Benchmarks

The term “benchmarks” refers to processes and results that represent best practices and performance for similar activities, inside or outside an organization’s industry. Organizations engage in benchmarking to understand the current dimensions of world-class performance and to achieve discontinuous (non-incremental) or “breakthrough” improvement.

Benchmarks are one form of comparative data. Other comparative data organizations might use include industry data collected by a third party (frequently industry averages), data on competitors’ performance, and comparisons with similar organizations in the same geographic area or that provide similar products and services in other geographic areas.

See also Results Scoring Guidelines and Results-Comparative Performance Evaluation Description.

Download: Benchmarking and Comparison Baldrige Best Practice.

Go to Baldrige Application Information Capture and Response Template: Benchmarking and Comparison Selection Criteria.

The term "benchmarks" appears in the Baldrige Criteria in the following locations: