COURSE OVERVIEW:

Developing a single all-embracing definition of benchmarking is not easy. It is commonly applied to a wide variety of activities that organisations undertake to compare their business processes and performance metrics to industry bests and best practices from other companies.

Benchmarking is used to measure performance using a specific indicator (cost per unit of measure, productivity per unit of measure, cycle time of x per unit of measure or defects per unit of measure) resulting in a metric of performance that is then compared to others.

Also referred to as "best practice benchmarking" or "process benchmarking", this process is used in management in which organisations evaluate various aspects of their processes in relation to best-practice companies' processes, usually within a peer group defined for the purposes of comparison. This then allows organisations to develop plans on how to make improvements or adapt specific best practices, usually with the aim of increasing some aspect of performance. Benchmarking may be a one-off event, but is often treated as a continuous process in which organisations continually seek to improve their practices.

This course provides an introduction to benchmarking, including the role of benchmarking in improvement activities, and an explanation of different types of benchmarking.

The first part explores the different ideas of benchmarking as proposed by those who have developed and used it. How organisations use benchmarking and the benefits it brings is explained. And to help clarify what benchmarking is, we also look at some practices that are not benchmarking. Then we examine the relationship between benchmarking and Six Sigma.

The second part explore several different methods of benchmarking, and acknowledges that there are almost endless variations. Despite the very different types of benchmarking the process of each can be seen to be a special case of a generic process.

LEARNING OUTCOMES:

By the end of this course, you will be able to understand:

·       What benchmarking is?        

·       what benchmarking is not

·       A brief history of benchmarking

·       How did the idea of benchmarking evolve? And what are its origins?

·       How reverse engineering is considered as method of covert benchmarking?

·       The story of Xerox and benchmarking     

·       Why do organisations benchmark?

·       How benchmarking addresses how competitive are we?

·       How benchmarking addresses where should we focus improvement activities?

·       How to benchmark potential areas for improvement?

·       How to short-cut the improvement process?

·       Benchmarking as target/budget setting

·       Benchmarking as a driver for improvement

·       Benchmarking to solve problems

·       The requirement of business excellence models         

·       Benchmarking to build up a network of like-minded people

·       Benchmarking to target a competitor’s weak points

·       How effective is benchmarking?

·       How does benchmarking relate to six sigma and process improvement?

·       How benchmarking is an improvement tool?

·       The role of benchmarking in a six sigma improvement project

·       The methods of benchmarking

·       The public domain benchmarking method including: concept, examples, participants, control of the study, risks, learning potential, duration, benchmarking team, uses and benchmarking process.

·       The one-to-one benchmarking method including: concept, participants, control of the study, risks, learning potential, duration, benchmarking team, uses and one-to-one benchmarking process

·       The database benchmarking method including: concept, examples, participants, control of the study, risks, learning potential, duration, benchmarking team, uses and benchmarking process

·       The trial benchmarking method including: concept, examples, participants, control of the study, risks, learning potential, duration, benchmarking team, uses and benchmarking process

·       The survey benchmarking method including: concept, examples, participants, control of the study, risks, learning potential, duration, benchmarking team, uses and benchmarking process

·       How to choose an appropriate benchmarking method for your organisation?

COURSE DURATION:

The typical duration of this course is approximately 2-3 hours to complete. Your enrolment is Valid for 12 Months. Start anytime and study at your own pace.

COURSE REQUIREMENTS:

You must have access to a computer or any mobile device with Adobe Acrobat Reader (free PDF Viewer) installed, to complete this course.

COURSE DELIVERY:

Purchase and download course content.

ASSESSMENT:

A simple 10-question true or false quiz with Unlimited Submission Attempts.

CERTIFICATION:

Upon course completion, you will receive a customised digital “Certificate of Completion”.