ORGANISE WORKPLACE
INFORMATION
FACILITATOR MANUAL WITH SIMULATED
ONLINE BUSINESS ASSESSMENT
BSBINM301A
Precision Group (Australia) Pty Ltd
9 Koppen Tce, Cairns, QLD, 4870
Email: info@precisiongroup.com.au
Website: www.precisiongroup.com.au
© Precision Group (Australia) Pty Ltd
BSBINM301A
Organise Workplace Information
ISBN: 978-1-74238-
Copyright Notice
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Precision Group has made a great effort to ensure that this
material is free from error or omissions. However, you should
conduct your own enquiries and seek professional advice before
relying on any fact, statement or matter contained in this book.
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from this material. Information in this module is current at the
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Table of Contents
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3
4
5
7
Legend
Qualification Pathways
Qualification Rules
Introduction
BSBINM301A/01 Collect and Assess Information
Key Points
Access product and service information in accordance with organisational requirements
Ensure methods of collecting information are reliable and make efficient use of available time and resources
Assess information for clarity, accuracy, currency and relevance to intended tasks
Use interpersonal skills to access relevant information from teams and individuals
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19
‘True’ or ‘False’ Quiz
BSBINM301A/02 Organise Information
Key Points
Organise information in a format suitable for analysis, interpretation and dissemination in accordance with organisational requirements
Use appropriate technology / systems to maintain information in accordance with organisational requirements
Collate information and materials, and communicate to relevant designated persons
Identify difficulties organising and accessing information and solve collaboratively with individuals and team members
Update and store information in accordance with organisational requirements and systems
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31
‘True’ or ‘False’ Quiz
BSBINM301A/03 Review Information Needs
Key Points
Actively seek feedback on clarity, accuracy and sufficiency of information to ensure relevance of information and system
Review the contribution of information to decision making and implement appropriate modifications to collection processes
Identify future information needs and incorporate in modifications to collection processes
Document future information needs and incorporate in modifications to reporting processes
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40
41
43
‘True’ or ‘False’ Quiz
Summary
Bibliography
Assessment Pack
Facilitator Manual BSBINM301A Organise Workplace Information
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Use considered risk taking in your ‘grey’ area
...and others will follow you!
Legend
This symbol indicates the beginning of new content. The bold title matches the
content of the competency and they will help you to find the section to reference
for your assessment activities.
Activity: Whenever you see this symbol, there is an activity to carry out which has been
designed to help reinforce the learning about the topic and take some action.
This symbol is used at the end of a section to indicate the summary key points of the
previous section.
This symbol is used to indicate an answer to the Candidate’s questions or notes to assist
the Facilitator.
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Qualification Pathways
“There are always two
choices. Two paths to
take. One is easy. And
its only reward is that
it’s easy”. Source Unknown
This unit of competency is provided to meet the requirements of BSB07 Business Services
Training Package although it can be used in a range of different qualifications. The BSB07
Business Services Training Package does not state how a qualification is to be achieved. Rather,
Registered Training Organisations are required to use the qualification rules to ensure the needs
of the learner and business customer are met. This is to be achieved through the development
of effective learning programs delivered in an order that meets the stated needs of nominated
Candidates and business customers.
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Qualification Rules
“You’re either part of
the solution or part
of the problem.”
Eldridge Cleaver
Qualification requirements include core and elective units. The unit mix is determined by
specific unit of competency requirements which are stated in the qualification description.
Registered Training Organisations then work with learners and business customers to select
elective units relevant to the work outcome, local industry requirements and the qualification
level.
All vocational education qualifications must lead to a work outcome. BSB07 Business Services
Training Package qualifications allow for Registered Training Organisations (RTOs) to vary
programs to meet:
Specific needs of a business or group of businesses.
Skill needs of a locality or a particular industry application of business skills.
Maximum employability of a group of students or an individual.
When packaging a qualification elective units are to be selected from an equivalent level
qualification unless otherwise stated.
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Introduction
“Whether as an
individual, or as part of
a group, real progress
depends on entering
whole-heartedly into
the process and being
motivated to make you a
more deeply satisfied
human being.”
Source Unknown
This unit of competency specifies the outcomes required to gather, organise and apply
workplace information in the context of an organisation’s work processes and knowledge
management systems. This is one of the units that make up the Certificates in Business.
This manual is broken up into three distinct sections. They are:
1. Collect and assess information: To produce useful information, it is important that the
right information for the assigned work is collected and from the right people. We will
discover how best to do this here.
2. Organise information: Once collected, information must be organised so the reader
can readily acquire what they need. Options to achieve this are in this section.
3. Review information needs: Finally, checks are necessary to ensure that what you are
providing meets the requirements of the person who needs it. Checks and balances are
the topics of section three.
