Overview

This action will define the site-level resilience priorities that guide the planning process and establish the scope of the TRN planning effort. Resilience priorities offer strategic direction and a conceptual framework for the resilience planning process.

A scope and boundaries statement enables the resilience planning team to focus efforts and resources by defining the boundaries of what the TRN effort will include. The scope of the TRN assessment should be defined by: (1) site geographical or operational boundaries and facilities; (2) resources assessed (i.e., electric, gas, and/or water); and (3) integration points with site priorities (e.g., energy efficiency, cybersecurity, sustainability, water conservation). Energy and water resources included in the scope will shape stakeholder involvement and the type of data collected throughout the TRN.

In-Depth

Establish Resilience Priorities

Resilience priorities offer strategic direction and a conceptual framework for structuring the planning process. Clearly articulating resilience priorities for the site can serve several functions, including:

• Describing an optimal, desired future state to guide efforts
• Providing context for the rest of the TRN resilience planning process
• Offering a mechanism for building stakeholder buy-in by establishing a shared vision
• Facilitating coordination toward a common objective or set of targets
• Ensuring different stakeholders are moving in the same direction
• Providing a reference point for future decision-making, particularly when prioritizing solutions and actions.

Within the TRN, resilience priorities constitute an important framework for prioritizing solutions later in the process and provide criteria for narrowing the realm of possible solutions to those that will help advance a site’s stated resilience priorities. When setting resilience priorities, a site may want to consider synergistic efforts and goals, such as mission continuity goals, energy and water efficiency and sustainability objectives, and workforce development and preparedness.

Understanding the attributes of resilience and how these qualities map to the site’s critical missions and functions can help inform the process of defining priorities. The TRN Resource: Resilience Attributes provides information about some attributes of resilience. Existing organizational resilience goals or targets that are set at the headquarters level should also be reviewed. These goals should be used as a basis to contextualize the organizational direction into clearly defined site-level resilience priorities that define site-specific and actionable objectives. Resilience priorities can be documented in the Site-Level Planning Action 3 worksheet.

Define Scope and Boundaries

Before starting the assessment of site baseline conditions in the next module, the resilience planning team must clearly articulate the scope and boundaries of the TRN process. The scope should be defined in terms of:

1. Site geographical or operational boundaries and facilities
2. Resources assessed (i.e., electric, gas, and/or water)
3. Integration points with site priorities (e.g., energy efficiency, cybersecurity, sustainability, water conservation).

First, the resilience planning team will define the scope and boundaries of the site for the TRN assessment. They should consider whether the boundaries for the assessment include all facilities within the site’s operational control or a subset. A consideration may be whether onsite facilities operated by tenant organizations should be included. If a close relationship with the tenant organization exists (e.g., shared emergency services), it may make sense to include those facilities and their stakeholders in the TRN process. Second, consider which energy and water resources and systems will be assessed. Will the current assessment include electricity, gas, and water resource resilience, or will it focus on one or two of those? Budget, timelines, or availability of knowledgeable personnel can factor into this decision. Third, identify potential integration points between the current energy and water resilience planning effort and other site priorities, plans, requirements, or assessments that relate closely to energy and water resilience. The scope and boundaries of the TRN effort can be documented in the Site-Level Planning Action 3 worksheet.