Information related to the agency’s vision, objectives, strategies and key performance indicators may already exist and can be documented or generated from business planning activities. If this is the case, documenting these strategic elements may be a simple transcription exercise.
Locate any existing documentation on the agency or business area, vision, goals, objectives and strategies. The following documents may be useful in identifying objectives as they contain the formal measurements on which the agency is required to report:
- Agency Annual Report
- Agency Ministerial Portfolio Statement
- Agency Strategic Plan
- Agency business plans
- Whole-of-government strategies and plans.
It can be helpful to use a hierarchical diagram to organise and evaluate an agency or business unit’s strategic documents.
In large agencies where there are many strategic business documents to be considered, it may be necessary to extract and analyse only those elements of the business’s strategic direction relevant to the business area conducting the planning activity, or those elements specifically within the scope of the planning activity.
Managing gaps in information
If strategic documentation is not readily available or is not available at the level required to describe the business’s strategic direction, it will be necessary to generate it through interviews or workshops. The information should then be validated with key stakeholders of the business areas. In these circumstances, it may be also necessary to engage the strategic planning unit within the agency for help and advice.
Using a business register
You should identify the vision for the agency or business area and record and map the relevant objectives, key performance indicators and strategies in a register or diagram.
Suggested attributes for a business direction register to support the digital or ICT planning process include:
- planning unit name
- vision
- objectives
- Strategies
- key performance indicator
- name of source document.
See the resources section of this page for a link to free strategic templates.