Process Planner Help
The Process Planner is a tool which helps you choose participative methods which are suitable for your particular circumstances. You will answer questions around what you want to achieve, whom you want to engage with, how much time and money you have and other issues. Based on your responses the process planner will suggest methods that may be suitable. The process planner is a useful starting point in deciding how to engage with the public, stakeholders or service users.
What it does
The process planner searches the database of methods based on the answers you give. It will:
- Suggest participatory methods that might fit your context
- Recommend policy or participant specific links that you might find useful
- Provide supporting information and advice (Full version only)
What it doesn't do
The process planner will not:
- Suggest how to combine different methods within a larger process
- Advise on how you will need to adapt specific methods to fit your situation
- Provide you with detailed information on how to deliver a participation process
Search tips
Generally the more boxes you tick the fewer methods will fit the criteria. Reducing the number of options you check (and skipping questions altogether) will tend to increase the number of methods recommended. In particular you might want to limit your choices on the following questions:
- Purpose
- Level of involvement
- Types of participants
- Number of participants
- Money Required
Unlike the methods database the chances of getting recommended links goes up the more options you select. Recommended links are only given based on your response to the following two questions:
- Suitable for
- Covered Policy Areas
If you want to search for methods based solely one one or two criteria consider using the Advanced Method Search. If you would like to ask a question about what do do in a particular case please post a question. Also you may wish to look at the Search Help Page.
Words of caution
The process planner can help you think through your engagement process, however the results should not be used uncritically. The values assigned to each method are approximations, in particular the amount of resources required will vary widely depending on the scale and context of the process.
Most participative methods are more adaptable in nature than the database can show and therefore it can be worth running your search again with slightly changed variables to see what comes up.
Read using your results for information on what to do with the results of the process planner search.