Beep Glossary

Activity - a set of tasks or a process, such as a delivery of a service that serves to move the participant towards the achievment of objectives. Contast with input and output. See also Logical Framework Analysis (LFA).

Actor - a principle stakeholder in a case study. Beep focuses on two types of actor: a contributor and a beneficiary.

Beep database dimension - a logical view of the Beep database from a particular perspective. The Beep database is built around three dimensions - domain, theme and stakeholder. Click here for diagram (PDF file). At its first release (Sept 2002), the only dimension presented to users is the domain dimension.

Beep services - best practice guidance, benchmarking management and administration, and access to extensive and linked knowledge bases covering selected issues in eEurope.

Beep user - a category of user. A Beep user is a person or organization interested in the benchmarking results and best practice models (i.e. Beep services), and include government departments, social partners, industry, NGOs. Contrast with end user (customer).

Beep vertical structure - the hierarchical layers of objectives and CSFs within the Beep project (see diagram): hierarchy diagram

Within this hierarchy, each level can be regarded - at the same time - as an objective (in relation to the level below in the hierarchy), and as a "critical success factor" (in relation to the level directly above). It is important not to confuse the usage of the terms 'objective' and 'CSF' as a generic concept with their specific use as levels in the Beep hierarchy.

Benchlearning - a process of learning through benchmarking. Benchmarking identifies gaps in performance, but is merely a a starting point. This is followed by a programme of learning from best practices and other good examples. While the Beep database allows quanitative benchmarking comparisons through analysis of indicators associated with key factors, many users will find its main benefit are the qualitative descriptions that act as a source of inspiration and learning.

Benchmarking - identifies the gap between a user's own performance and the best performance known. Benchmarking leads on to best practice which provides knowledge of how this gap can be narrowed or closed, so that the user's organisation can improve how it operates and successfully achieves its objectives through a process of benchlearning.

Beneficiary - a person, institution or other grouping of people that benefits from the actions described in a case. One type of actor (see also contributor). A beneficiary is equivalent to a Beep end user.

Best Practice - the best examples of practice, e.g. which methods, tools, organisation, systems, technology, etc., were used to achieve the excellent performance seen. Such examples should also imply ease of transfer to other situations where users have similar objectives and should facilitate learning by them. Beep users find best practice by searching the best practice database.

Best practices database - part of the knowledge base that holds a case best practice text description and indicator scores scores that are found in Beep's selected cases. When a user interrogates the knowledge base, it is the best practice database that is interrogated.

Bottom-up benchmarking - when an organisation takes the initiative to initiate a benchmarking project. (See also top-down benchmarking

Case (study) - the description of a specific situation and application of methods, typically a programme or project. This may be within a single organisation or may be a pan-European project. A case study in Beep must use ICT as a necessary but not necessarily a sufficient tool. A case study must involve one or more objectives and a description of the activities (methods and processes) carried out in pursuit of these obejctives. See also case family, head case and member case.

Case characteristic - an indicator that describes the context and setting for the case. Formerly called case characteristic indicators. See also key indicator and success assumptions.

Case contact - person(s) or representative(s) of organisation(s) who represent the case owner or case contributor and are authorised by the case owner or case contributor to receive and answer communications from the users of the Beep database about the case (or part of a case).

Case contributor - person(s) or representative(s) of organisation(s) who contribute the case (or part of a case) to Beep's case editor and who are so authorised by the case owner. Distinguish from the wider meaning of contributor.

Case editor - person(s) representing the Beep team who are responsible for case processing and for liaising with the case contributor.

Case family - a group of related cases. For example, an overall e-commerce programme may be the head case and individual projects such as e-supply chain and e-CRM (Customer Relationship Management) member cases. Another example is a network which is itself treated as a case, and which also contains within it one or more organisations each of which is treated as a separate member case. Note that a case family may simply be a related collection of member cases.

Case owner - person(s) or representative(s) of organisation(s) who can legitimately claim ownership over the IPR (intellectual property rights) of a case (or part of a case) and who can authorise Beep to use agreed material for case processing.

Case performance indicator - a measure that assesses the success or otherwise of a case in meeting its objectives and outputs. Case performance indicators can include both internal performance aspects (as used in process benchmarking) and external impact aspects (service benchmarking). Beep will focus on the latter i.e. output and achievement oriented vs. inputs and activities. See also Beep vertical structure.

Case processing - all activities necessary for selecting, researching, writing, editing, coding, uploading into the Beep database, and updating a case (or part of a case). See also case coding.

Clustering - the concentration of a given type of industry in a localised geographic area. In such areas employment in the industry may be several times the norm for the region or country as a whole.

