PACS Framework
Our Benchmark Tool
The Professional Associations Capability Standard
PACS is a structured capability framework built from the ground up for professional and membership organisations. It defines what good looks like across five capability domains and four levels of proficiency, and gives your organisation a consistent, rigorous language for understanding and developing capability.
It is the foundation of everything Capvera does.
What PACS Gives You
Three things your organisation probably doesn't have right now
A shared language
Clear, consistent capability expectations across roles and career stages, so everyone understands what good looks like at each level.
A structured view
An evidence-based picture of where your workforce capability is strong, where it’s weak, and where the risks are.
A practical path
Development priorities and pathways that are directly connected to your organisational capability needs, not generic training catalogues.
How PACS is Applied
Four steps from assessment to development
1
Assess
Capability is assessed against PACS descriptors — across roles, levels and domains.
2
Benchmark
Results are mapped to the framework, creating a consistent view of where capability sits.
3
Identify Gaps
Gaps, risks and strengths are identified — at individual, team and organisational level.
4
Build Pathways
Development priorities and pathways are built directly from what the assessment reveals.
What PACS Reveals
The kinds of insights that change how organisations think about capability
Leadership Pipeline
The gap hiding in plain sight
A professional association discovered its leadership capability was strong at the operational level but dropped off sharply above it, with no clear pipeline into senior roles. On paper, the team looked capable. Through PACS, it became clear there was no succession pathway at all. That insight changed how the board approached its next three-year people strategy.
Digital Professionalism
Strong users. No leaders.
A mid-sized membership body found its workforce was competent at using digital tools day-to-day but had almost no capability at the levels required to lead digital improvement. Every technology initiative needed external support, not because the team lacked commitment, but because the capability to drive change from the inside simply wasn’t there. PACS gave them the language to name that gap and build a targeted pathway to close it.
“Most organisations don’t have a capability problem they can’t feel. They have a capability problem they can’t name. PACS gives you the language; and once you have the language, you can do something about it.”
— Rob Di Leva, Capvera
PACS Products
Capability Frameworks
Organisational capability frameworks, leadership capability models, and role capability frameworks. Clear expectations of capability across the organisation.
Capability
Tools
Position description builder, capability assessment tools, and workforce capability mapping. Consistent, capability-aligned role descriptions across the organisation.
Capability Development
Leadership capability development pathways, workforce capability planning, and succession and leadership pipeline development. A workforce better equipped to deliver organisational strategy.