Reference no: EM132804805

BSBMGT517 Manage operational plan - Acumen Education

Assessment 1

Question 1: Explain the key components and the role of an operational plan in achieving the organisation's objectives. Your response should be in about 150 words

Question 2: Describe the role of short term and long term operational plans. Your response should be in about 150 words.

Question 3: Describe three types of operational plans an organisation may develop for different areas of their business, and their purpose. Your response should be in about 150 words.

Question 4: Describe the following planning tools and techniques that may be used in the operational planning process.
• GANTT charts - (50-80 words)
• Critical path method (CPM) - (60-100 words)
• Project Evaluation and Review Technique (PERT) - (50-60 words)

Question 5 Explain why budgets are key to operational planning, and list the steps you should follow to create an operational plan budget. Your response should be in no more
than 250 words.

Question 6 Complete the table with a brief outline of the various approaches to developing Key Performance Indicators:

Question 7 Outline the legislative and regulatory context relevant to the operational plan of the organisation and briefly describe any two of these legislative requirements. Your
response must not exceed 250 words.

Question 8 Explain the relationship between organisational policies and the operational plan. In your response, you must describe how the following four organisational policies, practises and procedures link to the organisational plan.
a. Human Resources
b. Recruitment and Induction
c. WHS/OHS
d. Financial
Your response must not exceed 250 words.

Assessment 2 - Project& Role-play

Scenario

About Pesto's Restaurant

Task 1: Research resource requirements and consult colleagues/ specialists - Report

Based on the scenario and the excerpts from the business plan, research the broad resource requirements for Pesto's Catering initiative, including:
• physical resourcing, such as different types of resources that will need to be procured
• human resourcing, including how many staff will be required, how they will be recruited and trained and managed
• financial resources - what types of expenses will be incurred?
• at least three challenges and risks
• at least four licenses and permits required
• at least six legislative and regulatory obligations that apply to this initiative, such as:
o Australian privacy legislation and principles
o Australian consumer law
o Health and safety legislation
o Anti-discrimination legislation
o Fair work legislation
o Australian Intellectual Property laws

Use your findings to prepare a draft resource proposal for the catering operation. Your draft proposal should be no longer than 500 words.

Task 2 - Role-play

Participate in a resourcing consultation meeting with the managers of Pesto's and a hospitality industry consultant, to:
• get their feedback on the resource needs, timelines, challenges and risks, and licenses and permits that you have identified
• get their inputs on the development of the operational plan

This is a role play. Your assessor will organise student volunteers to play the roles of HR Manager, Finance Manager, Head Chef, and the owner Chef Mario.

Your assessor will play the role of hospitality industry consultant.

Your assessor will provide the other volunteers with cue cards and brief them on the roles they are going to play.

During this meeting, you must:
• discuss the research you have conducted on the resource requirements and challenge associated with Pesto's catering plan

• seek the HR Manager, Finance Manager, Head Chef and Chef Mario's inputs on:
o the resources identified - human, physical and financial resources
o timelines and milestones for implementing catering operations plan
o Menu advice
o challenges and risks identified and contingency plans

• seek inputs from the Hospitality consultant on the following:
o the feasibility of your catering initiative
o the benefits that a restaurant may incur from offering catering services
o resourcing requirements

• make detailed notes of the information you have gathered from the consultation meeting

Task 3: Project - Develop an operations plan

You have obtained the inputs of an external consultant and your colleagues / the resource managers of Pesto's Restaurant on your resource proposal for Pesto's Catering initiative.

Based on your research and the discussions/ consultation, develop a draft operations plan.

Your plan must have:
• a summary of the operational environment of Pesto's Restaurant and the proposed catering initiative
• benefits of the initiative to the organisation
• a proposal for resourcing
• legislative and regulatory responsibilities
• WHS considerations
• three key performance indicators for non-financial operational performance (one each for customer service, quality and productivity)
• three key financial performance indicators related to the catering plan
• a contingency plan (using template in Appendix A) that identifies:
o three risks to the implementation of the operational plan, including risks related to:
» employee underperformance
» management of intellectual property (IP)
» breach of health and safety compliance responsibilities
o a contingency measure for each risk
At this stage, you need to complete sections 1 - 3 of the contingency plan.
• an action plan (using template in Appendix B) for the implementation of the operational plan, as follows:
o actions and timelines for implementing catering plan, for:
» procuring physical resourcing, according to organisational policies, including:
» hiring/ leasing equipment
» reorganising kitchen and storage layout
» procuring human resources, according to organisational policies, including:
» advertising for staff
» recruiting and inducting staff
» training staff
» marketing and sales activities, including:
» advertising
» first catering job
o milestones for implementing catering operations plan, including:
» budgetary and financial performance such as:

» achieve break-even
» achieve profitability
» achieve a specific marketing cost
» non-financial performance such as:
» achieve targeted customer satisfaction level
» productivity performance, such as increase in number of parties per month
» employee performance, such as achievement of KPIs and KRAs
» progress reporting to the CEO/ Management
o monitoring strategy for each milestone (e.g. financial reports, staff meetings, performance reports, customer feedback etc.)

