Application
This unit of competency covers the skills and knowledge required by an office employee to participate in team activities to identify how to radically improve selected office-related processes to eliminate waste and improve value-add to the customer and to implement and sustain the changes in their own work.
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.
No licensing, legislative or certification requirements apply to this unit at the time of publication.
Elements and Performance Criteria
Elements describe the essential outcomes. | Performance criteria describe the performance needed to demonstrate achievement of the element. | ||
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 identify 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. |
Evidence of Performance
Evidence required to demonstrate competence in this unit must be relevant to and satisfy the requirements of the elements and performance criteria and include the ability, on one (1) or more occasions, to:
participate in a breakthrough improvement activity
implement improvements relevant to own job
contribute to evaluation of improvements
sustain improvements in own job/work area.
Evidence of Knowledge
Must provide evidence that demonstrates knowledge relevant to their job role sufficient to fulfil their job role under routine only supervision, including:
breakthrough improvement/kaizen blitz processes
kaizen and kaizen blitz, their differences and complementarity
performance metrics – gathering and using
evaluation of improvements
methods of monitoring and sustaining performance.
Assessment Conditions
The unit should be assessed holistically and the judgement of competence shall be based on a holistic assessment of the evidence.
The collection of performance evidence is best done from a report and/or folio of evidence drawn from:
a single project which provides sufficient evidence of the requirements of all the elements and performance criteria
multiple smaller projects which together provide sufficient evidence of the requirements of all the elements and performance criteria.
A third-party report, or similar, may be needed to testify to the work done by the individual, particularly when the project has been done as part of a project team.
Assessment should use a real project in an operational workplace.
Knowledge evidence may be collected concurrently with performance evidence or through an independent process such as workbooks, written assessments or interviews (provided a record is kept).
Assessment processes and techniques must be appropriate to the language, literacy and numeracy requirements of the work being performed and the needs of the candidate.
Conditions for assessment must include access to all tools, equipment, materials and documentation required, including relevant workplace procedures, product and manufacturing specifications associated with this unit.
Foundation skills are integral to competent performance of the unit and should not be assessed separately.
Assessors must satisfy the assessor competency requirements that are in place at the time of the assessment as set by the VET regulator.
The assessor must demonstrate both technical competency and currency.
Technical competence can be demonstrated through:
relevant VET or other qualification/Statement of Attainment AND/OR
relevant workplace experience
Currency can be demonstrated through:
performing the competency being assessed as part of current employment OR
having consulted with an organisation providing relevant environmental monitoring, management or technology services about performing the competency being assessed within the last twelve months.
Foundation Skills
This section describes those required skills (language, literacy and numeracy) that are essential to performance.
Foundation skills essential to performance are explicit in the performance criteria of this unit of competency.
Range Statement
This field allows for different work environments and conditions that may affect performance. Essential operating conditions that may be present (depending on the work situation, needs of the candidate, accessibility of the item, and local industry and regional contexts) are included. | |
Competitive systems and practices include one or more of: | lean operations agile operations preventative and predictive maintenance approaches 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. |
A physical or virtual office includes one or more of: | conducts information/administrative/transaction/service-based functions produces information and/or services as deliverables to internal or external customers stores records in hard copy or electronically. |
Breakthrough improvement includes all of: | delivers a significant level of improvement e.g. a better ratio of value-add to non-value add from the customer perspective uses a formal process is a discrete targeted activity that is achieved in a relatively short timeframe. |
Monitoring mechanisms include one or more of: | scheduled audits regular monitoring and/or reporting activities communications, such as standing items for team meetings tracking and visual display of performance measures. |
Muda (waste) includes one or more of: | 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 underutilised 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
Not applicable
Competency Field
Competitive systems and practices