Assessors handbook - Silver INGOT Enterprise

BACK TO CONTENTS

Level 1 Certificate in Open ICT Systems, Enterprise and Business growth

In addition to the 3 Silver INGOT units, candidates must also achieve the following two mandatory units.

Mandatory unit 20 hours

Mandatory unit 20 hours

Understanding small scale enterprises

Participating in enterprise

I know the difference between business and enterprise and about some of the characteristics of entrepreneurs

I have researched a local small business or enterprise to find out how it operates

I understand that enterprise involves risk and I can name some of the common risks for new entrepreneurs

I have talked to a person working in a small business or enterprise to get first hand insight into how the business works

I know that a new business has to be registered with Company's House, the Inland Revenue and possibly Customs and Excise

I understand the need to respect confidentiality in gathering information

I know about 3 key sources of investment, banks, private equity and internal funding and I understand the advantages and disadvantages of raising money from different sources.

I have gathered further information about a small business or enterprise using printed documents and the internet

I know the terms investment, profit, loss, break-even and cashflow how they apply to enterprise.

I have used the telephone effectively for communications related to enterprising activities

I understand the need for selling and some of the techniques involved in closing a sale.

I have presented a case study of a small business by answering questions about my research in an open digital format.

I understand the importance of business ethics including customer care and how to deal with customer complaints and suggestions

I have taken part in enterprising activities and personally raised $40 for a good cause or charity through enterprising activities

I understand an organization's basic responsibilities to employees including health and safety.

I have worked positively with colleagues and helped support attitudes that result in success.

I understand that individual employees have a responsibility to help ensure that a business is successful.

I have produced a written summary of my enterprise activities using a pro-forma

I know there is help available from the government to set up small businesses and agencies such as Small Firms Enterprise and Development Initiative (SFEDI) where useful resources can be accessed from the internet.

I have published simple accounts showing costs and receipts from my fund raising activities.

 

Assessor's guide to interpreting the criteria

 

Introduction

The Level 1 Certificate in ICT, Enterprise and Business Growth, Silver INGOT (enterprise) is a five unit, level 1 qualification. It builds on the Entry level INGOT certificates and provides progression to the Level 2 certificate.

 

The five mandatory units are

 

    1. Open standards, general knowledge, and working responsibly on networks (20 hours)

    2. Practical use of the internet (20 hours)

    3. Practical uses of office productivity tools (20 hours)

    4. Understanding small scale enterprises (20 hours)

    5. Participating in enterprise (20 hours)

     

The candidate must pass each mandatory unit to achieve a certificate for the full qualification. To achieve a merit overall, 3 units should be passed with merit or above, to achieve a distinction overall 3 units should be passed with distinction and the remaining 2 be at merit or better.

 

The criteria should be interpreted in the context of Level 1. Level 1 qualifications recognize basic knowledge and skills and the ability to apply learning with guidance or supervision. Learning at this level is about activities that mostly relate to everyday situations and may be linked to job competence.

 

In relation to job competence, think of working in an office environment in a small scale enterprise where the goal is for the worker to be increasingly self-sufficient in the use of the available technologies and in a strengthening position to contribute to the decision making about getting best value for the company from the technologies it uses taking into account social responsibility.

 

The assessment details for the first 3 units are identical to those for the Silver INGOT given above, details for units 4 and 5 are given below. Each unit contributes equally to the qualification.

 

Unit 4 Understanding small scale enterprises

The assessment method for unit 4 is the same as for Unit 1. There are 10 criteria that should be scored 0,1 or 2. 0 if the candidate has yet to demonstrate competence, 1 if they demonstrate competence but need some support from others and 2 if they are self-sufficient and fully competent. Candidates should score at least 1 on all the criteria and at least 16 in total before taking the test. The test is a multiple choice exercise with 25 questions worth 25 unit marks. For criteria matching, 5 marks should be awarded to candidates that fully meet the criteria in their every day work, with a score of 20, 4 marks if they score 19, 3 marks if they score 18, 2 marks if they score 17 and 1 mark if they score 16. Candidates with less than 1 mark from the criteria matching should not be entered for the test as they will be unlikely to do well and the aim should be for all those taking the test to at least pass.

