Know What You're Actually Made Of
The OA Scorecard™ is the structured diagnostic for destinations, civic boards, and travel industry leaders who need a clear, defensible picture of organizational health before the next big decision.
Defend Yourself Through Best Practices
The OA Scorecard™ was built for one purpose. To help destination organizations become the industry-leading, best-practice operations their destinations expect. Daily, DMO’s are questioned by hoteliers, elected leaders, board members and keyboard warriors who don’t fully understand how this unique industry operates.
The Scorecard answers multiple questions every CEO, staff and board eventually faces. Is the senior leader just making things up as they go? Is the organization operating within industry best-practices and could it achieve DMAP accreditation or re-accreditation? Is this organization actually equipped to undertake a new multi-year strategic plan, or does the foundation need work first?
Ten DMAP-aligned categories. Red, yellow, and green ratings grounded in real evidence, not opinion. One integrated diagnostic that surfaces governance, finance, people, operations, strategy, advocacy, marketing, sales, stewardship, and destination development in a single body of work. The Scorecard is the snapshot every leader wants but rarely gets. It is the moment the organization sees itself clearly against the standard.
The OA Scorecard™ Four Phase Diagnostic
Phase 1. Discovery and Document Review. Existing strategic plans, audited financials, board policies, prior assessments, and governance documents are reviewed before any conversations begin. The Scorecard team arrives with a working read of the organization, the destination, and the strategic landscape. Stakeholders see the work taken seriously from day one.
Phase 2. Staff and Stakeholder Interviews. Structured one-on-ones with the CEO, the department leaders, and the staff closest to the operating questions surfaced in discovery. The work follows up on what the documents could not explain and confirms how the organization actually runs day to day, not just how it reads on paper. Where the engagement requires it, interviews extend to the city, county, or municipal officials accountable to the contract, the bylaws, or the funding mechanism.
Phase 3. Readiness Scoring. Ten best-practice-aligned categories are rated Red, Yellow, or Green against evidence-based criteria. Governance and Legal Compliance. Finance and Risk. People and Culture. Operational Excellence. Strategy and Planning. Advocacy and External Relations. Marketing and Communications. Sales, Events, and Services. Stewardship and Community Impact. Destination Development and Visitor Experience.
Phase 4. Recommendations, Roadmap, and Presentations. A prioritized roadmap is built. Recommendations are mapped to capacity, calendar, and budget. Final findings are presented to the executive team, the board, and any stakeholder body the engagement requires. The organization walks out of the Scorecard knowing exactly where it stands and exactly what to do next.
When to Use the Scorecard
The Scorecard™ is not a one-time tool. It is the diagnostic destination organizations return to at every inflection point. The most common entry moments include:
- Before a strategic plan. The Scorecard reveals whether the organization is ready to undertake a multi-year plan, and what foundation needs strengthening first. Every OA Method™ engagement is stronger when the Scorecard runs first.
- Between Executives. Boards facing a leadership transition use the Scorecard to assess organizational readiness before defining the next role, scope, and runway. The incoming CEO inherits a clear picture, not a guessing game.
- Before a DMAP application or renewal. The ten Scorecard categories are aligned to the Destination Marketing Accreditation Program. The diagnostic surfaces every gap that would slow accreditation, in the language the application itself uses.
- At the midpoint of an existing strategic plan. Year two and three organizations use the Scorecard to test whether the existing plan still reflects how the destination actually operates and what the next horizon requires.
- When tourism becomes a real priority. Communities, counties, and municipalities scaling tourism from a secondary function into a core economic engine use the Scorecard to establish the baseline before the next investment. The diagnostic surfaces what is already in place, what is missing, and the structural moves required to build a destination organization that can deliver.
- When funders or municipal partners require evidence. TID, TBID, and TDA renewal cycles, along with accountability requests from the city or county, increasingly demand structured diagnostics. The Scorecard delivers documentation the funding body can read and trust.
Recommended Next Step - OA Method™ Strategic Plan
The Scorecard tells the organization where it actually stands. The OA Method™ is what comes next. Once the diagnostic is complete, most clients move directly into the OA Method™ Strategic Planning engagement. The Scorecard becomes the foundation for vision, priorities, and the Radical Alignment Map™ that turns the new plan into the daily operating system of the organization.
The work compounds. The plan is built on truth, not assumption. The board adopts a strategy with evidence behind every decision. The leadership team executes a plan they already understand because the diagnostic that produced it was their own.
Most often activated immediately following the OA Scorecard™ to ensure your new strategy can be implemented.
OA Scorecard™
Visit South Padre Island
The Situation
VSPI abruptly lost their CEO leaving their city manager scrambling. While working with Searchwide Global to recruit a new replacement, an assessment was recommended and OA was called.
What We Did
Using our proprietary OA Scorecard™, OA conducted a 90-day deep dive on the organizational structure including interviews with all staff, department reviews, and a review of DMAP level best practices. The final report was written directly to the incoming CEO as a tool for onboarding.
The Outcome
A comprehensive list of recommendations were created including development of a new Festival & Events Grant Program, a re-organization of staff roles and assistance in onboarding new partners such as Tourism Economics and TwoSix Digital.
Real Questions
How long does a Scorecard engagement run?
The Scorecard runs 60 to 120 days from discovery to final presentation. Timeline varies with organization size, stakeholder list length, and board calendar.
What is required from the client?
Access. The leadership team, the board, the staff, the partners, and the documents. Once access is real, the diagnostic does its work without disrupting daily operations.
Can the Scorecard stand alone, or does it always lead into the OA Method™?
Both. The Scorecard is a complete deliverable on its own and produces a board-ready findings document and roadmap. Most organizations choose to roll it into a strategic planning engagement because the diagnostic is the natural foundation for the next plan. The Scorecard does not require it.
How does this differ from a governance audit or a financial audit?
A governance audit looks at one category. A financial audit looks at another. The Scorecard looks at all ten in a single, integrated body of work and shows how they affect each other. Single-category audits answer compliance questions. The Scorecard answers organizational readiness questions.
What makes this DMAP-aligned, and why does that matter?
The ten categories loosely follow the Destinations International DMAP structure. The OA team has led three organizations through DMAP Accreditation and re-accreditation including the highest, “With Distinction” score ever. Running best practice organizations is in our blood. The Scorecard is designed so an organization in pursuit of DMAP, in renewal, or in defense of its TID, TDA, or TBID can use the same body of evidence for both internal decision-making and external accreditation work.
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Real conversation. Real diagnosis. Real plan.
A 30-minute call is free. We’ll hear where your organization actually is, name the highest-leverage move, and recommend the right entry point.