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Maintain business resources & Implement and monitor environmentally sustainable work practices Assignment

I - Maintain business resources

Task 1 - Business equipment advice: Assessment description and requirements

In any workplace, equipment needs to be replaced or upgraded on a regular basis. In this assessment task, you must identify a capital resource (equipment) in a workplace and monitor the usage of this resource (including material usage) for a duration specified by your assessor (typically a two week duration where the equipment is monitored five times).

You will provide advice on the upgrade of the equipment based on usage information and organisational requirements.

Examples of capital resources (equipment) and associated material resources (consumables or raw materials) could include:

• photocopier (capital resource), paper (material resource)
• work vehicle (capital resource), petrol (material resource).

Procedure

1. Identify equipment (capital resource) and consumables (material resource) that you can monitor and check with your assessor that this equipment meets the requirements of the assessment.

2. Estimate the weekly usage of material resources (refer to Appendix 1 for this information).

3. Use your estimates to produce a weekly operational budget for the equipment for the duration of the project.

4. Monitor the usage of resources at regular intervals (at least five times during the project) and graph this usage with Excel.

5. Identify any trends or variations in usage.

6. Conduct preliminary research into replacement/upgrades for the equipment including sourcing information from potential suppliers (Internet research).

7. Identify required/preferred features and problems/issues with current equipment by surveying at least three team members/users.

8. Identify equipment specification to the meet team/user requirements.

9. Identify three suppliers of the capital equipment that meets the requirements and compare and contrast the strengths or weaknesses of the suppliers. A table orchart should be developed to compare the three suppliers.

10. Review the purchasing policy and procedures (see page 92 of Student Workbook) and identify how the organisation would return the replacement equipment with specific attention to procedural compliance.

11. Provide your recommendations with a short report that summarises your findings.

1. Identify equipment and consumables

2. Estimate the weekly usage of material resources

3. Weekly Operational Budget

4. Monitor the actual usage of resources at regular intervals (at least five times during the project)

5. Identify any trends or variations in usage

6. Conduct Preliminary research - List at least three potential suppliers

7. Survey - Insert Questions and Answers

1. How often/frequently do you use the photocopier?

2. What features do you use?

3. Are there any issues/problems with current equipment?

4. What features do you prefer if we bought a new photocopier?

8. Identify equipment specification to the meet team/user requirements.

9. Identify three suppliers of the capital equipment that meets the requirements andcompare and contrast the strengths or weaknesses of the suppliers. Use the following table to compare the three suppliers.

10. Review the return policy and procedures (provided in Appendix A) and identify howthe organisation would return equipment with specific attentionto procedural compliance.

11. Provide your recommendations with a short report that summarises your findings. Your report should include: Recommendations of capital equipment that:

• Meet user requirement based on survey
• Will meet future usage based in analysis of usage
• Is cost effective

Task 2 - Preventative maintenance: Assessment description and requirements

In any workplace, maintenance and troubleshooting of business resources are critical. Costly breakdowns and losses can often be avoided or reduced with some basic preventative maintenance and troubleshooting skills.

This assessment task requires you identify capital equipment (cars, computers, printers, photocopiers) and develop a:

• preventative maintenance procedure (e.g. a daily pre-start check on a computer, virus scan, etc)
• troubleshooting procedure (e.g. how to fix a paper jam) safe handling and storage procedure for consumables (e.g. how to lift and carry paper cartons safely).

Procedure

12. Identify some business equipment for this task (it could be the capital equipment that you chose for Assessment Task 1).

13. Research and develop your understanding of how the equipment works. Suggested methods include: Internet research, review of operator manuals, discussion with operators, maintenance people.

14. Develop a daily (or weekly) preventative maintenance procedure and checklist for operators of the equipment.

15. Develop a troubleshooting procedure for operators to fix common faults/problems on the equipment (e.g. how to detect and clear a paper jam on a photocopier).

16. Develop a safe handling and storage procedure for raw materials/consumables for people using this equipment.

17. Have these checked by a person with authority for that equipment to ensure that procedures comply with organisational OHS requirements.

18. Conduct and complete the preventative maintenance procedure on at least three occasions and accurately record this information.

12.  Identify some business equipment for this task (it could be a computer/coffee machine/printer/car or the capital equipment that you chose for Assessment Task 1).

13. Research and develop your understanding of how the equipment works.

14. Develop a daily (or weekly) preventative maintenance procedure and checklist for operators of the equipment.

15. Research online and develop a 1 page troubleshooting procedure for operators to fix common faults/problems on the equipment (e.g. how to detect and clear a paper jam on a photocopier).

16. Develop a safe handling and storage procedure for raw materials/consumables for people using this equipment.

17. Have these checked by a person with authority for that equipment to ensure that procedures comply with organisational OHS requirements. (Imagine, your trainer is the person with authority here, show your work to the trainer and obtain approval) What is the most appropriate medium would you use to ask for approval? (e.g. face to face/ via email/sms)

What would you ask? How would you justify/convince for approval?

