The Common Assessment Framework: Improving an Organisation Through Self-assessment
Author: European Institute of Public Administration
Date: 2002
Size:
60 pages
(125 MB)
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The Common Assessment Framework (CAF) is a tool to help public sector organisations use quality management techniques to improve performance. What can implementing the CAF achieve? This paper, compiled for the 2nd Quality Conference for Public Administrations in the EU, outlines the main considerations in conducting organisational analysis and recommending post-assessment improvements.
The CAF has four aims: to capture the unique features of the public sector, to serve as a tool for public administrators, to bridge the various models of quality management and to facilitate benchmarking between public sector organisations. It has been designed for use in all parts of the public sector and is applicable to public organisations at the national/federal, regional and local level.
The CAF database can help public sector organisations identify suitable benchmarking partners in order to promote organisational performance. Results should remain anonymous but the organisation will get feedback on its scoring against the average of other organisations in the same country or sector of activity. Self-assessment against the CAF model offers an organisation the opportunity to learn more about itself. It questions what the organisation is doing in the following areas:
Compared to a fully developed Total Quality Management model, the CAF is 'light', permitting public organisations to self-assess with little cost. It is suitable for getting an initial impression of how the organisation performs. When planning and conducting a self-assessment using the CAF:
Access full text: available online
Source:
European Institute of Public Administration, 2002, ‘The Common Assessment Framework: Improving an Organisation Through Self-assessment’, prepared for 2nd Quality Conference for Public Administration in the European Union
Author:
European Institute of Public Administration (Maastricht), http://www.eipa.nl/