 

When the assessor is confident that the candidate(s) is/are ready to take the test and the data is in the on-line mark book they should contact their Account Manager who will make a test available to them. All paper copies should be held securely until the test is taken and destroyed immediately afterwards. The unit score is made up from the total of the number of correct answers in the multiple choice test (0-25) and the number of unit marks from criteria matching (0-5). A total of 18 marks or more constitutes a pass, 21 to 24 a pass with merit and 25 or more a pass with distinction.

 

Moderation/verification

The Account Manager will request a commentary and assessment records for candidates awarded 4 or 5 marks on the criteria matching but who fail to achieve 13 marks on the test paper.

 

Unit 5 Participating in enterprise

There are two practical activities associated with this unit. The first is to study a small scale, preferably local, enterprise and report on it using a pre-defined set of questions and the second is to raise a small amount of money for a good cause. In raising the money the candidate has to document what was done including publishing simple accounts. The mark scheme for this relates directly to the criteria and candidates should be guided to plan their activities to target the marks appropriately. There are 20 marks for the study of a local enterprise and 10 marks for the money raising enterprise activity. To pass the unit the candidate should achieve 17 marks or more out of 30, for pass with merit 21 marks or more out of 30 and for pass with distinction 26 marks or more out of 30.

 

Researching a small business or enterprise

The candidate should focus on the first six criteria for the first part of the unit. They need to identify a suitable enterprise for their study and guidance can be given by assessors to ensure the appropriate information is likely to be accessible to the learner. They should not choose the same organization as studied in Unit 2 if the subject of that community project could be considered an enterprise. Once selected, the learner needs to analyze the task in conjunction with the specified questions and decide what information they need and how they will go about getting it. Essentially, they need to provide a presentation that answers the questions below. In keeping with Level 1, assessors can provide guidance as long as the candidate can demonstrate competence against each of the criteria on an individual basis. This work is complementary to that in Unit 2 and provides an opportunity to develop and reinforce the associated learning but it should focus on a different context. It also provides a basis for progression to the corresponding work in the Level 2 qualifications. The assessor should allocate up to 2 marks for each of the first 6 criteria in the unit block. Award 2 marks if the candidate provides evidence of secure capability and 1 if there is capability but a need for continuing support (See expansion of criteria below for more details). An additional 4 marks can be awarded if the candidate answers the questions listed below. 1 mark for bare answers, 2 marks if there is something significant beyond to provide interest to the reader and 4 marks for a comprehensive and interesting study. Give 3 marks if its better than a 2 but has some shortcomings. Award 2 additional marks if the presentation is well-structured and easy to follow and up to a further 2 marks for good grammar and punctuation. (Take a mark off for any significant errors and 2 marks off for more than 5). The presentation method can be using any appropriate means eg a Word Processed document, a desktop or web presentation.

 

The candidate should be guided by the assessor to provide specific evidence in their presentation that they have matched the criteria, for example, using a variety of sources and referencing them. Assessors should make it clear to candidates what it is that they have to do to achieve the marks. Some of the evidence will be empirical data from direct discussion or observation. Some of the language and terminology associated with enterprise might be difficult for candidates new to the topic but dealing with something unfamiliar is a good learning experience in its own right. Gaining help from local business and enterprise organizations has to be approached carefully due to pressure on people that will be very busy. For this reason getting a speaker in to talk to a large group with questions from that group and individuals recording the answers is more likely to be practical than individual interviews. The main issue is that the candidate can find relevant information and with help transfer it to a form that they can understand, learning some key things about the enterprise they have chosen to study. E-mailing people and asking questions is also a legitimate strategy but again care needs to be exercised so that any one individual is not inundated with many similar requests from different people. Again this is a practical exercise in community participation and so candidates need to become sensitive and discerning about how they relate to others. There will also be web sites and printed literature that they can explore. They should spend about 10 hours of supported study on this task and provide evidence of their research in a set of summary answers to the questions below in an appropriate presentation.

