An Advanced Operational Plan (AOP), another crisis action planning product, estimates requirements and anticipates activities over multiple operational periods (typically three to seven days beyond the current operational period). An AOP also identifies and quantifies anticipated short-term critical resource requirements for operations (such as initial response resources, specialized teams, and aviation assets).

The AOP is based on and supports incident objectives and priorities, and complements incident action planning. It includes short-term milestones that facilitate timely ordering to ensure that resources are available when needed. Additionally, the AOP provides a mechanism to synchronize other planning efforts beyond the current operational period, captures procedures derived from deliberate plans, and identifies future resource requirements that may take longer to provide-or that will not be needed until later in the incident.