Background

Purpose of the Tool

As an approach or methodology, integrated planning practices can be applied to planning processes and change initiatives in various ways, depending on the anticipated outcomes, institutional type, organizational culture, and other factors. This tool helps you assess how thoroughly an integrated planning approach is being applied to your specific context. This assessment breaks down the integrated planning approach into key hallmarks or characteristics that can be observed in a planning process, allowing you to evaluate your planning process, determine strengths, and identify opportunities for improvement.

About the Tool

In its description of integrated planning, this assessment tool is meant to be informative, not definitive. The assessment emphasizes critical elements of effective integrated planning: culture, data-informed decision making, collaboration, and transparency. Use this tool to inform and enhance your process, support continuous improvement, and maintain implementation of integrated planning practices.

The tool outlines 5 hallmarks of integrated planning. Each hallmark describes a distinguishing characteristic or trait of the integrated planning approach, explains the underlying principle or belief guiding the hallmark, and lists key activities that describe how the hallmark can be carried out during planning.

This tool can be used to assess a wide variety of planning activities, from institution-wide strategic planning to more focused unit planning carried out by departments, divisions, and offices, to change initiatives and other one-off processes. It can be used at any point in your planning process and by anyone on your planning team.

How SCUP Will Use This Data

This tool is also intended to help advance research and validate the SCUP integrated planning approach as it is implemented across different institution types, teams, and plans across the SCUP community. Examples and insights collected from users of this assessment tool will help contribute to a better understanding of how integrated planning is implemented on campuses, the outcomes that are produced by its practice, and the evolving resources needed to support planning in higher education.

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