A cross-industry group is establishing metrics to measure business-process performance. The Open Standards Benchmarking Collaborative, which includes IBM, Fuji Xerox, and Shell Oil, is collecting data on business processes common to many companies, says Jennifer Crites, a business-process analyst in IBM's Business Consulting Services.

The group, which is an advisory council to the American Productivity & Quality Center, is inviting businesses to fill out a questionnaire on their business processes and submit data to PowerMarque, a database maintained by the center (go to www.apqc.org). The advisory council will sift the data, looking for norms and ways to measure efficiency. About 150 companies already are submitting data and will get back reports that help them compare themselves with other companies. For example, the median cost of delivering a paycheck is $6.40, says Carla O'Dell, president of the center, but efficient processes can lower that cost to $3.22