BSBINM601 Manage Information and Knowledge

BSBINM601 Manage information and knowledge

Assessment Task 3 Make decisions on business issues

12. Arrange specialist consultation by contacting appropriate sources to explore their range of services in a commercial setting similar to the case study. Then answer the assessment questions in Appendix 5.

Appendix 5

1. Briefly discuss how to ensure you have sufficient, valid and reliable evidence and information available to support determining the best course of action to take and making a final decision.

· Analysis of positive and negative outcomes from decision making.

· Test taker's temporary psychological or physical state.

· Test-retest reliability indicates the repeatability of test scores with the passage of time. This estimate also reflects the stability of the characteristic or construct being measured by the test.

2. Research and consult specialists, groups or individuals relevant to the case study to support the following:

a. Contact two (2) specialists or other relevant groups or individuals who could assist in your analysis and decision-making process

b. Explore and describe what types of assistance, advice or information they can provide.

Specialist: Marketing, business development, marketing consultant.

Assistance: Feedback, internal and external factors.

3. a. Who has the authority to make the final decision about what course of action to take to address the identified business issue?

b. Why do they have this authority?

c. Do they have the legal authority to make this decision?

Emma and Rufus (owners) have the legal authority as they are the registered owners of the business.

4. What organisational policies and procedures must be considered when making this decision?

· Business and marketing plans is a comprehensive document or blueprint that outlines a business advertising and marketing efforts for the coming year. It describes business activities involved in accomplishing specific marketing objectives within a set time frame.

· Risk management is the identification, assessment, and prioritization of risks followed by coordinated and economical application of resources to minimize, monitor, and control the probability or impact of unfortunate events or to maximize the realization of opportunities. Risk management’s objective is to assure uncertainty does not deflect the endeavor from the business goals.

· Employee equal opportunity employment promotes equality in the workplace. Equality refers to the protection of an employee’s civil rights. It also provides all employees fair access to employer benefits such as insurance, disability accommodations, compensation, promotions and job responsibilities.

· Anti-discrimination law refers to the law on the right of people to be treated equally. Some countries mandate that in employment, in consumer transactions, and in political participation people must be dealt with on an equal basis regardless of economic status, sex, age, race, ethnicity, nationality, disability, mental illness or ability, sexual orientation, gender, gender identity/expression/dysphoria, sex characteristics, religious, creed, or individual political opinions.

· Workplace health and safety policies and procedures is the discipline concerned with protecting the health and safety of all stakeholders in the workplace from exposure to hazards and risks resulting from work activities.

5. Briefly describe how your recommendation to Emma and Rufus is consistent with CoffeeVille’s values, objectives and standards.

The above-recommended strategies are aligned with organizational goals and objectives. The strategy of entering into the market is aligned with the strategy of increasing sales volumes. By running the business in market, the company could create brand recognition, which in turn could help to attract the customers towards the products and services.

6. You have been given this project in early January. Emma and Rufus are aware that, depending on the course of action chosen, it could take some time to implement the necessary changes and have an impact on the business’s financial status.

They would prefer the analysis process and recommendation to be made as soon as possible – by end of February if possible. They have set end of March as the absolute latest timeframe for this project to be concluded.

Develop a basic planning timeline to present to Emma and Rufus, outlining timings for the identification, analysis and decision stages and a completion date for the resolution of the business problem or issue.

7. Provide three examples of existing and emerging technologies that assist organisations with knowledge and information management. Describe for each example what kind of information would be managed for a specific business or industry sector.

The three existing and emerging technologies that assist organizations with knowledge an information management:

· Mobility models represent the movement of mobile user, and how their location, velocity and acceleration change over time. Such models are frequently used for simulation purposes when new communication or navigation techniques are investigated. Mobility management schemes for mobile communication systems make use of mobility models for predicting future user positions.

· Online data storage is a model of data storage in which the digital data is stored in logical pools, the physical storage spans multiple servers (and often locations), and the physical environment is typically owned and managed by a hosting company. These storage providers are responsible for keeping the data available and accessible, and the physical environment protected and running. People and organizations buy or lease storage capacity from the providers to store user, organization, or application data.

