Assignment Cover Sheet

Assessment – BSBMGT517 Manage Operational Plan

Please complete the following activities and hand in to your trainer for marking. This forms part of your assessment for this unit.

Declaration

I declare that no part of this assessment has been copied from another person’s work with the exception of where I have listed or referenced documents or work and that no part of this assessment has been written for me by another person.

Student Name:______

Signed:______Date:______

If activities have been completed as part of a small group or in pairs, details of the learners involved should be provided below;

This Assessment workbook has been completed by the following persons and we acknowledge that it was a fair team effort where everyone contributed equally to the work completed. We declare that no part of this assessment has been copied from another person’s work with the exception of where we have listed or referenced documents or work and that no part of this assessment has been written for us by another person.

Learner 1:______

Signed:______

Learner 2:______

Signed:______

Learner 3:______

Signed:______

Competency Record

Unit Code- BSBMGT517Unit Name- Manage Operational Plan

ASSESSMENT STRATEGIES / ASSESSOR COMMENTS
  1. Written Activities

  1. Oral Questioning

  1. Trainer Observation

  1. Other (Please specify)

  1. The Student is Competent (C)
  1. The Student is Not Yet Competent (NYC)

Reasons for NYC

______

Strategies to address gaps in performance

  • Trainer’s Comments

______

  • Student’s Comments

______

Student’s Signature (if NYC or FAIL)………………………………………………………..

Date of Reassessment:

Observation after Reassessment: ______

Trainer Name :Signature:Date:

Table of Contents

Competency Record

Table of Contents

Assignment Submission Guidelines

How to lodge assessments:

Written work

Plagiarism

What about Copyright?

Activities

Activity 1.1.1 to 1.1.4

Activity 1.2.1 – 1.2.2

Activity 1.3.1 -1.3.2

Activity 1.4.1 - 1.4.3

Activity 1.5.1 - 1.5.2

Activity 1.6.1-1.6.2

Activity 2.1.1 -2.1.3

Activity 2.2.1 – 2.2.5 (2.2.6 VE)

Activity 3.1.1 – 3.1.3

Activity 3.2.1

Activity 3.3.1

Activity 3.4.1

Activity 3.5.1 -3.5.2

Activity 3.6.1 – 3.6.2

MajorActivity 1

MajorActivity (Project) 2

Role Play

Appendix 1- Virtual AIMT (the Company)

Assignment Submission Guidelines

Important Note:

  • This booklet contains assessment questions and tasks which will allow you to provide evidence toward gaining this qualification. If you have been able to demonstrate competence through recognition for any unit(s) then your Trainer will advise of which questions for that particular unit(s) that you will not need to complete.
  • To demonstrate competence you must complete all assessment tasks. Each task is linked to specific competency element/s or critical aspects of assessment.
  • Please be advised that all of the assignments have to be submitted within the assigned timeframe to be deemed competent for the unit.
  • Any late submission can be allowed only after written approval from the trainer. Late submission may not be allowed and may incur late submission fee (inquire from the front desk regarding the fee).
  • Nonsubmission of assignments will lead to Not Yet Competent for the unit. Failure to pass the unit will require the learner to repeat the unit at full fee.

How to lodge assessments:

  • Presentation of any written assessments is important. Remember you are trying to convince your assessor of your competency. Your written assessment or recognition portfolio should:
  • Be typed or handwritten (legibly)
  • Have an assessment cover page
  • Have a contents list (if appropriate)
  • Have headings (if appropriate
  • Give clear references (if external information sources are used)
  • Assessments should be provided stapled or clipped – not in a plastic sleeve or presentation folder (even though these look professional) as we cannot undertake to return all your assessments – all assessment items are retained for audit purposes as part of our quality assurance commitment. Appropriate feedback on your work will be provided back to you.
  • For the above reasons it is also important to keep a copy of your assessments in case they are lost in transit. All assessments tasks arriving with a completed email address on the cover sheet will be acknowledged on the day of receipt.

Written work

Assessment projects are common assessment items used to measure a participants understanding. A good project should:

  • Have your name on each part of the project
  • Use a numbering system for referencing to attachments (and clearly label attachments)
  • Focus on the set tasks
  • Show that you have researched the topic thoroughly
  • Cover the topic in a logical and structured manner
  • Be written in simple, clear language
  • Be well presented with correct grammar, punctuation and referencing (if appropriate)

Plagiarism

Plagiarism is a form of cheating. It is taking and using someone else’s thoughts, writings or inventions and representing them as your own. Plagiarism is a serious act and may result in a participant’s exclusion from a module or a course. When you have any doubts about including the work of other authors in your assessments, please consult with your facilitator. The following list outlines some of the activities for which a participant can be accused of plagiarism:

  • Presenting any work by another individual as one’s own unintentionally
  • Handing in assessments markedly similar to or copied from another student
  • Presenting the work of another individual or group as their own work.
  • Handing up assessments without the adequate acknowledgement of sources used, including assessments taken totally or in part from the internet.

