• What is the Planning Assistant?
• What information do I need to use the Planning Assistant?
• How long will the Planning Assistant Questionnaire take to complete?
• Can I save, print, and share my Planning Assistant Questionnaire responses and results?
• How do I get started?

What is the Planning Assistant?

If you are unfamiliar with public involvement, or unsure of what public involvement techniques are appropriate for your activity, the Planning Assistant can point you to reasonable choices of public involvement techniques.

More experienced users may wish to use the Planning Assistant to review, further refine, or expand their traditional public involvement approaches.

In any case, your responses can help you document basic information for supporting your public involvement activity.

The Planning Assistant is divided into three parts: Questionnaire, Public Involvement Summary Profile, and Suggested Techniques and Considerations. The Planning Assistant Questionnaire leads you through a series of questions on activity description, public involvement purpose and key activities, and schedule and resources. Based on responses to the Questionnaire, the Planning Assistant generates a Public Involvement Summary Profile—a report of your inputs—and a list of Suggested Techniques and Considerations. These suggestions displayed are based on their relevance to your public involvement activity.

Suggestions the Assistant provides should be considered as a starting point. This Assistant does not prescribe the use of any technique or group of techniques. Planning Assistant suggestions need to be assessed against personal judgment and the specific public involvement situation.

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What information do I need to use the Planning Assistant?

Depending on your experience with public involvement planning, it may be helpful to research and gather information necessary to complete the Planning Assistant Questionnaire. All closed-ended questions will require a response in order to proceed to the Suggested Techniques and Considerations. However, you will be able to save partial responses and return to complete the questionnaire. In addition, many questions include "Do Not Know", "Other", or "None" as response options.

The following are topics you will be asked about in the Planning Assistant Questionnaire.

Activity Description

• Name of public involvement activity
• Your role
• Type of transportation activity (e.g., plan, study, project development)
• Size of area affected
• Phase/Stage of the transportation activity
• Need for environmental review (if applicable)
• Need for real estate actions and/or property acquisitions (if applicable)
• Number and types of people affected by the transportation activity
  

  Public Involvement Purpose and Key Activities
  

• Required public involvement techniques
• Goal of the public involvement activity
• Established representative community groups
• Information the public may find helpful for participation
• Public expectations for participation
• Special considerations for public participants (e.g., language barriers, disabilities, lower reading skills)
• Need to specifically encourage participation
• Level of public awareness

  Schedule and Resources
  

• Start and end dates for public involvement activities
• Key public decision and/or other dates
• Public involvement budget

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How long will the Planning Assistant Questionnaire take to complete?

On average, the Planning Assistant Questionnaire takes 10-20 minutes to complete. Your first time may take up to an hour, including time for thinking about the needs or purposes of the public involvement activities or checking general information about the plan, project, or study. People who are familiar with the Planning Assistant often can develop a public involvement profile in 10-15 minutes.

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Can I save, print, and share my Planning Assistant Questionnaire responses and results?

You can save, print, and share your Planning Assistant Questionnaire responses and results through the "Notebook". This feature allows you to create a record of your responses, document the parameters of your public involvement activity, and collaboratively plan public involvement by sharing your results with colleagues.

You can save and share your completed Questionnaire and the resulting Public Involvement Summary Profile and list of Suggested Techniques and Considerations in two ways, depending on how you intend to use the information:

1. Creating a new notebook for a Questionnaire, or adding a Questionnaire to an existing notebook, will generate a specially formatted file (in XML) that can be stored to your PC or to a floppy or CD drive. You can use this file to reload your Questionnaire data into the Planning Assistant, review your information, and make changes. You can also share and exchange this file back and forth with colleagues using the Planning Assistant to access, review, and refine your public involvement activity information.
   
   
2. You can also create a printable HTML file of your Public Involvement Summary Profile and list of Suggested Techniques and Considerations. This file is primarily intended for documenting and sharing the results of your Planning Assistant input in a printer-friendly format. You will be able to open this file in a web browser with or without access to the Internet.

You can also save your Planning Assistant questionnaire at any time and return to complete the questions.

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How do I get started?

You can navigate through the Planning Assistant Questionnaire by using the navigation buttons on the bottom of each page (for Previous, Next, and Pause/Save). Some of the form actions are located at the top and bottom of each page. Please make sure to select a navigation button at the bottom of each page so that answers are registered properly.

Remember, all questions will require a response in order to proceed to the Suggested Techniques and Considerations. Many questions include "Do Not Know", "Other", or "None" as response options. In addition, you will be able to save partial responses and return to complete the questionnaire.

• Begin the Planning Assistant Questionnaire.
  
  
• Load information from an existing Notebook

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