Operational Plan for King Edward VII College

Read the operational plan for King Edward VII College, outlining the strategic objectives, strategies, resource requirements, KPIs, monitoring processes, and risk management plan. The plan aims to establish the college as a leader in vocational education and training, with high-quality infrastructure and a well-led, high-performing, profitable, and accountable team. The plan also includes a detailed budget and resource requirements, as well as a risk management plan to deal with operational plan contingencies.

Draft Operational Plan
The strategic objectives of King Edward VII College are as follows:
1. To be a leader in vocational education and training
2. To establish and maintain high quality infrastructure supporting clients and staff
3. To be well led, high performing, profitable and accountable
4. To develop our people and resources
These objectives will guide in developing the strategies
 The strategies
The following strategies will be employed in order to operationalize the strategic objectives:
Market leadership in vocational education and training attainment
High quality infrastructure supporting clients and staff establishment
Good leadership , high performance , profitability and accountability establishment
People and resources development
 The timeframe
The timeframe for this operational plan is two years
 Role Responsible
The operational plan will be the responsibility of the following people:
CEO: Overall responsibility
Marketing Manager: Marketing aspects of the operational plan
Human Resources Manager: Human resource aspects of the operational plan
Operations and Finance Manager: Financial aspects of the operational plan
Administration Manager: Administrative aspects of the operational plan
 Budget – this information may be purely fictional
 Resource requirements (including renting suitable commercial properties, staffing
requirements, fit outs of the new campuses, equipment requirements and marketing
collateral)
Resource requirements are as follows:

Item Unit Unit Cost No. of units Total Cost
Renting of suitable commercial
property in Brisbane
Month 40,000 24 960,000
Renting of suitable commercial
property in Sydney
Month 50,000 24 1,200,000
Furnishing the Brisbane Campus Furnishin
g cost
300,000 1 300,000
Furnishing the Sydney Campus Furnishin
g Cost
450,000 1 450,000
Added staff costs Added
salaries
lumpsum
35,000 24 840,000
Marketing costs Monthly
marketing
costs
10,000 24 240,000
Total 1830000
Resource requirements
The following resources are required to operationalize this plan:
 Website revamping costs
 Hiring of buildings for Brisbane and Sydney Campuses
 Furnishing of hired buildings in Brisbane and Sydney
 Salaries for new staff
 SMART key performance indicators to measure performance
Key performance indicators are as follows
STRATEGY KEY PERFORMANCE INDICATORS
1. Market leadership in vocational
education and training attainment
 10% increase in student enrolment yearly
2. High quality infrastructure supporting
clients and staff establishment
 Hired buildings in Sydney and Brisbane
 Furnished buildings in Sydney and Brisbane
 Operational buildings in Sydney and
Brisbane
3. Good leadership, high performance ,
profitability and accountability
 Annual staff appraisal undertaken
 Internal audits undertaken annually

establishment  Annual financial reports
4. People and resources development  Additional staff recruited
 Monitoring processes
1. A monitoring committee will be established consisting of the persons responsible or their
representatives to check the performance of the operational plan against set objectives and
strategies.
2. A monitoring schedule will be made that covers the dates and the various sites to be visited
during monitoring
3. A detailed checklist of items to be checked will be developed to be used during monitoring.
4. Monitoring will be undertaken on weekly and fortnightly basis.
5. The monitoring committee will go through the checklist as it visits the sites according to the
monitoring schedule.
6. The committee will check the progress on the ground, interview students, staff, workers and
any other stakeholders as per the monitoring checklists.
7. A report will then be written outlining progress, milestones achieved and unachieved,
weaknesses and challenges observed, and any best practices captured. Challenges and
weaknesses will be shared with the relevant people as they are encouraged to increase their
efforts for the success of the operation plan. Best practices will be shared with other areas for
adoption in order to ensure greater success of the operational plan.
8. Subsequent monitoring exercises will build on reports of the previous monitoring to ensure
that no gaps are left unattended to.
 Risk management plan to deal with operational plan contingencies
1. Identification of risks
The following are the risks that the college is likely to face:
1. Australian government changing policy in relation to industry
2. Significant drop in cash flow
3. Failure to recruit planned number of clients
4. The world recession and the domino effect
5. Over committing resources
6. Adverse changes in market conditions
7. Changes to Acts and other relevant legislation
8. Shortage of/ Difficulty in recruiting appropriate qualified and skilled staff
9. Failure to meet and manage client’s expectations
10. Failure to comply with legislation
11. Failure to control expenditure
12. Only providing business and management courses
13. Ineffective planning
14. Competitors undercutting prices
15. Non payment of course fees
16. Rate of growth in client numbers

