In the new HSEEP Guidance (April 2013) it says: “In designing and developing individual exercises, exercise planning team members are identified to schedule planning meetings, identify and develop exercise objectives, design the scenario, create documentation, plan exercise conduct and evaluation, and coordinate logistics.”
The first step is choosing the right people to make up the Planning Team. Usually, one jurisdiction, agency, or organization takes the lead and the Lead Planner is chosen from this organization. This person will need to identify other pertinent organizations that are “key” to a successful exercise based on real-world knowledge of exactly who should be involved in an incident if it were actually real-world. Having identified such organizations, the Lead Planner needs to bring into the Planning Team a point-of-contact (POC) from each of these organizations to help design and develop an exercise that will successfully meet the needs of all participants.
Before the first planning meeting (could be a Concepts and Objectives (C&O) Meeting or the Initial Planning Meeting (IPM), the Lead Planner should consult the Training and Exercise Planning schedule and also discuss the prospective exercise with his or her elected and/or appointed officials so that the planning team gains advice and support for the exercise process. At the first planning meeting, team members will: choose exercise-specific objectives to be tested, create the first calendar of events giving proposed dates for meetings and exercise conduct, identify exercise evaluation requirements so that objectives are tested effectively, begin scenario development so that it is close to one’s real-world threats and hazards, introduce the documentation that will be necessary for exercise conduct, and start discussing the logistics necessary to conduct the exercise.
The new HSEEP Guidance, which can be downloaded from: https://www.llis.dhs.gov/hseep, contains a comprehensive process to follow and for the planning team to use as a roadmap for success. Assistance from your county or agency emergency management staff can also be sought as well as the Nevada Exercise Officer. Often only advice is necessary, and other times a more committed role may be required by these subject matter experts.
Key point: No one, least of all the lead planner, should be shouldering all of the responsibilities and action items necessary for the exercise. Planning Team members will need to commit to sharing all of these among the team for developing and conducting the exercise. This can be done by identifying the strengths of each team member and assigning that member to specific action items while keeping the exercise calendar schedule in mind. Each action item needs a targeted deadline to be completed by.
The lead planner should also make sure that the exercise is loaded into FEMA’s National Exercise System’s (NEXS) database under Nevada. The Nevada Exercise Officer can assist the lead planner in completing this task.
Finally, if there are any difficulties, Planning Team members should reach out for assistance to those who have designed and developed successful exercises in the past. Such expertise can aid the work efforts and build strong emergency management relationships for the future.
For comments and or questions feel free to email me at: tcary@dps.state.nv.us
Best Regards,
Tim Cary