At the conclusion of this training you will be asked to complete an Assessment Pack for this unit
of competency. The information contained in this resource will assist you to complete this task.
On completion you will have demonstrated your ability to gather, organise and review
information about your organisation’s work processes.
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PART 1:
Collect and Assess Information
Key Points Section 1
Organising workplace information requires first finding the best useable
information about a multitude of work fields.
To be useful data collected must be accurate, current, relevant, specific,
understandable, comprehensive, unbiased and comparable.
To gain the information, you must consistently exercise excellent interpersonal
communication skills.
It is important that members of a group communicate freely with each other.
Information is received through hearing, seeing, feeling, tasting, and smelling.
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Part 1: Collect and Assess Information
Key Points Section 1 continued
The more ways we use to gather information, the better the information is
received, understood and put to use.
Retrieving or recalling information is important.
Giving information involves the same five senses used to receive it.
Interpreting information is vital.
Clear communication is essential.
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Part 1: Collect and Assess Information
What is Good Information?
Organising workplace information requires first finding the best useable information about a
multitude of work fields. As individuals we need to be continually searching for facts about the
organisation that will in turn give value to the function of the business, keep it operating in a
legitimate fashion and enhance the organisation as a whole. We then assess that information
related to our particular areas of expertise or responsibility, continually trying to determine the
value to each of those fields.
The good news is, there is a great quantity of information available. The bad news is that a lot
of that information is of limited value to us. We are bombarded daily with data and information
in every conceivable form and we just try to navigate our way through a bewildering array of
suggestions, warnings, pictures, numbers, and maybe even sound bites. At some point all of
this is supposed to lead to some rational conclusion about what is right for us to organise and
keep. As individuals, it is very difficult to know what information to absorb and what to screen
out. What is the wheat and what is the chaff?
Basic guidelines to assist you in your quest could include:
Accurate: Information provided must be truthful – the data that you provide must
accurately reflect the situation under investigation by yourself and others.
Current: The information that you gather must be useful in terms of the current
timeframe. Make sure that you get rid of any information that is not applicable to the
current timeframe and replace it with something that is new. You will find that there are
occasions when the information that you are producing ‘perishes’ or becomes out of date
very quickly. In these cases, you need to ensure that there are procedures in place for
adding new data quickly.
Relevant: Relevant information refers to information that is useful for the task that it is
being generated. In order for the information to be useful for you, you need to ensure that
you have the skills to determine when information is useful and when it is not. If you do
not have this skill, you will end up being overwhelmed with the amount of information
that is available to you in a modern workplace.
Specific: Specific information needs to be highly factual. It needs to contain information
that has hard facts that you can refer back to as required to back up any points that you
are making.
Understandable: Good information needs to be able to be understood before it can be
seen as being useful in a workplace. If information is not easily understood, it is difficult to
actually use the data for the purposes that it was gathered for.
Comprehensive: The information that you have gathered must contain all of the
information that you require from it.
Unbiased: We want the data that we collect to be as unbiased as possible. This means
that we want information believed in a way that makes it as useful as possible without any
interests in the data becoming obvious.
Comparable: The information over the long term must be gathered in a consistent
manner, must be analysed in the same way over time and so on. This is to enable the
information to be able to be used and compared over time.
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Part 1: Collect and Assess Information
These are some of the most important qualities that make information useful for planning and
decision-making. However, your organisation is not the only source of information available nor
should it be the only source someone uses. Information obtained from lots of sources creates
a better picture and is more likely to result in successful decisions and sound plans. Though it
can sometimes be confusing and even conflicting, each source has its own unique strengths
and limitations. Information is most useful when the people who use it have some basis for
evaluation.
Collecting Information
There are many ways of gathering information. Some of the more common approaches are
detailed here:
Questionnaires are a set of questions designed to gather information. They are useful
when your audience is able to read and write, it is culturally appropriate, you have an engaged
audience (i.e. workgroup or team), you personally know the people you want to collect the
information on or for. Using a questionnaire without names on it might help to make sure
information is kept private. If you want to get information from others who are remote to you,
and it’s not easy to get them in one place at one time, consider using a mail questionnaire.
Choosing and interpreting a standardised questionnaire is something you might want to get
an expert to help you with. It is a good idea only to use a standardised questionnaire if you are
sure that you’ll be able to use the information, because the evaluator doesn’t know who has
answered the questionnaire. This means you can ask more sensitive questions.
However, people answering the questionnaire may not understand some sections or may have
questions and you won’t be there to clarify, or it might be difficult to read what people have
written. Some people might be more likely to complete and return your questionnaire than
others, e.g. people who have difficulties reading and writing are less likely to participate and
return completed questionnaires.
