A community planning template with fields for purpose, people, rules and review

This template records the decisions required to run a community, not just the content scheduled for it. Complete each field plainly and link the evidence. A blank answer is preferable to confident wording that hides unresolved ownership or risk.

What to take away

Purpose and scope

Member problem: What recurring task or obstacle is the group intended to address?

Initial outcome: What should be different for an eligible member, and over what period?

Organisational reason: Which service, membership or learning decision does the work support?

Exclusions: Which needs, people, territories or topics will not be served at launch?

Keep the first outcome narrow enough to observe. "Belonging" may be important, but the plan needs to say what experience would indicate it and what competing interpretation remains possible.

Worked example (Member problem): Saturday volunteers at a lunch club cannot find cover, so shifts are cancelled or the same three people cover every week.

Membership and access

Record how access needs will be identified and met. Do not require unnecessary personal details simply to complete a standard profile.

Core activity

Member action: What can a participant do that creates value for another member?

Staff contribution: Which welcome, facilitation, expert answer or intervention makes that activity viable?

Cadence: When and how often is the activity available?

Alternative route: Where should account-specific, urgent or unsuitable cases go?

The Government Digital Service's service manual is written for public services, but its focus on designing around user needs is a useful check: the activity should solve the evidenced task rather than justify a preferred tool.

People and responsibilities

Accountable owner: Who decides whether the community continues?

Operator: Who performs daily work, and during which hours?

Specialists: Who handles privacy, security, legal, safeguarding, product or support escalations?

Absence cover: Which work stops and which work transfers when named staff are unavailable?

Include employed time, contractors and contributions borrowed from other departments.

Rules, information and risk

Participation rules: Where are they shown, and how can a decision be questioned?

Data map: Which member information and content are collected, shared, retained, exported or deleted?

Incident route: What triggers urgent action, who receives it and what record remains?

Change control: Who approves changes to permissions, integrations or policy?

The National Cyber Security Centre recommends organisations consider logging and protective monitoring as part of cyber security. Apply suitable controls to administrative actions and incidents without creating excessive surveillance of ordinary member conversation.

UK data protection and safeguarding

Where the community handles personal data, UK GDPR and the Data Protection Act 2018 apply. Record the lawful basis, retention period, access controls and how members exercise their rights. Check whether your organisation must pay the ICO data protection fee, unless an exemption applies. A data protection impact assessment may be needed for high risk processing.

For children or adults at risk, name a safeguarding lead and a deputy. Follow England statutory guidance, including Working together to safeguard children, and record the referral route to the local authority. Keep safeguarding records separate from routine community moderation logs.

Evidence and review

Baseline: What happens today, using the same definition intended for later comparison?

Outcome evidence: Which measure could show progress for members?

Safety and quality checks: Which corrections, complaints, unresolved cases or access problems need review?

Decision date: When will the owner continue, change, expand or stop the work?

Evidence limits: Which groups or situations are missing from the available data?

Reporting audience: Who receives the review, which decisions may they make and what should remain restricted?

Learning record: Where will rejected explanations and unexpected observations be kept?

Avoid a single red, amber or green status that collapses unlike evidence. A healthy workload can coexist with poor member outcomes, while a quiet pilot may still expose an important need. Present measures with their definitions, period and collection limits so the owner can interpret them rather than merely receive a colour.

Use the plan

Review the completed page with the people named in it and one prospective member. Trace a routine contribution, a private request and a serious incident from arrival to closure. Revise any field that depends on somebody noticing work outside an agreed process.

Version the document and attach the date of its sources. The accountable owner approves the plan. The community operations manager versions it and keeps the change log. The data protection lead signs off data protection fields, and the safeguarding lead signs off safeguarding fields, before approval.

The template becomes useful when it resolves ambiguity before delivery and records why later changes were made; it should not become a ceremonial form approved once and ignored.

Copyable template

Copy the lines below into a document, issue tracker or shared file. Add the date and version at the top.

Community plan, version [number], date [YYYY-MM-DD]
Purpose and scope
Member problem:
Initial outcome:
Organisational reason:
Exclusions:
Membership and access
Eligibility:
Boundary:
Visibility:
Exit:
Access needs:
Core activity
Member action:
Staff contribution:
Cadence:
Alternative route:
People and responsibilities
Accountable owner:
Operator and hours:
Specialists:
Absence cover:
Budget lines:
Rules, information and risk
Participation rules:
Data map:
Incident route:
Change control:
UK data protection and safeguarding
Lawful basis:
Retention:
ICO fee status:
Safeguarding lead:
Referral route:
Evidence and review
Baseline:
Outcome evidence:
Safety and quality checks:
Decision date:
Evidence limits:
Reporting audience:
Learning record:
Approval and version
Approver role:
Version owner role:
Review date:

Before you act

Common questions

What should the purpose and scope section cover?

It records the member problem, the initial outcome and its period, the organisational reason, and exclusions. Keep the first outcome narrow enough to observe. Belonging may matter, but the plan must say what experience would indicate it and what competing interpretation remains possible.

How should the plan handle people and responsibilities?

Name an accountable owner who decides whether the community continues, an operator and their hours, specialists for escalations, and absence cover. Include employed time, contractors and contributions borrowed from other departments. Record them rather than assume them.

What does the evidence and review section require?

It sets a baseline using the same definition for later comparison, outcome evidence, safety and quality checks, a decision date, evidence limits, a reporting audience and a learning record. Present measures with their definitions, period and collection limits.