SCIP Crosswalk of Changes

DHS Office of Emergency Communications

2007 SCIP and 2013 Revised SCIP Crosswalk

The following crosswalk outlines the major sections in the 2007 Statewide Communication Interoperability Plan (SCIP) and contrasts them with the major sections in the 2013 Revised SCIP.

2007 SCIP		2013 Revised SCIP		Changes
Section Title	Purpose	Section Title	Purpose
Overall Intent: To serve as the operational blueprint for the conceptualization, implementation, and usage of Statewide interoperable communications.		Overall Intent: To provide the strategic direction and alignment for those responsible for emergency communications at the State, regional, local, and tribal levels. To be the mechanism with which States can explain to their leadership and elected officials the vision for emergency communications in the State and demonstrate the need for funding.		The 2013 Revised SCIP builds on successes in the 2007 SCIP to refine a tool for States to coordinate the future of statewide interoperable and emergency communications and demonstrate the vision to leadership. It focuses primarily on the State's strategic vision of emergency communications rather than current capabilities. It is streamlined to 20 to 30 pages for ease of use and clarity by reducing non-critical sections background information.
1. Introduction	Provides a general introduction to the statewide plan and presents the factors driving its creation.	1. Introduction	Communicates the three- to five-year strategic goals for emergency communications in the State, including enough context to understand the strategy without significant familiarity with the State's emergency communications landscape.	Reduces length with communications-related information moved to Section 3. Updated introduction language will clearly describe the new focus of the SCIP to provide guidance for strategic planning for the future.
2. Background	Describes the events that have occurred, the processes, and the people involved in developing the statewide plan.	N/A	N/A	Because the SCIP has already been established, the updated template eliminates description of background events that brought about the 2007 SCIP in order to reduce overall length.
N/A	N/A	2. Purpose	Provides a purpose statement for and defines ownership of the SCIP.	This section defines the purpose of the 2013 Revised SCIP and clarifies why it is being updated; how it will benefit States; and the plan owner, who will be responsible for updating and maintaining the SCIP.
2.1 State Overview	Included detailed background information to provide a picture of the state landscape, particularly as it relates to emergency communications. Includes current multi-agency coordination, regions/jurisdictions descriptions, operational plans, etc.	3. State Interoperable and Emergency Communications Overview	Provides a brief overview of the State's current and future emergency communications environment, as well as an explanation of SCIP ownership and development process.	The updated section will focus on key information for understanding current interoperable and emergency communications in the State, while reducing the volume of information included. Information ensures there is context without providing more detail than necessary.
2.2 Participating Agencies and POCs	Identifies agencies that helped develop the SCIP.	N/A	N/A	The SCIP owner is listed in Section 2 Purpose. States may choose to include participating agencies in Section 2 as well.
2.3 Statewide Plan POC	Identify statewide plan coordinator; specify if the POC is a full-time coordinator or not.
2.4 Scope and Timeframe	Defines the scope and high-level timeframe for completing milestone initiatives.	N/A	N/A	The overarching timeframe is addressed in the Introduction section as three to five years. More specific timeframes will be included in the Strategic Goals and Initiatives section.
3. Methodology	Summarizes the process used to encourage cross-jurisdictional and cross disciplinary participation in developing the statewide plan. Addresses the method used for incorporating other plans and sustaining participation once plan is completed.	N/A	N/A	Methodology is included in Section 6 Implementation of the 2013 Revised SCIP.
N/A	N/A	4. Vision and Mission	Includes a vision statement for the future of emergency communications operability and interoperability at all levels within the State. Includes a mission statement that describes how the State will achieve its vision.	Moving these statements into their own section near the beginning of the document reinforces their guidance throughout SCIP planning.
4. Current Statewide Assessment	Describes current status of communications and interoperability statewide.	5. Strategic Goals and Initiatives	Specific criteria will guide the development of strategic goals (to define the big-picture direction) and initiatives (to define specific activities to achieve goals) for interoperable and emergency communications in the State.	Short subsection narratives in the 2013 Revised SCIP briefly describe the current landscape, eliminating lengthy discussion of current capabilities. Emphasis is placed on identifying strategic goals and initiatives to achieve the vision of interoperable and emergency communications in the State. The 2013 Revised SCIP criteria identify major nationwide focus areas for future interoperable communications enhancements to facilitate a degree of similar capabilities across all States. They are guidelines that States can adjust, as necessary, to fit their needs. Two subsections in the 2013 Revised SCIP have been added to the 2007 subsections, which included the five lanes of the Interoperability Continuum. The two new subsections are "Outreach and Information Sharing" and "Life Cycle Funding."
4.1 Governance Structure	Defines governance structures currently in place to oversee communications interoperability.	5.1 Governance	Updated criteria focus on strengthening SIECs/SIGBs, the SWIC role, intra-State regional governance, engagement of SWIC and SIEC/SIGB with FirstNet, and engaging end users in initiatives.	The 2013 Revised SCIP helps States identify ways to strengthen governance structures currently in place and identified in the 2007 SCIP.
