Operations and Project Management-Luton Community Training Ltd – Case Study Data

Operations and Project Management-Luton Community Training Ltd – Case Study Data

Executive Summary

This study looks at the current operations and business procedures of Luton Community Training Ltd. (LCT), a non-profit company in Luton, UK. Senior management convened two companywide town hall meetings to address concerns about data storage and sharing, communication and teamwork, and the difficulties of remote work brought on by the Covid 19 epidemic. An effective project plan is offered at the end of this report, and it includes a Work Breakdown Structure (WBS), Network Diagram (N.D.), and Critical Path Analysis (CPA). Planning for and preparing to purchase hardware, software, and services like Slack and Microsoft Teams in a thorough and well-thought-out budget. Four apps: Zoom, Flow, Dock, and Discord. The British government has taken measures to prevent future data breaches, including using encryption for safety measures and entering into agreements with international firms to ensure compliance with GDPR. Security issues are increased since sensitive client data is housed on personal laptops. Staff members are trained in effective system operation and upkeep practices, which are in place continuously. These initiatives lead to increased customer responsiveness, reduced risk of burnout, fatigue, and long-term isolation among remote workers due to pandemic restrictions, improved morale, safe working conditions, the highest level of trust offered, constant provision of excellent support, quality service, and an overall boost in reputation and brand value. There may be new opportunities for LCT in the communities it now serves due to the company’s efforts to grow internationally.

1.0 Introduction

This report will discuss the operations and business systems of Luton Community Training Ltd. (LCT), a non-profit organization located in Luton, UK, with a mission to provide appropriate upskilling and training for local community members, focusing on vulnerable individuals. The current state of affairs within the organization reveals problems associated with data storage & sharing, communication & collaboration, and implications from remote working due to the Covid 19 pandemic, which was identified during two all-company town hall meetings initiated by the Senior management team. The findings provided throughout this report are based not only on Case Study information but also on external research so that advantages and disadvantages related to specific solutions could be discussed, ultimately leading to recommendations and a project plan proposing implementation strategy, thus aiming at improving existing operational processes.

2.0 Operational Recommendations

2.1 Key Area 1: Data Storage and Sharing

The data storage and sharing processes used by Luton Community Training Ltd need to be updated and more efficient and can be improved to help increase their productivity rate. Using separate systems for each functional team with email requests as the primary communication means is unsuitable in an efficient workflow environment when dealing with large amounts of information or multiple teams working together on shared projects. Additionally, confidential info held only on company laptops with personal coaches could be put at risk if those devices were compromised, contradicting requirements set out in data privacy regulations such as GDPR (Patel, 2019).

Therefore, there should be a switch from the current outlook-based system that utilizes Excel spreadsheets and Word documents towards cloud-based solutions optimized for collaboration between different departments, such as Microsoft Teams, mentioned during All Company Town Hall Meeting (Illag & Sabale, 2022). This platform would allow access to stored files across any device type, making remote work much more accessible, allowing file uploads directly into M.S. Team’s space which includes searchable Shared folders instead of offloading them onto emails reducing time wasted searching lost emails or attachments sent earlier, months ago (Singh & Awashi., 2020). At the same time, this software provides integration tools connecting commonly used office applications such as Excel, Word, and Outlook (Hubbard et al., 2021). This integration would benefit all teams within the organization, granting them access to files created in any of those apps even when specific departments use different storage systems, such as Sage One Accounting for the Finance Team. Moving towards cloud solutions is beneficial from a functionality point of view. It also increases security compared with local data hosting due to providers’ encryption, making it almost impossible for hackers or malicious software to take advantage of breached devices (Bhadauria et al., 2011).

2.2 Key Area 2: Internal Communic