Guidance note: Developing the
implementation plan
[“The implementation plan is a work planning document that outlines the
activities, resources, time lines and action owners required to implement
the vision articulated in the UN Integrated Programme and Operations
strategy and the change requirements needed to realize these strategic
priorties” ]
NOTE:
1.
This tool/guidance has been developed based on the experiences of non-pilots
countries. It is cited by the relevant UNDG working group as a best practice.
2. UNCT to lead implementation - workstream owners to develop content.
2 December 2008
Table of Contents
1
2
Background............................................................................................................4
The implementation plan ........................................................................................5
2.1
Steps in the development of an implementation plan .................................................. 5
2.2
3
Prioritizing activities in the implementation plan .......................................................... 7
Scalability and Tools ............................................................................................10
iii
1
Background
Step 2: Prioritize and set outcomes and step 3: Develop Strategy resulted in an agreed strategic
vision and framework for UN Coherence, effectiveness and relevance. Subsequently Step 4:
Plan Organizational Changes has identified the change implications required to realize the
strategic priorities articulated in the vision and the UN Integrated Programme and Operations
strategy (IPOS). Step 5: Develop implementation plan will help you draw all activities together
within a single implementation plan in support of the strategy1.
The implementation plan focuses on the logical grouping of activities into work streams and the
subsequent unpacking of work streams into outputs and activities. Once ownership, resource
requirements and timelines have been set, activities are prioritized based upon their impact on
the outcomes and complexity to implement.
The prioritized implementation plan will be used as the road map for coordinating the next step:
Step 6: Implementation.
The UNCT can use this results based implementation plan to monitor and coordinate the
implementation and ensure that the identified outcomes are realized in accordance with the
timelines and resource requirements as identified in this plan. As such, the progress report
based on the implementation plan is an important input to the UNCT decision making process.
Given the holistic nature of the implementation plan, it provides a good potential basis for
integrated (UN) reporting to different stakeholders, including UN Country Team, government
and donors and for joint resource mobilization.
1
For a full overview of the UN Coherence and effectiveness methodology, please refer to
http://unct.dynalias.org/toolkit.cfm?sub_section_id=255
2
The implementation plan
The main activities for drafting the implementation plan focus on the logical grouping of activities
into work streams in order to achieve the outcomes of that work stream. Once ownership,
resource requirements and timelines have been set, activities are prioritized based upon their
impact on the outcomes and complexity to implement.
Please click here for an example of an implementation plan.
2.1 Steps in the development of an implementation plan
1. The Integrated Programme and Operations strategy resulting from step 3: Determine
strategy articulates five major work streams that are the basis for the implementation
plan. In addition the implementation plan reflects one additional set of activities: the
change related activities that were identified in Step 4: Plan organizational change.
The implementation plan therefore reflects the activities in support of six work streams2:
a.
b.
c.
d.
e.
f.
UN Programmes
Common Services and harmonised business practises,
Common Premises,
Joint Communication,
Joint Resource Mobilisation and the Single Financial Framework
Change activities
2. Each work stream relates to one or more outcomes that it aims to achieve. These
outcomes are identified in the UN Business Strategy and the supporting Results
matrices for each work stream, both resulting from Step 3: Determine strategy. These
outcomes should be phrased as a high level result or change that you aim to achieve.
Some examples include: increase in efficiency or a decreased cost of delivering a
programme or service, or a change in capacity to deliver a different type of service or
programme.
Note: The outcomes/outputs and activities related to the UN Programmes work stream
are reflected in the UNDAF Results matrix. However, given the number of outcomes and
the number of activities often supporting each UNDAF outcome you may wish to choose
to just reflect the high level outcomes and outputs in the implementation plan. This will
2
Note that as a result of UN Country Team preferences or to reflect the national circumstances, there may
additional work streams beyond the ones reflected above that have been added to the Business Strategy.
allow you to track progress at the right level, avoiding the implementation plan to
become too unmanageable in size.
3. For each work stream outcome, identify the outputs that together realize the outcome of
the work stream. The outputs are a deliverable – a product or service which will
contribute to the achievement of the outcome, and they should be phrased as such.
4. For each of the outputs in a work stream, identify the activities that jointly realize the
output. Activities are actions undertaken to realize a deliverable, the output. and include
indicators that allow measuring the progress of each activity in the implementation plan.
The table below provides an example of the completed steps 1-4 above.
Example for Work stream 2: Common Services and harmonised business practises:
Work stream 1: Common Services and harmonised business practises

Outcome 1: Decrease the cost of UN procurement of general office supplies by 12% by the end of 2046
Output: “The general office supply joint procurement process developed will lead to bulk
purchases saving an estimated x% by the end of 2045

Activity 1: Organize Inter Agency Task Force of participating agency procurement staff
Resource Required: None


