SAF PLANNING COMPETENCY AS A FOUNDATION FOR AGILENESS

Another core competency which contributed to the success of NDP 2021 was the SAF's planning framework: the SAF always plans in detail while anticipating changes. The extensive preliminary planning for NDP 2021 was conducted in the same systematic and collaborative way that the SAF conducts its military planning. From the start, the plan was to have an indoor celebration supported with films and animations in case COVID-19 prevented a physical show. The Committee also considered the SMM that would be needed for such a large-scale event. With the virus still around, all participants and spectators had to be fully vaccinated and swabbed.

The NDP 2021 Committee knew that there had to be an innovation in the e-ticketing system as it would be challenging to check vaccination and swab results during the weekly assignment of seat numbers. That innovation came in the form of integrating the spectator vaccination and swab status data from GovTech with the ticketing system from SISTIC. Beyond the technical issues, the ticketing committee also anticipated concerns over personal data protection. It looked closely at what the interests of the various stakeholders might be and anticipated possible obstacles. Having done this thorough analysis in good time, the team was able to pitch the proposal in a way that convinced these stakeholders to collaborate in the initiative. This was an example of how SAF core competencies in detailed planning, anticipating change and collaboratively working with stakeholders enabled the NDP 2021 Committee to tap on the partnership between private and public entities to come up with an agile and innovative response.

Various options were considered for NDP 2021 to be a memorable milestone event.
Source: MINDEF