One of PRAIORITIZE’s main Virtual Consultancy functionalities is to give advice, to propose improvement targets. To set these targets, PRAIORITIZE uses maturity levels. Maturity levels are the perfect intermediary steps toward a perfect score of 10 out of 10. Where scores indicate how much has been done, maturity levels show whether the essential things have been done.
If a flesh & blood consultant assists a client in determining where to go, the consultant could assess the client's actual situation and verify what improvements would be the cheapest. In other words, the client has an Actual Score of 4.3 and would like to improve to a score of 7.0. Find the cheapest answers to get to the 7.0 and... be done? You will agree that improving on specific questions just because they are cheap (or easy, or low-hanging fruit) is not enough justification to proceed. Expensive, difficult, or 'higher hanging answers' might make more sense. In the above example of improving from a 4.3 to a 7.0, you probably have wondered, “Why a 7.0 in the first place?” and you were correct. Just because it is a number that easily appeals (almost always in the ‘green’ Red-Amber-Green zone, a challenging but not unachievable number), it doesn't mean that it makes sense from a business point of view. We have seen that ‘just’ a 7.0 is not enough: it may be a 7.0 full of (relatively) unimportant stuff. Using a target maturity level rather than a target score to define an improvement target (where the client wants to go) ensures that the important things are done first.
Maturity models
The maturity levels usually are part of a larger improvement course. These levels are similar to, say, an improvement from primary school to secondary school to university. As said, maturity levels are the flesh & blood consultant's idea of the perfect intermediary steps towards a perfect score of 10 out of 10. Whether the target setting is left to the Assessment Owner, the department heads, or the individual respondents, it is always highly advised to name the maturity levels so that a layperson knows what each level means. A short description is preferable over a single word.
On the "My Questionnaires" menu bar, click on "A.I. ADD-ONS" and then on "MATURITY LEVELS." You will see this screen:
The top part gives you space to give up to five Maturity Levels a name. Levels do not need a description. Below that, per question, space to assign answers to levels. Here’s an example:
Questions 1 to 5 all have three answers (Answer 1, Answer 2 and Answer 3), and the maturity model has five maturity levels as the worst question is always considered to be achieved—only Answers 2 and 3 need to be allocated. Question 1 contains a very basic subject. The middle answer is already needed to achieve Level 1, and the best answer is to achieve Level 2. However, question 2, covers a very advanced subject: the middle answer will get you to Level 4, and the best answer to Level 5.
Checklist when working with levels
If you move your view from the Level titles downwards, you'll see that every next level requires more questions to answer and/or better answers to achieve. There are a few simple rules when defining maturity levels.
- Defining Levels is optional, but without them, some Virtual Consultant items are impossible (target setting) or lose some value (measuring acceptance from a group of respondents).
- Define at least 1 Level. You can define up to 5 Levels, but 3 Levels will already give a good result.
- A question's worst answer is considered to be always achieved.
- Think about Level titles that show progress (e.g., from ‘Basic homework done’ to ‘World-class’)
- Any next Level is the same as the previous Level plus at least one answer extra. Suppose two Levels have precisely the same set of answers allocated to them. In that case, the system will always consider the higher of the two as achieved, rendering the lower of the two useless.
- It is not allowed to have a Level without a single question allocated (empty Level)
- All indicated answers must be achieved to achieve the Level.
- In the majority of cases, the highest level will contain all the best answers
- Some questions might be excluded from the Levels (e.g., questions that ask for opinions or factual numbers).
Using "HELP ME PRAIORITIZE"
Coming up with five relevant level names, going through each question, and tediously verifying which answers indicate a certain level is a lot of work. Luckily, also here, PRAIORITIZE comes to the rescue. Click on "HELP ME PRAIORITIZE," and the work is done for you:
TIP: However fantastic artificial intelligence is - and certainly PRAIORITIZE ;-) - we strongly recommend you always check the resulting names and settings before you send your Assessment to your Audience.