Online Education System - Essay Example

Business Analysis Report for Online Education System of the Problem: Business analysis for the online up gradation of Education system Overview of the Problem: XYZ Educational organization is looking to upgrade its educational services to online to make them available to the remote and non-regular students. Scope of the Analysis: To identify the feasibility of such process improvement with continuous quality improvements and risk reduction with the new process operations. Objectives of the research: Analyzing the strategy formulation Analyzing the risk Maintaining the Quality Research Process: The analysis process has taken a strategic evaluation of the existing system to identify the current status of the XYZ Education system and to elicit the risks involved and to further identify the feasibility to formulate policies for continues quality improvement. The strategic decisions of any organization are highly depended on the adoption of quality management systems of the organization. The design and implementation of an organization's quality management system is influenced by varying needs, particular objectives, the products provided, the processes employed and the size and structure of the organization. (ISO 9001) About the Company: XYZ is one of the leading professional education management system in UK that offer management courses to the executives. Many of its courses are intended for regular day stream members. And the organization has proved its quality and capability through its growing number of professionals coming out of the college on each year. The growing demand for professional skills in every employment, many jobholders are looking to enhance their skills by way of taking up the relevant management courses on part time basis, while continuing their jobs. The quality of the courses offered through the organization has become so popular to get a demand from the remote students to get the online courses. This made the management of the XYZ organization to think about the risks in opening about the online courses, as the management is so particular about he quality and in no way they re willing to loose their reputation. The management wants to adopt a risk less change management where the quality of the services to enhance the value for the entire chain operations. Hence the XYZ education System has identified the ABC business consultancy to do business analysis before venturing into new online system, particularly with risk elimination & continuous quality process. And ABC consultancy has started its Process analysis by adopting the KRAJEWSKI model: According to Total Quality Engineering (1997), strategy deployment means the management and control of the company's direction focus. It helps develop the business policy and plan, providing the focus for carrying the strategy forward into the management of the individual function and section. A process involves the use of an organization's resources to provide something of value, (KRAJEWSKI, p121). The application of a system of processes within an organization, together with the identification and interactions of these processes and their management, can be referred to as the "Process approach". The optimum utilization of these resources in the process results in the efficiency of the process or the quality of the process. . ABC Consultancy has adopted a process analysis approach of XYZ organization and identified several factors that has impact on operations of the education management of XYZ like- Operation levels; global competition; rapid technological changes, ethical, workforce diversity, and environmental issues. In this section, we look at these trends and their challenges for operations managers. (KRAJEWSKI, p12). The consultancy took the concern of operations managers like COO, Operations Executive managers and Branch operations managers etc., Many different choices are made in a selecting human resources, equipment, outsourced services, materials, work flows, and methods that transform inputs into outputs. This decision helps in defining the value of the chain involved in the process. ABC has identified that XYZ educational organization has a very good value chain involving efficient branch administrators, faculty, tutorial and equipment suppliers, student councilors, course coordinators, lab assistants and placement agencies. Also the consultancy has observed a stringent follow of uniformed practices across the organization, through out all the geographical locations. And there is no impabalance of operations with the existing system. Hence the consultancy has proceeded to further identify the feasibility of the newly proposed online system. Risk means both uncertainty and the results of uncertainty. Risk refers to a lack of Predictability about a problem structure, outcome or consequences in a decision or planning Situation, where as Quality comes by proper planning and implementation. Hence it can be said that organization implement continuous quality improvement, to reduce risks. Collard sees quality as: "about attitudes, culture and commitment within an organization", but also definable as: "zero defects in the products and services supplied by an organization". The process of strategy development and deployment would govern the operations and quality management practices of organizations (Pun and Lee, 1995; Pun et al., 1999). Mintzberg (1994) defines strategy as "a plan, or something equivalent to a direction, a guide or course of action into the future, a path to get from here to there" and also "a pattern, that is, consistency in behavior over time''. Revelle et al. (1998) put Quality Function Deployment as a system and procedures to aid the planning and development of products/services, and assure that they will