A vision statement describes the desired, aspirational future state of an organization. The mission statement defines the organization's core purpose and how it will operate to achieve its vision. The given mission, "To meet or undercut all our competitors' prices," is a strategy focused on cost leadership. The vision "To offer the best value office fitting service" is the most logical aspiration for this mission. It positions the company's low-price strategy as a means to deliver superior value to customers, creating a clear and coherent link between the company's operational approach (mission) and its long-term ambition (vision).

B. To reduce the cost of office fitting by 5%.: This is a specific, measurable business objective or goal, not a broad, inspirational vision statement.

C. To increase the company's market share.: This is a strategic goal that results from successfully executing the mission, not the overarching vision itself.

D. To be the premier office fitting company: The term 'premier' typically implies leadership in quality, service, or prestige, which often conflicts with a mission based purely on being the lowest-cost provider.

1. Paul, D., Yeates, D., & Cadle, J. (2020). Business Analysis (4th ed.). BCS, The Chartered Institute for IT. In Chapter 3, Section 3.2.2, a 'vision' is defined as describing "the desired future state for the organisation," while a 'mission' is "a statement of the overriding purpose of an organisation." The mission to undercut prices is the purpose that serves the future state of being the best value provider.

2. Collins, J. C., & Porras, J. I. (1996). Building Your Company's Vision. Harvard Business Review, 74(5), 65–77. This foundational article distinguishes the mission (part of the core ideology, the 'how' and 'what') from the envisioned future (the 'why' and 'where'). "Best value" represents an envisioned future, while undercutting prices is the core operational purpose.

3. MIT Sloan School of Management. (n.d.). Module 1: Strategy and the Business Landscape. In 15.S60 Professional Seminar in Strategic Management. MIT OpenCourseWare. The course materials distinguish between a vision (a future-oriented aspiration), a mission (the fundamental purpose), and strategic objectives (specific, measurable targets). Option A is a vision, while options B and C are objectives.

Business events are classified by their trigger. An external event is initiated by an actor outside the business system, such as a customer. A time-based (or temporal) event is triggered by the passage of time.

1. Shop sales assistants ordering for a customer: The ultimate trigger is the customer's request. Since the customer is external to the organization, this is an External Event.

2. Customers ordering through the website: The customer, an external actor, directly initiates this event. This is also an External Event.

3. Sending a monthly catalogue: This event is explicitly scheduled to occur "monthly," making it a Time-based Event.

Therefore, the correct classification is two external events and one time-based event.

A. This option incorrectly classifies one of the customer-initiated orders as internal. The trigger for both order types originates from the external customer, not an internal state change.

C. This option incorrectly classifies both customer-initiated orders as internal. Events triggered by customers are external to the business system by definition.

D. This option incorrectly classifies the time-based event (monthly catalogue) as an external one. A scheduled, recurring action is a distinct time-based category.

1. Paul, D., & Cadle, J. (2020). Business Analysis (4th ed.). BCS, The Chartered Institute for IT. In Chapter 7, "Modelling Business Processes," business events are defined as triggers for processes. The text distinguishes between external triggers (e.g., a customer placing an order) and time-based triggers (e.g., the end of the month). This supports classifying both customer orders as external and the catalogue as time-based.

2. Laguna, M., & Marklund, J. (2013). Business Process Modeling, Simulation and Design (2nd ed.). CRC Press. Chapter 2, "Process Identification and Discovery," Section 2.2.1, defines event types: "An external event is an event that happens in the environment of the process... A time event is an event that is activated by time." This framework classifies customer actions as external and scheduled mailings as time events. (ISBN: 978-1466507789).

The team's concerns are twofold: a process/technology gap (unreadable barcodes) and a human/organisational issue (fear of redundancy). A holistic approach requires addressing the socio-technical system. The fear of redundancy is a fundamental concern rooted in the People (morale, motivation) and Organisation (job design, structure) elements. Investigating these aspects is critical for managing the change and gaining staff buy-in. Furthermore, a potential solution to the process gap (handling exceptions) could involve redesigning staff roles (Organisation), which directly addresses both concerns. Therefore, investigating the People and Organisation elements is the most crucial next step to holistically address the team's stated issues.

A. This option ignores the significant human impact and the staff's primary fear of redundancy, which is a critical change management issue.

B. This focuses too narrowly on the IT system and data, completely overlooking the business process context and the vital human and organisational concerns.

C. While this addresses the process gap the staff identified, it is less direct in tackling their core fear of redundancy, which is an organisational design issue.

