Assessment Tool

Learn how to create better DATS

What is the Assessment Tool about?

The assessment tool was developed to help farm advisors identify and select suitable DATS to help them address the needs and challenges that they face in their everyday work. The assessment tool allows farm advisors to compare different digital tools based on a uniform set of characteristics which can help them to select the most appropriate tool based on their needs.

How does the DATS Assessment Tool work?

The assessment tool will help advisors to evaluate the selected DATS and assess whether it is suitable or not in helping them address their needs.

  1. Advisors should assess what their needs are and define their main challenge(s).
  2. Open the assessment tool and go to column D (Target Score). Fill this column from 0 to 4* with the desired score, which is the ideal score that a DATS should have to meet advisor’s needs.
  3. Advisors can then select a tool to address their needs and evaluate it. For this, go to column C (Advisor Score) and fill it from 0 to 4. The advisor will give the real score of the selected tool in meeting their needs.
  4. Go to the Results section or if using the xlsx file open Data dashboard spreadsheet. You can edit the cut-off value*, however we suggest a cut off value of 80%, and this value is used to determine if the tool meets the needs of advisors. If the percentage score, (advisor score & target score combined) is more than the cut-off value, the tool is considered suitable. If the percentage score is less than the cut-off value, the tool is considered unsuitable and a reccomendation will be made to try another tool.

*0 = Not Applicable, 1 = Low, 2 = Medium, 3 = High, 4 = Very High
*The users have the opportunity to modify this value in order to decide for themselves how selective they want to be.