meet or exceed customer expectations. Hence ABC consultancy adopted to evaluate the QFD for XYZ Organization. Hax and Majluf (1996) argue that strategies may differ with respect to the difference in size, location and business nature of enterprise. QFD uses visual planning matrices that link customer requirements, design requirements, target values and competitive performance into one chart. QFD focuses on delivering value by seeking out both spoken and unspoken needs, translating them into actionable services and communicating them throughout an organization. Duarte (1993) advocates a four-step hoshin process to achieve the QFD targets. The process encompasses: (1) Preparation of the organization to create policies that will change the way it does business. (2) Creation of implementation plans, using input from key customers and managers from the organization's key activities. (3) Deployment of the policies through a schedule of regular updates and follow up the skeleton of an integrated approach of QFD/hoshin process. Lee and Dale (1998) also advocate the importance of the plan, do, check and act'' (PDCA) cycle, and underline feedback of the approach to continuously improve the quality performance of the organization. After the analysis process ABC consultancy suggested the following Process analysis to the XYZ Education system and made the 'documentation' for detailed understanding of how work is performed and how it can be 'redesigned'. KRAJEWSKI. et al., proposes a systematic approach with of a six-step blueprint for process analysis. Process analysis is the documentation and detailed understanding of how work is performed and how it can be redesigned. Process analysis starts with identifying a new opportunity for improvement and ends with implementing a revised process. The last step goes back to the first step, thus creating a cycle of continual improvement. (Krajewski.et al., p153). Flowing are the steps adopted from the systematic approach to analyze the Online education system for XYZ. Step-1: Identify Opportunity: ABC has found out that XYZ has identified 'profits and increased sales revenue' as opportunities in adopting the online education system. And hence is willing to go for the expansion of existing processes. Step-2 : Define Scope: ABC consultancy has helped the XYZ organization in formulating the strategy and defining the scope of the new vision. Till now it was just a imaginary vision in the discussions of management. Now it has realized in structural terms. Operations strategy translates service plans and competitive priorities for each market segment into decisions affecting the value chains that support those market segments. (KRAJEWSKI). As the corporate strategy determined how the firm's processes are organized to handle the volume and variety of online services for each specific market segment, a series of other decisions were also formulated like the design of the processes, systems, and procedures that support the operations strategy. These decisions are not static; they were constantly reevaluated according to the dynamics of the market place. The scope of the XYZ operations were finalized like this: "Offering Continuous competitive Quality services to enable the UK rural youth to adopt the fully professional employment services" The principles formulated by the XYZ organization during the strategy formation for online education to be involved in their Quality Framework for different areas are as follows: 1. FOR LEARNING EFFECTIVENESS: Academic standards for all online programs or courses are the same as those for programs delivered at the Physical institutions Complete automation of online degrees, certificate programs, and courses. Each program or course of study results in learning appropriate to the rigor and breadth of the degree or certificate awarded. Learning in online programs or courses is comparable to learning in programs or courses offered at the campus where they originate. Online evaluation/acceptance criteria to assess the students for admissions. The online program or course with clear, complete and timely information on the curriculum, course and degree requirements, nature of faculty/learner interaction, prerequisite technology competencies and skills, technical equipment requirements, availability of academic support services, financial aid resources, and costs and payment policies. 2. FOR STUDENT SATISFACTION: Online advertising, recruiting and admissions materials clearly and accurately represent the program and the services available. Program or course announcements and electronic catalog entries provide appropriate information. 3. FOR ACCESS: The program or course evaluates the adequacy of access to learning resources and the cost to learners for access to those resources. Accessible formats of documents as all types of electronic resources. Enrolled students have reasonable and adequate access to support services and appropriate learning resources. Complete Online ACCESS of support services like, Admissions and registration, Academic advising, Technical support services (online and in person help), Server/portal access, Rapid textbooks/learning materials delivery, Learning resource services and library, Course/Program mentoring, Standards of progress tracking , Readiness and aptitude testing, Tutoring, Testing, exam proctoring, Financial aid Placement, Commencement and Alumni 3. FOR COST EFFECTIVENESS The program or course is consistent with the institution's role and mission. Institutions seeking new opportunities outside their traditional venues will also be given encouragement. Advertising, recruiting and admissions materials clearly and accurately represent the program and the services available. Step-3: Document Process: ABC consultancy has appointed assistant consultants in