What about Copyright?

You must be careful when copying the work of others. The owner of the material may take legal action against you if the owner’s copyright has been infringed.

You are allowed to do a certain amount of copying for research or study purposes. Generally, 10% or one chapter of a book is acceptable, where the participant is studying with or employed by an educational institution.

Activities

Activity 1.1.1 to 1.1.4

Objective:To provide you with an opportunity to think how to research, analyse and document resource requirements and develop an operational plan in consultation with relevant personnel, colleagues and specialist resource managers

1.1.1Describe what is an operational plan? Elaborate the steps involved in developing a successful operational plan?

1.1.2“Balanced Scorecard technique is one of the prominent models of operational planning”. Discuss on usefulness of this technique for managers.

1.1.3What is the importance of strategic plan to the operational plan? How are they related to each other? Give an example to demonstrate your answer.

1.1.4Consultation can be done both formally and informally. Outline some of the tools of formal and informal consultation.Refer to the company profile of Virtual AIMT given at the end of this workbook. You have been given charge of designing the product catalogue for the company. How would you seek consultation from various personnel in this regards. Include in your answer the various ways of consultation process.

(Hint - Do not actually design a catalogue. Just emphasise on consultation process)

Activity 1.2.1 – 1.2.2

Objective:To provide you with the chance to consider important parts when developing and implementing consultation processes at an integral part of the operational plan

1.2.1List the ways in which you can communicate consultation processes? Give an example of a time that you may use each of them?

1.2.2How is feedback used for in the consultation process?

Activity 1.3.1 -1.3.2

Objective:To provide you with an opportunity to ensue details of the operational plan include the development of key performance indicators to measure operational performance

1.3.1What do you understand by KPI? What are the two key factors for a successful KPI?

1.3.2Write a KPI related to your job that you do. Also write the operational goal that you believe this KPI relates to or provide a brief description of the role that you are writing a KPI for.

Activity 1.4.1 - 1.4.3

Objective:To provide you with an opportunity to develop and implement contingency plans at appropriate stages of operational plans

1.4.1What is a contingency plan? Why do businesses need to execute contingency planning?

1.4.2Briefly explain each step of developing a contingency plan. What are the challenges in developing a sound contingency plan?

1.4.3List what contingency plans may include in the job that you do or the one which you are aware of.

Activity 1.5.1 - 1.5.2

ObjectiveTo provide you with an opportunity to consider and ensure the development and presentation of proposals for resource requirements is supported by a variety of information sources and seeks specialist advice as required.

1.5.1Why does a business need to write up a business proposal? Describe the steps used in writing a winning business proposal.

1.5.2When writing a business proposal, why is it important that you obtain a specialist advice? Highlight the importance of a specialist advice with an example.

1.5.3When you present the business proposal, what all information you need to include?

Activity 1.6.1-1.6.2

1.6.1Draw a flow chart of the approval process from relevant parties in your organization and describe how would you ensure that the team understands what the approval was for?

1.6.2SMART goals assist in measuring and setting realistic objectives and help the team members understand the objective. Discuss what you understand by SMART goals.

Activity 2.1.1 -2.1.3

ObjectiveTo provide you with an opportunity to develop and implement strategies to ensure that employees are recruited and/or inducted within the organisation's human resources management policies and practices

2.1.1What should Human Resource policies and procedures include?

2.1.2As a successful HR Manager, you need to have a well-developed recruitment strategy to fulfil the HR requirements of your operational plan. Discuss the various steps in formulating this strategy.

2.1.3When developing a training strategy, you need to consider the most effective training methods for a particular skill. Write short notes on the following training methods:

  1. On the job training:
  2. Group Training
  3. Coaching and Mentoring
  4. Self-paced training
  5. Off the job training

Activity 2.2.1 – 2.2.5

2.2.1What is a Supplier relationship? What are the challenges facing Operations Managers in obtaining competitive advantage from proficiency in supply management?

2.2.2What impact has Just in Time and Total Quality Management had on organizations in supplier relationships?

