The evidence guide provides advice on assessment and must be read in conjunction with the performance criteria, required skills and knowledge, range statement and the Assessment Guidelines for the Training Package.

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

A person who demonstrates competency in this unit must be able to provide evidence of the ability to:

identify, analyse and evaluate information from a variety of sources to identify errors and options for mistake proofing

facilitate implementation of mistake proofing activities that reduce waste

facilitate sustaining the mistake proofing activities.

Context of and specific resources for assessment

Assessment of performance must be undertaken in a workplace using or implementing one or more competitive systems and practices.

Access may be required to:

workplace procedures and plans relevant to work area

specifications and documentation relating to planned, currently being implemented, or implemented changes to work processes and procedures relevant to the assessee

documentation and information in relation to production, waste, overheads and hazard control/management

reports from supervisors/managers

case studies and scenarios to assess responses to contingencies.

Method of assessment

A holistic approach should be taken to the assessment.

Competence in this unit may be assessed by using a combination of the following to generate evidence:

demonstration in the workplace

workplace projects

suitable simulation

case studies/scenarios (particularly for assessment of contingencies, improvement scenarios, and so on)

targeted questioning

reports from supervisors, peers and colleagues (third-party reports)

portfolio of evidence.

In all cases it is expected that practical assessment will be combined with targeted questioning to assess underpinning knowledge.

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

Guidance information for assessment

Assessment processes and techniques must be culturally appropriate and appropriate to the oracy, language and literacy capacity of the candidate and the work being performed.

Required skills

Required skills include:

communicating with office employees and managers to engender commitment to eliminating errors, conduct formal and informal meetings and to explain mistake proofing and related concepts

facilitating input and encouraging acceptance of changes by others

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

planning and prioritising team activities

solving problems to determine root cause of errors and possible solutions

analysing and interpreting information about errors and mistake proofing options in terms of cost, feasibility, regulations and value to the customer

Required knowledge

Required knowledge includes:

principles, purpose and methods of mistake proofing

root cause analysis techniques, such as 5 Whys, Pareto analysis and fishbone diagrams

office deliverables and processes used to achieve them

how office processes contribute to the value stream

organisational policies, plans and procedures

methods of identifying and evaluating options

occupational health and safety (OHS) requirements relevant to the target work areas

change management

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

Just in Time (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

Mistake proofing

Mistake proofing is based on the concept of zero defects. The first priority is to eliminate the possibility of an error occurring. However, where this is not feasible mistake proofing can be used to reduce the occurrence of errors and/or to minimise their impact.

Mistake proofing should target an error in the following priority order:

eliminate the possibility of the error via changes to the process

prevent the error from occurring via physical or virtual barriers

reduce likelihood of the error by encouraging correct action

mitigate the impact of the error if it does occur

Mistake proofing activities in the office environment may include:

physical barriers that prevent errors (e.g. automatic shutoff guide rails, equipment, leads and supplies that can only be used the correct way, and secure areas)

‘virtual’ barriers built into information technology (IT) and data systems (e.g. required fields, data validation rules, centrally managed templates and workflows, and password protected files)

visual or physical reminders of the correct action or sequence (e.g. colour coding, visual procedures and dividers)

visual or auditory alerts about incorrect action

reducing data errors through simplified forms or moving to electronic data capture

standardised workflows and templates for documentation

Prioritising errors

Errors are operational actions which result in waste in terms of value to the customer and/or non-compliance to OHS or other regulatory requirements. They may be:

prioritised in terms of frequency, importance to operations, extent of waste or other factors relevant to the organisation and/or the customer

Options for mistake proofing

Factors to consider when prioritising options for mistake proofing will vary according to the process and may include:

feasibility

cost

capacity to reduce waste

Criteria that support value to the customer

Criteria that support value to the customer should take into account factors, such as:

ease and cost of implementation

capacity to prevent errors

the impact to the customer from the errors