Summary: Planning section staff were stretched very thin trying manage all the information.  Plans did an excellent job of identifying and obtaining needed information from technical resources in the ECC and incorporating it into their planning. Planning was surprised by the time it took to generate technical information and maps needed for planning.

The relatively slow start  to the exercise, using a flood prediction scenario rather than full scale disaster at the beginning, allowed Planning staff to familiarize themselves with the resources and information sources available to them. The Planning Section coordinated the technical advisors and resources within the ECC and transmitted information to the Operations Section and the ECC Manager.  The information took some time to generate, but when incorporated into event and resource management, enhanced the overall ECC management of the event.

The current Planning Section staffing contingent is thin, and needs to be augmented.   Under the current system two message controllers are barely able to keep up with the information flow, and in some cases there were delays in getting information posted to the whiteboard.  The limited number of whiteboard display processing staff also contributed to delays.