BSBADM506 Manage Business Document Design and Development Task 1 Sample Assignment

Assessment description

In response to a simulated/pretend business case study and a scenario/situation, you will answer and submit written answers to four questions.

Procedure

1. Read the scenario/situation in Appendix 1 and make sure you have received the Adept Owl simulated/pretend business documentation provided by you assessor.
2. Read through the questions provided in Appendix 2 of this task.
3. Respond to the questions by referring to the Adept Owl simulated business documentation provided by your assessor and the scenario in Appendix 1.
4. Submit written answers to your assessor within an agreed timeframe/deadline and in an agreed format. Ensure your answers reflect specifications/terms as outlined below. Keep copies of all submitted materials for your records.

Specifications

You must provide:

1. written answers to four questions (provided in Appendix 2).

Your assessor will be looking for responses/replies to questions that demonstrate/show:

2. literacy/knowledge i.e reading etc skills) skills to read and interpret/understand policies and procedures
3. research and analysis/study skills to evaluate/calculate content/information provided, structure/arrangement and purpose/reason of technical texts, and to adapt/change task instructions to suit/meet changes in technology

(i.e your study (inquiry) skills to review information provided, arrangement and reason of technical texts, and to change task instructions to meet changes in technology)

4. knowledge of cost constraints/limits
5. knowledge of document production processes (to create the document)
6. knowledge of key provisions/requirements of relevant/applicable legislation and regulations (government rules), codes and standards (industry rules) that may affect aspects/parts of business operations, such as:
   1. anti-discrimination legislation [1]
   2. ethical principles [2]
   3. codes of practice [3]
   4. privacy laws [4]
7. knowledge of sources of expertise (external consultants or help) that are external to the organisation or workgroup.

Appendix 1: Adept Owl scenario

Background

Adept Owl produces high-quality, entertaining board, card and puzzle games for the enjoyment of all ages. According to the company’s vision/goal etc, Adept Owl intends to establish its reputation within five years, ‘as one of the finest, most innovative/new ideas and entertaining board game developers in Australia’. To achieve this goal, the company will need to engage/work in several strategic/planned directions:

1. engaging/connecting - interacting with customers
2. developing and improving products and production
3. supporting innovative/new ideas thinking, management and leadership skills
4. creating a high-performing organisation [5]
5. ensuring sustainable/supportable (able to maintain doing) materials and processes are used in manufacture and distribution.

On the level of creating, maintaining and storing company documentation, these strategic directions are supported by specific activities, for example:

1. creating standards for documents, in the form of a style guide, to improve readability (for internal and external customers) and to promote a consistent/standard look-and-feel
2. creating procedures for document production that ensure consistent, high-quality outcomes and efficiency (i.e effectiveness)
3. designing templates and standard text – in conformity/ to meet with the style guide and production procedures – to improve workflow (i.e progress of work) further
4. developing people-focused [6] implementation/operational strategies – for example delivering training on documentation – to ensure the cooperation/help of all staff in the maintenance of document quality, sustainability, and legal and ethical compliance.[7]

As a new member of the administration team, with a responsibility for team leadership and document design and development, your first order of business is to identify the existing documentation standards at Adept Owl.

In order to plan for meeting current and future organisational needs, you will need to consider current performance and administration team capability.

Administration team performance

The administration team at Adept Owl performs a range of documentation tasks. These tasks are grouped into several main areas of activity, which provide the basis for measuring performance that drives organisational outcomes/results.

The administration team at Adept Owl uses the following performance scorecard/record which includes various targets for documentation output and quality.

Administration team capability

The administration team has identified six key skills that each team member will need to perform at a practitioner/specialist level (see the legend / table of explanation below for clarification of levels) or above:

Legend:

Current business needs

In attempting to achieve its wider business goals, Adept Owl has a number of current specific business needs relating to the skills capability/ability and performance of the administration team in designing and using documentation.

Letter mail-outs

One of the most common tasks undertaken by the team is writing letters to both internal and external customers. In all cases such letters need to conform/meet to Adept Owl house styles. Currently letters are created from scratch/start. Mass/large numbers mail-outs present a problem for efficiency as letters are created individually. This practice presents a problem with respect to consistency/regular and wastage of resources. A standard procedure for completing a mass letter mail-out including a mail merge [8] that is consistent/the same with existing letter standards is required. In the interest of budgetary/financial control, only existing organisational software should be required. The entire mail merge process should take no more than 5 minutes to perform.

