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UCAM/CIQ/203 Operations Management - CIQ Level 7 Postgraduate Advanced Diploma

Learning Outcome 1: Know the various tools, techniques and apply suitable tools and techniques in different alternative scenarios of Operations Management

Learning Outcome 2: Apply information management techniques and evaluate them in context of operational functions to achieve competitive advantage and make the organization globally competitive

Learning Outcome 3: Apply and critically evaluate the importance of project management to given business situations (Using PERT / CPM)

Learning Outcome 4: Demonstrate operations strategy in domestic and global context, and evaluate how the use of technology has impacted the operational functions

Read the following Scenario, and prepare a Report with the guidelines provided.

Scenario: The learner is acting as Chief Operation Officer (COO) of operation and project for a chosen organization in an emerging economy, particularly in the Middle East (ME) region. Currently, the chosen organization is attempting to (a) enhance its global operation from ME to Europe and (b) develop artificial intelligence capabilities to build competitiveness in the corporate business strategy.

The learner is required to explore operations strategy/principles, the impact of adopting lean strategies on supply chain networks, developing a project management plan, and building quality systems to build operational competitiveness.

Assignment Task 1A Report on Chosen Organizational Scenario

The report should include the following:

1. Introduction of the Chosen Organization is required. The student must then highlight the principles of operation management that they think are most important to their business organization. These principles must be justified. The operations strategy of the firm must be discussed explaining how it transforms the input as value-added output (product & services). Finally, briefly discuss at least three operational challenges the firm is now experiencing.

2. A review of the operations strategy of the organization, exploring the current and long-term solution to address the challenges the firm is experiencing. The solutions must discuss the internal and external influences that would have led to the need for such action. Drawing from the experiences of other organizations here would add value to your answer.

3. Supply chain management, like other business functions, is a supporting arm of the operations strategy. Here the student must explore at least 3 SCM strategies which are likely to contribute to a successful and or more profitable enterprise. Each recommendation must be justified, considering the current position of the organization. Again, we encourage students to draw from the examples of other firms, sharing their experiences in relation to the question.

4. Students must discuss quality management approaches, highlighting various ways, through examples, in which a quality mindset can add value to the operations at their chosen organization. Students are required to explore several quality managements tools (both offline and online) in the discussion, while exploring quality's contribution towards a leaner enterprise. Even though you are writing in the context of the organization, you are encouraged to draw from the examples of other firms, sharing their experiences in relation to the question.

5. Discuss how an AI (big data driven) platform can further enhance the overall business operations. You must also discuss the business exposure and risks such initiatives could have on the operations strategy of your organization proposing workable solutions to address them. Even though you are writing in the context of the organization, you are encouraged to draw from the examples of other firms, sharing their experiences in relation to the question.

6. References and writing style: You must strictly adhere to the Harvard Referencing System Format and present the report in an Essay type format where applicable.

The report shall not exceed 4,000 words and should include relevant examples and illustrations.

Assignment Task 1B Task 1B- Individual Presentation:

For this purpose, Then the learners must design and present to the Board of Directors, a PowerPoint presentation, briefly answering the following questions.
For this purpose, students should conduct a review of relevant academic literature using Euro-monitor passport/ProQuest e-library. It is required to download at least 2-3 articles taken from reputed research journals/ article publications. It is expected that the findings of the literature review will be woven into the individual presentation.

• A brief insight on the operations challenges currently faced by the organization and an overview of the operations performance criteria that matters most for the firm
• Proposed operations strategy and solutions for the firm while giving examples of the successes of other organizations.
• Highlight the Macro and internal influences that also drove the need for a change in the current operations strategy.
• Supply chain and quality strategies, you think will contribute towards addressing the operations challenges and why you think they will
• What attributes the operations manager should have for a successful turnaround of the enterprise and how would these attributes also contribute to the corporate strategy of the firm.

Assignment Task 2 Project Plan for a Business Scenario

Propose and design a Project Plan for the implementation of AI software to enhance the chosen organization's proposals to help improve operations in Task 1. Discuss how the project plan will impact the overall strategic objectives of the organization.
The project plan must be an active plan where the student is encouraged to make real life assumptions and not just engage the reader in theory. The plan should define the following:
• Project objectives
• Organizations objectives
• Project scope
• Project assumptions
• Project roles and responsibilities
• Timeline with Gantt charts
• Risk management with populated template
• Stakeholder management with populated matrix
• Project funding
• Other areas can be discussed

Assuming that below are the stages for your project plan re the implementation of the new software, you must design a PERT diagram showing its Critical path. You must highlight the drawbacks of applying PERT in the project and recommend ways of mitigating them.

Activity	Description	Immediate predecessors	Estimated duration
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N	Stakeholder meeting Training of power users Installation of hardware Testing of hardware Certification and approvals Installation of software -P1 Installation of software - P2 Software testing Software configuration Cloud setup Change management exe. SOP changes Going live in stages Post mortem and problem solving	- A B C C E D E,G C F,I J J H K,L	2 weeks 4 weeks 10 weeks 6 weeks 4 weeks 5 weeks 7 weeks 9 weeks 7 weeks 8 weeks 4 weeks 5 weeks 2 weeks 6 weeks

Attachment:- Operations Management.rar