MPM701A Business Process Management

MPM701A Business Process Management

Written Assignment Brief Part A

Process Scoping and Analysis Report

Enrolment Mode: Start Anytime

Assessment Item: Written Assignment Part A constitutes 40% of the unit’s assessment.

Overview

Business processes permeate all aspects of business and it is arguable that if a business is not adopting a business process management approach to realise its strategies, and its subsequent goals and objectives, then it may reduce its chances for success - even its very survival. By taking a business process management (BPM) approach, organisations can improve their chances of succeeding in their quests for sustained competitive advantages through greater efficiencies, quality, innovation and customer responsiveness. In, what is now, a highly competitive, global, interconnected and uncertain business environment, there has never been a better time to draw on the advantages offered by applying the BPM discipline to any business or organisation anywhere.

Assessment in MPM701A involves the preparation of two reports. This assignment brief pertains to the first report – Part A. Both reports are based on the same hypothetical case. Report Part A informs report Part B and so you must complete and submit Part A first [i.e. this assignment]. Upon receipt of your Part A assessment result and feedback you will be positioned to proceed with Report Part B.

Objective

You are to assume the role of a BPM consultant and you will prepare a professional business report for a business client.

Upon successfully completing this assignment you will have demonstrated that you can communicate clear,

written advice to a business owner in relation to specific aspects of the business process management discipline.

In providing advice to your client you will identify and take into account various perspectives and circumstances

encompassing the business. Your advice will offer the business owner several reasons for adopting a business

process management approach and it will contextually include:

§ a clear synthesis of key benefits of BPM

§ identification and analysis of your client’s critical business process flows and rationales for why these should be redesigned

§ various diagrams exemplifying your interpretation of your client’s business and key process flows

Task

Your task is to prepare a business report for your client. For clarity, it is recommended that the main body of your report be structured using the following headings/sections. Sub headings are fine if you feel that this will help to enhance the clarity and flow of your report. Notes about each of the main sections of the report are also provided below.

Front Page

This will include your name, student number, a suitable title [see the title section at the top of this brief]; entity/who the report is prepared for [name of organisation, e.g. XYZ Pty Ltd, and client, e.g. John Doe CEO], and optionally, a name and logo of your [hypothetical] consulting firm. Following the front page [or your Executive summary] you will include a Table of Contents.

Executive Summary

No more than one page of text (be succinct).

Introduction

Highlighting the purpose of the report.

4.PM and Strategy

• Advise your client why a BPM approach should now become part of the way the organisation operates.
• Introduce your client to Business Process Management by clearly explaining what it actually is and how it can help the business. Include an organisational structure chart to assist with your explanation.
• In describing the benefits of BPM to your client, ensure that you highlight how BPM connects to business strategy (internal and external perspectives), positioning, structure and value propositions. Briefly describe the meaning of value chains and how using BPM, in conjunction with this concept, can assist your client to improve the business.

5.Problem Analysis

• Your client is aware that there are a number of problems within the company and whilst your client is happy for you to briefly describe these, he/she would like you to concentrate your efforts on the problem which you determine to be the most critical or urgent. In relation to this problem, your client would like you to identify the causes of the problem, the problem and the consequences of the problem; refer to the capabilities gap and the performance gap here and support this with a diagram.
• Show the current critical/urgent ‘As Is’ process using the Bizagi Modeler software [BPMN Diagram].
• Identify any process flow problems and/or day to day management problems; output and input problems; and problems with controls and enablers; develop a project scoping diagram to illustrate the problem which you have identified. [Note, for the purposes of this report, if you make any assumptions, be sure to clearly highlight that these are assumptions and that more factual information would be required in instances where more informed problem analysis is warranted].

6.Recommendations

• This will be a brief recommendation to your client, based on your analysis in this report. The recommendations will centre upon proceeding with the development of a further

  report to highlight solutions and recommendations to invoke suitable process change in your client’s business.

7. References

• Any academic and industry based references will be listed here using the Harvard Referencing system.

8.Appendices

• Additional diagrams and material not necessarily crucial to your central arguments within the report and yet informative and supportive of these will appear in this section of the report. Your appendices will be clearly referenced from within the report. Material appearing in your appendices without context and clear referencing from within your report [for example: ‘see appendix B for further details] will attract a reduction in marks.

Written Assignment Part A Administrative Details

Client Case Brief

Your client case brief is available via a link in the MPM701A Cloud Deakin site. You download your brief, in PDF format, by clicking a link. Instructions to do this are available in the MPM701A site under the Unit Assessment Link in the Resources menu. Note that your client case brief is unique. It is created when you click the link. However, if you accidentally click the link twice, the same brief will be delivered to you. That is, your user log in will only allow one unique brief per student. This way you won’t be confused by having several different case briefs allocated to you.

The client case brief contains a range of financial and other business data and information, much of which will assist you to form an understanding of the business and conduct a reasonably informed analysis for your report.

Your brief is registered to your student user name and can be accessed by MPM701A facilitators in the MPM701A case brief generator database. You need to submit your pdf client case brief with your written report [instructions on this procedure are located below] when lodging your completed report for assessment.

References

Your references might include textbooks, industry research reports, case studies and any other reference material that supports your work. Be very careful that you do not plagiarise.

Word Count

Your report must not exceed 3,000 words (approximately 6 to 8 pages of words), but by including diagrams and other graphics or figures it will be considerably longer. Words in diagrams such as the Gap Model, Process Scoping Diagram and ‘As-Is’ diagrams will not be included in the word count provided they are used to explain necessary steps and highlight critical information. If paragraphs of text are included in these diagrams, they will be included in the word count. Words in tables are included in the word count of the main body of your report.

Note that the 3,000 word count does not include your cover page, your table of contents, your reference list or your appendices.

Note also that 10% of the total available marks for the assignment may be deducted from your final assignment mark for every 100 words that exceed the 3000 word limit. For example, assignments of 3300 words (not including cover page, table of contents, reference list or appendices) may receive a penalty deduction of 30% of the total available marks for the assignment. Please do not exceed the word limit for the assignment.

Submission Instructions

(Up to 5 marks may be lost if these instructions are not followed correctly) Your work must be submitted in accordance with the instructions shown below.

MPM701AWrittenAssignmentPartA-DeakinuserID

‘clinte’, then the Word document would be named:

MPM701AWrittenAssignmentPartA-clinte

Results and Feedback

MPM701A Cloud Deakin grades area.