Business Planning

St. Louis County Departments completed their first Business Plans as part of the 2008 budget cycle. The original Business Plans detail departmental plans and budget changes for the next 3 - 5 years. In late 2010, these plans were updated and the updated plans are currently under final review before being presented to the Board of County Commissioners. The plans will be updated on this page once that review is complete.  The Business Plans include the following sections:

Who Are We?  This includes mission statement, primary lines of business (programs), organizational chart and significant trends and changes impacting the department.

What Do We Want To Achieve?  This includes a vision for the department and key initiatives aligned with the St. Louis County Commissioners' Priority Areas.

What Resources Are We Going To Use?  Resource plans such as Finance Plan, Workforce Plan, Technology Plan, Purchasing Plan, and Space Plan.

The broader county-wide goals for a sustained business planning focus by departments' center on consolidating core organizational efforts and services in support of the following propirty areas as defined by the St. Louis County Board of Commissioners:

 1.    Health and Well-Being of County Citizens
 2.    Strong County Infrastructure
 3.    Healthy, Viable Ecosystem
 4.    Healthy Local Economy
 5.    Efficient, Effective Government

As the county progresses into an increasingly uncertain budget climate, it is of paramount importance to continue to progress in linking departmental program and service initiatives to key organizational priorities and strategies.  This business planning update was designed to support the following objectives:

Current Objectives for Departmental Business Planning  

1. To update 2008 plans to reflect present reality and to report on progress and/or set-backs since last plan was submitted
2. To connect current anticipated departmental "reality" to the 5 budget and management strategies and Commissioner Priority Areas outlined above
3. To provide general detail as to which of the budget/management strategies departments plan to use and how departments plan to use them
4. To further refine planning and analysis related to mandates and core services through prioritization of departmental resources, programs, and services
5. To expand departmental business planning to include anticipated technology projects for 2011 as well as developing a website utilization, maintenance and content management plan
6. To expand/revisit the departmental business planning to include an updated view of facility needs (current and anticipated)
7. To update current KPI's and define areas for improvement to better align performance measures with departmental and county goals and objectives
8. To set the stage for an enhanced and cross-departmental (functional) business planning effort in 2011

Current Goals for County-Wide and Departmental Business Planning (to be implemented as objectives next year)

1. To integrate functional (cross-departmental) business planning efforts into departmental business plans
2. To work toward completing a county-wide business plan in line with the county reorganization efforts of 2010 that further defines and articulates organizational mission, vision, goals and objectives for the short, mid and long term
3. To focus on strategies to partner with other departments to deliver services
4. To further enhance KPI measures and the effectiveness of said measures in support of operations and/or services
5. To utilize business planning as a tool that supports data-driven core sevice/function decision-making at the departmental and county-wide level

Please contact St. Louis County Administration with questions about the business plans or the business planning efforts.