Guidelines for Best Practice Reports

A best practice is an in-depth study of an organizational practice used in one or more organizations that enables an organization to measure and to understand outcomes of its practices. Based on the results of cases, surveys, and/or interviews involving a number of individuals or organizations, a best practice report often makes use of benchmarking in the systematic examination of a practice in a situation or organization. A best practice report is a special type of research presumed to contain valid, tested information about human behavior and processes. In conceiving, structuring, and writing a best practice, the writer should consider certain basic and conventional goals. These are described below. Writing Best Practice Reports Results of analysis conducted in a particular field or industry, such as case studies, are used to determine outcomes that can be generalized (or applied) to organizations beyond those that have been individually tested. In this respect, a best practice makes use of well-defined processes through benchmarking. Benchmarking is a continuous and systematic process used to measure services, products, and practices against those of leaders in a given industry. This process begins with identifying the practice to be benchmarked, the organizations to be used for comparison, and the measures of performance. Quantitative and qualitative data are collected during this first step. The data are then analyzed, an