Operations Management Project

13th May 2022 by 16.00pm

Dr Kostas Chaldoupis, Room 611, Maxwell Building, email:

k.chaldoupis@salford.ac.uk

You should submit your final assessment for grading no later than 16:00 on the submission deadline. Your final assessment should be uploaded via Final Version site ‘TurnitIn’ on the L7 Operations and Information Management Blackboard site.

PART A – OPERATIONS MANAGEMENT

Companies need to make strategic decisions on selecting an appropriate process and facility layout to manage the way production of goods or services will be organised. Based on the above, you are asked to take as an example a product or a service from an industry that you are familiar with (e.g., food, technology, healthcare, retail, services, automotive), and critically:

Examine the process design and facility layout and present a flow chart to justify the above.

PART B – INFORMATION MANAGEMENT

The recent Covid lockdown period has been a difficult time for all SMEs and particularly those in the music and events industry. However, many in this industry are still committed to the progress of their businesses. Therefore, they need appropriate ideas and specific information regarding the potential of technology to support, develop, and future-proof their livelihoods.

Charles and Christina are both classical musicians and music teachers who play at local events and parties. They want to get more private work both as teachers and musicians. They would like to publicise their talents via a website and deal with booking arrangements via the internet for both teaching and playing. At the moment arrangements are made by telephone. Their present clients pay by cash on the day of the lesson or event. They want to appear as professional as possible by providing information, bookings, and payment options online.

They need a business strategy where they take responsibility for their own; social media marketing, online business accounts, an up-to-date calendar of events, and keeping track of the communications between themselves and the clients.

They realise that technology will play an important part in the future business. They have read about Customer Relationship Management software and Enterprise Resource Management software, but just don’t know what kind of information technology support they really need as a small business partnership. They require professional digital business advice before they can make any final decisions about investing funds in business software. Also, they have heard that they may be able to save money by using Open Source Software, but don’t understand if there are any implications, so they need advice about this too.

Charles and Christina have no technical experience and therefore require information that can be easily understood. You are the IM consultant who is responsible for researching this business and providing relevant information.

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:

 Part B1: BPMs and Strategy Analysis

In this section you should develop

1. A series of at least two Business Process Models (BPM), which capture the existing and the proposed business processes. The models should follow the BPM notation shown in the lecture slides. You can utilise Microsoft Visio, Word, PowerPoint or any appropriate alternatives to create the models.

2. Strategic analysis: You should use at least one recognised analysis technique such as SWOT, PESTLE etc

3. Discussion on an overview of the current situation of the business (based on existing BPM and SWOT/PESTLE) and outlining what may be the benefits/challenges of proposed changes to the business (based on proposed BPM).

Part B2: Software Comparison and Recommendation

In this section, you should conduct research into a suitable software solution. You should develop:

1. An evaluation table: you should decide on the set of characteristics which you will use to evaluate the software and your research should consider 2 commercial/off the shelf software and 2 Open Source Software alternatives.

2. Recommendation of software based on the table, with suggestions and a roadmap outlining how the proposed software can be deployed in the business.

Please try to use theory explicitly at all stages, but do not spend too much time describing a theory. While you must be explicit about the theories, models, techniques etc. that you use, you can assume that the reader is familiar with them. What the reader requires is evidence of your ability to understand and apply the theory and learn from it in order to support the development of your findings and/or ideas.

You must cite all sources on which you have relied, for example textbooks, journal articles, web pages etc. using the Harvard Bibliographic referencing system. If you do not cite all sources, then you may be accused of plagiarism, and that may endanger your success in passing the module. If you are in any doubt about how to reference your work, please obtain guidance from the library and/or your academic librarian(s) for this module.

You will also need to take the following into account when completing your assignment:

• Quality of executive summary (does it give a brief and complete summary of your paper for an executive to read?) The executive summary should address both parts.

• Establishment of relevant theory

• Allocation of credit and sources used (have you included references and citations to the material you have used?)

