shadow? If nobody suitable in the Careers Network, may have to contact companies
directly for help.
 29
Developing an action plan
Developing an action plan means turning ideas raised during strategic
planning or evaluation into reality. It means identifying the steps that need to
be taken to achieve the resource centre’s aims. The resource centre officer
and their manager or supervisor should develop the action plan, in
consultation with members of the resource centre advisory committee
and/or other users.
It is useful to have action plans for each area of the resource centre’s work,
such as:
• fundraising
• selecting and ordering materials
• organizing materials
• computerization
• providing information services
• promoting the resource centre
• Networking and cooperation.
1.3.1 How to develop an action plan
30
An action plan consists of seven steps: setting objectives, assessing the
objectives, identifying action required to meet the objectives, working out how to
evaluate the activity, agreeing a time-frame for action, identifying resources
(human, financial and technical), finalizing the plan, and evaluating the results.
1. Set objectives
You need to identify clear objectives that will guide your work to achieve the
resource centre’s aims. Objectives need to be achievable - do not be over-
ambitious. They need to be measurable (for example, a certain number of
activities carried out within a certain period), so that you can know whether you
have achieved them.
Ask yourself:
• What do we want to achieve?
• Example of an aim: To disseminate information that will improve local health
workers’ knowledge of local health problems.
•Example of an objective: To produce and distribute an information pack on malaria
diagnosis and management to all health clinics in the district within the next three
months.
2. Assess the objectives
Assessment helps to determine whether or not the objective is appropriate. It may result in
confirming the objective, abandoning it or revising it.
Ask yourself: 31
•Is the objective compatible with the resource centre's aims and objectives?
•Are the necessary resources (funds, equipment, staff) available to reach this objective? If not, are they
obtainable?
•What problems might arise in working to achieve this objective?
•Example of resources needed to carry out the objective: staff time, relevant materials in the resource
centre or obtainable from elsewhere, stationery, photocopier, postage.
•Example of revised objective: To produce and distribute an information pack on malaria diagnosis and
management to 20 health clinics and training institutions within the next six months.
3. Identify action required to achieve the objective
A series of tasks needs to be identified for the objectives to be achieved. List these as steps.
Ask yourself:
•What tasks are necessary, in what order, to meet the objective?
Example:
1. Plan the content of the information pack and decide how to distribute the packs, in consultation
with other staff and users.
2. Calculate costs and staff time, and make sure that funds and time are available.
3. Allocate responsibilities.
4. Gather information for the pack (search resource center, contact other organizations).
5. Request permission from publishers to photocopy material.
6. Photocopy material and prepare packs.
7. Distribute packs.
 32
4. Include an evaluation form in the pack, asking health workers whether the information has
improved their knowledge, how they have used the information, and how future packs could
be improved. Assess the feedback from the forms.
Then incorporate plans for evaluation into your action plan.

Example (showing plans for evaluation in bold italics):

1. Plan the content of the information pack, including evaluation forms, and decide how to
distribute the packs, in consultation with other staff and users.
2. Calculate costs and staff time, and make sure that funds and time are available.
3. Allocate responsibilities.
4. Gather information for the pack (search resource center, contact other organizations).
5. Request permission from publishers to photocopy material.
6. Prepare evaluation forms.
7. Photocopy material, prepare packs.
8. Distribute packs.
9. Contact clinics to see if they have received packs.
10. Revise plans for distributing packs if they have not reached some clinics.
11. Assess the feedback from the evaluation forms and use it to plan future work.
 33
5. Agree a time frame
As you identify each task, work out how long it will take and when it needs to be
done. This will help you to see whether your action plan is on schedule or whether
you need to modify the schedule.
Ask yourself:
• What is the actual time required for each individual task? (Be careful not to under-
estimate)
• When will each step be completed?
Example: Total of 18 days over a three-month period
6. Assess the action plan
Ask yourself:
• How will you know whether the individual tasks have been achieved?
• Have you allowed for possible interruptions?
• Have you tried to do too much or too little?
An action plan must be realistic if it is to work. It is easy to over-estimate what you
can do, leading to disappointment and failure. For example:
1. Leaflets that you had planned to include in the pack may have run out and
need to be reprinted. Can you substitute something else, or will you need to
arrange for them to be reprinted before you can finish preparing the packs?
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2. The member of staff preparing the pack will take annual leave for six
weeks during the period in which the pack was planned to be prepared. Can you
re-schedule the work, or can someone else do it?
7. Finalize the action plan
Revise the action plan. Obtain feedback and comments from colleagues, and
revise it again if necessary.
Developing Action Plans
Purpose:
The main purpose of Action Plans is to develop, in detail, who will do what, when, and
how to achieve a specific outcome.
Steps in developing Action Plans:
1. Gather data on the topic
2. Categorize the data
3. Prioritize the data
4. Choose those topics that are of the highest priority and develop Action Plans for
them
Components of an Action Plan:
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1. Topic What is the topic of this Action Plan?

A recommendation is made to address

2. Recommendation
the topic
Who will be responsible to see this
3. Responsibility Action Plan is
addressed as planned?
What specific activity will be done to
4. Specific Activity carry out the action?
(Here is where the detail goes)
Who will be responsible for each
5. Responsibility
specific activity?
6. Time What is the timeline?
What indicator(s) will be used to
7. Output
indicate the action was done?
Updates are made to ensure no pieces
8. Status/comments
don't get addressed