Welcome to the SCUP Integrated Planning Assessment Tool

This tool is designed to support your journey toward more effective and sustainable integrated planning. For more information about this tool and about integrated planning, please visit this page.

Please share some information about your planning context.

2. What part of the process are you in?

Select all that apply.

Other—please describe:

3. Which of the following best describes your role in the planning effort?

Select all that apply.

Primary planning lead, coordinator, or facilitatorChair of planning team or committeeMember of the planning team or committeeStakeholder who participated in planning activities (ie. town halls)Stakeholder who did not participate in planning activitiesExecutive leader or sponsor of planning effort (ie. president, chancellor)

4. Which of the following best describes your overall responsibilities and role in your institution?

AcademicAdministrativeOther

Other—please describe:

SCUP Integrated Planning Assessment Tool

In your own words, describe the planning process or activity that you would like to assess.

My planning process:

On the following pages, you will review each of the five integrated planning hallmarks and assess how they are represented in your planning practice.

Answer each question as it relates to the planning process you described above.

SCUP Integrated Planning Assessment Tool

My planning process:

Read the description of the hallmark below, and consider how it’s represented in your planning practice.

Integrated Planning Hallmark 1

Future-Focused and Mission-Driven

Underlying Principle: Planning should help institutions fulfill their purpose, now and in the future.

Definition: Planning envisions a future aligned with an institution’s mission, makes decisions necessary to reach that vision, and commits to those decisions through actions.

Key Activities

Futuring: Explore the potential future, scanning and analyzing trends and influences to identify what could happen (not just what will happen) in order to anticipate and prepare for emerging challenges and opportunities.
Strategy: Envision a successful future state and use it to establish achievable long-term priorities.
Mission, Vision, Values: Ground all planning decisions and actions in the institution's mission, vision, and values.
Commitment Through Actions: Make decisions, take actions, and allocate resources today with an eye toward achieving longer-term priorities.

Log your assessment on the scale below.

The Future-Focused and Mission-Driven hallmark is represented in my planning practice at this level:

	Emerging—Basic planning elements have been initiated	Developing—Planning processes are being established and implemented	Refining—Processes are established with continuous improvements	Advancing—Processes are well-coordinated and systematic	Uncertain—Not enough information to confirm evidence

Examples and evidence:

SCUP Integrated Planning Assessment Tool

My planning process:

Read the description of the hallmark below, and consider how it’s represented in your planning practice.

Integrated Planning Hallmark 2

Stakeholder Engagement

Underlying Principle: Planning’s success depends on stakeholder contributions, buy-in, and commitment.

Definition: Stakeholders are strategically and intentionally engaged through planning and implementation in order to leverage their knowledge and insights, ultimately building buy-in and commitment.

Key Activities

Stakeholder Identification and Analysis: Encourage a holistic understanding of how stakeholders, roles, and efforts connect by identifying who can influence initiatives, who will be affected by them, and how to engage each group effectively.
Intentional Engagement: Include a spectrum of engagement activities—communication and transparency, opportunities to provide input and feedback, invitations to participate in plan development, collaboration, and decision making—designed to leverage stakeholder insights and build buy-in and commitment.
Planning Teams and Committees: Bring together people from varied backgrounds and roles to ensure planning teams reflect the diversity of perspectives needed for effective outcomes.
Stakeholder Input: Create meaningful opportunities for input where participants’ voices matter and they actively contribute to decisions.
Collaboration: Balance formal governance systems with informal collaboration, building on existing structures while encouraging open communication and information sharing between units.
Communication: Use transparency and communication practices to ensure stakeholders understand how decisions are made, why they matter, and the progress and outcomes of planning initiatives.

Log your assessment on the scale below.

The Stakeholder Engagement hallmark is represented in my planning practice at this level:

	Emerging—Basic elements have been started	Developing—Processes are in place and functioning	Refining—Processes are established with continuous improvement	Advancing—Processes are well-coordinated and systematic	Uncertain—Not enough information to confirm evidence

Examples and evidence:

SCUP Integrated Planning Assessment Tool

My planning process:

Read the description of the hallmark below, and consider how it’s represented in your planning practice.

Integrated Planning Hallmark 3

Alignment Up, Down, and Sideways

Underlying Principle: Disconnected silos impede progress. Planning is most beneficial when decisions are made with a holistic, systems mindset of the plan’s role within the institution and its connections and interdependencies with other plans and initiatives.

Definition: Decisions are guided by institutional priorities, informed by operational insights, and mindful of interdependencies.

Key Activities

Guided by Priorities: Translate institutional priorities into actionable unit-level operations and decisions (down).
Informed by Insights: Use insights, data, and feedback from operations and reporting units to inform planning and decision-making higher on the organizational chart (up).
Mindful of Interdependencies: Coordinate resources, strategies, and processes between units (sideways).

Log your assessment on the scale below.

The Alignment Up, Down, and Sideways hallmark is represented in my planning practice at this level:

	Emerging—Basic elements have been started	Developing—Processes are in place and functioning	Refining—Processes are established with continuous improvements	Advancing—Processes are well-coordinated and systematic	Uncertain—Not enough information to confirm evidence

Examples and evidence:

SCUP Integrated Planning Assessment Tool

My planning process:

Read the description of the hallmark below, and consider how it’s represented in your planning practice.

Integrated Planning Hallmark 4

Informed by Internal and External Factors

Underlying Principle: A wishlist is not a plan. Successful plans (and the processes that produce them) ground their ambitions in reality.