4.2 Technology	Identifies and describes all the communications systems and equipment currently operating in the State.	5.2 SOPs	Updated criteria focus on consistently documenting how statewide communications resources should be used, maintaining a SOP development process, and ensuring SOPs are NIMS/ICS-compliant.	The SOP section was moved ahead of the Technology section because implementation of a solid SOP system is critical in the success of implementing operable and interoperable technologies. This also aligns with the Interoperability Continuum. This section in the updated SCIP will focus on the SOP system more than existing SOPs to ensure there is a process in place to develop, implement, and evaluate SOPs and to identify gaps in current procedures, documentation, or awareness/usage.
4.3 SOPs	Identifies existing SOPs.	5.3 Technology	Updated SCIP criteria focus on creating an ongoing process to update documentation of emergency communications, executing a plan to ensure access to operable and interoperable emergency communications for all jurisdictions/disciplines, documenting plans for development, maintenance, and/or upgrades to technology services.	Focuses on establishing the plan, beyond current capabilities, for interoperable communications technologies so design, procurement, usage, and updating can be coordinated, effective, cost-efficient, and integrated at all levels and with other States.
4.4 Training and Exercises Plan	Describes current State plan for training and exercising.	5.4 Training and Exercises	Updated criteria focus on evaluating strengths and weaknesses via exercises, establishing a statewide training process, and increasing training and exercise participation levels.	While the original SCIP described current training and exercise efforts within the State, the updated section focuses on establishing a systematic statewide training and exercise process to identify gaps, train on solutions, and retest. Another goal will be to develop a plan/system to increase participation levels for training and exercises, particularly with other States.
4.5 Usage	Describes policies and/or steps taken to encourage adoption and utilization of interoperable technologies, SOPs, training, and exercises and the frequency with which they are used.	5.5 Usage	Updated criteria focus on developing a usage inventory of current systems and maintaining a schedule for systematic use of interoperable systems, strategic equipment, and channels to ensure routine proficiency.	The 2007 SCIP documented current efforts to encourage utilization of interoperable technologies. The 2013 Revised SCIP also includes criteria for establishing and maintaining a schedule for systematic use, as well as identifying potential NPSBN users and ways to utilize COML/COMT position roles.
N/A	N/A	5.6 Information Sharing and Outreach	Updated criteria focus on establishing a comprehensive outreach and information sharing program to engage stakeholders.	The addition of this section aims to engage both plan users and executive champions, as well as their counterparts in other states, in interoperable efforts in order to increase planning, usage, financial and non-financial support, and inter- and intra-State collaboration.
N/A	N/A	5.7 Life Cycle Funding	Updated criteria focus on establishing a plan for achieving sustainable funding for the full lifecycle of communications system expenditures and the SWIC position.	Life cycle funding was identified as a critical focus area for the SCIP, and was moved to Section 5 to encourage States to create formal strategic goals and initiatives related to identifying sustainable funding for interoperable and emergency communications.
5. Strategy	Describes the vision, mission, goals, and initiatives for interoperability statewide in a single section. Includes compliance with NIMS and a process for how the plan will be regularly reviewed and updated.	6. Implementation Plan	Defines how the State will conduct action planning, identify measures of success, manage progress, and conduct strategic plan reviews to ensure the SCIP is maintained and goals and initiatives are accomplished.	Vision and Mission have been given a unique section earlier in the plan to set the tone of the SCIP as a forward-thinking tool for States. The 2013 Revised SCIP emphasizes more structured implementation by outlining specific methods and/or personnel responsible for defining success, planning how to achieve it, monitoring and managing successes and challenges, and conducting annual reviews to update the SCIP.
6. Implementation	Describes the approach for implementing the statewide plan’s strategic initiatives.
7. Funding	Describes the budget needed to implement and sustain the statewide plan.	N/A	N/A	Life Cycle Funding is included in the Strategic Goals and Initiatives section as a major subsection.
N/A	N/A	7. Reference Materials	Provides a location for States to insert supporting documentation into their SCIP instead of including the full document as an appendix.	In order to keep the SCIP concise, the Reference Documents section will direct plan users to the original source for supporting documents.
8. Close	Concludes with a summary and next steps.	N/A	N/A	This section has been eliminated. Next steps will be incorporated into Section 6 Implementation.
SCIP Implementation Report (IR)	Provided an annual update on a State’s progress in achieving the initiatives and strategic vision identified in the SCIP. It included long narratives for each subsection of the SCIP, and tracked all goals and initiatives. States noted status updates as "Planned," "In Progress," or "Completed."	SCIP Annual Progress Report (APR)	The Annual Progress Report is designed as a tool for States to develop a single annual report that can be used for Federal and State reporting requirements. It demonstrates accomplishments and challenges in completing strategic goals and initiatives. Its development will eventually be facilitated through use of an Online Tool, allowing SWICs to note annual changes in the Online Tool rather than create a new report each year.	The Annual Progress Report (APR) replaces the SCIP Implementation Report (IR). The APR is designed as a tool to aid States by being the document with which they can inform State leadership and Federal agencies of interoperable and emergency communications achievements and progress. The APR streamlines reporting on goals and initiatives by only asking States to include updates for initiatives for which progress was made. No narrative is required for each subsection, just the goals and initiatives table. A SCIP Online Tool is under development. Once completed, it will aid APR authors be pre-populating goals and initiatives and formatting the APR automatically.

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