BSB61015:The BBQfun Board of Directors and the CEO have Decided to Implement an e-Commerce Strategy :Advanced Diploma of Leadership and Management Case Study, UTS, Australia

Task Details:

Learners should demonstrate their contributions using their skills and knowledge that they have developed. They should show that they understand and can apply the information discussed in the Learner Guide. They can also demonstrate their existing knowledge and experience wherever necessary.

It is anticipated that the assessment will take approximately 5 hours to complete. The assessment may be re-attempted on one further occasion (maximum two attempts in total). All assessments must be resubmitted 3 days after receiving your unsatisfactory grade. You must clearly indicate “Re-submission” on your resubmitted work.

 You must complete all questions in all parts unassisted by the assessor or other personnel but may refer to reference material and independent research as may be needed.

In undertaking this assessment task, you as the candidate are providing consent for your work to be reviewed for the purposes of formal assessment in the unit(s) of competency. If you have a concern regarding this permission, please discuss this with your assessor prior to undertaking the task.

Assessment Task 2: Skills and Performance Assessment

Scenario

The BBQfun Board of Directors and the CEO have decided to implement an e-commerce strategy to maintain or increase market share and revenue and satisfy customer needs in line with company’s strategic directions.

You have been hired as an external consultant to manage resource planning activities for BBQfun’s e-commerce strategy.

Under the strategy, BBQfun would offer all products in an online store. Stock could be stored at no extra cost at existing stores. Customers would cover delivery costs.

Currently, BBQfun has a website, but this website lacks e-commerce functionality. The website would need to be redeveloped to incorporate this functionality in line with relevant technical specifications. Existing infrastructure, such as office and store configurations, would need to be adapted to the new strategy. Additionally, assets, such as delivery vehicles would need to be acquired. New staff would need to be recruited and existing staff retrained or informed of the e-commerce strategy and associated operational and performance targets.

All resourcing must be acquired in accordance with relevant internal and external standards – legislation and codes of practice; intellectual property (IP) rights and responsibilities; and organizational policies and procedures.

Preliminary approval has been given to amend the existing budget to incorporate this strategy.

It is now 30 June 2013 and e-commerce operations are expected to be underway in one year and three months, by 1 October 2014.

Scenario task

As the external consultant, you will need to determine physical and human resourcing requirements. Review organizational documentation (Appendix 1 and BBQ Fun Simulated Business) and undertake preliminary research on e-commerce. Consult with the following personnel to determine resourcing needs:

• Sales and Marketing Manager
• technology consultant.

You will then need to plan physical and human resourcing and establish associated performance measures and targets. You may consider the Management Team of BBQfun, including team leaders in warehouses, to be resources for the implementation. Use the description of their roles in operational planning when assigning responsibilities.

Finally, you will need to propose resourcing and associated operational changes to the Operations General Manager, who will, in consultation with the CEO and Board of Directors, provide approval.

Assessment:

Part A

1.Resources Consultation Meeting Role Play

The members of the class are acting as if in a meeting of BBQfun. The Trainer, acting as the Sales and Marketing Manager of BBQfun,  presents the scenario of the assessment to the students who are acting as independent consultants. Each will have the responsibility to develop Resource plans and manage resources for BBQfun. All members of the class have the data from the scenario and can ask questions for further clarification.

Describe your role in the Role Play (See Appendix 3 Role Play Checklist for topics to cover in role-play from question 1-10)

1.Name of the project

2.Objectives of Project

3.Scope of the Project

4.An outline of the legislative and regulatory context that is relevant to BBQfun’se-commerce strategy (available on pages 17–20)

5. An outline of the BBQfun policies and procedures that directly relate to the e-commerce strategy

6. An action plan needed to achieve the successful implementation of the e-commerce strategy

7.List the resource required

(a) Labour. Identify all the roles involved in performing the project, including all full-time, part-time, and contract roles (At first just a list, based on your action plan above. Later we will have more detail.

(b) Equipment. Identify all of the equipment involved in performing the project. For instance, this may include office equipment (e.g. PCs, photocopiers, and mobile phones), telecommunications equipment (e.g. cabling, switches), and machinery (e.g. heavy and light machinery). (At first, just make a list, based on your action plan above).

