Reference no: EM132818434

BSBMGT517 Manage operational plan

1 Explain the purpose of an Operational Plan and the role of an Operational Plan in achieving the organisation's objectives.

2 Outline the information that is usually included in an Operational Plan.

3 Explain a typical process for developing an operational plan.

4 Explain the purpose of a budget.

5 Outline a typical budgeting process.

6 Explain the purpose of key performance indicators.

7 Discuss four approaches to developing key performance indicators.

8 Discuss the concept of a balanced scorecard as an alternative approach to measuring business performance through key performance indicators.

9 Explain the concept of benchmarking as a way of assessing business performance.

10 Provide a definition of a PCBU and outline their key responsibilities.

11 Outline the aim and scope of the Fair Work Act 2009.

ASSESSMENT TASK 2: Develop operational plan project

TASK SUMMARY:
Students are to assume the role of Operations and Finance Manager for Trucks N Cars dealership and meet with the CEO to discuss and then develop an operational plan.

PART A: CASE STUDY

Trucks N carsis an automotive dealership and has been operating for five years. The dealership is based in Melbourne and offers various services such as selling of cars, service and repair of cars and currently has around 500 clientson its database. The dealership is very popular due to its competitive pricing structure, state of the art facilities, varied services and excellent automotive workshop.
The dealership 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, Floor Manager, Client Services Officer and approximately 14 mechanics.
Due to the success of the dealership, the dealership plans to establish two additional dealerships, one in Brisbane and one in Sydney. The plan is for the Brisbane dealership to commence operating in January 2018 and Sydney in April 2018. Ideally, dealership will be located close to the CBD and a maximum rental budget of $500,000 per annum in Sydney and $400,000 in Brisbane has been allocated.
With regard to staffing at each dealership, it is anticipated that initially each dealership will require a receptionist, client services officer and 4 mechanics. The receptionist and client services officer positions will be permanent, full-time staff and the 4 mechanics will be contract staff.
Existing staff at the Melbourne dealership will complete all other staff functions until such time as client numbers increase substantially. It is anticipated that maximum client numbers at the new dealership will be up to 60 clients per dealership in the first 12 months of operations.
The dealership will also need to purchase a range of office equipmentand equipment for the automotive workshop for the new dealership, as well as furniture and tools to cater to at least 100 clients per dealership.
The dealership has kept the expansion plans very quiet due to their competition hot on their heels. They are waiting for the Trademarks to come through so need to protect their intellectual property throughout the process.

Complete the following activities:

1. Develop draft Operational Plan
Review and analyse the scenario information and the Strategic Plan in order to identify all the actions that will need to be documented in your plan so that the Dealership objectives can be achieved.
Use the template provided to write your plan. As a minimum your Operational Plan must address:
» The strategies
» The timeframe
» Role Responsible
» Budget - this information may be purely fictional
» Resource requirements (including renting suitable commercial properties, staffing requirements, fit outs of the new premises, equipment requirements and marketing collateral)
» SMART key performance indicators to measure performance
» Monitoring processes
» Risk management plan to deal with operational plan contingencies
» References - record the sources of information that you have used in your research.
Ensure that you plan is written clearly and concisely in a language suitable for a variety of staff across an organisation, is formatted in a professional manner, is grammatically correct and free from errors.

2. Submit your draft plan to your assessor, requesting a meeting to discuss and approve the plan.

PART B: ROLE PLAY: MEET WITH THE CEO
1. Consult on draft Operational Plan.
Meet with the CEO (your assessor) to discuss your operational plan. The purpose of this meeting is to obtain feedback and approval to move forward to the implementation stage.
Discuss your plan with your assessor and record suggestions and feedback as you go. During the meeting you will need to demonstrate well developed verbal and non-verbal communication and interaction skills, including negotiation and leadership.
Include the agreed feedback and suggestions into your plan and submit a final copy to your assessor. Your assessor will confirm the approval to move forward in writing.

