Strategies To Improve Document Production Process And Managing Business Operations Essay.

1). Identify two examples of organizational and legislative requirements regarding information entry and output. Why is it important to follow these organizational and legislative requirements?

2). Why is it important to follow the organizational and legislative requirements regarding storage of information?

3). Why is it important to ensure standard document formats and templates suit the purpose?

4). Why is it important to ensure standard document formats meet audience information requirements?

5). Explain how organizations establish documentation standards in accordance with budgetary and technological requirements

6). Spreadsheets and databases are often used in organizations. Explain how these software applications are used in document design and development to meet organizational standards.

7). How are complex technical functions of software used in automating document production and improving productivity?

8). Explain how you would test macros to ensure they meet document requirements and standards

9). List two sources of external IT expertise available to an organization or workgroup

10). What naming and storage requirements should be met when a master file is produced?

11). What are two options for circulating a master file?

12). How would you meet organizational requirements when printing copies of your templates?

13). Explain two ways to monitor how standard templates and macros are being used in an organization

14). When producing documents, how should you evaluate the quality against the organizational standards?

15). Why is it important to review documentation standards against the changing needs of the organization? Provide an example of when an organization may need to change its documentation.

16). What strategies would you use to plan improvements in accordance with the organizational procedures?

17). What strategies would you use to implement improvements in accordance with organizational procedures?

18). Identify the five major phases of a typical document production process

19). Explain how readability can be enhanced in document templates

20). Describe how you would prepare explanatory notes for existing and future users of standard templates and macros

21). What are the two methods of self-directed training that can be used when implementing training on the use of standard templates and macros?

Implementing Improvements According to Organizational Procedures

1). Data security and storing are considered to be the best example for organisational and legislative requirements for information input and output. Data in terms of employee details and the confidential papers of the business details of the company are identified as very important for a company. According to the Disabilities Act of 1990s, the US government strictly protects the physical inabilities of the employee (Titler et al. 2016). Moreover, in a diverse workplace culture the company should disclose the details of an employee regarding his or her nation, origin and age. Moreover, trade secrets and company budgets are also sensitive information that the business organisation wants to keep in secret. The purpose of maintaining secrecy is that it will affect the business activities or the workplace environment in case of getting exposed.

2). Storage of information is comprised of essential documents that the business organisations are intended to put in track. There are arrays of company information in this regards. For an example, confidential workplace information, employee information, regulatory articles and history of the business orientation of the company are considered to be company data (Carroll, Dykes and Hurley 2012). Hence, it requires a great deal of importance to follow the organisational and legislative requirements in order to protect the storage of information. In fact, it can be argued that the organisational and legislative structure of the company help to establish an effective and efficient framework that will render security for the organisational data. Moreover, the company requires the organisational and legislative frameworks to categorically differentiate various types of information and access that collection of data when it is required.

3). Standard document formats and templates help in many ways to maintain the organisational and legislative structure of the organisation. In this regards, it can be argued that the standard templates and formats save valuable times. As a result of that the person accessing the information will feel safe and save times for productive tasks. The only thing he has to do is to put his information in the template and can add any specifics if needed. Besides this, there are consistency and clarity that facilitate the employee to get a clear picture of the required information (O'Brien et al. 2015). Moreover, utilizing the same template will help to become consistent in work and any specific document can easily be imported.

4). Standard document formats create a balance of items on a page in the form of text, graphics and white space. With the exception of legal documents, uninterrupted text is considered to be less important than writing on a standard format of documents. As a result of that it ushers an attractive and easy to read process for the readers. Besides this, the standard document formats formulate an essence of harmony among the written pages and shared a common goal. In this context, the harmony is defined as the maximum effectiveness of a document in order to carry the message (O'Brien et al. 2015). It can also be argued that the standard format enables a sort of sequential understanding of the document and reflects a clear understanding.

Phases of a Typical Document Production Process

5). Documentation standard is referred as a software representation that comprises with a consistent appearance, structure and quality and as a result of that fosters readable and understandable interface for the user. It can be argued that there are different kinds of documentation standards such as documentation process standards, document standards and the document interchange standards. Among these the interchange standard is considered to be the best option for budgetary and technological benefits. The interchange standard uses standard style of sheet and macros to avoid any possible virus infection (Peter et al. 2015). As a result, the cost of maintenance will be reduced and projecting a user friendly interface.

