Chapter 4 – Strategic Planning – Derivative Strategic Plans
4.6 – Derivative Strategic Plans
In order to function cleanly and efficiently, NOAA has one strategic plan. The NGSP sets the course; establishes the highest-level vision, goals, and objectives for the agency’s efforts against which to measure performance; and communicates these expectations internally to NOAA employees and externally to NOAA partners and stakeholders.
To bring goals alive, measurement is essential. Without measurement, goals are merely words.
The NGSP supports the DOC’s Strategic Plan and Annual Performance Plan. There is a direct relationship between NOAA’s goals and objectives and the goals and performance measures included in the annual budget submission to DOC. DOC uses this information for both its Annual Performance Plan and its Performance and Accountability Report, which integrate outcomes and performance measures across the Department.
In the same way that NOAA develops its strategic plan to support DOC’s Strategic Plan and Annual Performance Plan, NOAA’s LOs and SOs may develop derivative strategic plans (second-tier strategic plans) to execute the strategic goals outlined in the NGSP. These plans serve as the bridge between the customer-focused NOAA strategic goals (on the “demand side”) and the development and delivery of products and services associated with achieving those goals (on the “supply side”). Derivative plans should use the same key terms as NOAA’s strategic planning and identify outcomes, goals, and objectives that concretely support NOAA’s corporate-level strategic goals, objectives, and outcomes. They should detail specific products and service types, the programs and projects necessary to realize them, and how their efforts contribute toward achieving NOAA’s strategic goals.
Implementation Plans (IPs, discussed in Chapter 5) required for the SEE process are a form of a derivative plan. IPs are required to be written by LO/SO and council strategic leads assigned to an NGSP goal and Enterprise Objective. Derivative plans support the development of Annual Operating Plans (AOPs) detailing the actions and milestones to be achieved in a given FY based on stated goals, objectives, outcomes, and planned outputs, as well as on annual appropriations.
Derivative plans establish the objectives for employee performance plans. Each LO and SO is encouraged to develop policies and procedures for performance evaluation showing the linkage of their derivative plan to NOAA’s strategic goals and to the functions and activities of the office (AOPs and employee plans).
Councils may also coordinate with LOs and SOs on the development of derivative plans. These plans must also articulate support for the accomplishment of NOAA’s strategic goals and objectives using the same key terms. These plans guide the work horizontally across the organization by establishing objectives and targets toward functionally-specific objectives and outcomes.
Derivative plans include infrastructure plans. These plans provide a framework by which capital asset planning and management decisions are made. The infrastructure plans must demonstrate support for NOAA’s mission, although this may be indirect.
Derivative strategic plans that are intended to be distributed to external partners or stakeholders must meet several criteria. They must explicitly and succinctly state:
»How the derivative (second tier) goals, objectives, and/or outcomes that define the envisioned future state correspond and support corporate-level strategic goals and enterprise objectives;
»How the activities are to be undertaken;
»How these activities meet the derivative goals, objectives, and/or outcomes;
»What organizational entities will be conducting the activities; and
»What the outputs of these activities are and how these outputs will realize the derivative goals, objectives, and/or outcomes.
Derivative plans intended to be externally distributed must be reviewed by PPI for consistency with the NGSP. PPI will also assist in developing derivative plans and should be consulted early in the development process.
Some examples of Derivative Strategic Plans include:
»NOAA’s Education Strategic Plan 2009-2029, developed by the NOAA Education Council,
http://www.oesd.noaa.gov/NOAA_Ed_Plan.pdf.
»NOAA Great Lakes Environmental Research Lab 2012 Strategic Plan,
http://www.glerl.noaa.gov/about/history/strategic_plan.html.