1. Paul, D., Yeates, D. and Cadle, J. (2020) Business Analysis. 4th edn. Swindon: BCS, The Chartered Institute for IT.

pp. 53-54, Section 3.4.2: This section defines the four elements of the POPIT model. It specifies that People covers staff skills, fears, and motivation, while Organisation relates to job roles and management structure. The scenario's core issues of staff worry and potential redundancy directly map to these two elements, making them the priority for investigation. The text emphasizes that all four elements are interlinked, supporting the idea that investigating People/Organisation can also inform solutions for the Process.

2. The Open University (2019) TM353: IT systems: planning for success.

Block 1, Section 5, 'A socio-technical approach': This courseware explains that successful systems development requires considering the interaction between people and technology. The staff's concerns exemplify a classic socio-technical problem where organisational and human factors (job security) are as critical as the technical process (barcode scanning). This supports prioritizing the People and Organisation investigation.

A consensus Business Activity Model (BAM) is a conceptual model that provides a high-level, strategic view of the business. It illustrates the essential activities required to achieve an agreed-upon business perspective, derived from merging the viewpoints of multiple key stakeholders. The model uses arrows to depict the logical dependencies and sequence between these activities, showing what must occur before another activity can begin. A primary purpose of creating this consolidated 'to-be' model is to use it as a baseline for gap analysis, comparing it against the current 'as-is' business processes to identify required changes and improvements.

B. A BAM intentionally omits who performs activities to focus purely on the necessary functions ('what'), not the actors ('who').

E. This describes an individual BAM created from a single viewpoint. A consensus BAM synthesizes multiple stakeholder perspectives into one agreed-upon model.

1. Paul, D., Yeates, D., & Cadle, J. (2020). Business Analysis (4th ed.). BCS, The Chartered Institute for IT.

For A (Conceptual model): "A BAM is a conceptual model that shows the business activities that must be in place to support the business perspective." (p. 178, Section 7.4.2).

For C (Logical sequence): The arrows in a BAM diagram "show the logical dependencies between the activities." This establishes the logical sequence required for the business system to function. (p. 181, Figure 7.5).

For D (Basis for gap analysis): "The consensus model is then used to analyse the existing business situation... This is a form of gap analysis, where the required situation, as defined by the BAM, is compared with the existing situation..." (p. 183, Section 7.4.3).

For B (Incorrect): "The model does not show who carries out the activities or where they are conducted." (p. 178, Section 7.4.2).

For E (Incorrect): The text describes creating individual BAMs for each perspective and then creating "a consensus model that combines all of the individual models." This shows the consensus model is a merged view, not a single stakeholder's perspective. (p. 182, Section 7.4.3).

The scenario describes a complex "soft" problem involving human emotions, resistance, and political concerns, not just a technical process issue. Elizabeth, as an external consultant, needs to first understand this human landscape.

Interviews are the most direct and effective technique for engaging with line managers and staff to explore their viewpoints, uncover underlying fears about redundancy, and understand their reasons for resistance. This directly addresses the MD's request to understand their concerns.

Rich pictures are a powerful tool from Soft Systems Methodology (SSM) designed specifically to capture the complexities of a human activity system. Elizabeth can use this technique to map out the structure, processes, relationships, and, crucially, the conflicts and concerns (the "soft" data) of the stakeholders, providing a holistic view of the problem situation.

A. Document analysis focuses on existing formal processes and data, failing to capture the unwritten human concerns central to this problem.

B. Observation shows how a process is performed but does not reveal the internal thoughts, fears, or motivations of the staff involved.

C. Business activity modeling and fishbone diagrams are structured analytical tools used for defining requirements or root-cause analysis, not for initial, open-ended exploration of human perspectives.

1. Paul, D., Yeates, D., & Cadle, J. (2020). Business Analysis (4th ed.). BCS, The Chartered Institute for IT.

Interviews: Chapter 6, Section 6.4, describes interviews as a key technique for "building a rapport with stakeholders" and "understanding their different viewpoints and priorities."

Rich Pictures: Chapter 6, Section 6.8.2, explains that rich pictures are used to "help us understand the situation" by capturing "both the hard and soft aspects," including "people's concerns, worries and attitudes." This directly aligns with the scenario's needs.

2. Checkland, P. (1999). Soft Systems Methodology: A 30-Year Retrospective. John Wiley & Sons.

In Chapter 2, "The Developed Form of SSM," Checkland establishes that the first stage of the methodology is to build the "richest possible picture" of the problem situation, explicitly including subjective elements like conflicts and anxieties, before any formal modeling is attempted. This supports using rich pictures as a primary, initial technique.

3. The Open University. (2011). M881: Software requirements for business systems, Block 2, Understanding the business context.

Section 3, "Soft Systems Methodology," details the use of rich pictures as the initial step to represent a problematic situation, emphasizing their value in capturing "the human dimension, the culture, the politics and the subjective views of the people involved." This validates their use in Elizabeth's situation.