Operations and Information Management Report

University of Salford Operations and Information Management Report

Question: 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. 

•Discuss the process design of your chosen product or service in relation to volume, variety, equipment flexibility and so on.

 •Can the existing process design be further improved?   

 

PART A – OPERATIONSMANAGEMENT     

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 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.    Strategic analysis: You should use at least one recognised  analysis technique such as SWOT, PESTLE etc    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:       An evaluation table: you should decide on the set o  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.    Recommendation of software based        on the table, with suggestions and a roadmap outlining how the proposed software can be deployed in the business.                

Please follow a report format.   Therefore, you should have a title page, contents page, sections and sub   sections, page numbers, appendix section etc. Please note if you are   uncertain on how to present and structure a report then visit the university   library and ask for assistance. Please do use diagrams, illustrations,   tables, graphics etc. wherever these are helpful, and remember that these do   not count towards your word limit. If you do use these, please do not put   them in the appendices if they are part of your discussion. Appendices are   the appropriate places to put supporting material, however, remember if the   reader is satisfied with the main points of your discussion; the supporting   information within the appendices may not even be reviewed.    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.            

Module Aims   

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.

Word count/ duration (if applicable)   The maximum word count is 3000 words (+/- 10%).