• Clarity of argument

• Overall report presentation including spelling and grammar

• Adherence to nominated word limit (+/- 10%)

• Word processed (letter size 12, times new roman, 1.5 space), fully referenced (Harvard Referencing System)

Assessed intended learning outcomes

On successful completion of this assessment, you will be able to:

1. Critically analyse the theory, concepts and models of operations and information management.

2. Demonstrate an understanding of the importance of operations and information management in international operations.

3. Analyse and critically evaluate the ways in which operations and information management are adapted in view of specific market culture and customer requirements.

4. Analyse and critically evaluate the role and importance of operational excellence in various aspects of competitive advantage.

5. Evaluate critically the fundamental principles of quality and environmental management systems.

Transferable Skills and other Attributes

1. Identify and utilise appropriate methods for collecting and analysing data related to operations and information management issues.

2. Locate, summarise and synthesise a range of information from published literature and electronic sources on operations and information management.

3. Use and evaluate a variety of tools for improving organisational performance.

4. Improve research skills, and data analysis and presentation. Manage time to meet deadlines in both group discussions and in preparation of in-class activities.

The overall aim of the module is to allow students to develop an in-depth understanding of the increasingly important field of Operations and Information Management. More specifically, the module aims to provide students with an overview of how to improve different types of operations, and information systems to contribute to a companies’ competitiveness and strategy. It will also provide knowledge of concepts, techniques and models that are used for planning, managing and improving operations and information systems, within organisations in a global context.

The maximum word count is 3000 words (+/- 10%). Your word count is from the introduction to conclusion sections. Therefore, it does not include title page, contents page, reference section, appendices etc. If the assignment exceeds these limits; the work in excess of 3000 is not marked.

You can expect to receive summative feedback

• Two working weeks (excluding University Seasonal Closing) after the submission date.

• Marks and written feedback will be available on the Level 7 Operations and Information Management module Blackboard site

o You will need to log into the full site to access the written feedback.

o An announcement will be made informing you of the release.

• Please email the teaching team should you require specific feedback following the release of your results.

Formative feedback will be provided during the teaching sessions, and where appropriate, through student-centred activities presented on the VLE.

You are required to follow the University’s regulations regarding plagiarism and citing sources and references used.

Late submission will be accepted up to 7 days after the submission deadline.

All work submitted late will be capped at the pass mark of 50%, there is no sliding scale.

Lecturers are not able to give extensions.

Student Facing Policies and Procedures

Support arrangements

You can obtain support for this assessment by attending your module lectures, seminars and drop in sessions. The seminars and drop in session provide you with good opportunities to ask questions to provide clarity and direction on the subject and addressing the assessment brief. You can e-mail the tutor and visit the module Blackboard site for the regular updates that can directly support your learning in the subject and in developing your assignment.

askUS

The University offers a range of support services for students through askUS.

Good Academic Conduct and Academic Misconduct

Students are expected to learn and demonstrate skills associated with good academic conduct (academic integrity). Good academic conduct includes the use of clear and correct referencing of source materials. Here is a link to where you can find out more about the skills which students require http://www.salford.ac.uk/skills-for-learning.

Academic Misconduct is an action which may give you an unfair advantage in your academic work. This includes plagiarism, asking someone else to write your assessment for you or taking notes into an exam. The University takes all forms of academic misconduct seriously. You can find out how to avoid academic misconduct here https://www.salford.ac.uk/skills-for-learning .

Assessment Information

If you have any questions about assessment rules, you can find out more here.

Personal Mitigating Circumstances

If personal mitigating circumstances may have affected your ability to complete this assessment, you can find more information about personal mitigating circumstances procedure here.

Personal Tutor/Student Progression Administrator

If you have any concerns about your studies, contact your Personal Tutor or your Student Progression Administrator.

In Year Retrieval Scheme

Your assessment is not eligible for in year retrieval.

Reassessment

If you fail your assessment, and are eligible for reassessment, you will need to resubmit. Details and guidance for resubmissions will be issued to you by our Admin team following the completion of your four modules of your programme.

For students with accepted personal mitigating circumstances, this will be your replacement assessment attempt. Students should be aware that there is no late submission period at reassessment (this includes those students who have an accepted PMC request from a previous attempt).

Assessment Criteria for Operations and Information Management