The Toolkit is structured around seven domains, (also called the Seven Key Questions) with issues under each domain.
Under each issue, we have suggested ‘essential practices’ for NDIS transition, and ‘advanced practices’ for those organisations which want to do more.
The rating scale
The self-assessment tool is based on the principle of organisational maturity, or the degree to which business practice in your organisation is fully optimised.
You can rate your organisation on a scale of 1 to 5 in terms of your current state of maturity on each issue. This involves thinking across practices described at two levels, including ‘essential’ and ‘advanced’ practices.
To decide your rating in relation to each issue, first read the ‘essential practices’ for being effective under the NDIS:
- If your organisation has none of the essential practices in place, rate your organisation at 1.
- If you have some of the essential practices, rate your organisation at 2.
- If you have all the essential practices, your organisation is rated as at least a 3.
If you have all the essential practices in place, now check if you have any of the advanced practices.
- If you have all of the essential practices but none of the advanced practices, rate your organisation at 3.
- If you have all of the essential practices and a minority of the advanced practices, rate your organisation at 4.
- If you have all of the essential practices and most of the advanced practices, rate your organisation at 5.
In using the rating scale, it is important to be honest in assessing your organisation’s readiness. All of the essential practices are required to achieve a rating of 3; do not overlook any of the essential practices as they are likely to be important to your capacity to exercise the advanced practices.
Options for conducting the self-assessment
It is up to your organisation how it completes the self-assessment. Generally, the more people you involve in the discussion, the greater the benefit to your organisation.
If your organisation is just beginning its transition to the NDIS, we recommend that you don’t try and complete the self-assessment in one sitting. Rather work on it over two or three sessions.
In micro and small organisations, sometimes it is only the manager and a few board members who will be in a position to complete the self-assessment.