Task 1 - Plan and scope | Australian Public Service Commission

Contents

The number 1 in bold black text, sitting on a white circle, surrounded by an aqua circle, denoting that this is Task 1

To ensure evaluation aligns to the guiding principles for evaluation across the Commonwealth and will be useful for your agency, the first task focuses on clarifying the circumstances in which the evaluation has been sought and will be undertaken. Once this is complete, an overarching evaluation plan can be developed. Fact sheet 2 in the handbook sets out the principles guiding evaluation activity across the Commonwealth.

Understand the operating context

A sound understanding of the reason why the evaluation is required will lead to a fit for purpose and useful evaluation. It will secure the evaluation within your agency's forward work plan.

Supporting operating conditions

Operating conditions which support evaluation are summarised below. These conditions increase the likelihood the evaluation will be fit for purpose, useful and worthwhile.

Vision

Commitment to evidence-based strategy and policy decision making
Clear responsibilities and accountabilities for embedding a culture of evaluation have been articulated

Enabling Environment

Leadership committed to launching and sustaining an evaluation system over the term
An outcome-oriented, knowledge-sharing, insights and improvement culture and a supportive accountability regime are in place
Permission and space to ask hard questions and curiosity to find out what works and what doesn’t
Support for the evaluation principles
Evaluation reporting system and knowledge transfer are in place
Appropriate organisational resources are allocated
Barriers such as resistance and limited buy-in are addressed

Demand-side infrastructure

Capacity and incentives to deliberately seek out and use evaluation findings
Clear expectations of where, when and how evaluation findings will be used

Supply-side infrastructure

Skilled personnel with capacity to conduct evaluation
Infrastructure to ensure a credible approach (evaluation policy, standards, framework, etc.)

Fact sheet 3 in the handbook provides question prompts to better understand your evaluation system.

Why do we need evaluation?

Evaluation is only relevant in certain circumstances and should be reserved for situations where the results of in-depth analysis and values-based appraisal can be used. Each evaluation should be purposeful and make good use of the time and resources allocated to them.

Establishing priorities for a purposeful evaluation requires you to consider who will benefit from the evaluation and who will use the findings. The overarching message is to be clear about how evaluation will help to achieve agency purpose/s or strategic objectives.

Fact sheet 4 in the handbook outlines when evaluation is warranted in more detail.

Create the overarching evaluation project plan

An overarching evaluation plan outlining how the evaluation will be conducted is essential. The plan should cover:

Who will undertake the evaluation and who else will be involved.
The approaches that will be used for stakeholder engagement to elicit stakeholder interests, expectations for the evaluation and understand why it is important to them. Identify whether there are strong preferences regarding evaluation methods, reporting formats and organisational insight requirements as well as how their engagement can be supported throughout the evaluation.
Decision making processes, including how decisions will be made about the evaluation, who will provide advice, who will make recommendations, and who will be involved in collaborative processes of reflection, insights and deciding action in response to the evaluation findings and recommendations.
Resource parameters such as practical and financial constraints, and how much time is needed to engage participants to undertake data collection, provide feedback and make sense of the data, and to reflect and learn from the findings.
How evaluation capacity will be strengthened such as through accessing internal agency resources, the APS Academy or Evaluation Centre of Excellence, or accessing external resources.
The objectives for your evaluation. Evaluation objectives can be informed by what a good evaluation should do. They are the specific principles-based achievements you want to accomplish.

Factsheet 5 in the handbook contains recommendations for evaluation objectives.