Project Portfolio Template

Section 1: Continuous improvement and innovation review

Complete this section prior to developing the continuous improvement and innovation plan.

The business or The report below is contextualized for an Australia based manufacturing
work area company which is a social start up – Worlducation. The company deals in
manufacturing tablet computers for primary school going students. The
company’s vision is to facilitate a world without illiteracy, for which company
aims to transform the way children learn at school. The company manufactures
AI based solutions which can follow up on each child’s progress and adjust it to
their needs as they learn, the ultimate aim is to create optimal path learning
experience. Company’s operational processes include manufacturing
operations, in which company in-house team develops AI based solutions.

The company currently operates using B2B strategy in which it sells company
hardware and software solutions to whole classroom than individual customer.
The company has a complex supply chain in which sale is usually made through
a sales representatives or online enquiry, which is managed by sales team. Sales
are recorded in a system named enterprise resource planning system which
informs operations team about the order delivery. Operations team then verifies
sales order and authorizes delivery of manufacturing request to the factory from
where distribution teams will distribute the product to client address.

The company’s supply chain was greatly affected during covid times, as
government restrictions made it quite challenging for teams to procure required
goods and equipment(s). However, covid pandemic brought hundreds of new
leads for the company as more number of users started using laptop and other
hardware resources, which led to an unprecedented growth. This unprecedented
growth brought in dozens of operation and production related challenges.
Subsequently, it affected company’s market position in the competitive
marketplace. To overcome covid related operations and production related
challenges, there are a few options that company management has shortlisted,
one proposal is related to the adoption of cloud based solution owing to low
cost involvement and operational challenges involved. As for company’s

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 strategies to monitor and evaluate performance and sustainability, a
comprehensive situational analysis is conducted in which improvement areas
are identified alongside identification of existing techniques which are already
in use by Worlducation staff

Current Overall, business is performing really well, as company board has selected a
performance proposal with which it can ensure business continuity, even during the hard
times of covid pandemic. The board is planning to develop cloud based
solutions owing to its low cost involvement properties. There are different
operational activities which are introduced and now being implemented at
Worlducation, these new operational activities, include-

- Finalization of proposal for cloud based solution

- Research into cloud based solution

- Implementation of new professional development system, all staff to

identify two PD events

- Identification and shortlisting of CRM modules which are to be

implemented and then linked to the ERP and other accounts system

The company is performing quite well, as the sequential series of steps

(operational activities) which it has undertook will surely help company
managers in successful attainment of business operational goals and plans. As
for the variations between plan and performance, company is behind the
schedule to deliver order delivery requests, as due to government imposed
restrictions, company was only able to complete shipment of 500 tablets than
2000 orders which it originally signed up for.

One underpinning factor behind this delay is the complex supply chain
procedure wherein misalignment could be noted between different supply chain
processes. There is a need for centralized automated system that all stakeholders
could use for making sure that every member is on board, and are aware of the
shipment and delivery orders, so that they can work accordingly to ensure
timely order fulfilment. Different areas which need significant improvements
include order placement, order enquiry, order acknowledgement, shipment and
delivery. In the present scenario, there is misalignment which could be seen
between different supply chain areas, and this is what has truly affected

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 organization’s ability to deliver client requested orders on time.

Trends and Technological trends such as use of information systems, cloud powered
opportunities solutions has transformed the way businesses operate nowadays. Cloud is
perhaps one such technology trend that is impacting the way Worlducation will
operate in the near future, as company management (in-house team) will now
use cloud solutions for creation of software solutions, which will be used by
clients. This opportunity can surely help Worlducation to improve the way it
operates, as if there are any sort of rectifications or modifications or upgrades
that are to be made, then it can be done in a cost effective manner, as all
maintenance and upgrades related costs will be incurred from cloud service
provider. Worlducation’s’ competitors such as Pioneer Computers is already
leveraging this technological trend, and Worlducation can also leverage this
trend, for gaining better competitive edge (Walsh, 2015).

Different opportunities which Worlducation can leverage for fostering better

business growth, include,

- Use of cloud for software development and maintenance

- Use of ERP for applying data analytics solutions for gaining actionable
insights which can help in making data driven decisions

- Worlducation needs to improve traceability of its supply chain

operations, for which it is suggested to use either AI powered drones or
block chain based solutions as it can help in real-time monitoring of
supply chain operations

By tapping on the above technology trends, Worlducation can bring significant

improvements in business processes especially in supply chain, as deployment
of drones or block chain based solutions will help in gaining real time insights
of operations being performed. This is how, better decision making can be done.
In order to achieve this, there are some gaps which management needs to
address, these include – organizational culture, new processes/structures,
replacement of existing manual systems with automated systems. By addressing
these gaps, better performance improvement could be assured

