After-Action Report (AAR) & Improvement Plan Template Pack

Turn incident or exercise observations into an after-action report, improvement plan and leadership briefing. This editable pack brings the reporting and follow-up documents together.

What's included

• Word AAR template (.docx): document observations and lessons learned.
• Excel improvement-plan tracker (.xlsx): record findings and corrective actions, with owners, deadlines, status dropdowns, countdowns and closure-evidence checks. Includes an overview, instructions and a separate fictional example.
• PowerPoint executive brief (.pptx): prepare findings for leadership.
• PDF quick-start guide: instructions for getting started.

Who it's for

Emergency management staff, exercise planners and teams documenting an incident or exercise.

How to use it

Gather observations, adapt the report to your organization, record agreed corrective actions in the tracker and prepare the executive briefing.

Choosing the right pack

The Word AAR template and Excel improvement-plan tracker are also included in the Tabletop Exercise Design Kit. This AAR pack adds the PowerPoint executive brief and PDF quick-start guide. If you already own the design kit, purchase this pack only if you need those additional files.

Formats: four downloadable files. Microsoft Word, Excel and PowerPoint are recommended; a PDF reader is needed for the guide. Digital product; no physical item is shipped. Adapt the materials to your organization and applicable reporting requirements.

Using an after-action review template

An after-action review is the discussion of what happened, what worked and what should improve. The after-action report records those findings. Use the Word template to organize the report and the Excel improvement plan to track agreed actions.

What should you capture?

• The incident or exercise scope, dates and objectives.
• Observed strengths and gaps, supported by specific examples.
• Contributing factors and recommendations discussed with the responsible team.
• Corrective actions, accountable owners, due dates and completion evidence.

Example: Instead of “improve notifications,” record “Update the alternate staff-notification procedure, assign an owner, set a due date and retain the results of a contact-list test.” Adapt findings to what your team actually observed.

Planning the exercise first? Follow our tabletop exercise planning guide, or compare the available templates before buying.