Scientists define benchmarking as a systematic comparison of services, processes, methods, or practices aimed at showing up strengths and weaknesses and identifying improvement measures within a company. Optimisation has to be a continuous process and comprises the following essential components:

• drawing up a Key Performance Indicator (KPI) System,
• collecting relevant data and background information,
• comparing performance indicators on the basis of background conditions ,
• assessing the causes (identifying deviations from best-practice results of similar companies),
• developing measures aimed at improving the current situation,
• implementing these measures,
• monitoring the success of measures by participating in a follow-up benchmark programme.

Benchmarking and Best Practices in Austrian Water Supply is a project comprised of three parts: the pilot project (part A) involving 23 participants was funded by the federal government and has already been concluded. The main key performance indicator benchmarking project (part B) was co-funded by the provincial governments and water supply companies and included 72 (!) participants.

The projects were coordinated by ÖVGW and scientifically supported by TU Graz, BOKU Vienna and FH Wiener Neustadt. Part B was successfully completed in summer 2006. To assure that benchmarking is an ongoing process, part C (exclusively financed by the companies) shall be carried out in 2008. The latter, among other things, is aimed at fine-tuning performance indicators for practical use.

While the large number of participants in part B is an indication of the broad commitment to quality among companies, the final report (www.trinkwasserbenchmarking.at) provides further evidence that many efforts have already reaped success. According to the report, the Austrian drinking water supply network is highly efficient, assures a high level of quality and operates at reasonable prices compared to other countries (e.g. Germany, England and France).

Raimund Paschinger, chair of ÖVGW’s technical committee Wirtschaft Wasser and also CEO of evn Wasser GmbH, is convinced that the holistic approach of the ÖVGW benchmark adds great value to water supply companies: “Apart from quality and efficiency, other vital aspects such as sustainability, customer satisfaction and a safe water supply were also taken into consideration. These certainly add a great deal of future orientation to our project.”

Whatever the EU authorities decide, Heinrich Gernedel, head of Salzburg AG’s Center Wasser, has no reason to worry. His company, ranking among the best in the ÖVGW benchmark programme, had a particular interest in comparing itself to competitors with a similar structure. “Drawing on 2004 figures, we identified potentials for improvement also in our company and took the necessary steps, such as in the area of house service connection installations or meter replacements,” Gernedel reports.

Robert Gschleiner from Innsbrucker Kommunalbetriebe (IKB) AG above all praises the professional execution of the programme. He believes the high-quality outcome has resulted from the project team’s focus on assuring comparability of the collected data. “The feedback provided in the individual report partlyconfirmed our own assessment of strengths and weaknesses within the company, but also rendered some surprising results,” says Gschleiner, convinced that his company drew valuable experience from the programme. As head of IKB’s water division, he advises all water suppliers interested in benchmark participation to spend adequate resources on the collection of preliminary data, which are essential for an ongoing benchmark process.

According to Günter Linecker (Braunau town council) and Gerhard Burger (Krems waterworks), benchmark participation is also manageable for smaller water suppliers and definitely worth the effort. While the authorities in Braunau had to start from scratch collecting their performance indicators, the waterworks in Krems could draw on existing data from the introduction of two quality management systems. Gerhard Burger particularly values the benchmark in strategic planning; Günter Linecker in turn finds it very useful in facility siting and as a tool demonstrating proficiency to owners, monitoring agencies and customers. Braunau is currently tracing the grid losses it has managed to identify.

New: ÖVGW’s process benchmark

While in part B general performance figures were used as reference to allow participants to compare themselves with other water supply companies and to benchmark their facility siting practices, the recently launched ÖVGW process benchmarking programme aims to compare important work processes within the company. Its modular design allows companies to choose which individual processes they want to participate in. Previous participation in part B is not a requirement. Even non-ÖVGW members are welcome to join the programme.

More details can be downloaded from www.trinkwasserbenchmarking.at Heinrich Gernedel’s preliminary conclusion on ÖVGW benchmarking: “We have found that benchmark participation is useful for many reasons. One important argument is that the EU will probably issue regulations at some stage; and having already participated in a benchmark programme, it will be much easier to implement them!“

Contact & Information:

Austrian Association for Gas & Water ÖVGW
Dr. Ute Boccioli
E-mail: boccioli@ovgw.at
Internet: www.ovgw.at