Outcome Assessment
Awaiting source text
This process exists in the source handbook as a heading with five empty sub-headings beneath it. None has any text. Nothing has been written here in its place.
The five are: What question does this process answer, Systematic steps to carry out the process, Interviews and workshops and desk studies and data collection required, Iterative steps within the process, and Output schema for reporting, learning, or second-pass refinement.
Why the gap matters
Outcome Assessment is the sixth and final process, and it is the one that closes the loop. Without it the DSP is a linear appraisal method rather than a decision cycle, which is the thing the handbook repeatedly claims it is.
What is known so far
Three statements about this process exist elsewhere in the handbook.
What it does
From Definition of a process:
This process evaluates the effectiveness of interventions and feeds learning back into the decision cycle and future decisions.
What modules it uses
The master diagram shows Outcome Assessment drawing on two modules, with a third element between them:
| Element | |
|---|---|
| Asset Performance | Measuring what the asset now does |
| Intervention and adaptation effectiveness | Comparing that against what was predicted |
| Asset Registry | Recording the result |
That ordering is itself informative. Performance is measured, effectiveness is judged, and the finding is written back to the registry, which is why the registry appears at both the start and the end of the cycle.
How the IMP supports it
From Integration with IMP:
The IMP can be used to compare predicted and observed outcomes and support learning from implemented interventions. This information can then be fed back into future iterations of both the DSP and IMP.
What this page should cover
Written out, this process would need to set out how effectiveness is measured against the predictions recorded at Detailed Option Assessment, what counts as a successful outcome, how long after implementation the assessment happens, and the schema by which learning is captured and returned to the next pass of the cycle.
The output schema for reporting, learning, or second-pass refinement is the piece that Second Pass / Refinement would consume, and that chapter is also unwritten in the source.