Idea Submission

WELCOME to the NHLBI's Health Information Network Performance Project Planning Template. This unique NHLBI HIN Intranet work environment has been developed to provide an easy, computer-assisted means of creating, maintaining, and documenting NHLBI Performance Project Plans from the Idea Submission through Project Completion stages. The Performance Project Planning Template is a database application designed to streamline inputting of performance project data and then facilitate the preparation of reports in a variety of formats for both internal as well as external audiences.

The Template is a tool that will clearly define the performance project team's activities and allocated resources and track them through successful completion of the project in a timely fashion. The five stages in the life of a performance project are:

The five stages are presented as tabs in the Template so that as a project moves from stage to stage, the relevant portion of the database is presented for inputting. For example, when a project moves from the Idea Submission Stage to the Concept Development Stage, the key elements of the Template to be completed include:

The Rationale and Strategy/Methodology sections require both abstracts and detailed narratives. The longer and shorter writeups will be used to report for different audiences. While the brief, 100-word limit abstract would be appropriate to share with outside audiences, the longer 750-word limit detailed narrative will provide the blueprint for action as well as detailed descriptions of tasks that will justify the allocation of resources to the project.

In the Resource Allocation Stage, the performance project team, will identify more specifically the exact tasks to be undertaken to achieve the project objective, prepare a budget cost estimate and. Based on this input, Management will negotiate, then allocate resources to approved activities.

As the performance project moves through the Implementation Stage it may become necessary to reevaluate the resources needed to complete the project or to revise the time line. The Template provides a means for preparing and submitting those requests and documenting the project revisions. Also in the Implementation Stage, summary progress reports will be prepared to update both internal and external audiences.

In the Completion Stage of the project, a final project report with total cost and completion date will be entered. The performance project planning template for the project will then be archived.

The overall purpose of the plan is to clearly define the health issue that the Project Team is to address within the context of Healthy People 2010 and throughout the life of the project as depicted in the schematic below. To assist in the development of a performance plan, a template is used to provide a standardized way to communicate program activities for both internal and external communication purposes. Internal necessities require that a more detailed account of a project be provided so that important program and budget considerations can be appropriately addressed.