Information and data sets have an ongoing usefulness to the planning process. County faculty will require one or two months of lead time to review data and trends analysis summaries. We need to create a dialogue between counties and campuses to determine actual data needs. Work teams doing trends analysis during the spring can also identify the information needs and the availability of data. County faculty can bring county-based data into the campus process.
New issues arising from the county planning process can roll back into the planning process.
While there is always ongoing planning taking place at the county level by individual faculty, team planning should be an event. A comprehensive planning process based on the availability of census data might take place at five-year intervals. We should identify new sources for of the types of data that are provided by the Census so that we are not tied to the Census cycle. Annual updates of county comprehensive plans will allow for professional development and resource allocation.