BSBSUS301 BSBADM311 Student Book V1.0715 PDF

STUDENT
BOOK
BUSINESS
COLLEGE
CERTIFICATE III
BUSINESS
Implement and monitor

environmentally sustainable
work practices &
Maintain business
resources
BSBSUS301 &
BSBADM311
COURSE CODE
Student Workbook
BSBSUS301 Implement and monitor
environmentally sustainable work practices
1st Edition 2015
Part of a suite of support materials for the
BSB Business Services Training Package
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Published by: Innovation and Business Industry First published: May 2015
Skills Council Ltd
1st edition version: 1
Level 11
Release date: May 2015
176 Wellington Pde
East Melbourne VIC 3002
Phone: +61 3 9815 7000
Fax: +61 3 9815 7001
Email: [email protected]
www.ibsa.org.au
ISBN: 978-1-925328-18-9
Stock code: BSBSUS3011D
Table of Contents
Introduction .........................................................................................................................1
Features of the training program .................................................................................1
Structure of the training program ................................................................................1
Recommended reading ................................................................................................1
Section 1 Environmental Regulations ............................................................................3
What skills will you need? ............................................................................................3
Why do regulations matter? .........................................................................................4
Environmental laws and regulations ...........................................................................4
Identify legislation that is relevant to your workplace ............................................ 10
Procedures to assess workplace compliance .......................................................... 15
Analysing procedures to assess compliance ........................................................... 16
Section summary ....................................................................................................... 21
Further reading .......................................................................................................... 21
Section checklist ........................................................................................................ 21
Section 2 Investigate Current Practices ...................................................................... 22
What skills will you need? ......................................................................................... 22
Environmentally sustainable work practices............................................................ 23
Environmental and resource efficiency systems ..................................................... 24
Examining existing work practices ............................................................................ 29
Measuring current resource usage........................................................................... 31
Analyse and document purchasing strategies ......................................................... 36
Improvement opportunities ....................................................................................... 43
Communicating with a team ..................................................................................... 45
Section summary ....................................................................................................... 51
Further reading .......................................................................................................... 51
Section 3 Set Efficiency Targets .................................................................................. 52
Consult stakeholders ................................................................................................. 52
Best practice .............................................................................................................. 55
Evaluate improvement opportunities ....................................................................... 60
Setting efficiency targets ........................................................................................... 62
Section summary ....................................................................................................... 65
Further reading .......................................................................................................... 65
BSBSUS301 Implement and monitor environmentally sustainable work practices

Section 4 Implement Strategies for Improvement...................................................... 67

Developing an implementation plan......................................................................... 68
Continuous improvement .......................................................................................... 74
Improving sustainability as a team ........................................................................... 75
Section summary ....................................................................................................... 75
Further reading .......................................................................................................... 76
Section 5 Monitor and Evaluate Performance ............................................................ 77
Monitor performance ................................................................................................. 78
Evaluate data ............................................................................................................. 80
Recording and presenting data ................................................................................ 82
Review targets and strategies................................................................................... 84
Section summary ....................................................................................................... 86
Further reading .......................................................................................................... 86
Glossary ............................................................................................................................ 88
Answers to selected learning activities ........................................................................... 90
Appendices ....................................................................................................................... 92
Appendix 1: Example procurement policy and procedures..................................... 92
Appendix 2: Sustainability impact assessment ....................................................... 96
Appendix 3: Efficiency targets template ................................................................... 97

Student Workbook
Introduction
Introduction
Features of the training program
The key features of this program are:
Student Workbook self-paced learning activities to help you to understand key
concepts and terms. The Student Workbook is broken down into several sections.
Facilitator-led sessions challenging and interesting learning activities that can be
completed in the classroom or by distance learning that will help you consolidate
and apply what you have learned in the Student Workbook.
Assessment Tasks summative assessments where you can apply your new skills
and knowledge to solve authentic workplace tasks and problems.

Innovation & Business Skills Australia has licensed the use of over 200 video vignettes
from the Channel 9 television program, Your Business Success. The videos have been
carefully selected and embedded into relevant learning and assessment resources in
order to assist education providers and students in the learning process.
Each video is accompanied by a learning activity. Videos can be found on IBSAs YouTube
channel at <http://www.youtube.com/ibsachannel>.
Structure of the training program

This training program introduces you to concepts of sustainability in the business
workplace. Specifically, you will develop the skills and knowledge in the following topic
areas.
1. Environmental regulations.
2. Evaluating resource usage.
3. Implementing strategies for improvement.
4. Monitoring and evaluating performance.
Your facilitator may choose to combine or split sessions. For example, in some cases, this
training program may be delivered in two or three sessions, or in others, as many as eight
sessions.
Recommended reading
Some recommended reading for this unit includes:
Clean Energy Regulator, viewed April 2015,
<http://www.cleanenergyregulator.gov.au>.
Ecospecifier Global, viewed April 2015, <http://www.ecospecifier.com.au>.


Page 1 of 97
Introduction
Student Workbook
Australian Government Department of the Environment, viewed April 2015,
<http://www.environment.gov.au/index.html>.
Australian Water Association, viewed April 2015, <http://www.awa.asn.au>.
Australian Sustainable Business Group, viewed April 2015,
<http://www.asbg.net.au>.
Department of Environment and Resource Management, Eco-efficiency for small
business, EcoBiz Queensland, viewed April 2015,

<http://www.nra.net.au/images/Eco-efficiencyFactSheet-Office.pdf>.
Please note that any URLs contained in the recommended reading, learning content and
learning activities of this publication were checked for currency during the production
process. Note, however, that IBSA cannot vouch for the ongoing currency of URLs.
Every endeavour has been made to provide a full reference for all web links. Where URLs
are not current, we recommend using the reference information provided to search for
the source in your chosen search engine.

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Student Workbook
Section 1 Environmental Regulations

There is a complex system of legislation, regulation and policy that exists to ensure the
protection of and care for the environment. It is essential that businesses and
organisations understand their responsibilities in ensuring environmentally friendly and
sustainable practices direct their operations. This section looks at environmental
legislation and regulations that apply to businesses.
Scenario: Planting People
Planting People is a plant nursery that operates on the
outskirts of a major Australian city in south eastern
Australia. Planting People grow plants to supply to small
inner city nurseries and other customers who make bulk
plant orders. Planting People sells out of a small shed on
the premises. Most plants are germinated in a large
greenhouse and then transferred to grow in pots outdoors.
A new employee, Annette, has recently started working at
the nursery and she is noticing that there is nobody at the
nursery who is responsible for ensuring that Planting
People is complying with legislation.
Annette is particularly concerned about some of the pesticides that are used at
Planting People. The pesticides are kept in large plastic containers that arent labelled
and she often wonders if they are dangerous to the environment, or even if they could
be dangerous for her if one of the containers spills on her.
Annette has also discovered that there is a species of endangered orchid growing on
the Planting People property just next to the greenhouse driveway. Annette is pretty
sure that Planting People has a responsibility to protect these orchids and their habitat,
but when she asks about the orchids, nobody at Planting Plus knows what she is
talking about.
What skills will you need?

In order to effectively assess compliance you must be able to:
identify environmental regulations that apply to your workplace
analyse procedures for assessing workplace compliance with environmental
regulations.


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Student Workbook
Why do regulations matter?

Why is legislation important?
In each persons work role, there are requirements that exist because they help an
organisation comply with legislation. For example, an IT policy might specify the kind of
emails that are offensive and not allowed to be sent in the workplace. This policy will
assist employees to comply with anti-harassment legislation.
It is always easier to understand and practice these requirements if you have a basic
understanding of where they come from. Unfortunately many people are frightened by
legislation and think that they could never understand it. While some laws are more
complex than others, it is important to have a basic understanding of the requirements of
the laws that affect your everyday work.
What is legislation?
Legislation is a collection of laws. Australian
legislation, for example, refers to the group of

laws that apply in Australia.
Legislation is written out in Acts and
Regulations.
Legislation
Legislation is a collection of
laws. Australian legislation, for
example, refers to the group of
laws that apply in Australia.
Compliance is the word that describes doing
what the legislation says you must do.

Legislation consists of the Act and the Regulations that come from it. They must be
followed and penalties for non-compliance are specified in the legislation.

Laws exist at federal, state and local levels.
Environmental laws and regulations

Environmental sustainability issues exist with many workplace activities and even your
activities at home. Laws and regulations are designed to minimise our environmental
impact when we undertake these activities.
Legislation that applies to your

organisation
Your organisation needs to find out which areas of
legislation that they must comply with so that the
organisation can:
meet the requirements of the organisations
environmental management system

avoid penalties for breaking a law
be considered by consumers to be an
environmentally responsible organisation.

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Environmental management
system (EMS)
An environmental management
system is the broad approach
that an organisation uses to
manage its impact on the
environment. The system is
decided on by top level
management and then set out
in policies, procedures and
planning documents.
EMSs will be discussed in more
detail throughout this Student
Workbook.

Student Workbook
Determining the obligations of your workplace may be quite difficult, so you may be
required to seek the assistance of a lawyer or consultant. The various levels of laws and
regulations are outlined below.
Federal
The Department of the Environment serves to implement

national policy, programs and legislation to protect Australias
environment and heritage, in particular:
Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation
Act 1999.
This is the Australian Governments central piece of
environmental legislation. This legislation and other relevant
legislations can be viewed at:
Department of the Environment, viewed April 2015,
<http://www.environment.gov.au>.
State/Territory
State and territory government laws for the environment vary in

name and function, and the majority of environment-based law
in Australia is state/territory based.
Local
Local councils have regulations and guidelines related to the

environment for their specific area of jurisdiction.
In addition to legislation, there may also be regulations, standards and policies related to
your industry or set by your specific organisation. These are developed to ensure best
practice is observed, but compliance is generally voluntary.
Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation (EPBC) Act

The EPBC Act has been developed to protect areas of national environmental
significance. There are eight areas of significance which are:
world heritage sites
national heritage places
wetlands of international importance (often called Ramsar wetlands after the
international treaty under which such wetlands are listed)

nationally threatened species and ecological communities
migratory species
Commonwealth marine areas
the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park
nuclear actions.


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Student Workbook
The EPBC Act aims to protect these areas as well as to:

protect Australias biodiversity
protect international biodiversity by keeping flora and fauna within their natural
borders (e.g. not allowing Australian animals and plants to escape and become
pests overseas)
require environmental assessments and approval processes when dealing with the
eight areas of national significance

encourage development that is environmentally sustainable.
You need to particularly pay attention to the requirements of the EPBC Act if you:
own land
develop land
farm
work for a council, state, territory or federal agency
work in an industry with a significant impact on the environment.
Under Section 516A of the EPBC Act, all Commonwealth organisations must report on
their environmental performance and how they support the principles of ecological
sustainability.
For more information you can visit EPBC Act Frequently asked questions page on the
Department of the Environment website at:
<http://www.environment.gov.au/epbc/publications/epbc-act-fact-sheet.html>.
State legislation
State legislation is quite varied and depends on the state. Each state has its own
environmental protection laws.
Each state has their own website for legislation. Some examples include:
Victorian Legislation and Parliamentary Documents, viewed April 2015,
<http://www.legislation.vic.gov.au>.
Tasmanian Legislation, viewed April 2015, <http://www.legislation.tas.gov.au>.
Learning activity: Your states environmental protection legislation

Note down the web address for your states environmental legislation website.
Locate and note at least one Act from your state legislation that relates to
environmental protection or sustainability.

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Student Workbook
To start to understand the legislation and regulation in your state, you should visit the
website of:
your states government department that is concerned with the environment or
sustainability, such as:

Queenslands Department of Environment and Heritage Protection
Victorias Department of the Environment, Land, Water and Planning
your states Environment Protection Authority.
These websites provide lots of advice on how you and your business can protect the
environment and comply with regulations.
Local municipal by-laws and regulations

Local councils will have a large variety of by-laws and regulations in relation to
environmental issues. They are the main regulatory bodies in terms of local actions and
control responses to pest species and tree lopping, among other concerns.
Learning activity: By-laws
Look up your local council website and note down three by-laws that relate to the
environment including penalties for not obeying them. These might be regulations in
relation to cutting down trees, disposing of rubbish, burning off leaves or a variety of
other things. Do any of these by-laws have the potential to affect you and/or your
workplace?


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Student Workbook
Case study: Wood heaters

When it gets cold, how do you heat your home or business?
Homes or businesses that use wood heaters or open fires for heat may be subject to
local regulations. This is because incorrect use of a wood heater, or a poorly designed
wood heater, can contribute to air pollution.
In Launceston, Tasmania, an estimated 73% of air pollution in winter is caused by the
use of wood heaters or open fires.
In Western Australia, the Environmental Protection (Domestic Solid Fuel Burning
Appliances and Firewood Supply) Regulations 1998 require all wood heaters for sale in
WA to comply with emissions and operating efficiency standards. It is illegal to sell noncompliant wood heaters in WA. If you do sell a non-compliant wood heater, you face a
$5,000 fine.
In Canberra, ACT, the Government has banned wood heaters in some suburbs.
Because of the Australian climate, water use and restrictions is one regulation that can
change frequently. You need to make sure that you are aware of water regulations and
restrictions in your local area, especially during summer.
Learning activity: Water restrictions
For your home or workplace, find out who your water is supplied by and where your
water comes from. For example, if you live in Wollongong, your water is managed by
Sydney Water and is supplied from Lake Avon.
Go to the website of your local water supplier and find out if there are any current water
restrictions in your area. If so, what are the restrictions?

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Student Workbook
Learning activity: State legislation

In the ACT, the government department responsible for the environment is the
Environment and Sustainable Development Directorate.
The most important Commonwealth and territory environment and planning laws that
apply in the ACT are:
Australian Capital Territory (Planning and Land Management) Act 1988 (Cwlth)
Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 (Cwlth)
Planning and Development Act 2007 (ACT)
Nature Conservation Act 1980 (ACT)
Commissioner for Sustainability and the Environment Act 1993 (ACT)
Environment Protection Act 1997 (ACT)
Heritage Act 2004 (ACT)
Tree Protection Act 2005 (ACT)
Pest Plants and Animals Act 2005 (ACT)
Water Resources Act 2007 (ACT).
Research another state or territory and:

identify the government department responsible for the environment
identify the most important environment and planning laws for that state


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Student Workbook
Identify legislation that is relevant to

your workplace
There are many activities that may be regulated, and there are several different agencies
in charge of environmental regulation. This can make it difficult to understand what you
need to consider in your specific workplace. However, the complexity of environmental
regulation is no excuse for causing environmental degradation or destruction. In order to
be a responsible workplace, a business needs to show environmental duty of care, as well
as examining its responsibilities in other areas, such as in its use or creation of:
Water
Energy
Land
Waste
Noise
Duty of care
All employees and employers have a general duty of care. Duty of care is a requirement to
avoid negligence. This means that all people need to take reasonable care to protect the
physical, economic and emotional health of themselves and others. You have a duty of
care to those around you. The things you do or do not do must not harm the people
involved in the decisions you make and the actions you take.
The concept of a duty to care for the environment has been specifically used in some
state environmental legislation such as Queensland. It is covered in the broader policy
framework of ecologically sustainable development that exists in Australia. Ecologically
sustainable development states that development and economic activity should only
occur when it does not damage the wellbeing of current or future generations.
Your workplace must ensure that its activities do not damage the wellbeing of current of
future generations through environmental negligence.
Specific areas that require consideration

If your organisation uses or produces any of the following, you should check whether you
need to comply with industry standards, council regulation, or state and federal
legislation:
Water
Energy
Land
Waste
Noise
To determine whether you may need to comply with specific environmental legislation or
regulations, you should ask yourself the following questions and then take appropriate
steps to determine compliance issues.

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Student Workbook
Imports
Are any products/resources imported from overseas?
If yes, Check quarantine regulations with the Australian Quarantine
Inspection Service (AQIS).
Ensure that products/resources meet Australian Products Standards.
Check if products/resources are subject to specific legislation (e.g. the
sale of wood heaters is subject to legislation in some states or council
areas).
Some relevant legislation:
Quarantine Act 1908 (Cwlth)
Imported Food Control Act 1992 (Cwlth)
Hazardous Waste (Regulation of Exports and Imports) Act 1989 (Cwlth)
Water
Does your organisation use water?
If yes, Check local water restrictions regularly.
Check water management Acts and state governments water
information to determine if you need a licence and will be required to
report water use.
If you are also returning water to the environment (such as for
irrigation or from cooling ponds to a waterway), check requirements
for water discharge licences from your states Environment Protection
Authority (EPA).
Water management Acts, e.g.:
Water Act 2007 (Cwlth)

Water Management Act 2000 (NSW)
Water Supply (Safety and Reliability) Act 2008 (Qld)
Water Act 1989 (Vic)
Water polluting Acts, e.g.:
Pollution of Waters by Oils and Noxious Substances Act 1987 (WA).


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Student Workbook
Energy
Does your organisation use or provide energy?
If yes, Check if your organisation meets the National Greenhouse and
Energy Reporting (NGER) threshold; if so, register and report annually.
If your organisation installs small-scale alternative energy systems
(solar, hydro, wind), check your requirements under the Renewable
Energy Act to supply information to consumers about your eligibility to
perform installations.
If you are operating as a small-scale renewable energy agent, ensure
that you are prepared for audit by the Clean Energy Regulator.
National Greenhouse and Energy Reporting Act 2007 (Cwlth)
Renewable energy Acts, e.g.:
Renewable Energy (Electricity) Act 2000 (Cwlth)

Renewable Energy (Electricity) (Small-scale Technology Shortfall Charge)
Act 2010 (Cwlth)
Land
Does your organisation own land?
If yes, Seek information about your requirements under the Environment
Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 (Cwlth) before
modifying your land.
Identify and protect any species listed as rare or threatened in the
EPBC Act.
Determine your premises status according to your states EPA
(e.g. are your business premises considered to be scheduled
premises according to the EPA Victoria?).
Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 (EPBC Act)
(Cwlth)
Your states environment protection Act, e.g.:
Environment Protection Act 1970 (Vic)

Environment Protection Act 1993 (SA).

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Student Workbook
Does your organisation develop land?

If yes, Seek information about your requirements under the EPBC Act.
Identify and protect any species listed as rare or threatened in the
EPBC Act.
Check your licensing and approvals requirements with your states
EPA.
Check your licensing and approvals requirements with your states
department of planning/development.
Check your licensing and approvals requirements with your local
council.
Note: In most cases, it is the responsibility of a developer to seek
information and approvals from state and federal regulators;
developers can not rely on local council to provide all information
regarding requirements.
Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 (Cwlth)
Your states planning/development Acts, e.g.:
Sustainable Planning Act 2009 (Qld)

Planning and Development Act 2007 (ACT)
Waste
Does your organisation throw anything away?
If yes, Check if it is considered to be a hazardous waste (start with the
definition of hazardous waste on the website of the Department of
Sustainability, Environment, Water, Population and Communities).
Ensure that wastes are disposed of according to local council, EPA,
and state legislation requirements (e.g. removed by a licensed agent
and/or disposed of at a registered landfill).
Check your councils information on appropriate disposal of general
waste, recycling, hard waste, e-waste, and other wastes (such as
batteries and light bulbs).
Waste management legislation in your state, e.g.:
Waste Avoidance and Resources Recovery Act 2001 (NSW)

Waste Management and Pollution Control Act 1998 (NT)


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Student Workbook
Hazardous materials
Does your organisation store or use chemicals or hazardous materials?
If yes, Determine whether your use or storage of chemicals or hazardous
materials requires your organisation to report to the National
Pollutant Inventory (NPI).
Document and provide the required information about
hazardous/dangerous materials according to health and safety
legislation (e.g. provide material safety data sheets (MSDS) for each
material).
Eliminate and control risks of storage and use of hazardous/
dangerous materials following health and safety legislation, codes of
practice and EPA guidelines.
Ensure that your organisation disposes of hazardous wastes
appropriately, following state requirements and legislation and EPA
guidelines.
National Environment Protection Measures (Implementation) Act 1998 (Cwlth)
Work Health and Safety Act 2011
Waste management legislation in your state, e.g.:
Waste Avoidance and Resources Recovery Act 2001 (NSW)

Waste Management and Pollution Control Act 1998 (NT)
Noise pollution
Do your organisations activities create noise?
If yes, Determine if any noise generated by your organisation poses a threat
to health and safety (e.g. leads to hearing impairment/loss) and take
appropriate steps according to health and safety legislation and
regulations.
Ensure that noise occurs within the authorised hours according to
EPA and/or local council regulations.
Work Health and Safety Act 2011 (Cwlth)
Relevant sections of your states environmental protection legislation, e.g.:
Sections 46 and 48 of the Environment Protection Act 1970 (Vic)

Part 5.5 of the Protection of the Environment Operations Act 1997 (NSW).
You may need to seek the assistance of a lawyer or consultant if you are uncertain about
your obligations.

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Student Workbook
Why does noise matter?

Legislation and regulations exist to minimise the impact of noise on the environment.
Most regulations focus on the impact that commercial noise has on other humans. For
example, noises that can be heard from inside a home or business are prohibited
during certain times (mostly at night).
However, the impact of noise on the natural environment is also important. Frequent
and loud noise may disrupt native animals and birds, which makes it a form of habitat
disruption or destruction.
Procedures to assess workplace compliance

Once areas of required compliance have been identified, your workplace needs to ensure
that procedures for assessing compliance are in place.
A range of methods could be used to assess compliance. These could include:
Regularly reviewing policies and procedures that relate to
environmental compliance
Checking that policies and procedures are followed by employees
Regularly reviewing relevant legislative changes
Ensuring that all employees have received adequate and

up-to-date training to allow them to perform to a required
standard
Completing regular in-house environmental audits
Contracting an external company to complete an environmental

audit
Regularly reviewing information made available by the

Environment Protection Authority (EPA)


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Student Workbook
What is an EPA?
An Environment Protection Authority is a state office in charge of protecting the
environment. Except for Queensland, each state has an EPA that upholds the states
Act for environmental protection (usually called an Environment Protection Act).
An EPA is in charge of granting licences for activities that can affect the environment;
in charge of informing citizens and businesses about what they can and cannot do;
and fining citizens or businesses that dont follow environmental regulations.
Note that Queensland administers the Environment Protection Act 1994 (Qld) through
the Department of Environment and Heritage Protection rather than through a
separate EPA.
Analysing procedures to assess compliance

So to recap, this section has talked about two steps to achieving adequate workplace
compliance:
1.
Identifying any legislation that needs to be complied with
2.
Applying methods (procedures) to assess workplace compliance.
While it is very important to have appropriate procedures to assess workplace

compliance, we have only briefly looked at these procedures because it is beyond the
scope of this Workbook to discuss their development. However, you need to have a basic
understanding of these methods to cover the next step in achieving workplace
compliance.
Now we will add a third step. The third step is:
3.
Checking that the methods (procedures) to assess workplace compliance are

adequate.
To comply with legislation, you need to check the methods that are used to assess
compliance. You need to ensure that the methods are adequate, and that there are
enough of them in place to ensure compliance.
You may want to develop a tool such as the following checklist to help you check your
review procedures.
Compliance review procedures checklist
Yes/No
Do compliance review procedures ensure that legislation is up-to-date?