· The social network perspective provides a set of methods for analysing the structure of whole social entities as well as a variety of theories explaining the patterns observed in these structures. The study of these structures uses social network analysis to identify local and global patterns, locate influential entities, and examine network dynamics.

8. Select three quantitative or statistical analysis methods from the following list and explain what each one measures and in which industry sector it might be applicable for use:

· Linear programming is a method to achieve the best outcome (such as maximum profit or lowest cost) in a mathematical model whose requirements are represented by linear relationships.

· Dynamic programming is a method for solving a complex problem by breaking it down into a collection of simpler subproblems, solving each of those subproblems just once, and storing their solutions.

· Queuing theory examines every component of waiting in line to be served, including the arrival process, service process, number of servers, number of system places and the number of "customers" (which might be people, data packets, cars, etc.). Real-life applications of queuing theory include providing faster customer service, improving traffic flow, shipping orders efficiently from a warehouse and designing telecommunications systems such as call centres.

9. Select two management information systems/decision support systems that would be fit for purpose in the following industries and outline their key features.

· The medical and allied health sector:

Customer relationship management refers to practices, strategies and technologies that companies use to manage and analyze customer interactions and data throughout the customer lifecycle, with the goal of improving business relationships with customers, assisting in customer retention and driving sales growth. CRM systems are designed to compile information on customers across different channels -- or points of contact between the customer and the company -- which could include the company's website, telephone, live chat, direct mail, marketing materials and social media. CRM systems can also give customer-facing staff detailed information on customers' personal information, purchase history, buying preferences and concerns. CRM software consolidates customer information and documents into a single CRM database, so business users can more easily access and manage it. The other main functions of this software include recording various customer interactions (over email, phone calls, social media or other channels, depending on system capabilities), automating various workflow processes such as tasks, calendars and alerts, and giving managers the ability to track performance and productivity based on information logged within the system.

· The retail sales sector:

Retail information system support basic retail function like material procurement, storage, dispatch, etc. It should allow the manager to monitor sales of product mix and daily sales volume. An information system should help in inventory management. Retail information system is applicable to different types industry within retail management. An information system can be developed to manage fashion store, pharmacy, a grocery store as well as a toy store.

10. In 75–100 words, explain how information systems can inform risk management plans and courses of action for an organisation.

Due to the inherent complexity of the environment within organisations, there are many risks in implementing information management solutions.

At the outset of planning an information management strategy, the risks should be clearly identified. An approach must then be identified for each risk, either avoiding or mitigating the risk.

Risk management approaches should then be used to plan all aspects of the project, including the activities conducted and the budget spent.

For example, a simple but effective way of mitigating risks is to spend less money. This might involve conducting pilot projects to identifying issues and potential solutions, rather than starting with enterprise-wide deployments.

Appendix 6

1. Determine and prepare to discuss:

a. a brief overview of the business issue and analysis techniques used to identify the issue, determine decision options and analyse the viability of potential courses of action.

b. reasoning for recommended course of action, such as:

Management information or decision support systems can assist you when analysing information and identifying trends and patterns.

From MIS (Management Information System) and DSS (Decision Support System):

· Negative trends on economic data such as increasing property vacancy rates and average rents.

· Help company make decisions about problems that may be rapidly changing and not easily specified in advance.

· Give managers feedback about their own performance; top management can monitor the company as a whole.

By using a variety of statistical and sensitivity analysis processes and produce reports and results for evaluation.

Management information or decision support systems can support the analysis of proposed courses of action and their impact on the business.

From MIS (Management Information System) and DSS (Decision Support System):

· We get a report payroll expenses, where state that payroll increment regarding with the year.

· Computerized database of financial information organized and programmed in such a way that it produces regular reports on operations for every level of management in a company.

· Help decision makers compile useful information from a combination of raw data, documents, and personal knowledge, or business models to identify and solve problems and make decisions.

