Quality Star Rating Levels

The Heron Partnership awards Quality Star Ratings at 5 levels:

5 Stars - Outstanding
4 Stars - Commendable
3 Stars - Good
2 Stars - Poor
1 Star - Unacceptable

Our assessment of Corporate and Retail funds covers about 130 features of each superannuation product. All of these features are relevant to corporate products. However, some features that we assess are not relevant to retail products, such as clearing house availability, Automatic Acceptance Limits, ability to use an alternative insurer etc. As a consequence, we apply different rating bands to retail products to qualify for the Heron Quality Star Ratings. The Pension fund assessment covers about 70 specific pension product features. The ratings levels are as follows:

Rating
Definition
Corporate & Pension Funds Score 
(maximum score 100)
Retail Funds Score
(maximum score 100)

5 Stars
Outstanding - this is an outstanding product with a great depth of features and hence flexibility
Total rating of 80 or above
Total rating of 75 or above

4 Stars
Commendable - these products are commendable and offer a good range of options and some flexibility
Total rating of 70 or above
Total rating of 65 or above

3 Stars
Good - these funds are basic in their offerings
Total rating of 60 or above
Total rating of 55 or above

2 Stars
Poor
Total rating of 50 or above
Total rating of 45 or above

1 Star
Unacceptable
Total rating under 50
Total rating under 45

Rating	Definition	Corporate & Pension Funds Score (maximum score 100)	Retail Funds Score (maximum score 100)
5 Stars	Outstanding - this is an outstanding product with a great depth of features and hence flexibility	Total rating of 80 or above	Total rating of 75 or above
4 Stars	Commendable - these products are commendable and offer a good range of options and some flexibility	Total rating of 70 or above	Total rating of 65 or above
3 Stars	Good - these funds are basic in their offerings	Total rating of 60 or above	Total rating of 55 or above
2 Stars	Poor	Total rating of 50 or above	Total rating of 45 or above
1 Star	Unacceptable	Total rating under 50	Total rating under 45

There are no restrictions to the number of funds that can receive any of these ratings. Each is individually measured against the set benchmarks using our assessment methodology.