Assessment task details and instructions
PART A – OPERATIONS MANAGEMENT 50%
Companies need to make strategic decisions on selecting an appropriate process and facility layout to manage the way production of goods or services will be organised. Based on the above, you are asked to take as an example a product or a service from an industry that you are familiar with (e.g., food, technology, healthcare, retail, services, automotive), and critically examine the process design and facility layout and present a flow chart to justify the above.
PART B – INFORMATION MANAGEMENT 50%
The recent Covid lockdown period has been a difficult time for all SMEs and particularly those in the music and events industry. However, many in this industry are still committed to the progress of their businesses. Therefore, they need appropriate ideas and specific information regarding the potential of technology to support, develop, and future-proof their livelihoods.
Charles and Christina are both classical musicians and music teachers who play at local events and parties. They want to get more private work both as teachers and musicians. They would like to publicise their talents via a website and deal with booking arrangements via the internet for both teaching and playing. At the moment arrangements are made by telephone. Their present clients pay by cash on the day of the lesson or event. They want to appear as professional as possible by providing information, bookings, and payment options online.
They need a business strategy where they take responsibility for their own; social media marketing, online business accounts, an up-to-date calendar of events, and keeping track of the communications between themselves and the clients.
They realise that technology will play an important part in the future business. They have read about Customer Relationship Management software and Enterprise Resource Management software, but just don’t know what kind of information technology support they really need as a small business partnership. They require professional digital business advice before they can make any final decisions about investing funds in business software. Also, they have heard that they may be able to save money by using Open Source Software, but don’t understand if there are any implications, so they need advice about this too.
Charles and Christina have no technical experience and therefore require information that can be easily understood. You are the IM consultant who is responsible for researching this business and providing relevant information.
Your Task
You are a consultant who has been employed to advise on the effective implementation of strategic changes. You are required to produce the following for the case study:
Part A: BPMs and Strategy Analysis
In this section you should develop
1.A series of at least two Business Process Models (BPM), which capture the existing and the proposed business processes. The models should follow the BPM notation shown in the lecture slides. You can utilise Microsoft Visio, Word, PowerPoint or any appropriate alternatives to create the models.
2.Strategic analysis: You should use at least one recognised analysis technique such as SWOT, PESTLE etc
3.Discussion on an overview of the current situation of the business (based on existing BPM and SWOT/PESTLE) and outlining what may be the benefits/challenges of proposed changes to the business (based on proposed BPM).
Part B: Software Comparison and Recommendation
In this section, you should conduct research into a suitable software solution. You should develop:
1.An evaluation table: you should decide on the set of characteristics which you will use to evaluate the software and your research should consider two commercial/off the shelf software and two Open Source Software alternatives.
2.Recommendation of software based on the table, with suggestions and a roadmap outlining how the proposed software can be deployed in the business.
Please follow a report format. Therefore, you should have a title page, contents page, sections and sub sections, page numbers, appendix section etc. Please note if you are uncertain on how to present and structure a report then visit the university library and ask for assistance. Please do use diagrams, illustrations, tables, graphics etc. wherever these are helpful, and remember that these do not count towards your word limit. If you do use these, please do not put them in the appendices if they are part of your discussion. Appendices are the appropriate places to put supporting material, however, remember if the reader is satisfied with the main points of your discussion; the supporting information within the appendices may not even be reviewed.
Please try to use theory explicitly at all stages, but do not spend too much time describing a theory. While you must be explicit about the theories, models, techniques etc. that you use, you can assume that the reader is familiar with them. What the reader requires is evidence of your ability to understand and apply the theory and learn from it in order to support the development of your findings and/or ideas.
You must cite all sources on which you have relied, for example textbooks, journal articles, web pages etc. using the Harvard Bibliographic referencing system. If you do not cite all sources, then you may be accused of plagiarism, and that may endanger your success in passing the module. If you are in any doubt about how to reference your work, please obtain guidance from the library and/or your academic librarian(s) for this module.
You will also need to take the following into account when completing your assignment:
• Quality of executive summary (does it give a brief and complete summary of your paper for an executive to read?) The executive summary should address both parts.
• Establishment of relevant theory
• Allocation of credit and sources used (have you included references and citations to the material you have used?)
• Clarity of argument
• Overall report presentation including spelling and grammar
• Adherence to nominated word limit (+/- 10%)
• Word processed (letter size 12, times new roman, 1.5 space), fully referenced (Harvard Referencing System)
Assessed intended learning outcomes
On successful completion of this assessment, you will be able to:
1. Critically analyse the theory, concepts and models of operations and information management.
2. Demonstrate an understanding of the importance of operations and information management in international operations.
3. Analyse and critically evaluate the ways in which operations and information management are adapted in view of specific market culture and customer requirements.
