Developing An Operational Plan: Resourcing For E-commerce Strategy Implementation

Reviewing the legislative and regulatory context

An operational plan is how the management plans its operations to achieve organization’s objectives (Mihanovi?, 2016). It provides guides on how to acquire resources and steps to achieve objectives in an organization.

An organization should adhere to the standards and legislations. Necessary information on how to follow the legislations should be obtained (Baber, 2014).  The following are some the legislation areas.

• Health and safety
• Work should be performed safely
• Sufficient information and education is provided to undertake jobs safely.
• Equipment and machines should be safe.
• Verify how WHS/OHS activities by auditing and controlling measures.

Privacy legislation

In Australia, the privacy Act of 1988 helps determine the privacy legislations. The privacy act protects the citizen’s privacy by making sure private and confidential information is collected safely and stored well (Heath, 2011). Surveys done should be more confidential.

These details the rights of consumers. It helps prevent consumers from false advertisements, selling and false services (Adams, 2012). This is controlled by the competition and consumer act of 2010. All business in Australia must follow this law.

• Workplace relations legislation.

This ensures that there is fair treatment towards employees through provision of better wages and working conditions. The Fair Work Act of 2009 covers this type of legislation (Duke, 2009). This is regulated by The Fair work commission and Ombudsman. Proper procedures must be undertaken during performance management or terminating contracts of employees. The national employment standards must be offered to every employee.

• Anti-discrimination and equal opportunity legislation

The laws exist to make sure that all employees seeking jobs or already working are fairly treated by their employers regardless of their personal characteristics or backgrounds (Stewart, 2013). During Operational planning, it is important that the operations do not result in discriminations. Discriminations may be indirect or direct and must be avoided at all costs.

These provide support to the processes and systems in an organization. Documents detailing BBQfun policies and procedures must be evaluated during operational planning (Grimson, 2007).

Policies provide information about objectives of the organization which will include ensuring consistent, high standard and legal compliant operations. Procedures provide the necessary guidelines on how to undertake company operations (Pyman, 2001). These policies and procedures dictate the type of processes or programs that help improve operations.

BBQfun Perfomance management policy and procedures

• Purpose of the policy

It helps ensure that performance in an organization is managed fairly, consistently and transparent as per BBQfun needs.

• Scope of the policy

It covers the processes of managing performance by the contractors and BBQfun employees (Chalmers, 2015).

• Resources

Resourcing has been discussed below.

• Responsibility as per the policy

Responsibilities of managers

• Undertake performance assessments twice each year.
• Record informal and formal assessments from the management documents
• Ensure employees obtain training as per the development plan.
• Provide opportunities to employees to communicate their goals.

• legislations and regulation acts
• Fair Work Act 2009
• As ISO records management
• Privacy act
• Anti-discrimination act.

Updated

Riz Mehra on 10^th 2012

Since it is an important tool in developing performance, staff should understand its purposes and benefits. (Sherafat, 2014) The top management staff should ensure that this tool is communicated accurately and thoroughly.

BQfun procedures and policies that relate to Operational plan

Communication techniques include the following

• Several staff meetings where managers explain different concepts of operational plan ad respond to questions asked by the staff.
• Divided of the plan into several subunits that can be handled by a team
• Developing systems that enable progress of techniques
• Provide training that makes employees fully comprehend their tasks and on how to achieve the plan.

The management should make sure that the achievements from the operational plan are regularly monitored so that any variations if existing can be controlled.

Controlling of the plan includes the following:

• Proper regular evaluations of the achievements
• In case no achievements are realized on time then corrective measures are put into consideration.
• Adjust the plan if necessary.
• Report challenges to board members, committee managers if they persist.
• Supervise, support and motivate employees
• Determine and check if resources are available

The company has to implement an e-commerce strategy that will help increase their share in the market, increase the revenues and ensure there is customer satisfaction. Since I am the new external advisor to the company in charge of managing operations plan activities for the new strategy (Loveday, 2005). This strategy states that all goods will be stored in online stores but no extra costs will be added. Customers are only entitled to delivery fees.

All the resources should be acquired appropriately and operations done with regard to the standards in and outside the company. Legislations and regulation should be appropriate. There should be high quality level of planning during strategy implementation (Katuse, 2016). I must adequately plan on how I will obtain resources in the company.

Physical resources for the strategy.

• Six trucks for delivering products
• Website development in 40 days
• Three forklifts required
• Office reconfiguration

Human resources

• Six drivers
• Staff retraining
• Four warehouse employees
• Eight customer service employees and online salespeople

Set targets so that progress can be effectively monitored

Key result areas

This looks at the output and the input, that is, the operations and management.

