The CALON Assurance Framework

The method behind every CALON engagement.

Eight gates. Eight domains. Five maturity levels. One decision.

Principles

Five rules.

The discipline that holds across every engagement.

01

Independent

No interest in the outcome.

02

Proportionate

Depth matched to risk.

03

Evidence-led

Ratings anchored to documents.

04

Lifecycle-aligned

Applied before commitment.

05

Decision-focused

Ends in a clear recommendation.

The eight gates

One decision point before every major commitment.

Each engagement is anchored to a gate. The gate fixes the scope and the evidence.

GATE 0Strategic need
GATE 1Business case
GATE 2Procurement readiness
GATE 3Award readiness
GATE 4Delivery readiness
GATE 5In-delivery assurance
GATE 6Commissioning & handover
GATE 7Closeout & benefits

Every gate decision is one of: proceed, proceed with conditions, hold.

The eight domains

Every gate, the same eight lenses.

The domains are constant. Their weighting shifts by gate.

D1

Strategic case & need

D2

Options & business case

D3

Commercial & contractual

D4

Cost certainty & estimating

D5

Schedule & deliverability

D6

Risk & contingency

D7

Governance & decision rights

D8

Controls, reporting & data

The maturity scale

One scale. The same one, every time.

Each domain rated from one to five. Consistency is what makes ratings comparable across programmes.

Level 1

Absent

No meaningful provision.

Level 2

Emerging

Partial or inconsistent.

Level 3

Established

Defined and applied.

Level 4

Managed

Measured and reviewed.

Level 5

Robust

Embedded and resilient.

The pass threshold.

Two tiers. Set deliberately, to be proportionate not uniform.

Standard domains

Level 3 minimum

Defined, documented, applied consistently.

High-weight domains

Level 4 minimum

Actively measured and managed.

Any domain at Level 1 holds the gate, regardless of other scores.

Independence safeguards

Three rules. Tested before every engagement.

Independence is the product. The conflict screen runs before any engagement is accepted.

i

Client-side only

For the body that owns the programme. Never the delivery side.

ii

Assurance, not delivery

CALON assesses. CALON does not execute, design, or construct.

iii

No self-assurance

CALON does not assure work it has shaped.

Try the method

An eight-question diagnostic.

Score your programme against the same framework CALON applies. Independent gap analysis by return.