State/Urban Area Improvement Planning Conference

1. State/Urban Area Improvement Planning Conference

2. State/Urban Area Improvement Planning Conference SAA: Name Title Agency Exercise Program Managers: Names Exercise Program Managers • DHS

3. 0800 Registration 0830 Welcome and Introductions 0845 Improvement Planning Concept Summary 0900 Improvement Plan Review 1200 Lunch 1300 Priorities Development Today’s Agenda

4. 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 Today’s Goals

5. 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

6. Evaluation and Improvement Process

7. 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

8. 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

9. Capabilities-Based Planning Structure Capabilities Assessment Priorities Homeland Security Strategy Multi-Year Training and Exercise Plan Improvement Plans

10. Training and Exercise Program

11. Improvement Planning in HSEEP

12. Improvement Plan Review

13. 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

14. 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

15. Assigning Goals • 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

16. Developing a Timeline • 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

17. 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

18. 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

19. 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

20. 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

21. Improvement Plan Analysis • List Improvement Planning Action Items that have been completed 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8

22. Improvement Plan Analysis • List incomplete Improvement Planning Action Items that will be addressed in the upcoming year 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8

23. Improvement Plan Analysis • Prioritize Action Items 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8

24. State/Urban Area Training and Exercise Priorities Development

25. [Insert State/Urban Area Priority 1]Improvement Plan References

26. What capabilities are relevant to State/Urban Area Priority 1?

27. Insert State/Urban Area 1 Priority [Insert description of capability-based State/Urban Area Priority]

28. [Insert State/Urban Area Priority 1] Desired Training and Exercises

29. List Draft State/Urban Area Priorities • Priority 1 – • Priority 2 – • Priority 3 – • Etc.

30. Upcoming Actions

31. 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

32. Upcoming Actions • Contract Support • State • DHS

33. Questions and Conclusion • SAA Name • Title • Agency • Phone / Email Exercise Program Managers: Names Exercise Program Managers DHS