When making business decisions, you can’t move forward in a serene manner without knowing the expected impact.
Tailor your impact assessment to any situation or stakeholder, and auto-generate personalized advice.
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3 reasons to use Pointerpro as an impact assessment tool
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For any business to stand the test of time, it will have to deal with evolutions, events, and let’s face it… sheer disruptions. That’s why organizations and business consultants tend to apply some sort of business impact analysis framework.
A business impact analysis (BIA) framework is a potential tool to help companies understand what’s most important to keep their operations to keep running smoothly. It helps them identify critical functions and processes that are essential for their business. It also takes into account potential risks (potentially pre-assessed through a risk assessment).
To turn a business impact analysis framework into an actual tool, you need to transform it into a (digital) impact assessment template. In other words: You need to develop a questionnaire that allows you to automatically score and categorize responses. That way you get to a balanced analysis that attributes the appropriate weight to various components of your analysis. It’s much easier than it sounds. It basically comes down to what we call custom scoring – as explained in the video below:
After looking into anything that could affect a business through an assessment, an impact analysis should result in a report (ideally in PDF format so everyone can access it). One that helps stakeholders to understand their business better. It’s like taking a snapshot of where things are right now and what’s really important to keep things running smoothly.
But it’s not just about spotting problems; it’s also about coming up with a game plan – often called a (business) continuity plan. This report is generally based on the aggregated results of different respondents of the same assessment – or on a combination of assessments for that matter (e.g., risk assessments, maturity assessments and impact assessments) It’s supposed to be a guidebook that tells high-level stakeholders what to do step by step to keep the business going strong.
That said, an impact assessment PDF report can also be tailored to individual respondents, focusing on what steps they can take individually to contribute to the continuity of the business.
“Business impact” is essentially an overarching term. It englobes anything that… well, impacts the business. The question is: What area of “the business” is affected or impacted?
When you develop an impact assessment you need to clearly define what area are relevant for the purpose of your assessment and which aren’t. Here are a few examples of areas that, generally speaking, tend to be relevant in most contexts:
Now, should you include all these areas in a single assessment? Maybe not. It depends on how deeply you want to assess each area. The deeper you want to dig, the more it makes sense to separate your impact assessment into area-specific sub-assessments – and then aggregate the different assessment results to come up with any group report that’s useful.
For example, your assessment might focus on the context of a potential business decision – say the decision to build new offices – and then assess through 3 assessments how that decision would impact the organization operationally, in terms of its employee well-being and who knows maybe even reputationally. An aggregate report would attribute the right, pre-defined weight to every question involved and based on that it would formulate the ultimate recommendation on whether to go through with the decision or not.
Assessments are of course always a matter of perspective. And it’s important to take that into account with an impact assessment as well.
For instance, we mentioned areas of impact could be on the level of an organization’s reputation or on the level of the well-being of its employees. Considering dimensions of impact here is what makes the assessment more nuanced. The easiest way to understand is by simply considering some potential dimensions:
Different depth levels of impact refer to the extentof the consequences resulting from an event. These levels can vary depending on factors such as the nature of the event, its magnitude, and its duration. If you develop an impact assessment template, it’s useful to consider which levels to include in your assessment.
Here are a few examples of potential depth impact – that tend to be overlooked:
By considering different depth levels of impact, you better understand the complexity and magnitude of the consequences that result from an event or decision. It will better allow the organization to develop appropriate strategies.
Here are 50 impact assessment example questions divided into 5 categories
To assess the impact of a proposed change, these impact assessment template questions cover areas such as strategic alignment, process impact, stakeholder considerations, and technology considerations. These questions aim to provide a comprehensive understanding of how the change will affect the organization and its stakeholders.
An environmental impact assessment (EIA) is a process used to identify and evaluate the potential environmental effects of a proposed project, development, or policy. It aims to ensure that decision-makers understand the potential consequences of their actions on the environment and incorporate measures to mitigate adverse effects.
The EIA process typically involves identifying environmental resources at risk, assessing potential impacts, identifying mitigation measures, and communicating findings to stakeholders. Here are 10 example questions:
A customer impact assessment (CIA) is a process used to identify and evaluate the potential effects of a proposed change, event, or action on customers and their interactions with the organization. It aims to understand how customers will be affected and to mitigate negative impacts while enhancing positive outcomes. Here are 10 customer impact assessment template questions:
A project impact assessment is a process used to identify and evaluate the potential effects of a proposed project on various stakeholders, resources, and environments. It aims to understand the project’s potential impacts and to develop strategies to mitigate negative effects while maximizing positive outcomes.
The following are 10 project impact template questions:
Impact assessments often become lengthy due to the complexity of the factors being analyzed and the multitude of variables involved. As a result, impact assessments can become unwieldy and difficult to navigate for respondents. This could cause a low response rate which you probably want to avoid.
Integrating questionnaire logic (also known as “survey logic”) can significantly improve the flow of the assessment by structuring questions in a logical sequence that corresponds to the respondent’s previous answers or specific characteristics. Pointerpro team member Stacy explains the basics of it in the video below.
By tailoring the questionnaire dynamically based on previous responses, redundant questions can be eliminated, and respondents are guided through a more coherent and efficient assessment process.
This not only saves time and reduces respondent burden. It also ensures that the assessment collects relevant data that are necessary for a comprehensive analysis. This is what will ultimately lead to more informed decision-making and positive outcomes.
Tip: By the way, some business consultants continue to always interview customers in-person to do their impact assessments, because they want to be in touch with the human stakeholders. It’s great to keep that personal touch, and it doesn’t even have to exclude time-efficiency. Why not simply use your impact assessment questionnaire as a type meeting minutes template, and let the questionnaire logic help you steer the interview?
Converting collected response data into an impact assessment PDF report is crucial for effectively communicating findings, insights, and recommendations to stakeholders and decision-makers.
A well-structured report provides a comprehensive overview of the assessment process, its objectives, methodologies, and key findings. It serves as a tool for transparency, accountability, and informed decision-making.
Some useful key components to consider for such a report, if you ask us?
With Pointerpro’s combination of a Questionnaire Builder and Report Builder, the entire process is automated and customized.
You collect the data from respondents through the questionnaire of your assessment. You also build an impact assessment PDF report template (or several templates, depending on who your stakeholders are). That way a tailor made report becomes instantly available, each time a respondent finishes an assessment.
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Director at Alere
"I give the new report builder 5 stars for its easy of use. Anyone without coding experience can start creating automated personalized reports quickly."
CFO & COO at Egg Science
"You guys have done a great job making this as easy to use as possible and still robust in functionality."
Account Director at Reed Talent Solutions
“It’s a great advantage to have formulas and the possibility for a really thorough analysis. There are hundreds of formulas, but the customer only sees the easy-to-read report. If you’re looking for something like that, it’s really nice to work with Pointerpro.”
Country Manager Netherlands at Better Minds at Work
