An Action Plan is very involved and detailed as it has to justify its proposal, strategy, and design. When you have to perform a task that involves a particular population, how do you communicate and create an action plan? The Technical Writer involved has to have meetings to gather information and as always, with any documentation, create an outline or a mapping depicting what items are associated to one another.
An example of an outline that would need to be created, is as follows:
The Acknowledgements
List the key players up front. List the directors, community, partners, consultants, etc., involved in developing the subject matter. Note down their involvement and participation in creating this plan.
The Table of Contents
Create a Table of Contents denoting the breakdown of the content. Include the location of the Executive Summary, Introduction; Overview, Goals, Benefits, Costs, Future Plans, etc. Include the following:
- Figures – list the title and location of diagrams, graphs and charts showing trends, comparison of values, distribution, etc. Be sure to illustrate data points over time periods.
- Tables – list the title and location of tables describing events and/or tables that clarify and compare items, facts, figures, etc.
- Appendix – list any additional reports, references, or addendum to the action plan.
The Executive Summary
Create a short but concise explanation of the action plan. Include its purpose and note reasons why this report was created. Also include the goal as well as the budget needed to complete the project.
The Introduction
Within the introduction, provide:
- Overview of the action plan – an outline giving a rundown of what will be done.
- Reason behind the plan – the why and the goal.
The Overview
Create a summary and explain the plan for the population that will be affected. Describe what exists, what is needed, the strategy, and the future outcome.
- Definitions – Define terms that need to be clarified, such as explaining the situation that caused the problem or any needed technical explanations.
- Current environment – Note what currently exists. Justify the action required. How did this come about? What analysis was done? List all the various types of analysis completed. Next, note what the findings were, and also include any evidence that exists to justify your point.
- Approach – State how the conclusion or plan was derived. Get estimates. Note what was checked, such as how did you know what was needed and what was needed to be investigated? Note also what prerequisites, requirements, conditions, and obligations are needed before any action can take place.
- Future – State what the future holds. What will happen in the future from this new action? What can affect this change – increased traffic, population, decreasing prices?
Next month, the Goals segment of the action plan will be presented. It is not easy to create an ‘Action Plan’. It is very extensive and a lot of work has to go into its creation.
Hope this beginning section has been most helpful. And, as with any documentation, be precise and exact.
If you have previously created an action plan, please add to this content. Thank you.
Gail Zack Anderson, President of Applause, Inc., has nearly 20 years experience in training and coaching. She
provides individual presentation coaching, and leads effective presentation workshops and effective trainer workshops.
Theresa Pojuner is a Documentation Specialist with over 20 years of writing experience and is skilled in many areas of documentation, for example, Style Guides, Training Manuals and Test Cases, wth a specialty n Technical Writing and Procedures.
