Introduction
The Learners guide: On-the-job Practical Blended Training: From Being a Learner to Being an Owner for PE trainees working in blended, mixed adults’ groups aims to introduce a target group – PE trainees, students in business, marketing, management, economic subjects in VET or in HEI, general education, to the method of Practice Enterprise (PE) and the task of creating their own Practice Enterprise. This material will help the trainees to work, acquire and evaluate entrepreneurial skills gained through the various activities. Created material describes the tasks (What to do), approaches (how to do) and results (how to gain entrepreneurship skills). Skills are all connected to EntreComp – entrepreneurship competencies.
The Learners guide: From Being a learner to Becoming and Owner provides
● set of tasks examples (according to the selected skills of EntreComp) and explanations how to do them. All tasks will be orientated to learners’ aiming to achieve these skills. Tasks will be formulated by, first acquiring the needed knowledge, then practicing the several know-hows and know being aspects with the practice enterprise environment, and finally project the gained entrepreneurship skills and experience on the own personal business creation project of the learner.
● useful resources.
The SET will be available on the partners’ websites in EN, FR, IT, LT, PT, and TR languages. It will be easily transferred to organizations beyond the project consortium, as it will be available online in 6 languages; easily adaptable to other VET schools; in other business lessons (tasks, links, etc.); the methodology may be used and further developed as a practical tool for adults’ skills diagnosis in other areas.
Course content
Business Idea: Search, evaluation of opportunities and own possibilities
Introduction and Rationale | Many of us are faced with business opportunities on a regular basis. Deciding what’s worth embracing, though, can be difficult. Whether you’re starting a new business or whether you’re trying to expand your current business with a new opportunity, it’s vital to know how to appropriately evaluate it. As you look forward, here are some things to consider when deciding whether a business opportunity is worth embracing. |
Work organization and length
| Hours needed to complete the task: 20 hours per learner Main search of contents and witnesses/ testimonials: 6 hours Independent learner’s work with trainer’s support: 11 hours Time for evaluation: 3 hours |
Step by step task description | Proceed with the following step-by-step methodology: 1. Identify all – or as many as possible – potential risks of loss to the business presented. For example, phase one of the project could take a month longer than scheduled to complete, resulting in financial penalties and additional labour costs to the business (Individual research). 2. Estimate the likelihood of the loss occurring. Label on a sheet of paper or spread sheet three columns with percentages of probability. Label them “25%” (low), “50%” (medium), and “75%” (high), then place each potential risk in one of the three categories according to its estimated probability of occurrence. For example, if the chance of phase one of the project running over the deadline by a month is low, place it in the “25%” column (Workgroup with the mentorship of the trainer). 3. Decide if the business can withstand the loss and if the risk is worth taking. Subtract the potential loss from the revenue generated by the project as a whole. For example, the project benefits the business by a gain of €50,000 at fiscal year-end, minus a loss to the business of €6,000 at fiscal year-end if phase one is not completed on time (Evaluation of the idea). 4. Devise a way to minimize or eliminate the risk. In the example, minimize or eliminate the risk of the €6,000 loss in penalties and increased labour costs from a missed deadline by adding more labour from the beginning to ensure the deadline is met, or by negotiating to move the deadline and give phase one an addition month for completion (Decision making process). Working methodology Individual work / group work / work online / work with the trainer / problem solving online Expected results and delivery conditions – Feedback sharing Idea or prime opportunity? https://core.ac.uk/download/pdf/236084361.pdf How to Research a business opportunity. https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/42940 Business game online. https://www.thebusinessgame.it/come-lo-facciamo/ Preparing a pitch + spontaneous self-production Learners will prepare a simulation of a pitch using their own business idea and this will be performed online or using some tools (YouTube, SlideShare, etc.) Supervised or guided production Supervised by one of the 2 teachers or the institutional trainer of the business management discipline. The trainee should adapt the course and exercises to his own project (or to a given context) Learners should use a Digital Twin of the reality: Emerging technologies such as IoT, AI, and advanced modelling techniques are enabling a smart, connected, and autonomous network of people, objects, and services, summarizing the concept of the digital twin. The digital twin has moved beyond manufacturing, its traditional ecosystem, and is headed toward a range of services and goods-based businesses, ranging from automotive to healthcare. Advice how to reach the aim: e.g., invite a guest speaker, play a game, prepare a presentation etc. Main search of contents and witnesses/ testimonials: independent learner’s work with trainer’s support to prepare some self-created business models and ideas working using simulations online or proposed by the team leader group work
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Equipment and resources
| A computer or a laptop + mouse a printer, an internet connection, and domestic hardware: table, chairs, papers, meeting room, working room or working angle Work in classroom – in Practice Enterprise environment (observation and implementation field) – YES Work on the trainee ‘s individual creation project – YES MOOC and online courses material – YES Exercises – YES Trainers team, 2 teachers of management and business ideas External tutors, not necessary but if requested |
Learning aim/aims | What should I Learn as a student 1. To understand what the market size is and if it is worth to enter in it or not 2. To know and to understand if there are some useful relationships worth to run a new business 3. To understand the personal ability to check the market and manage the cash flow
What should I implement as a company creator · Financial management. Being able to effectively manage your own finances. · Marketing, sales and customer service. · Communication and negotiation. · Leadership. · Project management and planning. · Delegation and time management. · Problem solving. · Networking.
How is this task combined with my own project The learner should be in creation capacity (first supervised, then autonomous) Know-how production Documents, exercises, notes, arguments, pitch, legal forms, articles, budget
Market Size (draft)One of the most important factors when evaluating a business opportunity is market size. Do a little market research. Figure out if there is a market for the opportunity — and how big that market is. Before you move forward, you want to be sure the demand is there. You don’t need to appeal to a massive market, but it does help if you understand the market. Additionally, knowing how engaged the market is and how likely they are to pay for what’s being sold can help. Know-being results Relationships (draft)Does the business opportunity come with some relationships? For example, do you have an “in” that can help you leverage the opportunity? If you know someone who is technically minded, that can help you with certain aspects of the opportunity. What are your relationships with potential investors or customers? When you have more relationships, the opportunity is likely to run smoother. Ability to Manage Cash Flow (draft)Next, you need to look at the ability to manage cash flow. Is there start-up funding for the business? What about ways to keep funding the business each month. Figure out how the cash flow will be managed and take a look at the business plan, because you want to make sure that the business is likely to sustain itself after a period of time Know-acting results Management Skillsets (draft)What are the skillsets of those involved? If you are evaluating your own business opportunity, you need to be honest about what you bring to the table, and what you need to make up for. When looking for a business opportunity to invest in, or expand into, look at the management. What skills do they have? Are they appropriate and diversified? Do you trust the competence of the principals to make the opportunity a success? |
Assessment of the competency’s description and conditions & Guiding questions | Assessment will be made by giving the learner some problems to solve: Discounted Cash FlowA discounted cash flow is a method of business opportunity assessment more suited toward investment projects, such as a real estate development. The method uses the time value of money, which is often set to the current yield of government bonds, to calculate the present value of a set of future cash flows. Specifically, to find the discounted present value, discount the cash flow in the first period in the first year by dividing the cash flow in the first year by the time value of money plus 1. Find the discounted cash flow in the second period by dividing the cash flow of the second period by the time value of money plus 1, squared. Divide the cash flow in the third period by the time value of money plus 1, cubed, and so on. Adding up all discounted cash flows in each period gives the discounted present value of the business project. Then, compare all the DCFs to all your potential business opportunities. The opportunity with the biggest DCF represents the most profitable investment.
