Avoid the most common pitfalls
Tips for a successful Assessment
4. Make a conscious decision whether to write an application report
It is often assumed that a 'proper' assessment must require the creation of a substantial Application Report, describing the current management system in great detail. This is a myth.
The Application Report was devised as a tool for awards programs. These programs absolutely need some means of screening out applicants that don't merit a site visit; and they also need a way of conveying to outside examiners a great deal of information about the applicant prior to the site visit. The Application Report serves both these needs perfectly (even though it creates a lot of work for applicants) and writing this report is an essential step in applying for an award.
However, for organizations simply wanting to improve there may be no need to create this type of document: for most organizations a perfectly adequate assessment can be conducted without it. Only the highest-performing organizations really need the rigor and depth afforded by creating this document.
It is true that the process of creating an Application Report can be beneficial: people can learn a great deal about Baldrige and about their own organization. But this learning comes at a significant cost, and could often be better accomplished in other ways.
In addition, many organizations just starting to use Baldrige really don't have much to write about in an Application Report, since they have few well defined, systematic practices in place. For these organizations, it's better to skip this step in order to get to their improvement plan more quickly and efficiently.
Further reading
This
article just touches on some of the key issues.
For lots more information on how to conduct an assessment effectively, see
"From Baldrige
to the Bottom Line".