The benchmarking process needs to be geared toward moving the corporation closer to a “best in class” status in selected metrics. Experience may be a great teacher, but benchmarking allows your organization to benefit from the experience of others who are considered to be the best while preventing your organization from paying the high price of firsthand experience. The benchmarking process includes the following 10 steps (IR BMM-2, Version 2.0, p. 9):
The 10-Step Benchmarking Process
- Obtain organizational commitment to benchmark as a basis for improvement.
- Identify the Benchmarking Associate – the person responsible for benchmarking coordination.
- Attend CII’s Data Warehouse Training.
- Identify project managers for benchmarking and improvement.
- Determine levels of use – how much and what do you want to benchmark?
- Input project data during execution.
- Finalize and submit project questionnaire by phase or at project close out.
- Generate project and/or enterprise reports.
- Repeat steps 5-8 as part of your continuous improvement program.
- Engage with the Data Analytics Community for Business Advancement.