Task 3 - Visual controls: Assessment description and requirements

A common problem a lot of businesses have to deal with is running out of supplies. Sometimes stock levels of stationery (paper, pens, toner, envelopes, etc) can dwindle without the knowledge of the person responsible for reordering. To assist with avoiding this problem, you will develop:

• a Kanban for a material resource
• a bar chart that identifies the reorder lead times with at least three suppliers (to ensure that you have reliable supply).

Procedure

19. Identify a material resource that runs out regularly (e.g. A4 paper).

20. Identify key users/team members that use that material resource so you can work with them to improve the storage and reordering of that resource.

21. Hold a brainstorm with them to develop a Kanban for the resource that provides a visual indication of supply levels. Remember, Kanbans can and should be quite simple so you can see, at a glance, the status of your supplies.

22. Identify the resupply lead times for the resource (how long does it take from order to delivery).

23. Develop an Excel bar chart showing re-order lead times.

19. Identify a material resource that runs out regularly (e.g. A4 paper).

20. Identify key users/team members that use that material resource so you can work with them to improve the storage and reordering of that resource.

21. Hold a brainstorm to discuss with them to develop a Kanban for the resource that provides a visual indication of supply levels. Remember, Kanbans can and should be quite simple so you can see, at a glance, the status of your supplies.  Present your Kanban to your trainer.

22. Identify the resupply lead times for the resource (how long does it take from order to delivery).

23. Draw bar chart or line graph showing re-order lead times.

II - Implement and monitor environmentally sustainable work practices

Task 1 - Research and review resource usage: Assessment description and requirements  

Review the case study provided and develop a report for your manager that:    

• identifies relevant environmental regulations and industry best practice for efficient use of these resources
• identifies non-compliances between current practice and regulation
• reviews current resources usage (from case study provided) and feedback from stakeholders provided, and compares to best practice models
• suggest areas for improvement, including efficiency targets, environmental & resource efficiency management.

Case Study

1) MARY

Mary in an admin clerk who worked for MacVille for the past 18 months with a small team.

Mary wants to change the company's way to deal with the environmental issues and has realised that the company have not had any policy or procedures to support sustainability practices.

Mary has a Professional Development Project, which she can learn to apply the principles of an environment and resource efficiency planning in a business environment.

MacVille findings from Mary:

• MacVille cannot manage printer cartridge replacement and recycling. MacVille does not have general printing practices.
• Mary is reviewing the current usage of printing and recycling process.
• Mary is expected to create a report after her Professional Development Project.

Resource Review by Mary

• Admin team has 32 fulltime staff.
• There are 7 laser printers (6 out of 7 have the same brand, 1 out of 7 coloured which is rarely used, since it is currently out of black ink and has not been replaced for over 2 months.)

There are 2 photocopiers.

• IT Help Desk is responsible for purchasing process and the staff replaces toner themselves as required. (there is no consistency.)

Feedback from Stakeholders by Mary

Staff members' input:

• Old toners are thrown in general rubbish!
• All emails from clients are printed and stored in physical files!

Suppliers' Input:

• One laser toner equivalent is 12000-15000 pages.
• One photocopier toner equivalent is 35000 pages.
• Toner/Paper usage of team is quite a bit higher than similar teams in other organisations.

1. Review MacVille's policy and procedures.

Do they have any environmental or sustainability-related policy? If they have not, find out the problems which decrease the sustainability or cause the environmental issues.

2. Explain each legislation and environmental policies and apply it to MacVille Scenario. Provide the website of the resource, briefly describe the objectives.

a) Environmental Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 2010 - Queensland

b) Sustainable Planning Act 2009

c) Water Efficiency Guide

3. Review Case Study and identify two areas that could be better managed for environmental outcomes. (Before you identify 2 areas, have a look at current practice and legal requirements.) Current Usage table will be helpful for your understanding.

4. Develop a short report for your supervisor.

Your report should include:

• Summary of questions above.
• Recommendations (What does legal policy say about sustainability and environmental issues?
• Possible improvements/changes efficiently manage resource usage.)

Task 2 - Research efficiency evaluation and plan: Assessment description and requirements

For this task you are required to develop an environmental and resource management plan with new resource usage efficiency targets for the administrative team. As part of your report you should describe how the plan could be implemented, how it could be monitored and how you could evaluate and report on progress towards targets identified in the plan. Your report is to be based on your findings and the report you developed for Assessment Task 1.

Procedure -

You are required to review the case study provided and complete the following steps.

5. Identify and describe significant areas of inefficiency in resources usage (as described in the case study). These should be at least the two areas of non- compliance identified in Assessment Task 1.