Criteria on which the job will be evaluated (quality of the answer, pertinence, credibility), Clearly presented, Time management planning Real Estate ProjectConsider a real estate investment project that costs €100,000 to build. The current yield of U.S. government bonds is 3 percent. You add 1 to obtain a time value of money of 4 percent. In the first four years, you estimate that the development will bring in €20,000, €30,000, €30,000 and €40,000 of rent. Converting 4 percent to a decimal and adding 1 gives 1.04. Dividing negative €100,000 by 1.04 gives a DCF of negative €96,153.85 in the first year. Dividing €20,000 by 1.04^2 gives a DCF of €18,491.12 in the second year. Dividing €30,000 by 1.04^3 gives a DCF of €26,669.89 in the third year. Dividing €30,000 by 1.04^4 gives a DCF of €25,644.13 and dividing €40,000 by 1.04^5 gives a DCF of €32,877.08. Adding up all DCFs in each period gives a discounted present value of €7,528.37 for the first five years. After comparing with the discounted present value of another project, you find that the real estate investment project is your most viable business option.
Criteria on which the job will be evaluated (time, quality of the answer), Clearly presented idea, the market need, potential customers, Evaluation of the produced work, Time and money management planning Entrepreneurial AssessmentIf you are an entrepreneur and are considering a new business that does not involve investment projects, your business opportunity assessment is a little more complex and depends entirely on the nature of your new company. Specifics to consider include competition, location, start-up costs, the costs of running the business, the current market for your products and sources of funding. While a small, family-owned convenience store must worry about new competitors moving into the area, an internet-based company must worry more about marketing and creating a search engine presence. While a recruitment consultancy may have little in start-up costs, it will only thrive if the manager has a good network of business connections. Alternatively, a successful car company will have high start-up costs and be well positioned in the supply chain of raw materials.
Management ConsultingTake for example a management consulting company. A small firm will only need a limited amount of financial capital for supplies and machinery, as management consulting is mainly an office-bound industry. You will, however, need several employees with high-level talent. These people will carry a high cost in the form of salaries. Crucially, you should also already have a large professional network of business owners who can use your management consulting expertise. Your potential to make a profit depends on your ability to draw in clients. Therefore, the main obstacle for a management consulting agency is securing potential clients before you begin setting up the business.
Teddy-Bear FactoryContrary to the management consulting agency, a teddy-bear factory is capital-intense, as you require machinery to give you an efficient use of time and resources. Opposed to business networks and people talent, your key to success is finding the right types of machinery at a competitive price and positioning yourself at an ideal location on the supply-chain network. The latter gives you cost advantages for materials. Cost-effective labour further brings down manufacturing costs. A good sales acumen helps you get your products into the stores.
Questions: 1. Does your idea meet a need? 2. Does the Product or Service Align with Your Life Goals? 3. How Will Starting This Business Impact Your Life? 4. Do you have the capabilities to implement those ideas? 5. How Unique Is Your Business Solution? 6. Did you check the risk in opening a new activity in your potential business? 7. Do you have many competitors at the moment or you’re the first one? 8. Do you think to have a local market or an international one? 9. Do you think to deliver your business opening a shop or office, or fully online? 10. Do you think about the labour force you need in order to open the business without losing forces and money? 11. Did you think about how fast competitors can copy your idea? 12. Do you need to have a big capital to enter your business? 13. Are you ready to start a business alone or do you need partners to share the capital and the risk?
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Feedback collection
| Advice and Recommendations1. Determine the degree to which the problem was correctly identified and defined. Consider if the problem was conceptualized in a way that supported the identification of a number of different possible root causes. For example, the problem definition “a decrease in sales” supports the identification of a number of root causes including an increase in the number of competitors, a need to ramp-up advertising, and a lack of appropriate training for the sales staff.2. Determine if the root problem was correctly identified. Consider if a root problem, rather than a symptom of the root problem, was addressed by the solution. For example, if the root problem is product quality and the symptom is a decrease in sales, a solution of additional sales tools will be ineffective in addressing the root problem.3. Review project data to determine if pertinent facts were considered in the decision process. Consider the reliability of the data sources and the completeness of the data gathered.4. Evaluate the resources employed to identify the appropriate solution. Find out if key personnel were selected on the basis of expertise rather than staff position. Determine if an appropriate project sponsor was identified, if appropriate stakeholders participated, and if third-party experts were used if internal personnel lacked the appropriate expertise.5. Review the agreed-to solution to evaluate its feasibility. Determine if the selected solution was ”best-in-class” considering other possible alternatives. Consider if enough solutions were evaluated in order to develop a quality solution.6. Consider if the potential solutions were appropriately prioritized. For example, determine if the solution was selected simply based on its implementation timeframe or cost.7. Discover if the set of options was fairly assessed. Determine if experts were consulted in the decision-making process, and if the advantages or disadvantages of the alternative solutions were completely and fairly considered.
Every learner could create a transversal portfolio with the collection of all the created material and collected proofs – feedbacks – reports across all modules
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Development of a business plan
Introduction and Rationale | A business plan is a document where you determine your goals and the steps and timing you need to take to achieve these goals. Preparing a business plan, which is one of the most important moves of starting a business, plays a vital role in getting the best results by using limited resources in the most efficient way. Our main purpose is to examine the details of preparing a good and useful business plan. The requirements of a good and effective business plan are our content. |
Work organization and length
| 20 hours total Collecting information for need analysis (5h) Organizing data in line with the business idea (5h) Documentation of the business plan (8h) Self-assessment process (2h) |
Step by step task description | Elaborate the business idea from marketing perspective Understand the vital role of forming the business idea feasible and accessible for the business plan. Explain the business ideas quickly and clearly. Investigate the similar ideas and compare with your ideas. Explain the structure, feasibility, creativity of the business idea. Research how the business ideas that have been highly successful in the field occurred in the first place. SWOT Analysis Understand the importance of SWOT analysis. Planning time, financial and marketing strategies Understand the crucial points of using all kinds of resources efficiently. Define your short, middle and long-term goals. Effective documentation Define the compulsory parts of the business plan and fill those parts from a sample. |
Equipment and resources
| ICT hardware and software Web 2.0 tools |
Learning aim/aims | What should I Learn as a student: You should know valuing ideas, financial and economic literacy, taking the initiative, planning and management. What should I implement as a company creator: All steps of developing an efficient, useful and sustainable business plan.
