DESCRIBE THE ISSUE

AND WHY IT’S

IMPORTANT
What is it?
You need to begin with an initial statement
that sets out the issue (usually a problem or
challenge) which needs to be addressed, and
which provides a clear statement of remedial
action, saying what, by whom and by when.
Think of the challenge as the gap between
what should occur in your community and
what is actually happening.
 FOR EXAMPLE, THE GAP BETWEEN A
GROUP’S ACCEPTABLE OR DESIRABLE
HEALTH AND THEIR CURRENT WELLBEING.
THIS SHOULD BE LOOKED AT AS EARLY
AS POSSIBLE. THERE WILL BE
OPPORTUNITIES TO ADAPT OR CHANGE
THIS INITIAL STATEMENT AS THE WORK
PROGRESSES
WHY DO THIS?
SETTING OUT WHAT IS TO BE ACHIEVED AND THE RATIONALE FOR
IT WILL:
-help all those who become involved (at whatever stage) to
understand the initial reasoning behind decisions and
actions
-highlight the expectations of funding bodies, commissioners
and other key stakeholders
-help people to question initial assumptions and adapt the
initial challenge statement as the input of stakeholders
becomes known
-help to engage with all interested parties so they can
develop a sense of ownership and commitment
How might you do this?
With three core components:
 At this stage, you may want to form a core team (or steering group) whose skills and
experience will largely determine later interventions
 Very rarely will there be only one approach. Teams require a mix of abilities relevant
to the stage of the process and the tasks at hand. It is quite possible that the
composition of the team (and the stakeholders involved) will need to change because
the skills and experience needed will themselves be constantly evolving. An early
question you could ask is ‘are team members knowledgeable and experienced in
social marketing?’
. You will find further detail on setting up a steering group in the scoping stage
Set out the initial expectations of everyone involved. At
this stage, the initial expectations of the team and major
stakeholders such as funding bodies and commissioners
will be assessed
This will be an ongoing process as yet more stakeholders
are identified, and expectations may therefore change
 It is not uncommon for people to have different expectations
and failing to acknowledge this at the start means they
are likely to resurface later. Working together to agree the
initial challenge statement, helps identify these differing perceptions
 Set out an initial statement of the challenge being addressed.
 There are a number of important questions to ask in order to develop
a clear statement. This can be adapted as the work progresses, but
having a basic statement at the start should help all those involved.
MORE IN DEVELOPING A CHALLENGE STATEMENT, THE
FOLLOWING QUESTIONS SHOULD BE ASKED:
-WHAT IS THE PRESENTING ISSUE?
WHAT IS LIKELY TO HAPPEN IF NO ACTION IS TAKEN?
-IN TERMS OF BEHAVIOUR WHAT ARE THE KEY CHALLENGES?
(DESCRIBE THE ISSUE IN TERMS OF BEHAVIOUR RATHER THAN
A POLICY AIM)
-WHO ARE DIRECTLY AFFECTED BY THE ISSUE NOW?
-WHO COULD BE AFFECTED IN THE FUTURE?
-WHAT IS DRIVING THE CONCERN NOW? (FOR EXAMPLE:
RELEVANT NATIONAL OR POLICY DRIVERS)
-WHAT RELEVANT TARGETS ARE ALREADY IN PLACE OR ARE
EXPECTED SHORTLY?
 EXAMPLE:
UNDER AGE 18 SMOKE AT LEAST THREE CIGARETTES A DAY
ACCORDING TO A 2002 SURVEY.
HOWEVER, A LOCAL SURVEY FOUND HIGHER LEVELS IN
COMMUNITY XXXX. HERE MOST TEENS (AROUND 56%)
ADMITTED TO SMOKING AT LEAST THREE CIGARETTES A DAY.
THE SURVEY ALSO FOUND THAT THE NUMBER OF YOUNG
AFRO-CARIBBEAN WOMEN WHO SMOKED HAD DOUBLED
IN THE PREVIOUS FIVE YEARS.
THE CONSEQUENCES OF THIS ARE LIKELY TO BE HIGHER-
THAN-AVERAGE RATE OF SMOKING IN ADULTS, MORE
CHRONIC HEALTH PROBLEMS, AND A WORSENING HEALTH
GAP BETWEEN PARTICULAR ETHNIC MINORITY
COMMUNITIES AND THE GENERAL POPULATION.
TIPS
1. IT IS USEFUL TO THINK IN TERMS OF BUILDING SOMETHING
POSITIVE AS MUCH AS REDUCING OR ELIMINATING SOMETHING
NEGATIVE THE TERM ‘CHALLENGE’ HAS BEEN SPECIFICALLY USED
2. TO AVOID THE TENDENCY TO SIMPLY FOCUS ON A ‘PROBLEM’.
TRY TO CONSIDER THE DESIRED BEHAVIOUR YOU SEEK, RATHER
THAN THE NEGATIVE ONE YOU ARE TRYING TO ELIMINATE
TRY TO GET SOME INITIAL WORKING ASSUMPTIONS ON PAPER
TO PROVIDE AN INITIAL STEER OR GUIDE.
3. THIS CAN THEN BE READILY ADAPTED AND UPDATED AS MORE
INFORMATION BECOMES AVAILABLE.
4. SETTING OUT AN INITIAL SKETCHED PLAN WILL HELP
EVERYONE TO FOCUS ON THE WORK TO BE DONE, AND
CONSIDER HOW THEY MIGHT BE ABLE TO CONTRIBUTE
The Importance of Addressing Issues Quickly

There is a great article in the September 2018 issue of

WIRED magazine titled The Code That Crashed The
World. Authored by senior writer Andy Greenberg, it is “the
untold story of the most devastating cyberattack in
history”. The article is an in-depth examination of the rapid
spread of the NotPetya cyber-invasion. In it, the author
references and quotes a conversation between the CEO of
a consulting firm and an energy company client.
The quote was:
This struck a real chord with me. Too often we see this at our
clients, although typically – and luckily – on a less destructive
scale. That said, it is important to quickly and correctly
implement mitigating security controls when significant gaps are
found. Organizations should prioritize their remediation efforts
when issues are identified. This includes researching the
problems, developing detailed plans to address each of the
issues, assigning the appropriate responsible person(s) to each
step of the remediation plan and setting a specific timeline for
each remediation plan to be completed based on the risk. At
times, multiple types of remediation efforts will be required to
fully address all identified issues and the corresponding risks.
An example of this would be making a quick configuration change
immediately upon discovery of a finding, followed by a more
lengthy patch application, including full change management
testing before applying the patch into the production environment.
The process to identify the issue and document a plan or plans to
fix the problem is commonly referred to as the Issues
Management process. A well designed Issues Management
process is important for all organizations to have regardless of
industry. All Cential consultants have over a decade of
professional experience designing, quantifying and managing the
Issues Management process. Within RSA Archer, we have been
implementers, designers, configuration managers, and end-users
REPORTED BY:

ANGELA L. ESPENILLA
ANA L. CACATIAN
JONALYN A. JUGANAS
MARISSA B. CAPITAN
BRENDA R. DANAO
ROSA VILMA C. VALDEZ
.