6. Identify and describe areas of improvement in sustainability practices for the administration work team.

7. Compete the Efficiency Target Plan.

8. Develop a report for your team supervisor (assessor) including:

• tools, techniques and strategies that can be used to assist and educate administration staff to implement efficiency targets
• reward strategies that could be implemented to support achievement of efficiency targets
• monitoring and evaluation methods you could use to evaluate progress against efficiency targets.

Read the Case Study from Task 1.

In addition: FEEDBACK FROM STAKEHOLDERS by MARY

STAFF MEMBERS' INPUT:

Finance Manager:

- Current maintenance ( machine service/support) service costs for leased photocopiers are costed at 1.5 cents for per print/copy.

5. Identify two areas of inefficiency in resources. (Do MacVille have recycling policy? What is the current position of email- storage of documents policy? Are they efficient for the photocopier and printer usage? Etc.) You can use Task 1 Q3 for your reference.

6.  How can MacVille improve their sustainability practices for the administration work team?

7. Write down your improvement suggestions from Q6 to Efficiency Target Plan.

8. Write a report for your supervisor.

Your report should have followings:

• What are the tools, techniques and strategies that can be used to assist and educate admin team to reach the efficiency target?
• What are your reward strategies to support achievement of efficiency target? How would you encourage people to try to reach efficiency target?
• How do you monitor progress regarding to efficiency targets?

Task 3 - Monthly newsletter: Assessment description and requirements

For this task you are require to prepare a Monthly e-newsletter for the MacVille administration team. In your newsletter you will include:

• a review and description of the actual resources usage versus the efficiency targets identified in Assessment Task 2
• celebration articles outlining strategies that have been successful for the administration team
• prompts for feedback from readers to help in continuously improving the implementation strategies for efficient use of resources.

Procedure -

You are required to review the case study provided and complete the following steps.

9. Introduce and briefly describe (50-150 words) a current piece of legislation or regulatory document that has relevance to the workplace and MacVille's ability to reach the efficiency target.

• Present this under the heading 'Did you know the Government...'

10. Identify and describe significant areas of improvement in resource usage (as described in the case study).

• Present this under the heading 'A MacVille Success Story'.

11. Compare actual usage to the efficiency plan - make sure you use a graph, chart or diagram to summarise the information you have included here.

• Present this under the heading 'PTE (Progress Towards Efficiency targets)'.

12. Evaluate resource savings for the month, including cost savings for the MacVille administration team. Present this under the heading 'MacVille this month have saved:'

13. Identify and describe (as reflected in the case study) a strategy that has had a significant impact on helping the administrative team reach efficiency targets. Present this under the heading 'Sustainable Work Practice of the Month'.

14. Communicate to readers the importance of continuing to provide feedback about ways to improve work practices within the administration team, and describe a piece of feedback you have received from a member of the administration team (as reflected in the case study). Present this under the heading 'Suggestion Box'.

9. Explain relevant (close) legislation/ regulation related with MacVille's ability to reach the efficiency target.

10. Describe the areas of improvement. (You might get some ideas from the case study). Start with:  A MacVille Success Story....

11. Compare actual usage to efficiency plan. After completing the chart, present it under the heading ' PTE: Progress Towards Efficiency Targets '

12. Evaluate resource savings for the month.

13. Read the case study and find out a strategy that had has a significant impact on helping the admin team reach efficiency targets. Present it under the heading:  'Sustainable Work Practise of The Month.'

Notes from Case Study:

• Toner cartridge usage and recycling has been started. Mary has been monitoring and reporting improvements.
• The HP ColourLaser Jet 1660 has not been used for 5 months due to environmental and recycling issues. (It used different types of toner from other printers.)
• E-mails from new clients are managed with a network-accessible folder, where all documents and correspondence with the client are stored electronically.

14. Create a Suggestion Box.

Task 4 - Sustainable work practices knowledge test: Assessment description and requirements

For this task you are required to demonstrate knowledge of sustainable work practices by provide responses to a range of questions.

Procedure

You are required to:      

1. Review the questions provided.

2. Provide written responses to the questions.

3. Submit your responses in the agreed timeframe under test conditions.

15. Identify and describe three environmental and/or energy efficiency issues common to the business sector.

16. Identify and describe:

a) A common procedure used efficiently to manage resources in the business sector.

b) A common procedure, approach or tool for evaluating and planning improvements for the management of resources in the business sector.

17. List three sources of information and support available to practitioners of sustainable work practices in the business sector.

18. Identify a common OHS issue or requirements common to the business sector, and describe how you could manage it to reduce the risk.

19. List stakeholders, key personnel or specialists with whom you could liaise or seek feedback from about sustainable work practices in the business sector, e.g. clients of MacVille.

20. List and describe what factors you should consider when making purchasing decisions to support sustainability efforts. You should have at least five clearly described factors.

Attachment:- Assignment File.rar