Project Assessment Form

The Project Assessment Form (or PAF, as it’s known) is step 3 of the seven-step INFFER process. A specific project is developed and assessed in detail using a customised spreadsheet. Users enter information about the changes or improvements they plan to achieve for the natural asset in question, the works that need to happen to create those changes, the people who need to be involved, what the anticipated levels of stakeholder support for the project are, the type delivery mechanisms that will be used to garner the needed levels of participation, and, how much the project will cost.

The PAF has been designed so that users work from start to finish in a logical progression through the project development process. You can see this progression in the conceptual diagram below.

The Project Assessment Form (PAF) process

Users of the PAF develop logically consistent projects, meaning that the works specified will actually achieve the project goal, the incentives offered and interventions will secure the necessary levels of adoption of the works and the costs will accurately reflect the works, incentives and other interventions. This logical consistency is crucial for making sound judgements about the merits of different projects.

A key output of the PAF is an assessment of how substantial the benefits of the project are relative to the costs. The information collected is integrated in a particular way to evaluate value for money for each project. The questions are designed to feed into the calculation of a Benefit: Cost Ratio, which has been carefully designed to be logical and conceptually sound.

Benefits can be tangible (e.g. financial benefits) or intangible (e.g. some environmental benefits) or both.

To have a look at the PAF spreadsheet please contact Geoff Park to discuss.

Completing a PAF, Edmonton workshop, March 2011