Comment:

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Student Workbook
Yes/No
Do compliance review procedures specify methods for checking any

alterations to current legislation, or checking if any new legislation is relevant
to workplace compliance?
Comment:
Do compliance review procedures specify who is responsible for undertaking

the review?
Comment:
Are the people who are undertaking compliance review procedures suitable
for the job?
Comment:
Do compliance review procedures include a review of health and safety and

environmental incidents and accidents?
Comment:
Do compliance review procedures ensure that employees adequately

understand and follow workplace procedures?
Comment:
Do compliance review procedures occur with sufficient frequency?

Comment:
Do compliance review procedures ensure that all staff are adequately

inducted and trained?
Comment:
Do compliance review procedures ensure that induction and training occurs

with sufficient frequency?
Comment:


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Student Workbook
Yes/No
Do compliance review procedures involve an independent consultant or

auditing body?
Comment:
Learning activity: Analyse compliance review procedures

ChemiCompany is a Victorian company that purchases several hazardous materials for
its production needs. Imagine you are a newly appointed environmental officer at the
ChemiCompany warehouse facility. You decide to examine ChemiCompanys
procedures for reviewing compliance in the warehouse. You find the following
procedures:
ChemiCompany
Procedures for assessing compliance Warehouse facility
ChemiCompany takes environmental compliance and health and safety very
seriously. The following procedures must be followed to ensure workplace
compliance.
1. Review the following policies and procedures once every five years:
a. Training, Induction and Supervision Procedures
b. Security and Access to High Risk Areas Procedures
c. Health and Safety Procedures
d. Monitoring and Reporting for Compliance Procedures
e. Incident and Accident Reporting Procedures
f. Transport of Hazardous Materials Procedures
g. Emergency Procedures.
2. Identify employee compliance once every five years:
a. Review all health and safety and environmental incident reports
b. Interview health and safety representatives (HSRs).
3. Review Hazardous Substances Register once every five years.
4. Review and update Material Data Safety Sheets and update once every five
years.

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Do you have any concerns with ChemiCompanys procedures for assessing

compliance? Why? Why not?
Do you think that reviewing policies and procedures once every five years is frequent
enough? Why? Why not?
Victorias WorkSafe information about employers legal duties regarding hazardous

substances specify that employers must:
Keep a register of all hazardous substances in the workplace
Obtain a current Material Safety Data Sheet (MSDS) for each hazardous
substance
Keep the MSDS accessible to employees
Do you think ChemiCompanys procedures for reviewing compliance are sufficient to

ensure that the above requirements are being complied with? Why? Why not?
Are you confident that these procedures will ensure that ChemiCo is complying with
current legislation? Why? Why not?


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Learning activity: Planting People and compliance

Review the Planting People scenario at the beginning of this section. Now that you have
a better understanding of legislation and regulations, make a list of what needs to
happen at Planting People to ensure that they are complying with legislation.

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Section summary
You should now recognise that it is important to ensure your organisation understands its
responsibilities in complying with environmental legislation and has procedures in place
to ensure that regulations are complied with.
Further reading
Australian Government Department of the Environment, viewed April 2015,
<http://www.environment.gov.au>.
Australian Government, About the EPBC Act, Department of the Environment,
viewed April 2015, <http://www.environment.gov.au/epbc/about>.

The website of the Environmental Protection Authority in your state:
Australian Capital Territory:

<http://www.environment.act.gov.au/environment/environment_protection_
authority>.
New South Wales: <http://www.epa.nsw.gov.au>.
Northern Territory: <http://www.ntepa.nt.gov.au>.
Queensland (Department of Environment and Heritage Protection):
<http://www.ehp.qld.gov.au>.
South Australia: <http://www.epa.sa.gov.au>.
Tasmania: <http://epa.tas.gov.au>.
Victoria: <http://www.epa.vic.gov.au>.
Western Australia: <http://www.epa.wa.gov.au>.
Section checklist
Before you proceed to the next section, make sure that you are able to:
identify environmental regulations that apply to your workplace
analyse procedures for assessing workplace compliance with environmental
regulations.


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Section 2 Investigate Current Practices
Student Workbook

This section focuses on collecting information about environmental sustainability to
investigate your organisations current practices. You need to understand and be able to
collect information about: your organisations environmental management system (EMS),
organisational objectives and environmental policy; resource efficiency policies and
procedures; industry best-practice in terms of sustainability; current resource usage in the
workplace and organisational purchasing strategies.
This section then looks at who you need to share this information with, and how to
communicate that information.
Scenario: Whats happening at Planting People?
After Annette raised concerns about compliance at Planting
People, the owners of the nursery have realised that they
could make a lot of improvements that would benefit the
environment as well as the success of the business.
However, for the past 20 years they have not kept any
records about their resource use and they have no idea
where to start. The first step for Planting People is to find
out more about their current practices.
Planting People has put Annette in charge of investigating
current practices and determining what environmental
improvements need to be made.

In order to effectively investigate current work practices you must be able to:
collect information on environmental resource efficiency systems and procedures
collect, analyse and organise information from a range of sources
seek feedback for information and suggestions on environmental improvements
measure current resource usage
provide information, advice and resources to employees as required to improve
current practices
analyse and document purchasing strategies
identify areas for improvement in current work practices.

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Environmentally sustainable work practices

Sustainability issues
There can be many issues with how a business interacts with the environment. Some of
them are straightforward and may have a direct impact on the environment (such as
rubbish being blown into a local creek or a leaking sewer pipe). Other issues may have a
longer term or indirect impact (such as leaving a computer on all the time). Some typical
environmental issues that business face are:
Waste of
resources
Energy usage
Disposal of
waste
Causing
pollution
An environmentally sustainable work practice minimises the above-mentioned

environmental issues. You can improve a workplace practice by:
Identifying its key sustainability issues (such as disposal of waste,
inefficiency, use of harmful resources/materials)
Developing procedures to reduce these issues
Implementing these identified procedures
Monitoring and reporting on the procedures to ensure they

continue and have the most effective outcome
Reviewing the procedures to ensure continuous improvement
Cost reductions and opportunities

Introducing environmentally sustainable work practices can reduce risk and increase
business opportunities. It can reduce risk by:
reducing capital costs and ongoing expenses for example, by using less energy
and being more efficient with materials

decreasing exposure to possible litigation and costs through noncompliance with
the law, pollution incidents or hazards.


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Business opportunities may be increased through:

retention of top talent and increase in staff productivity through improved work
conditions
identification of niche market opportunities for green products, and services and
early take-up of emerging technologies

higher customer retention.
Learning activity: Office environment

Think about a workplace you are familiar with. List five sustainability issues that you
feel affected that environment. (For example, 1. could be the intense general lighting
used).
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
Environmental and resource efficiency systems

The first step to understanding practices in your workplace is to find out what
environmental outcomes need to be achieved. In Section 1, you learned that work
practices need to comply with legislation. You also learned how to review legislation to
understand how it is relevant to your workplace, and how to check that compliance is
assessed appropriately. The next stage in understanding what outcomes need to be
achieved is to review your organisations environmental management system (EMS) and
any environmental/resource objectives that exist in the organisation.
Environmental management systems

Systems are used in an organisation to achieve types of objectives across all areas and
levels of an organisation. For example, a resource efficiency system will set standards
across all departments and levels in an organisation to make sure that resources are not
overused or wasted and that all departments work together to most efficiently deliver
products to customers.
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An environmental management system (EMS) is a system that manages an organisations

impact on the environment. An EMS might be as informal as a set of sustainability targets
made by the business owner. The owner may then ensure that policies and procedures
are written so that all employees follow the right steps to support the achievement of
those targets.
Standards
Standards set out requirements and provide guidance for persons working in specific
areas. Standards are created to ensure that workplace activities achieve consistent
results across many organisations and industries.
In Australia, the main organisation that develops
standards is called Standards Australia. Standards
Australia is the first place to look for information on
national and international standards that apply in
Australia.
Currently the standard that applies to environmental
management systems is the AS/NZS ISO 14001:2004
Environmental Management Systems Requirements
with guidance for use.
ISO standards
The International Organisation
for Standardisation (known as
ISO) develops and promotes
internationally consistent
standards. Many Australian
Standards are based on ISO
standards.
The Environmental Management Systems Standard

The AS/NZS ISO 14001:2004 Standard sets out rules about how to run an EMS that
enables an organisation to develop and implement policy and objectives that improve
environmental performance. This Standard sets out requirements about EMS processes
including: complying with legislation; setting objectives; preparing for emergencies;
training employees; monitoring targets; and reviewing the system. The system must also
be detailed in the following documents:
environmental policies, procedures, objectives and targets
a description of the system and its scope
the records that are necessary to ensure (in relation to the environment) effective:
planning
operation
control.
It is important to note that the Standard is based on the methodology known as Plan-DoCheck-Act (PDCA).
Plan-Do-Check-Act
The PDCA cycle (also known as the Deming Cycle) provides a simple methodology for
developing and maintaining an environmental management system, but it also has wider
applications. You should refer to this methodology throughout the process of
implementing sustainable work practices as well as when developing or reviewing
continuous improvement systems (discussed further on page 74).


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Take action to
improve what you
have
implemented
Establish the
objectives and
processes
necessary to
deliver results
Act
Plan
Check
Do
Measure and
compare results
agaiunst
expected
outcomes
Implement your
plans
This Cycle has specific objectives for each stage of the cycle.
Plan
Establish the objectives and processes necessary to deliver results in accordance with
the organisations environmental policy.
Identify the problem what?
create a problem definition statement

set SMART (Specific-Measurable-Agreed-
Realistic-Timeframe) goals (see page 63 for

more information)
identify stakeholders and develop a
communication plan for them.

Analyse the problem why?
map processes
brainstorm causes of the problem
collect and analyse data to validate root
cause.
Tools used
observation of the process

process mapping
flowcharts
cause and effect diagrams (Ishikawa)
5 Whys
Pareto analysis.

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Do
Implement the process.
Develop solutions
determine criteria for experimental success

design an action plan
gain stakeholder approval.
Implement solutions
pilot the action plan.
Tools used
design of action plan.
Check
Monitor and measure processes against environmental policy, objectives, targets, legal
and other requirements and report the results.
Evaluate the results
record and analyse data
Implement solutions
if successful; act
if unsuccessful; return to plan.
Tools used
observation
graphical analysis bar chart, histogram,
scatter, dot plot

control chart
key performance indicators (KPIs).
Act
Take actions to continually improve performance of the EMS.
Implement the full scale
solution
identify systemic changes required

identify training needs
develop and deliver training
plan and implement ongoing monitoring
look for further improvement opportunities.
Tools used
process mapping
process standardisation
training needs analysis
formal training
visual management.


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What should you look for?

Information about your organisations resource efficiency and environmental
management systems can be found in a number of workplace documents. This
information will help you to find out which work practices you need to investigate and
what the outcomes of those work practices need to be.
For information about your organisations overall approach to sustainability, you can look
at your organisations:
environmental policy
description of environmental and/or resource management systems
vision statement
mission statement.
For information about your organisations environmental objectives and targets, you can
look at your organisations:
operational plans
departmental strategies
key performance indicators (KPIs) in departmental and individual work plans.
For information about compliance with legislation, you can look at your organisations:
operational plans
procedures for work tasks that have an environmental aspect
risk management plan.
For information about how employees are expected minimise their impact on the
environment when completing tasks, you can look at your organisations:
procedures for work tasks that have an environmental aspect
key performance indicators in departmental and individual work plans.
If you cant find the information youre looking for, you should ask for help. Heads of
departments, general managers, finance managers, and operations managers should all
be able to help you find the information you need.

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Scenario: EMS at Planting People

Annette knows that Planting People doesnt currently have
an environmental management system (EMS) in place. She
decides that her first step should be to review the AS/NZS
ISO 14001:2004 Standard and start to plan an EMS for
Planting People. She has a big job ahead of her. Annette
will need to review Planting Peoples policy documents and
operational plans, recommend changes to policy, identify
environmental impacts, determine compliance
requirements and plan implementation of the EMS.
She decides that all this is a bit beyond her expertise, so
Annette decides to do the best job she can and then hire a consultant with
environmental sustainability expertise to review her proposed EMS plan.
Examining existing work practices

Environmentally sustainable work practices
In order to determine key sustainability issues in your workplace, you need to examine
current work practices. One tool you can use to examine work practices is a process map.
Process maps
Process maps can be used to identify the main causes
of waste or inefficiency in a specific process. A
process map describes, in order, the steps in a
process and then looks at the resource use and
wastes that occur at each step. The map helps you to
break down a process and look at where you can
make changes that will improve sustainability.
Process
A process is a series of steps
used to achieve an end goal. For
example, washing dishes is a
process that involves: collecting
dishes, filling the sink, washing
dishes, rinsing dishes and
drying the dishes.
When developing a process map, use the following steps:

1. Think through the process and write down each step or action taken in broad terms.
2. Check the order of the steps by running through the process and comparing it with
the process map.
3. Identify any points where the process is checked for quality and the process is
taken back a few steps if the quality is not good enough.
4. Draw the process connecting the steps with arrows to indicate the order of
performance.


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5. Decide if there is enough detail to identify the main cause/s of the waste by
answering the following questions: Can you identify on the process map exactly
where the waste occurs? Are there smaller steps within the step that you have
identified as the source of the waste?
6. Colour or shape the steps that can cause waste and note how and why the waste
is caused.
If more detail is needed, add more detail as required. If the detail is sufficient, use the
process map to examine the root causes of the waste you have identified.
Example: Process map for hand washing dishes
The following process map outlines the process of hand washing dishes. This map has
been completed using the first five of the steps discussed above.
Now the steps that cause waste are identified and notes added:
From this process map, several decisions could be made to improve sustainability:
1. Mark the level inside the sink where the water should be filled to for efficient
washing, and ensure that the sink is not filled above that level.
2. Purchase dishwashing liquid that is phosphate free, low on sodium and
biodegradable to minimise negative environmental impact.

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3. Determine an amount of detergent that allows for quality cleaning, and

consistently measure detergent at that amount to avoid adding too much
detergent.
4. Check dishes for cleanliness prior to rinsing.
5. Mark the rinsing sink at an appropriate level for rinsing dishes to avoid overfilling.
6. Allow dishes to air dry; do not towel dry.
Learning activity: Process maps

Choose a process that you commonly complete in your workplace (like writing a report)
or home (like mowing the lawn) and make a process map of that activity. Use the
process map to identify the main causes of waste.
Process maps can also be used to identify areas for improvement other than waste by
identifying which steps are the cause of mistakes or which steps are the most costly and
then using the process map to identify improvements.
Measuring current resource usage

Types of resource use
Resources used by a business or organisation can include:
Energy
Waste
Water
Information about resource usage can be obtained

from various sources, including billing statements and
invoices, usage guides on equipment and
organisational procedures for manufacturing and
production. Indicative usage guides may be available
from regulatory bodies and industry associations.
Information can also be obtained from previous audits
or reports completed in the organisation.
Materials
Resource
A resource is something that
gets used to complete a task. At
work, this is something that you
or your organisation needs to
make a product or run the
workplace. This includes
everything from raw materials to
electricity for lights and the
stationery used in the office.


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Energy usage
Energy can include electricity, gas and fuels such as petrol or diesel. Billing statements
and invoices from service providers are the most readily available source of usage data
and should be highly accurate. Invoices will generally show usage in dollar amount, the
relevant unit of measurement, and may also provide a calculation of greenhouse gas
emissions.
Lighting and air conditioning are major users of energy in business environments. When
assessing usage costs, note should be taken of how long they are in use each day. For air
conditioning, you should also take note of the system type, and the temperature at which
it is set. For lighting, you should also note the number of lights, and the type of bulb or
lamp in use.
Waste
To determine the type of waste generated by your organisation, you could undertake a
waste audit. This may involve examining the contents of one bin, or several, to determine
the type of waste (e.g. paper, food scraps, plastic, cardboard, metal) and the percentage
of each type. Your waste collection contractor may also be able to provide you with data
about the volume of waste generated. You should also consider whether there are
separate collections for general rubbish, recycling, secure document disposal, hazardous
or other materials.
Water
Water usage in an office environment is related to mainly toilet flushing and hand
washing. Your invoices for water supply will provide you with usage information.
Learning activity: Water use at Planting People
Annette has been investigating the water use at Planting People. She has been reading
the water meter for the last eight months and she has recorded the following water use
for each month.
May: 197,000 litres
September: 218,000 litres
June: 193,000 litres
October: 231,000 litres
July: 203,000 litres
November: 228,000 litres
August: 210,000 litres
December: 232,000 litres
The water company charges $2 per kilolitre of water used by Planting People. Write how
many kilolitres are being used each month and the cost. Note: There are 1,000 litres in
a kilolitre. May has been filled out for you.
May:
197 kilolitres x $2 = $394
September:
June:
October:
July:
November:
August:
December:

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Calculate the average monthly use of water (in kilolitres):
Calculate the average monthly cost of water used:
Answers can be found in the back of this workbook.
Materials
Your suppliers should be able to provide you with information on material usage such as
stationery, paper, printing cartridges and toner, and equipment.
Accurate information
When obtaining information it is important that you check that the information is valid. If
you are extracting information from invoices, it is a good idea to take an average over
several months invoices to get accurate data. If you have information obtained from
previous reports, check that the data is still relevant.
You should also take into account that some resources will be used in a seasonal pattern
rather than consistently throughout the year. For example, electricity use may increase
during winter when daylight hours decrease and lighting has to be used for more hours
during the day. Or it may be possible that during winter your office is heated by gas
heating and the office is cooled in summer through an air conditioning system that runs
on electricity.
Scenario: Water use changes at Planting People
In the previous learning activity you will see that Planting
People uses less water in the first few months that Annette
takes measurements, and more water in that last few
months.
Do you think that the water use will continue to increase at
a similar rate, or do you think there might be seasonal
patterns of water use at Planting People?
Planting People uses more water in the later months
because those are summer months and the plants require
more water in the dry, hot conditions. Planting People will
use less water as the weather becomes cooler and as it begins to rain more frequently
during winter.


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Resource usage
To measure the resource usage of your team or other employees, you need to determine
how employees are using resources and what resources they need to do their jobs. One of
the best ways of doing this is by doing a resources survey of employees. You can find out
a lot of information about resource usage by requesting that employees in an
organisation fill out a survey similar to this example:
1. What is the first thing that your daily work requires you to do?
2. Does your job description require you to use any specific technology, equipment,
materials or software?
3. What kind of tasks or jobs do you do most regularly?
4. What equipment or technology do you wish you had access to and why?
5. What job tasks could be quicker or more efficient if you had the correct
technology, software or equipment? Describe what is required.
6. What job tasks are held up or inefficient due to old or ageing technology,
software or equipment? Name the problem device or software.
7. Tick each of the following that you use at least once a week for work purposes:
mobile phone
computer
smart phone
laptop
photocopier
DVD player
scanner
camera (digital or film)
fax machine
video camera (digital or film)
palm top or personal digital assistant printer ink

(PDA)
printer paper
data projector
printer toner
Measuring resources used at work

Once you have learned how to identify resources in your
work area, you can expand that activity to help you
measure current usage of resources in the whole
workplace.

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If you dont measure it,

you cant manage it.
~ Anonymous

Student Workbook
Learning activity: Resources in your workplace

Look around your home, workplace or training environment for someone to ask about
their resource usage. For the person you have chosen to talk to, ask them to identify
and list the resources, waste and environmental impact that results from one or more
tasks that they complete as part of their work, training or home life.
Task:
Resources
Waste caused
Environmental impact
In the workplace, you could follow these steps to identify usage of resources and then
document your findings in a spreadsheet using Excel or a similar program.
For example, you could make a resource usage spreadsheet that outlines work tasks in
the organisation and their related resource use, waste and environmental impact that
looks like this:
This spreadsheet now documents what you use and what the impact is, but it doesnt tell
you how much you use and how big the impact is. This is where measuring comes in.


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Once you know how often a task is performed, you can measure the amount of resources
used. Firstly, determine the quantity of each resource used for each time the task is
carried out. For example, in the dishwashing example, you need to determine how much
water is needed to fill the sink, how much dishwashing liquid is used, and how often you
need to replace equipment such as gloves and drying racks. Then you can add this
information to your spreadsheet. For example:
Then you can add a column that tells you the annual usage. From the check sheet on the
previous page, you can see that the average load of dishes per night is one load. To
determine the average annual usage, multiply the resource use per load by 365 (days in
the year) to find out the average annual usage, as shown below:
This spreadsheet documents what you use, what the impact is and how much you use.
Analyse and document purchasing strategies

The purchasing process
A purchasing strategy is the approach an organisation takes to purchasing resources.
Purchasing ranges from the purchase of routine supplies or services to projects
undertaken by a diverse range of organisations. Purchasing strategies are usually set out
in an organisations procurement policy or process.
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The general purchasing processes is illustrated in the following diagram.

Identify requirements
Identify full specifications
Identify suppliers
Evaluate and select suppliers
Request for tender
Evaluate responses
Place order
Follow-up and expedite
Review
Analyse sustainability in the purchasing process

We will focus now on the steps that can be applied to improve sustainable purchasing
practices.
Identify specific requirements

The physical resources required by the organisation should be identified. These can
include:
Goods and
services
Stock
Equipment
Facilties
Buildings
Improvements in sustainability can be achieved by thoroughly evaluating the need for

purchasing and ensuring that the right amount or type of product is purchased.
It is also a good idea to consider alternatives to buying, such as reusing equipment, hiring
goods/services or cooperative ownership of equipment.