MIS and DSSs can use internal and external data to complete business scenario simulations or modelling to forecast the impact of decision options on different aspects of the business.

Presentation questions

Alternative or additional questions can also be used based on the context and content of the presentation.

1. Is this the only problem or issue CoffeeVille faces? During your research and analysis did you identify other possible concerns?

Lack of Resources

Cause: Given the long timelines involved in enterprise projects, project managers often face challenges in predicting who will be available to work on project tasks months or years in advance. The challenge becomes even greater when team members are expected to split their time between multiple simultaneous projects.

Solution: Organization-wide project and portfolio management can take the guesswork out of resource allocation. By using tools like Clarizen that provide visibility into assignments and utilization across departments and business units, project managers can not only plan for the future, but also find the best fit for their current needs when project timelines change.

2. From a financial perspective, which of the potential courses of action is the riskiest for the business? What do you base this opinion on?

Changes in prices because of market differences, political changes, natural calamities, diplomatic changes or economic conflicts may cause volatile foreign investment conditions that may expose businesses and individuals to foreign investment risk. Equity risk covers the risk involved in the volatile price changes of shares of stock.

3. How will this decision affect our customers and employees in the short- or long-term?

This decision is crucial to a business being able to improve its processes, bring new and improved products and services to market, increase its efficiency and, most importantly, improve its profitability.

Anyway, suppliers, business partners, business network contacts, and customer can all make valuable contributions to the creative process, as well as providing support and encouragement.

4. What timeframe do you recommend for implementation of this course of action?

Six months

Presentation evaluation

Participants involved in role-plays and/or assessment of the candidate’s presentation can use the following criteria to assist in providing feedback.

Presentation feedback form

Provide formal feedback relating to any information, courses of action or recommendations made during the presentation.

Executive Summary

Coffeeville is the organization owned by Emma and Rufus. Rufus is managing market research and external party’s communication while Emma is managing in marketing activities. Coffeeville usually located in CBD area where it consists from five to eight full timers and some of casual positions.

Coffeeville provides the clients with products like high quality coffees, cold gourmet food and beverages and excellent services to clients at the place. Organization has expected goals of becoming established premier provider of gourmet coffee and food for Melbourne people. In the future, the company also looking for expanding locations into more of suburbs.

Key Strategic directions

1. Establish as a brand that is concerning to environmental and ethical issues.

2. Obtain highly skilled and trained workers.

3. Increase profit through the use of marketing campaigns.

4. Control overall costs (both direct and indirect costs).

5. Maintain a positive product image as well as to ensure of quality service standards

Marketing plans:

1. A marketing expenditure budget for the year showing an increase in previous year for 67%.

2. Key Performance indicators being established to control the direction of the activity.

3. Situation Analysis to acknowledge market trends as well as Strengths and weaknesses of the organization.

4. Using marketing strategy in acknowledgement of company’s target segments, positioning and objectives.

Situation Analysis

1. Market Summary

a. Market needs

Majority of coffee drinkers are usually looking for best quality coffee and delicious menu. Coffeeville is being able to serve that since those are the key factors of their business which includes various range of food menu, high quality coffee and excellent client service.

b. Market trends

Majority of Australian people love to drink coffee. Coffee drinkers are usually looking for high quality material where it is not easy to obtain it themselves or costing too much to do it at home such as:-

ü Quick service is hard to beat and people expect it as a standard of all shops to have it as a standard. Long waiting time is a huge turn-off when there are thousands of cafes at every corner of the CBD.

ü High quality material in food and coffee where client have various range of food menu in selection and range of drinks to choose from when they needed it.

ü Clients are also looking for special kind of food for certain preferential people who are looking for healthy options and allergy-free food as well as vegetarian group.

c. Market Growth

Melbourne is growing reflecting from massive exodus from Sydney due to cheaper living expenses and cheaper property prices when compared to Sydney. The opportunity of cafes to occur is plenty but so does longer list of competitors that the company have to compete with. Also, with more people and more competition, there is a possibility in a rise of rent costs which may require company to do better for uprising costs.

