Planning
What this domain tests
Planning questions test whether you know how a plan is built, what belongs in it, and how it stays current.
Core rules
- CPG 101 describes a planning team and a cycle: form the team; understand the situation; determine goals and objectives; develop the plan; prepare and review; implement and maintain. Plans must be scalable, flexible, and adaptable.
- EOP structure: a basic plan (purpose, scope, situation, assumptions, concept of operations, organization and assignment of responsibilities, authorities, references), functional annexes, hazard-specific annexes, and supporting SOPs and field guides.
- Functional annexes organize by activity (warning, evacuation, mass care, public information). Hazard-specific annexes add details unique to one hazard (dam-failure inundation, hazardous materials plume). SOPs tell a single organization how to execute its piece.
- Mitigation plans follow the planning requirements behind FEMA approval: organize resources, involve the public, assess risk, develop a mitigation strategy, and maintain the plan. Approval is required for most mitigation grant eligibility, and the plan must be updated at least every five years.
- Continuity plans protect essential functions, orders of succession, delegations of authority, communications, essential records, and alternate facilities.
- Maintenance: review annually, after exercises, after incidents, and whenever the hazard profile, organization, or legal authority changes.
Worked example
A levee-failure scenario requires evacuating specific zones with routes and reception sites. The evacuation process belongs in a functional annex; the levee-specific inundation zones, triggers, and timeline belong in a hazard-specific annex. The basic plan holds only the concept of operations and responsibilities. Putting routes in the basic plan guarantees they will be stale.
Traps
Writing plans without the agencies that must execute them; confusing the EOP with SOPs; assuming a mitigation plan is approved permanently; and skipping plan maintenance.