Interoperability Cornerstones: 
Planning, Project Governance, & Partnerships
Dan Hawkins, Manager 
SEARCH Public Safety Technology Program 

SEARCH 
SEARCH is a private, non-profit 
consortium of the states governed by a 
membership group of gubernatorial 
appointees. It has a 36-year history of 
collaboration with and assistance to State 
and Federal grant recipients. Over the 
past two years, it has worked under the
COPS Interoperable Communications
Technology Program (ICTP) and DHS
Interoperable Communications Technical
Assistance Program (ICTAP) 

Interoperability Cornerstones 
Planning 
Project Governance
Partnerships 

Cornerstone: Planning
Critical at many levels
Strategic Planning
Project Planning 
Lifecycle Planning
Tactical Planning 
But it seems endless!
It is always wise to look ahead, but 
difficult to look farther than you can see. 
-Winston Churchill 

Planning Principles 
 The plan isnt as important as the planning 
 Its all a matter of context 
Plan in context 
Design in context 
Train in context 
A good plan today is better than a perfect 
plan tomorrow. 
- General George S. Patton 

Planning - Crazy Talk 
Image of Dilbert cartoon

Planning in Context 
 Plan in the context of: 
 Operational, functional needs 
 Other regional, state, Federal initiatives 
Continuously changing technology environment 
Complex system of systems 

Planning in Context 
 Plan in the context of: 
Agency business plan 
Agency technology plan 
Regional, state, and national 
interoperability strategies 
 Most importantly: 
 In the context of
plans of partners
in response

Cornerstone: Planning 
Build your strategic interoperability 
plans based on: 
 Business needs 
 Broader agency and technology strategic plans 
 Other regional, state, and national plans

Cornerstone: Project Governance 
 Process v. Project v. Process 
 Project governance is the 
decisionmaking structure that: 
 provides leadership and accountability,
 defines the business of the partners, 
 analyzes technical
environments, policies and
solutions, and
 effectively manages projects. 

Project Governance
 A typical structure includes:
Executive Sponsorship 
Steering Committee 
Project Management 
Working Committees and Groups 

Project Governance 
 Executive Sponsorship 
One to three sponsors 
Role: Accountability 
Captain through the storms 
Wind in the sails 
Provide resources
Bear in the cave 

Project Governance
 Steering Committee 
High-level managers 
Able to commit resources 
Insures that project is managed 
Constant guidance and oversight 
Able to make mostdecisions related tothe project

Project Governance 
 Project Management 
Ideally, a full-time person with 
specific skills, training, and 
experience 
Formally accountableto upper management
Informally accountableto working committees

Project Governance 
 Working Committees & Groups
User or Operational Committee
The folks who actually use (or 
will use) interoperable systems 
Technical Committee 
Must know workflow and business needs
Ad hoc work groups 

Cornerstone: Project Governance 
 Executive Sponsorship
 Steering Committee 
 Project Management 
 Working Committees and Groups 

Cornerstone: Partnerships 
Process  Project - Process 
 Charters 
 Memoranda of Understanding
 Standard Operating Procedures 
 Training, Exercises, Frequent Use 

Partnerships 
Charters formalize partnerships
 Charters 
Set the vision 
Give the initiative a name 
Capture the big picture 
Build the business case 
Log the background 
Set the scope 

Partnerships 
 Charters 
Set preliminary objectives
Note assumptions 
Set initial timelines & budget 
Describe projectmethodology
Outline org structure 
Are signed 

Partnerships 
 Memoranda of Understanding
Intergovernmental agreements 
Interlocal agreements 
etc. 
Formal, legalistic 
Often necessary, rarely replace need for a charter 
in creating partnerships 

Partnerships
 Standard Operating Procedures
NIMS ICS-based best practices 
Emergency Traffic 
Channel Span of Control 
Standard Language 
Communications-order Model
Operational Unit Reportingu
 

Partnerships
 Standard Operating Procedures
 
NIMS ICS-based best practices 
Emergency Traffic 
-Hows it announced? 
-Whos in charge? 
-Hows it cleared? 

Partnerships 
 Standard Operating Procedures
NIMS ICS-based best practices 
Channel Span of Control 
-How many resources can be 
assigned to this or that 
command/operations/ 
tactical/logistics 
channel? 

Partnerships 
 Standard Operating Procedures
NIMS ICS-based best practices 
Standard Language 
-Common terminology 
-Standard resource definitions
-Naming conventions 
-Plain language 

Partnerships 
 Standard Operating Procedures
NIMS ICS-based best practices 
Communications-order Model 
-Positive message
acknowledgement
- Five-step process 

Partnerships 
 Standard Operating Procedures
NIMS ICS-based best practices 
Operational Unit Reporting 
- Standardized, e.g. CAN report, 
location, status 

Partnerships 
 Training, Exercises, and 
Frequent Use 
Multi-discipline 
Multi-jurisdictional 
Multi-governmental 
Regional  cover a response or planning 
area 

Cornerstone: Partnerships 
 Must Be Practitioner Driven 
Unbalanced, tawdry, distorted 
results if: 
Politically-driven 
Vendor-driven 
Bureaucracy-driven 
Each have likely role 
Know your partners! 

Conclusion 
 Planning 
Project Governance 
Partnerships 
Are Interoperability Cornerstones
Technology makes it possible for people to gain 
control over everything, except over technology. 
 John Tudor