Let’s now look at some of the common methods used to gather opinion data in an organisation.
Comment Cards
While a very simple method of establishing opinions, comment cards are a useful way of
getting complaints in. It is well known that most people who have a complaint simply do not
complain… They let it fester and simply never go back into a particular organisation again.
Unfortunately, without having a complaint you are not aware of why your customers are not
coming back.
By using a good comment card, you can gather both good and bad feedback that you might
otherwise have never received. This feedback is continual and allows you to track on a day-today basis exactly what complaints are coming and where issues are occurring most. This may
vary from week to week, so knowing this information is vital.
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Part 1: Collect and Assess Information
Comment cards should be available throughout an organisation, so that whether the individual
just pops in or if they are a regular customer, they are able to provide your staff with comments
on their performance and their overall satisfaction with your organisational performance.
Competition
Take a look at what your competition is doing and compare it to what you are offering. If they
are performing significantly better, try to find out why this is the case.
Focus Groups
The focus group is a specific market research method that is used to try and get the opinions
of your customers. Generally, they involve bringing together four (4) to eight (8) people and
“Information is the
seed for an idea,
and only grows
when it’s watered.”
Heinz V. Bergen
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Part 1: Collect and Assess Information
asking them for their opinions of your organisation and what your organisation is offering
to them in the way of product offerings and services. This method of customer satisfaction
research is very useful in that it allows you to gain solid opinions on what you are doing and
any changes that you feel need to be made. Your customers also gain a favourable impression
of the organisation, because by holding the focus group you can provide them with immediate
feedback and it shows that your organisation is taking the issues raised seriously.
It is also very useful to include some of your staff members in the focus group. By including
these staff members into the focus group process it will allow them to get valuable insights
into the way that the customers are feeling and may assist them with gaining more knowledge
about customer needs. It is however important not to include too many staff as this may make
the customers less willing to be open about their opinions.
So, how does a focus group operate?
Begin by making your customers feel comfortable – offer them tea or coffee and allow
them to get to know each other.
Open the group by introducing yourself, and provide a brief overview about why the
focus group is being run and what you hope to achieve.
Begin the group proper by asking your customers what they like about the
organisation – keeping things light and positive before you move into those areas which
could be heavier. People will open up by providing you with this information first before
you ask about where any problems may exist.
Next, ask about areas where products or service could be improved. Remember that
you are looking for this information, so never be defensive or argue with those in the focus
group. They are there to provide you with their honest opinion, so allow them to give it.
Once you have spent time in discussion, end the group on a positive note. Thank
everyone that attended, and let them know that you value their contributions. Offer them
an opportunity to discuss anything in more detail with you and be sure to let them know
that you will provide them with information on the outcome of the focus group. Make
them feel like they made a difference, because they certainly will have.
Surveys by Mail
Surveys by mail are often regarded as something that people hate to do. But many people
are very happy to provide feedback using this method, especially if you give some form of
incentive if they do. However, consider that:
Mail surveys take time to design, administer and analyse
You must have an appropriate coding system in place for the data collected
Response rates can be low
It is impossible to probe further.
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Telephone Surveys
Cheaper than a mail survey you may be able to get your staff to conduct the telephone survey
on your behalf every few months to check how things are going.
Case Studies are a detailed description of a single event, person or place that illustrates
your project. They are good when presenting the results of your evaluation, or your project is
focussing on particular groups, as it helps people to identify with the particular groups within
the project. You must be certain that the person in your case study can not be identified and
has a good example that illustrates or ‘showcases’ your project.
Usually case studies have a minimal cost, and are a good way to present your project in a
way that your organisation will understand. But you need to be very careful to make sure that
your case is not identified. Capture a range of people so that you can make representative
generalisations and conclusions.
Storytelling is when a person or group tells a story on a topic. This is useful when you
are certain that your subject case can not be identified. It can show results effectively and
showcase your project in a way that your community will understand.
When you are using story telling as a data gathering exercise, it is important that you find ways
to make sure that the data that you have gathered is not identifiable to the individuals that you
are gathering data from. It is also important to gather data from a wide range of individuals,
rather than just keeping to a specific type of people so that you get a wide range of opinions.
Story telling and data gathering can also involve the analysis of:
Photos
Pictures
Paintings
Videos.
Whenever you use these methods, be sure to gain the express permission of those that you are
taking images of in order for it to be used.
Other Data Sources is information collected outside your project (e.g. public records,
industry records). It is useful when you want to check the accuracy of some information that
you collected or you are conducting a project where routine data may support your objectives.
It has already been collected so you don’t have to do all the work to collect the information, but
you need to check if you need ethical approval and permission to access this information and
that the information has been collected reliably. Finally ensure that you really know what the
data means and who it has been collected from.
