About the Strategy Review System

The Strategy Review System (SRS) runs on two-year cycles. Each cycle begins with a two-day Review Meeting and includes seven Quarterly Progress Meetings. The Quarterly Progress Meetings provide regular opportunities for pre-defined cohorts of workgroups and Goal Implementation Teams (GITs) to report their progress to the Management Board, explain their challenges and request action or assistance. In turn, the Management Board reviews progress toward each of the outcomes of the Chesapeake Bay Watershed Agreement and supports necessary adaptations to the partnership’s work.

The Chesapeake Bay Program relies on documenting the Strategy Review System process through three documents: the Logic & Action Plan, the Narrative Analysis and the Presentation. These documents inform Quarterly Progress Meetings and summarize specific commitments, short-term actions and resources required for success.

While developing the documents for their Quarterly Progress Meeting, cohorts are encouraged to consider science needs to advance the Chesapeake Bay Program’s efforts to achieve each outcome. Cohorts identify and update needs for the CBP Science Needs Database, a tool to track science needs, the first step of the Strategic Science and Research Framework (SSRF). The SSRF is an on-going, repeatable process that helps the partnership coordinate, track, assess, prioritize and resource the short- and long-term science needs identified through the SRS and advance Chesapeake restoration and conservation efforts.

Meetings

The Review Meeting, marking the beginning of the two-year cycle, and the subsequent Quarterly Progress Meetings are shown on the timeline below. To view the full meeting schedule and deadlines for documents, visit the Meetings and Deadlines page.

Supporting Documents

After the signing of the Chesapeake Bay Watershed Agreement, GITs developed Management Strategies describing the steps necessary to achieve each of the agreement’s outcomes. The Management Strategies provide broad, overarching direction and are further supported by Strategy Review System documents: the Logic & Action Plan, the Narrative Analysis and the Presentation. These three key documents inform Quarterly Progress Meetings and summarize specific commitments, short-term actions and resources required for success:

  • Logic & Action Plan: Illustrates the link between the factors that could impact the partnership’s ability to achieve an outcome and the actions it is taking to manage them. It also articulates what the partnership expects to achieve by taking those actions.
    Learn more about the Logic & Action Plan
  • Narrative Analysis: Indicates whether the partnership’s assumptions about an outcome have changed and whether its actions are having their intended effect. It describes whether new information will impact what the partnership is doing to achieve an outcome and recommends adaptations or course corrections.
    Learn more about the Narrative Analysis
  • Presentation: Summarizes the information in the Logic & Action Plan and Narrative Analysis, as well as any changes the workgroup anticipates making to its Management Strategy. It supports a GIT’s request for action, support or assistance.
    Learn more about the Presentation

Steps to Take

Below are the steps that the Management Board, GITs and workgroups will follow to prepare for, participate in and act after their quarterly progress meetings.

Step 1: Receive Cohort Notification

At six months and three months before the Quarterly Progress Meeting (QPM), the SRS Coordinator will provide GITs and workgroups with email reminders. GITs and workgroups are encouraged to begin planning their work on the SRS process.

All outcomes must go through the SRS process, including providing a QPM update, at least once during each two-year cycle, with the option to so once per year. Groups responsible for outcomes that are on course may opt to pass on the QPM once during each SRS cycle.

Following the three-month notification, GITs and workgroups will notify the SRS Coordinator of how they intend to proceed with the SRS cycle. Notification should include whether they will complete the SRS process in Year 1 or Year 2 of the current cycle, and if they intend to provide a full update, a brief update, or pass on the QPM in the current year.

Step 2: Prepare Check-In Materials

Three months prior to the QPM, the group responsible for each outcome should review its Management Strategy to refresh their awareness of the information provided within. Updates to the Management Strategy will be made after the QPM; this initial review is intended to reflect on the high-level, overarching direction of their work before delving into the finer-scale actions that they have taken over the past two years.