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Learning activity: Identifying specific requirements

Consider your organisation or an organisation you are familiar with, and complete the
following.
Identify policies and procedures for procurement.
How do they differ from the policy and procedures of the BBQ supply store outlined in
Appendix 1?
How would you modify your organisations procedures or the procedures in Appendix 1
to improve the environmental sustainability of procurement in that organisation?
Identify suppliers
The procurement process should
involve thorough research of
potential suppliers. Sustainable
purchasing can be improved
through finding out which
suppliers have a reputation for
sustainable practices.
Hint
You may be able to identify sustainable suppliers by
using online resources such Ecospecifier
<http://www.ecospecifier.com.au> that list
sustainable products, services and suppliers.
Learning activity: Identifying suppliers

Consider your organisation or an organisation you are familiar with and answer the
questions below based on the organisations procurement process. If you are not sure
of the answers to these questions, contact an employee who is involved in the
procurement process and ask them the following questions.

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How are suppliers identified?
Identify a product or service provided by an internal supplier to the organisation that

could be sub-contracted to an external supplier.
Identify a product or service provided by an external supplier to the organisation that

could be done by an internal supplier.
Give a reason for each of these products or services being sourced the way it is.


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Evaluate suppliers
In order to resource effectively and achieve the most value for your organisation, you will
need to evaluate suppliers. Suppose you were evaluating the environmental performance
of three suppliers and decided to make a basic comparison. You might consider the
following four factors:
quality performance, which could include status in respect of quality certification
delivery performance
technical service
sustainability performance.
Evaluating sustainability performance can include looking at:

Rewarding more sustainable performance for example, set a minimum standard
carbon emissions per kilometre from vehicles and then award to each supplier one
point for every 10g carbon dioxide below your set threshold.
Whole-of-life costing this involves spreading the initial cost of the product across
its expected life (how long the product is expected to last for). Sustainably
preferable goods may be more expensive initially, but less expensive across their
functional life because of reduced running costs, reduced maintenance, reusability
or reduced end-of-life impact (less pollution, biodegradable).
Whole of life
costing
Purchase price
Maintenance
costs
Operating costs
Disposal costs
Qualitative assessments where suppliers may offer similar products at similar
prices, a qualitative assessment can be used. Suppliers should be able to achieve a

higher score where they: identify the main social and environmental impacts
associated with their business; identify measures to manage their impact; and have
programs that support wider social and environmental objectives.
For more information on sustainable procurement processes, the following two
documents provide helpful information:
1. Department of the Environment, Sustainable procurement guide, viewed April
2015, <http://www.environment.gov.au/protection/national-wastepolicy/publications/sustainable-procurement-guide>.
2. Queensland Government Chief Procurement Office, Integrating sustainability into
the procurement process, viewed April 2015,
<http://www.hpw.qld.gov.au/SiteCollectionDocuments/ProcurementGuideIntegrati
ngSustainability.pdf>.

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To analyse the sustainability issues associated with certain products and suppliers, you
should develop or use tools that help you to analyse and refer to evaluations in the future.
An example of such a tool the sustainability impact assessment is given in
Appendix 2.
Next, in order to determine best value for money, you would need to establish a rating for
each companys performance and then compare the rating with the price charged.
Below is an example evaluation scenario.
Scenario: Supplier evaluation chart
Annette at Planting People has determined that she will need to evaluate suppliers of
fertilisers and pesticides. Three factors have been identified and weighted according to
importance: speed of delivery, sustainability performance and quality.
Annette uses the chart below to compare suppliers.
In this example, the performance of each supplier in respect of each factor is scored on
a scale of one to ten. The score is then multiplied by the weight to give a total in respect
of each factor for each supplier and the total (W x S) entered in the weighted score
column.
The total for each supplier is the sum of the weighted scores for the four factors. This
total weighted score is then compared with the price of the product or service. The
highest resultant figure will show which of the suppliers delivers the best value for
money. As you can see in this example, Supplier C, although the cheapest option, does
not present the best value for money for Planting People. The best option is Supplier B.
Supplier A
Factor
Supplier B
Supplier C
Weight
(W)
Score
(S)
Weighted
score
(W x S)
Score
(S)
Weighted
score
(W x S)
Score
(S)
Weighted
score
(W x S)
Speed of
delivery
x1
Sustainability
performance
x3
Quality
x 10
40
30
30
Total (T)
57
52
44
Price (P)
% of budget
69.8
52.3
46.6
Rank (T/P)
0.82
0.99
0.94


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Learning activity: Evaluating suppliers

Consider your organisation or an organisation you are familiar with. Select one piece of
equipment used by the organisation and answer the following questions:
Identify four requirements or features you want the item to have.
Identify three possible suppliers of the item for your organisation.
Explain how you will evaluate the suppliers and choose the one from which you would
purchase the item.
Describe any other relevant points about your organisations procedures for acquiring
physical resources.

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Review of purchasing process

It is important to review the purchasing process as a whole. In this way organisations may
improve their systems and processes and ensure that purchasing is ethical and costeffective. In the context of implementing sustainable work practices, it is important to
review the purchasing process to identify if improvements can be made to the
environmental impact that results from the organisations purchasing strategy.
Documentation
As you review the purchasing process and develop lists of suppliers and evaluations of
their impact, you need to ensure that the tools and documents you use such as
spreadsheets, databases and impact assessments and contacts are stored for future
use. You will need to follow organisational procedures to document the results of your
evaluations; or, if procedures do not exist, you will need to communicate with others
involved in the purchasing process to store documentation of evaluations appropriately.
Improvement opportunities
Once you understand what your organisation is aiming to achieve, you will be able to start
collecting and organising information about making workplace improvements. There are
many resources available to help you identify workplace improvements, some of these
are:
information from regulatory authorities and industry bodies
feedback from stakeholders (such as customers, suppliers and local communities)
measuring current resource usage (this will be discussed in more detail later in this
section).
Available resources
These sources will provide you with a broad understanding of opportunities for
improvement. Further detail on planning sustainability improvements is included in
Section 3 of this workbook.
AS/NZS Standard
One of the first resources you should look to determine areas that need to be improved, is
the AS/NZS ISO 14001:2004 Environmental management systems Requirements with
guidance for use document. Check to see that your workplace is upholding the standard,
and doing so in the most effective way.
Australian Government website

A number of resources, tools and links to information about environmental sustainability
are provided on the Australian Governments website. You can find these resources under
the Environmental sustainability web page <http://australia.gov.au/topics/environmentand-natural-resources/environmental-sustainability>.


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EPA standards and guidelines

Your states EPA website may provide resources that can guide your business towards
better work practices. For example, the EPA Victoria website provides standards and
compliance guidelines for using a number of resources. These are available on their For
business and industry web page <http://www.epa.vic.gov.au/business-and-industry>.
Industry resources
There is a range of sources of industry-specific information about improving sustainability.
Your industry may have developed standards around how to achieve sustainability in your
workplace. For example, Sustainable Green Print (SGP) is the Australian printing
industrys sustainability certification program based on the ISO 14001 Standard.
Internationally, the hospitality industry has united to standardise carbon measurement by
using the Hotel Carbon Measurement Initiative (HCMI).
Learning activity: Industry standards and resources
Identify an industry, preferably an industry you work in currently or have worked in
previously. For that industry, find one standard that would apply to identifying,
measuring or monitoring sustainability.
What is the name of the standard?
What area of sustainability does the standard apply to?
You may also be able to find a newsletter, radio or television program that focuses on
your industry and may provide information on sustainability in the industry.
Example: Landline
Landline is a good resource for finding out more about sustainable practices that are
being used in Australias rural areas. Landline is an ABC television program that
discusses rural issues, and often looks at sustainability and innovative practices in
industries such as mining, farming and fisheries.
A sweet crocodile solution
One of the stories featured on Landline that looked at improved resource efficiency is
about water use in Cairns by two local businesses.
The Mulgrave Central (sugar) Mill near Cairns, Queensland requires about 100
megalitres of water a day to create steam for their milling process. Once the steam
cools to water, it is still hot water that cannot be directly released back into the
environment.

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The sugar mill found an unexpected way to reuse their hot water when they were
approached by the largest saltwater crocodile farm in the world. The crocodile farm
needs to be near Cairns which is the northern-most international airport. The water in
Cairns, however, is not hot enough for growing crocodiles. The Mulgrave sugar mill now
pipes hot water into the crocodile farm which saves on water use, and saves the energy
it would take for the crocodile farm to heat their own water.
You can learn more about this partnership by reading the transcript on the Landline
website <http://www.abc.net.au/landline>. Search for hot crocs on the website.
Scenario: Planting Peoples industry body

Annette would like to find some sources of information that
will help her develop good practices at Planting People. For
the last 20 years, the owners have been running the
business based on their prior knowledge and experience in
gardening.
Annette does some research and discovers that there is an
Australian national industry body that provides just the
information she is looking for; it is called Nursery & Garden
Industry Australia (NGIA).
Annette visits their website and finds a resource that
recommends best practice for environmental sustainability. It has over 20 pages of
information that Annette is very excited to be provided with. They also provide a
document that outlines the industrys approach to water use.
Annette feels like she now has a much better idea of how other nurseries around
Australia approach sustainability and water use. She also has access to a trade registry
where she can look for suppliers of equipment that Planting People may need to
purchase in the future. Annette is going to suggest that Planting People become a
member of NGIA so that they will have access to the up-to-date information about the
industry and industry discounts.
Communicating with a team

Collecting information on systems, regulations, organisational objectives and
improvement opportunities should be more than an individual exercise. You need to
communicate with your team and managers to:
Seek information and feedback that will help you gain a better
understanding of organisational objectives and practices
Inform them of organisational expectations and practices that
they need to be familiar with


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So you need to both seek out relevant information, and then distribute that information
effectively to the people who need to know it.
The example below illustrates some of the difficulties caused in a workplace because of
lack of appropriate communication on the progress of a work task.
Scenario: Communication breakdown at Planting People
Annette has identified that Planting People is using much
more water than they require to keep their plants
adequately watered. She plans to investigate some options
for reducing their water use by installing new equipment;
maybe a grey water recycling system or an efficient
automatic watering system.
Annette knows that it will take a while to determine which
option would be best, so in the meant time she writes a
new procedure for watering plants that will explain to
employees how long they should leave watering equipment
on and how to avoid spillage.
Annette continues to measure Planting Peoples water use after she has written the
new procedures and is disappointed to notice that their water use is not decreasing at
all! After a few more weeks, Annette snaps at everyone at a staff meeting and asks why
nobody is following her carefully written procedure. The other employees look confused
and say that they had no idea that there were any new procedures.
After the meeting, Annette prints the new procedures and posts them on the workplace
notice board. She also attaches them in an email to all the Planting People staff
members. Very soon after sending out the procedures, Annette notices that Planting
Peoples water use starts to decrease. Annette realises that her hard work is never
going to be of use unless she learns to communicate effectively with staff and
managers.
To keep your team up-to-date with the information they need, you need to be able to
locate and share information that is relevant to the workgroups tasks. Some ways of
providing this information to the team include:
daily/weekly reports
results from customer surveys
workplace reports
team meetings
shared spreadsheets
email.

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Case Study: Online communication

British Airways have over 30,000 staff. They are all part of the huge team that makes
up the airline. Many of the flight attendants work part-time and rarely get to meet with
each other or their team leaders. They work with a group of people on a flight, get off,
and work with another team the next time. Difficulty in communication has been a big
problem for the company so they have developed an online forum, which allows
employees to discuss issues that arise and share solutions.
It may be that you will need to collaborate or work as part of a group in an online
environment. It is mentioned here so that you can be aware of the possibility and be
clear that the rules for communication referred to in other parts of this workbook apply
to online communication as well.
Note: This case study is based on an interview with British Airways project manager for
intranet innovations. The whole interview provides valuable information on online
communication. You may want to watch the whole interview, which is available online
at:
YouTube, 2008, British Airways: Crew community forums, YouTube, viewed April
2015, <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gzp70KvBwvw>.
You also need to provide your team and management with feedback about how well they
are carrying out their duties.
Feedback
Feedback is when customers, employees or
stakeholders provide information, opinions, or
evaluation of the performance of you or the
organisation. Feedback is an important measure of
your performance. Feedback can let you know that
youre doing a good job, or it can let you know where
you need to improve.
Stakeholders
Stakeholders are people,
departments or organisations
who are impacted by events,
products and decisions that are
developed by the organisation.
There are three kinds of feedback that are given for

different reasons:
Positive feedback
Evaluation feedback
Constructive feedback
To encourage
and recognise
To measure
against standards
To help
improve skills


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Providing feedback
When providing feedback it is best to follow some agreed ways of voicing your feedback
to ensure it is constructive and not destructive. A persons self-confidence can easily be
eroded by a careless phrase. Keep in mind the purpose of the feedback.
Feedback is often categorised as warm or cool. Both kinds are useful and necessary.
An easy way to remember the best way to give feedback is to think of the feedback
sandwich.
Sandwich your cool feedback between two slices of warm comments it will make the
cool feedback easier to digest.
Warm feedback is made up of statements that let the receiver know what is
working. It is encouraging and it is specific.

Cool feedback is made up of statements or questions that help the receiver
improve on what they are doing.
Warm feedback
Cool feedback
Warm feedback
Whats working well.
What could be improved.
What to continue doing well.
Learning activity: Pams first day!

Watch Arthur Potts Dawsons presentation about sustainable restaurants.
TED, 2010, Arthur Potts Dawson: A vision for sustainable restaurants, TED
viewed April 2015, <http://www.ted.com/talks/arthur_potts_dawson_a_

vision_for_sustainable_restaurants.html>.
What warm and cool feedback could you offer to Arthur about his presentation style?
Create a feedback sandwich using the hints and examples given in this section.
Warm:
Cool:
Warm:

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Receiving feedback
You should seek feedback from others to help you to improve sustainability. It is a
valuable source of information about your personal, team and organisational strengths
and weaknesses.
Some of the most useful feedback you will receive, and some of the hardest for you to
accept, will be negative (or cool) feedback. If you receive negative feedback you should try
to view it in a positive manner: as a chance to improve. Try and keep an open mind, do
not become defensive or disregard it until you have had time to review it objectively.
There is a range of ways you can receive feedback from others in your workplace about
your performance.
1. It is useful to review any compliments and/or complaints you receive. These can
help identify areas in which you need to improve.
2. Reviewing work is a good habit to get into. After every project or major task is
completed, a review session should be conducted to:
a. review your decision-making
b. draw up conclusions
c. make amendments to your plan for the next time.
3. Surveys can be useful for gathering feedback from employees, customers and
stakeholders on issues and for obtaining relevant feedback from
clients/customers.
4. Performance reviews are conducted in most organisations. They provide an
opportunity to discuss your work with your manager, reflect on your strengths and
weaknesses and plan professional development.
Acting on feedback
Not all feedback that you receive will be accurate. Sometimes you may be given feedback
that you disagree with, and other times you will feel feedback is valid and should be
responded to. It is important to review all feedback received to decide how accurate it is.
Accurate feedback is only valuable if you act on it. You should make sure that you have a
method of keeping feedback together. You could create a file on your computer where
you make note of feedback, or you could keep an Excel spreadsheet, or keep feedback in
hard copy. However you decide to keep records of feedback, you need to keep it together
so that you can review it, and make improvements in your performance accordingly. This
is an important aspect of continuous improvement which is discussed in Section 4 of this
workbook.


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Scenario: Feedback at Planting People

Annette would like to know more about what customers
think of Planting Peoples products and service, but theres
no feedback register theres not even a folder in their
email system for filing emails that are compliments or
complaints because Planting People has never had a
method of collecting or organising feedback!
Annette knows that feedback is important, so she spends
hours going through old emails to find any that can give her
information about customer satisfaction. She starts to
create a feedback register by entering the details she is
finding in old emails.
After she has finished, Annette is surprised at how much information has been sitting in
old emails. She has entered 42 complaints, suggestions and compliments in the
register. From completing this activity, she has noticed that a neighbour has
complained about Planting People overwatering, and she has also noticed that a
supplier has emailed with information about new watering system they are advertising
that is highly efficient and that can be used in conjunction with grey water recycling.
Perhaps Planting People can improve their water efficiency and save some money on
their water bill at the same time!

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Section summary
You should now understand how to collect information about existing work practices and
communicate with a team to clearly communicate workplace expectations and receive
feedback that will help to improve resource efficiency.
Further reading
Australian Water Association, viewed April 2015, <http://www.awa.asn.au>.
Australian Sustainable Business Group, viewed April 2015,
<http://www.asbg.net.au>.
Queensland Government Chief Procurement Office, Integrating sustainability into
the procurement process, Queensland Government Chief Procurement Office,

viewed April 2015, <http://www.hpw.qld.gov.au/SiteCollectionDocuments/
ProcurementGuideIntegratingSustainability.pdf>.
Australian Government Department of the Environment, Sustainable procurement
guide, Australian Government Department of the Environment, viewed April 2015,

<http://www.environment.gov.au/protection/national-waste-policy/publications/
sustainable-procurement-guide>.
Section checklist
collect information on environmental resource efficiency systems and procedures
collect, analyse and organise information from a range of sources
seek feedback for information and suggestions on environmental improvements
measure current resource usage
provide information, advice and resources to employees as required to improve
current practices
analyse and document purchasing strategies
identify areas for improvement in current work practices.


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Section 3 Set Efficiency Targets
Student Workbook

This section looks at seeking input from stakeholders and experts as well as consulting a
range of other information sources to help you to set appropriate efficiency targets.
Scenario: Efficiency targets at Planting People
Annette has decided to focus on setting efficiency targets
for Planting Peoples three most used resources: water,
electricity and paper.
Due to the email from Planting Peoples neighbour that
mentioned excess water flowing into his yard, Annette
thinks that they could significantly improve water efficiency
by improving their watering processes. They could also set
up a grey water system and make use of rainwater that
runs off the greenhouse roof. Annette consults with the
Planting People owners and they decide to aim for a 15%
water reduction in 12 months, and another 10% reduction over the following four years.
She also sets a 10% reduction target for Planting Peoples electricity and paper use.

In order to effectively plan to efficiency targets you must be able to:
consult stakeholders and specialists
access external sources of information to identify improvement opportunities and
determine best practice
evaluate improvement opportunities
set efficiency targets.
Consult stakeholders
Once you have gathered information on current practices and identified broad
opportunities for improvement, you need to seek input from stakeholders.
Stakeholders can include:
customers
investors
employees
local community
internal departments
suppliers
government
regulators, such as your states EPA.

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You should also seek input from experts in the relevant industry where possible. Experts
can provide valuable information that will improve your chance of success in any changes
you make. Experts can include:
consultants
government departments
customers with relevant knowledge
suppliers
employees with relevant knowledge
regulators, such as your states EPA.
Identifying and mapping stakeholders

You need to identify all stakeholders who may be impacted by sustainability
improvements, or who may have some impact on how you will implement improvements.
Once you have identified stakeholders you may find you have a long list of people that are
affected by your work. The level of power, interest and influence of these people will vary.
For this reason it is important that you complete an assessment to determine the level of
consultation required for each stakeholder identified.
A stakeholder map records who your stakeholders are and their level of power, influence
and interest. A stakeholder map allows you to see who you need to focus on to ensure the
successful development and implementation of your operational plan.
To complete this assessment you should map out your stakeholders using your
knowledge of their level of power (influence) and interest on a power/interest grid:
An individuals position on the grid shows you the actions you will need to take with them:
High power, highly interested people: These are the people you must fully engage
with, and make the greatest efforts to satisfy.

High power, less interested people: Engage enough with these people to keep them
satisfied, but not so much that they become bored with your message.


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Low power, highly interested people: Keep these people adequately informed, and
talk to them to ensure that no major issues are arising. These people can often be
very helpful with the detail of your project.
Low power, less interested people: Monitor input from this group of people, but do
not bore them with excessive communication.

Learning activity: Identify and assess stakeholders
Considering your current role, identify one example of a stakeholder for each quadrant
on the grid and detail why you have classified this person in this category.
Manage closely
Keep satisfied
Keep informed
Monitor (minimum effort)
Consultation process
Once you have identified and mapped your key stakeholders, you can schedule and
commence the consultation process. Consultation can involve any of the following:
meetings or interviews
feedback sessions
brainstorming sessions
email communications
focus groups
newsletters.

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You can use the power/interest grid for stakeholder prioritisation to assist you with
determining the appropriate method of consultation.
Stakeholders who have been identified as high priority will require a more involved
consultation method than those classified as low priority.
meetings
Manage closely
group meetings
interviews.
focus groups
Keep satisfied
brainstorming sessions
feedback sessions.
feedback session
Keep informed
newsletters.
Monitor
(minimum effort)
newsletters.
Using the right consultation method for the right group of people is not only important for
obtaining the information. Effective consultation also helps you to obtain buy-in and
support from stakeholders that will ensure the successful development and
implementation of your plan.
Best practice
Using the information you have gathered as well as
input from stakeholders, you need to evaluate options
available for improving sustainability.
Investigating best practice
Best practice
A set of guidelines, ethics or
ideas that represent the most
efficient or prudent course of
action.
Once you have all the data you can get to determine
current resource usage, you need something to which you can compare it. This involves
investigating best practice and identifying benchmarks so that you can evaluate your
usage and set targets to improve efficiency.
There are many sources of information about sustainability best practice, so it is
important to find those most relevant to your industry sector and workplace. You can find
out how best practice applies to your workplace by:
gaining some background knowledge on general sustainability and environmental
principles via an internet research, books, magazines and other media sources
consulting government departments, industry associations and other relevant
organisations with interest in environmental and sustainability concerns


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reviewing other businesses and organisations as case studies

reviewing the policies and procedures of your organisation related to environmental
management.
Below is some information on best practice standards to get you started.
Green Office Guide

The Green Office Guide has been produced as part of the National
Appliance and Equipment Energy Efficiency Program, supported by
the Commonwealth, state and territory governments, to help
businesses buy environmentally friendly office equipment and use it
to reduce their operating and environmental costs, including
greenhouse gas emissions.
The guide outlines the benefits of green power and provides
guidelines for purchasing office equipment and training staff in new environmental
systems. It is available through the Department of the Environment publications archive:
<http://www.environment.gov.au/archive/settlements/publications/government/purcha
sing/green-office-guide/index.html>.
Energy efficiency
When it comes to energy efficiency, small things can have a big effect. Here are some
simple things you can do to reduce energy consumption.
Use energy efficient light bulbs
Turn off lights and equipment when not needed
Purchase energy efficient office equipment
Restrict the use of air conditioning
Maintain consistent temperature of air conditioning when in use
Avoid using personal heating and cooling equipment like small fans
and heaters
Switch to gas for hot water units
Purchase green power from your provider

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Water efficiency
Water efficiency can be improved in two areas:
Using less water
Recycling water
Here are some simple things you can do to reduce water consumption.
Install dual flush toilets
Install flow restrictors on taps
Select water efficient dishwashers
Run dishwashers only when fully loaded
Use rainwater for care of plants
Report leaks to maintenance immediately
Learning activity: Water recycling technology

Watch the video BSBSUS301A: Water recycling technology on IBSAs YouTube channel
at <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=czguh4KgErA>.
List three kinds of businesses that could benefit from such water recycling technology.


