Chapter 1 — The practitioner and Corran Freight
Lesson map
Lesson 01 published. Map, example, EX001.
flowchart TD
N0["Learning outcomes"]
N1["1.1 The student"]
N2["1.2 Corran Freight"]
N3["1.3 The problems"]
N4["1.4 Work-based learning"]
N0 --> N1 --> N2 --> N3 --> N4
N4 --> EX["Worked example"]
EX --> Q["Exercise EX001"]
Logical drawing
flowchart LR
N0["Learning outcomes"]
N1["1.1 The student"]
N2["1.2 Corran Freight"]
N3["1.3 The problems"]
N4["1.4 Work-based learning"]
N0 --> N1 --> N2 --> N3 --> N4 --> Q["EX001"]
[Learning outcomes]
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v
[1.1 The student]
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v
[1.2 Corran Freight]
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v
[1.3 The problems]
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v
[1.4 Work-based learning]
|
v
[Worked example] --> [Exercise EX001]
Learning outcomes
You will (1) describe the postgraduate route and its case; (2) state the governance problems at Corran Freight; (3) plan a work-based learning approach.
1.1 The student
Lucía Herrera is a data analyst who has worked for six years at Corran Freight, a fictional logistics company moving goods for retailers across a national road network. She enrols in a two-year part-time postgraduate diploma in data governance at the fictional Westbridge Business School, studying alongside her job. Her supervisor, Dr. Samuel Achebe, explains that the course is designed for practitioners: each module asks students to apply ideas directly to their own organisation, using synthetic data in all assessed labs and exercises.
1.2 Corran Freight
Corran Freight operates three hundred lorries, works with three subcontracted carriers and handles about twelve thousand shipments a day. Its data include shipment orders, tracking events from vehicles and carriers, driver records, customer contracts and invoices. Customers increasingly demand accurate arrival estimates and proof of delivery. Lucía's manager has asked her to lead improvements in data governance, because disputes over late deliveries are costing money and nobody can say which tracking data are reliable enough to settle them. Lucía has seen these disputes first hand.
1.3 The problems
Lucía lists the problems she sees: tracking events from carriers arrive late or not at all, customer addresses are inconsistent between the order and billing systems, access to driver data is granted informally and the weekly performance report to the board uses definitions that differ from those in customer contracts. Dr. Achebe asks her to describe each problem by its business effect, such as disputed invoices, rather than its technical symptom, so that later proposals connect to outcomes managers care about.
1.4 Work-based learning
The course uses work-based learning: Lucía will investigate her organisation, apply frameworks, propose changes and reflect on results. Dr. Achebe warns that insiders can miss what outsiders see and may hesitate to challenge colleagues. He asks her to keep a reflective log and to seek views from people outside her team. She agrees to share her plans with her manager each term, so the organisation understands what she is studying and can benefit from her proposals. Her manager welcomes the arrangement and offers support.
Worked example
Lucía, an analyst at Corran Freight, starts a practitioner diploma, lists late carrier events, inconsistent addresses, informal driver data access and mismatched report definitions and plans reflective work-based learning.
Synthetic case. Corran Freight, Westbridge and all people are synthetic.
Errors and limits
Describing problems technically rather than by business effect loses managers' attention.
Exercises
- EX001 — Course format. What kind of course is Lucía taking? Rubric: 3 = a part-time practitioner postgraduate diploma;; 2 = partly correct;; 1 = partial;; 0 = none.
- EX002 — Shipment volume. About how many shipments does Corran handle daily? Rubric: 3 = about twelve thousand;; 2 = partly correct;; 1 = wrong;; 0 = none.
- EX003 — Report mismatch. What is wrong with the board report definitions? Rubric: 3 = they differ from customer contract definitions;; 2 = partly correct;; 1 = vague;; 0 = none.
- EX004 — Insider risk. What risk do insiders face in research? Rubric: 3 = missing what outsiders see and hesitating to challenge;; 2 = partly correct;; 1 = partial;; 0 = none.
- EX005 — Problem framing. How should problems be described? Rubric: 3 = by business effect;; 2 = partly correct;; 1 = technical;; 0 = none.
Continue studying — lesson 01 (chapter 01 of 12)
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