Category Eight examines the planning processes and how strategies and action plans are helping achieve the mission and vision. It examines processes and systems related to:

Institutional vision
Planning
Strategies and action plans
Coordination and alignment of strategies and action plans
Measures and performance projections
Resource needs
Faculty, staff, and administrator capabilities
Measures
Analysis of performance projections and results
Improvement efforts

Answer the following questions about Category Eight.

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Context for Analysis (C)

8C1
What is your institution’s vision of what your institution will be like in the next five to ten years?

8C2
What are your institution’s short-term and long-term strategies? How are these strategies aligned with your mission and vision?

Strategies should be interpreted broadly to reflect institutional nuances in language. Thus, strategies might refer to initiatives, directions, objectives, and the like.

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Processes (P)

8P1
What is your planning process?

Describe, as appropriate, planning steps, who is involved, timelines, factors that are addressed, and methods for addressing the future. Also address how modifications to the mission and vision are addressed.

8P2
How do you select short-term and long-term strategies?

Address, as appropriate, the key influences, challenges, and requirements that most affect your strategy selection and how you address conflicting expectations of key stakeholder groups.

8P3
How do you develop key action plans to support your institutional strategies?

Address the plans you regularly produce, implement, and revise. Also address how progress reports are regularly tracked as well as communicated to students, faculty, staff, administrators, and key stakeholder groups.

8P4
How do you coordinate and align your planning processes and overall institutional strategies and action plans with your varying institutional levels?

Levels might include, for example, colleges, departments, units, and satellite campuses.

8P5
How do you select measures and set performance projections for your institutional strategies and action plans?

8P6
How do you account for appropriate resource needs within your strategy selection and action plan implementation processes?

Resource needs might include staff, financial, space, and equipment.

8P7
How do you ensure that faculty, staff, and administrator capabilities will be developed and nurtured to address requirements regarding changing institutional strategies and action plans?

8P8
What measures of the effectiveness of your system for planning continuous improvement do you collect and analyze regularly?

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Results (R)

8R1
What are your results for accomplishing institutional strategies and action plans?

8R2
Regarding 8R1, what are your projections of performance for your strategies and action plans over the next one to three years?

8R3

Regarding 8R2, how do your projections for your strategies and action plans compare with those of other higher education institutions and, if appropriate, organizations outside the education community?

8R4
What is the evidence that your system for planning continuous improvement is effective?

Results might include, for example, number of participants involved in the planning process and employee and stakeholder satisfaction with the planning process. Address historical trends and patterns, as appropriate.

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Improvement (I)

8I1
How do you improve your current processes and systems for planning continuous improvement?

8I2
With regard to your current results for planning continuous improvement, how do you set targets for improvement? What specific improvement priorities are you targeting, and how will these be addressed? How do you communicate your current results and improvement priorities as well as performance projections to students, faculty, staff, administrators, and appropriate stakeholders?