Assessment planning

An employer review begins with a defined organization, business unit and period. The Assessment Owner records the subject and scope before anyone starts testing. The planned test volume gives the team a target for the review cycle. The business unit points to the operating location or unit under examination, so people do not confuse a headquarters policy with the site where evidence was collected.

Use the assessment number when discussing the case with colleagues. The owner and period keep an older cycle distinct from a new one, even when both concern the same employer. A draft can be prepared while scope is being agreed. Planning should settle the employer, business unit, owner and period before tests begin. The Compliance Manager reviews that boundary before the team starts drawing conclusions from samples.

For example, an owner may assess exception hours at a particular business unit over a defined period. They set a scope statement explaining which workers and practice are in review, select the owner, and plan the tests. If a second location is involved, the team can give it its own assessment context instead of combining evidence with an unrelated period.

• Scope. Agree which organization and business unit the assessment covers and how the period will be identified.
• Ownership. Name the Assessment Owner and Compliance Manager before work reaches review.
• Evidence. Keep the assessment number with tests, findings, decisions and attached files.

Decide how the team names subjects, writes scope statements and handles a change in period after testing begins. Agree who can move an assessment from draft to planned and who reviews a later revision. Where locations share a policy, preserve the business unit on each case so the eventual finding has a clear operating context.

Take one employer and one business unit through a short pilot. Create an assessment for a real period, add the intended owner, and review whether a colleague can identify its scope without a separate spreadsheet. Link a test and an attachment. Then change the scope in a controlled rehearsal and check that the reviewer understands which revision is being considered.

• My assessments — Assigned assessments with their scope, period and owner.
• Assessment review inbox — Assessments at Review awaiting the manager’s decision.
• Assessment period schedule — Planned and testing work laid out by period.

Follow the related process, review the data model and agree implementation steps with the team.