(c) Materials. Identify all of the non-consumable materials to complete project activities such as materials required to build physical deliverables (e.g. wood, steel, and concrete) Hardware/software. Identify if applicable.

8. List the risks associated with each of the resources and how you would mitigate each risk

9. estimate the number of resources required

(a) Labor, estimate how many hours you need per role

(b) Equipment, estimate how many pieces of equipment needed

(c) Materials estimate how much material, in terms such as square meters, kilograms, number of units

10 Construct a resource schedule

you have now collated all the information required to build a detailed Resource Schedule. Create a resource schedule that specifies the:

• Resources required to complete the project
• Timeframes for the consumption of each resource
• Quantity of each resource required per week/month
• The total quantity of resource consumed per week/month
• Assumptions and constraints identified

Part B

Scenario task

You will need to plan physical and human resourcing at a detailed level in accordance with all organizational requirements. You are expected to deploy resourcing strategies to plan and implement:

• physical resourcing of redeveloped website (plan entire process as per organizational requirements)
• recruitment of four customer service representatives (plan the entire recruitment process as per organizational requirements; you will need to demonstrate implementation through interviewing and assessing two candidates).

Note: You may consider the management team of BBQfun, including warehouse team leaders to be human resources for the acquisition of physical resources. Use the description of their roles in operational planning when assigning responsibilities.

Assessment

1. Plan and implement physical resourcing
2. Depending upon the timeline for the project, outline how the resources will be expended
3.  Explain the risk management strategy needed to prevent overspending on resources. Take into account the Expenditure Payment Approval form (in Appendix 3) and the Procurement Policy, and list of Approved suppliers (in BBQfun Simulated Business)  Fill the Contingency plan below.
4. You must choose between three contractors, to develop the website (see Appendix 2, Physical Resourcing). Justify your decision, taking into account the relevant policies of BBQfun in BBQfun Simulated Business.
5. Plan and implement human resourcing
6. Write down five questions that you will ask in the interview (refer to  Human Resources in Appendix 2
7. Incorporate IP requirements for human resource acquisition to ensure trade secrets and confidential information is protected from theft, misuse, and unauthorized distribution.

Part C

Background to scenario

The BBQfun website now has e-commerce functionality. The website has been redeveloped to incorporate this functionality in line with relevant technical specifications after you consulted with specialist managers. Existing infrastructure, such as office and store configurations, has been adapted to the new strategy. Additionally, assets such as delivery vehicles have been acquired. New staff has been recruited and existing staff retrained or informed of the e-commerce strategy and associated operational and performance targets.

All resourcing should have been acquired and operations are undertaken in accordance with relevant external standards, such as legislation and codes of practice, and internal standards, such as organizational policies and procedures and performance targets.

It is now 1 January 2014. e-Commerce operations are expected to be underway by 1 October 2014.

Scenario task

You will need to plan monitoring activities for ongoing resource allocation and use – by developing a procedure for reviewing resource allocation against the business plan

You will then need to monitor the budget for the second quarter of the financial year.

Finally, you will need to prepare and present a report with recommendations for operational improvement to the Operations General Manager.

Note: You may consider the management team of BBQfun including team leaders in warehouses to be resources for the monitoring of performance. Use the description of their roles when assigning responsibilities.

Note: Financial reporting is completed by the CFO at the end of each quarter of the financial year. Employee performance is gathered by store managers, sales and marketing managers (online staff) and compiled by the HR Manager at the end of each quarter.

1. Monitoring resource use. Describe at least five resources in your plan, and describe how you will monitor them (take account of your risk analysis if this is relevant).
2. Develop a procedure for reviewing resource allocation against the business plan (based on the five resources described above)
3. Prepare and present a report to your trainer, with recommendations for operational improvement to the Operations General Manager. Suggestions for headings
   • Project background
   • Project objectives
   • Resources allocated to objectives of the project
   • Risks identified
   • Effectiveness of resource plan- comparison of resource plan against actual performance
   • Recommendations