The learner should be in creation capacity (first supervised, then autonomous) Know-how production: Documents, exercises, notes, arguments, pitch, legal forms, articles, budget…
Know-being results: · Manager posture and mindset, personal ideas, projection in time and space · Time, stress and speech management planning Know-acting results: · A fully detailed business plan · Manage the daily operations of the company |
Assessment of the competency’s description and conditions & Guiding questions | Control sheets of basic business plan essentials · Is the main purpose of the business plan explained? · Have the products/ services that the entrepreneur aims to offer and their potential for improvement been specified? · Is the business plan summary concise, covering the whole aim and convincing the reader that the business plan is well prepared? · Is there any mention of the short and long-term goals of the company, the strategies it has developed to achieve these goals and the competition analysis? · Have the developments (social, economic, political and technological) and trends in products/ services related to target customers and markets been analysed? · Self-assessment tools with linear scaling
What is the main purpose of preparing a business plan? Which parts of your plan are essential? How can you find real and useful data? What are the priorities for your plan? Do you have a B plan? Does your plan fit the needs of the business? Does your plan include the role of employees? Is your plan feasible in the real world? How do you arrange legal processes? How do you decide the type of goals in terms of time? What are the weakest and strongest points of your plan? How do you cover risk management? Are the financial parts clear and detailed enough? Is your plan short but covers all needed information? Which ways are you thinking of promoting your business? Is your plan set in line with your business idea? Do you consider your plan as innovative or traditional? |
Feedback collection
| Learner’s feedback (don’t forget they’re adults), FAQ, Good practices capitalization and resource library Every learner could create a transversal portfolio with the collection of all the created material and collected proofs – feedbacks – reports across all modules. |
Establishment of an Enterprise
Introduction and Rationale | Overview: To understand the concepts of business legal structures and the implications of business ownership and planning, with emphasis on business structure types, tax implications, legal hiring details, and on-line company registration.
Main Purpose: To understand and select the proper form of organization for your business and its success.
Contents: Comparing business legal structures; choosing a business structure; tax implications of business legal structures; legal hiring details – contracting rules/regulations and on-line business registration.
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Work organization and length
| Total length: 25 hours, divided as follows: · 10h direct contact with teachers/trainers · 15h individual and/or group work that includes consulting sessions with teachers/trainers as required
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Step by step task description | Becoming a business owner for the first time can be both exciting and frightening, which is why it is important to understand the different business/organizational structures and identify the advantages and disadvantages of each business formation, tax implications and obligations, and required human resources so that you can make the best choice for your company and its success.
Weighing the pros and cons of your Business Legal Structure – Elaborate a project report for your transversal portfolio that justifies your choice of business legal structure (ownership and liability); tax implications and official forms, legal documents for hiring staff (if required), and step-by-step guide for on-line company registration that includes required documents and the cost of the registration fee.
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Equipment and resources | Computer, internet, online resources, manual, etc. |
Learning aim/aims | What should I Learn as a student? To work towards my vision of the future and make the most out of ideas and opportunities, while assessing the consequences and impact, opportunities, and actions, in addition to making decisions despite my uncertainty and ambiguity.
What should I implement as a company creator? Gather and manage the resources I need, develop financial and economic know how, inspire, and enthuse others to join me.
Expected production as a company creator: Prioritize, organize and follow-up, then just go for it.
How is this task combined with my own project? It analyses legal business/organizational structures and helps me identify the advantages and disadvantages of each business formation so that I can make the best choice for my company.
Know-how production: Legal sites and documents, articles, discussion, and exercises.
Know-being results: As the owner I have managerial posture and mindset, personal ideas, projection in time and space, in addition to time, stress, and speech management – planning
Know-acting results: Choose the best business structure for my company, know where and how to register my company, identify the required documents for upload and total cost.
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Assessment of the competency’s description and conditions & Guiding questions | Continuous assessment of the project report through observation and assessment of the transversal portfolio to determine students’ choice of business legal structure (ownership and liability); tax implications and official forms, legal documents for hiring staff (if required), and step-by-step guide for on-line company registration that includes the cost of the registration fee. 1. Identify the different business legal structures presented by your trainer. Which legal structure do you believe is best for your business idea? 2. What type of formation regulations does the business you are considering require? 3. In reference to ownership: – Who owns the business? – Will the owner take a salary or leave it within the business? – Who is responsible for managing and operating the business? – Are there any other people who will own an equity stake in your company? – Identify factors that are important to the owners such as: owner’s fringe benefits; transfer of ownership interests; intent to sell shares in the future (general public); intent to geographically expand the business. 4. Company liability – how much might it involve?
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Feedback collection | Every learner should elaborate a project report and include it in their transversal portfolio based on the collection of all the produced material and collected proofs – feedbacks – reports across all modules.
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Marketing Management: conducting marketing research
Introduction and Rationale | Overview of the task. Marketing management, as a division of an organization, handles all the marketing functions of a company. This first task will provide you with some basic models and tools for market research.
Main purpose: Explore how different markets are researched using different models and tools.
Content: conduct marketing research (search, collection, processing of information and analysis of the environment and the company necessary for the solution of marketing management problems).
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Work organization and length
| The length: 13 hours: · Contact hours: 6 hours. · Independent students’ work with trainer consultation: 3 hours. · Evaluation and self-check: 2 hours. · Transversal portfolio completion: 2 hours.
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Step by step task description | Explore how different markets are researched using different models and tools. Identify some widely recognized businesses and carry out internet research to investigate how these businesses market their products.
Visit a local retail park or shopping mall to gain basic understanding of the different ways in which businesses and products are being marketed. You should focus on looking for products and businesses with an international presence. Research a range of recognized global brands from different global markets. For each brand, you should identify the brand image, the targeted customer segment and the needs and wants of the customer that are satisfied by the brand.
Develop a brief market research plan for a new product/service of your choice, considering the validity of your data and how it might be improved. You should test it for reliability, currency and sufficiency. Examine a range of products and apply the 7 elements of the extended marketing mix to each, then select a new business of your own and set out an extended marketing mix for this business, giving detailed justifications for your choices.
Visit a local shopping centre to see the application of the extended marketing mix in a practical setting. Explore several mini case studies for a range of businesses and make reasoned marketing decisions by applying Porter’s Five Forces.
Consider how a business should respond to its external environment and create two tables to list some possible external influences – one for a large business and one for a small business. These should contain the following headings: ● political ● economic, fiscal, monetary, and other policies ● social ● technological ● environmental ● legal.
Conduct local research by collecting leaflets of promotional material from local businesses, identifying their common features and evaluating their impact on sales turnover, customer loyalty, etc. Identify some of the different factors that may arise when undertaking an environmental analysis of a national business compared with an international one.