2.2.3Who are the internal suppliers? Why is it important to consider the relationship costs when you build relationships with suppliers?

2.2.4What are some of the factors that will influence the choice of supplier the organisation will choose?

2.2.5What is the significance of a Purchase Order in the purchase process? Refer to the company profile of Virtual AIMT given at the end of this workbook and raise a purchase order for production department. Enumerate all of the steps you took before raising the PO for Virtual AIMT. (Refer to Appendix 2 for Material Requisition)

Activity 3.1.1 – 3.1.3

ObjectiveTo provide you with an opportunity to develop, monitor and review performance systems and processes to assess progress in achieving profit and productivity plans and targets

3.1.1What are the steps in establishing a quality monitoring system?

3.1.2When you process information, why do you feel it is important to note the time, acceptable performance limits, changes to measurements, and whether the quality level was correct?

3.1.3State the importance of three major financial reports that you would use to assess health of a business.

Activity 3.2.1

ObjectiveTo provide you with an opportunity to analyse and interpret budget and actual financial information to monitor and review profit and productivity performance

3.2.1Why is it important to note variations in budgets? What are the variousfinancial information that you may need to monitor? Why is budget so important among them?

Activity 3.3.1

ObjectiveTo provide you with an opportunity to identify areas of underperformance, recommend solutions, and take prompt action to rectify the situation

3.3.1You have identified that there are variations in production in your office/ production line in regards to quality? Draw a flow chart that your organisation uses to identify and correct a problem in quality. Do not forget to demonstrate what will happen if the suggested variation to strategy is rejected.

Activity 3.4.1

ObjectiveTo provide you with an opportunity to plan and implement systems to ensure that mentoring and coaching are provided to support individuals and teams to effectively, economically and safely use resources

3.4.1A gap has been identified between accepted and desired performance problems. What steps do you recommend to support your team?

Activity 3.5.1 -3.5.2

ObjectiveTo provide you with an opportunity to negotiate recommendations for variations to operational plans and gain approval from designated persons/groups

3.5.1Why is principle negotiation recommended over hard and soft negotiation?

3.5.2How do organisations control consistency of recommendations?

Activity 3.6.1 – 3.6.2

ObjectiveTo provide you with an opportunity to develop and implement systems to ensure that procedures and records associated with documenting performance are managed in accordance with organisational requirements

3.6.1What is the importance of organizational procedures? How do the procedures help in setting the direction for an organization?

3.6.2List the documentation that you will need to collect as a part of an operational plan.

MajorActivity 1

PART A:

In this assessment task you are asked to visit the website of The Australian Small Business Commission.

The Australian Small Business Commission website contains a number of templates that can be used to develop a comprehensive business plan/strategy for any business.Your task is to develop a Business Plan for Virtual AIMT (Appendix 1) or any other company of your choice.

You are required to complete -

  • Business Plan Template

-In the financial section you are required to develop some KPI’s for your first year of business.

  • Emergency Plan Template
  • Succession Plan Template
  • Marketing Plan Template

By completing these 4 templates you will have addressed all the key issues and concerns for business planning and development, financial management, marketing and sale/finalisation of any business.

Each template contains prompter questions to help you identify the type of information you need to include in each area.

PART B:

As the Chief Emergency Officer you wish to test the emergency procedures you have developed as part of the business plan. The following areas are included.

a)Fire

b)Bomb Threat

c)Seriously ill / injured employee

Choose one of these areas and prepare and conduct an induction program with a small group (4 – 6 students) of employees.

For A and B, you need to develop and demonstrate the evacuation procedure, location of fire-fighting equipment and assembly points.

For C, you need to demonstrate basic first aid principles.

Prepare a checklist for participants to ensure they can competently achieve the expected outcome.

PART C:

After the training prepare a short reflection on your training. Highlight the positive aspects (things that went well) as well as the areas that need improvement.

Make recommendations of what you would change or implement in future training sessions.

MajorActivity (Project) 2

Complete the following and present it as a portfolio;

Project

Virtual AIMT Pty Ltd, an ISO 9001 company, is a name that has come to be synonymous with state-of the -art power conditioning products, viz. UPS systems, Inverters, Frequency Converters, Battery Chargers, Electronic Voltage Stabilizer and other power conditioning equipment which utilize latest technologies prevalent across the globe (refer to Appendix 1 for full details of the company).

Due to high demand the company has opened two offices, one in Melbourne and one in Adelaide. This expansion has led to a tight budget within the organisation for the fiscal year. You need to keep the budget variances at a minimal.

