Operation and Information Management

Assessment task details and instructions

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 provided below:

Part A: Analysis – Business Process Models and strategy analysis

In this section you should develop

1. A series of at least two Business Process Models, which capture the existing and your proposed business processes. The models should follow the BPMN notation shown in the lecture slides. You can utilise Microsoft Visio, Word, PowerPoint or appropriate alternatives to create the models.
2. Strategic analysis: You should use at least one recognised analysis technique such as SWOT, PESTLE etc

Part B: Open Source Software Comparison Table

In this section, you should conduct research into a suitable software solution. You should decide on the set of characteristics which you will use to evaluate the software and your research should consider 4-5 alternatives in detail. This section should be presented as a table.

Part C: Report

In this section, you should write a report which provides an overview of the current situation together with a roadmap outlining how the proposed changes to the business can be achieved to the benefit of the business. This should draw on your analysis in Part A, include your recommendation for software in Part B, and provide recommendations for ensuring that the strategy is effectively implemented, including consideration of the challenges ahead.

This section should follow a standard report structure:

Title Page – Contents – Introduction - Main Section – Conclusions and Recommendations - References.

You should use appropriate theories, frameworks, models, that we have covered in the module, to inform and justify your recommendations.

Part D: Reflection on your contribution to the online discussion

In this section you should submit a 250-word reflective summary, accompanied by your own self-assessment of your contribution to the online elements throughout the module, using the table labelled ‘Reflection Self-Assessment Pro forma’ in Appendix A (copy and paste the page from this document into your sub mission). The reflective report should include your detailed reflection on your learning process of theories, frameworks, models that we covered in the module, supported with evidence (pasted URLs) from the online discussion forum.

Using the Discussion Boards

The OnlineCampus module has been set up with discussion forums for you to explore the assignment/share your ideas and findings. It is recommended that you use these to:

• Share papers and articles that you have found on relevant topics (remember to include links / reference / pdfs if you do this!)
• Discuss the changes to the ways of working – i.e. discuss what processes will change and explore how these might work in practice. You might also consider the changing information needs of the business
• Discuss and share examples of Open Source software that could be of use.

Please do not be shy of using the discussion forums – the purpose is to give you experience of using collaborative technologies.

This is the marking table which will be used to guide the marking of assessment components:

The case study: Jordon@TopDog

Jordon King is a certified dog groomer and has a small dog grooming salon. Her business venue is the hub of her work where she carries out a range of dog grooming services to maintain a dog’s physical appearance. These include: brushing, cutting, clipping, cleaning, bathing, drying and styling.   In addition to maintaining beautifully groomed dogs, her salon also provides a number of goods for sale, such as collars, leads, and toys. She also provides introductions to several linked services, such as residential kennels, dog walkers, trainers, behaviourists, pet photographers, etc.  

Jordon wants to further develop the introduction route through her business to other professional services. Several associated businesses have explained that they are willing to pay introduction fees. So, Jordon wants to find new ways of promoting her own business and ways to act as an agent for other services. At the moment, most of her work arrives via word of mouth and she has a very strong local reputation. Jordon has enough grooming work for her own time. However, she also has space in the salon to rent out to another professional dog groomer. She would like to publicise her talents via a website and, if possible, deal with booking arrangements for other services via the internet. At the moment, this is always done by telephone or face to face. Present clients pay by cash on the day, but Jordon wants to appear much more professional and hopefully open up a wider market by providing information, bookings and payment options online. Promotions and online sales of her products is also an area that Jordon is interested in developing.

A business approach/strategy is required. As she is a sole trader, she would be responsible for her own social media marketing, keeping business accounts, providing an updated calendar of events, and keeping track of the communications between herself and all the clients, but a record is also required for introductions to other professional services.

Jordon realises that technology will play an important role in the business. She has read about Customer Relationship Management and Enterprise Resource Management, but just does not know what kind of digital business technology support she really needs. Jordon requires professional digital business advice before she can make any final decisions about investing funds in business software. Also, she has heard that she may be able to save money by using Open Source Software, but does not understand if there are any implications, so Jordon needs your advice about this too.

Jordon has no technical experience and therefore requires a report that can be easily read and understood. You are the OIM consultant who is responsible for researching this business and providing a consultancy report.

Module Aims

1. Allow students to develop an in-depth understanding of the increasingly important field of operations and information management. 

2. Provide students with an overview of the role and contribution of operations and information systems to a company’s strategic position. 

3. To provide concepts, techniques and models used for planning, managing and improving operations and information systems in contemporary organisations across a range of business sectors

4.  To equip students with the capability to apply their knowledge of operations and information management within their business and management practice or further study.