manage operational plan

Assessment Task

Overview

Written questions

You must correctly answer all questions.

Operations Plan project

You must conduct research on resource requirements, develop an Operational Plan and consult with stakeholders.

Manage acquisition of resources project

You must manage human resources and equipment requirements in accordance with organisational policy and procedures.

Monitor and review operational plan project

You must develop a report on operational performance.

This icon indicates that you will need to meet with your assessor (and possibly other students) to complete a meeting or role play.

This icon indicates that you will need to communicate via email or send documents to via email.

This icon indicates that you will need to submit an item of evidence.

This icon indicates all other stages during the task, which may include research, developing documents, brainstorming ideas and so on.

Have you read the assessment requirements for this unit?

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Do you understand the requirements of the assessments for this unit?

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No

Do you agree to the way in which you are being assessed

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Do you have any specific needs that should be considered

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If so, explain these in the space below.

Do you understand your rights to reassessment?

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Do you understand your right to appeal the decisions made in an assessment?

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Student name

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Assessor name

Assessor signature

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Student name

Student ID number

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Assessor name

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Assessment outcome

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Resubmission

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Student signature

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Analyse: when a question asks you to analyse something, you should do so in detail, and identify important points and key features. Generally, you are expected to write a response one or two paragraphs long.

Compare: when a question asks you to compare something, you will need to show how two or more things are similar, ensuring that you also indicate the relevance of the consequences. Generally, you are expected to write a response one or two paragraphs long.

Contrast: when a question asks you to contrast something, you will need to show how two or more things are different, ensuring you indicate the relevance or the consequences. Generally, you are expected to write a response one or two paragraphs long.

Describe: when a question asks you to describe something, you should state the most noticeable qualities or features. Generally, you are expected to write a response two or three sentences long.

Discuss: when a question asks you to discuss something, you are required to point out important issues or features and express some form of critical judgement. Generally, you are expected to write a response one or two paragraphs long.

Evaluate: when a question asks you to evaluate something, you should put forward arguments for and against something. Generally, you are expected to write a response one or two paragraphs long.

Examine: when a question asks you to examine something, this is similar to “analyse”, where you should provide a detailed response with key points and features and provide critical analysis. Generally, you are expected to write a response one or two paragraphs long.

Explain: when a question asks you to explain something, you should make clear how or why something happened or the way it is. Generally, you are expected to write a response two or three sentences long.

Identify: when a question asks you to identify something, this means that you are asked to briefly describe the required information. Generally, you are expected to write a response two or three sentences long.

List: when a question asks you to list something, this means that you are asked to briefly state information in a list format.

Outline: when a question asks you to outline something, this means giving only the main points, Generally, you are expected to write a response a few sentences long.

Summarise: when a question asks you to summarise something, this means (like “outline”) only giving the main points. Generally, you are expected to write a response a few sentences long.

Student’s name:

Did the student provide a sufficient and clear answer that addresses the suggested answer for the following?

Completed successfully?

Comments

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No

Question 1

Question 2

Question 3

Question 4

Question 5

Question 6

Question 7

Question 8

Question 9

Question 10

Question 11

Question 12

Question 13

Task outcome:

Satisfactory

Not satisfactory

Assessor signature:

Assessor name:

Date:

King Edward VII College has been operating for 5 years. The College is based in the Melbourne CBD and offers a range of courses in management, marketing, human resources and international business and currently has around 500 students enrolled across all of its courses. Courses are offered at all levels from Certificate II to Graduate Diploma. The College is very popular due to its competitive pricing structure, innovative teaching methods and state of the art facilities.

The College currently employs 24 staff members that include the CEO, a Marketing Manager and Marketing Assistant, Human Resources Manager, Operations and Finance Manager, Administration Manager, Office Assistant, Receptionist, Academic Manager, Student Services Officer and approximately 14 trainers.

Due to its success, the College plans to establish two additional campuses, one in Brisbane and one in Sydney. The plan is for the Brisbane campus to commence operating in January 2020 and Sydney in April 2020. Ideally campuses will be located close to the CBD. A maximum rental budget of $500,000 per annum in Sydney and $400,000 in Brisbane has been allocated. The desired floor area for each campus is at least 500 square metres.

With regard to staffing at each campus, the following should be noted. It is anticipated that initially each campus will require a receptionist and a student services officer. The receptionist and student services officer positions will be permanent, full-time staff. It is anticipated that maximum student numbers at the new campuses will be up to 60 students per campus in the first 12 months of operations. The College’s requirements for trainers is that there must be at least 1 trainer per 20 students.