Performance targets

This should follow the SMART format, which is Specific, Measurable, Agreed, Realistic and Time specific (Marki?, 2014).

Risks to operations plan implementation

• Underperformance by employees -high
• Poor management of property – high
• Poor health and safety conditions- high
• Low online sales – medium
• Low recruitment of online sellers- medium
• Loss of website ownership- medium

Action plan	Date	Responsibility
staff recruitment	6th Jan 2017	Be able to perform their duties efficiently.
Production increment	7th Jan 2017	Increase the production in BBQfun.
Increased advertisement	8th Jan	Effective advertisements by marketing campaigns and the media (Katuse, 2016)
Website redevelopment	9th Jan	The company technicians should develop an efficient website for the entire organization.

 Assessment 2

Action: Physical resourcing	Date	Person Responsible	Budget In dollars
Researching of the companies	10th July – 20th Aug	Marketing manager	1600
Invitation card design for 3 companies	21st July – 30th Aug	IT specialist	5000
Advertisement	1st July- 30th Aug	IT specialist   and marketing manager	1000
Hall renting	22nd July – 10th Aug	Operations manager	2000
Food budgeting	10th June-18th Aug	Operations manager	500
Employees on that day	16 June -16 Aug 17	HR manager	1600

The following diagram should help on how resourcing will be done

Milestone Human resourcing	Date	Person Responsible	Budget in dollars
Researching the plan to interview	10th Sep 16- 20th Jan	Marketing manager	400
Phone calls to the candidates	21st  Sep 16- 30th Jan	IT specialist	500
Advertisement of the date	1st  Feb- 30th  Oct	IT specialist   and marketing manager	2000
interview space	22 Sep 16- 10 Jan 17	Operations manager	1000
Food budgeting	10th  Dec-18th  Dec	Operations manager	500
Employee on the day	16th Dec-16th   Jan	HR manager	1600

 Intellectual propertyThis is the concrete property created from the mental efforts and can have both commercial and moral values. There are several rights of intellectual property that protect creative works, patent and copyright rights.In case an employee creates a new brand then if IP is to be protected, companies must ensure that the issue of IP protection is addressed when making contracts with employees (Duke, 2009). This protection should be with regard to the creativity level of employees so that if it is high then sufficient protection must be offered. In case, it is the copyright rights then it is important that we look at the writer’s moral behaviors at work places. In case, the role of an employee is changed or promoted then proper evaluation of these clauses should be done. Interview

To be completed by the CEO: Board Chief Executive Officer
Date                   16th  Jan                                          Date of invoice     16 Jan
Collector name:    CFO
Job Number:           2689
Payment description: Budget
Amount in words:  twelve thousand dollars for the physical and human resources
To be completed by the finance department:
Account No.	Name	Amount in dollars
8976559	Innovative technologies	90000
6738380	Riz	30000
Total Payable:  120000 dollars
	Approved:	Date:
Director board	Approved	16th  Aug
CEO:	Approved	16th  Aug
CFO:	Approved	16th Aug

Planning concept	Description	Time
1. interview type	Group interview	24 hours
2. objectives and aims	Job role: customer care service and salespeople · team working · Upright Leadership · Good · Set own goals	24 hours
3. Approach	Informal approach	24 hours
4. Scheduled for	1 Jan 2017 First day group activity	24 hours
5. Topics	Group interviews and selected case studies	24 hours

Evaluation

 (Group A vs. Group B)

Candidate: Group A
Question	Best answer should have the following	Number of points possible to obtain	Scores
1 How do you deal with unresponsive customers?	Please be calm, lets negotiate	10	8
2. How are customers helped?	Fix problems immediately, keen listening	10	8
3. Any conflicts?	Fairness	10	8
4. Customer treatment?	Fair treatment to all customers like they are friends	10	8
5. Apology methods to customers?	· Apology letters · Offering Discount	10	8
Total: 40
Recommendation: Good at · team working · Leading · Helping each other · Setting own goals

Candidate: Group B
Question	Best answer should have the following	Number of points possible to obtain	Scores
1 How do you deal with unresponsive customers?	Please be calm, lets negotiate	10	2
2. How are customers helped?	Fix problems immediately, keen listening	10	2
3. Any conflicts?	Fairness	10	2
4. Customer treatment?	Fair treatment to all customers like they are friends	10	2
5. Apology methods to customers?	· Apology letters · Offering Discount	10	2
Total: 25
Recommendation: Area need to improve · team working · Leadership skills · Helping each other · Setting own goals