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Describe how recycling grey water or capturing rain water could help one of these
businesses.
Example answers can be found in the back of this workbook.
Waste management
The waste hierarchy is a best practice approach to waste management which can easily
be applied by businesses. The diagram below demonstrates the stages.
Avoidance and minimisation
Reuse
reuse packaging
refill printer cartridges
use the blank sides of
printed paper
Recycling
paper, cardboard
glass, aluminium cans
printer cartridges
office furniture
computer equipment
Recovery
recycling materials into base

component parts
Disposal

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avoid purchasing
items with excess
packaging
use duplex printing
use electronic
document storage
should be the last resort

Student Workbook
Learning activity: Less energy, less waste

Identify one electrical item typically found in an office, and list three actions that could
reduce its energy use yet still provide a satisfactory service. Find one waste produce
created from office activities and list three actions that could reduce this waste amount
while still providing satisfactory service.
Less energy
Less waste
Electrical item:
Waste item:
1.
1.
2.
2.
3.
3.
Methodologies for improving sustainability

There are also standard methodologies to help you develop your improvements such as:
Life cycle analysis
Global Reporting
Initiative
Lean manufacturing
Learning activity: Sustainable methodologies

Research the three methodologies mentioned above life cycle analysis, Global
Reporting Initiative, and lean manufacturing. Briefly describe how each methodology
works and then describe how the methodology could be useful for evaluating or
improving sustainability in a specific organisation or industry of your choice.
Life cycle analysis:


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Global Reporting Initiative:
Lean manufacturing:
Evaluate improvement opportunities

Evaluation tools
The level of rigour you apply to evaluating opportunities will vary based on the cost of
implementation, the size of the organisation, the requirements of the organisation, the
requirements of stakeholders and the potential impact of the proposed changes. Your
organisation or stakeholders may specify how you approach evaluation of opportunities
and may provide tools that are regularly used in the organisation for the purposes of
evaluation.
Regardless of the method of evaluation, it is essential that you determine all the factors
that are important to the organisation and relevant to improving sustainability to compare
options.
For example, factors that an organisation may need to consider could include:
resources required to implement change:
physical (equipment)
human (additional or reduced personnel)
financial (implementation costs and ongoing costs)
timeframe of implementation
ongoing support required following implementation
stakeholders impacted

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impact on organisations reputation

risk involved in implementing change
additional information.
The organisation also needs to determine the environmental impact of each change. A
sustainability impact assessment (see Appendix 2) is an example of how the
environmental impact could be evaluated for each option.
These qualitative methods of evaluation are important because of the level of detail they
involve. However, it may be difficult to assess which option is more appealing based on
qualitative evaluation. In this case, each factor can be weighted (i.e. a higher numerical
value is given to each factor, the most important factors are given the highest values) and
then each option is given a score based on how well or poorly the option achieves the
organisations objectives for each factor. This is similar to the method used in the supplier
evaluation example on page 41.
The following example demonstrates this evaluation method in relation to sustainability
improvement options.
Scenario: Planting People evaluates sustainability improvements
Planting People has determined that it will need to
evaluate three sustainability improvement options:
installing a grey water recycling system; changing to a
supplier with improved sustainability performance; converting
to eco-friendly lighting in the greenhouse and shop.
Planting People has used the chart below to compare
these three options.
This evaluation suggests that even though installing a grey
water system has a higher initial cost than changing
supplier, the overall benefit to the organisation (based on
the weight given to each factor) is greater.


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Change to supplier
with improved
sustainability
performance
Install grey water

recycling system
Factor
Weight
(W)
Score
(S)
Weighted
score
(W x S)
Score
(S)
Weighted
score
(W x S)
Convert to ecofriendly lighting

Score
(S)
Weighted
score
(W x S)
Initial cost (lower

cost given higher
score)
x2
Ongoing cost
(lower cost given
higher score)
x4
12
12
Timeframe
(shorter
timeframe given
higher score)
x1
Impact on
customers
(positive impact
given higher
score)
x4
Impact on
stakeholders
(positive impact
given higher
score)
x2
Sustainability
performance
(based on
sustainability
impact
assessment)
x5
15
10
10
Total
43
40
37
Setting efficiency targets

Now that you have determined your current resource usage, identified opportunities for
improvement and identified best practice standards to benchmark against, it is time to
set targets to improve your efficiency and sustainability. You need to create a plan that
outlines your intended actions, the opportunity and benefit for the organisation, any costs
related to implementation, the target and the timeframe for achieving the target.
You need to ensure that your targets are specific and measureable, so that you can
effectively track the progress toward your target over time. Your targets also need to be
achievable, so that you can recognise milestones and celebrate them.

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You can use the completed plan to communicate your strategy to all the relevant
stakeholders, and for the development of supporting policies and procedures if required.
Performance targets
Targets detail specifically what is to be achieved, in what timeframe, and are then
compared with actual performance in order to evaluate individuals, teams or systems and
processes. Targets should ideally follow the SMART format:
S
Specific
M
Measurable
A
Agreed
R
Realistic
T
Time-specific
States exactly what the organisation wants to accomplish and uses

action words such as design and implement.
When writing specific goals you are identifying the tasks to be done
and the time it will take to complete them.
Measurable goals provide you with milestones that indicate your
progress. This could be set in terms of how many customers an
individual serves on a daily basis, or how much paper is used to
print documents per day. Setting measurable targets allows you to
determine and compare the progress of team members or
employees.
Each team member or employee should be in agreement as to

what is to be achieved.
Goals must be attainable. There is no point in setting unreachable

targets. Instead, set goals that might stretch capabilities a little.
Goals that are too hard may not allow you to perceive important
but small improvements in performance. Goals that are too easy to
achieve may undermine performance potential.
Goals must have deadlines if they are to be effective. If you do not
have a schedule to work to, your goals might be pushed aside by
inevitable day-to-day problems. Setting deadlines helps you to
estimate your progress and focus on your achievements.
Example Planting People target

To decrease water use by 10% by 1 October 201X.
An efficiency targets template to help you cover all these factors when developing
improvements has been provided for you in Appendix 3.


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Stakeholders
It is important to involve as many people as possible in the process of reviewing,
evaluating and planning improvements in sustainability and efficiency. This ensures
participation and support in the implementation stage, and encourages everyone to take
responsibility for their part in the process.
External assistance
There is plenty of assistance available to businesses and organisations who wish to
improve the environmental impact of their operations. There are various government
initiatives designed to promote and support enterprise in the development of
sustainability plans, which can provide resource, assistance and monitoring to help you
adhere to deadlines and targets.
An example of an Australian Government funding initiative that focused on improving
biodiversity and farming practices was called Caring for Our Country. You can read more
about the initiative at <http://www.nrm.gov.au/news-and-resources/resources/previousprogrammes>. The Caring for Our Country project also provided a strategy for monitoring,
evaluation, reporting and improvement. You may find this strategy helpful in your own
improvement project. You can access the strategy at:
Australian Government, Monitoring, evaluation, reporting and improvement
(MERI), National Landcare Programme, viewed April 2015,

<http://www.nrm.gov.au/my-project/monitoring-and-reporting-plan/meri>.
Learning activity: Get help.
Do some internet research of organisations that promote a service to reduce the
environmental impact of business activities. Name one in your region or that would
service your region. Read about their offer on their website and identify three major
activities, roles or functions through which they claim to assist businesses.
1.

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2.
3.
Section summary
You should now understand how to investigate and determine best practice standards
and use the information you have collected to set efficiency targets.
Further reading
Australian Government, Green office guide, Department of the Environment,
viewed April 2015,

<http://www.environment.gov.au/archive/settlements/publications/
government/purchasing/green-office-guide/index.html>.

<http://www.nrm.gov.au/my-project/monitoring-and-reporting-plan/meri>.

Thompson, R., Stakeholder analysis: winning support for your projects, Mind tools,
viewed April 2015, <http://www.mindtools.com/pages/article/newPPM_07.htm>.


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Section checklist
consult stakeholders and specialists
access external sources of information to identify improvement opportunities and
determine best practice
evaluate improvement opportunities
set efficiency targets.

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Section 4 Implement Strategies for Improvement
Section 4 Implement Strategies for

Improvement
This section looks at examining usage data, and identifying areas for improvement in
efficiency. It also examines developing a plan for improvement, and strategies for
implementation.
Scenario: Deciding what is best
The shop at the Planting People premises uses much more
electricity than it needs to because the shed keeps its
roller door up all day for customers to enter. This means
that a lot of heat escapes out the door in winter, increasing
their electricity use. Annette organises to have a glass door
built into the shed so that customers can see that they are
open, but so that less heat escapes during opening hours.
It will be a while before Planting People will be able to
afford the new grey water and automatic watering systems
that will radically decrease their water use, but Planting
People are already decreasing water use by following the new procedures she has
written and Annette believes that they will be able to come up with more ways of saving
water if they work as a team to decrease their use.
Annette has also been thinking that maybe they should be printing the newsletters that
Planting People sends out on recycled paper. She decides to consult with customers to
see how they would respond to the recycled paper. To Annettes surprise, customers
say that they dont read information that comes in the mail much anymore because of
the amount of time they spend reading email. Customers mention that theyd be more
likely to read the newsletter if it was delivered by email. Annette realises that emailing
the newsletter instead of mailing it would decrease their use of paper quite a lot.

In order to effectively implement sustainable work practices you must be able to:
source and use techniques to assist in implementing targets
develop an implementation plan
apply continuous improvement strategies
support team members to identify improvement opportunities
implement costing strategies.


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Developing an implementation plan

Now you have your efficiency targets, its time to implement them! Here are some things
you should consider to ensure that targets are met.
Roles and responsibilities

Your implementation plan should be developed with very clear actions and instructions so
that people understand what is expected of them. Where specific responsibilities should
be undertaken by specific people or job roles, this should be clearly identified. You may
also want to consider adding these responsibilities to position/job descriptions to ensure
full integration of your plan.
You could consider forming a workgroup or action team, with representation from
different areas and levels of the organisation, who carry the responsibility of
implementing and monitoring the action plan.
Timelines
You should make sure that your plan has realistic timelines for implementing practices
and achieving targets. You will need to allow time to inform your team, and possibly train
them, before you can expect progress towards targets to be made. Your timelines need to
reflect this.
Documentation
You may wish to use the policies and procedures system in your organisation to aid
implementation of your efficiency plan. This may include developing new policies, or
adding more detailed procedures to existing policies. Staff should already be familiar with
the system, so your changes will probably be accepted as standard changes and
integrated into existing systems more readily.
Communication
Communication is the most important key to the success of your plan. You need to get
your message out there as effectively as possible, to get as many people as you can to
participate. Consider using a range of communication methods to inform people about
the plan this could include information sessions, emails, newsletters and noticeboards.
Be creative! The more people get excited, the more they get involved.
You also need to make sure your communication strategy is ongoing, to ensure that your
plan is carried through beyond the launch week. Consider using tools like posters and
labels to consistently remind people of the actions and targets.
Training
Changes to workplace practices need to be introduced to employees and management in
a way that ensures participation and cooperation. If new skills or different approaches to
tasks are required, you may need to develop training, revised operating procedures or
information sheets to outline what is required.

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Measuring success
How will you know that a target has been achieved? You need to identify a way of
measuring the impact of any improvements that have been made. You may be able to
identify the impact by:
examining invoices from suppliers
reading utility meters (such as the water or electricity meter associated with your
workplace)
taking regular measurements of resource usage or waste and examining the
results.
Learning activity: Measuring the impact
Take the provided efficiency target (below) as an example of an improvement that will
be implemented in a workplace. The first efficiency target has had the estimated saving
calculated. Estimate the saving for the second action provided (installing a waterefficient dishwasher).
Potential
opportunity
Estimated
saving
Capital
cost
Payback
period
Switch off
computer
terminals at
night
Reduces
energy use
overnight
32 work
stations x
$95 ~
$3,000
(according
to ecoBiz)
Nil
N/A
2 months
95% of
computers
switched off
overnight
when audited
Install a 4 star
WELS water
rating dish
washer to
replace hand
washing
procedures.
Currently the
40 office
employees
hand wash
their dishes
as they are
used. Most
people let the
water run
down the sink
as they wash
their dishes.
$550
$650
8 years
95% dishes
washed in
dishwasher
that is run
only when
full.
Action
Target
Date
Target
1 month
Summarise the environmental benefit achieved by installing a new dishwasher.


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Learning activity: Go green

As part of a Go Green campaign at your workplace, you have been asked to lead the
push to keep all air conditioners in all the offices at no lower than 24 degrees. There
are five air conditioners. How are you going to implement this?
Issue
Your plan
Give yourself a job title.

Give yourself two other
related roles to go with
your main task.
How long till you achieve
your goal consistently?
What will be your first
milestone to achieve?
Name one document
that could help you
achieve your assigned
task. How will it help?
How do you intend to
communicate so that
change to the Go Green
plan is successful?
Costing
While developing your implementation plan, you will need to implement costing strategies
that allow you to determine the best actions to take. You should check to see if your
organisation specifies a method of costing activities and follow that method. Regardless
of the costing strategy you use, you will need to identify the costs and the benefits of each
activity.
It is important to note that costs may or may not be considered as a dollar value. For
example, while the cost of buying new equipment would be expressed in dollars, the cost
of causing pollution may be considered in terms of damage to brand reputation. While
costing an activity, you should consider a wide range of costs that may include:
Expenditure
required
The monetary cost of the activity
Cost or benefit to
goodwill
The value of a business based on its net dollar value plus its
reputation and customer loyalty

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Regulatory
requirements
Activities with potential environmental impacts may be regulated

by one or more regulatory bodies such as the states
environment protection authority. There may be costs associated
with meeting regulatory requirements, such as conducting audits
and assessments, planning and implementing environmental
clean-up, or publicising a conviction if an offense is committed
Environmental
impact
The cost and benefits to the environment, such as depletion or

recovery of resources, improvement or degradation of land, water
and air quality
Learning activity: Costs and benefits

Consider two possible environmental improvements that could be made in your
workplace or, if you are not currently working, in your home. Write down the costs and
benefits of each improvement and determine which improvement would be more
desirable.
Improvement 1:
Cost
Benefit
Expenditure
Goodwill
Regulatory requirements


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Improvement 2:
Cost
Benefit
Expenditure
Goodwill
Regulatory requirements
For another example of using a costing strategy for evaluating options, see the supplier
evaluation chart on page 41.
Other information
In addition, implementation plans should contain all other the information necessary to
implement efficiency targets and should be developed to include any relevant information
from other assessments such as a sustainability impact assessment.
Implementation plans should include objectives, resources required and steps to be
taken. Each step should include enough detail to enable you to complete the step by the
given deadline. You may include sub-steps to organise tasks under milestones.
You may also wish to include dependencies in your plan. You may determine that some
tasks do not need to begin directly after a previous step and may be performed
simultaneously with other tasks. Determining dependencies can help you to understand
the quickest way to achieve an objective.
Lets look at an example action plan.

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Scenario: Monitoring customer service at Innovative Widgets

Objective:
Determine satisfaction levels of customers in sustainability performance
Delivery and analysis of quarterly sustainability performance
Resources: Sustainability Coordinator (SC), Senior Management (SM), Consultant

Analyst (CA), Department Members (DM)
Action
1
Investigate monitoring needs, organisational

needs, and seek pre-approval from SM:
Responsible
Due date
SC, SM, CA
Jan 3
SC,CA, DM
Jan 5
SC,CA, DM,
other relevant
managers
Jan 5
SC, CA
Jan 12
SC
Jan 5
SC, SM
Jan 13
consult with senior management

study policies and procedures
survey legal environment
consider Q2 sustainability performance
results.
2
Develop or revise draft monitoring tools:

consult with relevant stakeholders.
Dependent on (1).
3
Develop draft monitoring practices and work

instructions:
consult with DM
coordinate implementation with
performance management and other

managerial systems.
Dependent on (1).
4
Finalise monitoring tools and work instructions:

revise policies and procedures.
Dependant on (3).
5
Determine training/communication needs.

Dependent on (1).
Gain final approval for monitoring from relevant

stakeholders as per organisational policies and
procedures.
Dependent on (4).


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Action
7
Deliver required training:
Student Workbook
Responsible
Due date
SC
Jan 31
SC, CA
Feb 15
SC,CA
April 1
SC, CA
April 14
SC, CA, SM
April 21
SC
April 31
using sustainability tools and techniques

integration of monitoring with job roles.
Dependent on (6).
8
Deliver quarterly customer satisfaction

(sustainability) survey.
Dependent on (7).
Collect and assess sustainability information:

survey data
customer feedback.
Dependent on (8).
10
Report results of analysis to senior management.

Dependent on (9).
11
Senior management consultation on continuous

improvement:
changes/improvements to sustainability
strategies
changes/improvements to monitoring.
Dependant on (10).
12
Communicate to relevant stakeholders:

changes/improvements to sustainability
strategies
changes/improvements to monitoring.
Dependent on (11).
Before implementing the action plan, ensure that you seek feedback from relevant
stakeholders (to review information about gathering feedback, see page 49). Stakeholder
feedback may alert you to issues that will affect implementation and provide you with
information that can improve implementation.
Continuous improvement
What is continuous improvement?
Continuous improvement is a systematic approach to making things better which helps to
maintain the quality workplace standards and systems.

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Continuous improvement is something that people naturally do. For example, some of us
tinker with our cars to try and improve performance and handling, some people
experiment with the soil in our gardens to grow better roses. While many people do this in
their personal life, continuous improvement needs to be managed in the work
environment.
Continuous improvement is achieved through:
a formal Plan-Do-Check-Act process (the same process that was introduced on
page 25)
regular review of work tasks and results to determine if:
the process could be more efficient

there are new products/equipment that could improve the process
the tasks are achieving associated efficiency targets
a system to collect and analyse improvement suggestions from customers,
suppliers and employees

a formal document/record management system.
Improving sustainability as a team

So far we have considered what your responsibilities are in relation to gathering
information, setting targets and implementing improvement plans. However, your
organisation will have greater ability to make sustainability improvements if everyone is
involved in making improvements. Part of your role in implementing and monitoring
sustainable work practices is to support employees to contribute to sustainable work
practices.
Workplace culture can often create invisible barriers. Management may ensure that they
have the correct policies and procedures laid out, but if these are not translated into
workplace actions, a culture of acceptance of negative practices may grow. This will make
people reluctant to make recommendations and put forward suggestions for fear of being
ridiculed or excluded.
One of the best ways to prevent this happening is to encourage open communication. By
providing many opportunities for employees to participate in conversations, processes
and decisions, you are encouraging and supporting employee contributions.
Communication with a team has been discussed earlier in this workbook, you may want
to review this material, starting on page 45.
Another way to support team members to identify possible areas for improvement is by
formalising opportunities for making recommendations. This could take the form of
holding meetings dedicated to brainstorming improvement opportunities, or installing a
suggestions box or online forum to encourage employees to share their ideas.
Section summary
You should now understand how to investigate and determine best practice standards,
set efficiency targets and implement sustainable work practices.

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Further reading
Chang, R., 2004, Continuous process improvement: a practical guide to improving
processes for measurable results (quality improvement series), Jossey-Bass

Pfeiffer, San Francisco.

Grazier, P., Employee involvement what I wish I knew 20 years ago (part III),
Team Builders Plus, viewed April 2015,

<http://teambuildinginc.com/article_ei_20years_part3.htm>.
Section checklist
source and use techniques to assist in implementing targets
develop an implementation plan
apply continuous improvement strategies
support team members to identify improvement opportunities
implement costing strategies.

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Section 5 Monitor and Evaluate Performance
Section 5 Monitor and Evaluate

Performance
The key to any business is consistency: of process, and of products and services. It is the
same with sustainability. It is important to follow through on the plan: to monitor progress,
evaluate effectiveness and ensure we are doing what we said we would. This section
looks at monitoring and evaluating the efficiency targets and implementation plan for
improving sustainability.
Scenario: Evaluating Planting People
Now that Annette has set efficiency targets and
implemented some strategies to increase resource
efficiency at Planting People, she needs to check if Planting
People is on track to meet the targets. She also needs to
think about why they are or arent on track so that she can
modify her strategies or the targets.
She will read the meters to determine if there is at least a
10% reduction in electricity and 15% in water. Last year,
Planting People ordered 17 reams of paper, so Annette will
keep track of the stationery order to measure their paper
use, which should not exceed 15 reams if they are to decrease their use by 10%.
Annette has gotten approval from the Planting People owners to throw a small
celebration if they meet all their targets by the end of the year. Annette hopes that
knowledge of the celebration will motivate employees to stick to the new targets and
processes and also reward their teamwork if they succeed at the end.

In order to effectively implement sustainable work practices you must be able to:
evaluate strategies, improvement plans and performance against targets
communicate outcomes
promote successful achievement of targets.


