Sport England’s National Benchmarking Service (NBS) is to receive a shake-up in its back-room operations, with consultancy Leisure-net Solutions to take a more prominent role, working alongside Sheffield Hallam University to provide the NBS’s analysis and report writing services.

The NBS is a well-established benchmarking tool, which provides critical data on the performance of leisure facilities, looking at participation, financial and customer satisfaction data.

Leisure-net, which already runs the administration side of the NBS and recently merged with David Monkhouse Consulting will now also be leading the analysis side of the service.

There are plans to introduce new features. The Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) and report format will be reviewed, following a detailed industry consultation.

In addition, an online benchmarking platform is set to launch in September 2014, allowing clients to generate dynamic benchmarking reports, comparing their data against industry averages. In future, each report will be delivered to clients in conjunction with a personalised report interpretation session over the phone.

“Leisure-net Solutions is really excited about launching a new and exciting benchmarking service for the sector,” said Mike Hill, managing director of Leisure-net Solutions.

“We will be working closely with the Sports Institute Research Centre at Sheffield Hallam University to ensure the NBS analysis and report writing service is the best possible tool for clients.”

Two other companies were involved in the bidding process, and will be helping Leisure-net with the evolution of the NBS. Online platform development will be orchestrated by technical development partners, 4Global, while leisure sector consultants Max Associates will provide professional advice on the development of the new suite of KPIs, and the gathering of financial and utilisation data.