Five staff in the Administration department handle enquiries with regards to sales.

There are ten sales personnel whose primary responsibility is to follow up leads for new opportunities.

As a well-established organisation, Virtual AIMT believes in gaining and retaining customers through customer service excellence. Though the company has managed to retain their long standing personnel, several of their existing clients have changed in the last six months. Concerned with the loss of clients and no trend in the customers move, the Board of Directors have decided to train their team on the latest customer service skills.

As a project manager of the company, you have been given the Strategic Goal to Increase the revenue by 8% by the end of 2011.

You have been asked to develop an operational plan which you can develop on the following examples.

  • For Production department- presuming that there is sufficient demand for the product, the company is not able to increase the revenue due to the lack of production capacity. You may plan to increase the production capacity and thus increase the sales/revenue.
  • Sales and Marketing department- you may develop a plan to increase the sales by extensive marketing strategy and thus increase the revenue.
  • Finance department- you may allocate more resources to the production department, thereby increasing the capacity and hence the revenue.
  • Human Resources department- you may increase the number of staff and enhancing their skills, thus increasing the efficiency and the revenue.

You will also need to consider the following information while developing the operational plan.

  • Depending upon your operational goal, the resources can be procured from the respective department heads, e.g., HR, Finance, Production, etc. Consultation, if external, will have to be authorised by the HR Manager
  • Virtual AIMT has the tradition of holding the Monday Morning Meetings to discuss the progress of works. Meeting minutes are recorded are maintained.
  • Feedback from every staff and external customers is encouraged. The complaints register is presented to the MD every month.
  • Virtual AIMT ensures that KPIs should be measurable, target driven to fulfil the objective of the operational goals of the organisation and should demonstrate the initiatives taken.
  • It is the company policy to prepare a Contingency Plan which may aim to avoid the risk, reduce the negative impact of the risk or accept some or all of the consequences of the risk

In your report you must:

  1. Clearly state the Operational goals and how they are related to the strategic plan(1.1)
  2. List the resources and funds to meet these goals.
  3. The relevant personnel that you should consult with in regards to the operational goals and the resultant action plans required to meet the operational goals.
  4. The communication methods that you would recommend to maintain a record of the consultation process? Why? 1.2
  5. What feedback processes do you recommend should be put in place?
  6. What KPIs would you recommend to measure organisational performance in regards to the training? (Write at least two) 1.3
  7. Create at least two contingency plans if the employees in both departments do not meet the KPIs. 1.4
  8. Develop a business proposal for resource requirements (discuss this with your trainer using what you have learnt to develop and prioritise your strategies). Depending on the time available, the trainer may ask you to develop a presentation of this proposal). 1.5
  9. Draw a flow chart of the relevant parties who you should obtain approval from for this business proposal 1.6
  10. You need to also briefly outline how you would recommend that staff have the plan communicated to them. Use at least one smart goal to measure the team members demonstrate an understanding of the proposal.
  11. The organisation uses external referral agencies that are contracted as a supplier by referring potential customers to Virtual AIMT. These agencies have recently slowed down in referring customers to Virtual AIMT. Briefly outline in bullet points how you would strengthen the supplier relationship with them. 2.2
  12. Based on your KPIs, communication and feedback processes and the organisations operational plans, recommend what and how you will measure performance?
  13. Develop one tool based on your recommendations (this tool must reflect the goals)
  14. How will you monitorfinancial information? What do you need to watch for when reviewing this information? Why? 3.2
  15. Based on information that you have already received when you spoke to staff, there seems to be a mixture of performance and lack of skills with staff. Some of these problems stem from the Department Managers. How would you handle any underperformance issues in regards to these skills and the level of performance? In this answer, please refer to the factors that affect output and quality to justify a lack of skills and performance. 3.3, 3.4, 2.1
  16. There is a lack of openness and trust between the departments and this is having a negative impact on morale. Recommend ways in which you can overcome this.
  17. Draw a flow chart on the processes that you believe should be put in place for the approval of any variations to this plan. (Include who you should consult with in this flow chart).
  18. Using the documents that you have recommended in this project and developed, draw a flow chart on how the variation should be implemented after it has been approved.

Role Play (Class Group Project)

Role play is learning how to best handle a situation by practicing interactions and trying out different approaches. Students may act out situations, problems, and issues in a safe setting and develop skills. The role of each participant is detailed below. Further instructions will be given by the trainer. Each participant is required to jot down the discussed points and one of them can represent the group during presentation.