diff --git a/sandbox/kgoodson/jagg/src/main/java/services/PlanViewImpl.java b/sandbox/kgoodson/jagg/src/main/java/services/PlanViewImpl.java
index 9be9d967ef..fad6f68b63 100644
--- a/sandbox/kgoodson/jagg/src/main/java/services/PlanViewImpl.java
+++ b/sandbox/kgoodson/jagg/src/main/java/services/PlanViewImpl.java
@@ -50,7 +50,7 @@ public class PlanViewImpl implements PlanView {
 	static String rssPrefix = "http://issues.apache.org/jira/si/jira.issueviews:issue-xml/";
 	@Property
 	public String planFile = "src/main/resources/jiraSideBand.xml";
-
+	
 	@Init
 	public void init() {
 	}
@@ -60,6 +60,7 @@ public class PlanViewImpl implements PlanView {
 		try {
 			p = readPlan();
 			augmentPlan(p);
+			writePlan(p);
 		} catch (Exception e) {
 			e.printStackTrace();
 		}
@@ -236,10 +237,15 @@ public class PlanViewImpl implements PlanView {
 			Unmarshaller m = jaxbContext.createUnmarshaller();
 			
 			File inputFile = new File(planFile).getAbsoluteFile();
+			if(!inputFile.exists()){ // start afresh
+				Plan newPlan = new Plan();
+				writePlan(newPlan);
+				inputFile = new File(planFile).getAbsoluteFile();
+			}
 
 			p = (Plan)m.unmarshal(inputFile);
 		} catch(Exception e) {
-			// FIXME
+			throw new IllegalStateException("Failed to read plan file",e);
 		}
 		return p;
 	}