Complex advanced search - the most comprehensive method of searching the Beep database, in which the user can select from all available fields using OR, AND and NOR Boolean searches. All the options are displayed on a single screen. Contrast step-by-step advanced search which takes the user through one group of options at a time. See also basic search.

Contributor - A person, institution or other grouping who is responsible for, or contributing to, the case - actors who have an interest or involvement in the case but are not the ultimate beneficiaries of it (these can include Beep users, i.e. those who will use the Beep services). The other types of Beep actor is a beneficiary. Distinguish from the narrow term case contributor, a person who provides case documentation to the Beep team.

Critical Success Factor (CSF) - those factors which are used to benchmark a case and are considered to be critical to the successful achievement of best practice. Normally this is the critical success factor for the end-user/customer of the organisation. For the purposes of Beep, case performance indicators are measures of critical success factors. When CSFs are identified, the gap between an organisation's own performance and the best performing organisation can be established. From now on, and in the Beep database, the term key factor will be used in preference to critical success fcator. See also internal CSF, external CSF, success assumption and Beep vertical structure.

Digital divide - a term that refers to the gaps in access to information and communication technologies and networks, either because of lack of economic resources or lack of skills.

Digital SME (domain) - an SME that exploits ICT to its full potential in a holistic manner, e.g. changing products and services, changing markets, changing relationships with customers, new types of value chain and forms of cooperation and alliance, new organisational and management configurations, new ways to manage knowledge, etc. There are three sub-cateories 1) an SME whose products and services are predominantly digital; 2) an SME which uses digital methods as the primary means of carrying out core operations - marketing, sales, service etc., e.g. a pure dot.com; 3) an SME that exploits the benefits of digital methods to a significant extent. Digital SMEs are one of Beep four domains.

Domain - an area of interest. Beep has four domains, each of strong relevance to the eEurope Initiative (2000-2002) and comprising two pairs of complementary domains:

End user - a person who can benefit from the initiatives described by Beep e.g. SMEs, employees, disabled. These end-users need not be individuals, but can be businesses and organisations who are 'customers' when using the output supplied from the public sector. (See also user). Contrast with Beep user).

ePractice - a practice or method that relies heavily on the use of the Internet and similar online electronic networks. ePractices include e-commerce (electronic commerce), eWork (telework)and eGov (electronic government).

External CSF - a critical success factor in the external environment i.e. i.e. 'givens' that cannot directly be influenced by the initiative itself. Examples are the legal framework, the socio-economic environment, available ICT infrastructure and the skills base. Contrast with internal CSF. See also success assumption.

Free text search - a method of searching a Beep database seeking ordinary text words or phrases in any part of a case record. Free text search is one method of basic search. Contrast with advanced search.

Gap (benchmarking gap, performance gap) - the gap between the user's own actual performance and the best practice performance.

General benchmarking - comparing performance for specific CSFs only. When a user searches the Beep Database looking for these, he or she is probably looking for general inspiration in relation to good CSF scores, or more particularly looking to see which characteristics are needed to deliver a specific CSF score or set of CSF scores.

Good practice - the use of a method, tool, technology etc. which is generally regarded as exemplary. Contrast with best practice which has been shown to be the 'best' in a given situation as a result of benchmarking and other analyses. Some people prefer the term good pracitce to best practice in any case, since best practice implies that there is no scope for imporvement and may limit ambition.

Head case - the case (study) in a case family that provides the common description or an overview of the other lower-level cases (member cases) in the family.

Indicator - factors in a case that are capable of assessment, either as quantiative measure or a subjective evaluation. Case characteristics are one one type of indicator. They indicate factors such as organization size and type and industry sector. A critical success factor can be considered as a second type of (high level) indicator. Another type of indicator is a case performance indicator. See also key indicator and Beep vertical structure.

Information and Communication Technology (ICT) - for the purposes of Beep, ICT is any electronic technology (digital or analogue) involved in processing information and/or communicating between machines and/or sites.

Internal CSF - a critical success factor that is an integral part of the initiative and can be directly influenced. Contrast external CSF. Only internal CSFs will be used for benchmarking in Beep.

Key factor - a factor which is a key determinant of the outcome of a case. For best practice cases key factors are usually synonymous with critical success factors, but to maintain general applicability, this term was adopted in mid-2002 as the preferred term within the Beep case structure.

Key factor search - a type of basic search in which the Beep database user can confine the search to those cases that contain specified key factors.

Key indicator - an important indicator common to all domains. Key indicators are a subset of case characteristics.