Underperformance template

Possible causes of underperformance	Mitigation	Action plan	Remedial actions
Some employees are not familiar with the line of products dealt in	Proper introduction and evaluation of the products	Conduct training sessions on evaluation of products	Conduct training sessions on product evaluations
Employees not understanding CRM systems and processes of ordering	Proper introduction of CRM and processes of ordering	Conduct training on CRM	Conduct training of on and off jobs.
Poor lines of communication	Adjust devices that enhance sound	Regular and proper checking of the lines of communication.	Replace the audio systems in case fault is found
The management not available to aid and support employees	Management team must be informed to focus on employees	Meetings between employees and management	Management should provide support to the underperforming employees
Poor performance management policy	Determine why the management systems are not working	Develop new performance management systems or make adjustments to the existing ones	The new performance management systems must be introduced after every three months.
Employee complaints of poor working environment leading to strains	Look at the sitting conditions and furniture	Reorganize the sitting positions	Replace any faulty or uncomfortable furniture in the different departments
Longer durations to deliver orders of products	Evaluate and monitor time that employees deliver products	Decrease the time for order delivery	Set average time to 2 days
Underperformance due to poor maintenance of the websites and low networks	The website developer should be asked to look at the functioning of the websites	Maintenance of the website should be scheduled appropriately	The website developer should develop the websites and improve their performance

Contingency plan template

Contingency Plan Name of company: BBQfun Name of person developing the plan: varaporn Name of person consulted: Pat  Mifsud,  CEO BBQfun
Risk: employee underperformance
Strategies to minimize risk	when	whom
· Following up with employee doings Obtain feedbacks from employees	1st OCT	Les Goodale
· Setting objectives and goals	1st OCT	Kim Chen
· Provide training opportunities	1st OCT	Les Goodale
· Improve skills and knowledge of employees by increasing further training.	2nd OCT	Les Goodale
· Provide incentives to employees and encourage employees to follow all areas of performance to achieve operational goals	2nd OCT	Les Goodale

Name/position:	Manager:	Review period: Six months
Reference from operational plan	Key result area	Success indicators	Completion date	Report on progress
10 percent of information or mistakes when ordering	The standard of online marketing department	Target 1/100 error	31st OCT	Done
Average time of completing an order is 20 minutes	The online service speed of delivery	Target less than 10 minutes	31st OCT	Done
Budget: there is a 10 percent overrun of the online sales and revenues	Financial	Target sales = 30, 000 dollars	31st OCT	Still in progress
No training	Development of skills and knowledge	Ensure there is 2 or 3 hours salesmen training each month All the staff are successful	31st OCT	Done
Interact with customers by engaging in marketing, researching or other services.	The leader of all the staff should be ready to motivate others. The morale of the staff is high	There is 100 percent attendances of meetings and trainings	31st OCT	Done
Some employees not understanding CRM systems and processes of ordering	Development of skills and knowledge	A percentage of information missing	Immediate action must be taken	Pending
Poor performance management policy	Internal BBQfun operations	Performance and monitoring reports	Immediate action must be taken	Pending
Manager’s comments: Performance management policies must be done immediately	Signature: Date: 9th OCT
Staff member’s comments: Staff should ensure that the processes of making orders is easy	Signature: Date: 9th OCT

Coach: Good morning, how are you doing? I am the external BBQ Fun advisor, think I have an appointment with you.

Staff: I am doing well sir. I have already been briefed of your meeting with me. I really do have an appointment with you, quite a pleasure to meet you.

Coach: Pleasure is all mine. I came here to analyze the performance in the organization as well as your individual performance in making impacts to BBQFun. I am quite optimistic that you are going to improve after our training session.

Staff: Good, thank you for such a notice. Go on please.

Coach: Do you really understand the objectives of your job in this organization?

Staff: I am quite unsure of my responsibility, so I have to say no I do not understand my objectives. Sometimes ago I overheard the HR manager saying that my job is still under development.

Coach: Good, I will arrange for your training in the next four weeks. Hope you are ready?

Responsibilities of managers

Staff: Yah, I am ready.

Coach: Okay, thank you and prepare yourself.

Staff: Thank you so much too. 

Employee:  varaporn
Coach/Manager: Kim Chen
Date and time of session: 1 -7 January 2017
	Questions
Goal	What are the main objectives of the discussion? What are some of the things you would like to happen? What are some of the results that must be achieved?
Reality	What are some of the things/events happening? Will you ensure clarity in information given? What are some of the steps you have taken towards goal achievement? How are you going to describe what was done?
Options	Who else might be able to help? What could you do to change the situation? What are some of the possibilities you see?
Will	What are some of the resources that will support you? Any information or resources missing? Anything else you wish to talk about?