6). Spreadsheets are used by BizOps or calculating numerical data and perform what if scenarios, which helps in presenting the data and information in graphs and tables for easy understanding. The organizing, analysis and interpretation of data and information becomes easier with the use of spreadsheets and furthermore provide data for the mail mergers and tables. The spreadsheets are also used for designing the documents based on the analysis of data and producing graph based documents too. The data used within the organization will be analyzed and various formulas can be used for managing information required to fulfill the organizational standards and at the same time, edit the data and create charts to represent data visually. It would create ease while exporting and importing data from or to the databases and enhance the desktop publishing capabilities furthermore. Few spreadsheet packages are Microsoft excel, Lotus 123 and Quattro Pro that manages the designing of documents and ensures that the designs meet the standards of the organization.

Databases used at BizOps store important and confidential data and information from where it can be accessed easily. The data and information are stored, accumulated, modified, processed, distributed and retrieved at various stages to ensure successful business functioning. The databases could analyze the stored information as well as sort the records and organize those in a flexible manner for managing good relationships between the groups of data. Through use of data, the documents could be designed considering the various business activities and maintain confidentiality of data, thereby maintaining the organizational standards too. The feedbacks from teams could be stored as data in the databases and it would be easy to manage those for the benefit of the organization.

7). BizOps has used technologies for the generation of documents and manage the business operations and processes successfully. The production of documents would enhance and this could give more chances of managing process automation, furthermore create new business scopes and opportunities, which should increase the production and drive business growth.  The technical functions of the software like databases and spreadsheets could help in managing data and information properly along with accessibility while the technical functions are also associated with the development of electronic documents complied with the organizational standards. The document production software’s technical functions simplify the solutions and automate the production of documents electronically to control the processes perfectly (Herrmann and Herrmann-Nehdi 2015). This would reduce the costs largely without affecting the production and establish a sense of loyalty and trust among the clients too. The software could manage and coordinate the resources and information regarding the business life cycle and increase the degree of flexibility for enhancing the production level. The technical functions are also associated with the optimization of website management and better management of project, which can enhance the productivity and improve the brand image and reputation of BizOps (Laguna and Marklund 2013).

Enhancing Readability in Document Templates

8). Few steps followed to test macros are:

• Firstly, the order.xlsx workbook must be closed prior to the macro testing.
• Right click on the macro present in the navigation panel and then selecting the Design View button image
• From the tools panel, we need to click on Single Step  Button image
• Then, click on Run button, after checking whether it is a new or edited macro, the macro will be saved

• Once the Macro Single Step dialog box appears, information about the macro will be shown and the actions associated with it along with the number of errors
• A zero present in the Error Number Box will indicate that there are no errors

• Click on Step in the Macro Single Stepdialog box
• Clicking on Stop All Macros will stop the macro.
• While terminating the single stepping and run the macro remainder, we need to click on continue

9). The IT manager of BizOps in Australia manages the sources of external IT expertise. Obtaining feedbacks and responses from the IT workers can also help in obtaining IT knowledge and skills required to create a saving mindset and create cost saving opportunities at BizOps. The sources of IT expertise include training and developmental programs arranged for the individuals to determine the importance of IT and become habituated with the IT management functions (Frow et al. 2015). Electronic storage devices and databases will ensure easier access to the information and ensure successful management of IT skills, expertise and knowledge for controlling the business operations. With the assessment and monitoring of various IT sources, it will be easy for changing the infrastructure, maintain security of data and information and use external sources. The new external sources could bring architectural changes, implement new hardware and software components, cloud based implementations and manage virtualization of management practices. All these major aspects could bridge knowledge or skills gap and analyze the IT requirements that should be met to maintain the standards (Pollock, Jefferson and Wick 2015).  

10).After the creation and testing of templates and macros phases are completed, the template’s master file is created and stored. The IT manager is assigned with the task of handling the responsibilities associated with the master file and he can even make any modifications whenever needed. The addition of metadata enables the users to find the location of files easily through searching by keywords and then access the data and information required for fulfill9ng the naming and storage requirements.  

The naming conventions include providing a template name or naming the document sheet according to the development status (Trevino and Nelson 2016). Naming conventions for workbooks are putting ‘.xlsx’ to the file format and for naming the worksheets, it can be Asls, AsWasm ToBe, etc. Few common rules to be maintained are as follows:

• No use of spaces in the file names
• Not using of apostrophes
• Preventing use of special characters

Preparing Explanatory Notes for Users of Standard Templates and Macros

Storage requirements are to be fulfilled by storing data and information present in the documents in databases applied with passwords to prevent any unauthorized access.

