BSNS5202 Advanced Business Information – An Analysis

For this assessment, students must choose one of the following options:

1. Complete the assessment using the provided scenario, or
2. Use their own workplace, provided that the workplace example fully meets the assessment instructions and criteria.

Business Information Analysis And Improvement Report

This assessment requires you to act as a business information consultant and create a formal report that analyses and recommends improvements for an administrative or operational process.

You have two options for your report: you can either use the provided Nourish & Thrive case study OR choose a current business you are working in. If selecting your own workplace, you must obtain approval from your course leader confirming that the chosen process includes information flows and communication methods suitable for assessing Learning Outcomes 1 and 2.

All learners, regardless of your choice, will follow the same task breakdown to complete the assessment. Your report must analyse both business information use and communication methods (internal and external) that support the process.

Task Breakdown

Select a business process: Choose a specific administrative or operational process to focus on for your report.

• Option 1: Nourish & Thrive Case Study – Use the provided scenario to identify a process within the business, such as customer orders, invoicing or financial record keeping.
• Option 2: Your workplace – Select a process from your current workplace. Examples include employee onboarding, customer service or inventory management.

1. Analyse and describe current processes: Describe how business information is used within the chosen process. Detail the steps involved, the tools, communication channels or systems used, and the types of information being managed. Include a process map (for example, swimlane or workflow diagram) showing how information and communication methods are used. Explain the Information Processing Cycle (input, processing, output and storage) to contextualise your analysis.

2. Evaluate strengths and weaknesses: Based on your analysis, evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of the current process. Consider its efficiency, accuracy and effectiveness of communication methods, and how well it supports the organisation’s strategic goals. Identify internal and external communication issues affecting performance, like duplication, errors, missed requests or inconsistent record keeping.

3. Recommend practical improvements: Propose specific recommendations for how the business can improve its processes. These recommendations should address the key issues you’ve identified and focus on leveraging technology where appropriate. Your suggestions should be practical and consider potential challenges like cost, complexity and staff training.

4. Present findings in a formal report: Create a formal report that clearly outlines your analysis and recommendations. Include supporting visuals like process maps or workflow diagrams to make your points more understandable. APA referencing required. The report should be professionally written and follow a standard business report structure (for example, executive summary, introduction, analysis, recommendations, conclusion and appendices).

Experts Answer on Above Questions on Business Information

Business selected for analysis – Nourish & Thrive – customer order processing

Analysis of the current processes

The business process selected for analysis is customer order processing. Nourish & Thrive is a New Zealand based food retailer that sells organic groceries through physical stores and online platforms. The customer ordering process is very simple through the website where the sales system records details about customers, product selections, payment information and delivery address. Inventory checking is carried out on real time basis before payment authorisation, and upon the completion of payment, the warehouse staff gets the details about the order, they pack the products and arrange courier collection. Customer gets an email about the payment, the status and delivery information. The enquiries of customers are managed through email and telephone.

Information processing cycle

The input stage includes the order details by customer, payment and delivery details. The processing stage has steps like validation of payment, inventory updates and generation of invoice. The output stage includes steps like order confirmation, dispatch notification and tracking number. The storage includes customer records, order history, payment records and inventory database.

Workflow diagram

Customer – places online order – information is recorded on website – inventory check is carried out – payment processing – warehouse gets intimation – packs product – courier collection and customer receives the delivery.

Communication methods – the internal communication is carried out using inventory management systems, email notification and accounting software while the external communication is performed through website, customer email, courier tracking system and telephone support.

Strength and weaknesses

The strengths are real time inventory updates, automatic order confirmation, digital recording of transaction improves financial and reporting accuracy, whereas the weaknesses are delays because of issues with synchronisation of inventory updates, duplicate responses because the customer queries are submitted through email and telephone, and courier delivery update depend on manual data transfer.

Practical recommendations

It is recommended to integrate the inventory management directly with supplier database, implement a CRM system to centralise customer enquiries, connect courier tracking through API integration.

Implementation challenges

This will include initial software licensing costs, staff training is needed to work over inventory systems and CRM, and data needs migration from existing databases. These challenges can be managed properly through phased implementation and employee training sessions.

Want Detailed Answers with References?

An analysis of the business of Nourish & Thrive using process mapping, communication evaluation and workflow improvement revealed important findings about the current processes and its limitations, along with recommendations for improvement. If you want a similar kind of business analysis, get in touch with our NZ assignment help experts to provide complete support with your assignment. In order to be sure with your order, you can go through the assignment answers for Open Polytechnic students and proceed with confirming your order.