Process Mapping is a method of determining how something is done within an organisation
and generally is conducted using a flow-chart. The process map will outline the actual workflow within the organisational processes and will allow you to determine what is done, when
and by whom.
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Part 1: Collect and Assess Information
It can be particularly helpful when gathering information because a good process map should
outline the types of information that are gathered over the timeframe of a given process and
what this information is actually used for by the organisation.
This information can be helpful in identifying areas for improvement because it can provide
accurate and detailed process information. Observations may, however, be influenced by how
you feel about a certain event. You need to make sure you just record the facts. There is a risk
that the mapping may not be completed on a regular basis or accurately.
Always think carefully about which method is most appropriate to achieving the information
you need to organise and keep and which can be ignored. Keep the following four criteria in
mind as you make your selections and apply them again when making your final choices as to
suitability of material.
1. Who the users will be.
2. What their information needs are.
3. What materials are available.
4. How information can be disseminated.
It is important to collect only essential information.
Too much information can be confusing.
Encouraging Personal Sharing of Information
Finally, let’s take some time looking at how you can get individuals within your organisation
and outside it to share their views and opinions with you. This can be very difficult to achieve,
as you are asking for personal thoughts in some cases.
The key is having exceptional communication skills and using this to try and achieve a number
of tasks:
Gathering information
Analysing information
Storing information
Giving information.
When you are communicating with others in order to gain relevant information, you will find
that a basic process takes place:
1. The sender sends information
2. It travels via a given media to the receiver
3. The receiver receives the information and interprets it.
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You need to understand the effect that each of these processes have on the end result. Let’s
take a look at some further considerations:
Information can be verbal, written, or through a range of other mediums – some are
even difficult to interpret (such as non-verbal communication), so you need to understand
the effect that each of these has on the message that you are actually receiving from
those communicating it.
Memories are important. You will need to ensure that you are able to remember
everything that is said to you during these processes.
Giving information can involve any sense that you may have, so you need to
appreciate the messages that you are giving out using the various senses your body is
able to interpret.
In order to interpret information in a clear and effective manner, you need to be sure
of what needs to be said, what needs to be gathered and you need to find an effective
way to make sure that you provide a manner for the information to be provided as quickly
and efficiently as possible.
Remember that only a small amount of information is gained through listening. You
can gain much information also by looking at the client and observing their mannerisms
and such.
Be as clear as possible with your communications. Avoid difficult terms, jargon,
acronyms and the like which will only serve to confuse people.
Be clear about your expectations – state what you hope to find out and what sort of
information that you are trying to gather from the exercise.
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Part 1: Collect and Assess Information
Activity One
Breaking into groups of three, one will be the interviewer, one the interviewee and the third
will be the observer and time-keeper. The interviewer will spend five minutes asking questions
about the value of this training. The interviewee will answer. At the end of the five minutes
the observer will give positive reinforcement (what went well) and constructive feedback (what
could be improved).
The groups then change roles and repeat the exercise twice more so that each has a turn in
each role. It is important that the observer in each case provide both positive and constructive
feedback or there will be little learning.
Notes: . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ................................................................................................................
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Facilitator’s Notes for Activity One
Listen to the groups as you circulate and keep them on track and interviewee
answers brief. Ensure that the feedback is valid and beneficial and the appropriate
and beneficial interpersonal skills are used. At the end, debrief as one group to
share learning and experiences.
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Section 1 - ‘True’ or ‘False’ Quiz
True
False
Always think carefully about which method is most appropriate to
achieving the information you need to organise and keep, and which
can be ignored.
Most people learn approximately 11 percent of what they know by
seeing, but 83 percent of what they know by listening.
Most people learn approximately 11 percent of what they know by listening,
but 83 percent of what they know by seeing.
The memory can be supported with notes, sketches, written
references, and similar techniques.
Usually case studies have a great cost, and are a good way to present
your project in a way that your organisation will understand.
Usually case studies have a minimal cost.
Choosing and interpreting a standardised questionnaire is something
you might want to get an expert to help you with.
Focus groups are inexpensive, participants don’t need to be able to
read or write and are good for exploring more complex issues where
people can openly talk about their experiences.
The more ways we use to gather information, the better the
information is received, understood and put to use.
We are bombarded with data and information in every conceivable
form and we just try to navigate our way through it.
Information is least useful when the people who use it have some
basis for evaluation.
Information is most useful when the people who use it have some basis for
evaluation.
It may be easier for an interviewer to ask personal or sensitive
questions and people will tell the truth if they know the interviewer
or the interviewer knows them.
It may be difficult to ask personal or sensitive questions if the interviewer
knows them.
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