• The systematic collection and analysis of information as a task progresses.
• The goal is to improve efficiency and effectiveness of an operations process with a
• focus on continuous improvement.
• Monitoring and control lead to improvements through a focus on quality and standards.
• A business will need to assess its performance in order to implement improvements.

Monitoring: measuring actual performance against planned performance.

• It uses key performance indicators (KPIs) which are predetermined variables.
• Monitoring should be continuous.

Controlling: the corrective action phase (intention compared to what actually happened).

Improvement: refers to the systematic reduction of inefficiencies and wastage, poor processes and elimination of bottlenecks. For example, improvements in time, process flows, quality, cost and efficiency.

Extract from Business Studies Stage 6 Syllabus. © 2010 Board of Studies NSW.