CAF Centre Recommendations for CAF Implementation

The CAF Centre has prepared certain recommendations for some steps of CAF implementation. The recommendations are based on experience gained during CAF implementation in Slovak public administration organizations. As the title indicates, these are recommendations that are not binding. Any public administration organization may be inspired by them; however, it is not obliged to apply these recommendations. If you are a public administration organization that already has experience with CAF implementation and would like to contribute further advice for other organizations, please contact the CAF Centre, which will be pleased to add your recommendation to the relevant step.

Step 1 – Recommendations:

• Information on what CAF implementation brings and what it involves can be provided by the staff of the CAF national correspondent and the CAF Centre of the Slovak Office of Standards, Metrology and Testing (ÚNMS SR). They can provide you with all necessary information on CAF implementation by telephone or in person.
• A valuable source of information is also the experience of organizations that have implemented CAF, ideally in recent years. These organizations can be found in the European CAF Users Database; however, the CAF Centre itself can also recommend them and provide you with a list of organizations that, for example, have implemented CAF in the same field of competence as your organization.
• If your organization falls under the founding authority of another public administration organization, it is appropriate to communicate this intention with the founder and, in some cases, to involve them in the decision-making process itself.
• When selecting the CAF Guarantor (member of top management responsible for CAF implementation), it is necessary to carefully consider the composition of the organization’s leadership/management and choose the member who is most suitable for this position. This also depends on the size of the organization; in smaller organizations it may be the statutory representative, while in larger organizations it may be a member of senior management who is not the statutory representative. It must be a person who is a true leader with a high level of respect within the organization.
• Equally important is the careful selection of the CAF Project Leader. This should be a person with a high level of knowledge of the organization and good communication skills. They should also have knowledge of CAF. A frequently asked question by organizations is whether to select a CAF Project Leader from within the organization, where there is strong knowledge of the organization but often no knowledge of CAF, or a person from outside the organization with excellent knowledge and experience of CAF. Both options are viable solutions; however, selecting an internal CAF Project Leader brings a certain advantage, namely their knowledge of the organization, its processes, and its staff.
• If a CAF Project Leader has already been appointed or selected, they should actively prepare for this role, acquire information about CAF and its implementation, participate in training activities on CAF, or gain information and experience from other CAF Project Leaders. They may also contact the CAF Centre, which can help them orient themselves in the subject and provide more detailed information on CAF.
• Most organizations in Slovakia carry out self-assessment at the level of the entire organization. In smaller organizations, this is an automatic decision without any discussion. Consideration arises in larger organizations with a high number of employees and a larger number of key processes/activities. For example, at the level of ministries, there is often a discussion as to whether the entire organization should be involved in the self-assessment or only, for example, one section. In making this decision, however, it must be borne in mind that CAF is a holistic framework and assesses the activities and results of the entire organization, from management through planning, human resources, and more. Plans and strategic documents are prepared for the organization as a whole, and for this reason it is very difficult to carry out self-assessment for many criteria and subcriteria when only part of the organization is assessed, which ultimately affects the overall self-assessment result.
• The decision on the scoring panel to be used is very straightforward for organizations new to CAF; they are recommended to use the classical scoring. 
• It is appropriate to document the decision on both the scope of the self-assessment and the selection of the scoring panel within the organization, for example in the minutes of a management meeting.
• The CAF Guarantor and the CAF Project Leader are responsible for planning the entire CAF implementation cycle.
• In some organizations, after the decision to proceed with CAF implementation, the CAF Project Leader prepared an internal management document. Its content focused on explaining the essence of CAF, the objectives of its introduction within the organization, basic terminology, the personnel capacities involved in implementation, and a description of the basic phases of implementation.

Step 2 – Recommendations:

• When preparing the communication plan, it is appropriate to approach or cooperate with the person or organizational unit responsible for communication or PR activities within the organization (if such a person or organizational unit exists).
• As with the implementation plan, organizations prepare the communication plan in various formats, most often in a tabular form, usually including the possibility to evaluate individual communication activities.
• When preparing the communication plan, it is necessary to ensure balance, i.e. to focus communication both towards employees and management, as well as towards other key stakeholders.
• The CAF Guarantor plays an important role in communication, both towards management and towards employees. The conviction and communication about CAF on the part of the Guarantor are a very important element of the authenticity of the organization’s management intention to improve.

