Introduction

The Benchmarking trend of the 1990s has evolved with the help of competitive analysis, performance excellence awards, and other corporate recognition programs into an ongoing documentation of what works. Bob Camp introduced benchmarking against a Best Practice based on his work at Xerox in the 1980s. The challenge is to find a Best Practice that provides enough material to conduct a useful gap analysis for subsequent improvement. Implementing Best Practices minimizes mistakes while often achieving remarkable improvements. Functional benchmarking compares processes to other organizations with similar processes in the same function, but outside the industry. The BEST-method is an approach that explains what is necessary to assess or write a Best Practice. It contains definitions, explanations of criteria, characteristics, how to use and interpret the assessment checklists, examples, tips, and tricks. The chapter also presents an overview on the key concepts discussed in this book.