Compare methods

	Digital Government Assessment	Institutional Capacity Assessment
Field	Public Administration	Public Administration
Family	Process / pipeline	Process / pipeline
Year of origin	2020	2008
Originator	OECD digital-government programme	UNDP / World Bank capacity-development practice
Type	Composite benchmarking index	Diagnostic assessment framework
Seminal source	OECD. Digital Government Index (DGI) and Digital Government Policy Framework. OECD, Paris.	United Nations Development Programme. Capacity Assessment Methodology and supporting practice notes. UNDP.
Aliases	Digital Government Index Method, Digital Maturity Assessment, GovTech Assessment, Digital Public Service Benchmarking	Capacity Assessment Framework, Organisational Capacity Assessment, Institutional Capacity Diagnostic, Public-Sector Capacity Appraisal
Related	4	4
Summary	Digital government assessment measures how far a public administration has moved beyond merely digitising existing processes toward becoming digital by design — using data, platforms and user-centred service design as core operating principles. The OECD Digital Government Index, built on its six-dimension Digital Government Policy Framework, is the leading instrument, scoring countries on dimensions such as being digital by design, data-driven, government as a platform, open by default, user-driven and proactive. Evidence is collected through a structured survey, verified, scored and aggregated into a weighted composite. It complements the supply-focused UN E-Government Development Index.	Institutional capacity assessment is a structured diagnostic that gauges the ability of public-sector organisations and systems to perform their functions, deliver services and sustain results over time. Drawing on frameworks such as the UNDP Capacity Assessment Methodology and World Bank capacity-development practice, it examines capacity at multiple levels — the enabling environment, the organisation, and individuals — across functional dimensions like leadership, accountability, resources and skills. Capacities are rated against defined criteria, gaps between desired and actual capacity are identified, and the findings drive targeted capacity-development responses. It complements outcome-level measures such as the Worldwide Governance Indicators.