Step 3 – Recommendations:

• The basic criteria for selecting CAF Team members include representation of individual organizational units, representation of both managers and non-managerial employees, representation of both more senior and younger employees, and coverage of the CAF criteria.
• There is no prescribed minimum or maximum number of CAF Team members. The CAF framework consists of 9 criteria and 28 subcriteria, and in order to ensure so-called “pairing” for some criteria, the recommended number of team members is 12–15. It is important to create an effective team that is able to work professionally while also adopting an informal working style.
• Although the title of Step 3 refers to the creation of one or more CAF Teams, based on the experience of the national correspondent in Slovakia, no organization has so far established more than one CAF Team.
• The way in which the CAF Team is formed depends partly on the organizational culture, and the decision itself lies with the CAF Guarantor. The team may be formed by inviting all employees and allowing them to volunteer, or the Guarantor may directly approach employees from individual organizational units. 
• Members should be selected primarily on the basis of their level of knowledge of the organization and their personal skills (e.g. analytical and communication skills), rather than on the basis of their professional expertise as such.
• When forming the CAF Team, it is necessary to carefully consider whether a member of top management or the CAF Guarantor will be a direct member of the CAF Team. Again, it is important to take into account the organizational culture and the structure of the CAF Team, so that the presence of a management member or the Guarantor does not become an inhibiting factor in the team’s work and informal atmosphere, where members might otherwise be reserved in discussions and hesitant to express their true views on the functioning and performance of the organization as a whole.
• The establishment of the CAF Team is completed by the formal appointment of team members (by the CAF Guarantor or the statutory representative). Organizations often use an appointment decree specifying the responsibilities and powers of CAF Team members for this purpose. Another way of appointing a CAF Team member is, for example, by amending the job description to include responsibilities related to this role.
• When forming the CAF Team, consideration is also given to the ownership of individual criteria (or subcriteria). This allocation can be set before the first CAF Team training or directly during the training itself, with team members leaving the training with clear ownership of their assigned criterion/criteria.

Step 4 – Recommendations:

• As part of management training, it is appropriate to include the collection of management’s views on how the organization functions, where they see its strengths and where they see room for improvement. These management inputs should be documented, as they represent a valuable basis for further work during the self-assessment and subsequently during the improvement process.
• Management training may be divided into several parts (levels), depending on the size of the organization, with the recommended duration set at approximately 1–2 hours.
• In Slovakia, CAF Team training is usually scheduled for two days. It is recommended, where the organization is able to ensure this, that the training takes place outside the organization’s premises. The reason is to prevent team members from leaving the training room to deal with work duties and, at the same time, to allow participants to get to know each other better and for the training to also serve as a form of teambuilding.
• The effectiveness of the training is higher if CAF Team members attend the training having studied the CAF Manual in advance, or having identified the terms, subcriteria, or examples within CAF that they do not understand.
• During CAF Team training, it is important to start with key concepts and structures that will resonate throughout the entire self-assessment. These include, for example, the structure of the organization’s products and services, the structure of stakeholders/partners/customers, the structure of planning and strategic documents, and the structure of organizational processes.
• In connection with the introduction of CAF within the organization, it is appropriate and recommended to develop a training plan for the CAF Guarantor, the CAF Project Leader, and CAF Team members. The reason is to support continuous development and to increase awareness and knowledge not only of CAF itself, but also of the topics addressed within its structure (process management, change management, complaints management, obtaining feedback from stakeholders, evaluation of employees/supervisors, and many others). Owners of individual criteria, or employees closely cooperating with them, should identify where it is necessary to increase their knowledge in the relevant areas. The same also applies to the CAF Guarantor and the CAF Project Leader, where, in addition to professional topics, this may also involve the development of communication skills and team leadership.

Step 5 – Recommendations:

• The self-assessment report does not have a maximum length defined either by the CAF Manual or by the national correspondent. However, the recommended length in Slovakia is 75 pages, excluding the cover pages, the list of abbreviations, the scoring table, and annexes (i.e. from Criterion 1 to Criterion 9). The recommended number of annexes is approximately five; however, they should not be too extensive (a maximum of 5–10 pages each).

