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Elements and Performance Criteria

Required Skills

Required knowledge includes

characteristics of good project purposes and goals

regulatory environment and requirements for sustainability related project including HSE aspects

concept of capital versus operational improvements

characteristics of good critical success factors and key performance indicators

internal and external data sources

project costing methods for capital personnel financial and time related costs

methods of quantifying project benefits

ROl calculations

costbenefit calculation

relevant accounting conventions and requirements and the alternative lean view where appropriate

ASNZS ISO Environmental Management Standards

Required skills include

analysing processes logistics material usages costs and benefits

analysing the regulatory environment as it applies to an organisation and determining implications for products and processes

collating interpreting and presenting statistical data sets and other numeric information including data series means and averages

Evidence Required

Overview of assessment

A person who demonstrates competency in this unit must be able to prepare a business case including appropriate analyses for sustainability related improvements

Critical aspects for assessment and evidence required to demonstrate competency in this unit

Assessors must be satisfied that the candidate can competently and consistently apply the skills covered in this unit of competency in new and different situations and contexts Critical aspects of assessment and evidence include

identifying sustainability goals and relating these goals to current and future states

determining costs of sustainability related improvements across an organisations operation or value chain

making RoI calculations

preparing project proposals that clearly define and quantify costs and benefits and presents a cogent and valid argument for proceeding with the project or otherwise

Context of and specific resources for assessment

This unit of competency is to be assessed in the workplace or a simulated workplace environment

Assessment should emphasise a workplace context and procedures found in the candidates workplace

This unit of competency may be assessed with other relevant units addressing sustainability at the enterprise level or other units requiring the exercise of the skills and knowledge covered by this unit

The competencies covered by this unit would be demonstrated by an individual working alone or as part of a team

Method of assessment

In all cases practical assessment should be supported by questions to assess underpinning knowledge and those aspects of competency which are difficult to assess directly

Where applicable reasonable adjustment must be made to work environments and training situations to accommodate ethnicity age gender demographics and disability

The language literacy and numeracy demands of assessment should not be greater than those required to undertake the unit of competency in a worklike environment

Guidance information for assessment

Range Statement

Expected benefit	Expected benefit may be a benefit against: business ecological social sustainability goals
Capital improvements	Capital improvements covers: the purchase, installation, construction and commissioning of new equipment alterations to existing equipment designed to improve the sustainability of the organisation’s operations and which will be classed as capital in the organisation’s balance sheet
Production improvements	Production improvements are improvements to processes such as: work re-organisation eliminating or changing operating steps use of different materials, components or supplies changing equipment and process conditions The improvements may or may not: involve expenditure of a capital or operating nature
Maintenance related improvements	Maintenance related improvements are changes to maintenance procedures, such as increased: condition monitoring maintenance frequency designed to improve the efficiency and sustainability of operating equipment Maintenance improvements may require: capital or non-capital expenditure
Product life cycle improvements	Product life cycle improvements are: improvements to the entire life cycle of a product through design, manufacture, service and disposal
Regulatory HSE improvements	Regulatory HSE improvements are: changes designed to improve the organisation’s compliance to sustainability related Acts and regulations
Personnel costs	Personnel costs may include: costs related to recruiting new staff, retrenchments, training and retraining and use of contract labour for sustainability related improvements
Time-related costs	Time-related costs include: the time value of money and may also include maintenance of new plant as part of the project
ROI	ROI means return on investment and relates in this unit to assessing the returns (positive and negative) on the investment required to make sustainability improvements. The actual formula used and the definitions of factors and hurdle rates adopted should be consistent with standard practice for the organisation