Business Management & Development - Assessment Answers

ASSESSMENT 1

• DOCUMENTATION STANDARDS TO BE CONSIDERED

The newly opened restaurant will be producing a great deal of documentation on a day to day basis. Therefore, it is important to establish standards that will define the design, layout and content of the various documents that the business will be producing. The purpose of these standards is to enforce clarity, accuracy and professionalism in every document that contains business information. The following standards shall apply to Cavlin Clein Restaurant.

1. Document creation: Documents can be created using Microsoft Word, Excel, PowerPoint or Access. Macros shall be used to automate insertion of company letterhead, date of document creation and customize tables.
2. File naming: Files shall bear the prefix CavlinClein followed by the BusinessDocumentName. For instance, a suppliers’ list may be named as CavlinCleinSuppliers. This is the format for naming digital documents. Printed versions will use the same format but with spaces like in regular English.
3. Writing, language and style: All internal documents will use Business English. Documents intended for investors and customers may use less formal and less technical language. Only one font will be used for writing content for all documents. The font face to be used will be Century Gothic. Different sizes may be used across different documents but they must be legible, at least to an ordinary viewer.
4. Content organization: Documents shall begin with a lettered across the top, then the document title below, followed by the content and the business’ slogan “Open till we’re shut” at each pages’ footer section.
5. Design and production rules: The basic rule for design will be legible. However, style, professionalism and accuracy shall not be compromised. The organization’s colors shall be professionally expressed in all documents except those that shall be produced in monochrome. Other colors may be used only if they are less dominant in nature or they distract the organization’s theme colors. Different materials will be used for printing different documents.
6. Quality checks: Since all documents will be produced from templates, only the templates will be checked for consistency with these standards. Changes to templates must be approved by the Business Development Executive before they can start to be used.
7. Lifecycle: The life of documents begins with template creation. Once the templates are available, information gathered from various sources is entered into the templates as appropriate. From this point the documents can either be printed or distributed through digital media.

Types of documents to be used

1. Customer invoices
2. Miscellaneous letters
3. Business profile
4. Payroll reports
5. Monthly sales reports
6. Loyalty cards (for loyal customers)

Technology for producing the documents

The documents will be designed, formatted and produced using standard office utility software. Particularly, Microsoft Office Suite will be the preferred application package for fulfilling the tasks. The macros will be used to automate document creation tasks aimed at establishing consistency and professionalism across various documents. Also, no special/ dedicated hardware will be required to produce any of the documents.

Use, output and storage of documents

All documents will be stored on the business’ data server that is secured in a safe location on the premises. All documents will be output as non-editable secured portable document format files (PDF). Outputs will be obtained from the organization’s general purpose printers.

• TEMPLATE DESIGNS

Letter

Cavlin Clein Restaurant

(03) 5792 1736 | (03) 5792 1736

Saturday, 17 September 2016

September 17, 2016

Recipient address

Dear Mr. Other:

<Content of letter goes here>

Sincerely,

<Append Signature Here>

<Name of Writer>

<Position>

Guides for using the documents

To create a company document using the template, one simply needs to run the macro which will insert the necessary parts. To run the macro, the macro button can be found below the Ribbon on the menu for the template.

HOW THIS TASK WAS UNDERTAKEN

To accomplish this task, the main considerations were the needs of the organization. The specific needs of the new business guided the establishment of documentation standards and all other procedures that followed in the document production cycle. For creation of the document template, a macro was recorded with the activities that constitute inserting the company’s letterhead and dated.

ASSESSMENT 2

QUESTION 1

It is important to have standardized documents because portray a professional image of the organization, but they also facilitate accuracy and speed in the creation of documents (Johlke 2015, p. 118). A professional image is necessary to attract customers and build loyalty.

QUESTION 2

1. Microsoft Word: This software program is ideal in creating documents that require elaborate formatting or contain a lot of text. It provides excellent tools to facilitate the creation of professional and accurate documents.
2. Microsoft Excel: This software is mainly used to create documents that result from figures and may involve intricate calculations. It has tools that facilitate easy compilation, analysis and presentation of data documents. It has also excellent facilities for creation of charts and other graphic presentation of data. Macros can be run on the program to achieve numerous document tasks.
3. Microsoft PowerPoint: This software program is ideal for creating presentation documents. It provides tools and an interface that makes presentation of information easy. Its interface and tools are more suited for creating presentation documents more than any other office task.

QUESTION 3

1. Customer invoices: This is a document that outlines a customer’s purchase. It presents particulars related to the goods and services that a customer has purchased on one event plus the amounts due. This document is presented to the customer to request them to pay the sums they owe the business.
2. Letter of employment offer: Such a document may be prepared to inform a prospective employee that they have been accepted by the business as on their employees. It is a professional and formal document.
3. Business profile: This is a document that highlights the business’ activities in a manner that is attractive to both potential investors and potential customers. It normally outlines the various goods and services offered by the organization as well as other information that may be particularly interesting to potential customers and potential investors.
4. Payroll reports: These are documents that summarize an employee’s earning usually over a period of one month.
5. Quarterly sales reports: These are documents that give details of the business’ sales over an annual quarter. It indicates sales and profits or losses as well as other general information regarding entire sales activities. It is an investor-oriented document.
6. Loyalty cards (for loyal customers): This is a small printed card that can be issued to a customer to acknowledge their patronage. While it has no financial value, it has the potential to encourage loyalty from the customer. It can also be used as a voucher redeemable for a meal at the restaurant.

QUESTION 4

A macro is a script that is written to automate tasks. It is a small piece of code that tells a software program to perform some action or tasks when it is invoked. Its purpose is to automate repetitive tasks so that a user can save time and enhance accuracy when performing these tasks (Kinser et al. 2013, p. 23).

QUESTION 5

Cost constraints that may affect document design and development include getting a professional document designer, paying for document design software, and obtaining consistent materials for production. Maintaining a consistent, professional look of business documents requires investing in a good designer, good software and good production tools such as printers (Papadopoulos & Heslop 2014, p. 35).

QUESTION 6

When creating an organization’s internal and external document range, the following process would be followed:

1. Establishing the documentation standards for the organization which will be based on its specific needs. The various documents required by the organization will also be identified.
2. Then, based on the standard templates for these documents will be generated. The templates will be checked for consistency with the documentation standards after their creation.
3. The required documents will be produced and stored or distributed according to the identified standards.
4. Documentation regarding the standards and the document creation procedure may be prepared as a final step.

QUESTION 7

1. Ethical principles affect the design of the document by introducing aspects such as accessibility due to this ethical consideration, documents created must be accessible to most people including those with various difficulties (Fontrodona et al. 2013, p. 113). For example, technical language can only be used sparingly so that most people who need the documents can read and understand them with much ease.
2. Codes of Practice affect the design and content by requiring that the design and content of the documents are objective. Although creativity is not prohibited by Codes of Practice, it may be limited by it.

QUESTION 8

External assistance for the development of documents may come from professional document development companies or online tools. There are several companies that offer assistance in designing templates and also producing actual documents on demand. Online tools such as those that convert documents between different formats can also provide valuable external assistance.