NBS launches new online platform

Sport England’s National Benchmarking Service (NBS) has unveiled a new online platform aimed at dramatically increasing the efficiency of both its data collection and reporting systems.

NBS enables local authorities to compare the performance of their sport and leisure facilities with national benchmarks, across a number of key performance indicators (KPIs), and to utilise this information to improve their service delivery.

It is delivered on behalf of Sport England by Leisure-net Solutions in partnership with the Sport Industry Research Centre (SIRC) at Sheffield Hallam University, and participating centres can opt for one of three services: the Full NBS Report, covering ultilisation, finance, access and customer satisfaction; the Effectiveness Report, focusing on access and customer satisfaction; or the Efficiency Report, focusing on utilisation and finance.

The new online platform has been developed by sports intelligence experts 4Global following extensive consultation with the industry. Currently being piloted at four sites, it involves two important changes to the service. Firstly, the customer satisfaction data, previously collected via a paper-based survey, will now be collected electronically using handheld tablets. Secondly, rather than receiving a paper-based report, clients will be able to access all the data from the reports online.

As well as giving centres the option to download a PDF of the entire report, the new platform will allow them to search online for a specific KPI – for example, income per square metre – and compare their performance in that area against the average of both the sector as a whole and of four ‘family groups’, based on the size of the site, its mix of facilities, its mode of management and the socio-economic profile of the catchment area.

Along with the online platform, there will be a new suite of KPIs, developed in partnership with industry consultants Max Associates. Finally, to back up the new service, all clients will receive an hour-long phone session with a data expert to help them interpret their report.

Mike Hill, director of Leisure-net Solutions, said: “We’re looking forward to working with SIRC and Max Associates to build on the sound academic basis of NBS to deliver a new, dynamic benchmarking service. The online platform will allow sites, along with their head offices and clients, to see even more clearly how they perform against a range of industry benchmarks and family groups.

“This ability to compare the performance of similar facilities is incredibly important, because it helps operators to identify weaknesses that may never even have occurred to them, and ultimately to make improvements that can have a real impact on the success of their business.”

Andy Couves, programme lead of Sport England’s Improvement Fund, said: “NBS is a powerful tool that enables local authorities to measure and improve their performance. The new online platform will not only make the service more efficient and user-friendly, but it will also help local authorities to pinpoint more precisely where they should be focusing their resources, for even better results.”

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For further information contact:

Rhianon Howells at Big Fish Public Relations
Tel: 01727 834629
Mob: 07967 551142
Email: rhianon@bigfishpublicrelations.co.uk

Editor’s notes:
Quest is the UK quality scheme for sport and leisure. It is a tool for continuous improvement, designed primarily for the management of leisure facilities and leisure development. Quest defines industry standards and good practice, and encourages their ongoing development and delivery within a customer-focused management framework.

The National Benchmarking Service (NBS) provides critical data on the performance of your leisure facility. Leisure-net Solutions, in partnership with Sport Industry Research Centre (SIRC) at Sheffield Hallam University, works on behalf of Sport England to provide a seamless, rigorous and valuable collection and analysis of participation, financial and customer satisfaction data.
For more information, visit questnbs.org