Choose a business you are familiar with and carry out a SWOT analysis on the business. Prepare a presentation of your findings to the whole group to create an analysis bank of businesses. Research the key factors influencing an integrated marketing mix, research the extended marketing mix and apply the concepts to two contrasting products and one service.
Investigate a wide range of different media, e.g., television, radio, print, internet, signage, product placement, mobile devices, sponsorship and other opportunities such as till receipts. Research the individual costs of a marketing campaign using the internet and other sources of information. Explore a case study of a marketing campaign to evaluate whether it is appropriate or not.
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Equipment and resources
| Work in classroom – in Practice Enterprise environment, Marketing management department (observation and implementation field). At first you will be supervised, then you will be able to work autonomously. Work on individual creation project. Marketing programs. Standard document templates. Methodical literature of PE marketing department job description. Visits to local businesses.
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Learning aim/aims | What should I learn as a student: ethical and sustainable thinking, motivation and perseverance; self-awareness and self-efficacy, Marketing planning and management; working with others in the Marketing management department; learning through experience.
What should I implement as a company creator: I must make decisions on Marketing management department planning and required resources for the running of own company.
Expected production as a company creator: Created procedures and documentation for Marketing management.
How is this task combined with my own project: analysis of Marketing field and design of functions and documents of OWN company.
Know-how production: Examples of marketing documents, notes, arguments, steps and procedures descriptions, legal forms, articles, tools.
Know-being results: Planning for marketing therefore requires that you, as the small-business owner are able to conduct marketing research, form an assortment, set prices and organize the sale of goods.
Know-acting results: competitive marker explored; marketing plan created; cost of marketing campaign calculated.
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Assessment of the competency’s description and conditions & Guiding questions | Transversal portfolio and Self-assessment are used for the evaluation of gained competencies. A transversal portfolio is the collection of all the created material and proofs. Guiding questions for self-assessment: What is marketing research? What is the purpose of marketing research? What areas of marketing research do you know? Identify what could be the object of marketing research? What formula for success lies in the marketing complex? What is the impact of marketing factors on consumer behaviour? Does the campaign reinforce brand values, and if so, how? Are the marketing activities sustainable over time with justification? Can the campaign be changed if internal or external influences change? Does the campaign meet the stated goals? Use examples to justify responses. Does the campaign reach the right target audience? Are there any ethical or legal considerations that need to be addressed?
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Feedback collection
| Every learner creates a transversal portfolio with the collection of all the created material and collected proofs – feedbacks – reports across all modules.
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Marketing management: Planning a marketing campaign for launching products
Sales and purchase management: Explore the principles and sales procedures
Introduction and Rationale | Overview of the task. The sales and purchasing department includes active sales functions and at the same time manages the supply of goods: managers constantly search for new customers, are responsible for the full process of communication, are responsible for product quality, timeliness of delivery, sales management and post-sales monitoring.
Main purpose: Understand the preparation and professional practices required in the sales process. Explore the principles and procedures involved in completing successful selling.
Content: In order to systematically manage the sales of a particular customer, the sales process consists of certain stages: – Preparing for the sales process; – Professional contact with customers; – Ethical sales practices; – Sales management; – Post-acquisition meeting processes; – Post-sales monitoring and issues.
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Work organization and length
| The length: 13 hours: · Contact hours: 6 hours. · Independent students work with consultation of the trainer: 3 hours. · Evaluation and self-check: 2 hours. · Transversal portfolio completion: 2 hours.
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Step by step task description | Visit: To a local retail park or shopping mall to gain a basic understanding of the different ways in which businesses and products are being marketed.
Analyse: The beliefs a salesperson faces. What is the value of the product? What is the seller’s reward? Analyse the different types of customers and the customers’ expectations and desires.
Now you should do individual research: interview the managers of several companies, why is it important to serve the buyer not only during the purchase process, but also a certain period after the transaction?
Think about what the seller should do in such situations and what measures should be taken to eliminate the buyer’s objections and determine if he/she wishes to conclude a sale and purchase transaction?
Discuss why loyal customers are so important to a company and when companies lose such customers, why they face significant losses?
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Equipment and resources
| Work in classroom – in Practice Enterprise environment, sales and purchasing management department (observation and implementation field). At first you will be supervised, then you will be able to work autonomously. Work on individual creation project. Sales techniques and process programmes. Standard/templates of documents. Methodical literature of PE Sales department job description. Visits to local businesses.
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Learning aim/aims | What should I learn as a student: ethical and sustainable thinking, motivation and perseverance; self-awareness and self-efficacy, sales and purchasing planning and management; working with others in the sales and purchasing management department; learning through experience.
What should I implement as a company creator: I must make decisions on sales and purchasing management department planning and required resources for the running of own company.
Expected production as a company creator: Creation of procedures and documentation for sales and purchasing management.
How is this task combined with my own project: analysis of sales and purchasing field and design of functions and documents of OWN company.
Know-how production: examples of sales and purchasing documents, notes, arguments, descriptions of steps and procedures, legal forms, articles, tools.
Know-being results: Understand the preparation and professional practices required in the sales process.
Know-acting results: Principles and procedures involved in completing successful selling explored.
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Assessment of the competency’s description and conditions & Guiding questions | Transversal portfolio and self-assessment are used for the evaluation of gained competencies. A transversal portfolio is the collection of all the created material and proofs. Guiding questions for self-assessment: Why is ethical behaviour important and beneficial to the company? Why, in addition to the usual things like sales planning, pricing, advertising, is there talk of the importance of ethics? Why do sales professionals need to feel morally and socially responsible for all stakeholders and for their own beliefs?
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Feedback collection
| Every learner creates a transversal portfolio with the collection of all the created material and collected proofs – feedbacks – reports across all modules.
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Sales and purchasing management: Effective sales activities
Human resources Management: Planning and organizing human resources
Introduction and Rationale | Overview of the task. Human resource management (HRM) as a department in an organization handles all aspects of employees, like the practice of recruiting, hiring, deploying and managing an organization’s employees. Planning, the process by which management ensures that it has the right personnel, who can complete tasks that help the organization reach its objective. Organization is the function of HRM that involves developing an organizational structure to ensure the accomplishment of the organizational goals.
Main purpose: to manage processes related to human resource planning and organization functions.
Content: ways to create and organize human resources department and procedures.
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Work organization and length
| The length: 19 hours: · Contact hours: 6 hours. · Independent students work with consultation of the trainer: 8 hours. · Evaluation and self-check: 2 hours. · Transversal portfolio completion: 3 hours.
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Step by step task description | Find the laws, and government decisions which impact the work of human recourses department. Be clear about your work policy (labour law), vacation policy, sick policy, time off policy, holiday policy, etc.
Start with job profiles. Create a profile for each role within your company and the type of person who should fill it.