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Monitor performance
What to monitor
The AS/NZS ISO 14001:2004 Standard on environmental management systems states
that an organisation should establish, implement and maintain a procedure/s to monitor
and measure, on a regular basis, the key characteristics of its operations that can have a
significant environmental impact. So, broadly, operations that can have a significant
environmental impact are what should be measured and on a regular basis is when
monitoring should occur.
More specifically, monitoring operations that can have a significant impact might involve
things like:
regularly surveying customers for their opinions of your organisations sustainability
maintaining and regularly reviewing a feedback register
creating and using a continuous improvement register; regularly checking the
continuous improvement register to see what needs to change

regularly checking progress towards sustainability efficiency targets
regularly measuring and reporting on resource use
regularly measuring and reporting on waste production
checking billing statements/invoices
developing and using an audit checklist.
Learning activity: Horses for courses

There is rarely one solution that works for everything, and evaluating performance is no
different. Look at the four methods listed below and identify a performance type that
you think each method would best be used to monitor.
Monitoring method
Best used to measure or monitor
Visual counting or
calculating
Checking billing
statements/invoices
Audit checklist
Questionnaires or
surveys of staff

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You may have noticed that monitoring your performance is sometimes a case of
continuing the activities we have already covered in this workbook, such as measuring
resource use and waste production or using a continuous improvement system.
Setting efficiency targets and measuring resource use can tell you
how your organisation is operating currently
Reviewing progress and measurements can tell you how your
organisation is progressing
Evaluating progress and measurements is about determining if
anything can be done better, and how it can be done better
The more you can integrate monitoring of your action plan into daily activities, the more
effective it becomes. Small, manageable tasks done regularly are much more likely to be
completed.
How to monitor
As mentioned above, monitoring can be a case of continuing to take the same
measurements and use the same tools as have already been discussed. However, there
are also some other strategies that can be used to monitor sustainability performance.
As a manager or team leader, following a monitoring system may mean that you need to
set or negotiate performance measures and targets and observe performance of a
department or team. Performance targets are usually set using key result areas (KRAs)
and key performance indicators (KPIs). Performance targets can be set to monitor all
kinds of performance, but here will focus on the key result area of sustainability
performance.
Key performance indicators (KPIs)

A KPI is a number, percentage, or ratio that indicates some important measure of
performance for an organisation.
Targets (review SMART targets on page 63) and KPIs can be used to monitor performance
by regularly recording the results of an individual, team or department in relation to their
performance against targets.
Example: Planting Peoples Targets and KPIs
Target
KPI
Results
To decrease water
use by 10% each
year.
Water use reduces from an

average of 214 kilolitres per
month (average in 201X) to
192 kilolitres per month the
next year.
Water use for the next year

was 2,303 kilolitres; achieving
a monthly average of just
under 192 kilolitres.


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Evaluate data
You will need to carefully examine the data to discover trends and indications of
sustainability performance levels.
As part of reviewing performance, you should review actual performance compared to
performance targets (such as in the example above) and compared to competitor
performance.
Firstly, you may look at key result areas for the organisation. Look at how the organisation
is performing with respect to important goals or targets. Determine if there is a gap
between actual results and targets. You must then determine reasonable ways to close
the gap.
You should then look at benchmarking data for similar organisations. Compare the
organisations performance with the performance of other organisations. Are there areas
of relative underperformance? If there are, you should consider recommendations to
bring your organisations performance into line with industry averages. If the organisation
does not act, there is a risk the organisation will fall further behind and develop a
reputation for poor sustainability and corporate responsibility.
You can evaluate and report this information by examining the variance of actual
performance with target or benchmark performance.
Variance
Calculating variance is a useful way to determine how close you are to achieving targets,
how consistently they are being achieved and trends in performance.
Below is an example of a resource use variance report based on the Planting People
scenario. Note that the target reduces in the second year. This is because Planting
Peoples target is to reduce water use by 10% annually.
Resource
Water (Year 1)

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Target
(kilolitres)
Actual
(kilolitres)
January
192
195
+3
+1.6%
February
192
194
+2
+1.0%
March
192
192
0.0%
April
192
190
1.0%
May
192
189
1.6%
June
192
185
3.6%
July
192
188
2.0%
August
192
183
5.0%
September
192
180
12
6.0%
October
192
185
+3.6%
November
192
189
1.6%
December
192
189
1.0%
Month
Kilolitre
variance
% Variance

Student Workbook
Target
(kilolitres)
Actual
(kilolitres)
January
174
190
+16
+9.2%
February
174
180
+6
+3.4%
March
174
176
+2
+1.1%
April
174
170
2.3%
May
174
160
14
8.0%
June
174
172
1.1%
July
174
169
2.9%
August
174
170
2.3%
September
174
173
0.6%
October
174
173
0.6%
November
174
176
+2
+1.1%
December
174
178
+4
+2.3%
Resource
Water (Year 2)
Month
Kilolitre
variance
% Variance
Variance is commonly measured in two ways:

The size of the variance in the units of measurement (in the example above, the
size of the variance in kilolitres).

The percentage analysis, where the absolute size of the variance is divided by the
target amount. The percentage analysis allows for performance comparison across
the organisation, particularly when comparing operations of unequal size.
Variation chart
A useful way of presenting performance information is by creating a variation chart. Such
a chart is often used to supplement a variance report. Using these charts allows a viewer
to more easily identify and highlight trends.
Below is an example of a variation chart using the water use variation report above.
Water use
Kilolotres used
205
Year 1
Year 2
185
Target
165
145
January
Actual
June
January
June

December

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This chart shows that variance tends to be favourable in the periods between May and
August and unfavourable around December and January; demonstrating a seasonal
pattern in water use. It would probably be more useful in future years for Planting People
to adjust their targets to reflect seasonal water requirements.
Recording and presenting data

You will have to document and communicate outcomes once you have completed
monitoring. Presenting the outcomes could take several forms, including:
creating an electronic document that can be accessed by managers and other staff
making a formal presentation to a board of directors or your manager
updating your co-workers during a team meeting.
Communicating outcomes is essential if you want the momentum of your program to

continue. The people on your team need to know that their efforts are achieving
something. Do not wait until your whole plan is completed before letting people know
let them walk the process through. One small step achieved gives motivation for the next
one.
Reporting your progress to management is important. Your communication should link
initiatives to the objectives you identified, and demonstrate the benefit to the
organisation.
To communicate data in a way that will promote understanding among stakeholders, you
should develop skills to present data effectively. There are many variations on how to
present data, and organisations all have different ways of presenting data, but your job
will be to determine how to present the data so that it quickly and clearly conveys relevant
trends.
For example, compare the information in the following two charts. These charts both show
sales data from the same company. Which chart provides you with more information?
What can you learn from each chart?
Product sales
1800
1600
1400
1200
1000
800
600
400
200
0
JUL AUG SEPT OCT NOV DEC JAN

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Product sales
1600
1400
1200
1000
800
Renewable or recyclable
products
600
Non-renewable or nonrecyclable products
400
200
0
JUL AUG SEPT OCT NOV DEC JAN FEB MAR APR MAY JUN
The first chart shows that total sales are trending upwards for the year. This information
may be helpful for a manager or finance officer who wants to quickly determine how well
products are selling.
The second chart shows that while sales are increasing generally, consumers are moving
towards buying more sustainable products and sales of non-recyclable and nonrenewable products are decreasing. This information shows how consumers are making
choices around buying more sustainable products.
It is important to present data in a clear way and in a way that will help stakeholders
understand what the data shows. You may have to present information differently
depending on who will see it. For example, you may be able to present complicated
information to management because they are more familiar with the processes involved
in the running of the company. At a team meeting with new recruits, you might have to
break that same information up into several charts so that you dont overwhelm them
with unfamiliar information.
Learning activity: Sustainability reports
Look at a sustainability report produced by IKEA in 2012 or more recently.
Tip: Search online for IKEA sustainability report.
What percentage of IKEAs materials are renewable, recyclable or recycled?


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How was this information presented?
Where was most of IKEAs waste generated?
How was this information presented?
Did you find IKEAs sustainability report easy to understand? Why/why not?
Did this report give you any ideas on how to present information so it is easy to
understand for a reader?
Find two more sustainability reports (or annual reports with sustainability information)
produced by other organisations.
Review targets and strategies

Promote strategies
There are a number of principles of adult learning that can be helpful to understand when
implementing new work practices. Some of the principles of adult learning are:

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Adults have a range of

life experience and
connecting learning to
experience is meaningful
Adults need to know

why they are learning
something
Adults need to
be respected
Adults prefer
learning to be
relevant and practical
The implication of these adult learning principles when you are making changes in the
workplace are that you should:
Involve employees in the process of identifying resource efficiency

improvements
Involve employees in consultation with others (including yourself)

where appropriate
Help employees to evaluate their own performance towards

targets
Think of ways that will ensure that employees will understand the
impact of changes on the business and on the environment
Encourage employees to research environmental issues
Develop an atmosphere where employees feel respected
Acknowledge good performance


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Make sure you promote and celebrate the successes in your workplace. Reward is an
incredible incentive, and you should acknowledge the efforts of individuals or teams in
working towards targets. This will create a great incentive to participate and keep
pursuing the targets outlined in your plan. Your successes as an organisation can also
assist you in marketing and networking with other organisations.
Learning activity: Spread the news
An office team has taken your Go Green campaign to heart, and the latest electricity bill
for their area is 18% down on the same period last quarter. What suggestions do you
have when your supervisor asks you How are we going to spread this good news?
Name three ways you could promote this success.
1.
2.
3.
Section summary
You should now understand how to investigate and determine best practice standards,
set efficiency targets and implement sustainable work practices.
Further reading

<http://www.nrm.gov.au/funding/previous/meri/index.html>.
Swallow, L., 2009, Green business practices for dummies, Wiley Publishing Inc,
USA.

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Section checklist
evaluate strategies, improvement plans and performance against targets
communicate outcomes
promote successful achievement of targets.


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Glossary
Student Workbook
Glossary
Term
Definition
Action plan
A list of specific actions, associated costs, responsibilities,

timeframes, etc.
Benchmark
A point of reference from which measurements may be made; a

basis for evaluation or comparison.
Best practice
A set of guidelines, ethics or ideas that represent the most

efficient or prudent course of action.
Environmental
management
system (EMS)
The broad approach that an organisation uses to manage its

impact on the environment. The system is decided on by top
level management and then set out in policies, procedures and
planning documents.
Environment
Protection Authority
(EPA)
The state office in charge of protecting the environment. Except

for Queensland, each state has an EPA that upholds the states
Act for environmental protection (usually called an Environment
Protection Act).
An EPA is in charge of granting licences for activities that can
affect the environment; in charge of informing citizens and
businesses about what they can and cannot do; and fining
citizens or businesses that dont follow environmental
regulations.
Note that Queensland administers the Environment Protection
Act 1994 (Qld) through the Department of Environment and
Heritage Protection rather than through a separate EPA.
Flow restrictor
A device that restricts and concentrates water passage to limit

and divert water flow for optimum use.
Greenhouse gas
Natural and anthropogenic gases in the atmosphere that absorb

and emit infrared or heat radiation, causing the greenhouse
effect. The main greenhouse gases are water vapour, carbon
dioxide, nitrous oxide and methane.
ISO standards
The International Organisation for Standardisation (known as

ISO) develops and promotes internationally consistent
standards. Many Australian Standards are based on ISO
standards.
Legislation
A collection of laws. Australian legislation, for example, refers to

the group of laws that apply in Australia.

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Student Workbook
Glossary
Term
Definition
Process
A series of steps used to achieve an end goal. For example,

washing dishes is a process that involves: collecting dishes,
filling the sink, washing dishes, rinsing dishes and drying the
dishes.
Resource
Something that gets used to complete a task. At work, this is

something that you or your organisation needs to make a
product or run the workplace. This includes everything from raw
materials to electricity for lights and the stationery used in the
office.
Scope
The extent of an area or subject. A project or policys scope

refers to what and who will be impacted by its application.
Stakeholders
People, departments or organisations who are impacted by

events, products and decisions that are developed by the
organisation.
Sustainability
Applying policies, principles or management strategies to secure

the continuity of economic, social, governmental and
environmental aspects of human society, and the environment.
While it preserves biodiversity and ecosystems, sustainable
living enables people and economies to meet their needs and
express their greatest potential in the present, while planning
and acting to maintain these ideals in the very long term.
Whole-of-life costing
Spreading the initial cost of a product across its expected life

(how long the product is expected to last for).


Page 89 of 97
Answers to selected learning activities
Student Workbook

Learning activity: Water recycling technology
Watch the video BSBSUS301A: Water recycling technology on IBSAs YouTube channel
at <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=czguh4KgErA>.
List three kinds of businesses that could benefit from such water recycling technology.
The kinds of businesses that could benefit most from such water recycling technology
could be businesses that require material to be washed or cleaned such as a car wash,
the hospitality industry such as a hotel, or a sporting club that uses extensive areas of
grass such as a golf course or football ground
Describe how recycling grey water or capturing rain water could help one of these
businesses.
New Water recycling systems could be installed at points around a golf course to
enable collected water to be used for the watering of the course. The water could also
be treated to clean the course and provide water for washing hands and flushing
toilets.
Learning activity: Water use at Planting People

Annette has been investigating the water use at Planting People. She has been reading
the water meter for the last eight months and she has recorded the following water use
for each month.
May: 197,000 litres
September: 218,000 litres
June: 193,000 litres
October: 231,000 litres
July: 203,000 litres
November: 228,000 litres
August: 210,000 litres
December: 232,000 litres
The water company charges $2 per kilolitre of water used by Planting People. Write how
many kilolitres are being used each month and the cost. Note: There are 1,000 litres in
a kilolitre. May has been filled out for you.
May:
September:
June:
October:
July:
November:
August:
December:

Page 90 of 97

Student Workbook
Calculate the average monthly use of water (in kilolitres):

197 + 193 + 203 + 210 + 218 + 231 + 228 + 232 = 1,712 kilolitres
1,712 / 8 = 214 kilolitres per month
Calculate the average monthly cost of water used:
214 kilolitres x $2 = $428 per month.


Page 91 of 97
Appendices
Student Workbook
Appendices
Appendix 1: Example procurement policy and
procedures
BBQfun Procurement Policy
Purpose
The purpose of this policy is to ensure the acquisition of

resources is carried out consistently, fairly and transparently and
in accordance with organisational requirements.
Scope
The scope of this policy covers the purchasing and acquisition of

resources by employees and contractors of BBQfun.
Resources
Specific principles for the implementation of this policy are

available below.
Responsibility
Responsibility for the implementation of this policy rests with

employees and management of BBQfun with responsibility for
purchasing resources.
Relevant
legislation, etc.
Privacy Act 1988 (Cwlth)

Anti-Discrimination Act 1991 (Queensland)
Australian Securities and Investments Commission Act
2001 (Cwlth)
Corporations Act 2001 (Cwlth)
A New Tax System (Goods and Services Tax Administration)
Act 1999 (Cwlth)

A New Tax System (Goods and Services Tax) Act 1999
(Cwlth)
Income Tax Assessment Act 1997 (Cwlth)
Fair Work Act 2009 (Cwlth).
AS ISO 15489: 2002 Records management
Updated/
authorised

Page 92 of 97
6/2012 Riz Mehra, CFO

Student Workbook
Appendices
Principles governing procurement process

1. Probity and ethical behaviour
The principle of probity and ethical behaviour governs the conduct of all procurement
activities. Employees who have authority to procure goods and services must comply with
the standards of integrity, probity, professional conduct and ethical behaviour. Employees
or directors must not seek to benefit from supplier practices that may be dishonest or
unethical.
2. Value for money

Value for money is the core principle underpinning procurement. Contracted
organisations must be cost effective and efficient in the use of resources while upholding
the highest standards of probity and integrity. In general, a competitive process carried
out in an open, objective and transparent manner can achieve best value for money in
procurement.
3. Non-discrimination
This procurement policy is non-discriminatory. All potential contracted suppliers should
have the same opportunities to compete for business and must be treated equitably
based on their suitability for the intended purpose.
4. Risk management
Risk management involves the systematic identification, analysis, treatment and, where
possible, the implementation of appropriate risk-mitigation strategies. It is integral to
efficiency and effectiveness to proactively identify, evaluate, and manage risks arising out
of procurement related activities. The risks associated with procurement activities must
be managed in accordance with the organisations Risk Management Policy.
5. Responsible financial management

The principle of responsible financial management must be applied to all procurement
activities. Factors that must be considered include:
a. the availability of funds within an existing approved budget
b. staff approving the expenditure of funds strictly within their delegations
c. measures to contain costs of the procurement without compromising any
procurement principles.
6. Procurement planning
In order to achieve value for money, each procurement process must be well planned and
conducted in accordance with the principles contained in this document and comply with
all of the organisations policies and relevant legal and regulatory requirements.
When planning appropriate procurement processes, consideration should be given to
adopting an approach that:
a. encourages competition
b. ensures that rules do not operate to limit competition by discriminating against
particular suppliers


Page 93 of 97
Appendices
Student Workbook
c. recognises any industry regulation and licensing requirements

d. secures and maintains contractual and related documentation for the procurement
which best protects the organisation
e. complies with the organisations Delegations Policy.
7. Buy Australian made/support for Australian industry

Employees who are involved in procurement activities must make a conscious effort to
maximise opportunities for Australian manufacturers and suppliers to provide products
where there is practicable and economic value. In making a value for money judgement
between locally made and overseas-sourced goods, employees are to take into account:
a. whole-of-life costs associated with the good or service
b. that the initial purchase price may not be a reliable indicator of value
c. the quality of locally made products
d. the record of performance and delivery of local suppliers
e. the flexibility, convenience and capacity of local suppliers for follow-on orders
f.
the scope for improvements to the goods and add-ons from local industry.
8. Pre-registered list of preferred suppliers

BBQfun shall maintain a pre-registered list of preferred suppliers, following a request for
expressions of interest and an evaluation of the submissions. Suppliers can request to be
evaluated for inclusion on the existing pre-register list at any time.
All purchases under $5,000 may be made from preferred suppliers without undertaking a
competitive process. Purchases above $5,000 where a preferred supplier exists should
include a competitive process if practicable.
This list is reviewed at regular intervals with admission of interested parties on a rolling
basis. Care should be taken to ensure that such lists are used in an open and
non-discriminatory manner. BBQfun encourages new contractors to provide information
on their experience, expertise, capabilities, pricing, fees, and current availability. It is in
the interest of the organisation that the pool of potential suppliers is actively maintained
and updated. Employees should be encouraged to provide reports of their experiences in
working with each contractor/consultant to assist future decisions concerning
commissioning suitable contractors and consultants.
9. Avoid conflict of interest

Employees and directors are required to be free of interests or relationships in all aspects
of the procurement process.
Employees and directors are not permitted to personally gain from any aspect of a
procurement process.
Employees and directors shall ensure that, to the best of their knowledge, information
and belief, that at the date of engaging a contractor no conflict of interest exists or is
likely to arise in the performance of the contractors obligations under their contract.
Should employees or directors become aware of potential conflicts of interest during the
contract period, they must advise the CEO and Board of Directors immediately.

Page 94 of 97

Student Workbook
Appendices
Prior to any situation arising with potential for a conflict of interest, complete disclosure
shall be made to the CEO and Board of Directors to allow sufficient time for a review.
10. Report collusive tendering

Employees should be aware of anti-competitive practices, such as collusive tendering. Any
evidence of suspected collusion in tendering should be brought to the attention of the
CEO and Board of Directors.
11. Competitive process

It is a basic principle of procurement that a competitive process should be used unless
there are justifiable circumstances. For purchases under $5,000, the list of preferred
suppliers may be used. The type of competitive process can vary depending on the size
and characteristics of the contract to be awarded.
12. Direct invitation (selective or restricted tendering)

A process of direct sourcing to tender may be used. This may involve:
a. an invitation to organisations deemed appropriately qualified for a particular
product or service (this may be appropriate for specialised requirements in markets
where there is a limited number of suppliers or service providers)
b. an invitation to tender to organisations on BBQfuns pre-registered list of preferred
suppliers, if applicable.
13. Evaluation and contract award

For projects being awarded, consideration will be given not only to the most economically
advantageous tender, but also to the track record of the tender respondent and the
degree of confidence that the panel has in the quality if the bid. It will be the normal
practice to have the evaluation of tenders carried out by a team with the requisite
competency.
14. Results of tendering process

All tender respondents should be informed in writing of the result of a tendering process
immediately after a contract has been awarded.


