Definition and Components

A needs assessment is a systematic study or survey of an organization for the purpose of making recommendations, and is often employed in performance consulting to get to the cause of a performance problem. Thus typically, a needs assessment consists of a survey plus recommendations. Although the term "needs assessment" itself can refer to bald-faced promotions ("We'll do a needs assessment for your department and show you how our solution will meet all your performance needs") or simple order-taking questionnaires ("What off-the-shelf courses are needed to train our employees on the new system?"), we shall use it here to refer to the first step in performance consulting ("How can we make our call center more effective?"). A needs assessment generally consists of three parts: a survey, an analysis, and a recommendation.

Because needs assessments comprise the initial phase of many problem-solving processes, they can be part of any of the following process models: the analysis phase of the ADDIE instructional design model, the diagnosis phase of the human performance technology (HPT) model, the diagnosis phase of the organizational development (OD) model, and the diagnosis phase of general performance consulting. Thus, needs assessments go under a variety of names, including needs analysis, front-end analysis, planning needs analysis, strategic needs analysis, and training needs analysis. All refer, however, to the same thing.