A large part of the observations have to do with local institutions such as local councils and county halls, or with departments and areas within the latter. Nonetheless, observations have also been made in many private companies and hospitals in part as a consequence of the launching of the pilot stage of language management. Lastly, Indexplà has also shown itself to be a valid instrument for work with associations and similar entities.

4. Indexplà Methodology

4.1 As we have said Indexplà is an instrument which analyses, at a given moment, the presence and use of the Catalan language in an organisation.

4.2 The evaluations obtained are fed into a grid (PDF 37 KB) so that the computer programme can process the organisation's data.

4.3 Indexplà allows one to diagnose a situation, in the form of indicators representative of the whole, and basing ourselves upon this we will be able to obtain information which can help us determine objectives and the drafting of a language plan for the organisation.

4.4 The application of Indexplà requires close and frequent contact with the organisation and for that reason, it is necessary to have a contact person in the company who is motivated and helpful. What the organisation communicates to us has to be taken as totally reliable and correct.

4.5 In order to get the organisation involved, it is important that the people in charge of departments or areas of the organisation know that Inexplà is being applied.

4.6 As we have said, Indexplà is formed of a series of indicators common to any type of organisation. Nonetheless, it may sometimes be difficult to find some of the elements demanded by Indexplà. In such cases the solution is to use elements which can be taken as equivalents.

To maintain the reliability of the tool, and not leave any of the indicators null and void, an element should always be chosen that can serve as an equivalent, even where this has already been evaluated previously, or where it is not exactly what the indicator establishes.

To find these equivalents we should always base decisions on the actual situation within the organisation. It would be useful to quote some relevant situations:

-In the case of an area of local council offices which does not have its own invoices, use the ones used by the unit which this area belongs to.

- In an association which has only a limited structure, the same leaflet explaining their activities can be used three or four times as different indicators.

It should be remembered, on the other hand, that in subsequent observations, it will not be necessary to use the same equivalent elements, but rather adapt them to the new state of affairs at the organisation.

4.7 When Indexplà is used from area to area in an organisation it should be borne in mind that the Indexplà of the organisation as a whole can never be calculated as the mean of partial observations since there are elements that need to be evaluated (scored) differently.

Thus, for example, the Indexplà of a local council will have to be done again, even if we have the Index of language normalisation index (ILN) of each one of its areas. Obviously, the information we already have of these organisations can be made use of .Nonetheless, it will always be preferable to obtain the Indexplà by areas and not globally.

4.8 Indexplà, besides being a tool for analysis of the linguistic situation of a company or organisation at the outset, is an instrument that allows successive observations to be made to monitor an ongoing situation and evaluate the progress in agreed objectives in the language plan. To do this it is important to have a timetable for the successive applications so that the development and change in the language situation of the organisation can be appreciated.

4.9 It is a good idea for the presentation of the Indexplà results to the managerial staff of the organisation be accompanied by a report that explains the main conclusions and where possible horizons for future actions. The latter should be prepared together with the managers of the organisation.