Certified Benchmarking

Program Overview

The benchmarking methodological uniqueness is represented by the identification of those processes that lead to superior performance, followed by the analysis of the best practices behind that success. Benchmarking offers the opportunity to compare an organization’s performance against industry competitors, noting strengths, weaknesses, and different ways of executing projects. As successful businesses constantly focus on improving the quality of their processes, products and services, benchmarking comes as one of the best approaches in achieving innovative ideas and superior procedures within the organization, through finding and implementing best practices.

Benefits

Improve your organizational processes by applying benchmarking best practices;
Link benchmarked data to your organizational strategy and performance objectives;
Set up and apply a benchmarking plan in your own organization, in order to increase competitiveness;
Acquire strong competitive insights from benchmarking specialists’ experience and best practices examples to suit your organization’s reality.

Learning objectives

Associate benchmarking objectives with the organizational strategy;
Design a benchmarking plan for your organization;
Understand the fundamentals of data collection and analysis;
Assess performance gaps according to benchmarked data;
Select the relevant benchmarks and establish a monitoring process.

Participants’ profile

Professionals interested in benchmarking practices Persons interested in benchmarking practices, data analysis and comparison, as well as performance improvement.Entrepreneurs, analysts and professionals from different fields, interested in acquiring the knowledge needed to understand benchmarking processes and methodologies.
Top/middle/lower management professionals Executives, operational managers and analysts, professionals from top/middle/lower management, regardless of their field of expertise, will be able to improve organizational performance through internal benchmarking practices.
Experts from both delivery and support functions Experts in finance, accounting, project management, human resources, sales, marketing, logistics, quality control and improvement, strategy/planning and operations, will learn how their current processes and approaches regarding KPIs can be improved.

Key business benefits

Reach performance improvement by receiving guidance and international benchmarking expertise;
Achieve excellence in your organizational processes by applying benchmarking best practices;
Attain superior results by managing performance gaps based on benchmarked data.

Program Agenda

Day One: Introduction to Benchmarking

Benchmarking Overview

Definitions and terminology;
The advantages of benchmarking;
Types of benchmarking;
Governance;
Stages and processes of benchmarking activities.
Activity: Design a benchmarking process.

How to Develop a Benchmarking Plan

Scope establishment;
Purpose statement development;
Benchmarking team;
Organization strategies and benchmarking targets;
Benchmarks identification;
Benchmarking partners;
Project Management techniques.
Activity: Develop a benchmarking plan.

Day 2 - Data Collection & Analysis

Day 3 - Value Generation

Facilitator

Aurel Brudan
Founder & CEO
The KPI Institute

Aurel Brudan is the founder and CEO of The KPI Institute, the global authority on Key Performance Indicators research and education. Under his coordination the Institute research team documented over 7,000 KPI examples from 15 functional areas and 24 industries, reviewed 1,000+ performance reports from 125 countries and referenced 20,000+ resources, the result being www.smartKPIs.com, the premier destination for quality performance management and measurement resources. Other research programs resulted in the development of two maturity models for performance management and measurement, as well as the establishment of the KPI Management Framework to provide the theoretical base for the Certificate in Key Performance Indicators Management.

As a consultant, Aurel conducted numerous performance management system implementations using solutions such as the Balanced Scorecard,operational dashboards and functional performance scorecards. Among his most important clients are Australia Post, the Australian Federal Administration, the Victorian State Government, Brisbane City Council,National Australia Bank, Qatar Supreme Council Of Health and SABIS.

As an educator, Aurel has accumulated hundreds of hours of experience in a variety of settings, from open and in-house training delivery to tutoring management for the University of Melbourne. Aurel is a member of the Academy of Management, the Australian New Zealand Academy of Management, the Australian Marketing Institute and Fellow of the Australian Institute of Management.

Aurel has tertiary qualifications in both Economics and Marketing,complemented by postgraduate certificates in Advanced Learning and Leadership, as well as in Research Commercialization from the Melbourne Business School in Australia. Aurel is also in the final stages of his PhD. candidature, researching Integrated Performance Management Systems at the University of Melbourne.

Learning experience

This part of the learning experience is meant to ensure a smooth transition to the face to face training. Participants are required to take the following steps:

Needs assessment – complete a questionnaire to determine a tailored and relevant learning experience;
Pre-course evaluation quiz – take a short quiz to establish the current level of knowledge;
Guidance and schedule – analyze a document presenting guidelines on how to maximize your learning experience;
Forum introduction – share an introduction message to present yourself to the other course participants;
Pre-requisite reading – go through a series of documents to better understand the core-course content.

The "Certified Benchmarking Professional" training provides an interactive practice-based learning environment in which participants focus on:

Analyzing how to ensure a successful benchmarking study by following a well-defined process, selecting the benchmarking partners accordingly and implementing a logical framework for data analysis in order to identify performance gaps;
Examining practical insights for developing a benchmarking plan, along with aspects pertaining to the assessment of data collection and governance, data analysis process and benchmarking best practices;
Gaining both theoretical knowledge and practical skills in benchmarking research, which will enable them to start a benchmarking implementation project in their own organization.

The learning process is not finalized when the core-course ends. Participants are required to take the following steps:

Forum discussions – initiate a discussion and contribute in a discussion opened by another participant;
Action plan – create a plan for the actions and initiatives you intend to implement after the training course;
In-house presentation – create and submit a short PowerPoint presentation to present your colleagues the knowledge you have accessed during the training course;
Additional reading – go through a series of resources to expand your content related knowledge;
Learning journal – reflect upon your 3 stages learning experience and complete a journal.

The certification process is finalized only when you complete all of the 3 stages of the learning experience. Nonetheless, you will receive a:

Certificate of Attendance (hard copy): after participating at the 3 days of on-site training course;
Certificate of Completion (soft copy): after completing pre-course activities and passing the Certificati on Exam;
Certified Benchmarking Professional diploma (hard copy): after you have successfully completed all of the 3 stages of the learning experience.