 

  1. What is the name of the enterprise you are researching?

  2. What is its address and contact details? Does it have website? If so what is the URL?

  3. What is the main purpose of the Enterprise?

  4. Is the Enterprise a profit making company or does it operate entirely for social benefit to others?

  5. When was the Enterprise set up?

  6. Where does the Enterprise get its resources? (Fund raising, donations, income from selling goods or services, volunteers)

  7. Who is the main person or people associated with the Enterprise?

  8. What do they do?

  9. What other interesting things can you find out about these people?

     

  • How did they get involved in the project?

  • What experience, qualifications and training do they have?

     

  1. Has the Enterprise any competitors?

  2. What is the Enterprise's advantages over its competitors if any?

  3. Does the Enterprise have any weaknesses compared to its competitors?

  4. If you were asked for advice about how the Enterprise is run, what would you say?

  5. What steps have you taken to ensure that the privacy of the people working in the Enterprise is respected in making this presentation?

 

Candidates should answer all the questions and where possible provide sufficient supporting detail to make their presentation interesting and informative to the audience. If any answers are confidential they should supply the information to the assessor and just put confidential - supplied to the assessor in the appropriate places.

 

Raising money

 

Candidates are given the task of raising £20/$40 for a good cause. This can be any good cause but we are raising money for education facilities in African townships so money can be contributed towards that by sending to African Education Appeal, 36 Ashby Road, Tamworth Staffordshire, B79 8AQ. The last 4 criteria matched from the block are relevant here and again provide 1 mark for demonstration of some competence against the criterion and 2 if they fully meet it. Provide 2 additional marks as a bonus if candidates raise more than £20/$40 or achieve the target in particularly challenging circumstances.

 

Further guidance on the criteria and how to apply them

In unit 4, the criteria are fundamentally about knowledge and understanding whereas in unit 5 they are about practical involvement. The knowledge specified by the criteria and their expansion in Unit 4 (below) will be tested by direct criteria matching and a multiple choice test as described above. Unit 5 will be assessed against the mark scheme provided above which is directly related to the criteria and their expansion below.

 

Expansion of the assessment criteria

 

Unit 4 - Understanding Small Scale Enterprises

 

I know the difference between business and enterprise and about some of the characteristics of entrepreneurs

A business is an organization that has some goal or outcome. Businesses in general take some kind of input with a view to adding value to it and producing something worthwhile at the end of the process. Candidates should get a firm grasp of the idea of businesses being sustained by a simple mechanism. Input ---> process ----> output. Businesses that can make the output more valuable than the input and can get the output to people that value it are likely to be successful. Enterprise is about spotting an opportunity and finding innovative ways of exploiting it. So enterprise is more about innovation and ideas and business is more the process of production and selling. The two are closely related and in a competitive world, businesses that are not enterprising are not likely to last very long. Entrepreneurs are people that drive enterprises. They tend to be good at starting new businesses with innovative ideas and perhaps getting together the necessary resources but they are not necessarily good at day to day running. In business, it's a big advantage to know what you are good at and what you are bad at. A successful business start up needs an entrepreneur but it also needs other kinds of skills such as management of finance, sales and product development. There are some individuals who can do all of these things but the reason that teams and partnerships can be more effective is because businesses need a balance of skills that are rare in one individual. Entrepreneurs are all different but most have at least some of the following characteristics.

