Conducting an environmental assessment and needs analysis is crucial to enhance an organization’s operability and functional capacity. This is attained by improving operational and functional efficiency in the organization. The efficiency is achieved by utilizing data to make informed and critical decisions that are of strategic advantage to the organization. The environment assessment and needs analysis is designed to enable a supply chain company to regulate and coordinate its inventory effectively by maximizing the potential of its workforce. The analysis comprises an overview of the environment, needs analysis for reporting and analytics, determination of critical stakeholders and data required to address problems in the organization, and examination of the role of data architecture in resolving the questions and issues on organizational operations and functioning.
Overview of the Environment
Type of Environment
The type of environment constitutes a business operation for a supply chain company that intends to adjust staffing schedules and regulate the human resource needs in the organization. The organization supplies grocery items to different stores requiring an adequate inventory that runs smoothly. The use of data acquired through the environmental assessment is critical to eliminate human resource needs redundancies and increase efficiency in an operational capacity. Also, this will result in budgetary regulation for the organization in the compensation of employees needed by the company.
Purpose of the Environment
The current platform shows an existing high number of pickers and loaders that do not match the organization’s efficiency. The data collection aims to identify the number of cases per commodity to regulate the projection of staff schedules needed to make the expected shipments to the store per day and week. The purpose of data collection and analysis is to reduce the unwarranted human resources round the clock impacting on the organization’s capacity to better manage and balance work/life schedules for its employees (Stefaniak, 2021). Thus, develop a mechanism where employees have sufficient working and social life hours.
Current Situation Where Data is Already Being Used
The data collected currently revolves around the number of cases per commodity being loaded and shipped to grocery stores. This includes identifying the number of employees needed to make the shipments, the quantity shipped, and the time to complete the orders.
Stakeholders in the Environment Currently
Entity Responsible for Collecting and Storing Data
Currently, data ownership belongs to me as the author, collector, and person responsible for its storage. As a project I am running for the supply chain company – the data will be meticulously covered and stored for secure usage.
Entity Responsible for Overseeing Data
Data overseeing will also be my responsibility as the person who is collecting it and managing its usage. This is integral to building confidentiality in the organization. Also, the data available on a need-to-see basis will be applied in the organization.
Users or Consumers
The primary consumers of the analyzed data will consist of part of the transportation teams to effectively manage the loading, picking, and shipment schedules. Also, the managing director and operations managers will rely heavily on the data to make informed decisions to increase efficiency in the organization’s supply chain.
Any New Stakeholder
The managing director, operations managers, and the transportation teams are the key stakeholders involved in the data collection and analysis. Also, the inclusion of human resource managers will provide additional professionalism in utilizing the data analysis and results. The overall objective is to enhance the efficiency and operational capacity of the organization.
Needs Analysis for Reporting, Analytics, and Data
Questions or Problems Individuals or Organization Need to Address
The fundamental problems that must be addressed following the data analysis entail inventory management, loading/picking and shipment operations, and job scheduling. These are the three components that need to be addressed following the data analytics in the organization (Sivarajah et al., 2017). Thus, impacting elevating the shipping capacity and delivery of products to the grocery stores in a timely and efficient manner.
Type of Reporting or Analytics
The data reporting will utilize a quarterly update and feedback to the key stakeholders to inform them of the progress made in using the data. Also, this will be integral to the determination of the improvements made since the inception of utilizing data in decision-making and the current operations. This is critical to determine the impacts on operational efficiency following comparing past and present processes.
Additional Stakeholders that Need to be Involved to Address the Problems
Additional stakeholders key to address the identified issues include human resource managers – to ascertain efficient utilization of the data in controlling job scheduling and employee assessment to know how to implement layoff measures as informed by data analysis. The human resource managers provide internal professionalism to manage staff capacity and numbers effectively.
Existing Data and Additional Data that Might be Collected
The existing data comprise inventory, staff requirements, job scheduling, loading/picking and shipping orders, and delivery time. The additional data may include time management and hours required to complete a single delivery. The data can determine the number of employees needed to complete delivery in the least time possible successfully.
Role of Data Architecture in Helping Address the Problem
The data architecture, in this case, will rely on the use of a regression analysis tool to provide a roadmap and path for data manipulation. The regression analysis will inform decision-making on critical areas to address the identified issues (Silhavy et al., 2017).
Summary of Findings
The data utilization will be integral to enhancing the operational efficiency and capacity of the organization. The data will facilitate the removal of staff redundancies, cutting maintenance costs. Also, the data will be critical in managing inventories to provide a clear guideline on the loading, picking, and delivery schedules. This will be vital to determine the number of staff needed in the organization per day and week – for the efficient flow of operations.
