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Spaceprobe a new dimension for benchmarking

In a number of forums over the past 12 months, the Federal Minister for Local Government Warwick Smith has made reference to the National Benchmarking Project being facilitated by Pine Rivers Shire Council in Queensland.

Known as Spaceprobe or Select Performance and Council Enterprise through Project Benchmarking, partner Councils with Pine Rivers are Caboolture, Redland, Liverpool, Wyong, Blue Mountains, Yarra Ranges, Casey, Whittlesea and Noarlunga.

The first data collection is now complete and a further set of questionnaires has been issued to all partners in each of the 10 service categories. Project consultant, John Kleem, said that the review of data is necessary to ensure equity, uniformity and quality in the information.

"From the start, this project has been determined to get the right formula for guaranteeing that participants and Local Government generally can learn from the outcomes," John Kleem said. "The project has been able to integrate the expertise of 100 personnel across the benchmarking partners, and the value of networking towards best practice is becoming very evident."

The Councils will meet in Sydney on 12 and 13 February 1997 to examine the performance indicators and firm up service categories. Other areas for discussion will be the project report, protocols and mechanisms for developing best practice.

John Kleem is hopeful that the quality of the project will encourage additional funding to tackle the exacting task of identifying best practice within the partners.

While actual information on outcomes cannot yet be made available, Councils are welcome to inquire about the methodology and anticipated outputs by telephoning John Kleem on (02) 9908 4845 or Project Coordinator, Russell Garske, on (07) 3205 0564.

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