What is the Planning Assistant?
If you are unfamiliar with public involvement, or unsure of what
public involvement techniques are appropriate for your activity,
the Planning Assistant can point you to reasonable choices of public
involvement techniques.
More experienced users may wish to use the Planning Assistant to
review, further refine, or expand their traditional public involvement
approaches.
In any case, your responses can help you document basic information
for supporting your public involvement activity.
The Planning Assistant is divided into three parts: Questionnaire,
Public Involvement Summary Profile, and Suggested Techniques and
Considerations. The Planning Assistant Questionnaire leads you through
a series of questions on activity description, public involvement
purpose and key activities, and schedule and resources. Based on
responses to the Questionnaire, the Planning Assistant generates
a Public Involvement Summary Profilea report of your inputsand
a list of Suggested Techniques and Considerations. These suggestions
displayed are based on their relevance to your public involvement
activity.
Suggestions the Assistant provides should be considered as a starting
point. This Assistant does not prescribe the use of any technique
or group of techniques. Planning Assistant suggestions need to be
assessed against personal judgment and the specific public involvement
situation.
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What information do I need to use the
Planning Assistant?
Depending on your experience with public involvement planning, it
may be helpful to research and gather information necessary to complete
the Planning Assistant Questionnaire. All closed-ended questions
will require a response in order to proceed to the Suggested Techniques
and Considerations. However, you will be able to save partial responses
and return to complete the questionnaire. In addition, many questions
include "Do Not Know", "Other", or "None"
as response options.
The following are topics you will be asked about in the Planning
Assistant Questionnaire.
Activity Description
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How long will the Planning Assistant Questionnaire
take to complete?
On average, the Planning Assistant Questionnaire takes 10-20 minutes
to complete. Your first time may take up to an hour, including time
for thinking about the needs or purposes of the public involvement
activities or checking general information about the plan, project,
or study. People who are familiar with the Planning Assistant often
can develop a public involvement profile in 10-15 minutes.
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Can I save, print, and share my Planning
Assistant Questionnaire responses and results?
You can save, print, and share your Planning Assistant Questionnaire
responses and results through the "Notebook". This feature
allows you to create a record of your responses, document the parameters
of your public involvement activity, and collaboratively plan public
involvement by sharing your results with colleagues.
You can save and share your completed Questionnaire and the resulting
Public Involvement Summary Profile and list of Suggested Techniques
and Considerations in two ways, depending on how you intend to use
the information:
- Creating a new notebook for a Questionnaire, or adding a Questionnaire
to an existing notebook, will generate a specially formatted file (in XML)
that can be stored to your PC or to a floppy or CD drive. You can use this
file to reload your Questionnaire data into the Planning Assistant,
review your information, and make changes. You can also share
and exchange this file back and forth with colleagues using the
Planning Assistant to access, review, and refine your public involvement
activity information.
- You can also create a printable HTML file of your Public Involvement
Summary Profile and list of Suggested Techniques and Considerations.
This file is primarily intended for documenting and sharing the
results of your Planning Assistant input in a printer-friendly
format. You will be able to open this file in a web browser with
or without access to the Internet.
You can also save your Planning Assistant questionnaire at any
time and return to complete the questions.
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How do I get started?
You can navigate through the Planning Assistant Questionnaire by
using the navigation buttons on the bottom of each page (for Previous, Next, and Pause/Save).
Some of the form actions are located at the top and bottom of each page. Please
make sure to select a navigation button at the bottom of each page
so that answers are registered properly.
Remember, all questions will require a response in order to proceed
to the Suggested Techniques and Considerations. Many questions include
"Do Not Know", "Other", or "None"
as response options. In addition, you will be able to save partial
responses and return to complete the questionnaire.
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