Existing staff at the Melbourne campus will complete all other staff functions until such time as student numbers increase substantially. It is expected that this would occur after the first two years.

The College will also need to purchase a range of office equipment, as well as furniture for at least 100 students, at each campus.

Review the scenario information and the Strategic Plan to identify all the actions that will need to be completed to achieve the College’s objectives and be documented in an Operational Plan.

Use the Operational Plan Template to guide your work.

As a minimum, your Operational Plan must address:

· Renting of suitable commercial properties

· Staffing requirements

· Fitting out of the campus

· Equipment requirements

· Marketing requirements

Research and analyse each of the above resource requirements associated with the identification and establishment of the two new campuses. This must include:

· Sources of information for commercial properties

· Staffing requirements and recruitment options

· Fitting out requirements

· Equipment requirements

· Potential suppliers

· Marketing requirements.

Where you identify sources of information with regard to procuring resources, make sure that you make notes on these for inclusion in your Operational Plan.

Ensure that all of the resources are clearly documented in your Operational Plan, including information sources relating to resources specified.

You need to include timelines and key performance indicators for all required actions, including how often these will be measured in order to assess progress.

You do not need to complete the monitoring actions column at this stage.

As set out in the company’s organisational processes, you are also required to develop contingency plans to ensure that any risks to the success of goals of the operational plan are identified and contingencies are in place should things not go according to plan.

You must identify risks with the College’s establishment of the new campuses and plan for contingencies that are specific to the operational plan strategies and actions that you have developed.

Use the Contingency Plan Template to guide your work.

The text of the email should be in grammatically correct English, written in an appropriate (polite, business-like) style.

It should introduce and summarise the contents of the attachments and request a meeting to discuss and gain approval for the plans.

Attach your draft operational plan and contingency plan to the email.

This part of the assessment requires you to meet with the senior management team and discuss the operational plan and contingency plan that you have developed. The team will be roleplayed by your assessor and two classmates acting as colleagues.

Go through each part of your operational plan, explaining the activities to be completed, resource requirements, timelines and key performance indicators.

Then outline King Edward VII College’s policies and procedures that directly relate to your operational plan.

During the meeting, you will need to demonstrate effective communication skills including:

· Speaking clearly and concisely using appropriate level of formality and vocabulary

· Speaking to suit the audience

· Using effective non-verbal communication skills to encourage audience interest

· Responding to questions

· Asking questions to seek feedback

· Use of active listening techniques to confirm and clarify understanding.

Review your contingency plan with the senior management team too.

You will receive feedback from the team, which you must incorporate into your draft plans. Make notes on these suggested changes.

Update both of your draft plans to incorporate the suggestions you received at the meeting.

Save these new documents as Revised Operational Plan and Revised Contingency Plan.

The text of the email should be in grammatically correct English, written in an appropriate (polite, business-like) style.

It should summarise what was discussed at the meeting, then introduce and summarise the contents of the attachments.

The email text should then request approval of the plans and permission to move forward with the project.

Attach your Revised Operational Plan and Revised Contingency Plan to the email.

Student’s name:

Did the student:

Completed successfully?

Comments

Yes

No

Document all resource requirements in their draft Operational Plan based on research and analysis and including:

· Renting of suitable commercial properties

· Staffing requirements

· Fitting out of the campus

· Equipment requirements

· Marketing requirements?

Develop an Operational Plan in the template provided, including:

· Activities commensurate with the scenario requirements and strategic plan

· All resource requirements

· Timelines in accordance with the scenario

· Appropriate key performance indicators?

Develop a contingency plan that includes risks associated and contingencies that relate directly to the goals being met of the operational plan?

Include details of information sources to support resource requirements documented in the Operational Plan?

Seek specialist advice as required?

Seek approval of plans?

Communicate the plan to the work team?

During the meeting, demonstrate effective communication skills including:

· Speaking clearly and concisely using appropriate level of formality and vocabulary

· Speaking to suit the audience

· Using non-verbal communication to assist with understanding

· Asking questions to identify required information

· Responding to questions as required

· Using active listening techniques to confirm understanding?

Task outcome:

· Satisfactory

· Not satisfactory

Assessor signature:

Assessor name:

Date:

Review the King Edward VII College Recruitment and Selection Policy and Procedures and implement the actions from your plan to ensure the required staff are recruited.

This will include liaising with the human resources department as set out in the Recruitment and Selection Policy and Procedures to ensure that the required staff are recruited.

