Evaluation Criteria

Step 1 – Setup Evaluation Impacts

Before creating any Evaluation Criteria, you will need to configure the default Evaluation Impacts that will then be used at the creation of Evaluation Criteria.

Navigate to the General Settings link in the Strategy grouping in Configuration Settings:

This setting allows you to set the Default Evaluation Impact that will then be used for the default impacts when creating an Evaluation Criteria.

By default, the system has been set up with five Impacts for evaluating initiatives:

The default Levels and Points are as follows:

Evaluation Impact	Points
None	0
Low	1
Medium	2
High	3
Extreme	4

Note: To provide consistency in pointing rules and to allow the weight in a prioritisation model to play its role, you cannot allocate more points than the highest value allocated in the Evaluation Impact setting. In our example, the default setting allocates up to 4 points maximum. Therefore, when creating an Evaluation Criteria later, you won’t be able to allocate more than 4 points on an impact.

Editing Evaluation Impact from Scratch

If you want to start fresh (empty impact list) with your own impact list, click on New Evaluation Impact. This will also avoid erasing the Initiative Types that you may have configured already.

The following menu will then appear in which you can start entering the Evaluation Impacts:

Editing Evaluation Impact from the default system list

If you want to start editing the defaults, you can edit these impacts by selecting the Edit Defaults button at the bottom of the page.

Warning: Be aware that clicking on Edit Defaults will also load the defaults on the Initiative Type. So, if you have already configured your Initiative Type (within the same Setting page lower), you may lose your configuration.

Once clicking on Edit Defaults, the Default Evaluation Impacts should update to an editable list with the Defaults impacts:

Step 2 – Setup Evaluation Criteria

Navigate to the Evaluation Criteria link in the Strategy grouping in Configuration Settings:

This setting allows you to create and edit Evaluation Criteria.

When you open this setting, the All Evaluation Criteria table displays.

This page contains the standard Dynamics features that allow you to modify the view:

• The view drop-down, allows you to switch between views easily. The All Evaluation Criteria view is the default view.
• The Edit columns function, allows you to modify the columns within the view.
• The Edit filters function, allows you to modify the hard-coded filters set within this view. There are none set by default.
• The Filter by keywords search function, allows you to search for matches within the Name column.

This view contains the following columns by default:

• Name: The name of this Evaluation Criteria.
• Category: The category that the Evaluation Criteria are associated with.
• # of Models: A count of the prioritisation models included in this Evaluation Criteria. The calculation for this value is updated by a process that runs every hour.
• Created On: When the Evaluation Criteria was created.
• Created By: Who created the Evaluation Criteria.
• Status: The status of this Evaluation Criteria. This field determines the behaviour of this Evaluation Criteria. Note: Only Active Evaluation Criteria are shown on the Initiatives Evaluation tab.

Create an Evaluation Criteria from the Settings

1. Click the New button within the menu bar. This will open the New Evaluation Criteria form.

The New Evaluation Criteria form General tab contains the following fields:

• Name: The name you give the Evaluation Criteria should be short and specific. The name appears as the column header in the Prioritisation and the Initiative Evaluation tab.
• Description: This is where you can expand on the Evaluation Criteria and provide more details. The description appears as a tooltip on the Prioritisation column and the Initiative Evaluation.
• Category: Select a category for this Evaluation Criteria. This field determines how this Evaluation Criteria is shown in the Evaluation tab of the initiative.
• Status: Only Active Evaluation Criteria can be created; this can be edited later if the Evaluation Criteria become Inactive.
• Associated Prioritisation Models: Once you start associating an Evaluation Criteria with a Prioritisation Model, you will see the list of associated prioritisation models on the Evaluation Criteria form.
• Evaluation Impact: The evaluation impacts that display (on creation of the Evaluation Criteria) is the default list setup in Strategy General Settings. This includes the columns:
  • Name: This column is populated with the name of the evaluation impacts. These values can be edited on this screen.
  • Points: This column is populated with the default points (used to calculate the prioritisation score). These points can be modified within this screen. You can manually sort the list by points (ascending or descending) by clicking on the arrow. Points have to be a whole number; they cannot be decimals or negative. To learn more about how points are used in the Prioritisation Score, please click this link: Prioritisation Score section.
  • Statement (optional): This is where you can provide additional details so that users know what Impact to select in the initiative’s Evaluation tab.
  • You can also delete (bin button) an Evaluation Impact if you do not need to use all the impacts provided by default.
  • You can also add an Evaluation Impact (with the +New button) if you need additional evaluation granularity.

You can create an evaluation criterion that ranges from negative to positive values – from detractor to promoter.
Here’s an example:

Criteria: Customer satisfaction

• Reduce customer satisfaction = -10
• No change = 0
• Improve customer satisfaction = +10

The negative values would then show up as red, giving a visual indicator of it being a detractor. While positive values would show up green, giving a visual indicator of it being a promoter.
The gradient of the colours will vary based on how many evaluation impact lines that have been added.

Note: When setting up the Points, you may have the following error messages:

To provide consistency in your evaluation criteria scoring, you cannot allocate more points than the highest value in the Evaluation Impact setting. In our example, the default setting (created by the Administrator) you can assign up to 4 points, and an error is thrown if you try to.

Additionally, all Evaluation Criteria in the system must have the same maximum point value. Therefore, in the above example, an error will display if I don't have 1 option allocated 4 points.

If you are happy to use the Evaluation Impacts provided by default, you only need to enter measurable evaluation Statements for each evaluation impact. The clearer these statements are, the easier it is for users to select the correct evaluation from the list.

To save your Evaluation Criteria click Save or Save & Close.

Other alternatives to create Evaluation Criteria

Create an Evaluation Criteria from the Goals

An alternative to creating an Evaluation Criteria outside of the settings area (if you don’t have access to the Altus Settings) is to create it from the Goals.

Watch this video on how to create an Evaluation Criteria from a Goal:

Before creating a new Evaluation Criteria, you should first look for an existing Evaluation Criteria by clicking on Select.

It will then open a Selection form in which you will be able to see all Active Evaluation Criteria you may want to associate with the Strategic Goal.

If after searching for an Evaluation Criteria with the Select you do not find what you need, click on New to create a new Evaluation Criteria.

This will open the New Evaluation Criteria form.

Create an Evaluation Criteria from the Prioritisation Model

If you are configuring your Prioritisation Model and realise that you are missing an evaluation criteria, instead of navigating back to the Evaluation Criteria Setting, just create the Evaluation Criteria from the Prioritisation Model form.

This will open the Evaluation Criteria New form.