Assessment 3 Report: Continuous Improvement and Record Management

This report, submitted by a student, provides an in-depth analysis of continuous improvement models and customer record systems. It begins by explaining the Plan-Do-Check-Act (PDCA) model and its advantages and disadvantages, followed by a comparison with the DMAIC model, highlighting their differences and effectiveness. The report then delves into customer record management, outlining seven key characteristics of a good Customer Record System (CRS). Furthermore, it includes a comparative table examining the systems, procedures, policies, and legislation relevant to both service-based and product-based businesses, such as Salesforce, SAP Business One, Oracle Database, and Xero, offering insights into their customer data management, financial systems, inventory systems, and compliance with regulations like the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission Act 2010. The report also touches on the disclosure of information and confidentiality in these business contexts.

Running head: ASSESSMENT 3
ASSESSMENT 3
Name of the Student:
Name of the University:
Author Note:

1ASSESSMENT 3
Table of Contents
Part 1: Continuous Improvement...............................................................................................2
Four advantages of using this model......................................................................................2
Four disadvantages of using this model.................................................................................3
Continuous Improvement Model different from PDCA model.............................................3
Part 2: Record Management.......................................................................................................4
2.1 Research and locate 7 characteristics of a good Customer Record System (CRS)..........4
2.2 In the table provided discuss what;.............................................................................5
References..................................................................................................................................7

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Part 1: Continuous Improvement
Plan, Do, Check, Act (PDCA) model is a four-step method that is used by
organizations as a continuous improvement tool to improve the products and various process
that are involved in their business (Chen and Bai 2016).
Fig 1: PDCA Cycle
(Source: Created by the author)
Four advantages of using this model
The four advantages of using the PDCA model are as follows:
1. The PDCA cycle makes sure that all the appropriate and necessary steps are taken for
the overall improvement of the business.
2. The improvement technique offered by PDCA model is very systematic.
3. The PDCA cycle proves its effectiveness in the improvement of the processes
involved in the business.
4. The model provides feedback with the help of which one can get information about
how to improve the products and services in future.

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DEFINE MEASURE
CONTROL
ANALYZE
MEASURE
DMAIC
Four disadvantages of using this model.
1. In a PDCA model, the processing happens in a step by step format leaving almost
little or no space for other variables that pops out in between.
2. The model has just four steps and this makes it a bit slow when it switches forward
and backward to other steps several times.
3. This model just provides the method to improve the existing processes without giving
any result at the end
4. The whole continuous improvement process requires a significant amount of time.
Continuous Improvement Model different from PDCA model
The other continuous improvement model chosen is the DMAIC model.
Fig 2: DMAIC Model
(Source: Created by the author)

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DMAIC model includes five different steps in it namely define, measure, analyze,
improve and control. The reason for choosing this model for any company is to ensure that
the improvement that is achieved is not only data driven but also can be measured accurately
and the whole process can be repeated again with time without skipping any step in between
which was equally crucial (Ramanan, Kumar and Ramanakumar 2014).
The DMAIC model would be more effective than the PDCA model because the
DMAIC model came into existence after the PDCA model and could be seen as an improved
version. DMAIC lays greater emphasis on the definition of the problem resulting in getting
much better solutions to the problems and makes use of the statistics for reduction in the
variation. Also, the whole approach that DMAIC follows is more Quantitative unlike PDCA
Qualitative and repetitive approach.
Part 2: Record Management
2.1 Research and locate 7 characteristics of a good Customer Record System (CRS).
The seven characteristics of a good Customer Record System are as follows:
1. The details of the customers including their contact details should be stored in the
system.
2. Every customer of the Company should have a unique identification number (ID).
3. The orders of the products made by the customer should be properly arranged with
order number and stored in the record system alongside the customer name and ID
4. The system must be able to generate the invoices for the products order.
5. The CRS system must be storing the payments made by the customers along with the
generated invoice in the customer database.
6. Must be able to produce the total list of all the products that are available

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7. It should be able to handle the various offers and discounts given to the customer and
also the return policy of the company.
2.2 In the table provided discuss what;
1. Systems
2. Procedures
3. Policies
Service Based Business
 Customer - Data Base Salesforce, SAP Business One
 Legislation All kinds of business in Australia are regulated by
the Australian Competition and Consumer
Commission Act 2010
 Disclosure of information All the businesses including service based
business are required to report to the Taxation
Office of Australia (ATO)
 Confidentiality Confidentiality is maintained in the service based
business to ensure positive trade between the
consultant and the consumer
 Financial system Freshbooks, Xero, Zoho books.
Product Based Business
Customer Records Oracle Database
Financial System Mac Accounting Software
Inventory System Xero cloud accounting software and for Apple it
Stockzure
Legislation Australian Competition and Consumer
Commission Act 2010
Delivery System The delivery system of Apple is that it delivers its
products at Apple store only
Disclosure of information Apple provides with product disclosure statement

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for its products
Confidentiality Apple has confidentiality agreement for its pre
release materials and products