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Ask the standards team for advice on themes before starting to develop and iterate your framework, and for the agreed text that should be included in the introductory sections of a function鈥檚 assessment framework.

1. Develop a continuous improvement assessment framework iteratively

1.1 Create a working group

Many minds are better than one, and workshops with a group of knowledgeable people are essential. In the same way as you needed a reference/working group to create a functional standard you should work with a representative group of experts to derive your assessment framework. It will be iterative.

1.2 Consider what good/better/best means for your function

At the outset, ask your group to consider what - in broad terms- 鈥榞ood鈥� means for your area of work. Do the same for 鈥榖etter鈥� and 鈥榖est鈥�. This will be a useful reference as you move into setting criteria for individual practice areas. Try to keep to 75 to 100 words to describe each level.

2. Brainstorm your initial thoughts

Your initial thoughts and instincts based on your knowledge can help you outline what themes and you would expect to see covered in the assessment framework. Brainstorm this in the group and come to a consensus. Keep this output for later reference to check against it once you have developed the framework.

3. Develop your themes

The structure and sub-headings of the functional standard should usually be replicated in the themes and practice areas of the assessment framework. This ensures relevance, ease of cross-reference and that the framework is comprehensive.

Keep visible and to hand: - The principles and all the 鈥榮hall鈥� statements from the standard - The table of contents of the standard

Work through the standard section by section and choose themes that reflect the content.

For the life cycle and practices sections (or equivalent) of your standard, you should start with one theme for each step/ phase/ practice.

For the practices section, decide which are significant and need their own themes, which can be left out (if any) and which can be grouped (as they are often related and used together).

Do not worry if you have too many themes. You might find, as you develop the assessment framework, that some of the practices can be incorporated into the life cycle steps or phases.

Check the initial list of themes with the 鈥榖rainstormed list鈥� (see brainstorm your initial thoughts). With your working group ask yourselves: - is anything missing? - did the brainstorm uncover a theme which can draw in many of the practices across the standard together?

4. Create the practice areas for each theme

Each theme should comprise 3 to 5 practice areas, each stating the purpose of the practice. In the standard, practices are usually preceded by a purpose statement (a 鈥榮hall鈥� or a 鈥榮hould鈥�). A practice area may relate to one or more clauses in the functional standard.

Remember that practice areas and associated criteria need to be statements which can be proven and demonstrated by the organisation assessing itself against the standard. The practice areas and criteria should reflect what is observed to be happening in the organisation (with evidence) so are written as 鈥榠s鈥� or 鈥榓re鈥� statements.

While some aspects of a standard are binary, which means that statements about meeting these binary requirements can be established quickly, a 鈥榮hall鈥� might not always be binary. There can be good, better or best ways of meeting a mandatory requirement.

Similarly, some aspects of the standard can be mapped onto a maturity scale or continuum. For example, a percentage: the percentage of people professionally qualified to undertake a particular role, where 鈥榞ood鈥� would be 50 %, 鈥� better鈥� would be 70% and 鈥榖est鈥� would be 90%.

Take one of the themes and find the related functional standard text. Use the text to discuss with your working group, and derive up to five practice areas for each theme. At this stage, identify headings only.

Ask yourselves if these practice area headings, brought together, cover enough of the themes. If not, rework them.

Draft a 鈥榩urpose鈥� statement for each practice area. A practice area can group together many practices from across the standard.

5. Derive appropriate criteria for the practice areas

Each practice area should be supported by up to 4 or 5 assessment criteria, each of which should be a statement of what the organisation should, through verifiable evidence, be doing.

Criteria may be: - distinct, to distinguish between good/ better/ best as you observe something different being done at the higher level than at the lower level - similar across the levels, but with different metrics for maturity levels: for example, you could have a planning horizon changing from 12 months for good, to 2 years for better, to 3 years for best - chosen from international and/or industry norms: you should use insights from professional bodies

If organisations do not meet at least 鈥榞ood鈥�, they are by default 鈥榙eveloping鈥�, therefore there is no need to set criteria for 鈥榙eveloping鈥�.

5.1 Start by defining 鈥榞ood鈥�

As you work with your expert group (see 1.1), start by defining the criteria for 鈥榞ood鈥�. Check the principles and the 鈥榮halls鈥� to make sure they are covered in some way in relation to the themes. When you have covered them, tick them. All the 鈥榮halls鈥� from the standard ought to appear under 鈥榞ood鈥� along with the most important 鈥榮houlds鈥�. This is the minimum level you want organisations to perform at.

Then, move to 鈥榖etter鈥� and discuss what else you would expect to observe. Then move on to 鈥榖est鈥�. This is the real stretch: you would expect very strong evidence if organisations are to meet it.

5.2 Keep track of the 鈥榮halls鈥�

Criteria directly drawn from a 鈥榮hall鈥� statement in the standard should be coloured red and appear under 鈥榞ood鈥�. Similarly, any criteria drawn from the principles in the standard should be coloured red. This colour coding makes it easier to keep track of the 鈥榮halls鈥� to ensure they have all been covered in the assessment framework 鈥� make sure you don鈥檛 delete any red coloured criteria as you update or change the assessment framework.

6. Test and pilot your assessment framework

6.1 Test with a broader group of stakeholders

Once you have some outputs you are satisfied with, validate them on some of your stakeholders. You can create another working group with some of your key stakeholders and test and pilot the assessment framework with them. Look at organisations of different sizes and configurations.

When you consult your stakeholders, ask them if they think the themes, practice areas and criteria work for them. They can help you uncover issues with the practice areas and criteria such as: - the practice areas and/or criteria are too vague and are therefore very difficult to evidence - on the contrary, the practice areas and/or criteria are too precise and do not allow enough flexibility for organisations of different sizes to evidence their compliance

Your stakeholders can also help you verify that no crucial aspect of functional work has been overlooked in the assessment framework.

Improve and update your assessment framework accordingly then retest it.

6.2 Test with the standards policy team and other functions

You might find that other functions have similar themes and have discovered neat ways to express particular types of criteria. Swap notes. You can use the functional standards Peer Group to raise issues.

7. Allow for tailoring

Organisations might want to augment the assessment framework by drawing metrics from suitable benchmarked information, including the Public Value Framework and the functions quality survey. They could add to the assessment framework locally to reflect a specific issue crucial to their business, where they want performance to be at a higher level than in other organisations.

8. Publish

See the Guide to governance and management frameworks for positioning your assessment framework if you propose to publish on 188体育 (recommended). Note that completed assessments by organisation are not intended to be published (see section 8 of the Guide to continuous improvement against functional standards).