Service Level Benchmarking
Dec 2011 - June 2012
Project Introduction & Objectives
Investment in infrastructure of cities by central government has not always resulted in commensurate outcomes. There is a need for a shift in focus from just infrastructure creation to delivery of service outcomes. The service level benchmarks for the urban water and sanitation sector have been formulated in this context.
Service level benchmarks can broadly be defined as a minimum set of standard performance parameters that are commonly understood and used by all stakeholders across the country.
This has also become the cornerstone of the urban reform agenda being implemented as part of various centrally sponsored schemes such as the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM) and the Urban Infrastructure Development Scheme for Small and Medium Towns (UIDSSMT).
Benchmarking is now well recognized as an important mechanism for performance management and accountability in service delivery. It involves the measuring and monitoring of service provider performance on a systematic and continuous basis. Sustained benchmarking can help utilities (cities, rural and urban bodies) to identify performance gaps and introduce improvements through the sharing of information and best practices, ultimately resulting in better services to people.
Recognizing its importance, the Ministry of Urban Development (MoUD), Government of India, has launched the Service Level Benchmarking (SLB) initiative covering water supply, wastewater, solid waste management and storm water drainage.
Scope of Work
Cranberry, on behalf of Pimpri Chinchwad Municipal Corporation performed an exhaustive analysis on above mentioned 4 parameters (water supply, wastewater, solid waste management and storm water drainage) across the city. We surveyed more than 1,60,000 respondents (representative of approx. 10,000,00 in population) through a carefully designed series of 40 questions and collected data through various means (digital and manual) for further analysis.
This was a cross-examination of quality of services being rendered by the utility as well as an exercise in spreading awareness among citizens. So the sample set chosen was a careful amalgamation of all socio-economic levels, different topographies and various parameters like caste, gender, religion, handicaps, occupations etc.
We then submitted an exhaustive report with multiple statistical analysis, data models, key issues and possible solutions.We also developed and provided a web based software and dashboards for further custom analysis and mining of data.
This was a one of a kind SLB analysis in the entire country where such a huge sample was chosen for investigation, generally most of the ULBs (Urban Local Bodies) of similar size go for a very small sample (~10,000) and don’t consider a lot of variations found in Indian populace which results in skewed and incomplete data models and policies.