Ad-hoc case studies as described in the Handbook are a great way to explore and learn about the business value of social metrics. However, when the company grows in maturity more and more departments get involved and after some time the method is formalized and integrated in the different policies of the company such as the Code of Conduct and reporting mechanisms.

The Implementation Guide therefore is written to describe this process and assist companies to implement social assessment in the organization. The Guide is based on the Maturity Matrix concept, which describes four stages of development towards maturity. It is based on what we learned about the growth in maturity during the different phases of the Roundtable and follows in detail the experiences of the different companies in the Roundtable.

The four levels can be described as follows:

Companies can perform a self-assessment to determine at which stage they are and set the ambitions for the development over the coming period. Below the result is shown of the self-assessment of the members in 2019.