When we talk about an assessment development center, we need to understand that it's not a physical location but a process used by companies worldwide to understand and assess their workforce for various reasons. These reasons range from recruitment, people development, internal training and identification of future leaders across the organization.

In a major survey of assessment centre practice in the United States, results indicate that selection (50%), promotion (45.8%), and development (39.2%), are the most popular objectives for organizations that utilize ADCs. 

An ADC employs multiple tools to evaluate a candidate for the desired profile or existing employees on a select set of organizational competencies. Such centers are multifaceted, and they combine a range of activities to compare a group of candidates. Most of these activities can last for a day or two depending on the number of candidates and the respective profiles which they are preparing/evaluating them for. 

These activities range from being mediocre to being high on the difficulty scale. These activities evaluate a participant not only on their analytical skills but also on an individual's presentation skills, decision making and problem-solving ability, interpersonal relations, people handling skills and their mental endurance which serves as a measure of individual resilience and confidence that will predict their success for a particular profile in a workplace. Current trends in an assessment center in organizations point to a movement toward a developmental mission in addition to the traditional assessment mission. The candidates whilst being actively involved in their own assessment can also learn from peer assessment for their own professional development. This is achieved when they receive feedback about their competencies and lack thereof, which will then help them to understand their areas of improvement as well as their strengths. And these areas of improvement are addressed through Development Centers. 

Development centers are conceptualized to address the developmental needs of the participants that are identified during the Assessment centers. The feedback received by the participants becomes the input for these sessions which enables the organizations to plan these Development Centers. The participants receive specific and objective inputs on the identified competencies combined with overall observations about their attitude, mindset, belief system and emotional maturity. and to address the specific focus areas the participants are put through a series of structured training interventions and coaching sessions that help them come up the curve and be ready for their next challenge. Thus, ADCs benefit not only employers but also employees and candidates who are looking to present themselves in the best way possible for the desired profile. These centers help in the holistic development of people by enabling them to reach their desired goals. And they prove to be very efficient and effective tools of measurement for the organization as they are free of any biases and perceptions and are extremely objective for the results they publish. And enable organizations as they know the talent available within the organization thereby reducing time and effort which may be spent on recruiting talent from outside of the organization.