Logical Framework Analysis (LFA) - a logical framework for structuring and analysing cases (or projects) based upon the following matrix in which a process is broken down into various steps. These are inputs which are converted by activities into outputs, which themselves serve one or more immediate objectives. Each immediate objective serves one or more goals (or long term objectives).

Process and results	Measurement	Verification	Assumptions
Definition of Goal (long-term strategic or development objective)			including “killer” assumptions
Definition of Objective (short term or immediate objective)			including “killer” assumptions
Inputs
Activities
Outputs			Indicators in Beep
Achievement of Objective			Indicators in Beep
Achievement of Goal

The LFA matrix also shows the requirement for measuring and monitoring this process. The measurement column shows the how the process in its various steps can be measured (i.e. the source of measurement or activities needed for measurement), how these measurements are verified (i.e. the actual result of the measurement), and the assumptions (i.e. what background assumptions must be in place for each step in the process to take place successfully). In the latter, a “killer assumption” is one which, if not fulfilled, would result in the breakdown of the process. If a killer assumption is identified, steps must be taken to ensure that the assumption is fulfilled, and if this is not possible, a decision probably needs to be taken to abandon the process. Note - the LFA has been extended from the original described in deliverable 1.1. See also Beep vertical structure, which is a more recent framework that is used in practice.

Macro-oriented benchmarking - measurement of a nation's or a sector's general performance. (See also micro-oriented benchmarking.)

Mapping - a structured or visual display of the relationship of systems or knowledge entities. For example, in benchmarking, one output is a map of systems and processes, for which indicators are developed. For the knowledge base, a map will help uses navigate through different categories of knowledge.

Measurement in benchmarking - the measurement of indicators to prove the effectiveness of a process as "better", which simple observation may not. It is easy to be impressed by visiting another organisation and seeing something done in a different way. The temptation is to rush back and change things, but it is important to remember: Different does not equal better. Only measurement will show. "If you can't measure the performance you can't manage the process" (From Dr. Martin Samuels: Towards Best Practice. An evaluation of the first two years of the Public Sector Benchmarking project 1996-8.)

Member case - a lower level case within a case family. For example, several member cases may cover projects within an organization that may be related to a head case about an over-riding programme.

Metric - the actual measure of a quantitative indicator. Sometimes the two terms are used synonymously.

Micro-oriented Benchmarking - consists of a detailed analysis of selected public institutions or private companies. Here, individual organisations benchmark themselves against the database, and thereby establish comparisons that allow them to identify best practices. (See also macro-oriented Benchmarking.)

Objective - what a user is trying to achieve. Every case has one or more objectives that are specified within the definitions of a domain. Within the Logical Framework Analysis an objective is short-term. Contrast with goal. See also Beep vertical structure.

Objective search - one of the types of basic search, in which the user searches for cases that have specific objectives.

Output - the immediate results of the activities launched. Outputs are geared towards the user objectives, but are only “a step towards” these objectives. A set of outputs is provided for each objective. Each output answers the question “which processes and systems contribute most to satisfying the user objectives specified?” The outputs feed into the objectives and are the immediate result of the CSFs. See also Logical Framework Analysis and Beep vertical structure.

Performance benchmarking - typically a quantitative analysis of performance and efficiency. In the simplest form, critical or central key data from a certain number of companies, organisations or programmes are compared. One variant is competitive benchmarking. Service benchmarking is a sub-set of performance benchmarking.

Process benchmarking - is where a specific process is measured and compared against similar processes of the organisation known to be the best for that specific process. In generic benchmarking all restrictions on comparisons with similar industries and competition are lifted, and a process will be benchmarked against similar processes of two or more organisations.

Regional cohesion - the original Beep term for one of the domains that is now called regional development.

Regional development (domain) - a focus on the new role of regions in the New Economy and Information Society. It recognises geographic, language and cultural diversity as important assets, which can complement trends towards the Europeanisation and globalisation of the economy. It is one of Beep's four domains.

Relevance score - how relevant a search result is, based on the search terms. The score is a result of statistical calculations e.g. how many times the terms appear in the case description. Relevance is scored separately against several database parameters, such as domains and objective.

Scientific benchmarking database - a Beep database that will contain optimal (ideal) business and societal models and associated benchmarking scores. This database will contain inherently optimal but normative models/cases derived from knowledge inputs in the form of surveys, case studies, literature study from research institutions, etc. The data will be synthetic in the sense that it would contain ideal best practices, not necessarily found in real life. See also best practices database and user database.

Service benchmarking - comparing the performance of a service as delivered by different organisations. Service benchmarking measures outputs and is a type of performance benchmarking. Contrast process benchmarking.