Establish Onboarding and Recruiting Procedures. Even if your start-up is small, you need to consider how to make hiring decisions. This includes where to post your job ads, how to determine who your target candidates are, and how to structure the onboarding process. Make sure you have the necessary paperwork ready for this process. This includes the: – Offer Letter, – Employee Information for Payroll, – Employment Verification, – Equity Paperwork, – Any Employment Agreements and other templates.
Get ready to advertise about the work life in your company. This could help to attract and recruit talents, which are not only good professionals but also seeking for a company life which makes sense and offers a healthy work environment and work-life balance. Get inspired: https://www.welcometothejungle.com/en
Outline and keep Regulations for Safety and Health. A key point is making sure your work environment is safe for employees and meets national regulations. Safety: This includes creating an emergency action plan, identifying emergency exits and routes, providing first aid and medical supplies, and keeping the work environment safe. Behaviour: This includes policies on equal employment opportunity in the workplace as well as sexual harassment policies. Search for additional information on workplace safety requirements.
Create a Compensation and Benefits document. In order to establish competitive compensation and benefits, you’ll need to determine what your pay structure looks like, as well as policies for vacation and sick time, retirement benefits, and the system you will use to manage payroll.
Travel and Expenses Tracking. How will your organization handle this? You need a policy and a simple and easy to use application that allows you to track these expenses and travel.
Establish your company culture. Culture includes both the intangible feeling of the workplace and the perks and policies that make your company a great place to work.
Establish a procedure for dismissal of employees. At some point you will have to fire someone… or someone will quit. So how are you going to handle it?
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Equipment and resources
| Work in classroom – in Practice Enterprise environment, HR department (observation and implementation field). At first you will be supervised, then you will be able to work autonomously. Work on individual creation project. MOOC and online course material. Employment law. |
Learning aim/aims | What should I learn as a student: Ethical and sustainable thinking, motivation and perseverance; self-awareness and self-efficacy, HR planning and management; working with others in the HR department; learning through experience.
What should I implement as a company creator: I must make decisions on HR department planning and required personnel for the running of own company.
Expected production as a company creator: Created procedures and documentation for HR management.
How is this task combined with my own project: analysis of HR field and design of functions and documents of OWN company.
Know-how production: HR Documents examples, notes, arguments, steps and procedures descriptions, legal forms, articles.
Know-being results: As a small business owner, planning for HR requires that you match employees with the job functions that best meet their skills and interests. Being aware that recruiting is also a marketing process. Know-acting results: HR procedures established; documentation for HR department organization created; cost of workplace calculated.
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Assessment of the competency’s description and conditions & Guiding questions | Transversal portfolio and self-assessment are used for the gained competencies evaluation. A transversal portfolio is the collection of all the created material and proofs.
Guiding questions for self-assessment: Do you have policies for harassment and workplace safety in place? Do you have additional conduct guidelines to develop a healthy culture? What expectations will employees need to meet to stay employed? What mechanisms will you use to inform employees of the changes when they occur? How will you collect needed signatures? Where will you store signed documents? Based on labour market trends, what should your organization set as starting pay for each position? How much will employees have to grow within a company to have an increase in salary? How often will compensation be reviewed? What unique benefits or perks will you offer employees? What technology will you use to process your payroll? Which employees will be responsible for overseeing payroll? Will you outsource your payroll processing? How will managers in your organization request new employees? Who will need to approve new employee requests? How will you ensure that your hiring is non-discriminatory? How will you screen candidates that match your organization’s values? How will you find candidates that represent a diversity of backgrounds and life experiences? Which documents will you have new employees read and sign before their first day? Is there a formal process that precedes terminating an employee?
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Feedback collection
| Every learner creates a transversal portfolio with the collection of all the created material and collected proofs – feedbacks – reports across all modules.
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Human resources: Managing and controlling human resources
Introduction and Rationale | Overview of the task. Human resource management as a department in an organization handles all aspects of employees, like the practice of recruiting, hiring, deploying and managing an organization’s employees. Directing is the process of providing focus for employees and motivating them to achieve organizational goals. Controlling involves comparing actual to expected performance and taking corrective action, when necessary, because planning, organization and directing, performance of an employee is to be evaluated, verified and compared with organizational goals.
Main purpose: to manage processes related to human resource directing and controlling functions.
Content: ways to measure performance and attendance activities, to gather employee feedback and to develop training programmes.
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Work organization and length
| The length: 6 hours: · Contact hours: 2 hours. · Independent students work with consultation of the trainer: 2 hours. · Evaluation and self-check: 1 hour. · Transversal portfolio completion: 1 hour.
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Step by step task description | Monitor staff performance. Establish procedures and documents for “Annual Review Policy” to create a performance measuring process for your company.
Monitor attendance activities. Time and attendance are as important as you make them.
Maintain Employee Relationships. Employee grievances can and do happen. Your best approach to any situation is having established policies in place to handle complaints. Prepare to address any employee concerns by outlining your business’ standard of conduct, creating a plan to address issues, and establish a system for gathering employee feedback, organize staff meetings, etc. Develop Training Programmes. When you’re just starting up your new business, training employees may not be your top priority. But start thinking about what the employees get out of working for you. An important part of setting up an HR department in a start-up is making sure you are allowing employees to grow and develop their skills and provide them with appropriate feedback for improvement. This can be accomplished by keeping personnel files.
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Equipment and resources
| Work in classroom – in Practice Enterprise environment, HR department (observation and implementation field). At first you will be supervised, then you will be able to work autonomously. Work on individual creation project. MOOC and material of online courses. Employment law.
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Learning aim/aims | What should I learn as a student: Ethical and sustainable thinking, motivation and perseverance; self-awareness and self-efficacy, HR directing and controlling, working with others in the HR department; learning through experience.
What should I implement as a company creator: I must make decisions on how to build and maintain a positive employee experience with high satisfaction and life quality, so that employees can contribute to the work in my company with their best efforts.
Expected production as a company creator: Created procedures and documentation for HR management.
How is this task combined with my own project: The small business owner who clearly communicates personal expectations and company goals or vision, provides adequate compensation, offers meaningful opportunities for career advancement, anticipates work force training and developmental needs, and provides meaningful feedback to his or her employees is far more likely to be successful than the owner who is neglectful in any of these areas.
Know-how production: Examples of HR directing and controlling documents, notes, arguments, descriptions of steps and procedures, legal forms, articles.
Know-being results: HRM functions therefore requires that you, as the small-business owner, activate employees at different levels and make them contribute the maximum towards organizational goals.
Know-acting results: HR motivation procedures established; documentation and control measures for HR department created.
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Assessment of the competency’s description and conditions & Guiding questions | Transversal portfolio and self-assessment are used for the evaluation of gained competencies. A transversal portfolio is the collection of all the created material and proofs.
Guiding questions for self-assessment: What resources will your managers need to train new employees? What structure will you provide for managers to assess and report performance? How will you record and track employee goals? How often will employee compensation be reviewed and updated? How often will you organize staff meetings? Which methods will be used for employees’ feedback collection? How to measure the level of employee satisfaction? What are the functions of the head of the human resources department?