• description of sources of information used to develop proposal, identified in a References section at the end of the plan (internet research consultation, use company financial projections)

You must ensure that the plans are relevant to the scenario and in accordance with relevant policies and procedures, provided in Appendix C.

Task 4: Present the final operational plan for approval - Role-play
You have obtained the inputs of your colleagues and the resource managers of Pesto's Restaurant as well as the industry consultant on your resource proposal for Pesto's Catering initiative. You have prepared a final operational plan

Now you must present this final plan to the management team to obtain their approval for the plan and to explain the plan to the relevant work teams.

This is a role play. Student volunteers from your class will act as your audience, including key stakeholders, such as the HR Manager, Finance Manager, and Head Chef.

Your assessor will play the role of Chef Mario, the CEO of Pesto's, who will ask you questions and provide inputs and approval.

The aim of the presentation is to:
• Explain the broad features of the operational plan you have developed
• Explain the plan to relevant work teams led by the stakeholders
• Consult with your team members and get their feedback
• Gain team members' approval for the plan

Before the presentation, you must prepare a PowerPoint presentation of the key points of the operational plan you have developed

During the presentation, you must:
• explain the plan to the team
• explain the contingency plan to the team
• lead the discussion to actively facilitate effective group interaction
• listen actively and question them to clarify or elicit information
• ask the team if they are satisfied with the plan and ask for their formal approval
• make a note of the team's inputs or any changes suggested by them

After the presentation, you must update your Operational Plan with any changes suggested by the management team during the meeting, and submit the finalised Operations Plan to your assessor. During submission, explain to your assessor the changes you have made, if any.
Your assessor will record and assess your presentation and the resulting discussion/consultation against the criteria in the Role Play Observation Checklist.

Assessment 3 - Project

Assessment 3 - Plan and manage resource acquisition

In this task, you are required to develop and implement strategies to ensure that employees are recruited and resources purchased within the organisation's policies, practices and procedures, provided in Appendix C.

Task 1: Prepare documents to recruit new staff - Project

Prepare the following documents for the recruitment process for the new positions of Catering Coordinator and catering staff:
» job descriptions for each position with:
o brief description of role
o 5 key responsibilities
o skills and qualifications required
o position reporting to
» text of job advertisements for each position
» 5 interview questions for each position (use the interview sheet template in Appendix D)

Ensure you follow the organisational policies and procedures related to recruitment, given in Appendix C.

Task 2: Prepare employment documents for newly recruited staff - Project

Prepare intellectual property clauses to be included in the employment contract for new staff, including protection of information regarding:
o Suppliers
o Customers
o Copyright information for protecting recipes, images, etc.
o Business analytical data or any financial reports

Draft your text as a separate document. It should be no longer than 500 words.

Task 3: Prepare to induct newly recruited staff - Project

Prepare an induction program for new recruits.
Use relevant templates provided on the Fairwork website to complete this task. You can access the Fairwork templates

Task 4 - Project - Develop the framework of a staff performance management system

You must develop a document that includes the following components:

• 3 KRAs for each position and a related KPI for each KRA

• Process for performance appraisal, including:
o Method of collecting data (type of assessment, e.g. peer, team, self, etc., and instrument, e.g. form, checklist, etc.)
o timing/ frequency

• Two ways for recognising and rewarding excellence in performance

• Process of addressing performance issues, including:
o Individual Performance Planning related to position description (including employee goal setting / objectives setting)
o Ongoing Performance Communication
o Appraisal schedule
o Consequences of continued poor performance and procedure for warning staff about this

• Documentation and record keeping requirements, including:
o Performance management documents you will maintain
o Where you will file them.

You must prepare this framework as a policy document, with each of these components as a sub-heading followed by a description and responsibility for the procedures task.

Your document should be no longer than 500 words in length.

Task 5 -Project - Prepare product specifications

You have taken stock of the equipment required for the catering operations. For the first three months, you will be able to use the table ware, crockery, cutlery and serving equipment from the restaurant operations, as this is the low season for the restaurant.

However, you will need to make arrangement to acquire a chest freezer.

Based on the recommendations and inputs of the stakeholders, prepare an email template to send out to three suppliers/ vendors, to obtain quotes for a chest freezer.

