Action Project Update: Strategic Planning Process
Institution: North Central State College
Planned project kickoff date: November 15, 2006
Target project completion date: November 15, 2008
#1: Describe the past year’s accomplishments and the current status of this Action
Project .
The Presidents Advisory Council (PAC) was formed in September, 2007 and consists of members representing administration, academics, institutional services and both full time and adjunct faculty. Upon formation, the PAC adopted a format for strategic planning similar to Carol Community College, and began formulating a list of initiatives that were either in process or already planned. These initiatives were forwarded to the president, who in turn created five strategic initiatives for school year 2007-2008. These initiatives were then used to develop the 2007-2008 fiscal budget. During the summer months, the
PAC worked on developing dashboard indicators relative to the Board of Trustees Goals to be used in the future as measurement tools. In October, the first round of quarterly reports will be presented on the status of each strategic initiative and their supporting task statements. Shortly thereafter, the planning cycle will begin again, in preparation for strategic planning and budget considerations for the 2008-2009 school year.
#2: Describe how the institution involved people in work on this Action Project:
The PAC has continued to meet on a biweekly basis since its inception. As the membership makeup represents all facets of the college, communication on projects, initiatives and budgets has been greatly improved. Once the strategic initiatives were established and presented to the Board of Trustees, it was then presented to the school at large, emphasizing that the planning of the college was being developed by a broad spectrum of ideas from the entire college community. The status of the PAC and its strategic initiatives has been presented at each open forum during the year to update the college community. By virtue of the planned quarterly reports on each strategic initiative, the implementation phase and involvement by the committee members has been kept at a high level of involvement.
#3. Describe your planned next steps for this Action Project.
The first year of the PAC was used to develop the framework of creating strategic initiatives. This next year will be used to refine the measurement vehicles for both the initiatives themselves, as well as developing the dashboard indicators to measure the achievement of Board Goals. Although the Action Project itself has come to a conclusion, the PAC will continue its efforts in establishing a well organized method of enhancing long range planning at the college. The model that the PAC chose will soon

come full circle, where the process will start anew in developing the direction of the college for the future.
#4. Describe any “effective practice(s)” that resulted from your work on this Action
Project.
The entire planning process at North Central State College has been re-energized by the creation of the President’s Advisory Council. A number of committees that had worked independently have been absorbed into the PAC, which has created a better flow of communication within the college. The continuous process format prevents this planning process from being “shelved” after completion, which had occurred in the past. In addition, the format of the PAC, being comprised of members from all areas of the college, allows for open communication on any and all projects that are being planned or are in process, improving the morale of the college tremendously.
#5. What challenges, if any, are you still facing in regard to this Action Plan?
Although the strategic planning process has been developed and initiatives have been identified, the challenge before the PAC now is to ensure that the assessment portion of the plan is effective. The process will take two full years before being completely utilized, as this coming school year will be used to gather data on the effectiveness of the task statements that were developed to complete the primary strategic initiatives. This challenge is being met by assigning Project Coordinators that are in charge of each initiative, plus assigning Reports that will be responsible for keeping the Coordinators on track. A second challenge is developing a way to handle “off budget” projects that come before the PAC outside of the school’s budget planning cycle. Since the entire process is continuous, plus the fact that some projects can be completed at any time, the PAC is still in the process of formulating a plan to incorporate these type of situations.
Submitted by Ken Ekegren
PAC Chairman
September 10, 2007