HERO-Information Office

Is it time for your chamber's annual reviews, board retreats, strategic planning or annual reports? Find metrics to benchmark your chamber's performing using ACCE's new survey platform Dynamic Chamber Benchmarking. The system is FREE to ACCE members and you can access it 24/7, 365 days per year.

Use your ACCE login to get started. If you don’t know it, request it here or email HERO@acce.org.

When you first login to DCB, you will see a “splash” or intro screen. Simply click “Close” at the end of the splash screen and you will be launched into the platform where you will see the survey sections for Chamber Profile (required data) and Operations Survey. There is also a Salary Survey section that is open to CEO members or their delegates. CEO's can email permission to HERO@acce.org. 

Start by reviewing your Chamber’s data in the Chamber Profile and complete any questions which are blank. The Profile section is required. Note the fiscal year you are working with. Currently the system is defaulting to FY2013. For immediate reports and comparisons, you will want to use FY2013. We did just open up data entry for FY2014 which you can now enter at any time, and those reports will be available in the early new year.

After you’ve updated the Chamber Profile, review and update all the sections under the Operations Survey and in the Salary Survey. Note the fiscal year you are working with. There are several new questions to answer in all of the survey sections. The Salary Survey has been expanded to include Senior Staff, Mid-Level, Sales Staff, and Support Staff, in addition to the CEO.

If you participated in previous surveys, your data was migrated. In the Salary Survey, only the CEO data was migrated because there are so many new questions in the survey. Please be sure to check the information for each fiscal year available. You can enter FY2014 data for those of you who have completed and audited your FY2014.

There are 2 options for viewing the results, both of which have robust filtering options for the best comparisons:

1. Under “Compare Chambers” for each of the survey sections, apply the filters, and you can see your chamber’s responses to each survey question, compared to the 25th, 50th, and 75th percentiles of other participants. For Membership Statics, Revenue and Expenses, see the data under the Operations Survey. For Salary data, see the Salary Survey section.
2. Under “Reports and Charts” for each survey, you can select the filters to apply, then download either the full Operations Survey Report or the Membership Statistics Report in the Operations Survey; or download the CEO Report in the Salary Survey. These reports show where your chamber stands with the calculations for revenue, expenses, membership stats, and more, compared to the 25th, 50th, and 75th percentiles. Note that we are working on building additional Salary Survey reports right now and will have these available soon!

Here are additional resources to help you get started:

• Participate now - Login with your ACCE username and password; Use Support for help in the platform
• Quick Start Guide
• Data Collection Worksheet (all survey questions)
• Research page with more info
• Email HERO@acce.org for help; We can also provide phone assistance or schedule a web meeting to show the system and answer any questions. 
• View our 11/19 Recorded webinar and tip handout; View all our recordings to date.
• Sign up for the So, You Want to Apply for Chamber of The Year? Webinar on 12/4 at 3 pm Eastern. Learn more about the Chamber of the Year Award.
  • Complete all the FY 2014 survey sections (Chamber Profile, Operations Survey and Salary Survey) by Feb. 27, 2015 to be eligible to apply.