When you do a self assessment you want to make sure you’re asking the right questions. Isn’t that why you’re interested in our Standard Requirements Self Assessment Guide in the the first place?

The guides help you to get clarity on the current position of your company (or your client’s company) in relation to a specific topic. They also give you a clear way forward to start implementing some changes to bridge the gaps you’ve identified in the current processes and work practices.

The topics range from very specific technical products to a general methodology like agile project management.

To give you an idea – In the last week our clients needed Self Assessment Guides on the  following topics:

• GDPR Standard Requirements
• Service Catalog Standard Requirements
• Information Security Management Standard Requirements
• Cyber Security Risk Management Standard Requirements

Many of these topics are dynamic in nature. What I mean by that is that the general body of knowledge around these subjects are always growing and our understanding is changing with a rising maturity around the topic.

In addition to this, the business environment changes more  rapidly than ever before. This is even more so the case for anything to do with the IT industry. That is why our team is consistently looking for more and better questions to ask as part of our Standard Requirements Self Assessment Guides.

To help our clients we have decided to bring out a new version of the Self Assessment Guides every 6 months, and clients who have purchased a Self Assessment Guide will receive these updates for free. This way we can guarantee that the product you purchase and the product you use in your organisation is always based on the most current levels of understanding and knowledge.

Unsure about how to use the Self Assessment in your specific situation? Feel free to contact us for additional support and to answer any of your questions.

For more information on the Self Assessments and a full overview of the available topics, go to store.theartofservice.com/self-assessments/

The Standard Requirement Self Assessment is more than just a book, it’s a complete package to perform a Self Assessment in your organisation (or your client’s organisation). To get the most out of your Self Assessment purchase it’s important that you also have access to the Spreadsheet and additional resources.

When you purchase the Self Assessment from our online store you receive a package that looks like this:

The complete package has 2 spreadsheets (the full version of the tool and a sample file) , 2 PDF files (the full version of the book and a sample file) and a folder with Implementation resources.

The best way to get the spreadsheet is to follow the instruction in the front of the book. There is an email address mentioned. Send your proof of purchase to that email address and you will receive the resources via return email.

What is proof of purchase?

Firstly – let me tell you what it is NOT… a photo of the front cover of your book is not a proof of purchase. That’s a proof of posession 😉 Slight difference but important distinction.

A proof of purchase is your email receipt from your online book store purchase or the receipt from the till when you’ve purchased the book in a physical store.

Unsure about how to use the Self Assessment in your specific situation? Feel free to contact us for additional support and to answer any of your questions.

For more information on the Self Assessments and a full overview of the available topics, go to store.theartofservice.com/self-assessments/

The Standard Requirements Self Assessment comes in a book format when you purchased the Self Assessment at your favourite book store, or as a PDF document when you’ve purchased the Self Assessment directly from our online store. Irrespective of your place of purchase, it is important that you also request access to the accompanying resources. The Standard Requirements Self Assessment works best when you use the book and the Excel Spreadsheet together.

When you purchase the Standard requirement Self Assessment you receive a portfolio of tools:

1. Your book with all the questions
2. The second component to the Self Assessment is an Excel spreadsheet 
3. The third component is a series of specific implementation resources 

In addition you also receive a PDF and an Excel spreadsheet with a pre-filled example to guide you through the process of completing the Standard Requirement Self Assessments.

While you can do the Self Assessment with the book alone by entering your personal answers in the column in front of the questions, if you want to make this assessment more of a team effort you will need to use the Excel Spreadsheet.

The spreadsheet is set up for teams up to 10 participants. Each of the participants has a column for their answers.

The additional value of the Spreadsheet is that the tool uses the answers from all participants and turns it into graphs and overviews that help you make decisions on the gaps and areas of improvement.

Pro Tip: while the questions in the book are identical to the questions in the spreadsheet there may be a discrepancy in the order in which the questions are listed. Don’t worry about this too much as the questions are exactly the same, use the ctrl-F or command-F function when you need to search for a specific question in the spreadsheet.

Unsure about how to use the Self Assessment in your specific situation? Feel free to contact us for additional support and to answer any of your questions.

For more information on the Self Assessments and a full overview of the available topics, go to store.theartofservice.com/self-assessments/

When you first open your Standard Requirement Self Assessment book it can be a bit daunting… most books have over 600 questions that all relate to the subject and that in itself is quite a lot to take in.

It’s important to remember why you purchased the Self Assessment Guide in the first place…

To get an understanding of where the gaps in the processes are, and which part of the process is solid and mature in your company. (When I say ‘your company’ this can also be your customer’s company because we notice many of our Self Assessment clients are consultants and independent contractors.)

The  questions in the Self Assessment are organised in 7 different phases that follow the natural progression of maturity:

• Phase 1: Recognize the value
• Phase 2: Define what this topic means within the context of our business
• Phase 3: Measure how we currently manage this topic
• Phase 4: Analyze our findings
• Phase 5: Improve the processes and implementation
• Phase 6: Control the deliverables and results
• Phase 7: Sustain the practices into the future

When you go through the Self Assessment you try to answer as many questions as you can. However, this doesn’t mean that you must answer all of them. Remember – these assessments are for a wide variety of organisations. We’ve managed to curate and create a wide range of questions that can be used all across the globe. Having said that, It’s impossible to be 100% applicable to each and every company where these Self Assessments are used.

When a question doesn’t make sense in your business context – you can skip it. This doesn’t impact the overall rating and results of the assessment. What is important that by going through the list of questions, you have to think about them and make conscious and educated decisions on if and how you answer this specific question… that’s where the true value lies.

Unsure about how to use the Self Assessment in your specific situation? Feel free to contact us for additional support and to answer any of your questions.

For more information on the Self Assessments and a full overview of the available topics, go to store.theartofservice.com/self-assessments/

When you purchase the Standard requirement Self Assessment you receive a portfolio of tools:

1. Your book with all the questions, separated in their various sections. This book can be a PDF version when you purchase it directly from The Art of Service online website, or it can be a physical book when you purchase from your favourite book seller.
2. The second component to the Self Assessment is an Excel spreadsheet with all the questions and the automation included to create  a snapshot overview of your current situation plus a RACI diagram with the most important activities to start on to achieve the most value in the next 60 – 90 days.
3. The third component is a series of specific implementation resources to help you achieve the goals set in the action plan that is one of the results of the Self Assessment.

In addition you also receive a PDF and an Excel spreadsheet with a pre-filled example to guide you through the process of completing the Standard Requirement Self Assessments.

Step 1: Once you’ve received your full package we recommend you read through the example files. This will give you a great understanding of the type of questions and how the results are shown in the spreadsheets and graphs.

Step 2:

a) Go through the spreadsheet and answer as many of the questions you can. Skip the questions that don’t make sense, or do not apply to your situation.

OR
b) Invite up to 10 team members for a 4 hour workshop. This is a perfect opportunity to go through the questionnaire and build awareness and buy-in from the stakeholders at the same time. You can use this time to also discuss the way forward and the priorities for the implementation projects.

Step 3: Initiate the necessary projects to start implementing the deliverables that came out of the Self Assessment process.

And of course – feel free to contact us for additional support and to answer any of your questions.

For more information on the Self Assessments and a full overview of the available topics, go to store.theartofservice.com/self-assessments/