To reflect on the status and impact of their work during the previous SRS cycle, it is also strongly recommended that all groups review the actions in their existing Logic & Action Plan (the precursor to the Work Plan), highlighting each action as green, yellow or red according to the status:

  • Green indicates an action has been completed or is moving forward as planned.
  • Yellow indicates an action has encountered a minor obstacle.
  • Red indicates an action has not begun or has encountered a serious barrier.

The last column of the old Logic & Action Plan can be filled in to describe what the group learned from taking each action and how that learning will impact your work moving forward.

Using this reflective knowledge, the group should draft responses to the “Looking Back: Learning from the Last Two Years” section of the Outcome Review Summary template. These questions are designed to guide discussion and document of successes from the past cycle, progress towards achieving the outcome, and lessons learned. Note that Question 1 should not be a comprehensive review of the green actions in your action plan, but a reflection on what you will continue in your post-QPM work plan.

These exercises can inform your meeting with the Scientific and Technical Advisory Committee (STAC) and Scientific, Technical Assessment and Reporting (STAR) that occurs eight weeks before the QPM. It is strongly recommended that you provide at least the draft of your “Looking Back: Learning from the Last Two Years” questions to participating STAC and STAR members in advance of your meeting with them to ensure an informed conversation.

Step 3: Meet with STAC and STAR

About eight weeks before their QPM, it is recommended that outcome leads invite STAC and STAR members to participate in a workgroup meeting. The timing of this meeting may need to be adjusted based on your workgroup’s meeting schedule.

STAC and STAR members will join these working sessions to help:

  • Conduct the adaptive management analysis.
  • Highlight learnings based on the logic model.
  • Define and shape science needs prior to the finalization of QPM documents.
    • Science Needs List: Describe new science needs for any emerging science gaps added to the provided list that, if supported, will help achieve your outcome. In addition to identifying your outcome, provide the science category, a description of the need, any associated outcome, and list the committed resource support and potential new resources to support the needed work. Update previously identified science needs that are still considered a priority for your outcome.

During its meeting with STAC and STAR, the group should populate as much of the Outcome Review Summary template as possible. This will guide them in reflecting on factors and gaps, as well as looking ahead at actions over the next two years.

After the meeting, the group should complete a draft of the Outcome Review Summary with the support of their coordinators and staffers. This document is a product of the group responsible for the outcome and its parent GIT. The full membership of these teams should discuss and agree with the analyses and information provided in this document.

Optional: Meet with SRS Planning Team

Seven weeks before the QPM, workgroup and GIT chairs, coordinators and staffers are invited to meet with the SRS Planning Team to review their draft Outcome Review Summary and discuss common themes or requests. This discussion should inform your update to the Management Board, which can be made using an optional presentation.

  • The Presentation template may be used to summarize your Outcome Review Summary and support your recommendations or requests for action, support or assistance from the Management Board.

During this meeting, a Strategic Science and Research Framework representative provides a brief overview of the SSRF and a description of the information captured for each science need. Each GIT or workgroup is provided a list of their currently identified science needs and a master list of all CBP science needs. This serves as a resource to support their work and help align short-term science actions in the Work Plan (which will be developed after the QPM) with long-term science plans in their Management Strategy. All CBP science needs can be viewed via the CBP Science Needs Database.

After this preparatory meeting, the SRS Coordinator and your SRS Point of Contact will be available to answer additional questions and help identify and invite the right people to attend both your practice presentation and your QPM.

Step 4: Dry Run with STAR

Three weeks before the QPM, workgroup and GIT chairs, coordinators and staffers are invited to meet with the STAR team and the other CBP coordinators and staffers to practice and receive feedback on their QPM update or presentations. This “dry run” presentation is optional, but strongly recommended. In addition to providing an opportunity for presenters to hone talking points and any slides used, this meeting helps members of the SRS Planning Team refine the agenda for the QPM and develop facilitation strategies to support workgroup objectives.

