Appendix 3: Dataset descriptions (continued)

UK Audit Agencies (UKAA cohort)

The UK Audit Agencies (UKAA) comprise the five UK public sector organisations of Audit Scotland; the National Audit Office (England); Northern Ireland Audit Office; Wales Audit Office; and the Audit Commission. UKAA has designed and implemented a set value for money indicators for Finance, HR, ICT, Property, Procurement, Communications, and Legal services in a joint initiative. The details of their methodology can be found at www.public-audit-forum.gov.uk/performanceindicators.pdf.

The UKAA cohort database includes results from over 200 UK public sector organisations, and this data has been collected on a voluntary and anonymous basis. At the time this document was written, the communication and legal services indicators were relatively new additions to the indicator set, so comparator data for these services was not available.

As the management practice indicators (MPIs) described in Appendix Four are unique to the UKAA methodology, the UKAA cohort is the only comparator dataset for this set of metrics. NZ agencies measured seven MPIs in FY 2009/10: Finance, Human Resources, Procurement, Property, ICT, Communications, and Legal Services.

UK Operational Efficiency Programme (UK OEP cohort)

The final report of the Operational Efficiency Programme (OEP) review, published in 2009, recommended that all UK central government organisations employing more than 250 FTEs collect and publish data using the UK Audit Agencies' approved value for money indicators (as discussed above) for A&S services.

The UK OEP dataset used in this report was for the FY 2008/09 reporting period and was published in 2009. It includes results for 13 indicators in 153 organisations, and these results are available online at www.hmg.gov.uk/media/52718/benchmarkingthebackoffice.pdf.

A more recent UK OEP dataset was not available at the time this document was written, but UK OEP FY 2009/10 results are available online at http://www.cabinetoffice.gov.uk/resource-library/back-office-benchmark-information-200910.

American Productivity & Quality Center (APQC) Full Cohort

The American Productivity and Quality Centre (APQC) is a not-for-profit organisation founded in 1977. The APQC database (the Open Standards Benchmarking Collaborative database) is one of the largest in the world with data from more than 7,000 public and private sector organisations.

APQC similar cohort

A subset of the APQC full cohort database that includes Government and military agencies, banks, utilities, not-for-profits, and research organisations deemed suitable for comparison with NZ State sector agencies.

The Hackett Group (Hackett) Full Cohort

The Hackett Group benchmarking and best practices database is built on more than 5,000 benchmarking engagements with 2,700 major corporations and government agencies, including 97 percent of the Dow Jones Industrials, 73 percent of the Fortune 100, 73 percent of the DAX 30 and 50 percent of the FTSE 100.[53]

Hackett Peer Group

A subset of the Hackett Group full cohort database that includes Government and military agencies, banks, utilities, not-for-profits, and research organisations deemed suitable for comparison with NZ State sector agencies.

Office of Government Commerce (OGC) Property data

The OGC produces an annual report to Parliament on the efficiency and effectiveness of the UK Government's central civil estate, including data regarding property used in this report for comparison purposes.