Step 6 – Recommendations:

• In Slovakia, it is recommended to set the self-assessment process, i.e. from CAF Team training through to the approval of the self-assessment report and the completion of the on-site assessment, at six months. This period already includes a possible buffer in cases where it overlaps, for example, with the end-of-year period or part of the summer months. If a longer period is set, the risk of decreased motivation and a decline in the interest of all stakeholders increases.
• An important step prior to the consensus meeting is thorough preparation for this CAF Team meeting. Before it takes place, the CAF Project Leader must compile the self-assessment report (inputs from individual members) and send clear instructions to team members on how to prepare for the consensus meeting. This includes:
  • reading the entire self-assessment report,
  • scoring individual criteria/subcriteria/examples in the self-assessment report,
  • preparing their own wording of strengths and areas for improvement for individual subcriteria,
  • preparing a verbal presentation of the criterion/subcriterion they prepared,
  • if a member knows in advance that they cannot attend the consensus meeting, they are still required to send the above materials to the CAF Project Leader.
• Subsequently, the CAF Project Leader summarizes the inputs from CAF Team members and prepares them for the consensus meeting, which usually lasts one or two days. As with CAF Team training, many organizations tend to organize this meeting outside the organization’s premises.
• The scoring that is the subject of consensus often triggers lively discussion among members, as each person perceives the described CAF examples from their own perspective and assigns scores according to their subjective perception in line with the scoring panel defined in the CAF Manual. During the discussion at the consensus meeting, either the scoring or the description in the self-assessment report is subsequently adjusted. The maximum number of points that can be achieved in CAF is 900; however, even at European level, the best organizations have not achieved more than 600–700 points. In Slovakia, the average score of an organization that is beginning with quality management is around 150–200 points. An organization that carries out self-assessment repeatedly (for the second or third time) or has already established the basics of quality management achieves on average around 300–400 points. However, the organization must not forget that the goal is not the highest possible score, but the improvement of the organization.
• Undergoing an on-site assessment is not mandatory within CAF implementation, but it is recommended in order to obtain an independent external view of the organization’s management and its results, as summarized in the CAF self-assessment report. In Slovakia, on-site assessments are typically carried out by a two-member assessment team. The assessors first individually review the self-assessment report and then prepare questions for the organization (the CAF Guarantor, the CAF Project Leader, and CAF Team members), through which they verify the information stated in the self-assessment report during the on-site assessment at the organization’s premises, and supplement it in order to determine their qualitative and scoring evaluation. The assessment takes place over one day and follows a pre-prepared schedule, with individual criteria assessed in blocks (related criteria). The output from the assessors is an on-site assessment feedback report, which is subsequently sent to the organization and contains strengths, areas for improvement, and scores for each CAF criterion and subcriterion. The CAF Centre maintains an internal database of CAF assessors who are long-standing CAF trainers/consultants and assessors.

Step 7 – Recommendations:

• Thorough summarization of improvement proposals is a prerequisite for preparing a good improvement action plan. It is appropriate for the CAF Project Leader to record the proposals in a table, with appropriate categorization, for example according to CAF criteria and principles of excellence, and with an indication of the source of each proposal (e.g. from employees, from the self-assessment report, or from the site visit).
• The selection of activities for inclusion in the action plan should preferably be addressed at a CAF Team meeting led by the CAF Project Leader, where all improvement proposals are presented and the prioritization system is explained, i.e. the key according to which activities will be selected. Common criteria include the time and financial demands of tasks, their impact on the organization’s key processes and key stakeholders, and similar factors. When prioritizing, it is also important to consider the balance of activities, both in terms of covering individual CAF criteria or principles of excellence, and in terms of long-term and short-term tasks or the level of ambition of activities (strategic tasks vs. simple tasks – “quick wins”).
• If an organization does not have experience in preparing an action plan, it is appropriate to undergo prior training for the CAF Project Leader and the CAF Team on the process of its preparation. This type of training is also included in the portfolio of the CAF Centre.
• A frequently discussed issue is the period of validity of the improvement action plan. In Slovakia, it is customary to set its validity at two years, i.e. to align it with CAF implementation cycles. The improvement action plan therefore remains valid even during the period when the organization is already carrying out the next self-assessment, new improvement proposals are being summarized, and the organization is continuously moving towards the preparation of a new improvement action plan.
• The action plan as a living document – integrating the improvement action plan into strategic management means that it should become a tool for managers to plan and implement changes, innovations, and improvements within the organization. It should not serve only the CAF Team or the owners of tasks in the action plan, but should be regularly monitored and also supplemented with new tasks arising from management decisions and from the results of activities within the organization (e.g. employee/customer surveys, inspections, audits, management reviews, etc.).