The sustain plan outlines how new processes or programs will be supported after completing an improvement project. Plans are outlined for the adoption of successfully validated interventions, as well as interventions that need continued iteration, and process ownership is appropriately designated. The completed document is reviewed at the project closing meeting, and this initiates a project handoff back to the process owners.
The sustain plan contains the following sections:
Overview
The overview section captures the improvement project title, closing meeting date and time, and closing meeting attendees.
Interventions to sustain as is
Interventions that are well validated and accepted are listed in this section. These interventions have been incorporated into the process in a way that makes it efficient for staff to complete their work. Each intervention has a designated process owner, usually a manager or supervisor, who has defined roles and responsibilities.
A process owner will train and support personnel, manage performance monitoring and plan for continued iteration of an intervention. Ongoing collaboration with frontline staff will ensure that interventions are effectively optimized. Performance data should be made available cyclically and communicated to frontline staff.
Interventions that need continued work
Not all interventions will be ready for sustainment at the end of an improvement project, and that is okay! Interventions that need further development, testing, or refinement should be listed in this section, to define the plan for continued Plan-Do-Study-Act (PDSA) cycles.
Each intervention will have an associated process owner, sponsor, testing team, feedback mechanism, and defined meeting time. This ensures each intervention receives adequate support until it is well validated and accepted. Then an intervention can be handed back to the process owner(s) and the sustain plan can be amended.