Artefact 5 - Business Plan

MDDE 605 Planning and Management in Distance Education and Training main focus is planning and implementing a new Distance Education unit. This course was broken down into three sections that built upon each other to produce a business plan and financial plan for a distance education enterprise.

Artefact Summary

The final artefact that I have included to represent part of my learning journey is a business plan. This artefact demonstrates core competencies and exemplifies learned knowledge, skills, and growth. This detailed business plan outlines a potential business opportunity for the School of Business at Okanagan College.

This artefact focuses on competencies outlined in the Problem Solving, Analysis, and Decision Making section; the Communication and Interpersonal Skills section; the Research section; and the Management Organization and Leadership section. Each related competency is listed on the left pane under the Associated Competencies heading.

To view this artefact, click on the Word document link located on the left pane.

Reflection

Prior to taking this course, I was involved in creating a business plan for our family business; therefore, I thought this course would be relatively familiar. Upon completion of this course, I realized that the business plan that I created years ago was mediocre, to say the least. This course opened my eyes to the amount of time and energy required in creating a business plan.

As a result of recent government cutbacks in education, Okanagan College is forced to re-evaluate its programs and relations with other institutions. Presently, the Office Administration department is part of a provincial collaborative group that offers online courses through BC Campus. Since cutbacks are imminent, Okanagan College’s ties to BC Campus are in jeopardy of being severed from each other. Consequently, Okanagan College may be forced to establish a new Distance Education unit within the School of Business (1.1, 1.2, 1.11); therefore, I chose to create a business plan for a Distance Education unit.

Prior to writing the business plan, two other assignments were required. The first assignment was to recognize the need for this business opportunity. My department had expressed concerns that the current distance education system may be discontinued. I sought out further information regarding this issue (by questioning the dean and chairperson) and realized that this was a “real” situation (1.1, 1.2, 1.3). The assignment requirements provided a guide to working through a market analysis, a competitor analysis, and a business opportunity analysis. Identifying the business opportunity and addressing the relevant market and competitors was difficult (1.6, 1.7, 1.8). My initial draft was inadequate as my work lacked detail. With guidance from my instructor, I returned to the drawing board and refined my details (1.9). I realized then that the more information I included in this analysis, the more complete it would become (no more cutting corners) (1.10, 1.11). Upon completion of this assignment, results clearly indicated the need for the creation of a Distance Education unit for the Office Administration department (1.4, 1.5).

The next process to creating the business plan was Assignment 2, devising a strategic plan that included vision and mission statements and a SWOT analysis. This assignment allowed me to become better acquainted with Okanagan College (6.1, 6.2) and its policies. In addition, this section was very relevant to my career; I had just returned from a department meeting where our group performed SWOT analysis. Applying SWOT in two different environments crystallized the entire process for me, and allowed me the opportunity to focus on external and internal environments that have a huge impact on our programs (6.1). The outcome of the SWOT analysis was the premise of the strategic goals and objectives required. It was evident that having a clear understanding of the difference between goals and objectives was important when developing these. As a method to better understand the differences, I reviewed examples and student’s perspectives provided in the discussion forums. This exercise provided me with a better understanding and contributed to the creation of goals and objectives that effectively aligned with one another (1.1, 1.4, 1.6).

The final step, when it all came together, was to produce a complete business plan (the attached artefact) (4.1). The business plan includes the business structure, marketing and sales projections, a financial plan and projections, a balanced scorecard to measure success, a management plan, and resources required to implement the business plan.

Formulating and reviewing prior assignments prepared me for making the recommendations that I included in this business plan (6.3, 6.4, 6.5). I relied on Okanagan College’s strategic direction and the mission and values statements as the framework in identifying the proposed business environment. Since this proposal is under the umbrella of Okanagan College, much of the structure already existed. Therefore, the inclusion of the business location, relationship to other organizations, and governance was easy to acquire and very informative. The financial portion was quite simple, as I teach accounting and business math; however, I found the marketing strategies more difficult. To work through this section, I performed comprehensive research on our competitors and highlighted products that are delivered by other institutions, costs, method of delivery etc. This entire program has identified the importance of thorough research. I drew from my past course experiences to ensure that my marketing research was adequate by being open minded and by examining all possible marketing strategies. From this information I was able to establish and identify competitive advantages that consist of flexibility in course entry, alternative learning environments, continuous intake, course incentives and program packaging (5.6,6.3). Researching and providing recommendations regarding required infrastructure (resources) was also challenging. As I familiarized myself with current resources available versus required resources, I identified problems regarding workspace and software by assessing existing resources (5.1, 5.2). Again, I conducted research to find the most cost effective way to address these problems. I performed interviews with IT members concerning software (5.5, 5.7, 5.8) and support. I understood the necessary support and software systems available; I spoke with both management and union members about a few relevant alternatives to control costs.  Specifically, I discussed the possibility of having instructors working from home, rather than occupying office space at the college campuses (1.1, 1.8, 1.9). Throughout this entire process I relied on skills and attributes that I had developed in other courses by recalling the feedback and strategies provided to me by my learning,  instructors, and fellow classmates. These strategies predominately relied on brainstorming, having an open mind, and critical thinking.  As a result, all aspects were addressed resulting in a effective and comprehensive business plan.

The creation of this business was more meaningful and more in-depth than I anticipated. Fortunately the project had significance as I was able to rely on "real-life" circumstances while working on this entire course.

Application

The competencies that I built on in the artefact will provide my department with detailed knowledge regarding the implementation of a new distance education organization if required. The proposed Distance Education unit is a well-reasoned solution that will provide attractive online and blended-learning environments that will be self-sufficient and rely on internal resources for materials, instructors, information technology services, and administration services.