Definition: Internal factors (institutional context, structure, performance, capacities) and external factors (environmental scan, peer benchmarking) are analyzed; these analyses inform the design of planning processes and decisions made during planning.

Key Activities

Performance: Analyze institutional and other relevant performance data and use the insights to inform decisions.
Capacities: Consider capacities and resources so plans balance optimism for what’s possible with pragmatism for what can be reasonably achieved in the plan’s timeframe.
Environmental Scanning: Scan the external environment, both locally and globally, and anticipate potential impacts of trends and forces.
Institutional Structure: Develop planning processes that align to and leverage established institutional processes and structures (budget, accreditation, governance bodies).
Institutional Context and Culture: Design planning processes to work within an institution’s unique context (characteristics, conditions, and history) and organizational culture(s).

Log your assessment on the scale below.

The Informed by Internal and External Factors hallmark is represented in my planning practice at this level:

	Emerging—Basic elements have been started	Developing—Processes are in place and functioning	Refining—Processes are established with continuous improvements	Advancing—Processes are well-coordinated and systematic	Uncertain—Not enough information to confirm evidence

Examples and evidence:

SCUP Integrated Planning Assessment Tool

My planning process:

Read the description of the hallmark below, and consider how it’s represented in your planning practice.

Integrated Planning Hallmark 5

Cyclical and Adaptive

Underlying Principle: Planning is more important than the plan. The purpose of planning is not to produce a plan; it’s to help us make better decisions so the actions we take today propel us toward thriving tomorrow.

Definition: Planning, resource allocation, implementation, and assessment are linked in an iterative cycle, ensuring plans inform actions and remain relevant and effective through regular evaluation and adjustment.

Key Activities

Plan, Resource, Do, Assess, Adjust: Establish a dynamic cycle where plan priorities inform resource allocation and operations, while assessment data drives refinement of both plans and planning processes.
Evaluate and Discuss Progress: Track and evaluate progress against measurable goals, regularly discussing outcomes in relation to resources required and institutional context.
Continuous Improvement: Practice continuous improvement by adapting to internal performance indicators and external environmental changes, making data-informed decisions about what to start, improve, continue, or stop.
Meaningful Measures: Ensure institutional effectiveness measures provide actionable intelligence that supports real-time adjustments while maintaining strategic direction.

Log your assessment on the scale below.

The Cyclical and Adaptive hallmark is represented in my planning practice at this level:

	Emerging—Basic elements have been started	Developing—Processes are in place and functioning	Refining—Processes are established with continuous improvements	Advancing—Processes are well-coordinated and systematic	Uncertain—Not enough information to confirm evidence

Examples and evidence:

SCUP Integrated Planning Assessment Tool

Summary

Your responses are below.

My planning process:

Integrated Planning Hallmark 1

The Future-Focused and Mission-Driven hallmark is represented in my planning practice at this level:

Emerging—Basic elements have been started

Developing—Processes are in place and functioning

Refining—Processes are established with continuous improvements

Advancing—Processes are well-coordinated and systematic

Uncertain—Not enough information to confirm evidence

(Optional) Examples and evidence of practices that informed my assessment.

Integrated Planning Hallmark 2

The Stakeholder Engagement hallmark is represented at my institution at this level:

Emerging—Basic elements have been started

Developing—Processes are in place and functioning

Refining—Processes are established with continuous improvements

Advancing—Processes are well-coordinated and systematic

Uncertain—Not enough information to confirm evidence

(Optional) Examples and evidence of practices that informed my assessment.

Integrated Planning Hallmark 3

The Alignment Up, Down, and Sideways hallmark is represented at my institution at this level:

Emerging—Basic elements have been started

Developing—Processes are in place and functioning

Refining—Processes are established with continuous improvements

Advancing—Processes are well-coordinated and systematic

Uncertain—Not enough information to confirm evidence

(Optional) Examples and evidence of practices that informed my assessment.

Integrated Planning Hallmark 4

The Informed by Internal and External Factors hallmark is represented at my institution at this level:

Emerging—Basic elements have been started

Developing—Processes are in place and functioning

Refining—Processes are established with continuous improvements

Advancing—Processes are well-coordinated and systematic

Uncertain—Not enough information to confirm evidence

(Optional) Examples and evidence of practices that informed my assessment.

Integrated Planning Hallmark 5

The Cyclical and Adaptive hallmark is represented at my institution at this level:

Emerging—Basic elements have been started

Developing—Processes are in place and functioning

Refining—Processes are established with continuous improvements

Advancing—Processes are well-coordinated and systematic

Uncertain—Not enough information to confirm evidence

(Optional) Examples and evidence of practices that informed my assessment.

Please complete the form below to receive an emailed copy of your assessment summary.

You’ve completed the assessment. What’s next?

Thank you for your time and reflection to complete this assessment. A copy of your responses can be sent to you (and your planning leader) by completing the information below.

Please complete the form below to receive an emailed copy of this summary.

First Name

Last Name

Email

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Title

Organization

Would you like to receive planning support from SCUP? Please describe your need:

To help us understand how this assessment tool is being used and to support continuous improvement of integrated planning practices, we would appreciate the opportunity to follow up with users about their experiences and the responses provided. You may be contacted by institutional volunteer leaders of the SCUP Research Advisory Committee or by SCUP staff. Please select a box below:

Yes, I consent to follow-up contact as stated above.No, I do not want to be contacted.