The OMDDMS® Maturity Assessment scores an operating model, component by component, against five defined levels informed by CMMI®. The result is a baseline, a target, and a measurable gap between them, not a subjective judgement of how well things seem to be going.
Asking an organisation how mature its operating model is produces an opinion. Scoring it against a defined scale, for each component in the Content Model, produces evidence, and evidence is what the Design phase can actually plan against.
Every organisation believes its own practice is more consistent than it is, which is precisely the bias a shared, external scale exists to correct. Scoring against five fixed levels, rather than a bespoke rating invented for the occasion, means a result from one part of the organisation means the same as a result from another. Because the levels are informed by CMMI®, a widely recognised maturity model, a result can be understood by anyone familiar with the Standard, including a board, a regulator, a certified Practitioner, or an accredited assessor. OMDDMS® adapts the CMMI® levels to operating models, so some level names differ: Level 2 is Structured, and Level 4 is Managed.
Each level describes a progressively more capable, measurable, and resilient way of operating, applied consistently across every component assessed.
Activity happens, but it is reactive and undocumented. Success depends on individual effort rather than a repeatable, defined practice that would survive that individual leaving.
Deliberate practice exists in parts of the organisation, but consistency and rigour vary significantly across it. What works well in one team or function is not reliably repeated in the next.
A defined, organisation-wide approach operates with standard methods, trained people, and active governance. This is the level most operating model strategies assume as their starting point, whether or not it has actually been reached.
Assumed by most strategiesPerformance is measured quantitatively rather than described qualitatively. Decisions are data-driven, with statistical tracking and external benchmarking informing where and how the model should improve next.
The component continues to evolve through advanced analytics, predictive capability, and disciplined organisational learning. It is treated as a strategic capability in its own right, not a project that was once completed.
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The Maturity Assessment is not a one-off score, and it is not self-administered. It is led by an OMDDMS® certified Practitioner and run from both an internal and an external perspective, comparing where the operating model stands today with where the organisation's strategy actually requires it to be.
The current level for each component, established when the Maturity Assessment is run, before any design decision is made.
The level the organisation's strategy actually requires, which is not automatically Level 5. A target set higher than the strategy needs wastes effort closing a gap nobody asked for.
The effort, activities, and time required to move each component from its baseline to its target, sequenced into work rather than left as an aspiration.
The largest gaps an assessment reveals are typically not between an organisation and some abstract ideal, but between where it actually operates and where its own strategy already assumes it operates. Measuring that gap against defined components is what turns it from a general impression into something a programme can plan to close.
The Maturity Assessment is not a standalone exercise. It feeds directly into the phases either side of it, and a component stuck at Level 1 or 2 is often the same problem named in the five failure modes: capability treated as a training problem rather than a structural one.
The baseline is established here, against the current operating model, before any change is designed.
The target level for each component becomes a design requirement, not a footnote in a business case.
Performance is tracked against the target level after go-live, so drift back toward the baseline is visible early rather than discovered at the next assessment.
Questions about the five levels, the Maturity Assessment, and how it fits into the method.
The five levels are informed by CMMI®, so the results are expressed on a scale that boards, regulators, and practitioners already recognise. OMDDMS® adapts the CMMI® levels to operating models, so some level names differ: Level 2 is Structured, and Level 4 is Managed.
The Maturity Assessment is not self-administered. It is led by an OMDDMS® certified Practitioner and run from both an internal and an external perspective.
No. The target is the level the organisation's strategy actually requires. A target set higher than the strategy needs wastes effort closing a gap nobody asked for.
The baseline is established in Discover, the target level for each component becomes a design requirement in Design, and performance is tracked against the target in Monitor after go-live. See the seven phases.
Read the seven phases in detail, or find an ATO to train as a certified Practitioner.