4. Analyse and critically evaluate the role and importance of operational excellence in various aspects of competitive advantage.
5. Evaluate critically the fundamental principles of quality and environmental management systems.
Transferable Skills and other Attributes
1. Identify and utilise appropriate methods for collecting and analysing data related to operations and information management issues.
2. Locate, summarise and synthesise a range of information from published literature and electronic sources on operations and information management.
3. Use and evaluate a variety of tools for improving organisational performance.
4. Improve research skills, and data analysis and presentation. Manage time to meet deadlines in both group discussions and in preparation of in-class activities.
Module Aims
The overall aim of the module is to allow students to develop an in-depth understanding of the increasingly important field of Operations and Information Management. More specifically, the module aims to provide students with an overview of how to improve different types of operations, and information systems to contribute to a companies’ competitiveness and strategy. It will also provide knowledge of concepts, techniques and models that are used for planning, managing and improving operations and information systems, within organisations in a global context.
Word count/ duration (if applicable)
The maximum word count is 3000 words (+/- 10%). Your word count is from the introduction to conclusion sections. Therefore, it does not include title page, contents page, reference section, appendices etc. If the assignment exceeds these limits; the work in excess of 3000 is not marked.
Feedback arrangements
You can expect to receive the grade and individual summative feedback within two weeks after the deadline for submission.
Formative feedback will also be provided for the interim draft submission.
Plagiarism and Late submissions
You are required to follow the University’s regulations regarding plagiarism and citing sources and references used.
Late submission will be accepted up to 7 days after the submission deadline; all work submitted late will be capped at the pass mark of 50%, there is no sliding scale.
Lecturers are not able to give extensions.
Assessment Criteria for Operations Management
Process design and facility layout [50]
Assessment criteria for Information Management element
Section Content Word Count Marks
Part A BPMs and Strategy Analysis 1000 (equivalent to) 30
Part B Software Comparison and Recommendation 500 (equivalent to) 20
Total 1500 50
Grade bands for Level 7
Criterion / Mark range 90-100 80-89 70-79 60-69 50-59 40-49 0-39
Overall level
(indicative – not for grading) Standard comparable to journal publication Standard comparable to conference paper publication Distinctive work for Masters level Merit work for Masters level Acceptable for Masters Below Masters pass standard Significantly below Masters pass standard
Scope Outstanding clarity of focus, includes what is important, and excludes irrelevant issues. Excellent clarity of focus, boundaries set with no significant omissions or unnecessary issues. Clear focus. Very good setting of boundaries includes most of what is relevant. Clear scope and focus, with some omissions or unnecessary issues. Scope evident and satisfactory but with some omissions and unnecessary issues. Poorly scoped, with significant omissions and unnecessary issues. Little or no scope or focus evident.
Understanding of subject matter
Outstanding with critical awareness of relevance of issues. Outstanding expression of ideas. Excellent with critical awareness of relevance of issues. Excellent expression of ideas. Very good with critical awareness of relevance of issues. Outstanding expression of ideas. Good with some awareness of relevance of issues. Ideas are expressed, with some limitation. Basic with limited awareness of relevance of issues. Limited expression of ideas. Poor with little awareness of relevance of issues Little or no understanding of subject matter is demonstrated.
Literature
Comprehensive literature review. Evaluation and synthesis of source material to produce an outstanding contribution. Excellent independent secondary research. Sources are evaluated and synthesized to produce an excellent contribution. Very good independent secondary research. Sources are evaluated and synthesized to produce a very good contribution. Good secondary research to extend taught materials. Evidence of evaluation of sources, with some deficiencies in choice and synthesis. Limited secondary research to extend taught materials. Limited evaluation of sources, deficiencies in choice and synthesis. Little or no extension of taught materials. Poor choice and synthesis of materials. Poor use of taught materials. No synthesis.
Critical analysis based on evidence Standard of critical analysis – showing questioning of sources, understanding of bias, independence of thought Excellent standard of critical analysis – excellence in questioning of sources, understanding of bias, independence of thought A very good standard of critical analysis. Sources are questioned appropriately, and a very good understanding of bias, showing independence of thought Critical analysis with some questioning of sources, understanding of bias, independence of thought. Analysis evident but uncritical. Sources are not always questioned, with limited independence of thought. Little or no analysis. No valid analysis.
Structure of argument, leading to conclusion Well structured, compelling and persuasive argument that leads to a valuable contribution to the field of study, paving the way for future work Argument has excellent structure and persuasiveness, leading to very significant insights and relevant future work. Well-structured and persuasive argument Insightful conclusion draws together key issues and possible future work. Structured and fairly convincing argument leads to conclusion that summarises key issues. Argument has some structure and development towards conclusion with limitations in summary of issues. Argument is unstructured, no recognizable conclusion. No evidence of argument or conclusion.
