Assessment Methods in Engagement Plans

An Assessment Method provides a structured framework for evaluating the performance or social acceptability of an engagement strategy. By integrating these evaluations directly into Borealis, organizations can ensures data consistency and enables real-time reporting across multiple projects.

Unlike Stakeholder Assessment Programs, these methods are specifically designed to track the evolution of an Engagement Plan over time. They support Calculated Axes to automatically generate scores based on field inputs and optional Coverage Periods to enforce a strict reporting cadence.

Create an Assessment Method

Note: This section is accessible to users with SE - EP - Assessment manager or Super user access levels.

1. Navigate to Settings in the main menu.

2. Select Assessment Methods.

3. Click the +Create button.

4. Fill in the mandatory fields:

   • Name: Enter a unique name for the method (e.g., Monthly Social Acceptability).

   • Description: Provide context on when this method should be used.

5. Configure Evaluation Axes: Add up to 70 axes to define the evaluation criteria. See the details below.

6. Set Coverage Periods (Optional): To establish a recurring reporting cycle, navigate to the field configuration.

   • Set a Start Date and Frequency (e.g., Monthly, Quarterly).

   • The system will automatically generate periods and force each assessment performed to be linked to a period. It will also create a limit of only one assessment assessment per period per engagement plan to ensure clean data.

7. Click the Save button.

Add an Axis to Your Assessment Method

This can be done from an Assessment method record in Settings.

1. In the left hand record menu, click the + Add in-line option for Configuration and select Axis OR select Configuration and click the + Add button for the Axis option in the Configuration information page.
2. Specify the name of the axis in the Axis name field.
3. You can flag Calculated axis to use the calculation method to calculate values for your axis.
   • Calculation method: You can select whether the axis will be calculated Based on combination or the Calculated value.
     • Based on combination: This selection indicates that the calculated value will be based on adding the score of 2 or more axes. You can select the axis to use with the Axis drop-down list. You will then need to select the result for any combination of values in the axes.
     • Calculated value: This selection lets you use the Available axis drop-down list to select previously created axis and add the to the Formula field which you can then combine with Operators, Separators, and Numbers to create a formula that calculates the value of your axis.
4. You can add values in the value section of the form, specify the name of the value in the Value name field. 
   • You can specify a value in the Score field if you want to link it to a calculated value or perform quantitative analysis on the value of an axis. 
   • You can select a Color to have it displayed when this value is represented in graphs and on maps.
   • You can reorder th evalues by clicking the positioning bar on the left hand side of the column and dragging it to a new location.
5. Click the Save button.