Benchmark is a recognised standard that forms the basis for comparison. In quality improvement lexicon, a benchmark is a best in class achievement. This achievement then becomes the reference point or recognized standard of excellence against which similar processes are measured. Benchmark data is a recognised standard data set against which other data sets are compared.
Source
- SDMX, Statistical Data and Metadata Exchange initiative, sponsored by BIS, ECB, Eurostat, IMF, OECD, UNSD and World Bank, 2009