Page 95 of 97
Appendices
Student Workbook
Appendix 2: Sustainability impact assessment

Product or process: .....................................................................................................................................................................................................
Areas of
impact
Aspects for
consideration
Raw materials
Product design
Manufacture
and packaging
Storage and
distribution
Use/
maintenance
End-of-life
management
Climate change
Energy
Water use and quality
Waste
Toxic substance/ pollutants
Resource use and intensity

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Student Workbook
Appendices
Appendix 3: Efficiency targets template

Action
Potential opportunity
Estimated saving
Capital cost
Payback
period
Switch off computer

terminals at night
Reduces energy use

overnight
32 work stations x $95 ~

$3,000 (according to
ecoBiz)
Nil
N/A

Target
Target date
95% of computers
switched off overnight
when audited
2 months

Page 97 of 97
Student Workbook
BSBADM311 Maintain business resources

1st Edition 2015
Part of a suite of support materials for the
BSB Business Services Training Package
Acknowledgement
Innovation and Business Industry Skills Council (IBSA) would like to acknowledge
HASCOM Pty Ltd for their assistance with the development of the resource for
BSBADM311A.
BSBADM311A writer: Kensington Budgewater
Revised by IBSA for BSBADM311 (2015)
Copyright and Trade Mark Statement
All rights reserved. Apart from any use permitted under the Copyright Act 1968, no part of this publication may be
reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying,
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Use of this work for purposes other than those indicated above, requires the prior written permission of IBSA. Requests
should be addressed to Product Development Manager, IBSA, Level 11, 176 Wellington Pde East Melbourne VIC 3002 or
email [email protected].
Innovation and Business Skills Australia, IBSA and the IBSA logo are trade marks of IBSA.
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arrangement, then the liability of IBSA, and the purchasers sole remedy, for a breach of the term or condition is limited, at
IBSAs option, to any one of the following, as applicable:
(a)
if the breach relates to goods: (i) repairing; (ii) replacing; or (iii) paying the cost of repairing or replacing, the goods; or
(b)
if the breach relates to services: (i) re-supplying; or (ii) paying the cost of re-supplying, the services.
Published by: Innovation and Business

Industry Skills Council Ltd
Level 11
176 Wellington Parade
East Melbourne VIC 3002
Phone: +61 3 9815 7000
Fax: +61 3 9815 7001
Email: [email protected]
www.ibsa.org.au
ISBN: 978-1-925328-50-9
Stock code: BSBADM3111D
First published: June 2015

Release date: June 2015
Table of Contents
Getting Started ........................................................................................................ 1
A note on websites ............................................................................................ 1
Section 1 Introduction ......................................................................................... 2
What youll need to know ................................................................................. 2
What are business resources?......................................................................... 2
What are business processes? ........................................................................ 5
Your role in maintaining business resources .................................................. 8
The acquisition process .................................................................................... 9
The ordering process ..................................................................................... 10
Terminology and jargon ................................................................................. 10
Section summary ........................................................................................... 13
Section 2 Advise on Resource Needs ............................................................. 14
What skills will you need? ............................................................................. 14
Find out your organisations resource needs ............................................... 15
Estimating future resource needs ................................................................ 23
Giving clear, concise and relevant advice .................................................... 24
Provide information to help the decision maker .......................................... 27
What if?........................................................................................................... 31
Section summary ........................................................................................... 33
Section checklist ............................................................................................ 34
Section 3 Monitor Resource Usage ................................................................. 35
What is monitoring? ....................................................................................... 35
Handle resources safely and effectively....................................................... 36
Maintenance .................................................................................................. 39
Use business technology to monitor usage ................................................. 43
Consulting with others ................................................................................... 46
Policies for controlling resource use............................................................. 47
Budget variances ........................................................................................... 48
Section summary ........................................................................................... 49
Section 4 Acquire Resources ........................................................................... 51
Key concepts .................................................................................................. 51
Order and store resources............................................................................. 56
Getting resources when you need them....................................................... 58

Keep improving .............................................................................................. 62
Section summary ........................................................................................... 64
Further reading............................................................................................... 65
Appendices ........................................................................................................... 66
Appendix 1: Plan template ............................................................................ 66
Appendix 2: Budget template ........................................................................ 67
Appendix 3: Purchasing policy and procedure ............................................. 68
Appendix 4: Organisational chart and contact list ....................................... 70
Appendix 5: Filing policy and procedure....................................................... 71

Student Workbook
Getting Started
Getting Started
Every organisation needs resources to conduct its operations and the resource
needs of different types of organisations can vary greatly. For example, think of
the resources that large steel company needs as compared to a small software
company.
The resources vary in type, complexity and amount required, just to name a few
differences.
However, regardless of the type of organisation that you are working for, the
processes around maintaining business resources are usually very similar.
You may be undertaking this unit because you:
are new to the workplace
want to develop some new skills
have been out of work for a while.
Regardless of your goals or your work history, this material will guide you through
a learning process so that you will be able to:
advise on resource requirements
monitor resource use
acquire resources.
Note: While this unit starts with a broad definition of resources in a business
context, overall the focus of this Workbook is on materials and capital resources
(equipment, tools, raw materials, consumables). Financial and human resources
are addressed in detail in other units.
This focus on material and capital resources is appropriate for the role of a person
working in general administration in a workplace.
A note on websites
Please note that any URLs contained in the recommended reading, learning
content and learning activities of this publication were checked for currency
during the production process. Note, however, that IBSA cannot vouch for the
ongoing currency of URLs.
Every endeavour has been made to provide a full reference for all web links.
Where URLs are not current we recommend using the reference information
provided to search for the source in your chosen search engine.


Page 1 of 71
Section 1 Introduction
Student Workbook
Scenario: What do you mean business resources
Robert just started work at a small IT firm. Its his first
full-time job and he is working in an office
administration role.
Its his first week and he is feeling a bit overwhelmed
and suffering from information overload. Everyone
seems to be asking him to get things for them and he
doesnt know where to start.
IT people seem to talk in jargon half the time. He doesnt know what they are
asking him since they are using terms like: Capital expenditure, resources,
assets, budgets and a lot of other jargon. Robert wishes that theyd just speak
in plain English.
Since that isnt going to happen, he has to develop an understanding of the
jargon and the business processes and what is expected of him before he can
do anything.
What youll need to know

This unit covers a wide range of concepts. You will need to establish an
understanding of some of the key concepts.
These are:
What are business resources?
What are business processes?
your role in maintaining business resources
the acquisition process
the ordering process
where to go if you get stuck with terminology or jargon.

What do we mean when we talk about business resources?
A resource is an economic or productive factor required to accomplish an activity,
or as means to undertake an enterprise and achieve desired outcome. Three
most basic resources are land, labour, and capital; other resources include
energy, entrepreneurship, information, know how, management, and time. 1
1 Resource, Business Dictionary, viewed June 2015,

<http://www.businessdictionary.com/definition/resource.html>.

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Student Workbook
Business resources can include anything that is required to conduct the activities
of the business. Most definitions of business resources include the following
categories:
human resources
material resources
financial resources
capital resources
miscellaneous resources. 2
Human resources
It takes people to run a business and you will find human resources in every type
of organisation. In order to deliver a product or service to your customers, an
organisation may require:
employees
contractors.
Material resources
Most organisations require some form of material resources to operate. Material
resources are the resources that you get from suppliers and find in:
warehouses
storerooms
supply cupboards.
The need for material resources will vary depending on the type of organisation.
For example, material resource needs in the manufacturing industry greatly
outweigh material resources used by software firms.
Financial resources
It probably goes without saying that financial resources are another type of
resource required by organisations. Financial resources are needed to pay for the
operations of the business. As a result, an organisation may also need to:
manage loans or investments
maintain bank accounts
collect money owed
monitor cash flow.
Capital resources
Capital resources are the physical resources that are required by businesses to
create products or services. Capital resources include things like:
equipment and tools

vehicles
facilities
land.
Anandarajah, Aseervatham & Reid 2004, Prepare and Manage Budgets and Financial Plans, pp. 57-61.


Page 3 of 71
Student Workbook
These resources used to create products and services but are not part of the
products or services themselves.
Miscellaneous resources
Miscellaneous resources are everything else. They can include things such as:
insurances
rented equipment
rented space.
Learning activity: Setting up a t-shirt company

Lets suppose that you were going to start up a t-shirt company. Give some
thought to the kinds of material and capital resources that you would need to do
this.
You might want to do some internet or YouTube research to help you out. Try
searching on YouTube <http://www.youtube.com> for:
t-shirt making
screen printing process.
What resources are needed?

There are many different types of organisations and they have different processes
to create their products and services. The resources required by these
organisations depend on the industry sector and specific processes of the
organisation.
Tip: Organisational requirements
Organisational requirements for resources will vary depending on the type of
organisation. Keep in mind, your role may vary considerably depending on the
type of organisation that you work in.
There are four main sectors in most economies:
Primary: Mining and farming.
Secondary: Construction, manufacturing, processing.
Tertiary: Service industries such as legal and healthcare.
Quaternary: Knowledge industries such as designers, researchers,

software developers.

Page 4 of 71

Student Workbook
Learning activity: Compare industries and resources

Think about the resource needs of the different industries types listed in the
table below. Rate the relative importance of the different resource types to that
industry on a scale of 1 to 5 (1 being unimportant, 5 being very important).
Compare and discuss your conclusions with your fellow learners.
Human
Material
Financial
Capital
Misc.
Primary
Secondary
Tertiary
Quaternary

We have looked at types of resources (material, capital, and so on), and at the
different types of industries that use these resources.
Business processes
You probably have heard people talk about processes. You may hear things like
we have an internal process for that or that will take a few days to process.
Business processes are a series of logically related activities or tasks (such as
planning, production, sales) performed together to produce a defined set of
results. 3
A business is only as good as its processes. If the processes are inefficient at
producing the desired results, or if people execute them inefficiently or incorrectly,
the business will perform poorly.
Tip: Think in terms of processes
When maintaining business resources in a workplace, it will help you to
understand and think in terms of processes. You need to ensure that you:
understand processes
know how to implement processes
follow processes.
If you dont do this to the standard required by the workplace, the business will
suffer.
3 Business processes, Business Dictionary, viewed June 2015,

<http://www.businessdictionary.com/definition/business-process.html>.


Page 5 of 71
Student Workbook
A business model
It also helps to think of a business as a collection of processes that transforms
inputs into outputs.
This makes some sense since all businesses exist to deliver products or services
to customers, and all businesses have processes for transforming inputs into
these products or services.
For example, imagine a coffee shop. At the coffee shop, theyll obviously make
coffee and tea. Lets think about the process of coffee making for a moment.
If we categorise the resources that we need by resources needed for inputs,

transformation and outputs, we might get something like the following.
Inputs
Transform
Outputs
coffee beans
coffee machine
latte
milk
electricity
flat white
water
baristas (people)
long black
sugar
Looking at this table, you can see that:
The outputs are the products expected by the customers.
The inputs are (mostly) your material resources.
The transformation is achieved by capital resources (with some help from

human resources).

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Student Workbook
Tip: Your role

Your role in the coffee making example above might include:
monitoring supply of material resources
ordering/re-ordering material resources
maintaining capital resources and consumables (cleaning equipment,

filters, organising servicing).
Complete the following activities and identify some of the resources that might be
required in each of the examples. Give thought to the types of resources that will
be required at each step:
human resources
material resources
financial resources
capital resources
miscellaneous resources.
Compare the three examples and consider how the types of resources required by
each kind of industry differ and what your role might be in maintaining these
business resources.
Learning activity: Manufacturing resources
Paul works in a large foundry in regional Queensland that specialises in ferrous
(steel and iron) castings.
Do some internet research on foundries and list the types of resources that
you might have to supply and maintain for this business.
Inputs
Transform

Outputs

Page 7 of 71
Student Workbook
Learning activity: IT resources

Suleiman works as a programmer in a small but busy web design firm. This
company designs websites but also provides web hosting through their own
servers.
Do some internet research on software companies and list the resources that
you might have to supply and maintain for this business.
Inputs
Transform
Outputs
Learning activity: Building office resources

Mary works in the office of a building firm. They build kit homes. There are two
draftsmen in the office and a number of project managers on-site. The project
managers require vehicles and are given a petrol allowance.
List the types of equipment that you might have to supply and maintain for this
business.
Inputs
Transform
Outputs
Your role in maintaining business resources

You will find that maintaining business resources will be a key part of your job
role. In the past, responsibilities for business resources may have rested with the
purchasing department or the office manager.
However, in the modern workplace, none of us can escape this responsibility. It
doesnt matter what organisation or department you plan to work in. Most job
roles now require you to provide advice, conduct research and select business
resources.

Page 8 of 71

Student Workbook
Learning activity: Review some job roles

Go to an online employment website like SEEK <http://www.seek.com.au> and
search for some job descriptions in your chosen area of work.
Identify tasks or responsibilities in the job description that will require you to
advise about, monitor or acquire resources.
The acquisition process

The acquisition of new business resources must also follow processes. You will
find that many organisations have policies and procedures that guide these
processes and that you will be expected to follow them.
For example, what about when you need new equipment or tools? Usually, you
cant just go and buy them. Acquisition/procurement processes tend to follow this
general model:
information gathering
usage and maintenance
review and analysis
disposal and renewal.
acquisition/procurement
Learning activity: Buying a new mobile phone

Consider the acquisition process outlined above, identify the things that you
would do at each step of the acquisition process if you were to purchase a new
mobile phone for yourself or a business that you work for. Consider how
following an acquisition procedure ensures that:
good decisions are made
organisational and legal requirements are met.


Page 9 of 71
Student Workbook
The ordering process

Consider when you need to get more material resources (supplies or raw
materials). Ordering these follows a standard process as well. This usually
includes the following steps:
identify suppliers
evaluate suppliers
order goods
receive and check goods.
Learning activity: Getting more stationery

Following the steps outlined above, identify the things that you would do at each
step of the ordering process if you to purchase more stationery supplies.
Terminology and jargon

Business is full of jargon and terminology. In many cases, jargon is hard to avoid.
Fortunately, these days, when we get overwhelmed by jargon, we have the
internet to get our questions answered.
You may need to investigate some of the key terms and definitions related to
resources in more detail.

Page 10 of 71

Student Workbook
Learning activity: Some definitions

Some key definitions that relate to business resources are listed below.
Look these up on:
Business Dictionary, <http://www.businessdictionary.com>.
Google, <http://www.google.com>.
Wikipedia, <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Main_Page>.
And develop your own definitions and understanding of them.
resources
inventory
capital equipment
goods
supplies
consumables
stock
assets.
You may want to discuss these terms with you fellow learners or colleagues.


Page 11 of 71
Student Workbook
Example: Resources vs. Assets

You have probably heard the term assets used interchangeably with resources.
So whats the difference?
Asset is an accounting term that has to do with the value of the resource to the
business. Consider the following definitions for asset.
From Business Dictionary, an asset is:
Something valuable that an entity owns, benefits from, or has use of,
in generating income. In accounting, an asset is something an entity
has acquired or purchased, and which has money value (its cost, book
value, market value, or residual value).
An asset can be (1) something physical, such as cash, machinery,
inventory, land and building, (2) an enforceable claim against others,
such as accounts receivable, (3) right, such as copyright, patent,
trademark, or (4) an assumption, such as goodwill. 4
You will find that in the workplace, you need to get information from financial
documents such as asset registers and budgets.
Tip: Fixed Asset Register
From Wikipedia:
Fixed Assets are assets such as land, machines, office equipment,
buildings, patents, trademarks, copyrights, etc., held for the purpose of
production of goods or rendering of services and are not held for the
purpose of sale in the ordinary course of business.
A Fixed Asset Register (FAR) must be kept in order to be in compliance with
legislation governing corporations, companies, etc. It allows a company to
keep track of details of each fixed asset, ensuring control and preventing
misappropriation of assets. It also keeps track of the correct value of
assets, which allows for computation of depreciation and for tax and
insurance purposes. 5
4 Asset, Business Dictionary, viewed June 2015,

<http://www.businessdictionary.com/definition/asset.html>.
Fixed assets register, Wikipedia, viewed June 2015,

<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fixed_Assets_Register>.

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Section summary
This section introduced you to:
your role in maintaining business resources
the acquisition process
the ordering process
where to go if you get stuck with terminology or jargon.
So, do you know what would you do if your boss needed advice on what
photocopier they should purchase?
The next section addresses the topic of advising on resource requirements.


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Section 2 Advise on Resource Needs
Student Workbook

In the workplace, anyone may be called upon to provide advice on resources. You
may be asked to help because you have specific or expert knowledge of the
resource, or you may operate in an area that uses that resource, or it may be that
your manager just needs someone to do the research.
Scenario: Getting a new photocopier?
Roberts manager has just asked him to look into
getting a new photocopier for their busy IT firm. Robert
thought that this was going to be a pretty easy job.
However, once he started investigating, he found that
there are a lot of things to consider.
Digital or analog?
Features required: Faxing, scanning, collating, stapling?
Volume of work?
Speed (pages per minute), resolution and capacity?
Sizes and types of paper?
Purchase or lease?
Support and maintenance contracts.
And also, the photocopier is a high profile piece of equipment in his

organisation. Everyone seems to use it daily for photocopying, printing, scanning
and faxing.
If he advises wrongly, its going to cost the company money, and maybe cost
Robert his reputation!

In order to advise on resource requirements, you must be able to:
calculate estimates of future and present business resource needs in

accordance with organisational requirements
ensure advice is clear, concise and relevant to achievement of

organisational requirements
provide information on the most economical and effective choice of

equipment, materials and suppliers
identify resource shortages and possible impact on operations.

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Find out your organisations resource needs

If you havent worked in a business before, determining what resources the
organisation needs might seem pretty daunting! However, there are lots of
sources of information that can help you. These include:
Documents there are many different types of workplace documents that

may contain information on resource needs.
Systems workplaces have database systems such as inventory systems.
People if information isnt recorded, you can always as someone who

knows.
Research techniques finally, if neither of those work, there are different

techniques that you can follow to get the information that you need.
Documents that can help you

Modern organisations produce a lot of documents. Some of these documents you
will find quite useful for determining the resource requirements of the
organisation. These include:
business plans
strategic, tactical or operational plans
goals and objectives
action plans and project plans
performance plans
budgets
manufacturer specifications
operator manuals.
While you may use any of the documents listed above and other documents not
listed, the key documents that you are most likely to use are plans and budgets.
Plans
You are probably familiar with plans. We make plans all of the time for a range of
purposes. You plan holidays, home renovations, and family events.
All plans should contain information about:
goals
tasks
responsibilities, and
timelines.
Businesses make plans for many things. Its important! Youve probably heard the
saying:
To fail to plan is to plan to fail.


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The most common types of plans in a business context are:
strategic plans
tactical plans
operational plans
project plans
performance plans.
As a new worker, you are not very likely to be involved in strategic or tactical
plans. These are the responsibility of top level and middle managers.
Performance plans relate to individual goals and probably will not be very helpful
with resource planning.
Operational plans (for departmental or workgroup activities) and project plans (for
improvements, new products, and so on) are very likely to be useful when
identifying and planning for business resources needs.
Learning activity: Holiday part 1 The Plan
Like most of us, you probably have a destination in mind for your next holiday.
Travel goals, like business goals, require planning.
Create a plan for a holiday using the template in Appendix 1. Record your goal
and list the tasks you need to undertake to make it happen, including:
responsibilities
timelines.
Once youve done it, keep it handy, youll need it again shortly.
What are budgets?
You will have probably heard people talk about budgets. In a business
environment, every activity seems to have a budget. This makes sense because,
very simply, budgets are the quantification of plans into monetary terms 6.
Every plan has a budget
Anandarajah, Aseervatham & Reid 2004, Prepare & manage budgets and financial plans, p. 68.

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Another definition of a budget is an estimate of costs, revenues, and resources

over a specified period, reflecting a management's reading of future financial
conditions. 7
Businesses need budgets
Budgets are essential for planning and control of business operations. If you
didnt have budgets in a business, your costs would not be in control and this
could result in you (and your colleagues) being out of a job.
Some key features of budgets are:
they are related to the organisations plans
they refer to a future period
they have a defined period
they have a scope or area of responsibility. 8
Leaning activity: IT Budget
Review the budget shown above and consider:
When would this budget need to be reviewed?
Who would need to be involved in the review of this budget?
What would you do if the six desktop computers cost $1,700 each?
Budgets are a key method of control in a business. Businesses:
set goals
create plans
budget for the plans
monitor the budgets.
7 Budget, Business Dictionary, viewed June 2015,

<http://www.businessdictionary.com/definition/budget.html>.
8
Anandarajah, Aseervatham & Reid 2004, Prepare and Manage Budgets and Financial Plans, pp. 69-70.


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Learning activity: Holiday part 2 The Budget

In a previous learning activity, you developed a plan for a holiday. Now, create a
budget for that holiday using the template in Appendix 2.
Be sure to review your plan carefully, and make sure that you budget for
everything that you need for your holiday. Consider:
Who would you review your plan and budget with?
How does reviewing it with other key people ensure a better outcome?
Systems that can help you

In order to successfully advise on resource needs, it is important for you to
understand the systems within your organisation.
These can include:
quality systems
standards
inventory databases
Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) systems
data collection systems
continuous improvement/employee feedback systems.

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Example: Information systems

Modern workplace equipment can tell you a lot about how it
is being used.
Modern equipment often has on-board systems that record
information on usage. This includes:
photocopiers
fax machines
cars
phones
forklifts
milling machines
All of these can record information about their usage.

A modern photocopier, for example, records information about who used it and
when, number of copies, type of copies and so on.
Learning activity: Getting information from mobile phones

Think about your mobile phone for a moment. Are you on the right plan?
You might not be able to answer that without looking at your phone usage. Most
phone suppliers provide account information, free of charge, online.
Go to your phone suppliers website to find your phone account.
How would a business use this information to monitor resource usage?
What other type of equipment would be able to provide similar usage

information?


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People that can help you

If you cant get the information from workplace documents or systems, you can
always ask someone!
There are many people within an organisation that can help you to determine
resource requirements. Many of them will have direct responsibility for equipment
or materials.
To find out who these people are, you may need to check your organisational
chart or discuss with a manager, but they could include:
quality officer
OHS officer
financial officer
accounts officer
purchasing officer
project managers
technical experts (engineers, technicians, maintenance people and so

forth)
key stakeholders for the resource (such as users).
Example: Make sure that you consult the users

Tay was asked by his manager at his IT firm to order six new computer monitors
for the Help Desk Team. Tay contacted a number of suppliers and found the
best price.
He told this to his manager who ordered the monitors. When the monitors
arrived, the Help Desk Team nearly held an uprising. The resolution of the new
monitors was poor, in fact, it was poorer than the monitors that they had
replaced!
For some of the Help Desk operators, this was the last straw. They werent too
happy with the organisation before that, but this was too much.
They spend eight hours a day staring at a screen, and someone had gone and
replaced theirs without even consulting with them!
Also, keep in mind, key people may be full-time employees, but they may be
contractors or part-time employees.
For example, many organisations have contract IT people for maintenance of the
computer and peripherals.
Be sure to identify and ask the right people!

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Learning activity: Consult the organisational chart
In the organisational chart shown above, who would you contact if:
You needed to replace a forklift?
You needed to identify stationery usage over the past 3 months?
You need to upgrade a computer system and purchase new software?
Techniques that can help you get information

The more you ask, the less you have to ask!


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It may sound obvious, but keep talking to people. If you keep a positive attitude
and keep looking for answers, youll eventually find them. Sometimes answers
come in the most unexpected of places.
Some techniques you can use to help you get answers from people are:
surveys/questionnaires
use meetings (production, toolbox, general meetings)
company mailing lists and noticeboards.
Learning activity: Create a questionnaire

Create a simple questionnaire (510 questions) that can be given to employees
to find out about photocopier usage.
Tell them why you are asking (i.e., you have been given the task of selecting a
new photocopier) and when you need a response by (i.e. we need a respond by
the end of the week so we can review and place an order by Tuesday of the
following week).
In the questionnaire, you may want to ask people:
How frequently do they use it?
What do they use it for?
What features do they use?
What features do they like/dislike?
What features would they want in a new photocopier?
What problems do they experience?
What general comments would they like to make?

