A commonly applied approach is to develop a five-year action plan/work programme is to  link each project to one (or more) objective. As there are many ways of creating an action plan, we cannot recommend a one-size fits-all approach. We can, however, provide a few general guidelines and options, these include:

• Using codes to describe each type of project; this can be helpful when applied across several sites, enabling standardised reports and comparisons between sites.
• Incorporating resource requirements, both financial and staff time, allowing information from the management plan to inform financial plans and be used for funding bids.
• State both the anticipated budget requirement and the aspirational budget, e.g. by identifying ‘need to have’ and ‘nice to have’ components of the plan.
• Develop GANTT charts to plan projects, especially where one task is dependent on another.

Links to additional information

• TNC, 2007. Guidance for Step 8: Develop Work Plans for Actions and Measures in Conservation Action Planning Handbook. The Nature Conservancy, Arlington, VA. 
• Example: GANTT Chart (Appendix 1) in John Rieger, John Stanley and Ray Traynor, Project Planning and Management for Ecological Restoration, DOI 10.5822/ 978-1-61091-566-3.
• Example: WWF Standards of Conservation Project and Programme Management (PPMS) GANTT Chart template.