You will be Case Study data on the operations of Luton Town Residences (LTR) with a focus on data storage and sharing, internal communications and collaboration. With this information you will be required to write a 3,600 word business report (word-count excluding cover page, bibliography/reference list and appendices) with responses to the following:
- Give an overview of the current operational systems in place to facilitate internal communications and connect data silos with reference to academic concepts, models and theories.
- Give reasoned recommendations to improve and/or add to these operational systems. Support your recommendations with high-quality evidence where possible.
- Present a Project Plan to implement your operational recommendations, including, at minimum, a WBS (Work Breakdown Structure), Network Diagram, Risk Management Plan and proposed Budget.
EXAMPLE STRUCTURE – YOU ARE NOT REQUIRED TO USE THIS STRUCTURE
- Cover Page (StudentID, Unit Code/Assessment)
- Executive Summary – (a) Concise overview of your premise or purpose in writing the report (b) an indication of your key findings or key recommendations – maximum of two paragraphs or half a page, whichever is shorter
- Table of Contents – Requires page numbers, and ideally should be generated using Word’s built in tools
- Introduction – (a) Explain, in more detail, what the problem the report is addressing (b) give any necessary context or background information and (c) give an overview of how the rest of the report is structured
- Section A: Overview of Current Operational Systems – give a concise overview of how internal communications and operations of LTR functions, highlighting specific data-silos, issues, problems, etc. Bring in references to academic models and concepts where possible, can also cite quality credible non-academic sources
- Section B: Operational Recommendations – You’re not explaining or describing an alternative but actively arguing for a specific implementation (e.g. you’re not just recommending Yammer for example but arguing for the use of Yammer within LTR in a particular fashion, how will Yammer be used? Who will be accessing it?). Requires lots of evidence, both academic studies where possible as well as non-academic supporting evidence. Pay attention to the structure of this section, you need to highlight benefits while acknowledging dis-benefits and drawbacks, explain instead of ignoring issues.
- Section C: Project Plan
- WBS: Explain the purpose of a WBS, define it essentially, good citations, explain what the key features of your WBS is
- Network Diagram: Explain the purpose of a network diagram, define it essentially, good citations, explain what the key features of your network diagram is – Don’t forget to include a Critical Path Analysis!
- Risk Management Plan: Explain the role of risk management in project, good citations, highlight what your key risks are and how you plan on controlling them
- Budget: Explain the purpose of a budget in a project, good citations, briefly discuss the key elements of your budget
- Conclusion
- Reference List
- Appendix A: Diagram of your WBS
- Appendix B: Network Diagram and CPA
- Appendix C: Risk Register / Risk Log
- Appendix D: Budget – not just the cost of the software or platform being recommended, it is the budget for the entire project, including configuration, training sessions, any other costs as well as licensing – remember maintenance and on-going costs as well as initial licensing cost
Additional Guidance
- The balance between case study analysis and the actual planning/recommendations– ensure that your submissions are balanced with regards to analysis and recommendations. For example, do not use a lot of space summarising the case study, at the expense of developing your recommendations and considering potential issues.
- Vagueness – your project planning needs to be very specific; stating that a deliverable will be produced is not sufficient unless you clearly present a plan to achieve that deliverable. You need to explain the rationale behind your choices, the academic tools/frameworks used, the issues that you took into consideration and also demonstrate that you have given some thought to the implementation and implications of your recommendations.
- Academic content – you are expected to include academic material into your report rather than relying upon online sources alone. You need to demonstrate an understanding of the theoretical background of operations and project management through your citation of relevant academic content.
- Executive summary – an executive summary should be written in a way that allows the executive who reads it to know what the problem is and how it is to be solved. Essentially, it is a summary of your problem statement, objectives and how to achieve them (i.e. how to solve the problem).
- Presentation and structure – to achieve an excellent grade, your presentation also should be excellent – this includes numbering tables, referencing correctly etc. Do not present a lot of data and information in tables as appendices. Data or statistics that refer directly to your discussion in the main body, should be presented in the main body. Tables and figures – tables and figures need to be numbered and each should have a title that is self-explanatory. Your analytical content must be high, demonstrating critical thinking and the ability to apply relevant marketing concepts
- Word limit – 3,600 words. This will exclude your references in the executive summary, reference list, title page, table of contents and the appendices. Please, note that your cover page must have your Full Name and ID Number.
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