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Accounting and finances: from financial needs to the cash-flow, break-even point and financial environment
Introduction and Rationale | As a business creator candidate, you first need to detail and justify the cost and budget of your business creation project and define your financial needs: – Detail the costs and expenses of the project, those one-off at start-up and those recurring thereafter. – Determine the financial charges for the year of creation: initial and progressive charges. – Develop a calendar and a schedule of expenses to predict and intervene on time. – Determine project funding resources, and resource needs to ensure sustainability. – Analyse possible resources: search, evaluate and capitalization. The second step is to draw your project financing plan and setup your cash-flow monitoring procedure. – Complete and detail the needed financial resources, sought and obtained, at the start, during the year of creation, and the recurring years: amount, origin, amortization, reimbursement… – Determine a chronological financing plan – by month, and over 12 months for example… – Develop a procedure for chronological measurement of cash flows (collection and payments at start-up, collection of sales, overheads, funds, contribution, etc.) – Forecasting analysis of the cash monitoring and its relevance – Develop useful or necessary answers or corrections or adaptations to the initial plan according to evolutions – Critical analysis of the interest of a financing plan and the implementation of a cash monitoring table towards the feasibility of the creation project. As a business creator candidate, you need to detail and justify the break-even point of your project in its commercial context. – Explain and comment on the profitability you are looking for, expressed in money, in salary, in investment return percentage… – Detail prices, fixed costs, margins and expected profitability – Detail the coverage of project costs between fixed and variable costs and resources and the commercial financial profitability objectives – Develop a schedule for the break-even point chronology and the project profitability over time – Establish a financial projection of the project’s first commercial years and the annual cash monitoring tables – Anticipate the financial impact of commercial evolutions of the project – in-store sales, fairs and exhibitions, merchant site, blog, commercial platform – commercial seasonality and commercial events. As business creator candidate, you need to gradually understand the financial environment associated with the creation of a business, mainly: – Opening a bank account and developing a relationship with the bank – Bookkeeping: daily bookkeeping, income statement, balance sheets, inventory… – Choosing an accounting software: ERP, Point of Sale, invoicing, accounting in the digital context – Statutory obligations: company registration and financial liability limits – Tax and social aspects: Taxes and social charges for the company, related to the chosen legal form and legal status of the owner. – Hereditary, personal, professional and family aspects for the owner: from the private person creator to the autonomous legal person company. |
Work organization and length
| 20 hours total Theoretical aspects: 6 hours Concrete development of the initial costs and budget: 5 hours Setting up the financial environment of the projected company: 8 hours Review with trainers – peers and self-assessment process (4h) This time evaluation includes research and documentation work. It doesn’t include external visit time; advice taking from external professional, practice work for learning how to use several financial software… |
Equipment and resources
| Work in classroom – in Practice Enterprise environment, accounting department (observation and implementation field). Theoretical part given by the trainer/coach.
Work on individual creation project for creating/updating the several financial documents. Financial table examples and standard document templates.
Methodical literature of PE accounting department job description. Visits to local institutions (bank, Chamber of Commerce, accounting office, legal advisor…). |
Learning methods | Lecture – tutorials – exercises (individual, group, concrete management of the PE) First part: Lecture – tutorials – exercises (individual, group, concrete management of PE) The student then works alone or in pairs or in a group in consultation with the teaching team on his project. Personal work on free time and in the evening is recommended as these tasks could take time to perform. As feedback: Prepare a pitch to describe the project in its financial aspects and to convince a bank or investor Know how to verbally justify and argue your proposals Know how to comment your proposals Anticipate questions The student prepares a financial report presented, during a face-to-face pedagogical oral presentation Spontaneous self-production (free initiative) is encouraged The initial work submitted can be refined and then confirmed throughout the business creation exercise. The trainee must adapt the course and the exercises to his own project (or to a given context) It is initially necessary to understand the course material and the given examples of projects, then to extrapolate from them to go towards the construction of your own project, adapted to another contextualization. |
Learning aim/aims | What should I learn as a student The course must be heard, understood and assimilated
What should I implement as a business creator From the course and the given project examples, you must extrapolate its data to go towards the credible and viable construction of your own project, adapted to your context, and define a detailed argument which will guarantee its acceptance and ensure its success.
Expected production as a business creator A credible technical analysis of the financial cost of a business creation project and its financial needs.
The learner must be able to create (first supervised, then autonomously) The student works alone or in pairs or in a group in consultation with the teaching team to gradually gain, or confirm and extend, his creative capacity.
Personal and technical capacities that remain to be assessed globally at the end of all the training courses, which authorizes strong points and other weaker ones, observed in stages, and according to which the partners, complementary and necessary for the success of the creation, or to accept criticism and then corrections, adjustments, abandonments or useful postponements.
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Results – gained competences.
| Know-how production Credible written analysis of the Financing Plan for the student’s business creation project Detailed and substantiated written analysis of proposed project resources Arguments for analysis (Context, Issues, Objectives, Budget, Associated interests, scheduled action, context of the financial feasibility of the project, Loan, subsidy, etc.) Credible written analysis of the break-even point of the student’s business creation project Detailed and substantiated written analysis of the break-even point Argument for analysis Financial Excel tables of the chronology of resource/expenditure movements Accounting tables Credible written analysis of the bank files: opening of a professional account Detailed and justified written analysis of the accounting method put in place Own operating or through a third-party expert, Arguments for analysis and presenting Argument for the choice of accounting software Tax and social contribution analysis Assets evaluation
Know-being results Ability to work in pairs and teams Ability to understand the financial consequences of the status, tax or commercial, social (social status of the manager) choices. Context of ethics and confidentiality associated with a business project Ability to leave the course and the proposed models and customize them to the project Time management Acceptance of criticism Perseverance in analysing and considering the comments heard on the project Attitude expressed in interview, pitch, explanation or demonstration
Social skills Capacity for clear, concise, constructed expression Ability to adapt language, organize ideas, develop thinking. Reactivity, dynamism and motivation Personal and professional rigor
Manager posture and mindset, personal ideas, projection in time and space Demonstrate an entrepreneurial mindset Ability to express and present the work Communication and persuasive arguments to convince partners to take part in the project Time management Work planning
Know-acting results Capacity to understand the proposed analysis methodology then to implement it and estimate the project. Understand the phases of financial projection for the business creation Understand the future management of the company’s daily operations and the resulting daily or periodic financial analysis (bookkeeping, day-to-day banking relationship)
Understand the need for time management (dealing with deadlines, commercial evolution in time) Distinguish the social status of the entrepreneur from being an employee. Understand the risks, consequences, advantages of the status of entrepreneur Understand the evolutions of the business environment and its mobility at 1, 3 and 5 years.
