The course was conducted the first time in October 2010 as a pilot course. The course was a success resulting in certification as a NATO SELECTED course. The course is conducted in close cooperation with the NATO School in Oberammergau, Germany. The Swedish Armed Forces and the NATO School have, since June 2009, a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) detailing the conduct of a common course in Sweden and the current plan is to run the course twice every year.
The NATO COPC is aiming at training individual staff officers from NATO and PfP nations in operations planning according to the NATO planning directive, Comprehensive Operations Planning Directive (COPD).
In complex operations the non-military and military aspects need to be harmonized to a much larger extent in order to more successful, than it has been in the past. The COPC will contribute to the individual staff officers understanding of the operational planning process and the principles of a comprehensive approach, subsequently contributing to a better trained personnel for current and future Crisis Response Operations, either in a NATO or an EU context.