Assessment Instruments

Risk assessment, file review, supervision, appraisal, safeguarding triage. One engine, because they are the same object: a set of questions, answered about a record, producing a score and a band.

Where to find it

Architect Panel → Forms:

• Assessment Instruments — the console — build and publish instruments
• Instrument Versions — the published versions
• Instrument Items — the questions
• Instrument Bands — the score ranges and what they mean

Completed assessments appear as a pane on the record they were carried out against.

It ships inert: there are no instruments until you create one, so nothing can be assessed until you have decided what should be.

The parts

• An instrument — the named tool. "Tenancy risk assessment", "Case file review".
• A version — a specific published edition of it.
• Items — the questions, each with answer options carrying scores.
• Bands — score ranges with meanings. 0–9 low, 10–19 medium, 20+ high.
• A response — one completed assessment against one record.

Building one

1. Create the instrument and give it a clear name — it will appear on the record.
2. Add items. Keep the wording exactly as your policy or guidance words it; an assessment paraphrased by whoever built the form is an assessment that no longer matches the policy it implements.
3. Give each answer option a score.
4. Define bands and what each means in practice — not just "high" but what a high score obliges somebody to do.
5. Publish the version.

Bands should carry an action

A band that says "high" and nothing else leaves the decision exactly where it was. A band that says "high — refer to the safeguarding lead within 24 hours" turns the assessment into a process. Write the action into the band description.

Worked example — a housing tenancy risk assessment

Twelve items covering arrears, ASB history, vulnerability and property condition. Scores band into Standard, Enhanced and Intensive. Enhanced triggers a monthly contact obligation; Intensive triggers a joint visit and a management referral. The assessment is a pane on the tenancy record, so the current band is visible to anyone opening it.

Worked example — a legal file review

A supervising partner reviews a sample of matters quarterly against a fixed instrument: are the client care letters on file, is the risk assessment current, is the file note contemporaneous. The score gives a compliance position per fee earner over time, and the same instrument version is used across the whole sample so the results are comparable.

Recommendations

• Copy the wording from the source guidance rather than rewording it.
• Give every band an action.
• Keep instruments short. A forty-item assessment gets rushed, and a rushed assessment is worse evidence than a short honest one.
• Pilot with two or three assessors and compare their scores on the same case before rolling out.