M1- Analyse different types of business information and their sources

M1- Analyse different types of business information and their sources
Written
Written communication involves a selection of words, symbols, letters and numbers. Written communication is used at bmetc to make it possible for tutors to contact parents and students regarding the students’ progress in lessons and around the college; they do this by sending letters to the parents. A letter written to a parent of a student would have been created by a tutor, and then taken to the IT department, here they will check on the student’s attendance and also include this in the letter, and then, finally, it would be taken to the administration department of the campus in order to be sent home to the students’ parents/ guardians.
These departments work together to ensure that the letter is sent to the correct address including the correct/ suitable information regarding the appropriate student.
Bmetc also use written communication to give hand outs to students as part of their coursework equipment to enable the student to complete the given tasks. Inside the organisation, bmetc will also use written communication to record minutes during a meeting and also give notices to other members of staff regarding the meeting e.g. date and time of the meeting.
Reports regarding students’ progress and attendance will be recorded every day throughout the period of 10 working days and will be recorded by a paper-based report.
Invoices are given to students regarding the cost of trips that they may be taken on based on the subject that they are studying, the invoices will usually be computer – based but sometimes they are paper-based and written out to give to parents.
Verbal
Verbal communication is used every day in businesses and in general life. Verbal communication is used to communicate easily with various people in and around the organisation of bmetc. The main part of verbal communication is the face to face contact that takes place whilst using this type of information, commonly known as an easy way of communicating in face-to-face conferences like meetings. The advantage of using verbal communication is that you are able to read the opponents body language which sometimes makes it easier to understand.
Verbal communication is used at commonly at bmetc when the tutors and parents of students may have meetings to discuss the student’s attendance and punctuality or other issues that may have been raised in the college life of the student involved. The information that the tutor is telling the parent of the student is passed on by the student’s tutors to the student’s personal tutor. The idea of having a meeting with the students’ parents is raised with the management of the college (programme manager) who then calls the parent and asks them to a meeting inside of the college.
On screen
Information may be broadcasted on-screen. This can be displayed as a multimedia, on TV and CD-ROMs that mix text, graphics, animation, audio and video. This is a common way to broadcast important information relating to the students and staff throughout Bmetc. Information on screen is also displayed on the intranet for students to see when they log in to their accounts.
The information that is displayed and broadcasted on – screen is created by staff in the IT department who gets the information from various departments including marketing and the college management. If a member of staff has something that they would like to broadcast to students via the on – screen method, e.g. The sports department may want to advertise new activities for the students to participate in, they would have to put together an advertisement and contact the IT department who would then transmit the advertisement on to the screens around the college.
Multimedia
Multimedia communication involves a selection of graphics, text, symbols and pictures. Using multimedia to convey a set of information can be interactive and also to enable students at Bmetc to have a wider imagination and understanding of the information that is being broadcasted. The students at Bmetc and have have access to their own account on the intranet, this means that they can access; E-mail, Moodle, information about enrolling on to different college courses and news about the college itself.
The source of the college website comes from the IT department which allows tutors to put work on the website making it accessible. This means the connection is the IT department and the academic department.
Competitive insight
Competitive insight is done so that a business can investigate on what its rival businesses are doing to improve their business which will allow you to have new ideas and even have ways to improve it, this is done on screen. If BMET was to do this they would look to see what new subject’s rival colleges such as Bourneville were coming up with and probably make them available within the college. Not only this but competitor colleges may have looked as government information talking about the lack of jobs and how the unemployment rate has shot up; and because of this the college may set up apprenticeships in order to give opportunities for more people which will also give the college a good name and make them more respectable. The source of information on rival competitors may come from the government who will also show a college table on how they feel colleges are ranked within the west midlands region allowing other colleges to know what is effect and works well. This information will be created by the college in what will possibly be a written report or as a presentation who then pass it on to somewhere to advertise such as a radio station that then produce this information to the general public making them aware of what the college is offering. The connection is between the H.R departments who will make the college itself aware of what will take place and then the administration department will send it off to the radio station.