Integrated Planning Applications
What does an integrated planning process look like? It depends.
There are many different planning (or planning-adjacent) processes. Design thinking, strategic planning, space management, launching a new academic program, and initiatives designed to improve student success are all, at their core, planning processes. As an approach to planning, integrated planning can be applied to any of them.
Rather than try to illustrate what integrated planning looks like when applied to every single planning or change process, we’ve developed an integrated planning model. From a high level, the model outlines the common activities that most integrated planning processes include.
SCUP Arc of Integrated Planning Model
Source: SCUP Planning Institute
Want to dive into more specifics?
Learn more about how integrated planning is applied to different types of planning and initiatives:
Strategic Planning
An integrated planning approach ensures that the college or university’s strategic plan is an effective tool for change, not just a document sitting on a shelf.
More about strategic planning >>
Academic Planning
From launching a new academic program to developing a comprehensive educational master plan, integrated planning can help you make more strategic decisions regarding teaching, learning, engagement, and research.
More about academic planning >>
Campus Planning
Integrated planning helps build consensus and align project goals so buildings, landscapes, and infrastructure support the institution’s strategic priorities.
DEIB Planning
Integrated planning ensures that diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging initiatives are holistic, not siloed.
Institution-wide Plans
Whether they cover a specific aspect of operations or outline strategic cross-boundary initiatives, plans with institution-wide impacts are made stronger with an integrated planning approach.
Unit Planning (College/Departmental)
Whether it’s an academic department or an administrative office, integrated planning helps units align the day-to-day with strategic priorities while also determining the unit’s long-term direction.
SCUP resources about unit planning >>
Planning a New Initiative / Change Leadership
Leading change, launching innovation, responding to disruption—we might not call these activities “planning,” but that’s what they require, and they benefit from an integrated planning approach.
Ready to take action?
Step up your skills with SCUP’s Planning Institute workshops. You’ll dig into planning scenarios that reflect pressing issues in the current higher education environment and walk away with real-world strategies and tools.
Need support right away? SCUP Coaching will connect you with a planning expert who can help you troubleshoot the challenges you’re facing at your institution.
SCUP Membership
Become part of a dynamic community that empowers higher education professionals to drive collaborative excellence, transform challenges into opportunities, and build resilient institutions through integrated, forward-thinking planning strategies.