Moving further, it is important to note that company will need to incur high
inception cost for technology implementation, as block chain solutions are a bit
expensive, but the benefits will surely outweigh its overall cost, some key

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 benefits that can be achieved include real time insights, better decision making,
improved efficiency, improved operational excellence. Further, it is important
to note that these opportunities also present some security risks, like data
disclosure, insider threats, etc

The team After carefully analysing team member roles and their skills and competencies,
it was realized that IT manager, IT support officer and help desk officer are
three experts who possess good knowledge of IT industry, and can support the
use of cloud technology. The company’s new business solution is related to the
use of cloud based solution, and it turns out that the above specified team
members hold required amount of skills and competencies, which are needed to
actively support business new corporate objectives, related to development of
cloud based solutions.

Different practices that teams can employ for achieving continuous

improvement are listed below-

- To lead by example so that other members also follow

- By facilitating active communication amongst different team members

- By asking for improvement ideas through employee surveys and

feedbacks (Cullen, 2022)

- By holding formal training sessions to provide constructive feedback to

members, to foster continuous improvement

Further, it is important to note that there are diverse range of learning

opportunities that exist for team members to improve skills and knowledge,
some of these are outlined below-

- Learning related to cloud model (since in-house team plans to use cloud
for building software solutions)

- Learning related to continuous improvement models which they can

apply for fostering continuous improvement in business environment

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 Knowledge Worlducation company staff can deploy a learning knowledge management
management (LMS software), as it will help team members at Worlducation in gaining
insights to knowledge practices, which they can employ for fostering
continuous improvement and innovation in the business setting. Knowledge that
experts at Worlducation have in their possession can be stored in this system,
which they can easily access to foster continuous improvement and innovation

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Complete your continuous improvement and innovation plan here.

Objectives of the plan

The main objective is to promote continuous improvement so that team members at Worlducation gain
knowledge relate to cloud and other solutions, which they must be aware about, to ensure better
performance in future.

Key actions

Diverse range of actions that Worlducation staff can take into consideration for achieving continuous
improvement and innovation, are outlined below-

- Identify target process (continuous improvement area)

- Set out reasonable goals and areas for improvements

- Elicit feedback from customers, company stakeholders and employees

- Encourage employees to foster continuous improvement to eliminate inefficiencies in existing

processes and systems (Boatman, 2023)

Impact

The changes will bring positive transformations in the company as company employees will support
continuous improvement, thus, in this manner, they can work on their improvement areas, this would
lead to higher efficiency and internal business productivity. From this, it can be inferred that the
changes will raise positive implications for the company. However, it might happen that some
management staff members may not support it, for that, company supervisors can undertake actions,
such as holding team meetings to inform team of the benefits of changes, and ways to support
organizational changes

Communications

A formal team meeting will be organized in which team members will be informed about the need for
continuous improvement and different areas wherein improvements can be brought. Through physical
meetings, supervisors can communicate continuous improvement and innovation plan

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 Timeframes

Time frame needed to achieve this plan is 6 months

Rewards

For those who fully support continuous improvement, innovation plan, team members will be
rewarded and offered certain incentives, this is how, a sense of motivation can be stimulated amongst
team members. This is how, team members can be encouraged to actively support newly introduced
continuous improvement, innovation and learning within organization.

Key performance indicators

Different KPIs that will be used to measure outcomes are listed below-

- Average time spent on product re-work

- Total units manufactured

- Amount of re-work needed

- Level of participation in continuous improvement related workshops

Contingencies

Different contingencies will be put in place for managing non-performance, these include-

- Conduct one to one meeting and ask questions to analyse what causes an employee to
underperform (Aldrich, 2022)

- By ensuring regular check-ins and by taking regular follow-ups to make sure that all
employees are performing in an efficient manner

Complete your presentation based on all of your work above.

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 Presentation

Feedback Overall, positive feedback was provided by the team, and fortunately,
there were no revisions which were requested by the team.

Attach: Continuous Improvement and Innovation Presentation ☐

Updated Continuous Improvement and Innovation Plan ☐

References

Aldrich, D. (2022, July 22). Managing poor performance: 5 steps. BetterUp.

https://www.betterup.com/blog/coaching-insider-how-to-manage-poor-performance

Boatman, A. (2023, September 21). 12 actionable tips for managing underperforming

employees. AIHR. https://www.aihr.com/blog/managing-underperforming-employees/

Cullen, E. (2022, June 31). How to promote continuous improvement in the workplace.
Mentimeter. https://www.mentimeter.com/blog/great-leadership/how-to-promotes-
continuous-improvement-in-the-workplace

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Walsh, D. (2015, October 21). The 5 steps of contingency planning. The 5 Steps Of Contingency
Planning. https://www.lifescienceleader.com/doc/the-steps-of-contingency-planning-0001

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