Introduction to Benchmarking

1. Introduction to Benchmarking

2. What is Benchmarking • Benchmarking is an improvement process that is used to identify best practice within a peer group and facilitate it’s incorporation into your organization

3. Why best practice • Best practice refers to techniques, methods or processes that are more effective at delivering a desired outcome. • Incorporating best practice into your organization can lead to greater efficiency and effectiveness and a happier customer.

4. Benefits of Benchmarking • Benchmarking helps identify the gaps between the organization that is undertaking the benchmarking assessment and best practice. • Undertaking benchmarking can lead to improvements being incorporated into processes and systems delivering gains in efficiency and effectiveness • Benchmarking can help align improvement activity with strategic goals and objectives

5. The Benchmarking process • Benchmarking has a defined process • Identify the process that will be benchmarked – consider what metrics will be measured • Measure results in own organization • Identify a benchmarking partner (look for one with favourable results or to the metric being measured or known best practice) • Measure the process • Analyze the conditions that determine the favourable results • Determine an action plan to take your organization to the favourable results • Review Benchmarking results and conduct regular reviews with your peer(s).

6. Problems with Benchmarking • Problems with benchmarking occur where • Data is not obtained for the process being measured – and analysis becomes subjective • No peer group/best practice identified (including data available) • The gap between current state and best practice is captured but nothing is done about it • Assumed best practice isn't best practice • Benchmarking happens as a one off event and not reviewed periodically

7. The importance of data • In order to measure the gap between the measuring organization and best practice quantifiable measures need to be taken • This requires data • Unless this method is followed results can be subjective and inaccurate • Follow on improvement activity can have negligible impact

8. Using your Peer-group • Benchmarking relies on a partner organization or “peers” which will be measured against. • Peers could be a different group in the same organization (e.g two purchasing departments in a multinational organization) or a completely separate company • The importance is measuring your performance against another “peer” with a different standard

9. Benchmarking doesn’t stop • Benchmarking should be viewed as a continuous improvement method • Regular reviews of performance should be taken especially if improvement activity is underway to transition to “best practice” • Regular reviews of the peer group should be taken to cater for any changes/improvement made

10. Further resources • For more information try these web resources • http://www.ogc.gov.uk/documentation_and_templates_benchmarking.asp • http://www.ebenchmarking.com/ • http://www.nhsbenchmarking.nhs.uk/ • http://www.berr.gov.uk/dius/innovation/benchmarking-innovation/index.html