Benchmarking Program 2011
Survey Opens 28 February!
Comcover’s annual Risk Management Benchmarking Program will commence on 28 February 2011.
Benchmarking provides Fund Member agencies with the opportunity to:
- Drive a focus on risk management within their agency, by providing tailored information that allows an agency’s Senior Executive or Board to review whether the agency’s investment in its risk management framework is appropriate for the agency’s operations and supports the achievement of the agency’s business objectives.
- Review and measure their agency’s risk management capability against nominated target states that the agency aspires to achieve.
- Compare performance with other Australian Government agencies and Communities of Practice (e.g. service delivery agencies, regulatory agencies) in order to benchmark the agency’s risk management capability with that of its peers.
Agencies will also be eligible for up to a 10% discount on their 2011/12 insurance premium.
Access the Online Information Session and Information Kit
A series of training sessions were held in Canberra on 2 and 3 February 2011. At these sessions, participants were given the opportunity to learn about changes to the Survey, test the online survey tool, and were provided with a hard-copy of the survey questions.
If your agency was unable to attend one of these sessions, please visit the Benchmarking Online Information Session, which incorporates the information provided at the training sessions.
Or access the Benchmarking Information Kit - RTF Document [ 
4.05MB], which will be updated during the survey period.
Changes to the 2011 Benchmarking Program
In response to Fund Member feedback, we have implemented the following changes to the 2011 Benchmarking Program:
- Some survey questions and question objectives have been reworded to ensure clarity.
- The document upload process has been improved so all documents are uploaded into one section of the online survey. Agencies will be asked to upload a minimum of 8 specific documents that relate to their risk management practices.
- Each question will have a notes box, for completing officers to input supporting comments to clarify answers for the information of internal users only (including the sign-off officer’s information). Information in the notes boxes will not be considered in analysing the Benchmarking results.
- Agencies can select their target maturity state by using a slide bar to move to their target maturity state for each element. The target maturity state will display as a number out of 10 dynamically (to one decimal point).
- An agency will be able to select between 8 and 12 Australian Government agencies into their Self-Selected Peer Group and one Community of Practice (e.g. service delivery agencies, regulatory agencies) in order to benchmark the agency’s risk management capability with that of its peers.
- Agencies will be able to access a hard-copy of the Survey questionnaire 3 weeks before the Survey opens, in order to start preparing survey responses.
- Agency reports will be distributed to both the insurance and risk management contacts.
What does the Benchmarking Program involve?
The Benchmarking Program involves completion of an online self-assessment survey by a nominated contact in each agency (usually the Primary Risk Management contact). The survey is then signed off by the Agency Head/Chief Executive Officer or Chief Finance Officer.
The Benchmarking Program will measure an agency’s risk management capability against the following 10 elements of a risk management framework:
- Policy and Objectives;
- Accountability and Responsibility;
- Integration;
- Review and Evaluation;
- Positive Risk Culture;
- Resourcing;
- Communication and Training;
- Risk Assessment;
- Risk Profiling and Reporting; and
- Business Continuity Management.
Each element assesses a different aspect of an agency’s risk management framework, and considers how well the agency supports its staff to better manage risk at both the operational and strategic levels. More detail on these elements is available in the Key Performance Elements Fact Sheet - RTF Document [ 41KB].
The Benchmarking Program incorporates a flexible risk maturity model, incorporating five levels of risk management maturity against which agencies are measured. The associated maturity statements are detailed in the Comcover Risk Management Benchmarking Maturity Statements - PDF Document [
168 KB] Publication. These associated maturity statements are qualitative descriptions of what the agency should have in place, and will allow agencies to measure their progress towards their target maturity states (i.e. desired state of risk management maturity) and identify opportunities and areas for improvement. For tips on selecting your agency’s target maturity states, please refer to the How to Select Target Maturity States Fact Sheet - PDF Document[ 908 KB].
The survey responses are analysed by Comcover’s service provider, Deloitte, followed by an audit process to ensure accuracy and transparency of results. At the completion of the audit process, participating agencies are provided with a Participant Report and Survey Responses Report, and notified of their premium discount.
Following the release of the reports to agencies, Comcover will publish an Information Bulletin on the Key Findings from the 2011 Benchmarking Program.
Comcover officials will also be available to assist agencies in presenting Benchmarking results to their Senior Executive Committee or Board.
Technical Assistance and Support
For technical assistance or queries about the survey questions during the survey period, please contact comcover@deloitte.com.au and 1800 661 993.
This support is available between 7am and 11pm from Monday to Friday, and between 8:30am and 5pm on weekends (AEDT).
Comprehensive and Customised Reporting
Benchmarking provides comprehensive and customised reporting that allows an agency to plot and report its progress against particular elements of the agency’s risk management framework.
Participant Report
The Participant Report will allow agencies to compare their performance with the total population, their peer group, their Community of Practice, and their 10 nominated Australian Government agencies.
Survey Reponses Report
The Survey Responses Report provides each agency with a copy of their 2011 survey responses, and allows comparison with the agency’s 2010 survey responses.
Online Reporting
Following completion of the survey, agencies will have access to an online reporting tool which will allow agency officers to tailor their agency’s results to suit internal reporting requirements (including senior executive and committee reports).
The online reporting tool will also include functionality enabling agencies to compare their performance with other particular participants, their peer groups, and the total population.
Communities of Practice – Govdex Forums and Face-to-Face Meetings
Following the distribution of agency reports, Comcover will host face-to-face meetings for each Community of Practice (e.g. service delivery agencies, regulatory agencies, etc).
Each Community of Practice meeting will assist agencies to network with their peers and share their experiences in implementing enterprise-wide risk management framework.
The Communities of Practice will be supported by a dedicated online Govdex Forum, which will allow agencies to network and share tools/information via a secure online portal.
How can agencies participate in the program?
The Primary Risk Management contact for Comcover within all agencies will be automatically sent a link and password to the survey during the week commencing 21 February 2011.
Benchmarking Online Information Session
For those agencies located interstate or were unable to attend the Benchmarking Training Sessions (held on 2 and 3 February in Canberra), an Online Information Session will be available on the Comcover website shortly.
The Online Information Session will incorporate the information provided at the Training Sessions, including an outline of changes to the online Survey.
Key Dates
| Key Dates for 2011 |
|
|---|---|
Benchmarking Information Sessions, Canberra |
2 & 3 February 2011 |
Agencies can obtain a hard-copy of the |
2 February 2011 onwards |
Benchmarking Survey Opens |
9:00am (AEDT), on |
Benchmarking Survey Closes |
5:00pm (AEDT), on |
Benchmarking Reports distributed to Agencies via email and mail. |
June 2011 |
Premium discount percentage provided to agencies. |
June 2011 |
2011 Key Findings Information Bulletin |
July 2011 |
Communities of Practice secure Govdex forums |
July 2011 |
Communities of Practice Face-to-Face Meetings |
August / September 2011 |
Further information
The Benchmarking Program supports Comcover’s objective of promoting better risk management in agencies, by providing agencies with a robust and tailored self-assessment tool that assists agencies in reviewing whether the risk management framework is appropriate to your agency’s business objectives and operations.
For further information on the Comcover Benchmarking Program, please contact Comcover Member Services on 1800 651 540 or email: comcover@comcover.com.au.
Contact for information on this page: Contact Comcover Member Services