ASSESSMENT 2: PROJECT
Overview: The purpose of this assessment is to assess your ability to develop and monitor implementation of the operational plan to provide efficient and effective workplace practices within the organisation’s
productivity and profitability plans.
BSBMGT517 Manage Operational Plan Assignment-George Brown College Canada.
You are to demonstrate your ability to:
- Develop an operational plan
- Plan and manage resource acquisition
- Monitor and review operational performance.
You are required to develop an operational plan for a hospitality business, based on the scenario below. In order to do this, you will need to work with another colleague who will act as your business partner, for the purpose of consulting on your business planning. You must, however, submit your own work.
This project consists of 3 parts. You are required to complete them all.
Scenario:
You and a friend have bought a big, old house in a remote area, which you would like to turn into a Bed and Breakfast. It is in bush land near a lake with lots of local flora and fauna which presents possibilities of bush walking, fishing and kayaking. There is also a nearby treetops walk
and there are several tour companies offering tours to local attractions.
You are planning to target both domestic and international tourists. You would like to offer both accommodation and catering.
The house has 7 bedrooms, 3 bathrooms, a kitchen, 3 sitting areas and a big outside area.However, it is old-fashioned and needs renovation. There is currently a phone line but no internet.
You have an overall budget of $300,000 for setting up the business and the renovations that are needed to the site. In setting up you need to include renovations to the property, staff to operate the place for the first 3 months, telecommunications and initial marketing You plan to manage and work in the Bed and Breakfast together with your partner, but recognise that you will need additional staff to do the cleaning and gardening. You plan to do the laundry yourself but will need to purchase the equipment. You and the partner will do the cooking yourselves.
BSBMGT517 Manage Operational Plan Assignment-George Brown College Canada.
Your aim in setting up this new business is to develop a single but successful operation that will be a desired tourism destination. Your strategic goal is that in three years’ time you will be managing a successful business, and will have both a good income as well as a good work/life
balance.
Part A: Develop operational plan
Tasks: 1.Determine and make a list of what is required for your project to open the property as an operational business. Do this by brainstorming with your partner. You may also contact any other people who may be able to provide the information you need, and seek specialist advice as required.
Write notes from your planning to add to your organizational plan.
You need to consider factors such as the following:
- Name of the property
- Hours of operation
- Any building or renovations
- Costs and financial resources
- Marketing
- Human resources / labour requirements and who will do what
- Technological requirements
- Any potential risks or problems that might arise and how you will deal with them
- Support and assistance to colleagues that may be required
- the legislative and regulatory requirements that will apply to the developing of the property and facilities.
2.Develop an operational plan for the development of the property and facilities, and staff for the first 6 months of the business.
Include:
- brief description of the planned business
- aims of the operational plan
- objectives to be achieved
- operational details (tasks and actions to be undertaken to achieve the objectives)
- overall budget
- timing
- project management
- resource and staffing requirements
- key performance indicators (how you will measure achievement of your objectives)
- monitoring processes (how you will monitor the implementation of your project)
- contingency plans (what might go wrong and how you will deal with it) – at least five contingencies and strategies to avoid or deal with them.
Your plan must be typed and presented as a formal document, together with supporting information sources e.g. costs and quotations, specialist advice, etc. You can use the template (in Appendix B) or access one from the internet.
Budget:
Your budget needs to include anticipated income and running costs such as:
- advertising
- bank charges
- electricity
- insurance
- food
- office supplies
- laundry
- staff wages
- subscriptions
- taxes / licences
- telephone/internet
- maintenance
- water rates
Remember, following discussions with your partner, you must write up your own operational plan for assessment!
3.Present the details of the operational plan to your assessor, who will act in the role of your Bank Manager from whom you need to obtain approval before you go ahead.
Present the broad scope of the operational plan including timing, to your Bank Manager (assessor). You should do this in an 8 – 10 minute presentation. Your business partner should attend and may present a different aspect of the operational plan.
You must communicate effectively, explaining the plan and supporting documentation, and negotiate any required variations according to the bank manager’s feedback. You may use visual aids or PowerPoint to assist you to clearly present the information.
This will be held in the classroom. Your assessor will advise when this is to take place.
Part B: Plan and manage resource acquisition
You now need to develop strategies to achieve the operational plan.
1.Recruiting, inducting and developing personnel: Describe who you will need to employ, how you will recruit them, and how you will induct and train them to do the required work. Do this in the form of a plan using suitable software. Refer to the scenario in Part A.
2.Acquiring physical resources and services: List the resources and services you will need and how you will acquire them.
3.Protecting intellectual property: Describe how you will protect the name of your business and the marketing materials you produce e.g. website, and also list your responsibilities not to breach copyright in your own operations. (200 – 300 words)
4.Develop a strategy for the monitoring and evaluation of your plan. Include:
the key performance targets
the performance indicators
the key stakeholders and the information they can provide to you
any reports that may be required to inform of progress
who will be responsible for assessing progress in achieving plans and targets.
Part C: Monitor and review operational performance
Scenario :
You have now renovated the property, have set up the Bed and Breakfast and have been operating it for 6 months. It is going well and you are now evaluating the success of the operational plan with view to modifying it, if required. You find the following information:
(a) You struggled to find all the information you needed for the evaluation as it was not in the one location and you hadn’t had time to organise it.
(b)You have examined the budget (attached). You are averaging 5 guests per week for an average of 3 nights a week. Whilst you are happy overall, you find some areas where you are overs pending.
(c) You have had lots of guests, most of whom are very happy with the place. When you analyse their feedback, you find that they are very happy with breakfast, the rooms and the service. They are also pleased about the tours and attractions in the area. However, there is a problem with the catering. Guests complain there is nowhere to eat in the evening, except in a local café. The nearest town is quite a distance away, and after being out all day, it is too far to go. The café only sells cakes, sandwiches and light snacks, and visitors often complain about the quality of the food from the cafe.
BSBMGT517 Manage Operational Plan Assignment-George Brown College Canada.
You did not plan to operate a restaurant at the property, as it would not be worthwhile for a small number of guests at one time. You are considering setting up a barbecue for use by guests. However, you don’t know if staying guests, particularly overseas guests, will know how to use it, and you do not know how they will access the food to cook. You will also need someone to
supervise it.
(d) You hired a part-time gardener to come 2 days a week to tidy up the place. However, the grass is often too long and when you spoke to him, he said the grounds were too big to mow it in one day with the small motor mower. You really cannot see what else he achieves.
(e) You have a cleaner who comes 4 half-days a week.
(e) You planned to do the laundry yourself but have ended up using an external laundry as your washing machine and dryer are too small. You need to weigh up the cost of purchasing a new commercial washing machine and dryer or continuing to use the external laundry service.
Tasks
1.Analyse and interpret the budget and actual financial information performance (Appendix B).
Note: For the purpose of this assessment a budget has been provided. It may be different to the budget you developed in Part A)
2.Identify each of the areas of under-performance and recommend solutions.
3.Plan how mentoring and coaching will be provided to support individuals and teams to effectively, economically and safely use resources e.g. gardening and laundry equipment.
4.Negotiate recommendations for variations to the operational plan with your partner. Once you have agreed on them, write up the recommendations and gain approval from your bank manager (your assessor).
BSBMGT517 Manage Operational Plan Assignment-George Brown College Canada.
5.Develop systems to ensure that procedures and records associated with documenting performance are managed effectively.
Write up the above information in the form of a report of approximately two (2) to be provided to the Bank Manager. Include each of the areas of under performance and how you plan to address them, and the above strategies to improve performance.