Assessments are the structured methods through which Human Capacity becomes observable in a particular case, context or question. They can examine capacities, current availability, functioning, demands, resources, supports, responsibilities, barriers, recovery, environmental fit and the gap between current and required functioning.

An assessment may focus primarily on the individual, on a life configuration, on a role, or on the interaction between the person and an environment. The unit of analysis depends on the question.

A person who cannot currently perform a function may lack the underlying capacity, may have the capacity but not enough current availability, may face an inaccessible environment, may lack information or support, or may be carrying competing demands that make execution impossible. An assessment should distinguish these possibilities rather than translating all of them into personal deficit.

Once the relevant capacities, requirements and conditions are visible, assessment can identify where change is possible. The route may be development of capacity, restoration or recovery, training, support, accommodation, redistribution of responsibility, removal of barriers or redesign of the environment.

Human Capacity questions often require more than one kind of measure. Depending on the problem, an assessment architecture can combine behavioral performance, self-report, physiological measures, environmental conditions, institutional information, validated instruments, longitudinal trajectories and functional outcomes.

The Human Balance Sheet and related structural accounting work are examples of assessment architectures within this category: ways of representing what a person is carrying, what resources and supports are available, and whether the resulting life configuration is sustainable. They are not a separate fifth branch of Measurement.