Activity 2: Execute joint General procurement requirements / feasibility study

Activity 3: Redesign General procurement business processes

Activity 4: Organize joint bidding process

Activity 5: Obtain corporate clearance

Activity 6: Train involved staff

Activity 7: Communicate new process to all staff
Outcome 2: Decrease the cost of procurement of UN Travel services by 5 % by the end of 2047
Output: “Joint procurement process for travel services will lead to bulk purchases saving an
estimated x% by the end of 2046”

Activity 1: Organize Inter Agency Task Force of participating agency procurement staff

Activity 2: Execute joint Travel procurement requirements / feasibility study

Activity 3: Redesign Travel procurement business processes

Activity 4: Organize joint bidding process

Activity 5: Obtain corporate clearance

Activity 6: Train involved staff

Activity 7: Communicate new process to all staff
Once you have defined for each of the six work streams the respective outcomes, outputs
and activities, you can start populating the implementation plan template. Add the following
information:
5. Owner: Attribute an action owner to each of the outcomes, outputs and activities to
ensure ownership, accountability and responsibility at each level. The owner can be a
person or a team, depending on the agreement and complexity of the outputs and
activities.
6. Resources: Identify for each activity the human and financial resources required to
implement it. This is an important step, as it will drive the overall budget figures for the
implementation of the programme. Therefore, the completed implementation plan with
resource allocations is an input into the overall budget breakdown for the execution of
the programme. (Refer to the Budget Template tool in Step 9).
7. Schedule/Timeline: The development of the implementation plan and detailed
description of activities and performance indicators mentioned in the previous step
should be complemented by a schedule which defines when each activity will be carried
out. Schedule should be in line with agreed priorities and should be realistic.
Therefore, attribute a realistic timeline to each activity, based on its complexity. Ensure
that in case other activities depend on the realization of this activity, the timelines
between the different activities is aligned so that the deadline for other activities and
outputs does not get compromised.
8. Dependencies: In order to ensure that resources are made available and matched with
identified activities and to avoid potential bottlenecks and unnecessary downtime it is
advisable to analyse interdependencies including: activities that may be performed in
parallel; activities that may overlap; and gaps needed between activities e.g. to perform
quality control tasks.
2.2 Integrated implementation plan
An integrated work plan is the most operational document underpinning the Business
Strategy. It articulates for each outcome in the results matrices of the Business Strategy
what activities are needed to realize that particular outcome and outputs in one single
work planning document.
The integrated work plan supports both the programme work stream and the supporting
work streams of Joint Communication, Joint resource Mobilization, Common Services and
Common Premises. Each activity for each work streams may be owned by a different
team depending on the work stream owners.
An integrated work plan is organized around Business Strategy results of the different
work streams in the Business Strategy, as articulated in the results matrix of the work
stream, and it reflects all agencies contribution in this workload. Agency work plans can
draw upon this holistic work plan for the agency share of the work load to facilitate agency
level planning processes. Therefore, the integrated work plan is the activity level planning
tool providing a holistic overview of UN activities in support of programme and operational
results. It follows the structure and templates outlined earlier in this guidance note.
2.3 Prioritizing activities in the implementation plan
The prioritisation of the activities and outputs in the implementation plan could be determined
based on the impact the activities have on the realization of the outcomes of the work streams.
The activities/outputs with the higher impact and lower complexity should get the highest
priority.
Examples of potential impact:
•
To what extent does this initiative better position us to fulfil our mandate,
efficiently and effectively?
•
To what extent does this initiative result in a reduction of costs?
•
Will our stakeholders see the direct benefits from this initiative?
•
What are the expectations with regard to sustainability of the change?
Examples of complexities:
•
To what extent is the organization ready to implement the activity or realize the
output?
•
How many different stakeholder groups will be involved in the process?
•
To what extend can we draw on the experience of our staff for this initiative?
•
•
How could the decision making process be classified for this initiative?
…
Impact and complexity determined for each activity/output can be reflected in the following
diagram:
HIGH PRIORITY
(HIGH IMPACT/LOW
COMPLEXITY)
HIGH-MEDIUM PRIORITY
(HIGH IMPACT/HIGH
COMPLEXITY)
MEDIUM-LOW PRIORITY
(LOW IMPACT/LOW
COMPLEXITY)
LOW PRIORITY
(LOW IMPACT/HIGH
COMPLEXITY)
IMPACT
COMPLEXITY
3
Scalability and Tools
Planning is an essential part of any project small, medium or large. There is no one “fit all”
solution to planning and the level of detail will vary depending on the needs of the project.
Likewise, there are many different tools that may be used in the planning process. These
include checklists, graphs, excel sheets, Gantt charts, critical path analyses etc. Such tools may
be manual, computerised or a combination of both.
It is desirable to discuss and decide the detailed level of planning required and the planning and
control aids to be used before the development of the implementation plan. Different tools may
be appropriate depending on the complexity and scale of the programme.