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Estimating future resource needs

A key skill in this unit is the ability to calculate estimates of future resource needs.
This could be as simple as working out how much stationery to order, or as
complicated as estimating the work requirements on a software project so that
you can hire a new programmer.
What is an estimate?
We estimate things every day. For example, each morning, you may estimate how
long it will take you to get to work. This might depend on a lot of factors:
the time you leave (peak hour or otherwise)
the route you choose
the weather
how many red lights you hit.
However, the funny thing is, like most of us, you are probably pretty good at
getting to work just on time! In fact, most of us are actually pretty good at
estimating.
An estimate is an Approximation, prediction, or projection of a quantity based on
experience and/or information available at the time, with the recognition that
other pertinent facts are unclear or unknown. An estimate is almost the same as
an educated guess, and the cheapest (and least accurate) type of modelling. 9
In the example above, the quantity being estimated is the time taken to get to
work.
Learning activity: Estimate how much petrol you will need next month
Estimate your petrol requirements for next month. Think about he steps you
take to estimate. You probably wont find this too difficult if you:
1. From previous experience, work out how much you use per week under
normal conditions (say $30 per week).
2. Consider the activities you will be doing next month (are things normal,
or are you on holidays?).
3. Make a calculation (4 weeks x $30).
9 Estimate, Business Dictionary, viewed June 2015,

<http://www.businessdictionary.com/definition/estimate.html>.


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Trends and cycles

As we said, in the previous activity, things arent always normal. You need to
consider trends (long term increases or decreases in resource needs) and cycles
(fluctuations in resource needs).
Industries that rely on estimation
Certain industries have to rely heavily on estimates to cost future work. These
include:
software
construction/architectural
engineering
These firms often use very sophisticated tools and methods for estimating.
Estimating tips
In the examples above, you will note that it is difficult to estimate accurately
without information. Information can be sourced from:
previous budgets or projects:

o you may also need to speak to people who were involved in these
activities in order to get information for estimates.
current budgets or projects:

o accurate information on what is happening currently will help you
estimate what is needed in future. 10
Learning activity: Estimating mobile phone requirements

In a previous activity, you obtained information on your mobile phone use.
Look at the trends in your usage (is it increasing or decreasing?) and estimate
what your usage will be in six months time.
Giving clear, concise and relevant advice

Once you have collected the information you need, and estimated your future
resource needs, you can provide some advice about what resources your
organisation needs to acquire.
The resource advice that you provide must meet the legislative and procedural
requirements of the organisation.
10 Intaver Institute, 2006, Estimations in project management: the way we think when we make estimations,
Project decision and risk analysis journal, viewed June 2015, <http://www.intaver.com/Articles/RP_Art_
Estimations2.html>.

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Policy and procedures

In order to do this, you will need to know your organisations relevant policies and
procedures.
These will provide you with the guidance you need to ensure that your advice
complies with organisational requirements.
Example: Follow workplace policy and procedures!
Wayne worked in the IT department of an educational institution. The IT
department needed to create a new online database and had decided to
contract this work out as a project. Wayne was in charge of the budget for the
project and he did casual work with a firm (unrelated to his educational work)
who he thought could do the job.
He asked them to do the job and when he reported this back to his manager,
Wayne was asked why he hadnt followed organisational procedure!
It turned out that his educational institution had a policy and procedures for:
engagement of contractors
conflict of interest.
Wayne had not complied with them. Wayne should have understood and
followed these policies and procedures before organising a contract.
Typical policies and procedures that relate to resources may include:
vehicle usage
purchasing
preferred suppliers
engagement of contractors
conflict of interest
stationery usage
internet/email usage.
Keep in mind, in many cases, policies may take the form of unwritten rules. If no
written policy exists, dont assume that there is no policy double-check with your
manager. There may be an agreed upon, but unwritten, policy.


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Learning activity: Review policies and procedures

Imagine that you are an employee at your place of study. What would you do if
you were told to order some stationery resources? You would need to know the
procedure for doing so.
Review the policy and procedures (this may be posted on the website,
alternatively, you can ask your facilitator for a copy) and identify which ones
would be relevant if you were to:
organise a new stationery supplier
order a new computer
use an organisational vehicle.
Providing clear and concise advice

You will likely have studied presentation skills and report writing in other areas of
your course of study. Presentation and reporting skills may be essential when
providing advice on larger resourcing issues.
For many of the day-to-day resource issues that you investigate, it helps to
remember the Seven Cs.
There are many versions of the Seven Cs. However, when giving advice about
business resources, consider:
Context explain what it is and why it is needed.
Concise be brief and jargon free (if possible).
Clarity be easily understood.
Complete no information, logic, or design gaps.
Concrete back up your assertions with facts.
Correct check your facts and be sure they are right.
Compliant make sure that your advice complies with workplace policy
and procedures.
Learning activity: Mobile phone advice

Provide a colleague with advice on what mobile phone that they should
purchase. Make sure that advice complies with the Seven Cs.

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Provide information to help the decision maker

Do you remember the coffee making example from earlier in this section?
When we are talking about value, we are specifying value from the perspective of
the end customer. Your customers need to be satisfied, otherwise, they wont
remain your customers for very long!
When providing information on the most economical and effective choice of
resources, keep in mind:
voice of the customer
cost effectiveness
total cost of ownership.
Listen to the voice of the customer

What do we mean by listen to the voice of the customer?
When you are buying coffee beans from a supplier, you should choose your beans
(or suppliers) in order to deliver the value that your customers expect.
For example, your customers will expect a certain level of quality with their coffee.
Before you change suppliers, you need to ensure that you choose a new supplier
that can deliver that level of quality, when you need it, at the right price.
In fact, the key criteria that you will need to consider choosing suppliers are:
quality
cost
delivery.
Example: Bills printing supply

Bill operates a small specialty printing supply shop. He has a number of
dedicated customers. His customers stay with him despite competition from
bigger suppliers because Bill can supply high quality material in small amounts
at short notice.
He recently changed paper suppliers and his customers started complaining
about paper jams in their printing equipment. Bill responded quickly and
switched back to his original supplier before he started losing customers.


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What is cost effectiveness?

When you are making decisions about resources, dont just consider cost of the
resource, but the cost effectiveness.
Cost effectiveness is the relationship between the monetary input and the
outcome.
Remember this old adage:
There are two things that you shouldnt cut corners on. The tools you use and
the bed you sleep on: You spend eight hours a day with each of them!
Good quality resources (equipment or materials) often pay for themselves
because they are more reliable, fast, accurate, safer, and so on.
A small saving in monetary input may have a large (negative) effect on your
business outcomes.
Example: Good quality tools
Rachels engineering shop produces a range of stainless steel architectural and
construction products. Recently, the office staff were told by Reuben to
economise on resources. Rachels order had dropped off due to the global
economic crisis.
Jennie, who does the purchasing for Rachel, decided to source new (cheaper)
suppliers for grinding wheels, emery paper and other consumables.
Within a week of doing this, a number of the shop floor staff were up in arms.
Grinding wheels lasted half as long and were breaking more frequently.
While Jennie was saving 30% on the cost of grinding wheels, the poor quality
meant they staff were using twice as many as before. This actually increased
the cost, not to mention the tradespeoples time and frustration spent
unnecessarily changing wheels.

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Further reading: Definitions

Use the internet to look up definitions for:
cost effectiveness
cost of quality
false economy.
What is total cost of ownership?

A related concept to cost effectiveness is the total cost of ownership.
The total cost of ownership can be defined as Estimate of all direct and indirect
costs associated with an asset or acquisition over its entire life cycle.
Another definition is Total of direct capital investment in hardware and software
plus indirect costs of installation, training, repairs, downtime, technical support,
and upgrading. Also called cost of ownership or ownership cost. 11
Example: The cheaper printer or is it?
Lisa was starting up a business. She compared the specs on the type of printer
that she wanted. She found printers that were good quality. One was slightly
cheaper than the other and she chose it. She thought she got a good deal.
At the end of the year when she reviewed his printing budget, she noticed that
the replacement ink cartridge costs were quite high, since the cartridges were
proprietary. Had she gone with the other, slightly more expensive, printer, she
could have bought standard cartridges for half the price. Had she done this,
overall, she would have saved money!
11 Total cost of ownership (TCO), Business Dictionary, viewed June 2015,

<http://www.businessdictionary.com/definition/total-cost-of-ownership-TCO.html>.


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Learning activity: Which photocopier?

Create a list of key things that you should look for in a photocopier. If it helps,
you might want consider the photocopying needs of your place of learning. Use
the internet and search for:
tips for buying a photocopier
check Choice magazine.
Consider the cost effectiveness of the photocopier. How is this effected by:
performance of the photocopier?
cost of consumables?
method of acquisition (buy, lease, hire)?

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What if?
Taking precautions is an important part of maintaining business resources. After
all, things do go wrong with suppliers, equipment, materials, and so on, and this
can affect your business.
Reliable resources = happy customers
Unreliable resources = no customers

What can go wrong?
Anything that can go wrong will go wrong. Murphy
A lot of things can go wrong with equipment and suppliers. Lets consider the
coffee shop example again.
The coffee shop could have problems with:
suppliers going out of business

raw materials being poor quality
prices going up
equipment not functioning properly
employees not functioning properly.


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What could you do?

There are a lot of things that you can do to safeguard against things going wrong,
such as:
obtain insurances and warranties

organise maintenance contracts and supply contracts
source new or alternative suppliers
provide training for employees
stay informed about your industry trends and happenings.
Have a risk management strategy

Your organisation will probably have a method for managing risks to key
resources. It may include things as obvious as those listed above.
Risk management plans can be quite detailed, and at times, confusing. However,
your organisation should have a plan in place that outlines what to do if you have
problems with your key suppliers.
You should have a basic understanding of risk management from your OHS
training, and risk management for other areas (supply, equipment failure) follows
a similar process as assessing health and safety risks.
Typically, risk management processes involve:
1. Identify threats or hazards.
2. Assess the vulnerability of resources to specific threats (how serious is it?).
3. Determine the risk (probability) of these occurring.
4. Prioritise risk management measures.
5. Identify ways to reduce those risks.
As you may guess, you dont have to control every risk, just the high priority ones
that would have serious impacts on your business.
Example: IT problems
Reliable on-site technicians are hard to come by but anyone can sell you a
new keyboard.
Rate the level of risk of the following on a scale of 1 to 5 (1 being unimportant,
5 being very important) and what you could do to manage the risk. Compare
and discuss your conclusions with your fellow learners.
Hard disk failure
Keyboard is broken
Photocopier breakdown
Toner needs changing
Running out of printer paper

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Assessing your resources

Assess your suppliers of resources to ensure that they are reputable and reliable.
How long have they been in the industry?
Who are their customers/clients?
Do they comply with industry standards?
Tip: Look for standards

Its always a good sign if your supplier publishes that they comply with relevant
industry standards.
Learning activity: Risk management

Develop a risk management strategy for an organisations (any organisation will
do) IT equipment.
Section summary
You should now have a better understanding of how to advise on resource
requirements within your workplace.


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Section checklist
calculate estimates of future and present business resource needs in
accordance with organisational requirements
ensure advice is clear, concise and relevant to achievement of
organisational requirements
provide information on the most economical and effective choice of
equipment, materials and suppliers
identify resource shortages and possible impact on operations.

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Section 3 Monitor Resource Usage

This section is about the skills and knowledge that you will require to be able to
monitor and maintain resources effectively
Scenario: Photocopier usage
You may recall Robert from the IT firm in Section 1. Well
it turns out that he provided the right advice for the
model of photocopier to buy. Everyone is pretty happy
with it.
Robert listened to his customers, worked within budget
constraints and followed organisational acquisition
procedures to get it.
He also made sure that there was a maintenance contract with the photocopier.
Now, Robert has the job of ensuring that people use it safely and effectively. He
thinks that there may be a lot to this!

In order to monitor resource usage, you must be able to:
ensure resource handling is in accordance with established
organisational requirements including occupational health and safety
requirements
use business technology to monitor and identify the effective use of
resources
use consultation with individuals and teams to facilitate effective
decision making on the appropriate allocation of resources
identify and adhere to relevant policies regarding resource use in the
performance of operational tasks
routinely monitor and compare resource usage with estimated
requirements in budget plans.
What is monitoring?
You will be required to monitor resource use in the workplace. Monitoring
resources is essential to ensure that usage of resources is:
safe
efficient
compliant with standards and procedures.


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Handle resources safely and effectively

You will remember from the introduction that resources can include:
human resources
material resources
financial resources
capital resources
material resources.
Material resources (raw materials) and capital resources (tools and equipment)
will require the added consideration of Occupational Health and Safety.
Have you ever considered what things do you need to know in order to drive a
car?
Would you drive if you were untrained?

What if you didnt know the road rules?
Would you drive a car if it wasnt working properly? Hopefully not!
However, many people think that workplaces are somehow different. They arent.
Like safe driving, safe working requires you to:
know who is authorised to do what

get trained
know where to get information
follow the signs
follow rules and procedures
keep up-to-date
report all problems (accidents, hazards, etc).
Tip: Introducing new equipment

When you introduce new equipment or materials into any workplace, it often
requires a risk assessment.
This involves identify all potential hazards and risks and putting in place
measures to control them.
Types of hazards
The point of risk assessments is to control hazards before they turn into accidents
and injuries.
Hazards fall into a number of key groups:
physical
mechanical
psycho-social
chemical and biological
sources of energy
environmental.

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Example: Paper deliveries

Observe an office supply delivery. When they deliver A4 paper, it comes in
cartons (five slabs in a carton). These days, delivery person will often have a
back brace and a trolley.
Often, when they deposit the paper at the front desk, someone from the office
will move it by hand!
What safe handling procedures should the workplace introduce?
Learning activity: Photocopiers OHS guidelines

Search the internet to find a set of OHS guidelines for a photocopier. You may
want to try:
photocopier OHS guidelines
Photocopier safety.
You might be surprised by the number of potential hazards that can exist with
photocopiers. Categorise the hazards that you identify into the key groups
above.
Physical
Mechanical
Psycho-social
Chemical and biological
Sources of energy
Environmental
Material Safety Data Sheets
Material Safety Data Sheets (MSDSs) tell you about hazardous materials in your
workplace. MSDSs should be available for any and all hazardous materials in your
workplace. This could include raw materials or consumables (like toners or
cleaning agents).
OHS laws require manufacturers to prepare Material Safety Data Sheets (MSDS)
before a hazardous substance is supplied to another person for use at work.


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The MSDS must include the following information:
recommended uses
precautions to be followed for safe use
chemical and physical properties
description of each ingredient used in its preparation
emergency and general contact details of the manufacturer
relevant health hazard information. 12
Learning activity: MSDS

Use the internet to research a common workplace material or chemical that
may require special handling. See if you can find a MSDS for that material or
chemical. Examples may include:
toner
cleaning agents.
Learning activity: Watch some videos

Connect to YouTube and search for the following terms:
12
workplace hazards
safe handling
hazardous goods.
WorkSafe Victoria, viewed June 2015, <http://www.worksafe.vic.gov.au>.

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Reminder: Reporting hazards

You will recall from your OHS training that you have a key role in reporting
workplace hazards.
Basic equipment such as photocopiers can be a source of hazards. For
example, if you or someone you work with have to sit right next to a busy
photocopier, the noise and sound of the copier may be a source of stress and
irritation (even if it is not loud enough to cause hearing damage).
Maintenance
One of the key areas of this unit is on maintenance. Traditionally, maintenance
and troubleshooting has been the responsibility of technicians. Increasingly,
however, workers are expected to have some basic maintenance and
troubleshooting skills.
Principles of preventative maintenance
You may wonder why you have to do maintenance? After all isnt maintenance the
technicians problem? Not really. In fact, if you apply some basic maintenance
skills to your equipment, most breakdowns can be avoided.
In manufacturing, this fact has been known for a long time and goes by a number
of names such as:
operator-led maintenance
total productive maintenance.
preventative maintenance
The basic premise of all of these maintenance philosophies is:
Up to 80% of all breakdowns can be eliminated by caring for your equipment. 13
Example: Your car

If you doubt this, think about your car. Have you ever had a problem with your
car that could have been avoided by a little knowledge and care? If you are like
most of us, the answer is probably yes.
Things you could have done to avoid a breakdown may include:
regular checks of fluid levels

cleaning and inspecting the engine, hoses, cables
making sure the tyres are inflated correctly.
Modern business equipment, like cars, have ways of telling you when they need
maintenance.
13
CMI 2006, Contribute to the application of a proactive maintenance strategy, CMI.


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Workplace equipment is no different. Breakdowns are costly and most

breakdowns can be avoided with some simple maintenance procedures.
Learning activity: Maintenance checklist
Preventative maintenance programs are often supported by daily or weekly
equipment checklists. These include a list of items that should be checked to
ensure safe an effective operation of your equipment.
1. Identify some equipment in a workplace.
2. List some regular items that should be checked on that equipment to
ensure safe and effective operation.
3. Discuss this list with a colleague.
Caring for your equipment is a great start in ensuring prolonged and safe
operation. However, even if you do take care and encourage others to do so, you
still might get breakdowns or other problems. This brings us to troubleshooting.

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Troubleshooting
Get to know your equipment. Like maintenance skills, some basic troubleshooting
skills will get your equipment back up and running without costly breakdowns and
maintenance calls. Make sure that you:
get the technician to show you how it works
ask questions
read the manual
train others.
Armed with specific knowledge of how your equipment operates, some of the
standard troubleshooting techniques will help you get back up and running fast.
These techniques include:
5Ms and fishbone diagrams
flowcharts.
5Ms
When you are troubleshooting equipment breakdowns it is always helpful to
consider to the 5Ms, these are:
Man
Machine
Method
Material
Mother nature (environment).
Example: Photocopier (again)

In a lot of workplaces, the first reaction is to yell at the operator (Man). This isnt
always fair or constructive. Consider a photocopier breakdown. It could also be
caused by:
Machine a key part fails through normal wear and tear
Method people are correctly following an incorrect method
Material the business has recently changed to a poorer grade paper

which has caused more frequent jamming
Mother nature the photocopier is overheating because it is in an

enclosed area.
Fishbone diagrams
These are visual representations of the 5Ms. These can help to quickly explain the
issues when you are troubleshooting a problem. Fishbone diagrams look like a
fishbone (hence the name) and include the effect and potential causes. They are
also known as cause and effect diagrams.


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The one below shows a paper jam (effect) and the potential causes (categorised
by the 5Ms)
Fishbone diagram for a paper jam

Learning activity: Cause and effect of computer problems
5Ms and fishbone diagrams help you to be more systematic when you are
troubleshooting a problem with business equipment.
Identify a potential (or real) problem with some business equipment that you are
familiar with and create a fishbone diagram for it.
Note: a lot of modern business equipment comes with the ability to tell you what
is wrong with it or when it needs maintenance. For example, modern photocopiers
have LCD screens that tell you where the problem is and what steps you need to
take to fix them.

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If you are responsible for equipment, be sure to spend the time to read the
relevant operator manuals to know how to identify when something is wrong with
the equipment.
Use business technology to monitor usage

Modern business equipment can also record information about usage. You may
be required to monitor usage of resources for any number of reasons including:
identifying resource needs
identifying usage by department or team
identifying effectiveness of a new material or resource
You want to make decisions based on facts and numbers, not on hunches.
If you dont measure it, you cant manage it.
Usage information
As noted in the previous section, modern business equipment is pretty smart. In
addition to maintenance and troubleshooting information, it stores a lot of
information about usage.
This might be in the form of:
LCD screens
counters.
Example: Waiting for forklifts

Phil worked in a foundry. His department shared a forklift with Freds
department and Fred was a very frequent user of the forklift. This often meant
that Phil and his team would have to wait for Fred to bring the forklift back so
they could get their next batch of work. Some days, Phil and his team might
have to wait for up to 30 minutes.
Phil was getting tired of this. He asked the boss, Jade if they could get another
forklift and explained the reason why. Jade said that it was too expensive to buy
(or lease) another forklift and they would have to work something out with Fred.
Adam, from the office, heard about this and thought he could help. Adam
suggested to Jade that they:
identify a timeframe to collect data
collect data on wait times
collect data on actual usage
analyse the data and
prepare some recommendations.


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Away they went. Surprisingly to all involved, once this was done, it became
obvious that new equipment was needed and would, in fact, save money.
A couple of weeks later, the team had their forklift. The moral of the story:
Managers make decisions on numbers.
Other sources of usage data
If equipment doesnt record data, you can use others to collect the data. If you
explain the reasons collecting data, and give people a checklist for recording,
most people will be happy to help.
Data already may already exist in paper or computer systems, for example:
business accounts
OHS reports
KPI data
warehousing/inventory systems
ERP systems.
Definition: ERP systems

ERP stands for Enterprise Resource Planning. An amalgamation of a companys
information systems designed to bind more closely a variety of company
functions including human resources, inventories and financials, while
simultaneously linking the company to customers and vendors. 14
Using Excel
In many workplaces, Excel is a multi-purpose tool that they cant live without.
Some basic Excel skills will go a long way in helping you monitor resource use.
Specifically, to monitor resource use, all you need is:
basic formulas and functions
basic charting skills.
The following example shows how these skills can be used to monitor a range of
workplace resources.
Example: Using Excel to monitor resources
Here is an example from a small business showing how a simple spreadsheet
can be used to monitor resource usage. In this example, the business is
monitoring costs of some basic resource categories including: Printing, internet,
Vehicle and so on.
14
ERP, Investor words, viewed June 2015, <http://www.investorwords.com/1742/ERP.html>.

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Learning activity: Monitor your phone bill

Obtain a copy of your phone bill and setup a spreadsheet so that you can
monitor your monthly calls.
Create a bar chart that shows monthly phone usage in dollars ($) and a line that
shows the monthly limit of your current plan
How would this make the identification of trends and variations easier?
What actions could you take if you saw that phone costs were exceeding
budgets/plans?
In a workplace, how could you report this information to your manager?


