Plan template / strategy

A plan template allows you to define a template for a new plan or strategy.

Typical examples of a plan are:

• Project plan – require project methodologies spearheaded by PMBOK, but also many others (ISO 26262, Automotive SPICE,…)
• Security plan – required wherever quality is really taken care of, e.g. ISO61508, ISO26262 standards
• Internal audit plan – an essential part of a quality management system

Why model plans

A model typically prescribes the content and form of a real plan. But creating a template also saves a lot of time for anyone who has to create a new plan, because they don't have to think about what goes into it and what doesn't.

A template plan protects business data

Last but not least, template plans also protect internal information. When templates are not available, mostly existing plans that are modified to new conditions are used. This often leaves information in the plan that shouldn't be there, or an existing plan as a template gets to a worker who shouldn't have had access to it in the first place.

What goes into the template plan

The template plan should list all the sections and chapters that the actual plan should have. If an area only sometimes has one, the template plan should specify the conditions when each part is needed (in English, this is called tailoring rules).

It is also advisable to give instructions on what to write, or even a skeleton of the text, for each section. The goal is to:

• The plan required as little work as possible
• The preparation of the plan required as little additional expertise as possible
• The author of the plan could only come from the template plan and didn't have to examine any other regulation or methodology.

It is not always practical to include all the instructions and procedures to complete the plan. Therefore, it is also possible to link the template plan to the methodology, where further details are given.

The template as a document or directly the content in AyMINE

AyMINE allows both the template document and the resulting plan to be processed as a document directly in AyMINE, or as a template document that is attached and saved as a file in AyMINE. What is the more appropriate way depends on the way of working and other rules in the organization.

When an attached document is necessary or more appropriate

• There are requirements for the exact form of the document; there is typically a mandatory template in MS Word
• There are already templates and people are used to them
• The document is shared with external entities, typically business partners. Then it is usually necessary to have a document
• It is customary for the plan to work in collaboration tools, typically online editors. With these tools it is usually possible to save a document directly, which will be easier to create. (But it is usually just as easy to copy the result into AyMINE).
• It is customary or the rule to make revisions on the document and to keep the document with revisions as well as an activity log.
• There are multiple images or other attachments in the resulting document or even template.

In other cases, it is more practical to have the content of the plan directly in AyMINE – it is more quickly available and copied when creating a new version of the document.