The Sheikh Khalifa Excellence Award has been expanded to cover other sectors under efforts by His Highness Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and Deputy Supreme Commander of the UAE Armed Forces, to encourage national institutions.

Announcing the fourth cycle of the award, the Abu Dhabi Chamber of Commerce and Industry said that this year it would cover industry, services, trade, finance, contracting, tourism, income generating and profit-earning by public and private sectors.

It said the award's office had completed preparations to distribute application forms, guide books and other needed items to those who wish to take part in this year's award.

"From this year onward, those who have won the award in previous cycles will have the opportunity to take part again," it said.

The statement outlined details of the Award and disclosed the introduction of "Quality Appreciation Certificates" to organisations which demonstrate strong commitment to excellence and quality but fall short of winning the award.

The full set of application include:

1. An application form that should be completed then signed by the highest ranking official at the applicant organisation.

2. The award guide, including the development model and the criteria along with the detailed explanation of how to respond to each criteria.

It is to be noted that the award office has revised this important guide and added more explanation for the criteria. The guide also includes details of the application process and the scoring method of each criteria.

3. Applicants guide: including detailed explanation of how to participate, the role assigned to an applicant organisation and completion of relevant application documents.

The guide explains the link of the award office at the Abu Dhabi Chamber of Commerce and Industry with applicant organisations on the one hand, and its relation with juries and assessors on the other hand.

4. General guide: gives detailed explanation of the significance of the criteria of the award development model in various sectors and how would applicant organisations be able to interpret this in reality.

5. SMEs guide: specifically prepared to give detailed explanation of excellence criteria with regard to the SMEs and in what ways they differ from large establishments.

The award office said the purpose of theses valuable booklets and literature is the maximum effort to guide participants in responding to relevant queries accurately and efficiently.

They have been produced based on scientific methods with explanations and examples, including past experiences with quality and excellence so that the applicants can understand all the issues easily.

In addition, the committee, realising that books are not the only means, organises seminars and special workshops to have an interaction with the participants.

As new step from this year, the committee will hold specially tailored seminars for each sector to shed light on how to interpret the award criteria in various sectors including the government sector.

The series of seminars will commence in the month of September and will continue until the middle of November this year, the award office said.

The statement also called on all the organisations and establishments to take maximum benefit out of the the award programmes and functions, patronised and organised by the ADCCI.

The benefits will not be confined to the corporate establishments but will also include the people employed in these establishments, through the policy of assessors training conducted all through the previous three cycles, it added.

The award assessors are CEOs of organisations operating in the UAE in various fields. They are trained on auditing techniques and qualified to assess applicant organisations.

Based on this concept, the award higher committee considers them the real ambassadors and representatives of quality and excellence in business in the Emirate of Abu Dhabi.

Over the past years, ADCCI provided training for more than 120 assessors in Abu Dhabi, who are believed to be promoting such experiences and know-how within their organisations and to implement excellence criteria on their own work.

The award's higher committee has deep-rooted conviction that the award programme is not merely a limited framework to encourage competitiveness among organisations in the country to be winner or a loser.

It is a national developmental project, based on the latest scientific experience to provide the national organisations with a road map towards continuous development and improvement on the personal as well as the corporate levels.

Among the participants there are no losers, but all are winners inasmuch as starting the journey, an open-ended road towards business excellence.

According to the statement, the real award and the actual benefit reaped by a participant is the 'diagnostic feedback report', explaining the points of strength and the areas of improvement that could be turned into projects and programmes aimed at continuous improvement.