This must include:

· Requesting approval of the positions required for the expansion as per the scenario information for the staff required (activity 2 below).

· Details of the required positions as per the Recruitment and Selection Policy and Procedures requirements (activity 3 below).

The text of the email should be in grammatically correct English, written in an appropriate (polite, business-like) style.

It should request approval for the positions, as set out in the Recruitment and Selection Policy and Procedures.

The text of the email should be in grammatically correct English, written in an appropriate (polite, business-like) style.

It should request details of the new positions, as set out in the Recruitment and Selection Policy and Procedures.

It also needs to address the issue of intellectual property rights and responsibilities in relation to the new employees. The new trainers will be asked to develop some of the training and assessment content for the new courses and the College wants to own all the IP of any training resources developed by these new trainers. Do some research into how this should be handled and explain to the HR Manager what you would like them to do.

Develop and save the email text as a separate document before sending the email.

When you were reading the Recruitment and Selection Policy and Procedures, you noticed there was a reference to an Induction Program and an Induction Policy and Procedures. You have not seen these before. You speak to the Human Resources Manager and they admit there is very little in the way of induction and the documentation is informal at best. They have been meaning to develop better documents but have been overwhelmed with other duties.

Develop a set of Induction Policy and Procedures and an Induction Program so that a quality induction system will be in place before the new staff start work at King Edward VII College.

When developing your induction documents, consider the things that new employees would need to know as part of starting a new job and those that they would be required to know to ensure that King Edward VII College is meeting their legal obligations.

The text of the email should be in grammatically correct English, written in an appropriate (polite, business-like) style.

It should request approval on your Induction Policy and Procedures and Induction Checklist.

The text of the email should be in grammatically correct English, written in an appropriate (polite, business-like) style.

Attach your Induction Policy and Procedures and an Induction Program.

Using your own words, inform the Human Resources Manager of the following:

· the documents attached and their purpose

· approval has given

· all department/area managers must view them

· checklist must be given to all new employees from now on

· all current staff must complete induction

· managers can speak to you if they have any questions.

Review the King Edward VII College Purchasing Policy and Procedures, which has just been developed due to the expansion of the College.

Also review the Equipment List. This shows what equipment needs to be purchased for each campus.

The text of the email should be in grammatically correct English, written in an appropriate (polite, business-like) style.

It should ensure that the administration team procures the equipment required for the new campuses.

The email text (about 1 page) should, as a minimum, outline:

· The purpose of the purchasing policy and the need to ensure that all purchases are made accordingly. You should summarise the key messages of the policy as per the purchasing principles.

· The required information for purchase of equipment for new campuses as follows:

· Description of equipment requirement and number and type to be made as per existing campus, which will include reference to the attachment.

· Required timelines for the purchase of the equipment.

· Requirement to receive and approve quotes as per purchasing policy – you should ensure you clearly refer to the procedure required as relevant to the budget for the equipment.

Attach the Equipment List to the email.

Develop and save the email text as a separate document before sending the email.

Update the Monitoring Actions section of your Operational Plan based on the actions you have implemented in this assessment task. Submit to your assessor.

Student’s name:

Did the student:

Completed successfully?

Comments

Yes

No

Implement actions for recruiting staff, including:

· Requesting approval of the positions required for the expansion for staff?

· Including details of the required positions as set out in the Recruitment and Selection Policy and Procedures requirements

Demonstrate understanding of intellectual property requirements through informing Human Resources that the HR Manager needs to ensure that trainers’ employment contracts include a section of the ownership of IP belonging to the College?

Develop systems/strategies for induction by creating the missing induction documents?

Implement induction systems/strategies?

Implement actions for purchasing equipment demonstrated through emails to the administration staff that:

· Confirm purchasing procedures

· Description of equipment requirement, number and type to be made the same as the existing campus

· Required timelines for the purchase of the equipment

· Requirement to receive and approve quotes as per purchasing policy, clearly referring to the procedure required as relevant to the budget for the equipment?

Assessor signature:

Assessor name:

Date:

Assume that both new campuses are now in operation, and Performance Information is now available for review.

You have been asked to provide a report on the new campuses’ performance to date.

The operational performance report should include a review of the costs associated with electricity, office supplies, and water, as a means of assessing the company’s use of resources.

Analyse the Performance Information relating to the new campuses, including:

Based on your analysis of the Performance Information, develop a short (approximately 1 page) report to the CEO that includes the following:

· A financial performance analysis that:

· Calculates the net profit or loss for each campus

· Compares the performance of each campus

· Outlines financial performance based on the profit and loss figures

· Calculations of variances between actuals and budgeted expenses, noting that variances of up to and including 10% are acceptable, and do not need to be reported on.