 

  • A willingness to take risks and with a high tolerance of insecurity

  • Ability to raise money and/or attract resources to a project

  • Strong willed and will not quit, persevere in adversity

  • Enjoy competition

  • Spends whatever time is needed to achieve the goals

  • Learns from set backs and failures without being deterred

  • Inspires and motivates others

     

Enterprise and entrepreneurship can be applied to social enterprises as well as commercial businesses. People working in the public and voluntary sectors need to be enterprising too although there are more constraints on them in terms of risk taking and sometimes the culture in the organization is not best suited to enterprise. Its important for candidates to understand that attitudes to work and the organization are big factors in developing an enterprise culture. Candidates should be able to identify some of the key characteristics of entrepreneurs, they should know that attitudes are important and that enterprise culture is more related to the attitudes of people than whether the organization is public, private or voluntary sector. They might relate enterprising attitudes to their own work. Are they prepared to take the risk of putting in a lot of effort when they are uncertain about the rewards?

 

 

I understand that enterprise involves risk and I can name some of the common risks for new entrepreneurs

Risk is associated with the uncertainty and innovation that goes with enterprise. If things were certain someone would have done it already. However, experience comes into play here. One of the differences between USA business culture and that in the UK is that people that have had business failures in the UK tend to get looked down upon whereas in the USA failure is more likely to be seen in a more positive light because those that have gone through it will have learned avoiding such pitfalls in the future. So lack of experience is a significant risk for new entrepreneurs and sensible ones will look for support in developing their ideas. Simple games of chance can illustrate risk - a class activity such as gambling on uncertain events like rolling dice might establish who the risk takers are and more importantly those likely to be successful. Betting on pure chance without understanding the odds is very unwise. Compare that with a game where some skill is involved and suddenly the odds change depending on skill levels as well as chance. A famous golfer once said "You know the more I practice the luckier I get". Candidates should discuss what risk is acceptable and what risk is not? Clearly it's easier to take a risk with resources you can afford to lose and very unwise to take risks that if unsuccessful result in the entire business going down. Getting resources together to sustain a project is a risk because it is uncertain how long it will take to get the project to self-sufficiency and an unforeseen problem could cause the resources to run out. Enthusiasm is important, but not to the extent where it replaces planning. Planning can help to reduce risk by anticipating problems before they happen - its easy to see how experience and planning are both helpful in reducing risk. On the other hand, complex planning and procurement frameworks in large bureaucracies run the risk of putting costs up to a greater degree than necessary. Having a good idea but no market is another risk that can be avoided. Products don't sell themselves and so the entrepreneur has to be sure that there are people other than themselves that think this is a great idea. Lack of market research increases the risk of failure. In summary, candidates should understand the basic concept of risk and its broad relationship to chance. They should understand that risk in enterprise is more complex than rolling a dice with some factors they can control and others they can't but nevertheless its very sensible to try and work out the risks and reduce them as much as possible at the outset. They should be able to identify knowledge and experience and planning as factors that reduce risk and lack of resources and lack of market research as factors that increase risk.


I know that a new business has to be registered with a certificate of incorporation and notification of the tax authorities

All new businesses should be registered and receive a certificate of incorporation. The inland revenue service will need to be informed and its a good idea to know something about tax although its likely that the business will use a professional accountant to help file its tax returns. Small companies get taxed on profits after expenses and candidates should know about the basic responsibilities of running a business legally.

 

I know about 3 key sources of investment, internal funding, banks and private equity and I understand the advantages and disadvantages of raising money from these different sources.

