ROMO (from the French « Référentiel Ouvert de Maturité Organisationnelle ») is an open, stable vocabulary for describing an organization's state of maturity across 13 domains and 63 cells, so that tools, advisors and organizations can speak the same language about it.
Confidence of an assessment: declared → corroborated → measured.
OOMM is a common language, distinct from any product: a substrate adopted voluntarily, portable and governed — never a control point that an owner could close off. The more tools, advisors and organizations speak it, the more it becomes the default way to describe an organization.
What the standard contains: the ontology (domains, cells, stable identifiers, key questions), the 0–4 scale, the confidence scale.
What it does not contain (the value of implementations): the detailed scoring rubrics, the prioritization engine, cross-organization benchmarks, the continuous-improvement loop.
| D1.1 | Mission / vision / purpose “Why do we exist, for whom, is it shared and mobilizing — and what must never change?” |
| D1.2 | Values & guiding principles “Do our values genuinely guide our decisions and our behavior — or are they just words on the wall?” |
| D1.3 | Business model “Does our way of creating value, delivering it and getting paid for it hold together — and have we compared it to other ways of doing business?” |
| D1.4 | Strategy & competitive advantage “Does our strategy name the central obstacle holding us back, the path we have chosen to get past it and what makes us hard to copy — or is it just a list of goals?” |
| D1.5 | Theory of growth “Do we know what actually drives our sales growth, where we stand today and how we intend to grow — or do we just take whatever opportunities come along?” |
| D2.1 | Segments & ideal customer profile (ICP) “Whom do we serve first (and whom do we turn away), and is that choice sharp enough to align everything?” |
| D2.2 | Customer needs & jobs (JTBD) “What job is the customer really trying to get done, what outcomes do they measure, and what makes them switch?” |
| D2.3 | Market size & dynamics “How much of the market can we realistically reach — and is that market growing, flat or fading?” |
| D2.4 | Customer journey & experience “At each step, is the experience smooth, and where does the customer get stuck?” |
| D2.5 | Relationship & retention “Do our customers stay, are they worth more over time, and do we truly listen to their voice?” |
| D3.1 | Value proposition “Does our offering relieve real pains and create gains the customer values — better than the alternative?” |
| D3.2 | Portfolio & roadmap “Do we know everything we sell, what we plan to launch and in what order — and do we reserve capacity for preparing what comes next?” |
| D3.3 | Product quality & conformance “Do we deliver quality that matches what customers expect and the standards we must meet — or do we patch defects each time they show up?” |
| D3.4 | Innovation & R&D “How do we find, test and deliver new value, and how do we spread our bets across the core business, what sits next to it and the more distant?” |
| D3.5 | Intellectual property “What intellectual assets do we have, are they protected, and do we leverage them (without infringing on others)?” |
| D4.1 | Brand identity & positioning “Do we hold a clear and distinctive place in the customer's mind, consistent end to end, and does this brand carry perceived value?” |
| D4.2 | Message & narrative “Is our message crystal clear, does it make the customer the hero, and is it structured to be understood and remembered?” |
| D4.3 | Reputation & resonance “How are we perceived on the outside, and do our customers become advocates?” |
| D4.4 | Content & communities “Does our content attract and engage the right audience, and does it build a community around the brand?” |
| D5.1 | Marketing & demand generation “Do we generate qualified demand in a repeatable way, and where does the funnel leak?” |
| D5.2 | Sales & conversion “Is our sales process effective end to end, and is our offer irresistible?” |
| D5.3 | Pricing & monetization “Do our prices reflect what the customer gains, and do our packages bring in as much as they can without putting buyers off?” |
| D5.4 | Channels & distribution “Through which channels do we reach the customer most effectively, and do their economics hold up?” |
| D5.5 | Unit economics & revenue engine “Does a customer bring in more than they cost us to win, and can our revenue engine repeat and scale without costs rising in step?” |
| D6.1 | Processes & value stream “Do our processes deliver value with smooth flow, free of waste and unevenness?” |
| D6.2 | Bottlenecks & constraints “Which step currently limits what we are able to deliver — and do we know how to protect it and open it up?” |
| D6.3 | Capacity & planning “Does our capacity keep up with demand, at the right pace, with resources that are genuinely effective?” |
| D6.4 | Supply chain “From forecasting through returns, is our supply chain reliable and efficient — or does one supplier falling through bring us to a halt?” |
| D6.5 | Continuous improvement of operations “Do we improve operations routinely, at the source, and in a way that lasts over time?” |
| D7.1 | Economics & profitability “Are we profitable, and do we know exactly where value is created and where it is lost?” |
| D7.2 | Cash & liquidity “Do we have the cash to keep going — and for how long?” |
| D7.3 | Financing & capital structure “Do we have the right financing, in the right structure, at the right cost — without losing control?” |
| D7.4 | Capital allocation & value creation “Do we allocate capital where it creates the most value — that is, above its cost?” |
| D7.5 | Financial steering & indicators “Do we have a clear, up-to-date financial read to decide on — not just an accounting of the past?” |
| D8.1 | Talent acquisition & onboarding “Do we attract and onboard the right people, against clear criteria — and do they stay?” |
