Purpose
The Commonwealth Evaluation Maturity Model (the Maturity Model) is a tool to assist Commonwealth agencies (or organisational units within those agencies) to assess and strengthen evaluation capability.
The Maturity Model is not a mandatory requirement for agencies. Use of the model is intended to:
- Strengthen the leadership and culture of evaluation
- Strengthen evaluation skills and use by encouraging routine use of evaluation evidence to inform policy decisions.
The Maturity Model is designed to uphold the APS value of Stewardship and to support the APS Reform initiative of embedding a culture of evaluation to improve the capability of the APS.
How to use the Maturity Model
The Maturity Model has 3 stages, outlined below. For more information, please refer to the User guide.
Initiate and plan the process
Identify the best timing for your agency (or group, division or branch), confirm senior leadership support, and plan your approach to undertaking the assessment and action plan.
Undertake the assessment
Collect evidence from key stakeholders to inform the maturity assessment, then undertake the online assessment tool.
Analyse results and develop an action plan
Analyse and share results within your agency, develop an action plan to support evaluation capability building practices within your agency, and implement and monitor progress of the action plan.
Maturity Model assessment tool
The online assessment tool provides a framework for agencies to assess evaluation skills, practices and resources at an agency, group, division or branch level. The tool is designed to be undertaken collaboratively rather than individually to encourage discussion and reflection on evaluation skills, practices and resources.
Agencies are encouraged to refer to the User guide prior to commencing the assessment. If you have any further questions, please contact:
- Your agency’s evaluation unit; or
- The Australian Centre for Evaluation at evaluation@treasury.gov.au.
Things to consider
Timeframes
Completing the assessment and action plan process could take between 1–4 months depending on how many teams are involved in the assessment. Please refer to the User guide for potential approaches for undertaking the assessment.
Who should use the Maturity Model
The Maturity Model is designed to be flexible to adapt to different organisational contexts. Whether you choose to conduct a maturity assessment at a branch, divisional, group or agency level, it is important to take the approach that best suits your needs.
The ACE recommends the Maturity Model is conducted by:
- agency-level evaluation units (or equivalent units for groups, divisions or branches, if they exist); or
- coordination areas that have evaluation expertise or knowledge with agency wide responsibilities (for agencies without evaluation units).
Who will see the results
The results produced by the Maturity Model are owned by the agency (or organisational units) that is undertaking the assessment. If maturity results or action plans are shared with the ACE, these will not be shared further without prior permission.