Objective:At the end of this chapter, you will be able to explain the purpose of planning and describe the FOPM's organization.
Course Goal
This course is designed to:
Standardize the operational planning process.
Maximize interoperability between the entities involved in the response and recovery operations.
About the Course
The course will cover:
Operational planning definitions
Planning team formation
Situational understanding
Goals and objectives
Plan development
Plan preparation
Plan implementation and maintenance
Deliberate plans in crisis action planning
By the end of this course, you will be able to use the FEMA Operational Planning Manual (FOPM). You should download the FOPM now and reference it often as you complete the course.
The FOPM contains best practices and techniques to help planners identify and describe certain elements necessary to execute a plan during a crisis.
The manual relies on informed planners with good judgment and is intended to standardize the way planning is done.
Planners use the FEMA Operational Planning Manual to guide their deliberate planning and their adaptation of deliberate plans to meet crisis action planning needs.
For this manual to be effective, all planners must understand and implement the operational planning method described in the FOPM.
Risk management planning allows FEMA to better understand scenarios, consequences, and risks.
Planning helps to identify operational gaps, resource shortfalls, and any risks that may adversely impact operations.
Tip
Definition of Risk Management
"The process of identifying, analyzing, and communicating risk and accepting, avoiding, transferring, or controlling it to an acceptable level, considering associated costs and benefits of any actions taken."
DHS Risk Lexicon Department of Homeland Security September 2010
Reference: FOPM pg. 14
FEMA Operational Planning Process
This process is not completely linear. Planners update and refine previous actions as the plan develops.
Reference: FOPM pg. 8-12