2. SWOT Analysis

3. Competitors

a. Gloria jeans and other franchise who have more reputation and higher.

b. Seven-Eleven sells cheap coffee and ready-to-eat dessert in a package and require less employees and faster transactions.

c. McDonald cafes are everywhere to be found and serving exactly as what other café does but in more consistency of taste and service

d. budget in marketing as well as consistency in products and drinks

Marketing Strategy

Marketing budget has been increase by 67% to $60,000 for achieving the targeted marketing objectives of the business.

a. Mission

1) To provide high quality coffee and food

2) To serve a delicious and ranges of cold gourmet food and beverages

3) To deliver customers with high customers’ services.

b. Marketing objectives

1) To increase traffic from 250 to 300 customers per day.

2) To increase brand recognition at least 8/10 people, recognize the brand

3) To establish as a provider of a superior coffee experience and supplier of gourmet food in CBD.

c. Financial Objectives

1) To generated more sales at least 100K per month

2) To increase in gross profit income per year.

3) To reduce total costs in the company including capital and overhead costs.

d. Positioning

1) To become a competitive priced, and high quality coffee and gourmet food supplier. Coffeeville customers will also realise the premium coffee and service being delivered at the company.

2) To become recognized locally as a premier coffee provider.

e. Marketing mix

1) Price

i. Pricing strategy is higher than its customers but not too much. This shows the more premium of ingredients. Higher price will also help in creating more revenue

1. Drinks /shakes/coffee/tea: $3-$5

2. Bottled drinks: $3-$4

3. Pastries, gourmet food: $4-$7

2) Place

i. The organization café will be a clean and functional place as well as to look attractive to customers to come and visit.

ii. Displays of products on the screen on the wall to show the available products and menus at the organization.

3) Promotion

i. The organization will place an advertisement on local newspaper and radio to acknowledge and promote new products and company products to have higher number of customers to visit the organization.

ii. Advertisements can be

1. Online bloggers to simulated more attentions

2. Brochures

3. Local radio/newspaper

4) Product

i. Organization will also ensure of the service being delivered will help customers satisfied and distributing and referring to others for the business of the company.

ii. Organization will continue to make the product that is higher quality than others but at just slightly higher price.

Potential Business Problems/Issues

a. Issues

a. Expansions of the company in more suburbs

b. Strong market opportunities since they located in good locations

b. Problems

With economic downturn, it leads to less spending outside of the household which directly affect the company in the perspective of less sales being generated. Also with the following expenses that has risen

i. 20% increase in costs of meat price

ii. 15% increase in wages

iii. 10-185 increase in rents

iv. 10-17% increase beverage, sales and external catering of the company drinks

v. 38% said they only come to Coffeeville on special occasions not on regular basis as they treat it as a treat

vi. 58% customers of Coffeeville said that Coffeeville is not their primary choice.

Therefore, the company is currently face

· Higher costs of sales in preparing products for customers

· Lower rate of customer retention or regular customers to visit the company

c. Strategies to increase customer loyalty and control budget

The only possible approach of the company to survive in economic downturn is to retain as much as possible of regular customers to ensure of sustainable flow of income. Since with the higher costs, the company is in no control of market price in ingredients and have no control over rent. However, the company can prepare to watch over the costs being occurred.

• Create loyalty program

o The organization should create loyalty program where memberships gets special discounts when buying at the company as well as entitled to free rewards when they reach the sales target in the calendar year.

o Memberships rewards will help the organization stay with one company to earn their rewards and make their dollar worth as most as possible.

• Financial statement analysis

o The organization can also use financial analysis to calculated expected sales in the company to acknowledge possible sales forecast, help in stock preparation and customer trend in each season to be able to increase or decrease hours or some fixed costs such as

§ Wages to be reduced in lower seasons

§ Costs in coffee or some menu to be increase or decrease in some season e.g. people prefer colder drinks in Sydney summer.

o The organization should hire a team in monitoring over budget watch to see whether certain cost accounts has been increased excessively to ensure of better operation in usage of resources.