What the Inception Note Must Resolve
An assessment inception note turns a commissioned brief into an agreed plan for answering a decision question. It should expose a disagreement while there is time to resolve it. Repeating the terms of reference in longer sentences leaves the same uncertainty in place.
The note follows the accepted commission. A supplier's technical offer explains the proposed service before selection. The inception note records what the client and assessment team now understand, including changes that need approval. Agreement on a note does not itself amend the contract or authorize sensitive data access.
Start With the Decision and Its Owner
Ask what someone must decide, by when, for whom and with what authority. Separate the person receiving the report from the person who can change the service. Record competing expectations in plain language. If the team wants both a district-wide estimate and a rapid review of three existing sites, show the methodological and resource difference rather than promising both.
The UNDP capacity-assessment guide, November 2008, section II.1.2 and II.1.6, supports clarifying client expectations and balancing scope, design and resources. It is a capacity-assessment method, not a required contract format for every NGO.
Map Each Question to a Usable Answer
This entire case is fictional. Harbor Advice is considering an afternoon opening at two community advice desks. Its director must choose whether to authorize a bounded service trial. The commission allows a review of existing aggregate logs and accessible discussions with service users and people unable to attend. It does not authorize a representative population survey, personal case-file access or a decision to close either desk.
| Question | Evidence and Method | Output and Inference Limit | Responsibility |
|---|---|---|---|
| When are the two desks currently used? | Record owner supplies checked weekly aggregate opening and visit logs for the agreed period | Usage table by desk and session; visits are not unique people or unmet demand | Analyst checks missing sessions and the meaning of each field with the record owner |
| Which opening barriers deserve attention? | Voluntary accessible discussions recruited through several permitted routes, with the recruitment limits recorded | Thematic account with contrary views; no district prevalence or representative percentage | Assessment lead agrees safe recruitment and accessible communication with local partners |
| Could an afternoon session actually operate? | Manager confirms staffing, venue access, transport constraints and cost assumptions | Feasibility note distinguishing confirmed resources from requests | Operations manager owns confirmation; director owns the eventual service decision |
The analysis plan comes before an interview schedule. If no safe way exists to hear from people unable to attend, the note must retain that gap. Current users cannot speak for everyone excluded from the service.
A Filled Inception Decision Note
Purpose and users: advise the director whether a reversible afternoon trial is feasible at either of the two desks. Provide a short decision brief and an evidence trail for the operations manager. This is service-design advice, not an assessment of individual eligibility or project effectiveness.
Included: existing aggregate service records for the specified desks and period, source-fit checks, a feasible consultation plan, options and unresolved checks. Excluded: district prevalence estimates, causal claims about nonattendance, clinical or legal case analysis, and any promise that new hours will improve outcomes.
Sequence: first confirm permitted existing records; then settle the analysis plan and access arrangements; test the proposed discussion questions and interpretation support; collect only the agreed information if conditions are met; analyze it with contrary evidence visible; return a draft for factual correction and record any remaining interpretive disagreement.
Roles: the director approves scope and resource changes; the operations manager verifies practical feasibility; the assessment lead owns method and safe handling; the record owner controls access; the consultant explains uncertainty. A factual check does not give a stakeholder permission to remove an inconvenient supported finding.
Open client decision: the original brief asks for all district residents' preferred hours, but the agreed access and budget support only a two-desk exploratory assessment. The consultant asks the director to accept the narrower decision question or commission a separately designed population study. Until that choice is recorded, neither scope is described as agreed.
Set Acceptance and Change Conditions
Agree the required outputs, source trace, treatment of missing data, protected internal material and factual-review process. Acceptance should ask whether the brief answers the agreed question with honest limits, not whether it recommends the client's preferred option. Keep restricted evidence outside the shareable note and list the permitted location and responsible role instead.
A withdrawn permission, inaccessible consultation, changed decision deadline or new population claim should trigger a scope conversation. Record the change, its effect on inference and resources, who must decide and the decision actually made. Use the existing handover record when responsibility changes.