· Suggestion of variances/recommendations to the Operational Plan.

Use the Operational Performance Report Template to guide your work.

The text of the email should be in grammatically correct English, written in an appropriate (polite, business-like) style.

It should request approval for the recommendations of change to the Operational Plan.

The text of the email should be in grammatically correct English, written in an appropriate (polite, business-like) style.

You will received an email from your CEO (your assessor) about your recommendations. In response to their email, you will need to provide a strong argument on why your recommendations should be approved.

Based on your review of the expenditure on energy usage as documented in the Operational Performance Report, develop and send a memo to all staff with regard to effective and economical use of resources.

The purpose of the memo is to coach staff in using resources wisely, so you should include at least 10 simple actions that all staff can follow to conserve energy.

You may use the following publication to identify suitable ideas.

https://www.energy.gov.au/household-guides/work

It is two months later. During this time a set of sustainability procedures has been developed to assist with reducing wastage across King Edward VII College.

A management meeting uncovers that there are a few staff who have not taken on the coaching they received about safe, effective and efficient resource use, let alone taken much note of the new procedures.

Furthermore, there have been a few incidents recently with some staff showing practices that are unsafe, and some that are simply wasteful and lazy. There is concern that the behaviour and practices of these staff members will start to rub off on the others, and they will be back at square one.

The Human Resources Manager suggests that a mentoring plan should be developed so that managers can implement mentoring arrangements where staff are showing signs of underperformance in regards to safe and sustainable work practices. The CEO suggests that they should have at least one person at each campus who can be considered a ‘go-to-person’ on safe and sustainable practices. This person could be the one to mentor employees who are not adhering to the College’s sustainability procedures.

You have been tasked with the job of developing a mentoring plan. This should be a template that, at a minimum, allows for the documentation of goals/areas for improvement and the action that will be taken to achieve them. There must also be space to document meetings between the mentee and their mentor.

The text of the email should be in grammatically correct English, written in an appropriate (polite, business-like) style.

It should request approval on your Mentoring Plan.

The text of the email should be in grammatically correct English, written in an appropriate (polite, business-like) style.

Attach your Mentoring Plan.

Using your own words, inform the Human Resources Manager of its approval. You would like the plan to be provided to all department managers. Managers must identify suitable ‘sustainability champions’ and determine their interest. The process going ahead with the ‘sustainability champions’ will be confirmed at the next management meeting (one month from today’s date).

The final part of this assessment requires you to demonstrate that you can file all of your records in a logical structure.

Ensure that you have an overall folder for your work, as well as sub folders if necessary.

All of the documents you have submitted for this assessment should be correctly named and filed.

The screen shot should show all the folders and documents.

The text of the email should be in grammatically correct English, written in an appropriate (polite, business-like) style.

It should introduce and summarise the contents of the attachment.

Attach your performance report and screen shot to the email.

Student’s name:

Did the student:

Completed successfully?

Comments

Yes

No

Analyse and report on financial performance including:

· Outlining financial performance based on the figures in the Operational Performance Report

· Identifying variances higher than 10%

· Comparing the performance of each campus

· Recommending solutions in relation to expenditure items where variances are higher than 10%?

Evaluate performance based on financial information provided?

Identify areas of underperformance as well as appropriate actions to address?

Implement actions for addressing underperformance by identifying and communicating energy resource usage solutions?

Support staff in the effective use of resources by communicating energy resource usage information?

Plan and implement systems to mentor staff?

Identify variations to the Operational Plan and seek approval for variations?

Negotiate/argue the case for recommendations/variances?

Organise and file all documents associated with managing the Operational Plan?

Task outcome:

· Satisfactory

· Not satisfactory

Assessor signature:

Assessor name:

Date:

Student name:

Assessor name:

Date

Task

Type

Result

Satisfactory

Unsatisfactory

Did not submit

Assessment Task 1

Written questions

S

U

DNS

Assessment Task 2

Operations plan project

S

U

DNS

Assessment Task 3

Manage acquisition of resources project

S

U

DNS

Assessment Task 4

Monitor and review operational plan project

S

U

DNS

Overall unit results

C

NYC

WSC V1.0 09-2020 (Review 10-2021) RTOWORKS Quality Solutions

BSBMGT517 Manage operational plan

Student Assessment tasks

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