Benchmarks & Kpi’s

Benchmarks & KPI’s

Objective:

To understand what Benchmarks and KPI’s are and their uses in projects.

To create my own Benchmarks and KPI’s for use.

IdentifyBenchmarking is an accepted level of progress or status that one uses to measure progress against.

Just as we use zero degrees centigrade to represent the point that water freezes and 100 at which it boils, you use Benchmarks to set the goals which you aim to achieve.

Find a similar company or business to yours and examine their Benchmarks (targets) if you can.

For example Polly’s Perfume Counter has set a benchmark of £500 per day. Anything over this means they have exceeded their goals.

As a competitor you could then use their benchmark as your Benchmark to begin with. You then set your targets against these using SMART* goals.

If you excel a benchmark you are ‘adding value’ especially if Polly’s Perfume Counter is a universally accepted benchmark by other similar companies or even highly recognised by your stakeholders.

You can use Benchmarks when building up your business plan to show your expectations over a period of time and also what you might put into place that would achieve and excel it.

Another phrase linked with benchmarking is KPI Key performance indicators.

These are your smaller milestones towards your ultimate Benchmark.

By keeping your eye on the KPI’s placed along the way, you can adjust effort and energy towards your Benchmarks.

AnalyseExamples of Benchmarks can be, financial:

£20,000 gross revenue to be made in 6 months from one product.

Or service based:

Less than 20 complaints about our total products per year.

Or time based:

Will not take more than 2 weeks to complete any project.

Or comparisons to similar companies:

This quarter we will match the sales figures of Polly’s Perfume Counter.

You will notice that each target follows the S.M.A.R.T acronym *(Specific, measureable, achievable, realistic and timed).

DesignFind a quiet corner or go to a local coffee shop for some quality time alone. Take 30 minutes to think about the best key divers that really affect your business. Consider cash flow, sales, client turnover, likes on Facebook or any other measurable value you can think of that would make a real difference to your current project or business. (You have an example given).

My Benchmarks

Type

(Cash flow, sales, client turnover, FB likes)

Specific

(Method)

Measure (Number)

Achievable

(Y/N)

Realistic

(Y/N)

Time to achieve

(No. of Mths/Wks/Days)

Sales callstelephone200 peopleYesYes1 week (end of June 2017) nbsp nbsp nbsp nbsp nbsp nbsp nbsp nbsp nbsp nbsp nbsp nbsp

DevelopHere we will give thought on how these targets towards your benchmarks are to be achieved.

In order to move forwards one has to appreciate the starting position.

In any race, the starting point can be different per company just as the starting point of racers on a circular track may be different.

Let’s give this some thought:

On a circular track, the innermost runners have much less distance to cover than the runners at the outermost track. If they were to all start at the same point and cross one finish line together, there would be an unfair advantage for the innermost runner. For this reason, the innermost runner is placed much further back than others to make up for the difference and so on for the other runners.

Life and business is very similar to this. You may feel that you are at a disadvantage by starting at a different point to others but this may not be the case. It is the distance or progress made that counts for a really profitable business and profit is the main reason for business.

Taking the list above you will now spend 1 week testing out one of the Benchmarks.

If you want to test out more you have been given more tables.

Use this table to track your Key Performance indicators (example below)

BenchmarkMonday: Key performance indicator 1Actually done:Tuesday: Key performance indicator 2Actually done:Wednesday: Key performance indicator 3Actually done:Thursday: Key performance indicator 4Actually done:Friday: Key performance indicator 5Actually done:Sales calls: telephone 200 people in 1 week to end June 2017.40204024401540554028

BenchmarkMonday: Key performance indicator 1Actually done:Tuesday: Key performance indicator 2Actually done:Wednesday: Key performance indicator 3Actually done:Thursday: Key performance indicator 4Actually done:Friday: Key performance indicator 5Actually done: nbsp nbsp nbsp nbsp nbsp BenchmarkMonday: Key performance indicator 1Actually done:Tuesday: Key performance indicator 2Actually done:Wednesday: Key performance indicator 3Actually done:Thursday: Key performance indicator 4Actually done:Friday: Key performance indicator 5Actually done: nbsp nbsp nbsp nbsp nbsp 

BenchmarkMonday: Key performance indicator 1Actually done:Tuesday: Key performance indicator 2Actually done:Wednesday: Key performance indicator 3Actually done:Thursday: Key performance indicator 4Actually done:Friday: Key performance indicator 5Actually done: nbsp nbsp nbsp nbsp nbsp 

nbsp nbsp nbsp nbsp nbsp BenchmarkMonday: Key performance indicator 1Actually done:Tuesday: Key performance indicator 2Actually done:Wednesday: Key performance indicator 3Actually done:Thursday: Key performance indicator 4Actually done:Friday: Key performance indicator 5Actually done: nbsp nbsp nbsp nbsp nbsp 

TestTake a look at the results of your experiment and think about the results. How could you use these values?

What could you say about each?

 

What actions could you have put into place and when?

 

Could you have thought of some actions and strategies before the numbers changed? What would that be?

 

Did you try any intervention strategies and did they work?

 

EvaluateDo you feel that you could use Benchmarking and KPI’s in your own business now?

 

What have I discovered?

Benchmarks and KPI’s are essential if my key driver’s progresses are to be monitored in projects.

I have at least one benchmark and a series of KPI’s created for my own personal business project.