Each group will be required to make a presentation of the key report findings to the client and class (recognising client confidentiality issues).  This presentation will be assessed and graded with major input from the client. 

These presentations will be of a maximum 20 minutes duration after which the group will take questions from the client and the lecturer.  The lecturer will provide more details during the course, including the basis on which the presentations will be assessed.

In addition, the group may decide (or be requested) to make separate presentation/s to the client organisation.  These are strongly encouraged, but will not be marked/assessed as part of the course.

You are required to contribute and participate fully in your group. At the end of this assessment task each student must submit a confidential peer review (5% of total weighting), for each member of their group. The peer review, along with the lecturer's evaluation, will inform the final individual grade awarded.

The Consulting Report will be addressed to the client, as would be the case in a professionally engaged assignment. It must be a professionally written document, using consistent professional language and with full referencing of your evidence based research.

The Report must stand on its own; independent of the Presentation you will be giving.  The Report is not to be a transcript of the Presentation.

As a general guide the report will follow this type of flow:

1. Table of Contents
2. Executive summary  - max 2 pages
3. Background
   1. The challenge set by the project sponsor, and some broader context to this, e.g., what is driving this need (but don’t just use their language, prove it up).
   2. Some core facts about the client, and why these facts are relevant to both the challenge and your thinking.
   3. Where possible also make reference to the industry/ecosystem in which the client operates/sits – but ensure you identify the 'so what', how does understanding the industry/broader economic backdrop impact the project?
4. Approach to the assignment
   1. The high level steps you went through.
   2. How you developed your ideas, and turned them into a range of options/hypotheses etc.
   3. How you selected the ideas/options that you chose to prove up into recommendations.
   4. Anything else in the process you used that is interesting and relevant, e.g., you may identify what you rejected (and why) before you move to the recommendation(s).
5. Recommendation(s)
   1. What is it/are they
   2. What is your justification (i.e., why?)
   3. How the recommendation(s) meet the challenge set by the sponsor
   4. How the recommendation(s) fit within the client's organisation
   5. High level implementation and integration considerations
   6. Anything else interesting and relevant, that does not distract from your key points.
6. A conclusion is optional and not always necessary, don’t repeat the executive summary and usually if you end the recommendation(s) section cleverly that is enough.
7. Appendices to include reference material that detracts from the flow of the main document, it must be fully referenced, attributed and relevant.

The activity on which you will be assessed will be your ability to structure a logical flow of reasoning and to argue in a tight, compelling way (a) what is being addressed, (b) why it is an issue, (c) what the key dimensions and implications / impacts of the problem are, (d) what the proposed solution encompasses; and of course, (e) how you have arrived at the proposed solution / recommendation.

Some instructions on the final client report:

• Executive Summary - 2 pages maximum.
• Typed in 11-point, Arial, 1.5 lines spaced, A4 paper.
• The main body of the report is to be produced in MS Word.
• Please provide 2 bound print copies and 1 electronic copy to be submitted in iLearn.
• Confidentiality of the report’s contents is assured.

Report length - Fifteen pages maximum (including Executive Summary and excluding Appendices).  Assignments longer than the prescribed limit may be penalised.  If you need to include extra material, you can do so in a small number of appendices that are clearly numbered and referred to in the body of the report.  Please assume that the appendices will only be read if they are relevant and useful.

You are required to contribute and participate fully in your group. At the end of this assessment task each student must submit a confidential peer review (5% of total weighting), for each member of their group. The peer review, along with the lecturer's evaluation, will inform the final individual grade awarded.

This individual reflections report is about testing your capability to articulate your personal journey on this unit that will also draw upon the application of what you have learned in your other MBA units and your professional work.

It is about your ability to articulate, i.e., put into words, your personal journey of self-discovery. Typically this is about recognising change in yourself, moments of epiphany (ah-ah moments) when something that was unclear, becomes clear, and new learnings that have truly become manifest.

This will test your self-awareness.

This report must not be just a description of the process you followed, nor should it be used as a means to comment on others in your group.

You are advised to keep a diary or record points as they arise over the weeks before the report is due. Do not leave it to week 8 or 9 to complete it, you will be running out of time and will be focused on the Consulting Report and Presentation.

This report must be 2000 words (+/- 50 words) in length. Submission will be done in class in print form and in iLearn at the class in week 9.

Extensions and penalties:

No extensions will be granted. There will be a deduction of 10% of the total available marks made from the total awarded mark for each 24 hour period or part thereof that the submission is late (for example, 25 hours late in submission – 20% penalty). This penalty does not apply for cases in which an application for special consideration is made and approved. No submission will be accepted after solutions have been posted.

Each group will need to prepare a short (1 to 2 pages) Project Status Report (PSR) to be submitted at each scheduled lecture.  The PSR will be written with the client as the target audience. It should discuss the group’s progress with the consulting project, including elements such as a list of key milestone dates, an outline of the group’s approach to the consulting problem, and preliminary findings. Issues regarding scope, key risks being managed, critical inputs / information required and any resource constraints, should also be flagged.

Class participation will be assessed by the lecturer based off your Project Status Reports.