| D8.2 | Skills & development “Do we have the skills the strategy demands — and are we developing our people for tomorrow's?” |
| D8.3 | Engagement & well-being “Do our people have the energy, meaning and conditions to give their best, sustainably and without burning out?” |
| D8.4 | Compensation & recognition “Is our compensation fair and competitive, and does our recognition truly motivate — not just the paycheck?” |
| D8.5 | Individual leadership “Do our leaders know how to adapt their style to people and situations, and do they inspire trust?” |
| D9.1 | Culture & lived values “Are our stated values the ones we actually live by — and does this culture serve the strategy?” |
| D9.2 | Structure & roles “Do our structure and roles follow our priorities and the real path work takes to reach the customer — or do they create friction, silos and spots where no one decides?” |
| D9.3 | Decision-making & internal governance “Do we decide fast enough and well enough, at the right level, with the right mode for the situation?” |
| D9.4 | Collaboration & rituals “Do our teams collaborate smoothly and safely, and do our rituals truly serve — or do they steal time?” |
| D9.5 | Internal communication & meaning “Does everyone understand where we are going and why — and does information really flow, from the top and from the bottom?” |
| D10.1 | Systems & tools “Do we have the right tools, and do they talk to each other — or are we paying twice for the same thing while our aging systems turn into a risk?” |
| D10.2 | Automation & workflows “Which repetitive manual tasks could we automate, and which are truly worth it?” |
| D10.3 | Data & analytics “Do our decisions rest on reliable data — and are we moving from ‘what happened?’ to ‘what should we do?’” |
| D10.4 | AI & augmentation “Where can AI genuinely augment us — and are we deploying it in a useful and responsible way?” |
| D10.5 | Cybersecurity “Are we reasonably protected against threats — and would we be able to detect and respond to an incident?” |
| D11.1 | Legal & contractual “Do our legal framework and contracts protect us — or are we carrying hidden risks?” |
| D11.2 | Regulatory compliance “Are we compliant with the laws that apply to us — and could we prove it?” |
| D11.3 | Risk management “Do we know our main risks, who owns them, and do we have a plan — before they materialize?” |
| D11.4 | Continuity & resilience “If a major shock struck tomorrow, could we hold on, recover quickly — and ideally come out stronger?” |
| D11.5 | Ethics & quality/standards “Do we act with integrity, and is our quality systematic — not merely promised?” |
| D12.1 | Social & environmental impact “What good (and what harm) do we really do to the world — and do we measure it, or assume it?” |
| D12.2 | Stakeholders “Do we know the people and groups affected by what we do, and what matters to them — and do we nurture those ties, or just put up with them?” |
| D12.3 | External governance & accountability “Do we account for our impact and governance transparently and credibly — or do we ask to be taken at our word?” |
| D12.4 | Sustainability of the model “Can our model fund itself sustainably — or do we depend on a source that could disappear?” |
| D13.1 | Objectives & alignment “Is everyone rowing in the same direction — with clear objectives, cascaded and aligned, or each their own?” |
| D13.2 | Measurement & KPIs “Do we measure the right things, in a balanced way — or only what is easy to count (and flattering)?” |
| D13.3 | Execution cadence “Do we have a rhythm that moves things forward — or do good intentions evaporate between meetings?” |
| D13.4 | Learning & retrospectives “Do we truly learn from our successes and failures — or repeat the same mistakes with confidence?” |
| D13.5 | Meta-improvement “Is our way of improving itself improving — or stagnating?” |
ROMO doesn't replace excellence models: it provides the open, machine-readable vocabulary they lack for powering a continuous improvement loop.
| Framework | Nature | Access | What ROMO does differently |
|---|---|---|---|
| EFQM | European excellence model | Proprietary, paid licence | Freely redistributable (CC BY 4.0), built for tooling rather than award applications. |
| Baldrige | US national excellence framework (NIST) | US public program, award-oriented | Splits the organization into 63 cells with stable identifiers, assessable continuously. |
| ISO 9004 | Guidelines for sustained success | Paid standard (ISO) | Free, published as JSON, directly embeddable in tools. |
| CMMI | Process maturity model (IT/engineering) | Proprietary (ISACA) | Covers the whole organization — strategy, market, finance, people — not just processes. |
ROMO (from the French « Référentiel Ouvert de Maturité Organisationnelle ») is an open standard under the CC BY 4.0 licence describing an organization's maturity across 13 domains and 63 cells, each rated from 0 (nonexistent) to 4 (optimized). It serves as a common language between tools, advisors and organizations.
Yes. The text of the standard is published under the Creative Commons BY 4.0 licence: you may use it, embed it in a tool or redistribute it, with attribution. Only the « ROMO-certified » conformance mark is reserved to the maintainer. The full standard is downloadable as JSON.
Those excellence frameworks are proven, but proprietary or paid, and designed for point-in-time assessment. ROMO is open (CC BY 4.0), machine-readable (JSON), granular (63 cells with stable identifiers) and built to power a tool-driven continuous improvement loop.
Gestion S.G. / Strategenia maintains the reference version (v1.0, published June 17, 2026) and intends multi-stakeholder governance. Cell identifiers are stable across versions: a retired identifier is never reused.
Download the JSON, map your diagnostics or templates onto the domains, cells and 0-4 scale, then cite « ROMO v1.0 » with a link to this page. An organization may add local cells prefixed « x. », outside the standard.