MSS402053A
Participate in breakthrough improvements in an office

This unit of competency covers the skills and knowledge required by office employees to participate in team activities to identify how to radically improve selected office processes and to implement and sustain the changes in their own work.

Application

This unit applies to an employee who will be participating in team projects that focus on making improvements to selected office-related processes to eliminate waste and improve value-add to the customer.

The unit covers team members contributing to the breakthrough improvements based on knowledge of their own and the broader office functions and how they contribute to meeting customer requirements.

This unit assumes that one or more processes in the office have been mapped and a target area for breakthrough improvement has been identified.

The office environment may include administrative, transactional or service-based processes in or attached to a manufacturing organisation, within their value stream or similar environments, such as health care, education, financial, construction or Defence services.


Prerequisites

Not applicable.


Elements and Performance Criteria

1

Contribute to planning improvement events

1.1

Identify own role and functions and those of the broader office and how they contribute to value to the customer

1.2

Make suggestions for changes that might lead to improvements in the targeted process

1.3

Participate in team activities to identity breakthrough improvements to be implemented

1.4

Identify own project tasks and task sequencing for improvements

2

Assist in making improvements

2.1

Identify metrics relevant to own role in the target process

2.2

Gather baseline data on these metrics

2.3

Undertake tasks as allocated in the project plan

2.4

Communicate with team and project leader on progress, achievements and difficulties

2.5

Contribute to making adjustments and finding solutions to problems

3

Contribute to evaluating improvements

3.1

Gather comparative data on the metrics once changes have been made

3.2

Participate in team activities to evaluate the outcomes of the event

3.3

Make suggestions for additional changes and/or improvements for areas of poor performance

4

Sustain improvements

4.1

Consistently apply the new procedures/processes in own work area

4.2

Apply monitoring mechanisms

4.3

Report non-conformances and suggestions for further improvements

Required Skills

Required skills

Required skills include:

communicating with others to clarify scope of breakthrough improvement activity, contribute suggestions for improvement and review results

visualising normal office procedures in terms of flow and contribution to customer benefit

planning and prioritising own tasks in implementation of breakthrough team activity

identifying office waste (muda)

reading and interpreting documents describing office procedures

recording activities and results against templates and other prescribed formats

working with others to solve problems

Required knowledge

Required knowledge includes:

how the targeted process contributes to value for the customer

standard office procedures within the targeted process for own activities and others in team

difference between continuous improvement and breakthrough improvement

breakthrough improvement techniques as is relevant to own job area

competitive systems and practices tools and techniques as applied in the office, for example:

value stream mapping

5S

Just in Time (JIT)

process mapping

establishing customer pull

key performance indicators/metrics

identification and elimination of waste (muda)

problem solving

A3 reporting

Plan, Do, Check, Act (PDCA)

methods of making/recommending improvements

Evidence Required

The range statement relates to the unit of competency as a whole. It allows for different work environments and situations that may affect performance. Bold italicised wording, if used in the performance criteria, is detailed below. Essential operating conditions that may be present with training and assessment (depending on the work situation, needs of the candidate, accessibility of the item, and local industry and regional contexts) may also be included.

Competitive systems and practices

Competitive systems and practices may include, but are not limited to:

lean operations

agile operations

preventative and predictive maintenance approaches

monitoring and data gathering systems, such as customer relationship management (CRM) database, accounting packages, business intelligence or other office process-related database programs

statistical process control systems, including six sigma and three sigma

JIT, kanban and other pull-related operations control systems

supply, value, and demand chain monitoring and analysis

5S

continuous improvement (kaizen)

breakthrough improvement (kaizen blitz)

cause/effect diagrams

takt time

process mapping

problem solving

run charts

standard procedures

current reality tree

Competitive systems and practices should be interpreted so as to take into account:

the stage of implementation of competitive systems and practices

the size of the enterprise

the work organisation, culture, regulatory environment and the industry sector

Office

Office may include:

a physical location or a remote or virtual location where information/administrative/transaction/service based functions are conducted

An office typically produces information and/or services as deliverables to internal or external customers and stores records in hard copy or electronically

Breakthrough improvement

A breakthrough improvement is one that delivers a better ratio of value-add to non-value add from the customer perspective. It is characterised by:

using a formal process

being a discrete targeted activity that is achieved in a relatively short timeframe

delivering significant level of improvement

Monitoring mechanisms

Monitoring mechanisms may include:

scheduled audits

regular monitoring and/or reporting activities

communications, such as standing items for team meetings

tracking and visual display of performance measures

Waste

Waste (also known as muda in the Toyota Production System and its derivatives) includes:

errors in documents or data

transport of documents

doing unnecessary work

waiting for the next process step

process of getting approvals

unnecessary motions

backlog in work queues

under utilised employees

too many signature/approval levels

unclear job descriptions

obsolete databases/files/folders

collecting unnecessary data

interruptions that do not add value

purchase orders not matching quotation

full or bulk printouts when partial printout would do

printing out when electronic files could serve the purpose

holding unnecessary stock of office supplies

generating reports that are not read

other activities which do not yield any benefit to the organisation or any benefit to the organisations customers


Range Statement

The range statement relates to the unit of competency as a whole. It allows for different work environments and situations that may affect performance. Bold italicised wording, if used in the performance criteria, is detailed below. Essential operating conditions that may be present with training and assessment (depending on the work situation, needs of the candidate, accessibility of the item, and local industry and regional contexts) may also be included.

Competitive systems and practices

Competitive systems and practices may include, but are not limited to:

lean operations

agile operations

preventative and predictive maintenance approaches

monitoring and data gathering systems, such as customer relationship management (CRM) database, accounting packages, business intelligence or other office process-related database programs

statistical process control systems, including six sigma and three sigma

JIT, kanban and other pull-related operations control systems

supply, value, and demand chain monitoring and analysis

5S

continuous improvement (kaizen)

breakthrough improvement (kaizen blitz)

cause/effect diagrams

takt time

process mapping

problem solving

run charts

standard procedures

current reality tree

Competitive systems and practices should be interpreted so as to take into account:

the stage of implementation of competitive systems and practices

the size of the enterprise

the work organisation, culture, regulatory environment and the industry sector

Office

Office may include:

a physical location or a remote or virtual location where information/administrative/transaction/service based functions are conducted

An office typically produces information and/or services as deliverables to internal or external customers and stores records in hard copy or electronically

Breakthrough improvement

A breakthrough improvement is one that delivers a better ratio of value-add to non-value add from the customer perspective. It is characterised by:

using a formal process

being a discrete targeted activity that is achieved in a relatively short timeframe

delivering significant level of improvement

Monitoring mechanisms

Monitoring mechanisms may include:

scheduled audits

regular monitoring and/or reporting activities

communications, such as standing items for team meetings

tracking and visual display of performance measures

Waste

Waste (also known as muda in the Toyota Production System and its derivatives) includes:

errors in documents or data

transport of documents

doing unnecessary work

waiting for the next process step

process of getting approvals

unnecessary motions

backlog in work queues

under utilised employees

too many signature/approval levels

unclear job descriptions

obsolete databases/files/folders

collecting unnecessary data

interruptions that do not add value

purchase orders not matching quotation

full or bulk printouts when partial printout would do

printing out when electronic files could serve the purpose

holding unnecessary stock of office supplies

generating reports that are not read

other activities which do not yield any benefit to the organisation or any benefit to the organisations customers


Sectors

Unit sector

Competitive systems and practices


Employability Skills

This unit contains employability skills.


Licensing Information

Not applicable.