Dubai Quality Award (DQA) is not a process for generating winners and losers, it is a process for recognising role model organisations. It is also a process for providing organisations with a ‘roadmap’ to achieve excellence through the adoption of good practices and soundly-based approaches that are deployed systematically and are continuously measured and reviewed.Dubai Quality Award is not yet another initiative an organisation can embrace; it is a framework that ensures that all different initiatives are pulling in the desired direction. The methodology and main criteria of the award are encapsulated in a model outlined in this document. This model provides organisations with a tool to benchmark performance and document existing gaps.