If presenters plan to use slides, they should submit a draft via a reply-all email to the invited participants to enable viewing on personal devices during the presentation. Additionally, it is recommended that the GIT or workgroup circulate their Outcome Review Summary for feedback.

Step 5: Submit QPM Materials

By noon on the day two weeks before the QPM, the GIT or workgroup must submit final versions of their Outcome Review Summary and presentation (if a presentation is given) to SRS@chesapeakebay.net. These materials will be posted to the ChesapeakeDecisions website and the Management Board calendar meeting page. Management Board members are asked to review all posted materials prior to the QPM to support their engagement in an informed conversation during the meeting.

Step 6: QPM

The QPM is where GITs and workgroups give their update or presentation to the Management Board, share their findings and recommendations, and, with the help of the GIT chair, lead a discussion with Management Board members. While this meeting varies based on each team’s choice to pass, provide a brief update, or give a full presentation, it generally consists of each outcome’s team providing an update on the outcome’s attainability status, successes, challenges and future actions to be taken in support of achieving the outcome. Typically, time-sensitive follow-up actions are identified that will provide necessary information for a final decision to be made at the next Management Board meeting. Other issues and requests raised during the QPM may be discussed, refined or resolved at future Management Board meetings.

Optional: QPM Follow-Up

Three days after the QPM, the Management Board staffer, with the help of the SRS Coordinator, distributes a draft list of follow-up actions via email for workgroup and GIT review. The cohort will request any necessary changes or clarifications to the follow-up actions. Once requests and decisions are finalized through the Management Board, they are published on the Management Decisions page.

Step 7: Management Board Follow-Up

As needed, the workgroup and GIT will complete any actions that are their responsibility by the identified due dates. Similarly, Management Board members and other identified parties will complete follow-up actions, as identified on the Management Decisions page. Workgroup and GIT chairs, coordinators, and staffers may need to request time on subsequent Management Board agendas to follow-up on or complete action items.

Optional: Meet with SET

Two weeks after the QPM, workgroup and GIT chairs, coordinators, and staffers have the opportunity to meet with the Strategic Engagement Team (SET). The SET team was formed to provide expertise and coordination to address the increased capacity needs within goal teams and workgroups around communications, social science, local government and stewardship. Workgroups can choose to meet with the team during their Strategy Review System cycle to discuss, brainstorm and plan actions and activities that use the expertise of SET.

Step 8: Revise Management Strategy and Work Plan

Between two weeks after the QPM, each group responsible for an outcome should begin developing their Work Plan and revising their Management Strategies, based on what they presented to the Management Board and the Management Board decisions made at the QPM or a subsequent meeting. These documents are products of the group, as well as any parent GIT, and time should be spent discussing updates with and seeking agreement by the full membership of these teams.

  • The Work Plan replaces the Actions section of the previously used Logic & Action Plan. This document describes actions that the responsible workgroup or GIT will take during the upcoming two-year period to make progress toward achieving the outcome. New actions and “carryover” actions from the previous two-year period may be included.
  • The Management Strategy should be updated to reflect relevant information from the Outcome Review Summary questions, the QPM update/presentation, and any relevant input from the Management Board. Ensure that the Management Strategy illustrates the link between the current factors that could impact the partnership’s ability to achieve an outcome and the actions it is taking to manage them. This is not intended to be a wholesale rewrite of the Management Strategy.

Twelve weeks after the QPM, workgroup and GIT chairs, with the support of their coordinators and staffers, submit the final versions of their Work Plan and Management Strategy to SRS@chesapeakebay.net. The documents are then posted to the Chesapeake Bay Program’s website and accessible on the Document Status page, where the Management Documents status is updated to “Complete.”

At the next Management Board meeting, the GIT chair for each outcome should report that the Work Plan and Management Strategy for each outcome have been posted, as applicable.

Meeting dates and deadlines specific to each cohort can be found on the Meetings and Deadlines page. Have a question? Visit the FAQ page.