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Homework answers / question archive / a work-related situation you feel could be improved
a work-related situation you feel could be improved. For example, you want to streamline the process for reimbursing employees, or you want to create a high-tech website for your small business but have no experience in programming or graphic creation (Pick either the streamline process for reimbursing employees, or pick the one where you want to create a high-tech website, pick the one that is easier for you to explain to me, or pick both). Then consider the following:
Identify the needs of the situation?
What is the project objective?
What assumptions, if any, should be made regarding the project to be undertaken?
Who are the main people or departments that need to be involved in this project?
What are the risks involved?
Why would your project be considered a project?
I will base this question on streamlining employee reimbursements.
1) The needs of the situation.
- here you need to explain what is the problem. In this case, let's say that employees pay for things out of their own pocket (like when they travel, or buy equipment...) and then they need to get reimbursed by the firm.
- You would need to understand the situation at hand. Let's say currently an employee must submit the claim to accounting, they need to make duplicates of their receipts, fill out a long document, get their managers signature, submit it, and then wait 8-10 weeks to get reimbursed.
- The needs would be: make the process more user friendly and have the employees be reimbursed within 1-2 weeks
- The new process could be done using an intranet system, where employees submit a simple form online, which is easily found on the server. They then send their original copies of their receipts by internal mail and they then can get a direct deposit of their purchase within the new time frame.
2) The objectives
- to shorten the process
- make the application easier
- get all the employees familiar with the new processes
- assess how much money the new process will save the company in terms of less work for accounting, less unbilled hours for employees who currently have to take 15 minutes filling out the forms
- increased employee satisfaction since they will get their money back faster
3) What assumptions, if any, should be made regarding the project to be undertaken?
- Assumptions are a bad thing to have. Never assume in business. You should have assumptions and then TEST them to make sure that it is feasible. If you assume things without having valid data to back up your assumptions then you are going into the situation blind folded/
You can begin by assuming the following aspects, but then you can then go and test them using employee surveys, in-depth interviews with different departments and case studies from similar strategies implemented by similar firms.
- you need to assume that there is a better way to improve the process
- you need to assume that employees are willing to change their actions
- you need to assume that the company is willing to change its policies
4) Who are the main people or departments that need to be involved in this project?
- the main departments would be:
- market research who will test the assumptions
- accounting who need to implement the changes
- all employees in the rest of the firm who will use the new reimbursement method (executives, account consultants...)
- hr consultants who need to go to all the employees to tech them the new process
- IT who maintains the new intranet webpage with the new form
- The internal mail workers who understand the need to deliver receipts to accounting in a timely manner
5) What are the risks involved?
- there are a few risks
- the risk of rejection (employee resistance) of the new system is the highest. Some employees are scared of change, and might not be comfortable using a new system,
- the risk of IT failure is huge, that the new system could crash or not work properly
- the risk of accounting not being able to fulfill the duties of quicker payments
6) Why would your project be considered a project?
- a project is anything where changes are proposed in order to benefit the employees and the company. There are specific goals that the project wishes to fulfill.
- this is outside the normal scope of the every day business, but it will help benefit the firm. For example, it is not done as part of day to day processes such as manufacturing a product, it is done in addition to daily operations in order to improve the lives of employees. The outcome of this project would be to increase employee satisfaction by having an easier and quicker reimbursement process.
7) How to formulate the proposal:
- you start off by explaining the current reimbursement situation. You can include examples of the current process and explain the problems that surround this process.
- then, you let the firm know how you can solve their problem. You can include any experience that you have in solving similar problems. You can mention your expertise, your skills, your resources (computer software, skilled employees...) and you can explain why your firm would be the best resource to solve the problem.
- You can come up with several ways of solving it, providing details on each manner. You can include a timeline for each solution, as well as any possible risks associated with each solution.
- After this, you quote the cost of the project. You can include different variation in services you offer at different prices
- You conclude the proposal and can include a biography of people who will be working on the project.
These are the main elements of the business proposal.