In the email, you must:
• Identify the general description and use of the product required
• Identify minimum technical specifications required
• Request for a quotation

Each template is designed to be sent out to multiple suppliers, so you may leave name columns blank (e.g. "Dear X"). You may sign off with your own name, position and company name.

Task 6: Project - Coordinate purchase of assets

You have obtained quotes from three different suppliers for the chest freezer, as follows:

	Supplier 1	Supplier 2	Supplier 3
Product	700L Chest Freezer	600L Chest Freezer	719L Chest Freezer
Price	$1,767.00	$1,599.00	$1,499.00
Brand	Westinghouse	Westinghouse	Haier
Colour/Finish	White	White	White
Capacity	700L	600L	719 Litre
Width (mm)	1880	1650	1860
Height (mm)	960	730	845
Door Opening	Top	Top	Top
Energy Rating	3 Star	3 Star	4 Star
Depth (mm)	730	835	830
Frost Free	No	No	Yes
Manufacturer's Warranty	2 Year	2 years	2 Year
Additional Features	Spring Loaded Lid	Adjustable Thermostat	Front Drainage Outlet; Quick response cooling with innovative Super Freeze technology
Supplier finance options	Purchase only - custom finance duration (12 months - 5 years).   Monthly payments.   6 months interest- free.	12 month rental agreement with option to purchase (Rent-Try-Buy), upgrade or continue renting at the end of agreement.   Weekly or monthly rental payments.	12 month rental agreement with option to purchase (Rent-Try-Buy), upgrade or continue renting at the end of agreement.   Weekly or monthly rental payments.

You must compare the three quotations given above and evaluate the best product.

Prepare a Supplier Evaluation Form template (Appendix E) to make a recommendation for the best option for purchase.
Follow the purchasing policies and procedures in Appendix C, when completing this task.

Assessment 4 - Project

Monitor and review operational performance

Task 1 - Project - Monitor and review performance
The following expense ratios (costs as percentage of sales) were the financial performance indicators that were agreed upon for achieving breakeven:
• Labour cost as a percentage of sales - 28%
• Food and beverage cost as a percentage of sales - 46%
• Overheads cost as a percentage of sales - 26%

In order to reach a profit, these costs must be even lower.

The following were the non-financial performance indicators that were agreed upon for the catering operations.
• Customer satisfaction level - 95%
• Percentage of service deadlines met - 95%
• Quality of services - 95%

It is now 10 weeks since the start of the offsite catering service and you have noted the status of Pesto's Catering services is as follows:
• The initial estimated covers for achieving breakeven were 6 parties in a month, of approximately 60 covers at an average spend per cover excluding GST = $80.00.
• In the month that Pesto's catered for 6 parties, there were a total of 420 covers.
• Turnover for that month was more than the forecast and it should have meant that Pesto's not just achieved break even, but made a small profit.
• However, two of the financial indicators (food and beverage, and labour costs) were not met. Therefore, despite increased revenue, Pesto's could not meet its breakeven milestone.

Details of costs and financial performance indicators are given below.

Pesto's Catering Comparative Analysis Report For period 16.09.20XX to 15.10.20XX
	Budgeted	Actual
No.ofcovers	360	420
No. of events/ parties	6	6
Revenue
Sales	$28,800	$33,600
Expenses
Labour costs	$8,064	$9,744
Food and beverage costs	$13,248	$17,472
Overhead costs	$7,488	$8,736
Total expenses	$28,800	$35,952
Profit/loss	$0	($7,152)

Task 1: Analyse and interpret budget and actual financial information, and identify solutions

1. From the data above, calculate the actual expense ratios (cost as percentage of sales) of food, labour and overhead costs.

Use the following formula to calculate the three expense ratios:

2. Based on the data and your calculations, identify and briefly describe two areas of favourable variance.

3. Based on the data and your calculations, identify and briefly describe two areas of under-performance and their impact on profitability.

4. Identify two solutions to improve the productivity of operations and achieve breakeven as soon as possible.

Task 2: Role-play - Implement systems to ensure mentoring support to effectively, economically and safely use resources

Scenario

This is a continuation of the scenario in Task 1.

You have checked the status of the off-site catering initiative at the 10 weeks mark and analysed the performance. You know this is closely linked with the staff performance. Monitoring of staff performance shows that the newly recruited Catering Coordinator has had difficulties in meeting the productivity targets of customer service, timely responses and maintaining menu profitability and ordering accuracy.

There have been some customer complaints regarding delays in service as well as shortfall in food during catering events.

