Abstract This paper follows a quantification device – French higher education performance indicators – from its birth through its construction to its uses. It differentiates three levels of analysis. First, the bedrock level: a calculative device is grounded in a founding vision. Second, the intermediate level: a quantification device contains a conception of the “raisons d’être” of the entity that is quantified. Third, the level of the micro-conventions of calculation which can give a particular orientation. However, the device is part of a larger configuration which constitutes the fourth dimension of our analytical grid. Levels and context are the fruit of socio-historical processes which can, but must not, lead to maximum coherence. Here, the device is not a very integrated assemblage, which explains its limited effects.