17. Unethical/ unprofessional practices of staff (when employed)
18. Small staff team
2. Risk Ranking
The above risks are ranked as follows:
Failure to recruit planned number of clients 1
Only providing business and management courses 1
Competitors undercutting prices 1
Small staff team 1
Over committing resources 2
Adverse changes in market conditions 2
Non payment of course fees 2
Significant drop in cash flow 3
The world recession and the domino effect 3
Failure to meet and manage client’s expectations 3
Ineffective planning 3
Rate of growth in client numbers 3
Changes to Acts and other relevant legislation 4
Shortage of/ Difficulty in recruiting appropriate qualified and
skilled staff
4
Failure to control expenditure 4
Unethical/ unprofessional practices of staff (when employed) 4
Australian government changing policy in relation to industry 5
Failure to comply with legislation 5
3. Mitigation measures against identified risks.
The following measures have been identified to mitigate against the above ranked risks.
Risk Rank Mitigation measures
Failure to
recruit
planned
number of
clients
1  High quality delivery of all services
 Swift reaction to feedback
 Skilled motivated staff
 Attractive fee structures
 Effective market research
 Develop plans for each market
 Allocate finance for each market
 Monitor performance
 Take early corrective action if not meeting targets/ expectations
 Maintaining effective relationships with clients
 Maintaining effective communication channels with all
stakeholders
Only
providing
business and
1  Weighting between diversification/ specialisation
 Monitor recruitment trends per market
 Forecasting

management
courses
 Match new/ planned courses to individual market/s demand
 Cost benefit analysis
 Developing reputation for being a specialist in business and
management courses
 Developing market share for delivery of business and management
courses
Competitors
undercutting
prices
1  Maintain competitive pricing policy
 Monitor competitors prices vs quality
 Regularly review financial management models/ processes
 Continue focusing on quality
 Continue strategy of quality brand promotion
Small staff
team
1  Identify and source potential casual staff to call on in times of
sickness/ holiday
 Planning for holidays/ leave
 Maintain relationships with HR organisations
 Offer incentivised pay structure for casual staff
Over
committing
resources
2  Balance activities with amount of finance available for investment
 Financial planning
 Monitoring of cash flow
 Review invoicing/ debt recovery system
 Swift response to identified issues
 Accessing financial advice
Adverse
changes in
market
conditions
2  Effective communication channels
 Continuous market research
 Monitor new markets and overall recruitments trends for all
market segments
 Scenario planning
 Develop working knowledge of potential markets
 Networking
 Maintaining effective communication channels with all
stakeholders
Non payment
of course fees
2  Effective recruitment policies
 Review of recruitment policies/ market segments
 Efficient invoicing
 Attractive payment structures
 Payment plans
 Cash flow management
 Timing of collecting fees
Significant
drop in cash
flow
3  Identify operating costs as per future plans and past performance
 Identify available finance available
 Efficient invoicing and debt recovery
 Accurate income projections

 Close monitoring of expenditure
 Arrange overdraft facilities
 Scenario planning
The world
recession and
the domino
effect
3  Target markets with strong growth forecasted
 Monitor the economic trends
 Regularly review performance in line with anticipated market
conditions
 Develop culture of accepting continual change
 React quickly to change
 Scenario planning
 Maintaining effective communication channels with all
stakeholders
Failure to
meet and
manage
client’s
expectations
3  Accurate and timely communication with potential and current
clients
 Management of recruitment activities
 Continuous improvement system
 Regularly review learning and teaching approaches, resources,
structure and systems
 Client management policies in academic and support services
 Industry liaison
 Reviewing effectiveness of communication channels with clients
 Employing a continuous improvement approach to all operations
 Continuous market research and action
 Systematic feedback on management performance and personal
reflection
Ineffective
planning
3  Experienced management team
 Continuous market research
 Planning system
 Organisation structure and systems
 Regular review of structure, systems and procedures
 External liaison
 Maintaining effective communication channels with all
stakeholders
Rate of
growth in
client
numbers
3  Systematic review of systems and practice
 Buying in knowledge and skills
 Sourcing reliable market information
 Strategic and operational planning
 Review/ amend management structure
 Develop policies and procedures
 Regular reviews of capacity and operation of all functional and
curriculum areas
 Good communication channels with stakeholders
 Recruitment policy

 Finance available for expansion
Changes to
Acts and other
relevant
legislation
4  Emphasis on professional, ethical practices with all stakeholders
 Staff training
 Leading by example
 Policy implementation and monitoring
 Effective communication channels with all stakeholders
 Ability to manage change
 Managing available finance for re-investment
Shortage of/
Difficulty in
recruiting
appropriate
qualified and
skilled staff
4  Development of HR policies and procedures
 Offer attractive salary package
 Provide opportunities for career progression
 Develop stimulating and enjoyable working environment
 Commitment to training and development
 Commitment to professional development
Failure to
control
expenditure
4  Effective financial planning and review
 Co-ordination of activities
 Systematic review of practice
 Financial management and control systems
 Facilities management
 Implementation of efficient processes
 Efficient procurement of products and services
 Cost comparisons prior to purchasing
Unethical/
unprofessional
practices of
staff (when
employed)
4  Staff selection processes
 Staff monitoring systems
 Previous experience of managing staff
 Swift reaction to feedback
 Termination of agreements
 Maintain currency of market recruitment trends
 Maintain relationships with HR organisations
Australian
government
changing
policy in
relation to
industry
5  Accepting policy change will be a constant factor to manage
 An understanding of this should be instilled in all staff
 Develop ability to foresee and react quickly to change
 Maintain effective communication channels with stakeholders
 Diversification of source markets
 Develop range of training and assessment services
Failure to
comply with
legislation
5  Consistently implement compliant policies and procedures
 Continuous improvement system
 Commitment to training and development
 Systematic review of policies and procedures
 Regular reviews of all operations