Skip to main content

Create an Annual Work Plan

Create a plan from scratch, import an existing plan, use a best-practice template, or generate one from past meetings.

Written by Mike Patterson

An Annual Work Plan helps your board focus on the strategic and long-term priorities that drive the organisation forward.

By setting priorities in advance, boards can use meeting time more effectively, meet compliance obligations with confidence, and build strong governance practices.

This article explains the different ways you can create an Annual Work Plan in BoardPro.

Open Annual Work Plan

  1. From the BoardPro dashboard, click Annual Work Plan in the left-hand navigation.

  2. The Annual Work Plan dashboard displays your existing plans and options for creating a new plan.

Create a blank plan

  1. From the Annual Work Plan dashboard, click Create Blank Plan, or select Add > Create Blank Plan.

  2. BoardPro creates an empty Annual Work Plan with a three-month setup.

  3. Click Write your item… to start adding items.

You can use your plan to:

  • Add fixed compliance deadlines.

  • Schedule strategic deep-dive sessions.

  • Space out policy reviews.

  • Link meetings as you build the plan.

Import an existing plan

Premium and Ultimate only.

If you have AI Assist enabled, you can import an existing Annual Work Plan created elsewhere. This is useful if you have been using a spreadsheet or another template.

Important: Your existing plan must include dates for the import to be successful.

Supported file formats include:

  • PDF

  • CSV

  • Excel (.xls and .xlsx)

  • Google Sheets

  • Markdown tables

  • Word (.docx)

To import your plan:

  1. From the Annual Work Plan dashboard, click Add > Import Existing Plan.

  2. Upload your file or drag and drop it into the window.

  3. Wait while the file is processed. This can take up to one minute.

  4. Review the timeline to make sure everything has imported correctly.

  5. Adjust dates or wording as needed.

Once imported, you can:

  • Click Write your item… to add new items.

  • Use the Add icon or press Return to add additional items.

  • Open the item menu to delete items.

  • Link groups of tasks to meetings.

Note: BoardPro does not support colour-filled cells when importing a plan. If you use colour coding, such as green cells to indicate timing, replace the colours with text before importing. Your plan must also include dates for the import to succeed.

Use a best-practice template

BoardPro can create an Annual Work Plan based on governance best practices.

  1. From the Annual Work Plan dashboard, click Add > Use Template.

  2. BoardPro creates a plan with pre-populated tasks across each month.

We recommend tailoring the generated plan by:

  • Reviewing the pre-populated tasks.

  • Deleting tasks that are not relevant using the three-dot menu.

  • Adding your board's strategic priorities or meeting dates using Add item.

Generate from past meetings

Premium and Ultimate only.

If you have BoardPro AI enabled, BoardPro can generate an Annual Work Plan based on your past meetings.

  1. From the Annual Work Plan dashboard, click Add > Generate from past meetings.

  2. BoardPro creates a plan with pre-populated tasks across each month based on your past meetings.

We recommend tailoring the generated plan by:

  • Reviewing the pre-populated tasks.

  • Deleting tasks that are not relevant using the three-dot menu.

  • Adding your board's strategic priorities or meeting dates using Add item.

Note: If you have less than a year's worth of past meetings, some months in the generated plan will be empty. You can add items to these months as needed.

Related Links:

Manage an Annual Work Plan

Product Webinar: Annual board work plan feature

Did this answer your question?