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.

 

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

Before Your Quarterly Progress Meeting

Three Months Before

The groups responsible for the outcome will begin updating their Logic & Action Plans and preparing their Narrative Analyses with the support of their coordinators and staffers. These documents are products 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 these documents.

  • Logic & Action Plan: Review the existing actions from column four in your Logic & Action Plan. Highlight each action to indicate its status.
    • Green highlighting 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 been taken or has encountered a serious barrier.

    Fill in the last column describing what was learned by taking each action and that learning will impact your work.

  • Narrative Analysis: Use your analysis of the Logic & Action Plan to answer the five questions in the Narrative Analysis template. Include any significant changes your workgroup or GIT may make to its work over the next two years.

Seven Weeks Before

Workgroup and GIT chairs, coordinators and staffers are invited to meet with the SRS Planning Team to review their draft Logic & Action Plans and Narrative Analyses and discuss common themes or requests. This discussion should inform your presentation to the Management Board.

  • Presentation: Use the Presentation template to summarize your Narrative Analysis 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 their Logic & Action Plan and long-term science plans in their Management Strategy. They will also provide an update on any changes to their science needs at the next STAR meeting after their Quarterly Progress Meeting. All CBP science needs can be viewed via the CBP Science Needs Database.

After this preparatory meeting, 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 quarterly progress meeting.

Three Weeks Before

The cohort must submit draft presentations to the Scientific, Technical Assessment and Reporting Team staffer and to SRS@chesapeakebay.net to be posted to the meeting event page.

Two Weeks Before

Workgroup and GIT chairs, coordinators and staffers are invited to meet with the Scientific, Technical Assessment and Reporting Team to practice and receive feedback on their presentations. On the Monday after this meeting, the cohort must submit final versions of its three supporting documents (Logic & Action Plan, Narrative Analysis and Presentation) to SRS@chesapeakebay.net to be posted to the Document Status page.

During Your Quarterly Progress Meeting

The quarterly progress meeting is when you give your Presentation. Each workgroup or GIT in the cohort will present its findings and recommended next steps and, and with the help of the GIT chair, lead a discussion with the Management Board. 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 your quarterly progress meeting may be discussed, refined or resolved at the next month’s meeting of the Management Board or at future Management Board meetings.

After Your Quarterly Progress Meeting

Three Business Days After

The Management Board staffer distributes a draft list of follow-up actions for workgroup and GIT review. The cohort will request any necessary changes or clarifications and complete any actions that are their responsibility by the identified due dates. Chairs, coordinators and staffers may need to request time on subsequent Management Board agendas. Once requests and decisions are finalized through the Management Board, they are published on the Management Decisions page.

Two Weeks After

Workgroup and GIT chairs, coordinators and staffers provide the Management Board staffer with any supporting documents the Management Board requested or otherwise needs to make decisions at its next meeting. The Management Board staffer sends the relevant materials to the Management Board.

Four Weeks After

Workgroup and GIT chairs, coordinators and staffers may attend another meeting of the Management Board to discuss, refine or resolve issues and requests discussed during their quarterly progress meeting. Chairs, coordinators and staffers will receive draft actions and decisions from the follow-up meeting for review. Meanwhile, the groups responsible for the outcome should begin revising their Logic & Action Plans and, if needed, their Management Strategies based on the direction they presented to the Management Board and the decisions made by the Management Board at their quarterly progress or subsequent meeting. These documents are products of the group responsible for the outcome, as well as its parent GIT, and time should be spent discussing updates with and seeking agreement by the full membership of these teams.

  • Logic & Action Plan: Update the factors, current efforts and gaps in columns one through three to reflect any new understanding. Add new actions and any “carryover” actions from the previous two-year period to column four. Identify the metrics that will determine progress in filling the gap in column five, and in column six, describe your expectations for how and when the actions will address the gaps. Learn more on the Logic & Action Plan page.
  • Management Strategy: Update your Management Strategy if (a) your workgroup is considering a direction not currently reflected in this document, or (b) the Management Board has provided direction that significantly changes its content (if neither of these conditions apply, the GIT should decide whether a strategy needs to be updated). If a strategy is updated, use the “Lessons Learned” section to highlight the changes and save as a new version.

Six Weeks After

A representative from each outcome presents their updated science needs at the STAR Science Needs meeting for an in-depth discussion of their needs and potential cross-GIT collaborations and resources to support those needs. The science needs list does not need to be finalized, but a draft update is required for discussion.

  • 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.

Twelve Weeks After

Workgroup and GIT chairs, with the support of their coordinators and staffers, submit the near-final versions of their Logic & Action Plans and Management Strategies to SRS@chesapeakebay.net. These versions must be accepted by the full membership of the group responsible for the outcome, as well as its parent GIT, prior to submission. These documents will be accessible from the Document Status page for a 20-day public and signatory input period. Workgroups and GITs must incorporate changes to address the input received during this period.

Sixteen Weeks After

Workgroup and GIT chairs, with the support of their coordinators and staffers, submit the final versions of their Logic & Action Plans and Management Strategies to SRS@chesapeakebay.net. The Enhance Partnering, Leadership and Management GIT (GIT 6) chair will request Management Board acceptance of a cohort’s documents at the next Management Board meeting. The GIT chair for each outcome should be present at that meeting to answer questions or address concerns about their adherence to the adaptive management process, inclusion of Management Board input and consistency with other documents from the quarterly progress meeting. The Management Board accepts the Logic & Action Plans and Management Strategies as complete and the documents are posted to the Chesapeake Bay Program’s website and accessible on the Document Status page.

Seventeen Weeks After

Following the STAR Science Needs meeting, cohorts continue to finalize their science needs based on feedback from STAR members and proceed to present them at the following Scientific Technical Advisory Committee (STAC) Quarterly Meeting. This is an opportunity to share CBP science needs with the academic community to assess current efforts to address any of the science gaps and potentially drive research directions. An outcome representative provides a detailed outline of their science needs, along with suggestions for how STAC members may assist in addressing research-based gaps.

Over the next two years, science needs may be added as they arise or revised after discussions with the GIT, STAR or STAC and updated in the database.

ChesapeakeDecisions

Download Templates

Download previous Management Strategies and Logic & Action Plans (.docx) on SharePoint.