Module Eight Assignment Guidelines and Rubric.html
BUS 400 Module Eight Assignment Guidelines and Rubric
Overview
Congratulations! Your funding pitch was a resounding success, and your proposed product or service has been officially approved. Senior management was so impressed with your presentation that they announced the project in a company-wide memo, recognizing your hard work and vision. Congratulations on an outstanding achievement!
One line in the memo really caught your attention: “We are eager to see the project to completion and the many other product offerings to come from this initiative.”
Scenario
When you consult with the project manager (PM), they explain that senior management typically expects to see opportunities for product or service extensions or clear pathways to build on the original idea. This could include variations like lower cost or premium versions, new customer targets or customer segments, or other strategic enhancements.
The PM also adds that senior management will expect to see plans in place for business continuity to safeguard the project’s funding. Therefore, the immediate next step is developing a business continuity plan.
Directions
Create a business continuity plan that outlines the next steps, including potential project improvements and strategies to mitigate risk and to protect the product investment. To accomplish this task, leverage employee and customer feedback on the new product or service. Additionally, conduct additional market research and perform a PESTLE analysis to identify any external factors that could affect your new product offering.
Specifically, you must address the following rubric criteria:
Business Continuity Plan: Outline a basic business continuity plan for your business that identifies key business areas and critical functions and also identifies at least one measure for recovering or maintaining critical business operations in case of an emergency. Include how you will ensure that this plan is followed.
Post-Launch Stage: Propose new ideas for the post-launch stage, including one idea for a product or service improvement you plan to implement after the initial launch and one idea for increasing your customer base or engagement post launch.
Feedback Loops: Explain how you will implement feedback loops for your product or service.
PESTLE Analysis: Use PESTLE analysis to identify at least one external risk factor that may affect the project. Then provide a solution or contingency plan for mitigating that risk.
What to Submit
Your submission must be a 1- to 2-page Microsoft Word document with double spacing, one-inch margins, and 12-point Times New Roman font. Any sources cited should use APA formatting.
AI Usage
If you use gen AI tools to support your work on this assignment, be sure to follow these AI usage guidelines. You must acknowledge your use of these tools in your work. Guidelines on how to cite AI tools can be found in this Shapiro Library guide.
This BUS 400 assignment asks you to write a business continuity plan (BCP) for your approved product/service — covering next steps, product extensions, risk mitigation, and how to protect the investment. Treat it as a forward-looking plan that keeps the product running and growing through disruption.
Key takeaways
- A BCP keeps the business/product operating through disruptions and protects the investment.
- Include product/service extensions: lower-cost or premium versions, new segments, enhancements.
- Do a risk assessment, then pair each key risk with a mitigation strategy.
- Cover continuity essentials: critical functions, recovery priorities, roles, and communication.
- Follow the assignment rubric structure and support with sources.
Set the context and next steps
Open by restating the approved product and the goal: sustain it, build on it, and safeguard its funding. Lay out the immediate next steps management expects.
Plan product/service extensions
Show the growth pathway senior management wants: variations (budget and premium tiers), new customer segments or use cases, and strategic enhancements. Explain how each extension builds on the original investment and opens future offerings.
Assess and mitigate risk
Identify the key risks to the product — supply/operational, financial, market/competitive, technological, and personnel. For each, state a mitigation strategy (redundancy, diversification, contingency funds, vendor backups, cross-training). A simple risk table (risk, likelihood, impact, mitigation) communicates this cleanly.
Build the continuity core
Define the critical functions that must keep running, recovery priorities and objectives, who is responsible, and how you’ll communicate with stakeholders during a disruption. Explain how this protects the product investment and reassures management.
Format
Match the Module Eight rubric sections, write professionally, and cite any sources. Close with how the plan positions the product for long-term success.