Expense reporting

One type of document the organisation currently lacks/does not have standard processes for is expense reporting. Staff use a range/many of methods to report expenses. There are several problems associated with this arrangement. Staff complain about the time needed to input expenses. Administration staff complain about the lack of consistency, including incorrect or incomplete coding of expenses. Allowable expenses codes are:

1. Food
2. Transportation
3. Communication
4. Training

A standard procedure for creating expense reports that encourages the use of time-saving macros (code instructions in a computer) is required. In the interest of budgetary control, only existing organisational software should be required. The entire/whole procedure should take no more than 5 minutes to perform.

Future business needs and capability

At this point it is unclear whether the organisation’s software list will be sufficient/enough to take the organisation through the next five years. The advent/arrival of social media platforms (Web 2.0) and their use in both internal and external business communications/marketing and digital/web, computer publishing/web printing technologies present both challenges and opportunities for Adept Owl. Unfortunately, current software capability within the administration team means that the team is barely proficient/skilful to use Microsoft Office and they will likely struggle with complex/difficult document tasks without further training or recruitment to bolster/strengthen capability/performance

Appendix 2: Test questions

Question 1

As a new member of the team you will need to identify organisational requirements.

Referring to the Adept Owl scenario in Appendix 1, the Adept Owl style guide and procedures, identify:

1. one requirement for information entry
2. two requirements for file naming and storage
3. two requirements for output/production or quality of document design and production
4. two compliance requirements – explain how the existing Adept Owl processes help ensure compliance with one piece of legislation and identify and explain one possible code of practice or standard relevant to document production for possible improvement of processes.

Question 2

Evaluate Adept Owl’s present and future information technology capability to satisfy document design and production needs.

1. With respect to human resource capability, where are the skills gaps that exist currently within the administration team?
2. How could the skills gaps/not having enough skills be closed in keeping with organisational practices?
3. What future IT capability needs (both physical and human) could the organisation have with respect to document design and production within the next 2–5 years? Identify at least one source of external advice or information you have used to help you make this evaluation.
4. What changes might be required to the Adept Owl style guide and procedures to (take account/make a note, awareness) of anticipated/expected technological changes?

Question 3

Referring to the Adept Owl style guide and procedures, identify three types of documents used and required by the organisation.

Question 4

Develop a short procedure for either (a) a mass letter mail-out or (b) the creation of an expense report. Ensure your procedures:

5. follow general style requirements of the Adept Owl style guide; include at least two references to the style guide or procedures, for example, storage or use of fonts (types, styles of letters) or headings
6. adhere/stick to to information, budget and technology requirements outlined in the scenario in Appendix 1.

[1] Anti-discrimination legislation - refers to the law on the right of people to be treated equally.

[2] Ethical principles - are the common goals that each organisation/person tries to achieve in order to be successful. These goals include beneficence, least harm, respect for autonomy and justice amongst others.

[3] Codes of Practice - set out industry standards of conduct. They are guidelines for fair dealing between you and your customers, and let your customers know what your business agrees to do when dealing with them. Codes of Practice can relate to a single business, or represent a whole industry.

[4] Privacy law - refers to the laws which deal with the regulation of personal information about individuals which can be collected by governments and other public as well as private organizations and its storage and use.

[5] The definition of a high performing organization relates closely to how an organization strategically uses its resources. Above all, senior managers set goals for all departments and develop a system for measuring progress toward goal achievement, which is also called strategic performance management. In a business, this process is tied to customers and markets. Business leaders and employees must devote their efforts to customer-focused goals and continuously adapt the organization to the market.

[6] People Focused - It means we understand your business is about the relationships you have with your customers, members, users, leads and subscribers.

[7] Legal and Ethical compliance – means doing the right thing by the law and by the person or organisation.

[8] Mail merge - "mail merge" is a process to create personalized letters and pre-addressed envelopes or mailing labels mass mailings from a word processing document which contains fixed text.