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ARCHIVED - Quality Service - Benchmarking and Best Practices: An Update (Guide X)
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APPENDIX A
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Examples of Benchmarking and Best Practices Sharing
A. Benchmarking Examples
Strategic Benchmarking
1. Benchmarking Trust (Public Service Commission)
2. Benchmarking Change (CCMD and The Conference Board Of Canada)
3. Corporate Development Strategy (Revenue Canada)
4. IBM's Approach To Benchmarking (IBM Canada)
Operational Benchmarking
5. Library Systems Benchmarking Project (Atomic Energy Canada)
6. Internal Benchmarking Task Analysis Reviews (Transport Canada)
7. International Benchmarking - Trade-mark Processing (CIPO)
Performance Measurement
8. Performance Benchmarking (Revenue Canada and IRS)
9. Change Initiatives - Measuring Local Progress (Revenue Canada)
10. A Framework For Benchmarking IT Applications (Revenue Canada)
11. Two Industry Examples (Boulangeries Weston and Ault Foods Limited)
B. Best Practices To Learn From /
Benchmark Against
12. Mail-in Program To Replace Interviews (Citizenship & Immigration)
13. Quality Management Program (Fisheries and Oceans)
14. Grants and Contributions Management (Health Canada)
15. METS Process Improvement Teams PIT Kit (Natural Resources Canada)
16. Payment Authorization Centre (Province Of Quebec)
17. New Business Relationship (Revenue Canada)
18. Supporting Volunteers Serving Canadians (Revenue Canada)
19. Consolidating Revenue Canada (Revenue Canada)
20. Tax Information Phone Service (T.I.P.S.) (Revenue Canada)
C. Best Practices Sharing Examples
21. Maximizing Electronic Mail For Sharing (Citizenship & Immigration)
22. The IPAC Collection (CCMD)
23. Improving Communications Using Best Practices (Revenue Canada)
24. Internal Electronic Sharing (Revenue Canada)
25. Using Newsletters To Share Best Practices (Revenue Canada)
26. Best Practices Fair (Revenue Canada)
27. Innovation And Quality Exchange (Treasury Board Secretariat)
28. HR ConnEXions (Treasury Board Secretariat)
29. Interdepartmental Quality Network (Treasury Board Secretariat)
30. Transformation Newsletter (Treasury Board Secretariat)
31. Improving The Employment Situation Of Employment Equity Target Groups (TBS)
32. Electronic Registries To Track Progress / Best Practices (CMHC, IRS)
33. Sharing Best Practices To Continuously Improve (General Electric)
34. Re-engineering With Love (Corning)
A. BENCHMARKING EXAMPLES
Strategic Benchmarking:
1. Benchmarking Trust (Public Service Commission - PSC)
The PSC benchmarked how 9 successful manufacturing & service organizations built trust. Building trust revolved around 5 principles and sets of supporting actions including employee participation in decision-making processes, autonomy, feedback, supportive supervisor behaviours and open communications. Conclusions are in a monograph "Trust with Organizations, Part 2 - Building Trust", available in a bilingual format.
Contact: Réal St-Amand, Public Service Commission, (613) 995-9269
2. Benchmarking Change (CCMD and The Conference Board Of Canada)
As part of an applied learning course on benchmarking, 30 senior managers benchmarked the change management practices of 12 public and private sector corporations selected on the basis that each had successfully managed a large-scale, planned change activity. It was done under the auspices of the Canadian Centre for Management Development (CCMD) and the Conference Board of Canada. A report is available titled "Meeting the Challenge: Managing Change in the Nineties", which describes the principles underlying effective change management practices; and identifies management competencies, attitudes and behaviours essential to that process.
Contact: Barbara Wynne-Edwards, CCMD, (613) 953-4563
3. Corporate Development Strategy (Revenue Canada)
Revenue Canada had many improvement initiatives prior to the consolidation of the Customs & Excise, and Taxation components in 1993. A Strategy was developed to build on progress and to reinforce consolidation. It includes flexibility to use best practices from within the organization & elsewhere. Some next steps are senior mgt. accountability for implementation; an implementation plan that includes info. sessions, internal consultants and facilitators, etc. "A Guide To Managing Corporate Development" is being prepared which has strategies, practices, contacts, guidance on goal setting, planning, measuring results and following up.
Contact: Dorothee Bouwhuis, Corporate Development Division, (613) 954-6086; Bruce Lawrence, Corporate Development Division, (613) 954-6085; Bruce Veinot, Corporate Development Division (613) 957-3695
4. IBM's Approach To Benchmarking (IBM Canada)
In the early 1990s, surveys showed customer satisfaction had dropped. IBM Canada suffered large losses. Yet by 1995 customer satisfaction had returned: the company was reporting $10 billion in revenue and was profitable. IBM did this through benchmarking. The company measured itself against various models to come up with the "Best of the Breed" (BoB) competitors in each of market segments. Five items became part of its two-year transformation agenda: clear market segmentation, process re-engineering, best customer value, development of highly skilled teams, and enablement (empowerment) of staff.
As a result of this initiative, IBM experienced massive restructuring. It eliminated management layers and reorganized into small operating units. It got out of many business lines. Eleven basic processes were reevaluated. It set some performance improvement targets as high as 200 per cent. Two levels of authority were dropped. It revamped the corporate culture to take risks, be responsive, and faster paced.
Contact: Bob Mornan, General Manager for the Public Sector (613) 788-6071
Operational Benchmarking:
5. Library Systems Benchmarking Project (Atomic Energy Canada)
The Technical Information and Services Division used a formal benchmarking process to compare their costs, processes and strategic plans with those of 5 private sector, high-tech organizations. The results included:
- wider and quicker access to research information by using a single information technology system;
- library services more closely integrated with R&D customers;
- library processes refined to improve cycle times.
Contact: Mike Luke, Whiteshell Labs, Pinawa, Manitoba, (204) 753-2311, extension 2484
6. Internal Benchmarking - Task Analysis Reviews (Transport Canada)
Transport Canada believes in a rational, customer focused approach to maximizing resource utilization and program effectiveness. One means is to have internal mgt. consultants conduct comparative "task analysis reviews" with field managers of like programs. Similar reviews are done for a HQ function except that a "Customer Satisfaction Survey" is given to field users of HQ products / services as the basis to prepare an "importance/satisfaction" grid for the elements surveyed. Both the field and HQ reviews result in the benchmarking of resource use compared to performance by activity, a rational basis for making resource & program decisions, the identification of (internal) best practices to make improvements and a facilitated workshop where managers present data, discuss findings and take action.
Contact: Bill McCullough, DG, Mgt. Consulting Services, (613) 993-7412; Nick Heley, Chief, Management Practices, (613) 990-3421
7. International Benchmarking - Trade-mark Processing (CIPO)
As part of its Client Service Improvement Program, the Trade-mark Branch of the Canadian Intellectual Property Office (CIPO) has started a benchmarking initiative with the trademark offices of the United Kingdom, Sweden and Australia. The initiative will focus on the key processes involved in the prosecution of trade-mark applications and trade-mark assignments. It will determine and compare application volumes, processing times, output quality, technology environments, human resources and costs. It is the intention of the Branch to identify and adapt best practices wherever possible in order to continue to improve the level of service to its clients.
Contact: Barbara Bova, Director, Trade-marks Branch, (819) 997-2423