Social inclusion (domain) - participation of all European citizens in the digital economy because they have the information tools and skills that are necessary. Achieving social inclusion depends on mitigation of the digital divide (between the ‘haves’ and ‘have-nots’). It encompasses not just technology literacy, skills and competence but also access, affordability and awareness issues. It is one of Beep's four domains.

Social partner - a term used by the European Commission for employers' and employee organisations who engage with the Commission in a dialogue with a view to developing a common approach to EU economic and social polocies. It encompasses Trade Unions, Trade Associations, Chamber of Commerce, and (peripherally) Professional Associations.

Stakeholder - a person or organization that has an interest in the Beep knowledge base but for whom the domain material and tools are not directly designed. Compare with a user.

Step-by-step advanced search - one of the ways to search a Beep database which gives full access to advanced facilities of the complex search, but guides the searcher through the options in a sequence of straighforward steps. See also basic search.

Study - an analytical piece of work that may include surveys or analysis of a group of case studies. Contrast with case study which is an individal situation or programme.

Success assumption - a factor that is not critical to the success of the case (c.f. critical success factor, but is important in determining background factors i.e. unlike CSFs they are not measured in terms of the changes "caused" by actions within a case. In a particular case, examples of success assumptions might be the existence of a broadband network, sufficient financial resources etc.

Theme - a broad topic related to objectives and factors, but which cuts across several domains. Themes are, in practice, keywords that describe inputs or outputs. Current themes within Beep are competitiveness, elarning, human captial, innovation, knowledge management, product/service quality, quality of life, teleworking, working environment, working practices.

Top-down benchmarking - where the initiative to the benchmarking process lies outside the organisation. Top-down initiated benchmarking can establish a uniform comparison in a given area that can uncover efficiency relationships. (See also bottom-up benchmarking.)

User - A user is someone who uses Beep's services (a Beep user) or who can benefit from the initiatives described by Beep (end user). See also stakeholder.

User database - the database that stores user inputs. Inputs will come from a sub-set of Beep users who score their organisations on CFSs and its characteristics. Each user will be able to input his/her data and store it in this database. Through the user database, new best practice performances may be provided, but these would have to be validated by the Beep team before being added to the best practices database.

User objective - the purpose of the eEurope practices described, i.e. what they aim to achieve in the interest of the end user.

Work and Skills (domain) - focus on best practice to enhance work and skills in organisations through the use of ICT. Work and skills is one of Beep's four domains.

Version 1 – Created 12 April 2001. Incorporated glossary from Deliverable 1.1 and additions.

Version 2 – Created 26 June 2001. Revisions based on Bologna management meeting. Terms revised include cases, domain definitions, indicators.

Version 3 – Created 6 November 2001. Updated case terminology, also hierarchy objectives and aspects of Beep vertical, based on post-Bonn meeting documents (e.g. Deliverable 3.1 Addendum, revised case coding).

Version 4 – Created 12 September 2002. Inclusion of terms relevant to database users and contributors. Inclusion of Beep hierarchy. Updating of terminology to reflect current usage within the team. Removal of more detailed benchmarking terms. Greater consistency.

Beep Glossary (Version 4)

This is a working glossary that contains definitions used in Beep. The definitions here may therefore not fully correspond with those in use elsewhere for other purposes.

Activity	Contributor	Macro-oriented benchmarking
Actor	Critical success factor (CSF)	Mapping
Advanced search	CSF	Measurement in benchmarking
Basic search	Customer	Member case
Beep database	Database	Metric
Beep database dimension	Digital divide	Micro-oriented benchmarking
Beep knowledge system	Digital SME	Objective
Beep services	Dimension	Objective search
Beep user	Domain	Output
Benchlearning	Domain user	Performance benchmarking
Benchmarking	End user	Process benchmarking
Beneficiary	ePractice	Regional cohesion
Best practice	External CSF	Regional development
Best practices database	Free text search	Relevance score
Bottom-up benchmarking	Gap	Scientific benchmarking database
Case (study)	General benchmarking	Service benchmarking
Case characteristic	Generic benchmarking	Services
Case coding	Goal	Social inclusion
Case contact	Good practice	Social partner
Case contributor	Head case	Stakeholder
Case editor	ICT	Step-by-step search
Case family	Indicator	Study
Case owner	Information & Comms Technology	Success assumption
Case performance indicator	Input	Theme
Case processing	Internal CSF	Top-down benchmarking
Characteristic	Key factor	User
Characteristic indicator	Key factor search	User database
Clustering	Key indicator	User objective
Competitive benchmarking	Knowledge base	Work and Skills (domain)
Complex search	Logical Framework Analysis (LFA)