Many Registered Providers (RPs) select a mixed Repairs and Maintenance delivery model with an objective to compare performance between internal and external delivery. Yet many still struggle with how to evaluate different streams of the service in such a model, making it difficult to assess which strands are most efficient. If geography and scale mean you’re delivering services like responsive repairs and planned maintenance through a combination of contracts and internal services, how do you begin to compare their productivity and efficiency?
We’ve shared our top 5 tips for how to compare:
1) Decide on methods and metrics. Our advice is to be clear from the start on how you’ll measure success and how to compare – using cost per unit for example as a metric, or the variation to the Nat Fed schedule. These metrics need to them be embedded into your frameworks and contract requirements, which is trickier if you are measuring a contract with defined KPIs.
2) Understand your service standards. If you are setting different service standards across your model either for similar works on different contracts or for different service types such as care & support, you need to understand the implications of this when comparing performance.
3) Be realistic. You need to be realistic on what you can compare, and how you will adjust for differing geographical regions or work mix. This is especially the case if you have very different workstreams for each model or if you have a bespoke pricing model.
4) Use real costs. If you can be consistent and use actual costs you will be able to compare more accurately, so don’t be tempted to use tendered or budget costs, try to be as representative of reality as you can. And…don’t use wooden dollars, which can be a fictitious income stream!
5) The golden rule here is to measure against your organisational objectives & targets, and to blend your model to suit your needs.
What do you use and how do you measure up?