The resource needed to start up a new business is called the investment capital. This might include money, time, materials and energy but in general money is needed to at least pay the bills while the business is establishing its customer base. Internal investment is money from the personal resources of the business owners or their time and materials. This might be personal savings or capital built up from a previous business or resources such as premises and machinery already owned. It's a common way to start a business but for many people there simply isn't enough capital to make the business viable without going to external sources. Banks make a lot of their money by lending to businesses but banks are quite risk averse. Normally they will require security in the form of personal property to at least the value of any loan and most likely considerably more than the loan amount. This is risky because defaulting on the loan means the bank can take ownership of the property and sell it to get their money back. They might even sell at a low price as long as it covers the debt to get the debt paid quickly. The business plan also has to take into account the interest payable to the bank as one of the business expenses. While its tempting to think that this can just be allowed against tax, you have to make a profit to pay tax in the first place and you are usually only saving about 20% of the expense unless in higher rate tax brackets. If the bank judges the venture to be high risk, the interest rate is likely to be higher too. Banks can give advice and do have experience that most start up businesses don't have so it is possible that you will get "value added" by doing business with the bank. A third source of funding is from someone with money that thinks you have a good idea and is willing to finance your idea for a share in the company. These people are often referred to as Business Angels. To these investors you are probably at least as important as your idea. They won't invest unless they are confident in your ability to turn the idea into a valuable business that will make them a good profit. Unlike the bank, they are taking a risk but they are confident in their experience to make much more than by charging interest by taking a share in a business that will grow and become worth a lot more than the money invested in it. Potential for growth is therefore important to these investors. One of the problems with Business Angels is that they might interfere in running the business more than the entrepreneur would like. On the other hand some are very experienced in business and their expertise can be helpful. A Business Angel will probably want to grow the business and then sell it or do a stock market floatation. If the entrepreneur wants to keep the business for their lifetime, its unlikely that a business angel is the right partner. There is also a lot of demand for business angel investment so it can be a very time consuming process to plan presentations and seek out potential investors especially if you have no track record of success. Candidates should remember the three sources of investment outlined here and be able to identify possible advantages and disadvantages of each.


I know the terms investment, profit, loss, break-even and cash flow and how they apply to enterprise.

Candidates should understand the concept of investment in its widest sense. Investment is an input with the aim of later benefits. This can start with what they invest themselves. Do their parents invest in them? It might not be obvious to them, but providing a healthy diet, ensuring they attend school, and keeping them safe are all investments to ensure they have a happier life in the future. Investments are risks because no-one can be certain which investment will actually result in the desired outcomes. All we can do is learn from similar circumstances and try what has worked in the past. Unlike a controlled science experiment where accurate predictions can be made by replicating someone else's experiment there are too many variables involved to predict how investing in an individual person will turn out. Much the same is true of an enterprise or business. It might be true that the enterprise has no chance of working without investment but there is no certainty that it will with investment. Investment as a concept relates to risk and funding. Profit is the resources left over after all the costs are taken from the revenue generated. Companies break-even when income is equal to expenditure including the interest on any debts or loans. Loss is negative profit and as such can be a good way of introducing the concept of negative numbers in mathematics. Cash flow is the amounts of cash being received and spent by a business during a defined period of time. In times of debt, even if temporary, the enterprise could run out of money needed to pay suppliers or business costs especially before the organization reaches break-even. This is why many small businesses fail, they simply don't have the resources to get to break-even. Candidates should be able to recognize the word investment and associate it with descriptions of its meaning and apply the term to their own lives, learning and development as well as investing in business terms. They should be able to perform very simple calculations of profit and loss using simple addition and subtraction. They should understand that it might take time to break even and that sufficient money is needed to get to that point if the enterprise is not to fail.

 

I understand the need for selling and some of the techniques involved in closing a sale.

No matter how good their idea, its not going to sell itself. Ethical selling involves finding out what customers' need and then providing them with something that satisfies that need at the best price. A popular acronym for salespeople is AIDA - Attention, Interest, Desire, Action. Getting the other person's attention sets the tone: first impressions count, so salespeople need to smile - even on the phone because people can hear it in their voice - be happy, be natural, honest and professional. They have about five seconds to get attention at a first meeting, by which time the other person has formed their first impression. This is why being confident to look a new acquaintance in the eye and give a firm handshake are important. Interest is not necessarily the salesman giving every good thing about a product. Most people like to talk about themselves and their interests so allowing the sales prospect time to talk about themselves is a good and well-tried technique. Listening can be more important than telling and asking questions helps determine what the prospective customer values. In to-day's selling the seller must engender trust and a relationship that frees the potential buyer's emotions to desire to buy the product. The seller must deal with any objections and make a judgment about the time when it is right to take action and close the sale so that agreement to buy is clear and unambiguous. This lends itself to role play exercises which can be fun and might be a suitable subject for drama lessons in a school. Candidates should know the AIDA acronym and be able to explain practical activities that might support each of the stages in getting to a sales closure.

