The Repository of Construction Knowledge (ROCK)
The Importance of Benchmarking
Organizations can be viewed as systems. At its core, an organization transforms inputs into outputs (products or services) for customers. Benchmarking is a powerful management technique that can help improve an organization's performance on a number of dimensions. [It] focuses on the process and seeks to find the best-in-class at performing a process and then promotes adapting or adopting the relevant best practices.
Benchmarking is an excellent tool to use in order to (a.) identify a performance goal for improvement, (b.) identify partners who have accomplished these goals, and (c.) identify applicably practices to incorporate into redesign effort.
If used correctly, and with the right support, benchmarking is an excellent tool for continuous performance improvement. If used inappropriately, benchmarking can jeopardize a system, improving areas that strategically require relatively less attention than others. Benchmarking is, therefore most successful when it is driven by a strategic decision process.
Source: Kleiner, B. M. (1994). "Benchmarking for Continuous Performance Improvement: Tactics for Success". Total Quality Environmental Management, 3(3), 283-296
ROCK Database
The Repository of Construction Knowledge (ROCK) is a comprehensive web tool that includes construction regulatory information, non-regulatory information, best practices, research and resources. The ROCK tool provides users with a central location for construction information, free of charge, in both English and Spanish.