In November 1999 the Vice-Chancellor’s Executive endorsed the Australian Business Excellence Framework (ABEF) as a strategic systems approach to managing RMIT. In addition to this, the Balanced Scorecard was also to be introduced as a framework that focuses on effective performance evaluation across the organisation.

The Australian Business Excellence Framework (ABEF) is a framework for innovation, improvement and long-term success that is applicable to all organisations, whatever their purpose. It is designed to help organisations measure current performance and build a pathway for future success, as well as being an assessment tool for the Australian Business Excellence Awards Program. The Framework is similar to other quality management/business excellence frameworks used around the world.

The Balanced Scorecard is a system of performance measurement and performance management developed to address the over-reliance on financial indicators in traditional performance measurement and management systems. The authors of the Balanced Scorecard, Kaplan and Norton, introduced three additional measurement perspectives to highlight the non-financial aspects of organisational performance. The four perspectives of the Balanced Scorecard are: Financial results, Customer satisfaction, Internal processes and Learning and Growth. RMIT has added a fifth perspective to this mix - 'Investment in the Future'.

The ABEF and the Balanced Scorecard are both strategic management systems designed to provide a comprehensive integrated framework for managing an organisation’s activities. Like the ABEF, the Balanced Scorecard is based on a systems approach with a particular focus on performance management. The cause and effect hypotheses that underpin an organisation’s Balanced Scorecard are also a description of the systemic relationships between different elements of its strategies.