11). The circulation of master file means loading the first case file’s documents into the master file. This will create ease in loading the documents without the needed information so that it is available for searching and analysis. The Express Load’s Batch Load Mode is used to flag the missing information while the use of Evidence Cruncher to OCR can transform the image files into PDF format for getting scanned easily. There are other options including the use of Global Replace of master file for revising the maintenance utilities and fill the gaps with metadata from the documents. While working with large batches of documents containing the master file, the utilization of Express Load’s CSV File Load Mode could be a better option too (Becker, Kugeler and Rosemann 2013).

12). The organizational requirements are to propose cost saving methods and reduce the costs of managing business operations. To fulfill the requirements, BizOps needs to print copies of the templates that can store the organizational specific content in the form of texts, graphics and calculations. The users will be able to access the features of the template easily and create standardized workplace documents. The printed copies of the templates could be distributed to the users and employees of the organization, which should be filled up by them quite easily. The responses are recorded in the templates, which can be used as important information and data for preparing budget and other record others aspects of business operations (Bendre et al. 2015).

13). BizOps monitored the macros to record the changes in formats while the templates provide a pre-formatted spreadsheet consisting of headers and formulas along with organizational content and features that just is needed to be fulfilled. A template could be created while preparing a spreadsheet and for controlling the entry and exit of data. The macro is used at the company when there is lack of control while formatting the data related to the change in invoice structure for the customers. The automation process efficiency will be increased with the creation of macros and it can facilitate the creation and updating of spreadsheets. The template, on the other hand, could create the structure of a document and put relevant data and information (Kepner et al. 2015).

Methods of Self-directed Training for Standard Templates and Macros

14).The major documentation standards are documentation process standards, document standards and document interchange standards. The document process quality standards must be flexible and pass through quality checking to check whether it contain relevant data, headers and footers and subheadings or not. The documents must be checked for the interchange standards and whether it could be transferred electronically and its original form could be retained or not. The quality of the document will be against the organizational standards once it can distribute the information and preserve the skills and experiences of the organization. It is essential for managing the design and development of a new product too (Hofer et al. 2015). The quality standards shall be met when the document holds relevant information and data about the cost savings structure of the organization and it can be passed on to the employees. It should make them knowledgeable about the information and promote the cost saving approaches at BizOps.

15). The organizational needs change from time to time and the documents are updated to keep the information and content consistent and authentic. One such example is when BizOps needs to change a document due to some wrong information. The document holding wrong information, when passed on to the organizational members, can create negative mindset and even create misunderstandings, which will deteriorate the business efficiency. Thus, it is essential for reviewing the documents at regular intervals and make sure to formulate any changes to prevent misconduct afterwards (Sroka et al. 2015).

16). In respect of the organizational procedures, the feedbacks are collected through regular surveys to determine the areas of strengths and weaknesses. The exit interviews and conducting regular internal audits could identify the areas that should be improved for sustaining in business.

17). Change management strategy is important for implementing the improvements and work according to the organizational standards to delivering the best and positive business outcomes. Based on this strategy, communication is important for establishing positive relationships between the IT manager, financial manager and the senior management team of BizOps to ensure smooth business functioning (Chang et al. 2015).

18). The major things to be considered are Planning, Drafting, Reviewing, Revising, Editing and Publishing. The five major phases for managing a good document production process are:

• Identification of the audience and recipient
• Identifying the purpose of documents and keeping it focused
• Organizing the writing and content
• Reading the document again prior to sending
• It is important to ensure that the document appears professional

19). Use of Times new roman or Garamond for the body text could be beneficial. The documents should be set in proper size for making it readable in computer screen. Longer paragraphs should be avoided and the first paragraph must be on a first page. The notable aspects should be presented in bullet points or numbered lists. Maintaining blank lines between paragraphs is considered useful for enhancing the readability in document templates (LI and YANG 2013).

Storage of Information and Organizational Requirements

20). The standard texts should be developed for the documents by evaluating the technical functions and ensure proper automation process. The requirements of each document must be matched with the software functions and the testing of macros could further contribute to the management of documentation standards. The explanatory notes are prepared by using this format illustrated below.

Title

Objectives of the amendments

Consultation

Notes on provisions

Reasons

21).The self-directed training allows the learner to take responsibility for the management of own training to develop skills, knowledge and expertise. Assessment of readiness to learn is one of the methods of self-directed learning where individual learning is promoted. The self-evaluation, assessment of study habits and behaviors and support network are managed to evaluate the past experiences with independent learning. The learning goals should be set and the organizational members must be engaged in the learning process (Herrmann and Herrmann-Nehdi 2015). The deep approach transforms the self-directed learning, surface approach allows for enhancing the reproduction and the strategic approach can help the staffs of BizOps to gain the most relevant skills and knowledge o become successful at present and future.

Reference:

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