Chapter G1 Creating an assessment profile

G1.2 What is an assessment profile?

Three factors involved

An assessment profile involves rating a programme, package or project that is ready for assessment across three factors:

• strategic fit of the problem, issue or opportunity that is being addressed
• effectiveness of the proposed solution
• economic efficiency of the proposed solution.

Each of these three factors is given a rating of H: high, M: medium, or L: low. Therefore, an assessment profile of HMM means the activity was rated high for strategic fit, medium for effectiveness and medium for economic efficiency.

The assessment of studies and strategy and plan development only considers the strategic fit of the problem, issue or opportunity and effectiveness of the proposed method and process.

Additional factors

The NZTA also considers any exceptional additional factors not otherwise captured by the above assessment factors.

These will be specific to the activity or combination of activities being assessed and relevant to determining its overall priority and funding source in the programme.

Evidence will be required if additional factors are to be considered.

When assessment takes place for large packages and projects

Determination of the assessment profile for large packages and projects is a continuous process:

• During the study or strategy development phase, a detailed assessment is made of the strategic fit of the problem, issue or opportunity addressed by each package and project and of the effectiveness of the proposed package and projects. The assessment of the economic efficiency may be coarse at this stage but effort should be made to produce as robust an indicator of economic efficiency as possible. For packages and projects that have low or medium ratings for economic efficiency, evidence should be provided that demonstrates the effort made to produce a robust estimate including peer review.
• During the investigation phase, the assessments of strategic fit and effectiveness are updated, and a detailed assessment is made of the economic efficiency of the proposed package and projects.
• During the design phase, the emphasis is on updating the assessments made in the previous phases, particularly the economic efficiency rating.

When assessment takes place for large packages and projects, continued

Phase	Assessment	Purpose
Strategy and plan development	Assessment of strategic fit and the effectiveness of the proposed intervention strategy. No assessment profile is given.	NZTA support for strategy
	Detailed assessment of strategic fit and effectiveness of each package and project that is part of the implementation plan of the strategy. An assessment profile is given to each package and project, provided sufficient information is available. The economic efficiency rating is indicative but should be as robust as possible particularly for projects and packages with low or medium economic efficiency.	Funding approval of projects
Investigation	Update of the assessment of strategic fit and effectiveness of each package and project. Detailed assessment of the economic efficiency of each package and project.	Funding approval of projects
Design and construction/implementation	Earlier assessments are updated, particularly the economic efficiency assessment of each package and project.	Funding approval of projects