the XYZ organization and helped it to document the processes that are required for the new launch. While preparing this documentation process, the analysis process has included all the stakeholders of the system to design a team and form reliable metrics and documented the process to draw a service blueprint as suggested by Krajewski & et al., - Suggestion system: a voluntary system by which all XYZ employees submit their ideas on process improvements regarding online system - Design team: A group of knowledgeable, team-oriented individuals who work at one or more steps in the process, do the process analysis and make the necessary changes like Sales Managers, Course administrators and operations managers. - Metrics: Performance measures against objectives defined in the strategy formulation step, which are established for a process and the steps within it. - Flowcharts: A diagram that traces the flow of information, customers, equipment, or materials through the various steps of a process. - Service Blueprint: A special flowchart of a service process that shows which steps have high customer contact for customer service visibility. Three techniques are effective for documenting and evaluating processes: (1) flowcharts, (2) service blueprints, and (3) process charts. they allow the system to lift the lid and peer inside to see how an organization does its work. (Krajewski p 161) The documentation allowed the consultancy as well the organization to see how a process operates, at any level of detail, and how well it is performing. While creating these charts even revealed the lack of some of the established process in XYZ. The charts gave direction to the work to be performed in a way. Step-4: Evaluate Performance: ABC consultancy with the help of internal auditors has evaluated the existing system to check for he capability of the system for the new up gradation against the above service blueprint. ABC performed the evaluating performance as suggested by Krajewski. et al., Metrics and performance information templates were prepared in the documentation process. Metrics display can be in various ways. Some times they were added directly on the flowchart or process chart. When the number of metrics gets unwisely, another approach was taken to create a supporting table for the chart. Steps were represented in rows in the flowchart, service blueprint, or process charts. The columns were assigned for the current performance, goals and performance gaps for various metrics. The documentation techniques of the process lend themselves to finding performance gaps, generating ideas for process improvements, and documenting the look of redesigned process. Step-5: Redesign Process After the process is documented, metrics data collected, and disconnects identified, the process consultants and design team put together a set of changes that will make the process better for the new online system. At this step, people directly involved in the process are brought in to get their ideas and inputs. (Krajewski, p169) The cumulative work of the processes of a firm is a value chain, which is the interrelated series of processes that produces a service to the satisfaction of customers. Each activity in the redesigned process was designed to add value to the preceding activities; eliminating waste and unnecessary costs. Process Improvement strategies were provided for further proceeding of the operations. The strategies were formulated recognizing the differences in culture or environment of the students such as multilingual issues; student-teacher ratio and technology accessibility issues to further design the course module. Step-6: Implement Changes All the new online operations are expected to operate through a series of interrelated business activities with a cross-functional coordination between the stakeholders. The main strategic goal of the entire new process approach is 'that processes must add value for customers'. Hence the changes as planned according to the quality norms defined in the policies will be implemented to achieve the value against the metrics. Conclusion: When adopted such a quality system for the online education system, XYZ organization can implement the new process with same quality as like the previous process also, can balance between the existing and new process with continuous quality improvement. Also With the structured and stringent documented guidelines the organization can create quality awareness among the value chain and can remain competitive in the market. Thus ABC consultancy offered a structural process analysis for the entire business operations to suggest TQM. References: Collard, R., Total Quality: Success through People, 2nd ed., Institute of Personnel Management, London, 1993. Duarte, J.E. (1993), Policy deployment'', CMA Magazine, Vol. 67 No. 4, pp. 13-17. Hax, A.C. and Majluf, N.S. (1996), The Strategy Concept and Process: A Pragmatic Approach, 2nd ed., Prentice-Hall, New York, NY. KRAJEWSKI, L.J., RITZMAN, L.P. AND MALHOTRA, M. (2007,8E). OPERATIONS MANAGEMENT: PROCESS AND VALVE CHAINS, PRENTICE HALL. ISBN: 013187294. Lee, R.G. and Dale, B.G. (1998), Policy deployment: an examination of the theory'', International Journal of Quality and Reliability Management, Vol. 15 No. 5, pp. 520-40 Mintzberg, H. (1994), The Rise and Fall of Strategic Planning, Prentice-Hall, New York, NY. Pun, K.F., Chin, K.S., Lee, K.T., Gill, R. and White, A.S. (1999), Exploring strategy formulation in manufacturing business: an empirical study of Hong Kong enterprises'', Proceedings of the International Symposium on Manufacturing Management, University QUALITY FRAMEWORK FOR ONLINE EDUCATION, accessed on April 28, 2007, Available from Total Quality Engineering (1997), A brief history of hoshin'', http://www.tqe.com/hoshin.html Read More