PART C: ROLE PLAY: MEET WITH THE TEAM
2. Present your Operational Plan to the team
You are required to present your plan to your team in a face-to-face meeting. Your assessor will arrange for you to work in a small group with at least two people playing the role of the dealership staff. You will have approximately 10 minutes to discuss your plan and answer any questions that the team may have.
The purpose of this meeting is to explain the plan to your team, which may include allocating tasks to them as per the plan or providing an overall summary of the strategies.
During the meeting you will need to demonstrate well developed leadership, verbal and non-verbal communication and interaction skills.

Assessment Task 3: Manage acquisition of resources

PART A: ORGANISE HUMAN RESOURCES REQUIREMENTS
1. Review the Trucks N Cars Recruitment and Selection Policy and Procedure.
2. In line with the policy and procedure you will need to liaise with the CEO and the Human Resource Manager in writing to ensure that the required staff are recruited as follows:
» Request for approval of the positions required for the expansion as per the scenario information.
» Details including timelines for recruitment, the location of the positions and whether the dealership's name should be included in the recruitment advertisement. Remembering that the dealership needs to protect their intellectual property for this expansion project.
Ensure your communications are clear and concise, grammatically correct and free of errors.

PART B: ORGANISE EQUIPMENT REQUIREMENTS
1. Review the Trucks N CarsDealership Purchasing Policy.
2. Imagine that you have recently developed this purchasing policy in preparation for the expansion of the dealership. In order to ensure the administration team, procure the equipment for the new premises in accordance with the new policy, send a memo or email to the administration team outlining:
» 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 premises as follows:
• Description of equipment required, the number and type to be made as per existing premise (see list provided by your assessor)
• Required timelines for the purchase of the equipment
• Requirement to receive and approve quotes as per purchasing policy.
Ensure your communications are clear and concise, grammatically correct and free of errors.

Assessment Task 4: Operational planning, monitoring and reviewing project

TASK SUMMARY:
Students are to monitor and review the operational performance for Trucks N Cars dealership and report to the CEO.

PART A: MONITOR AND REVIEW OPERATIONAL PERFORMANCE

Imagine you are reviewing the company's performance for the two new sites for six months from July to December 2016.
You will be provided with a profit and loss account for review, which you will be required to analyse and provide a report to the CEO outlining performance in relation to the budget.
You have also been asked to review costs associated with electricity, office supplies and water as a means of assessing the company's use of resources.
Based on the performance of the company, you will also be required to seek a variation to the Operational Plan to recruit two new Floor Managers, one for each premise. This is because the higher than expected client numbers led to a lack of time for the existing Floor Manager to manage all three premises.
1. Analyse the information provided in the interim Profit and Loss Account including:
» calculation of net profit or loss for each premise
calculation 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
2. Based on your analysis of the profit and loss account, develop a short report to send to the CEO that:
a) outlines financial performance based on the figures in the profit and loss account
b) identifies variances higher than 10%
c) compare the performance of each premise
d) recommends solutions in relation to expenditure items where variances are higher than 10%
e) seeks a variance to the original operational plan - due to the large number of enrolments - to recruit two new Floor Managers, one for each premise
Ensure your report is structured in a logical format that makes use of headings. You may also include graphs and charts to visually represent your data. Submit your report to your assessor.
3. Based on your review of the expenditure on energy usage as documented in the profit and loss account, you are required to 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 and so you should include at least 10 simple actions that all staff can follow to conserve energy.
4. The final part of this task requires you to organise all of the documents that you have developed for Assessment Tasks 1, 2, 3 and 4 into logical folders that are named appropriately (you will need to create new electronic folders on your computer). Submit a screen shot of each folder and its contents to your assessor.

PART B: ROLE PLAY: MEET WITH THE CEO
1. Negotiate the recommendations for a variation in the Operational Plan.
Meet with the CEO (your assessor) to discuss your variation recommendation of employing two Floor Managers.
The purpose of this meeting is to use your skills to gain approval for the variation from the CEO (your assessor). This means that you will need to demonstrate a range of high level communication and interaction skills such leadership, influence, negotiation and collaboration. You may decide how to present this information to gain the approval. You will have 10 minutes to do so.
Ensure that you make arrangements with your assessor for access to any type of equipment for your meeting.
Based on your meeting with the CEO, your assessor will approve the variation to the operational plan.