Understand your results and create an action plan

After completing the Digital Planning Maturity Assessment (DPMA), your authority will receive a results pack with information and suggested actions to help you decide what to do next.

Review the pack with colleagues before completing the action-plan template included in it.

Receive and share your results pack

We will email the results pack to the person who submitted the assessment. This will normally be within 10 working days of the submission deadline given to your authority.

The person who receives the pack should:

• save it somewhere relevant colleagues can access securely
• tell colleagues when it is available
• arrange time to review the results together

Email DigitalPlanningTeam@communities.gov.uk if your authority has not received its results pack when expected.

Understand what is in your results pack

Your results pack is an Excel workbook containing 3 main tabs.

Results summary

This tab shows:

• your authority’s score for each area of digital maturity
• a written summary explaining what each score means
• your authority’s responses about its strengths and challenges
• a benchmark based on the anonymised average for authorities that have completed the DPMA

The benchmark provides context for understanding your results. It is not a performance measure, target or ranking. It does not compare individual authorities with each other.

Your authority’s priorities should reflect its own circumstances, needs and ambitions.

Suggested actions

This tab contains:

• suggested actions based on your authority’s scores
• the intended benefit of each action
• guidance, learning and other resources that could support the action

These are suggestions rather than requirements. Discuss them with colleagues and adapt them to reflect your authority’s circumstances.

Action plan

This tab provides a template for recording your priority areas, chosen actions and how you plan to deliver them.

The rest of this page explains how to use the template.
 

Review results from a repeat DPMA

If your authority has repeated the DPMA, the results pack will also show how its current scores compare with its previous scores.

Review:

• where scores have changed
• where scores have stayed the same
• what contributed to progress
• what made progress more difficult
• whether previous actions created the expected change
• whether your authority’s priorities should change

A score remaining the same does not necessarily mean that no progress has been made. Consider the wider evidence and context discussed while completing the repeat assessment.

Use these findings when you review the results with colleagues and update your action plan for the next 6 to 12 months.

Review your results with colleagues

Bring together colleagues who understand the different areas covered by the assessment.

Discuss:

• the strengths shown in your results
• the areas where change may be needed
• whether the results reflect colleagues’ experiences
• any context that may have affected the scores
• which suggested actions are relevant to your authority
• what your authority can realistically achieve over the next 6 to 12 months

Use the benchmark as context rather than a target. A score above or below the anonymised average does not determine whether an area should be a priority.

Record any important points from the discussion while they are fresh.

Choose up to 3 priority areas

Use your results and the discussion with colleagues to choose up to 3 priority areas.

Do not automatically select the areas with the lowest scores.

Consider:

• your authority’s wider plans and priorities
• the needs of staff and users
• work that is already planned or under way
• dependencies between different areas
• the potential value of making a change
• the people, time and resources available
• where support from Open Digital Planning (ODP) could help

For each priority area, select and adapt up to 2 actions from the suggested actions tab.

Create your action plan

Complete each part of the action-plan template.

Explain why you chose the priority

Record why the area matters to your authority and what evidence informed the decision.

Choose your actions

Select up to 2 actions for each priority area. You can use the suggested actions as written or adapt them to reflect your authority’s circumstances.

Describe the expected change

Explain what you expect to be different as a result of the action over the next 6 to 12 months.

Focus on a specific and realistic change that colleagues will be able to recognise.

Set an intended completion date

Record when you aim to complete the action. Use this to guide your work and review progress.

Identify people and partnerships

Record whose support, agreement, time or expertise you will need. This could include colleagues within your authority, suppliers, other local planning authorities or partner organisations.

Identify the resources you need

Consider whether you have the:

• staff time
• skills and knowledge
• funding
• technology or software
• evidence and data

Record any gaps and what you may need to do to address them.

Identify support from ODP

Record how guidance, learning, examples from other authorities or connections with peers could help you complete the action.

Your action plan does not need to be a detailed project plan. It should provide clear priorities, actions and timescales to guide your authority’s next steps.

Find support for your priorities

Use the resources linked from the suggested actions tab as a starting point.

The ODP Hub also includes:

• learning resources
• case studies from other local planning authorities
• opportunities to learn and collaborate with peers

Use these resources when you begin an action or encounter a specific challenge, rather than trying to review everything at once.

Review your progress

Return to your action plan regularly with the colleagues involved.

Use each review to:

• record what has been completed
• discuss what is in progress
• identify anything preventing progress
• update actions or completion dates where needed
• consider whether your priorities have changed
• identify further support

Keep the action plan somewhere relevant colleagues can access and update it as work progresses.