A group of stakeholders at FlyMe travel operators are in a meeting to discus the Business Activity Model (BAM) for a new subsidiary business. They…

The Operations Director's concerns are about the fundamental viability of the new business proposition, specifically the market demand ("gap in the market") and financial return ("profitable"). These are strategic concerns that are addressed during the initial planning phase of a business activity.

According to the Business Activity Model (BAM) framework, activities are categorized. The director would focus on the planning activities that validate the business case.

c) Determine demand amongst existing customers: This is a core planning activity that directly investigates the "gap in the market."

f) Define bundle pricing: This is a crucial planning activity that directly impacts the revenue side of the profitability calculation.

Activities (a) 'Monitor sales' and (b) 'Sell bundles' are monitoring and doing activities, respectively, which occur after the business is launched. Activities (d) and (e) are also planning/enabling steps, but (c) and (f) most directly address the director's stated concerns about market demand and profitability.

B. a, c and f: This option is incorrect because 'Monitor flight bundle' sales' (a) is a monitoring activity, which takes place after the business is operational, not a planning activity to address initial concerns.

C. a, b, d and e: This option is incorrect as it includes 'Monitor sales' (a), a monitoring activity, and 'Sell bundles' (b), a doing activity. These are not planning activities relevant to the director's pre-launch concerns.

D. b, d and e: This option is incorrect because 'Sell "flight bundles"' (b) is a doing (operational) activity. The director's concerns must be addressed during the planning phase, before selling begins.

1. Paul, D., Cadle, J., & Yeates, D. (2020). Business Analysis (4th ed.). BCS, The Chartered Institute for IT.

Chapter 10, Section 10.4.2, 'The Business Activity Model (BAM)': This section details the five types of business activities. It defines planning activities as those concerned with setting the scope, targets, and resource requirements. It defines monitoring activities as checking performance against plans and doing activities as the core operational tasks. The director's concerns fall squarely within the scope of planning activities. Activities (c) and (f) are clearly planning activities that address market and financial viability, whereas (a) is monitoring and (b) is doing.

2. BCS. (2021). Practitioner Certificate in Business Process Modelling Syllabus, Version 6.1.

Section 3.2, 'Business Activity Models': The syllabus requires candidates to be able to "describe the components of a business activity model (planning, enabling, doing, monitoring, controlling activities)." The scenario requires applying this knowledge to identify which activities are 'planning' and relevant to a stakeholder's specific concerns about business viability before launch. This confirms that activities addressing demand and pricing are fundamental planning steps, while selling and monitoring sales are not.