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Best Practices & Benchmarking

Best practices reflect the highest industry standards for delivering a product or service. They are the tools and techniques that have been identified as the most effective and efficient within a specific industry, process, or market. Benchmarking is a method of measuring how well your organization compares with others in implementing best practices through the delivery of services or by achieving performance standards. Macro views benchmarking as a proven way for an organization to (1) learn about the best practices in organizational functions and processes, (2) measure how well the organization’s practices compare, and (3) make whatever changes are necessary to raise up the organization’s practices to the standards of industry leaders. Benchmarking is, in short, learning to be better by observing the best.

We conduct three general types of benchmarking studies:

  • Process benchmarking—which focuses on specific work processes and operating systems (e.g., order fulfillment)
  • Performance benchmarking—which assesses competitive position by focusing on performance characteristics (e.g., price and technical quality)
  • Strategic benchmarking—which identifies the winning strategies used by high performing companies

The final step in our benchmarking process is to give an organization tangible steps for improvement by developing an action plan to rank recommendations, agree on an implementation strategy, and develop and assign responsibility for measurement criteria and schedules.

Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI)
Macro conducted a strategic benchmarking study for EPRI. EPRI wanted to assist its members—particularly with helping them to develop a strong strategic view of markets, competitors, and shifting competitive environments—as they moved into a deregulated environment. We began this study with a review of 18 cases in which corporations had weathered difficult circumstances, some of them internal to the corporation and some due to shifts in competitors or the competitive environment. We then selected 6 of the 18 cases as best practice examples. Each of the case studies we developed identified critical strategies used by successful companies to surmount increasing competitive pressures or changing competitive environments. We provided detailed analyses of several topic areas, including new product and service developments, corporate strategies, and external change factors. As a final contribution, Macro developed a monograph that EPRI published for its members and any other interested parties.

Customer Service Management Program
The Defense Information Systems Agency (DISA) wanted a “one face to the customer” image and a common operating environment for information distribution. DISA already was integrating hardware and software but needed an agency-wide customer service management program and an agency-wide customer surveying program. Macro reviewed DISA methods and means of information gathering, storage, and dissemination, including customer needs assessment. DISA policies and standards were compared with industry and government best practices in service delivery and management to identify gaps and to recommend the best cost/benefit resolutions. Macro helped to design a customer service management program that included methods of support, resource requirements, software tools, organizational structure, service management processes, and an implementation plan. Macro also reviewed DISA’s customer survey and feedback practices, compared them with industry and government best practices and suggested the most viable alternatives to address the gaps.

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Evaluation Methodologies
CDC (U.S. Department of Health and Human Services) is the lead Federal agency for protecting health and safety, providing credible information to enhance health decisions, and promoting health through strong partnerships. Macro was charged with developing methodologies for CDC’s use in evaluating Web sites and technology-based information dissemination systems across some 50 State and local health information systems. Based on this intensive assessment, we developed guidelines for a framework for public health agencies to use in creating queriable Web-based data dissemination tools. The guidelines incorporate best practices and industry standards in software development and are consistent with Federal guidelines on accessibility based on Section 508 of the U.S. Rehabilitation Act and CDC interface guidelines.

 


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