Relativ Impact Management Scan

Completing the scan should take less than 10 minutes; there are seven scaled-response questions to answer.​

This Scan asks for a quick maturity rating of your organisation’s Impact Management capabilities across seven dimensions: Impact Strategy, Impact Management Team, Impact Management Processes, Impact Data, Impact Measurement, Impact Reporting, and Impact Technology. Some of the terms and phrases may be unfamiliar to you; we have aligned the language with existing standards and recommendations and included a Glossary of Key terms for reference.

If you work hands-on with your organisation’s impact data and need sharp, actionable insights to cut inefficiencies, elevate capability, and drive growth, this diagnostic is for you. We recommend someone who is familiar with the work being done within Impact Management in your organisation, to provide an accurate reflection of the current capabilities.​

Nevertheless, anyone who is wanting to better understand and grow their organisation’s Impact Management capability is welcome to complete this Scan!​

No preparation is necessary! As an impact steward in your organsation, you’re already keenly aware of your organisations level of maturity. This Scan has been created by our global team of Impact Specialists to give you a clear picture of your organisation’s current Impact Management capabilities — how well-equipped you are with the skills, processes, and systems needed to achieve your strategic and operational impact goals. ​

Within 5–10 minutes of completing the Scan, you’ll receive an email with a PDF report containing your results and insights around how your organisation can act on improving its Impact Management capability.

Capability Maturity Models originated in the late 1980s, when the Software Engineering Institute (SEI) of Carnegie Mellon University began developing a Process Maturity Framework to help organisations improve their software processes. The initial framework was developed with a maturity questionnaire and later evolved into the Capability Maturity Model for Software as the basis for improving software process along a five-level path of increasingly organised and mature processes [1]. Since then, Capability Maturity Models have evolved as part of the broader practice of capability and enterprise design as a means to design the architecture of an organisation and organise its people, processes and technology to align to and enable strategy achievement. ​

A data architecture describes how data is managed–from collection through to transformation, distribution, and consumption.

Data collection is the process of gathering information which will enable one to answer relevant questions and evaluate outcomes (Harwood & Vang, 2009).

Data governance is the process of managing the availability, usability, integrity and security of the data.

Data quality refers to how well the data management system reflects the real world. Dimensions of quality data include accuracy, reliability, completeness, precision, timeliness, integrity, and confidentiality (Brown, 2007).

The processes, tools, skills, behaviours, and coordination that help an organisation measure and manage their impact.

The tools, and templates within your Impact Management Capability that are created and utilised to support your teams to implement Impact Management processes consistently. 

Impact Measurement Framework builds on a Theory of Change by identifying the data which should be collected to understand, assess, and illustrate an organisation’s impact. It includes measures that an organisation will use to evaluate the change that comes about as a result of activities. 

Processes are sets or groups of related activities carried out by the organisation (Faugier-Contreras, Guevara-Flores & Hernández-Calderón, 2023). Here we are considering any processes which help an organisation understand, act on, and communicate its impact.

Groups of people who gain direct benefits from, or are affected by an organisation’s operations (Benn, Abratt & O’Leary, 2016). Stakeholders could include shareholders, investors, beneficiaries, customers, employees, suppliers, financial supporters, and communities. In this case, we are considering the stakeholders served and/or affected by your Impact Management capability. 

A designated team who lead and coordinate efforts to achieve and manage an organisation’s impact goals through Impact Measurement and Management. This team has a clear leader or owner, responsible for overseeing the Impact Management function. Team members have the right skills and defined responsibilities to measure, manage, and improve impact. 

This refers to the standardised tools and / applications available to support the Impact Management processes and systems discussed in this survey (Carvalho et al., 2021). These may include a broad range of enabling technology for purposes such as project management, stakeholder (or ‘customer’) relationship management, data collection, data analysis, or reporting, that help track and understand progress and change.

Impact performance refers to how well a person, project, or programme is performing against planned impact goals or objectives (Global Impact Investing Network, 2023a). Various metrics and data points help to provide a view of this performance.

The regular analysis and communication of impact data using consistent frameworks and standards. It serves both internal and external purposes – supporting organisational learning and accountability, while also meeting the information needs of stakeholders such as funders, partners, and communities. 

An impact strategy clearly outlines your organisation’s purpose. It is a detailed roadmap to achieve your intended impact and provides a long-term vision of how such impact will be achieved and measured to determine success (Investment Impact Index, 2019). This could take the form of a Theory of Change, impact thesis or something similar.

A value chain refers to the full lifecycle of a product or process. A value chain is a series of consecutive steps that go into the creation of a finished product or service.

This may include research into underlying theory, best practices, market research, insights from evaluations, and knowledge from data (McKinsey & Company, 2022).

A reporting framework is a standardised system used to consistently report performance (Idowu et al., 2013).

These standards provide principles for preparing reports and determine the types and amounts of information that must be provided to users so that they can make informed decisions (Global Reporting, 2024).

A responsibility framework outlines the roles and responsibilities of the processes lead by and / performed within the Impact Management Capability (Zein, 2010). Examples of these frameworks include RACI (which allows one to indicate who is Responsible, Accountable, Consulted, and Informed), or PACE (which identifies the Process Owner, Approver, Contributor, and Executer).

These are the tools and templates that enable your team to implement your impact measurement framework. These may include templates, user guides, and process notes to guide implementation of impact measurement according to your plan (Global Impact Investing Network, 2023b).