1.7 Validate the implementation plan

Once the implementation plan has been drafted, it should be widely circulated to leadership and relevant stakeholders (as identified in Step 1.2) for their review. Depending on the setting, this review can be conducted through a combination of emails, one-on-one stakeholder meetings, existing meetings (e.g., an IHR Technical Working Group), or through a dedicated one-day orientation and validation workshop.

Regardless of the approaches used, validation of the implementation plan should cover the following topics:

• Purpose of the 7-1-7 approach for performance improvement and advocacy;
• Brief description of the 7-1-7 timeliness metrics;
• Illustrative example of how the 7-1-7 approach can be applied to a public health event to elicit performance bottlenecks, enablers and remedial actions;
• Detailed finalization of the implementation plan, including roles and responsibilities of different teams, approaches to collecting 7-1-7 data, timing and venues for convening stakeholders to review 7-1-7 performance.

As a result of the validation processes, stakeholders should obtain a clear understanding of how the 7-1-7 approach informs performance improvement activities, the processes and timelines for 7-1-7 implementation, and their individual roles and responsibilities.