 

I understand the importance of business ethics including customer care and how to deal with customer complaints and suggestions

Business ethics are a moral requirement and sometimes things that are technically legal can still have moral implications. eg It is not illegal to pay the minimum wage for work worthy of more money but in a circumstance where the employee has no option but to stay in the job it might be considered unfair. Candidates should discuss fairness but include the business owners point of view too. If a business owner has provided good employment for years and hits a difficult period how fair is it for the employees to use that against him at a vulnerable time? Dealing with customers requires fair treatment too but in most respects there is no advantage to a business in a competitive market treating customers badly as they will just migrate elsewhere. The more interesting cases are where the customer has little choice. eg software they must have only runs on one type of computer, there is only one place where they can buy food in traveling distance from where they live, they can only get to work by train. Candidates should appreciate that enterprises have social responsibility and this should be related to concepts of citizenship. They should be able to discuss simple cases where fairness might not be clear cut and realize that in some cases there is not a definitive right answer and what is unethical to one person will be perfectly reasonable to another. More details on business ethics at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Business_ethics. Candidates should be able to recognize very obvious unethical business practices such as breaking the laws related to environment or pay. They should have participated in discussion and debate about fairness and social responsibility in business.


I understand an organisation's basic responsibilities to employees including health and safety

Businesses have specific responsibilities to employees in law. Some obvious ones are to pay the minimum wage, not to unfairly terminate employment, provide reasonable conditions of work including a safe environment. Candidates should be aware of the following issues as specific examples. Minimum wage, no discrimination on the grounds of gender, age or disability. Candidates should consider some issues such as when it is reasonable not to employ someone with a disability eg would it be fair/legal to refuse a job as a lorry driver to a blind person? Clearly there are circumstances where capability to do the job is so severely impaired that the law has to allow discrimination. Deciding where to draw lines is never entirely straightforward.

I understand that individual employees have a responsibility to help ensure that a business is successful

Organizations are social groups that need to work together for the benefit of the whole group and that applies to the public, private and third sectors. Poor management can lead to a "them" and "us" mentality that leads to divisions in understanding of the purpose of the organization. Candidates might like to apply this to their own situation. If a profit making company is perceived to make massive profits while paying its workforce very little, apart from the ethics involved, it is likely to demotivate the work force. However, perception and reality might be very different. A company making $100m profit might be considered to be very rich but if the turnover is $10 billion it is in fact only marginally profitable at 1% and shareholders might be better to have their money in a savings account in a bank. Giving a small pay rise could actually trigger losses and redundancies and so some care has to be taken. It's always tempting to think we deserve more but rationale approaches are sensible because strikes have resulted in closures and job losses as well as pay rises. Candidates need to understand that business ethics apply to them as individuals as well as to the company at large. If they don't give a reasonable day's effort for their pay and conditions, they might be making a colleague redundant or reducing the scope for everyone to get a pay rise. In small businesses it is easy to see who does what and how equitable the rewards. With larger organizations its a lot more difficult which is one reason why large companies divide themselves in to smaller autonomous units. Candidates should consider these issues and be able to see that rights and responsibilities have to be balanced fairly for individuals and the organization.


I know there is help available from the government to set up small businesses and agencies such as SBA where useful resources can be accessed from the internet.

The government provides a range of services to support small businesses and new enterprises. As a minimum candidates should do some small scale internet based research to find out about current support eg from the SBA site at http://www.sba.gov/index.html

 

Unit 5 - Participating in Enterprises

 

I have researched a local small business or enterprise to find out how it operates

Candidates should with guidance, choose a local enterprise to study in some detail. They should ensure that the enterprise studied is not the same organization as in the Unit 2 study. Care needs to be taken not to overload local enterprises and it's reasonable for assessors to copy (subject to permission) information so that several candidates are using it. In terms of first hand observation, while a visit to the enterprise is of benefit, video and audio recording are allowable. One of the things that should be considered is the effects of research on the enterprise and every effort made to reduce interference with the enterprise while information is gathered.