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Guideline for trainees | Prepare and animate a presentation on the Analysis of the given task and the project. Know how to explain your data, your choices, estimate the financial values offered regarding the context of the planned creation Anticipate and lead a reasoned discussion with the teaching team and the other students to present their project and justify it… Research, know how to convince and involve external partners and external tutors in the creation project Organize the visit, the meeting, the arrival of these partners Knowing how to explain your working and thinking methodology… Implement the experimentation of this project in the Practice Enterprise (design, creation, development, etc.) Concrete steps to undertake First step: financial needs and global financial project evaluation – Detail the charges and expenses of the project, those one-off at start-up and those recurring thereafter – Determine the financial costs of the year of creation: initial and progressive costs in the time of the first year – Develop a forecasted expense planning and schedule, in the form of an Excel file, for example – Determine the needed financial resources and assets for financing the project and ensure its sustainability (list the possible resources and detail them) – Analyse the possible resources, their research, their evaluation and their capitalization Second step: Cash-flow – Complete and enhance the Project Financing Plan and its chronology. Resource planning – origin and detail of financing resources – personal, equity, third parties – debts, borrowing, aid, subsidy, exemption… – resources found, negotiated, acquired, promised, potential… – Draw an analysis of the necessary financing plan, how and where to find the resources, time required to obtain and negotiate them… and analysis of the consequences: financial feasibility of the creation project. – Develop a cash monitoring procedure, broken down into detailed expenses/expenses and resources and planned over 12 months. – Specify the operating mode for monitoring the Plan – daily/cash, weekly, monthly, quarterly, annual, etc. Third step: Break-even point calculation and analysis – Define what profitability is sought (commercial, financial and statutory, sustainable profits…salary, balance). – Detail the analysis and definition of the Breakeven point then the financial profitability of the project. – Develop a commercial calendar and a schedule for reaching the breakeven point, then profitability over 12 then 36 months, taking into account one-off tax or social exemptions, for example. – Adapt the concept of break-even point of the project to various commercial contexts (context of seasonality, balances, annuity and commercial balance sheet, smoothing of turnover over time, high and low commercial seasons, promotions, permanent online sales site, commercial platform, etc.). – Define the cost/profitability ratios of participation in a trade show, a commercial platform, the creation a commercial website, etc. Fourth step: Daily bookkeeping and financial management setup Apprehension and extrapolation of the 6 proposed themes which are assessed in the legal and status context of your business creation 1. Opening a bank account and creating a relationship with the bank 2. Bookkeeping: daily bookkeeping, income statement, balance sheet, inventory… 3. Choice of accounting software: ERP, cash register, point of sales, invoicing, online accounting 4. Status obligations: Company Registration and Financial Liability Limit 5. Tax and social aspects: Taxes and social contributions for the company, entrepreneur… Social aspects of the employer company 6. Hereditary, personal, professional and family aspects: from the creator private person to the company autonomous legal person. |
Assessment of the competency’s description and conditions
| The work on the financial aspects of the business creation project and its financial organization is assessed through: • Quality of the written and visual presentations (clarity, visibility, understanding, logic, relevance, etc.) • Quality of the oral presentation and the arguments presented (clarity, visibility, understanding, logic, relevance, etc.) • Mastering and respect of delivery deadlines and training schedule • Technical quality of the proposal (financial consistency, credibility) • Consistency and relevance of the proposal regarding the creation project (personal and subjective aspect, context…) • Opinions of contacted or involved third-party professionals • Produced financial Excel table quality • Evidence provided for the financial analysis • Reference to the course material and to the given examples, to the observations made to the involved third parties’ opinions. |
Guiding questions | 1. Is your financial analysis useful, why? 2. How does it help you? 3. Which profitability are your seeking? 4. Are you comfortable with the chosen tools (ERP, software, platform…)? 5. Are you comfortable with the needed growth expressed through this financial analysis? 6. Do you have the capacity to respond to your challenges? 7. What company implementation, steps do you retain? Alone? in association? with third parties? 8. Can an untrained third party understand your analysis and your choices? 9. Will this analysis have an impact(s) on your life? 10. Is the detailed financial environment an obstacle for your creative project? 11. Is your methodology transposable to another business project? 12. Will working in a team help you? 13. What contributions, help and advice do you retain from the third parties involved? 14. What position do time and planning have in your project? 15. Are you satisfied with your analysis? 16. After this analysis, are you more worried or reassured about the feasibility of your business project? 17. Have you taken the opinion of your fellow students on your project? 18. What personal or family concept predominates or conditions your project? Do you know and can you answer it? In which delay and does this timeframe meet your expectations? Does your project take into consideration your life and your family, and their environment? 19. How does the analysis of this financial environment relate to an implementation schedule and the gradual progress of your business plan? Does it include successive actions? the growth or decline of your business? 20. How do you secure your project? 21. Does your analysis bring obstacles or help? Why?
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Feedback collection and portfolio
| Advice and recommendation Learner’s feedback, FAQ, Good practices capitalization and resource library The learner compiles a portfolio, One Note, etc. – on his business creation project and includes a chapter “Financial project environment”: – Used Excel tables and PowerPoint presentations – The schedules and presentations worked and proposed… – The proofs of the stages of the work of creation – The Bank, Status, RCS, Tax, Social, Insurance, Family, Procedure and bookkeeping sub-files, etc. – The schedules and presentations worked and proposed… – A contact file of the third parties involved and the capitalization of their opinions and recommendations (sponsorship, social networking) will be attached. |
Review the outcomes of the enterprise: Customer feedback and evaluation
Introduction and Rationale | Overview of the task. You must be prepared to present the outcomes of your own company to your peers, educational institution community, mentor companies or potential customers. You must summarize the results the company reached during all the activities and make a customer analysis. It identifies target customers, ascertains the needs of these customers, and then specifies how the product satisfies these needs.
Main purpose: to analyse how effective the company goods and services are in matching the customers’ needs.
Content: ways to create, summarize feedback from customers and use them for company improvements.
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Work organization and length
| The length: 12 hours: · Contact hours: 4 hours. · Independent students work with trainer consultation: 6 hours. · Evaluation and self-check: 1 hour. · Transversal portfolio completion: 1 hour.
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Step by step task description | Identify the target customer. Create an ideal customer profile to which your analysis will be directed.
Select the method for analysis. Be clear on the methods (questionnaires, online surveys, comments from a social media page, focus groups and so on) that can be used to obtain feedback from customers. Create own feedback forms. Use peer and trainer reviews to improve these forms.
Ask right questions. Asking questions is only half the process. Make sure you collect the most accurate, authentic answers. Some question examples:
Organize customers’ analysis. Organize the feedback collection process. A systematic feedback process is all about enabling the customer to provide feedback and making sure the collected data is actionable towards improving your business and meeting customer expectations. The best ways to collect customer feedback are: long form-based surveys, short in-app surveys, transactional emails, etc.
