QuEP is composed of ten maturity levels ranging from Level 1 (the lowest level) to Level 10 (the highest). The maturity level hierarchy is depicted in Figure. Following (Camisón, 1998; Camisón et al., 2007), the levels can be grouped into three main categories or stages, namely: Technical, Human, and Strategic.
The hierarchy starts at the lowest maturity level (L1), which assesses the organization’s ability to generate an emergency plan following the regulations, if any. L1 organizations have not defined any structured plan generation process, and planning is done in an ad-hoc style. The upper levels can be reached by means of different improvements. L2 organizations have a specific and repeatable planning process that guides the planning activities. L3 maturity level is reached when a planning support system is used that implements the process defined in L2.
Organizations at L4 maturity level have different mechanisms for the improvement of the planning process and the emergency plan itself, such as simulations and expert validation. L5 maturity level assesses the participation of the people involved in emergency plan generation and enactment, principally via training and education activities. Cost optimization is the main goal at the L6 maturity level. The L7 maturity level focuses on increased safety perception by potential victims of emergencies, which can be achieved by providing IT tools for early warning, evacuation assistants and the like. Level L8 covers leadership aspects and L9 uses process re-engineering techniques to improve the emergency planning process. The topmost level (L10) represents the excellence that an organization should reach to achieve Total Quality. The QuEP maturity levels are supported by a model to assess the planning process in an organization, called the QuEP model. This model is defined in terms of sets of principles, practices, techniques and questions.
