CMI Unit 516 Planning, Procuring, and Managing Resources Assignment Report Brief

Introducing Assessment Brief CMI 516

Inadequate resourcing can impact on the ability to achieve objectives; whilst being over resourced has financial implications.

Assessment brief CMI 516 has been designed to enable managers to understand and respond to the challenge of managing and monitoring resources.  Learners will understand the importance of effective and efficient resource use, identify and plan resource requirements and know how to procure resources in line with regulatory requirements

Assessment Tasks And WORD COUNT

Assessment brief 516 features the following assessment tasks. Further detail is provided against each assessment task within the brief.

planning resources to meet organisational objectives’

Planning is an essential activity to ensure adequate and appropriate resources are in place to meet set organisational objectives and needs. Resources can include but are not limited to people, time, money, physical assets, materials, data and information.

SCENARIO A

You manage a customer services department in a medium sized organisation.  The department consists of full time and part time staff with different working patterns. The team interacts with customers in three ways – digital, face to face and via the telephone.

Following a successful year that has seen a significant growth in sales, the organisation has ambitious plans to
re-locate to larger premises in a new business park (40 miles away from its current location).

A number of staff within your department have chosen not to relocate with the organisation so there will be vacancies within your team.

You have been asked to project manage the move for your team whilst ensuring it continues to meet targets and maintain service levels. 

To do this, you will be planning the resource needs for your department and will need to review:

Current and anticipated human resource requirements (including skills and competencies) prior to and following the move
Infrastructure requirements (e.g. ICT systems, communications etc)

Tools, equipment and consumables

You are committed to ensuring that you meet the organisational target to have the team fully operational within three months of the move.

Task 2

Basing your response on Scenario A, your own experience of planning resources to meet organisational objectives or using well chosen examples from an organisation you know well or have researched:

Write a report entitled ‘Planning resource needs to meet organisational objectives’.

Using examples, the report must:

a) Assess factors which impact on resource planning to meet organisational objectives (AC2.1)

b) Examine approaches for determining a change to resourcing (AC2.2)

c) Discuss THREE (3) sources of data and information which may be used to plan resource requirements (AC2.3)

d) Evaluate THREE (3) options for the supply of resources to meet organisational objectives (AC2.4)

Procuring Resources

The procurement of the right resources to meet business needs requires time, diligence, governance and planning.  When this process is effectively managed, business outputs and outcomes can be optimised.

In some organisations the words ‘procurement’ and ‘purchasing’ are used interchangeably. In other organisations these can be two very different business processes or business cycles.

Task 3a

You are required to write an account on the principles of procuring resources.

Using examples, the account must:

a) Analyse the principles which underpin effective procurement (AC3.1)

b) Analyse the stages of a procurement process (AC3.2)

SCENARIO B

Following the customer service department’s move to new premises, you have reviewed resources and identified the need for the following requirements:

• Three full-time customer service staff, to be contracted for a three month period from a recruitment agency
• Staff uniforms for the customer service team which will carry the organisation’s branding
• Electronic note books for customer facing staff
• External staff training to ensure all customer service staff understand the requirements of the General Data Protection Regulations (GDPR) (2018) (add or other relevant data legislation)
• A high volume laser printer that can be used as a printer, scanner and photocopier by the department

Task 3b

Basing your response on Scenario B, your own experience of planning resources to meet organisational objectives or using well chosen examples from an organisation you know well or have researched:

You are required to write a proposal for procuring resources to meet an identified need (i.e equipment, consumables or a business service).  The proposal will be presented to the senior management team.

The proposal must:

a) Develop criteria for resource specifications (AC3.3)

b) Using examples, analyse TWO (2) methods which may be used to select suppliers (AC3.4)

Monitoring Resource Use in Organisations

It is essential to monitor resource needs and usage in organisations. This could be at an organisational, business unit, departmental or project level. How resource usage is recorded, monitored, controlled and reported may vary across an organisation however the aims remain constant, to ensure resource use is effective and provides good value for money.

Task 4

You are required to write a proposal on how to predict and monitor resource use in an organisation.  The proposal will be presented to the senior management team.

Using examples, the proposal must:

a) Analyse TWO (2) strategies used to predict and manage disruption in resource supply (AC4.1)

b) Analyse methods to record, monitor and report on resource use (AC4.2)

c) Recommend approaches to improve resource use in organisations, including examples (AC4.3)

Assessment Guidance