Catering Coordinator's Performance Data at the end of the first month is as follows:

KRA	Target	KPI	Result
Quality of service	5% error rate	% of informational or order mistakes	15%
Productivity	Maintain menu profitability and ordering accuracy consistent week after week.	Expense ratios: Food cost % = 28% Labour cost % = 46% Overheads cost % = 26%	Expense ratios: Food cost % = 29 % Labour cost % = 52% Overheads cost % = 26%
Response times	Respond to queries by clients within two/three hours	% of prompt response to customer calls	15%   ( 3 complaints from prospective clients about lack of prompt service

Organisational - non-financial performance indicators
	Planned	Actual
Customer satisfaction level	95%	85%
Percentage of service deadlines met	95%	85%
Quality of services	95%	85%

Identified problems and possible solutions

You have general information about the challenges faced by the catering team, such as:
» It can be extremely challenging to plan the amount of food required for an event.
» When the venue, menu and party size constantly change, it can be challenging to stay organised. It can result in the team arriving at an off-site catering venue and realise they have forgotten some key ingredients or equipment.
» If there is no system of managing customer queries, the Coordinator may miss responding to some calls or respond very late, which could result in customer complaints.

Some solutions for this problem of logistics are:
» have run-throughs or rehearsals with staff before the event and ensure nothing is missing
» have a higher volume of small plate options, instead of smaller volume of large plate options
» have good food storage processes for off-site catering, preferably in the van
» acquiring a catering management software program that helps in order management for the event, calculate accurate quantities of food, calculates labour and manages suppliers and customers

Task:

Conduct a formal performance meeting with the Catering Coordinator, according to your performance-monitoring plan. The aim of this meeting is to:
» discuss the challenges faced in meeting the productivity targets
» collaboratively create a mentoring plan for the Catering Coordinator

When the Catering Coordinator requests you to mentor them, you must agree and collaboratively develop an action plan for mentoring, during the meeting.

The development of the mentoring plan should show a collaborative approach. The plan must include:
» Mentoree name
» Mentor name
» Two Mentoring Objectives
» Two Learning Activities, their outcomes, resources required and relevant dates.

You must use the Mentoring Action Plan template given in Appendix F.

This is a Role Play. Your assessor will play the role of the Catering Coordinator.

Your assessor will assess your performance using the Role Play Observation Checklist for this task.

Before the assessment, go through the role play checklist to familiarise yourself with the performance criteria.

Task 3: Project & Role-play- Coaching
Implement systems to ensure coaching support to effectively, economically and safely use resources

Scenario
The catering team's Performance Data at the end of 10 weeks is as follows:

In the first month of operation, the Catering team provided catering for five events.

The following is an extract of an Incident Report submitted by the Catering Coordinator:

An extract of notes made by the WHS committee following the incident is given below.

Task
Your task is to prepare a WHS coaching plan in consultation with the catering team.

Conduct a meeting with the Catering Coordinator and the other two catering staff. During the meeting you must:
• provide an overview of productivity issues and reason for meeting
• suggest coaching to overcome productivity issues
• seek the team's inputs on the areas for which coaching is required
• prepare a Coaching Action Plan in consultation with the team

The development of the plan should show a collaborative approach that includes:
» three areas of coaching
» one success metric for each area of coaching
» actions on various team members
» actions on manager
» resources required
» duration and frequency of coaching for each area

You must use the Coaching Action Plan template given in Appendix G.

This is a role play. Your assessor will play the role of the Catering Coordinator and organise two other student volunteers to play the role of the two catering staff.

Your assessor will observe you acting out this discussion and preparing the plan in consultation with the team.

Task 4: Role Play - Negotiate recommendations for variations to operations plans and gain approval from the management team

Scenario

In the process of implementing contingency measures, you identified the following additional operational costs that constitute a variation to the operations plan:

Description	Costs
Licensing of a catering management software to ensure accurate calculations of food quantities, ordering of food and beverages, efficient staff management, and efficient supplier management	$50 +GST per month ($600 +GST per annum)
WHS training program for catering staff	$200 +GST
Paid coaching/training time for 3 staff	$150

The increased cost will affect the financial milestones of the catering operations.

Task

Conduct a meeting with the owner/ CEO, Chef Mario, and the finance manager, and:
• summarise the issues with productivity that have necessitated additional expenses
• identify the expenses and why they are necessary variations to the operations plan
• analyse and discuss how the expenses will impact the achievement of financial milestones
• negotiate and gain their approval for expenses This is a role play.
Your assessor will play the role of Chef Mario, and a student volunteer will play the role of the finance manager.

Task 5: Project - Make changes to Contingency Plan
Based on your discussion with management in Task 4, update Section 4 of the Contingency Plan you have already prepared.

Identify the variations approved by management during your discussion.

Attachment:- Manage operational plan.rar

Attachment:- Operational Plan Assessment flow.rar