Organisations can readily identify their position in the model of maturity. The next step is to identify where they aim to get to and over what timescale.

Companies should be cautious of moving more than two steps up the model of maturity as part of a single improvement programme. Moving from Innocence to Competence is likely to be a learning process lasting four or five years.

The move to Excellence is a huge step, requiring significant organisational effort and resources with a major investment in systems infrastructure. A small number of world-class organisations have started on this journey and the results of their investment decisions are starting to come through. Almost certainly, any organisation that strives for this level of maturity will need to first pass through a successful implementation at the Competence stage.

Many organisations have reached the Awareness or even Understanding phase and are now looking to develop a fully integrated performance measurement system that drives their implementation of business strategy.

It is vital, when moving from a performance measurement system that provides valuable supporting information to one that is the prime vehicle for driving performance and implementation of strategy, to select the right set of measures.