 

I have talked to a person working in a small business or enterprise to get first hand insight into how the business works

Having a speaker from a local enterprise talk to a larger group with note taking and questions is acceptable here. Again be aware of the need not to overload people kind enough to give their time freely.

 

I understand the need to respect confidentiality in gathering information

Although the questions ask for the name of the enterprise, if the enterprise wants to remain anonymous, respect that wish. Simply give a made up name and state what has been done and why. Let the owner of the enterprise read the presentation before it is published. Candidates should demonstrate that they understand why confidentiality should be respected and that the person providing the information is doing so for their benefit.

 

I have gathered further information about a small business or enterprise using printed documents and the internet

Candidates should demonstrate that they have gathered evidence from at least first hand observation, printed documentation and the internet.

 

I have used the telephone effectively for communications related to enterprising activities

Candidates should demonstrate that they can use a telephone (Cell phone, land line or VOIP) to communicate clearly and in reasonably standard spoken English so that most people from any English speaking country could understand them. They should avoid slang, colloquialisms and other modes of speech that are likely to make them difficult to understand. They need to understand that increasingly in a globalized world they will talk to people who have learned English as an additional language, perhaps purely to take part in the business world and that means clear simple use of language is important.

 

I have presented a case study of a small business by answering questions about my research in an open digital format.

Candidates should structure a presentation based on the questions provided. The presentation should be available in a digital format that is preferably free from patent restriction and usable in a wide range of software. If a Word processed document, Open Document ISO 26300 format is best since the World Trade Organization requires member states to use ISO standards where these exist. ODF documents can be produced from MS Word by downloading and installing OpenOffice (its free) opening the Word Document in OpenOffice and then saving in the OpenDocument text format ODT. Or the document can be produced in Open Office Writer from the outset. HTML is an open format so if the presentation is in the form of a web page, that satisfies the requirements. If a desktop style presentation, again Powerpoint is a Microsoft proprietary format and conversion in OpenOffice can be performed in much the same was as a Word document to get to ISO 26300 format. If the candidate produces a video to support their work it should be in Mpeg2 format as this too is an ISO standard. There are numerous down-loadable applications for converting video file formats, just do an internet search. If there really is no alternative, candidates can use a non-open format and explain why. Otherwise the maximum they should score on this criterion is 1.

 

I have taken part in enterprising activities and personally raised $40 for a good cause or charity through enterprising activities

If they raise some money after a 10 hour effort planning and implementing their enterprise strategy they score 1 on this criterion, 2 if they achieve the $40 target or more. Assessors should make sure that there is a reasonable plan of action to raise the money. Single donations from friends and relatives should not be counted, the candidate must work out some product or service of value that they are providing for the money and demonstrate it with several different customers. We are looking for evidence of enterprise rather than simply getting charitable donations of cash from friends and relatives. However, enterprises don't have to be complex. It could be a car washing service, gardening, computer maintenance, baking and selling cakes. They should describe any initial resources including time they need for supplying a service or materials for making a product, the actual money raised and any improvements they could make.

 

I have worked positively with colleagues and helped support attitudes that result in success

Candidates should show good relationships with their peers and the assessor. They should demonstrate a willingness to accept and give help appropriately to others and provided leadership for a productive working environment.

 

I have produced a written summary of my enterprise activities using a pro-forma

Candidates should document their activities using the proforma supplied.

 

I have published simple accounts showing costs and receipts from my fund raising activities

Candidates should set up a simple spreadsheet showing any costs incurred in one column and receipts in another. They should label costs and receipts with a date and provide totals and a balance.

 

Pro-forma for enterprise activities

 

What I plan to do to raise $40 for a good cause

 

 

The resources I will need are

 

 

What activities I did and how much money they raised

 

 

 

The total I raised was

 

 

 

Things I might have done to raise the money more effectively

BACK TO CONTENTS