Summarize the results. You should summarize the results, focusing particularly on the most significant results and making appropriate comments. Use visualizations to show data. Write the key facts first. Write a short survey summary. Explain the motivation for your survey. Put survey statistics in context. State what the outcome should be. Export your survey result, e.g., graphs.
Identify where improvements can be made and write the report. Even if your start-up is small, you need to consider how to make improvement decisions based on customers analysis results. Improvements can be made to your products or services, your staffing levels or your business procedures. You can identify opportunities to improve your marketing strategy, operations, and industry. You can gain insights that help you: attract your target audience; stand out from competitors; Improve your products and services; better serve your customers. |
Equipment and resources
| Work in classroom – in Practice Enterprise environment (activities review and improvement field). At first you will be supervised, then you will be able to work autonomously. Work on individual creation project. MOOC and online courses material. Research methods. |
Learning aim/aims | What should I learn as a student: Valuing ideas and opinions, ethical and sustainable thinking, motivation and perseverance; self-awareness and self-efficacy; financial and economic literacy; mobilizing others; Coping with uncertainty, ambiguity and risk, learning through experience.
What should I implement as a company creator: I must make decisions on customers analysis conduction, to organize the process and to incorporate the results into company improvements.
Expected production as a company creator: target customer identified, methods for analysis selected, questionnaire created, feedback collection process organized, report prepared.
How is this task combined with my own project: checking in a network of PEs – I am going in the right direction with my OWN project.
Know-how production: Examples of customers’ analysis and methods, notes and arguments, steps and descriptions of procedures.
Know-being results: Planning and customer analysis organization is an excellent way to surface gaps in your product/service and identify opportunities for improvement.
Know-acting results: creation of the right questions for feedback collection from target customer, established customer analysis procedures; analysis of the results on how the company goods and services match the customers’ needs.
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Assessment of the competency’s description and conditions & Guiding questions | Transversal portfolio and self-assessment are used for the evaluation of gained competencies. A transversal portfolio is the collection of all the created material and proofs.
Guiding questions for self-assessment: How do you define customer analysis? Why is customer analysis needed? What should a customer analysis include? What questions do you need to ask when conducting a customer analysis? How do you survey your customers? What are the methods of customer profiling? What should be included in a summary of results? How do you measure customer satisfaction? What changes in your customers’ needs were identified? Which of your products and services are succeeding? Which aren’t performing as planned?
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Feedback collection
| Every learner creates a transversal portfolio with the collection of all the created material and collected proofs – feedbacks – reports across all modules.
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Review the outcomes of the enterprise: Report on the outcomes
Introduction and Rationale | Overview of the task. You must be prepared to present the outcomes of your own company to your peers, educational institution community, mentor companies or potential customers. You should summarize the company’s reached results, during all activities and present the report on the company’s outcomes. Small companies use annual reports to let shareholders and constituents know how the company is doing financially and what they can look forward to.
Main purpose: to prepare a report including financial data, evaluating the enterprise, assessing how well business is performing, highlighting the strengths and areas that could be improved and suggesting the actions needed to be taken to implement improvements.
Content: ways to create a business report with the set of data that provides historical information related to a company’s operations, production, specific department’s insights, with a base for future decision-making processes or factual insights needed to organize business functions. Your Report should be professional, polished, and proof-read.
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Work organization and length
| The length: 13 hours: · Contact hours: 4 hours. · Independent students work with trainer consultation: 6 hours. · Evaluation and self-check: 2 hours. · Transversal portfolio completion: 1 hour.
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Step by step task description | Find out how to prepare an annual report that reflects well on your company. An annual report could include: · The company’s name, address, and type of business; · An annual report letter to the shareholders, written by the owner or director of the company, which is easy to read while being informative, contains interesting prose promoting the company, discusses exciting new developments for use as marketing strategies, praises the company for its innovative products and services, uses photos, easy graphs, and creative slogans to create a memorable document; · A balance sheet, which shows your company’s current financial status · An income statement, which shows profits and losses; · A cash flow statement, which shows investors that your company has cash on hand to pay the company’s expenses; · A section about the company’s important achievements; · Human interest information about the owners, particular employees, or about the company itself. · Etc.
17BFinalize Structure and Content. One of the most difficult parts about writing an annual report is deciding what to include and what to leave out. It’s important to map out the content and the structure of the report. Demonstrate your impact – as an annual report is an opportunity to highlight your accomplishments, build trust in your organization, and show your stakeholders your success.
Use Compelling Design. A well-designed report that is engaging and professional can be used as a marketing tool by a business. Visualize the numbers. Here are some pointers for a good annual report design: · Use headings and subheadings; · Devote space to photographs, infographics and other compelling visual elements; · Keep the text short and simple; · Use a bold and complimentary colour scheme and layout techniques that are in sync with your brand; · Emphasize key areas with coloured text boxes, quotes and captions.
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Equipment and resources
| Work in classroom – in Practice Enterprise environment (activities review and improvement field). At first you will be supervised, then you will be able to work autonomously. Work on individual creation project. MOOC and online courses material. Graphic Design Software.
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Learning aim/aims | What should I learn as a student: Valuing ideas and opinions, ethical and sustainable thinking, motivation and perseverance; self-awareness and self-efficacy; financial and economic literacy; mobilizing others; coping with uncertainty, ambiguity and risk, learning through experience.
What should I implement as a company creator: I must make decisions on how to create annual reports and to provide important business and financial information to customers, investors, employees and the media.
Expected production as a company creator: company’s key achievements, expectations for the coming year and overall goals and objectives are highlighted. Given information on the company’s financial position.
How is this task combined with my own project: Useful as a decision-making tool for managers and introduces you to the key members of the business, to stakeholders (investors, lenders, banks, suppliers, potential customers and employees) and the general public.
Know-how production: Report analysis examples, notes and arguments, descriptions of steps and procedures, templates, articles, design tools.
Know-being results: Creating an annual report is a long-term process that requires an organized system for recording and tracking data, media clipping, photographs and a list of business achievements.
Know-acting results: an opening letter from the business owner created, activities of the analysed period highlighted, analysed financial information, including key metrics, results of operations and the financial position, written notes on financial and accounting data, completed information about products and services, presenting new product plans and future activities or vision.
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Assessment of the competency’s description and conditions & Guiding questions | Transversal portfolio and self-assessment are used for the evaluation of gained competencies. A transversal portfolio is the collection of all the created material and proofs.
Guiding questions for self-assessment: How do you review business performance? Why Is an annual report important? What Information Is in the annual report? What makes a good annual report? How do you assess a company’s financial performance? How do companies review financial statements? Is the business running profitably? What percentage of the sales price covers the cost of providing or producing the product or service? What percentage of the sale price covers the fixed costs of business? What are the benefits of Financial Reporting? Where is your business now and where is it going? What steps do you follow to evaluate the results of your company? How could you improve this process? …this product?
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