Benchmarking: Achieving Best Value in Article Review

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Using a detailed process of benchmarking -- which included defining what exactly to benchmark, identifying performance gaps and improvements, creating action plans for improvements, and incorporating the plans into practice -- they achieved BV and the Investors in People Award in 1999, along with "excellent quality service." Court Services continues to use benchmarking processes.

The Inland Revenue Accounts Office -- the second case study -- is an accounting office responsible for tax and National Insurance contributions in six UK regions. The Office has benchmarked every two years since 1994, using internal and external indicators to illuminate opportunities for improvement, analyze data, benchmark against "best in class," and initiate improvement programs, implementation and practice. In 1999, customer satisfaction of the Office rated 7.8 out of 10; in 2000, it won the UK Business Excellence and European Quality Award; and it's won the Charter Mark twice.

The third case study regards Warwickshire Ambulance Service's use of benchmarking. Specifically, the Services was interested in the time it took an ambulance at a scene to get back to the hospital. Benchmarking was done by comparison: Warwickshire looked at other ambulance services response times. Warwickshire found that it spent 17% more time at emergency scenes, on average, than other ambulance services. This was equivalent to over 1,000 crew hours per year. As such, Warwickshire's benchmarking has afforded an action plan to improve their performance and efficiency.

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Scottish authorities comprise Magd & Curry's fourth case study. Each member of the authorities completed a self-assessment questionnaire called QUEST, of which the purpose was to "raise standards and encourage...continuous improvement." Data was analyzed for the authorities that scored highest, and future meetings have been scheduled to discuss the differences between the high QUEST scores and low scores, and create action plans to implement the practices that lead to higher scores.

The last case study regarded Prince Charles Hospital, which used benchmarking to improve the quality of patient care by analyzing the patient discharge process. Data collected from the patients themselves indicated that the discharge process was indeed insufficient. Process maps were then created and compared with four other hospitals. Best practices were identified and later integrated into the patient discharge process, saving families time and money.

The authors conclude their article with a general summary. The semi-alternative to benchmarking, controlling for costs -- which leads to affordable service provisions -- often leads to decreased quality, which decreases a company's competitiveness. "Competitiveness increasingly depends on the ability to provide superior quality services," and quality services can be guaranteed by performance measures and comparisons with "the service leader," or benchmarking......

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