Analyse operational performance as described in scenario, and produce an operational plan status report based on the information provided in Appendix 1. You may wish to use the Operational Status Report template (provided in Appendix 5). You will also need to include in your report:

• The financial explanation or description that outlines how the processes of the action plans on how financial resources are going to be used is called a budget. Budgets try help measure the performance of an organization. The management should provide honest information on how expenditures and incomes have been used. This helps develop an authentic budget that help anticipate performance of the company throughout a financial year.
• In BBQFun, Riz Mehra, the CFO, has a responsibility of compiling and auditing financial reports and statements after every three months. He is also tasked with evaluation of projects and centers. Budgets are also overseen by him.

• To business people, productivity is the process by which companies or organizations effectively transforms its input to obtain the desired outputs. In a company, productivity increases when output supersedes inputs(Jentzsch, 2014). It should be noted that productivity only measures or evaluates how resources are effectively used to obtain outputs and not the value or costs of the output.
• The marketing officer, Sam Lee is tasked with managing all the marketing activities in BBQfun. He is responsible for promoting and selling of the company products.
• The General Manager, Mr Chen oversees the daily operations in the company. He is also tasked with the responsibility of evaluating projects that affect company operations then sponsors the productive ones.

The marketing manager, Mr Lee is tasked with the function of tracking progress and performance against key performance indicators (Rist, 2004).

• The employees should be offered training opportunities that will help them comprehend the following: line of products, ordering practices and CRM systems.
• The team leader of several groups should motivate his or her group members
• Open communication from management to employee should be promoted (Jentzsch, 2014).

BBQfun operation plan status report                                       Date: 1st Jan
Planned  goal	Implementing strategy of e-commerce	Departments	Operations
Planned  objective/s	· Website redevelopment and physical resourcing · Recruiting and training employees · Achieving targeted profits · Proper budget allocation · Adhering to time deadlines	Whose responsibility	Project Officer

Key performance indicators	Current status (Red, Green, Amber )	Comments
The quality or standard of online selling and services a) Percentage of information= 10 percent (Targeted= 1 percent)	Red	· Some employees after training do not still understand the line of products. · Employees do not comprehend CRM systems and processes of ordering. · Poor lines of communication. · No managerial support. · Low morale from staff due to stress during work time
The online service speed Mean time to complete= 20 minutes  (Target = less than 10 minutes)	Red	· Long lengths of time make customers abort ordering. · Inadequate skills and knowledge consumes some extra minutes. · Poor website developing and maintenance consumes some more time.
The delivery speed Mean time to deliver products = 2 days (Target= 3 days)	Green	· Team leader of the driver is a good motivator · The morale of the driver is high. · Driver attends all team meetings and training.
Online sales and collected revenues = 250,000 (Target: 300,000) Profit = 40,000 ( Target= 80,000)	Amber	· Poor customer services resulting to low sales. · As online marketing increases then sales will also increase.
Budget allocation :10 percent overrun	Amber	· Cost plundering due to: o Misusing of the systems and wastes from ordering mistakes o Long customer interactions creating overtimes.
Timeline: Implementation by 1st  October	Green	· Implementation of the strategy is going fine. o E-commerce strategy is underway.

Key action update

Key action	Accomplishments	Comments
Website redevelopment and physical resourcing.	· Redevelopment was accomplished on time and within the allocated budget. · The forklifts and trucks were acquired on time	Good work team!
Recruiting and training employees	· Recruitment of employees was accomplished on time. · The training was accomplished on time.	Good work team!

Risk update

Risk	Contingency	Comments
1. The training was short and ineffective. The program did not teach the skills and knowledge required.	The company should provide adequate training to the employees or if necessary employee new consultants to offer the training (AlShamsi, 2015).	Immediate action is required
2. Employees underperforming since they are not supported and no coaching is offered.	BBQfun may transfer staff to the different department if the staff is underperformance in the specific job.	Immediate action is required.
3. Website interruptions leads to low sales in the company.	Alternative methods of sales and offering services should be offered like phone calls, emails or faxes (Marki?, 2014).	Immediate action is required.
4. Less sales below the target.	Increase sales by promoting the products through marketing campaigns	Immediate action is required. Closely monitor sales

General comments

Reassessment and addressing of customer requirements and the ever-changing conditions of markets.

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