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Consulting with others

Consultation is critical for ensuring effective decision-making and appropriate
allocation of resources.
Consultation with others may require you to:
administer surveys/questionnaires
attend meetings (production, toolbox, general meetings)
use company mailing lists and noticeboards
hold discussions or interviews with key stakeholders.
Always go to the source

When you are investigating, go to the source.
It may sound obvious, but a common mistake in the workplace is that decisions
are made based on the wrong persons opinion. When you are monitoring
resource usage, ask the people who are using the resource their ideas and
opinions.
Learning activity: Who would you consult with?
Identify a workplace that you attend regularly (a coffee shop for example).
Choose a business resource and identify who you would consult with to identify:
How to measure the usage?
Who can assist?
Where to locate the resource?

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Policies for controlling resource use

What are policies?
A policy is a statement about an issue and says what the organisation plans to do
about the issue. Some examples include:
privacy policy
record management policy
security policy
purchasing policy
bullying policy.
What are procedures?

The definition of a procedure is the sequence of actions or instructions to be
followed in solving a problem or accomplishing a task 15. Some examples include:
ordering procedure
telephone answering procedure
document version control procedure
vehicle booking procedure.
Workplaces should have policies and procedures that deal with maintaining
business resources.
Example: Vehicle policy
Innovative Widgets had developed a vehicle use policy. They have a limited
number of work vehicles and priority needed to go to the sales team and
management for sales meetings.
When Frank started working there, he was in charge of office supplies. When he
needed something, he would take the work vehicle to the office supplier and
buy it. He never read the vehicle policy so he didnt know to follow the booking
procedure.
Frank wasnt permitted to drive the vehicle and was inconveniencing the sales
staff and causing them to miss important sales meetings.
Policies and procedures should not be disregarded without good reason. Make
sure that you know and follow your workplaces policies and procedures.
15
Procedure, Dictionary.com, viewed June 2015,<http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/procedure>.


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Learning activity: Policy and procedures

Review the policy and procedures on an educational institutions website. (You
could use your own place of study or this site:
<http://policies.curtin.edu.au/findapolicy/>
Summarise a purchasing and vehicle policies in your own words.
Are they easy to follow?
How would you improve them?
What problems are they aimed at preventing?
Budget variances
As discussed earlier, budgets are used a method of controlling business activities.
Budgets, once established, should be regularly reviewed against actual
expenditure to determine whether it is still on budget.
Budget variances
Simply put, a budget variance is the difference between the forecasted budget
and the actual expenditure.
Budget constraints
You have probably heard people talk about their personal budget constraints.
Unless you are independently wealthy, you will have personal budget constraints
yourself.
Most of us are aware of our budget constraints, keep our spending controlled.
This awareness prevents (most of) us from flying off to Bali for the weekend, or
going out for dinner whenever we please.
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Its the same in the workplace. For businesses, analysing actual operations
against the budget that has been allocated is a key method of controlling costs.
Checking activities against a budget will tell us whether we are:
over budget
under budget
on budget.
Example: Review a project budget

Review the following IT budget and write a procedure in your own words for
monitoring and reviewing the budget.
Discuss and compare with your fellow learners.
Section summary
You should now understand some basic techniques and skills for monitoring and
maintaining business resources.
Section checklist
ensure resource handling is in accordance with established
organisational requirements including occupational health and safety
requirements
use business technology to monitor and identify the effective use of
resources
use consultation with individuals and teams to facilitate effective
decision making on the appropriate allocation of resources

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identify and adhere to relevant policies regarding resource use in the

performance of operational tasks
routinely monitor and compare resource usage with estimated
requirements in budget plans.

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Section 4 Acquire Resources

This section deals with the skills and knowledge that you will need to acquire
resources within your organisation.
Scenario: Acquiring resources for the photocopier
Remember Robert? Well the photocopier is running fine.
Everyone uses it safely and effectively because Robert
showed them what to do.
And since hes been monitoring resource use so
effectively, its easy to tell how much paper and toner is
used each month!
Every now and again, he has to order new supplies for it. Ironically, IT firms tend
to use a lot of consumables like paper, toner and pens.
He still needs to learn a bit more about ordering, acquiring and storing materials
so he can keep supplies up.

In order to acquire resources in an organisation, you must be able to:
ensure acquisition and storage of resources are in accordance with
organisational requirements, are cost effective and consistent with
organisational timelines
acquire resources within available time lines to meet identified
requirements
review resource acquisition processes to identify improvements in future
resource acquisitions.
Key concepts
Previously in this program, you learnt about advising and monitoring resources. In
this, the final part of the program, you will learn about acquiring resources for your
organisation.
Consider the coffee shop that we discussed in previous sections. Imagine that you
worked for the coffee shop. What agreements, systems, or processes would need
to be in place for the supplier to deliver coffee to you?


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As discussed in Section 1, you would want to know that you are going to get good
quality coffee beans, when you need them at a reasonable cost.
Your supplier, however, would want to know that you are a reliable paying
customer and whether you can meet their payment terms.
What are payment terms?
Payment terms are Conditions under which a seller will make a sale. Typically,
these terms specify the period allowed to a buyer to pay off the amount due,
and may demand cash in advance, cash on delivery, deferred payment period of
30 days or more, etc.16
Typically, payment terms include:
cash in advance (this is also known as cash with order)
cash on delivery
deferred payment.
Learning activity: Who carries the risk?

For each of the different types of payment terms above, consider:
Who is carrying the risk?
What kind of relationship needs to be in place for each of the different

kinds of payments terms?
What circumstances would lead a customer to prefer one over the other?
16 Payment terms, Business Dictionary, viewed June 2015,

<http://www.businessdictionary.com/definition/payment-terms.html>.

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Credit accounts
If you are using a supplier regularly, and you have a good payment history with
them, they may offer your organisation deferred payment terms. This will require
your organisation to apply for a credit account (sometimes just referred to as an
account).
An account is an on-going contractual relationship between a buyer and seller
whereby payment for goods received is made at a later time (usually 30 days).
See also charge account and open account. 17
30 day deferred terms can make doing business a lot easier.
Learning activity: Research credit accounts
Search the internet for a supplier that you might use. Hardware stores and trade
suppliers are good examples.
Have a look on their website to see if you can apply for a credit account.
What sort of information do you need to provide to them in order to

obtain a credit account?
What terms are provided?
Why would this be an advantage for you or your business?
Up to now, we have been discussing acquisition of resources like raw materials,

supplies, and consumables. What about plant and equipment?
17 Account, Business Dictionary, viewed June 2015,

<http://www.businessdictionary.com/definition/account.html>.


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Buy, lease or hire?

Consider, once again, the coffee shop example. What would you do if your coffee
machine (a key piece of capital equipment) was outdated and you needed to
acquire a new coffee machine?
Your options for acquiring plant and equipment (like a new coffee machine)
include:
buy
lease
hire
hire-purchase.
Learning activity: Who carries the risk?

For each of the different types of payment terms above (buy, lease, hire, hirepurchase), consider:
What are the costs?
Who is carrying the risk?
What kind of relationship needs to be in place for each of the different

kinds of payments terms?
What circumstances would lead a customer to prefer one over the other?

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Learning activity: Buy, lease or hire

Search the internet for some sites that sell cars (or other vehicles).
identify a vehicle that your employer might need, and
review the different agreements that you could enter into if you wanted
to obtain the vehicle.
Discounts, rebates and allowances

Be aware that there are often discounts that may apply to your organisation.
Suppliers can have many different criteria for discounts including:
quantity discounts (e.g. buy in bulk and pay less per unit)
trade discounts (e.g. trade rates for carpenters)
payment discounts (e.g. pay less/pay cash)
customer characteristic discounts (e.g. educational discounts).

Remember to ask your suppliers!


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Order and store resources

Part of your work role will include acquire resources such as materials and
supplies and ensuring that these are received and stored.
The ordering process
When resources are ordered, a standard process is usually followed that includes:
raising the order for resources
shipping the order
receiving and checking the resources
storing the resources.
Raising the order

When you find that stocks of a particular resource are getting low, you will need to
create a purchase order and send to the supplier.
Tip: Automatic re-order
Some systems can automatically raise a purchase order when stocks fall below
a minimum level.
Receiving and checking the resources
The supplier will deliver the resources, usually accompanied by a shipping docket.
The delivery will need to be checked against the docket. And the docket will need
to be checked against the original order.
Tip: Authority to sign
When goods are received, someone has to sign for them. Not everyone has
authority to sign for shipments of goods. After all, not everyone knows what was
meant to be shipped.
You may or may not be given responsibility to check and sign for received goods.
But make sure that you know who does have this responsibility.

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The supplier will also send an invoice for the shipped goods. This may come with
the docket or it may be mailed separately. Either way, all of this documentation
will need to go to the person responsible for accounts so that it can be checked
and paid.
Storing the resources
Once goods are received, check and accepted, they will need to be stored. Make
sure that you comply with procedures for storing. For example:
Does it need to be locked up securely?
Does it need to be refrigerated or have some other special storage

requirements?
Who needs to be notified?
Does it need to be stored in a special way because they are hazardous?
Learning activity: Storing chemicals

Create a procedure for ordering, receiving and storing cleaning chemicals in a
workplace.
Be sure to include who has authority/responsibility for the tasks. Check the
procedure with someone with responsibility for this or a similar task.
Complying with acquisition and ordering procedures policies

You may also need to check workplace policy and procedures for information
about:
preferred suppliers
local and overseas suppliers.
Preferred suppliers are trusted suppliers and may be used for a range of standard
and non-standard purchases.


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Cost of carrying stock

Another issue to be aware of when ordering and storing resources is the cost of
carrying stock. Sometimes people order excess stock just in case there is a
problem with supply.
In a modern workplace, there is rarely call for carrying excess buffer stock. In
fact, many organisations actively try to drive down stock levels because it is
regarded as frozen money.
Learning activity: Buffer stock and other terms
Do some internet research to develop your understanding and to identify
strategies for keeping stock levels as low as possible. Search terms include:
buffer stock
lean logistics
economic order quantity (EOQ).
Are excess stock levels viewed positively or negatively? Why?
Getting resources when you need them

Ensuring that you get the resources is only part of the task. You need to ensure
that you get the right resources, at the right price, at the right time.
For this to work, you need to know:
how long it will take to get it
when your organisation needs the resources.
Lead times
You have probably heard people talk about lead times before. In general it is the
time from the start of any process to the completion of that process.
There are lots of definitions, but for our purposes, the most practical one is:
The time from placing an order to the delivery of the goods.

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Managing your lead times

You need to be aware of your lead times for key resources. It is recommended
that you track and update lead times from your suppliers for these resources.
Learning activity: Chart with lead times
Identify five or six resources that you might need in a business. Use Excel to
chart your lead times as in the example below.
Tracking your resource requirements

Of course, knowing lead times is only half the battle. You need to know when you
need to re-order. The indication to re-order can come from a number of sources.
you get told
stocktakes
budget reviews
ERP systems
warehousing systems
Kanban systems/visual controls


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Push or pull?
In general, the ordering of resources operate under one of two systems: by a
scheduling or push system, or a work-to-order or pull system.
Push systems are where the business works to a schedule and produces to a
forecast. These organisations typically have:
long lead times
less adaptable to customer requirements
complex systems (usually computer-based) are required to organise and

schedule production and ordering
warehouses are filled up with finished products, and raw materials, just in
case someone (hopefully) places an order.
Pull systems are what you increasingly find in lean organisations. Typically, these
organisations have:
much shorter lead times
more adaptable to customer requirements
signal-based systems for re-ordering
stock is kept at very low levels.
Pull systems are often referred to as just-in-time (JIT) systems. As an analogy,

think about a lake (push) as opposed to fast moving river (pull). Which one can
respond to changes in demand more quickly?
Tip: Dell computers
Dell computer company is a great example of a company that has pioneered on
JIT systems and built-to-order for computers and succeeded greatly by doing it.
PCs at Dell are built after receiving a customer order. This way, the spare parts
(raw materials) in their assembly plants are kept at a bare minimum. In some
areas of Dell plants, inventory is down to 2 hours! 18 Dell manage a network of
suppliers that can deliver parts on short lead times.
The outcome for the consumer is custom computers at a very affordable rate.
Kanban systems
The word kanban simply means signal. Kanbans are commonly found in pull
systems. Kanbans are used extensively in the automotive industry and other
industries to signal for something to be produced, re-ordered or replenished.
A kanban can include:
18
a ticket
a flag
an empty space or location.
Holzner,S, 2006, How Dell Does It, McGraw Hill, p. 86.

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For example, a kanban could be an empty space beside the photocopier where
the paper is stored that signals to re-order paper.
Learning activity: Research kanbans

Find out more about visual controls, kanbans and re-order triggers by searching
the internet for the following:
kanban
5S
visual controls
just-in-time (JIT)
pull systems.
Push systems
Typical push systems involve re-ordering being controlled by a schedule. Theres a
lot of planning and organising involved to organise work this way. If your
workplace organises work in this way, you will find that a lot of reordering will be
generated by computer system.
production resources data (Manufacturing Technical Data)
inventories and orders (Inventory Control)
purchasing management
Material Requirements Planning (MRP)
Tip: MRP re-order triggers

In a Material Requirements Planning system, inventory control can be
automated and trigger points set to automatically re-order inventory when it falls
below a certain level.
All of this talk about pull systems doesnt mean that push systems dont work. Or
that one is better than the other. Each type of system, push or pull, has its own
challenges.


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Your role is to know how your workplace is organised, know what your options are
and use the systems in your workplace as effectively as you can.
Supply contracts
Re-ordering of resources can also be handled by your supplier. Your organisation
may organise a contract for your supplier may monitor your requirements and restock you on a regular basis.
Tip: Coffee shop
Bill operates a coffee shop and has been placing orders with the same coffee
supplier for the past year. The supplier now automatically re-stocks Bill each
week with a shipment of coffee beans based on Bills weekly usage.
The supplier checks Bills stocks, replenishes to an agreed amount, and
invoices Bill for the difference.
Bill only contacts the supplier if there is a variation required.
Keep improving
On a final note, resource acquisition processes are never perfect. Some are far
from it. Regular review is required to ensure that processes are as good as they
can be. It may help to consider, once again, the 5Ms.
Man are people following processes properly, or is training required?
Machine is there a problem with technology or can new technology help

to make the process more efficient?
Method how do we acquire resources? Do our methods need updating?
Material can we source new suppliers or materials that will better meet
our customer requirements?
Environment how can the work environment be changed to allow for

better resource acquisition?
Tip: Look for bottlenecks

Bottlenecks are those places where the process slows down. Look for the
places where the process slows down and find ways to debottleneck them.
In many cases, you will find that bottlenecks can be easily eliminated by
insignificant changes to processes.
Technology
Weve always done it that way!

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While changing processes and procedures can lead to improvements, you may
also find that new technology is also a source of potential improvements. Look for
ways that the organisation can use:
the web
point of sale/barcode systems
computer systems (ERP/workflow systems).
All of these have the potential to greatly improve resource maintenance and
acquisition.
Learning activity: Pay via internet
Do some internet research to develop your understanding of payment methods
over the internet.
Just-in-time
A key lean philosophy is just-in-time (JIT).
JIT was developed by the Japanese during the 1960s and 1970s to enable
automotive manufacturers to improve flexibility so they could quickly meet
changes in consumer demand.
A strategy of JIT is to drive down inventories in order to identify impediments to
the flow of products and services.
You may be able to follow this strategy for some material resources.
Other methods
Some other methods for acquiring resources include:
consignment stock
vendor managed inventory
customer managed inventory.


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Learning activity: Pay via internet

Do some internet research to develop your understanding of methods of
carrying stock including:
consignment stock
vendor managed inventory
customer managed inventory.
Section summary
You should now understand how to acquire resources in your workplace.
Section checklist
Make sure that you understand how to:
ensure acquisition and storage of resources is in accordance with
organisational requirements, is cost effective and consistent with
organisational timelines
acquire resources within available time lines to meet identified
requirements
review resource acquisition processes to identify improvements in future
resource acquisitions.

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Further reading
Some recommended reading for this unit includes:
Anandarajah, Aseervatham and Reid, 2004, Prepare and manage budgets

and financial plans, Pearson.
CMI, 2006, Contribute to the application of a proactive maintenance

strategy, CMI.
Holzner, S., 2006, How Dell does it, McGraw Hill.
Womack, J. P. and Jones, D. T., 2003, Lean thinking, Free Press.
Productivity Press 1996, TPM for every operator, Productivity Press.


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Appendices
Student Workbook
Appendices
Appendix 1: Plan template
Goal:
Priority

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Task/Action
Who
Due Date

Student Workbook
Appendices
Appendix 2: Budget template

Scope of budget:
Period of budget:
Item
Unit price
Units
Value ($)
Total


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Appendix 3: Purchasing policy and procedure

Purpose
To establish a process and framework for contracts and purchases of resources
that ensures:
our purchases are budgeted for or are subject to financial controls

all purchases are cost effective, and
purchasing activities complies with legislation.
Policy
organisation funds are only used for work-related purposes

purchases are cost effective
purchasing procedures must comply with relevant legislation
failure to comply with this policy and its procedures will result in
disciplinary measures.
Procedure
Authorities:
General Manager final decision on purchasing.
Department Managers are responsible for operational budgets (including
supply/purchase of material resources).
Purchasing Committee are responsible for decisions on Capital
Expenditures.
Purchasing Officer responsible for documentation and process.
Approving Material Expenditure
Material expenditures are the responsibility of the departmental manager,
namely: Manufacturing Manager, Warehouse Manager, Office Manager.
All material expenditures must be accounted for within the departments
operational budget.
Any material expenditure that exceeds departmental operational budgets
must be raised immediately with the General Manager.
Approving Capital Expenditure
A purchasing committee has been established and meets monthly to
review and approve major purchases.
Membership includes the General Manager, Manufacturing Manager,
Warehouse Manager, Office Manager, Accountant and Purchasing Officer.
Preferred suppliers are to be asked to quote for relevant contracts. The
purchasing officer maintains the list of preferred suppliers on the
purchasing committees behalf.
Copies of current budgets, quotes, contracts and other documents relating
to purchases must be provided to the committee for review.
The purchasing committee must review the proposed expenditure against
the relevant budgets.

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Appendices
Monetary limit
Requirement
Documentation
Up to $1000
Direct purchase
Tax invoice
$1001-$10000
Three written quotes
Copies of quotes with

table of comparisons
prepared by IWA
employees
$10,001-unlimited
Three written quotes
Suppliers must present to

purchasing committee
Contract and Payment
Expenditures, once approved, should be forwarded to the purchasing

officer for review and finalisation of contract (if applicable) and payment.
All contracts must be reviewed and signed by the General Manager.
Purchase Orders are to be raised electronically through the organisational

accounting system.
Purchase Orders must be checked approved by person with budget

responsibility (Manufacturing Manager, Warehouse Manager, Office
Manager).


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Appendix 4: Organisational chart and contact list
Innovative Widgets Organisational Chart
Name/Title
Ext.
Mobile
Bob Jenkins General Manager
x1111
0411 111 111
Sid Gilmour Accountant
x2222
0422 222 222
David Barrett Purchasing Officer
x3333
0433 333 333
Nick Waters Manufacturing Manager
x4444
0444 444 444
James Page Warehouse Manager
X5555 0555 555 555
In In and can be contacted
DND Do not Disturb, In a meeting
Off-site Working but at another location (available on mobile)

Page 70 of 71
Status

Student Workbook
Appendices
Appendix 5: Filing policy and procedure

Policy
Innovative Widgets have filing systems for managing both
electronic and print-based workplace information. Adherence to
our filing systems is essential for ensuring that documents can be
located quickly and efficiently.
Each department (Sales, Accounting, HR, Manufacturing)
maintain their own file systems.
Administrative staff must store and maintain files on:
customer complaints
supplier information (Newsletters and pricelists from suppliers)
equipment manuals, supplier contacts, and related paperwork.
Procedure
When information is received for filing, you must:
1. Check the information.
2. Sort the information into one of the two categories above (Complaints,
Supplier information).
3. File the information alphabetically in the appropriate filing cabinets or
expanding file.
4. Record details of what was filed using the Document Control Register (see
below).
5. Documents that are updates (i.e. price lists, product info) are to replace
the previous version in the folder. Place the previous version in a folder
called ARCHIVE.


Page 71 of 71

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STUDENT

Implement and monitor

Part of a suite of support materials for the

BSB Business Services Training Package

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BSBSUS301 Implement and monitor environmentally sustainable work practices

1st edition version: 1

Section 4 Implement Strategies for Improvement...................................................... 67

1st edition version: 1

BSBSUS301 Implement and monitor environmentally sustainable work practices

and knowledge to solve authentic workplace tasks and problems.

Structure of the training program

BSBSUS301 Implement and monitor environmentally sustainable work practices

1st edition version: 1

Australian Government Department of the Environment, viewed April 2015,

business, EcoBiz Queensland, viewed April 2015,

1st edition version: 1

BSBSUS301 Implement and monitor environmentally sustainable work practices

Section 1 Environmental Regulations

Section 1 Environmental Regulations

What skills will you need?

BSBSUS301 Implement and monitor environmentally sustainable work practices

1st edition version: 1

Section 1 Environmental Regulations

Why do regulations matter?

legislation, for example, refers to the group of

Compliance is the word that describes doing

what the legislation says you must do.

followed and penalties for non-compliance are specified in the legislation.

Environmental laws and regulations

Legislation that applies to your

environmental management system

environmentally responsible organisation.

1st edition version: 1

BSBSUS301 Implement and monitor environmentally sustainable work practices

Section 1 Environmental Regulations

The Department of the Environment serves to implement

State and territory government laws for the environment vary in

Local councils have regulations and guidelines related to the

Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation (EPBC) Act

international treaty under which such wetlands are listed)

BSBSUS301 Implement and monitor environmentally sustainable work practices

1st edition version: 1

Section 1 Environmental Regulations

The EPBC Act aims to protect these areas as well as to:

eight areas of national significance

Learning activity: Your states environmental protection legislation

1st edition version: 1

BSBSUS301 Implement and monitor environmentally sustainable work practices

Section 1 Environmental Regulations

sustainability, such as:

Local municipal by-laws and regulations

BSBSUS301 Implement and monitor environmentally sustainable work practices

1st edition version: 1

Section 1 Environmental Regulations