Steps for Annual Planning
1. President communicates priorities and goals for next 1-3 years campus-wide. (July)
2. Divisions and departments prepare written planning summaries (September, October).
3. Divisions and selected departments make oral presentations to the Dartmouth College Budget Committee. (October, November)
4. Based on feedback, divisions and selected departments present summaries of planning sessions to the Faculty Committee on Priorities and Student Budget Committee with opportunity to provide feedback. (November, December, January)
5. Public dissemination of planning summaries takes place. (January)
6. President, Provost and EVP incorporate translate priorities into annual budget plans. (February, March, April)
7. Progress against plans is incorporated into feedback and next year’s goals and priorities. (June, July)
Year One Implementation
Since no formal annual planning process is currently in place at Dartmouth, we recognized that the elements of a comprehensive program should be phased in over a period of time. For example, data gathering and analysis and the assignment of metrics might not be completed in the first year of implementation. Furthermore, timing does not allow for a thorough “bottom-up” process within divisions that would facilitate full engagement of staff and leadership within departments. Therefore, in the first year of planning, we will adopt a streamlined planning process that will focus on the following:
- Divisional mission and vision
- Division and department goals and priorities over 1-3 years
- Relationship of goals to institutional priorities
- Low priority initiatives and opportunity for resource reallocation within divisions
Ongoing Implementation
After introducing the critical elements in Year One, we will want to assure that we add
other elements to make the process more robust and effective. These elements include:
- Review of relevant internal and external data
- Review of progress of priorities proposed in the past
- Tactics for implementing changes to program priorities
- Timetables including milestones to set expectations
- Measures of success to be used to review progress against goals
- Cross-institutional initiatives and impact beyond division or program
- Desired institutional impacts
The planning process should help to address specific issues that might lead to the
transition from one set of priorities in a division to another. These issues can be
expressed as a series of questions.
- Consistent with the institutional mission and priorities and divisional and departmental responsibilities, what are lower priority initiatives?
- What areas are under review?
- What will you do differently?
- Where are there opportunities for reorganization?
These are helpful questions to assure that all divisions and departments are considering
how we can allocate resources most effectively.
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