Evaluation and Validation
Now that you have collected the feedback you wanted from the exercise debriefing, what do you do with it? As we indicated earlier, you will not be required to conduct evaluation or validation in your assignment (as you will not have conducted an exercise and obtained real exercise information). However, understanding the reasoning behind why we need to validate exercise outputs will enable you to more effectively review plans and procedures based on the results of exercises.
We conduct exercises to test, validate, and prove certain aspects of our plan(s) or SOP. There is no point in going to all this effort if the results (problems, shortfalls in training or in procedures etc.) of the exercise, identified in the debriefs, are not then reflected in amendments to the plan(s) or SOP or in improved training of personnel.
It is always appropriate to monitor the subsequent review of plans and procedures to ensure that all necessary changes are carried out.
Follow-up exercises are often a good way to ensure that this process of validation has occurred.