Hr Planning Assignment

Introduction to Planning Function. Human resource planning is the process whereby organizations determine the staffing support they will need to meet business needs and customer demands. There are a variety of considerations that impact this planning, including impending retirements and transitions, the availability of employees with certain skills sets and changes in the environment that may require training for existing employees. Human resource planning is important and ongoing because of both internal and external environmental changes.Internally, businesses are impacted by turnover and retirements. Externally, they are impacted by changes in technology, changes in the economy, and changes in the industry and consumer demand that may require skills that do not currently exist within the company. All of these impacts have an effect on the type and numbers of employees that are needed for the business to remain successful. MM Distributing Agencies. Company Profile MM Distributing A gencies is engaged in product distributing business for five years in a considerably successful manner.The business was started by Mr. Manjula Madurapperuma. Since the companies’ commencement Mr. Manjula Madurapperuma and Mr. Ajith Jayathunga has contributed in a major aspect to the company to be reached the zenith. Their Vision To have distributing agencies in each district. Their Mission We will be the most successful distributing company in the country. MM Distributing Agencies has three distributing agencies, distributing Unilever and Asian Paints products in several geographical areas.And they have about 65 employees under their distributing agencies running out their working capacity. Each and every agency is consistent with a Branch manager, Sales Manager, Stock Keeper and an IT manager. These managers have authority to plan, and recruit and select candidates to their branches or to the particular section. Primarily what happens in these distributing agencies is storin g and distributing the products of Unilever and Asian Paints Companies to shops in those particular areas. Storage and DistributionEach distributing agency has inventories; Unilever and Asian Paints products are directly sent to these inventories and these inventories are controlled and handled under the supervision of Stock keepers and supervisors. And the information about the products stored in these inventories is entered to the main database by computer operators under the supervision of IT managers and Stock keepers. These agencies use Vans and Lorries to distribute products. On all these vehicles there is an outstanding staff whereas a driver, cash collector and 1 or 3 assistants are supposed to work together.And all the day to day activities, information about distributed products are entered to the main database by computer operators under the supervision of IT managers and Stock keepers. And finally the Top Management retrieves required information from the certain databas e. Competitors Competitors of these agencies are other agencies that distribute products of companies like Hemas, CIC, Multilack, Nipolack, and COSWAY etc. Locations of MM Distributing Agencies. Organizational Structure Mr. Manjula Madurapperuma. Mr. Manjula Madurapperuma. Mr. Ajith Jayathunga Mr. Ajith JayathungaAnuradhapura Branch Manager Anuradhapura Branch Manager Avissawella Branch Manager Avissawella Branch Manager Nuwara Eliya Branch Manager Nuwara Eliya Branch Manager Each and every branch is consistent with a Branch manager, Sales Manager, Stock Keeper and an IT manager. Sales Managers, Stock Keepers and IT managers work under the supervision of their particular branch manager. All these managers have authority to plan, and recruit and select candidates to their branches or to the particular section. Only the management positions are filled under the supervision of Mr.Manjula Madurapperuma and Mr. Ajith Jayathunga Current HR Planning Process at MM Distributing Agencies. Eve n though MM Distributing Agencies is engaged in business in a considerably successful manner, the organization does not have a proper planning process. And also it does not have a HR department. HR managers’ duties are done by the each branch manager. Currently the Sales Managers, Stock Keepers and IT managers at each branch have the authority to plan, and recruit and select candidates to their branches or to the particular section under the supervision of their particular branch manager.When there is a position to be filled these managers ask their current employees for help or they go for recruitment at gate option. According to Avissawella branch manager this organization does not have a HR database and a successful planning process, when they have a vacant position they temporarily hire employees for the particular vacant position until they find a suitable person to hire permanently. And the managers admit that it is a costly process. And also they admit that temporarily hired employees cannot be trusted.Both Avissawella and Nuwara Eliya branch managers have faced problems with temporarily hired workers stealing products from the organization and with their bad behavior. These problems are results of not having HR department, a HR database and a proper planning process in the organization. According to Mr. Manjula Madurapperuma, they have tried to establish two distributing agencies at Kurunegala and Kegalle, but both times they have failed to keep those agencies running. It is clear all those failures were occurred because the organization did not have a proper planning process.These weaknesses can affect the organizations’ success. Current Problems of The HR Planning Process at MM Distributing Agencies. * This organization does not have a HR Department. * Organization does not maintain a HR database. * Does not have a proper planning process. * Managers quickly plan solutions for problems like employee turnover, retirements and market losi ng and they fail at implementing those plans. * Branch managers have to work as HR managers too. * Some managerial solutions like temporarily hiring workers cost a huge amount of money and resources to the organization.Recommendations for improvement * Owners of this organization should hire a HR Manager and required other employees and have a HR Department in this organization. * HR Department should maintain a HR database about available employees to inform them and to hire them when there are vacant positions to be filled. * Owners of MM Distributing agencies should meet their managers time to time and make plans for the future of the organization and should implement them carefully. Otherwise the remaining three branches of MM Distributing agencies will eventually fail.

Income Smoothing

Journal of Economics, Business and Accountancy Ventura Accreditation No. 110/DIKTI/Kep/2009 Volume 14, No. 1, April 2011, pages 59 – 78 THE THEORETICAL CONSTRUCTION OF INCOME SMOOTHING MEASUREMENT Alwan Sri Kustono Jember University E-Mail: [email  protected] com Tegal Besar Permai 2-E1,Jember,Propinsi Jawa Timur,Indonesia ABSTRACT The income smoothing is a dimension of the accounts manipulation theme that has been a ttracting a great attention in the accounting literature. A goal of manipulation widely as cribed to managers is the desire to smooth.Reported income, Income smoothing reflects reducing the possible income fluctuations so as to make it as stable as possible throughout the ism. Almost of income smoothing research in Indonesia used Eckel’s index to clasify smoother non smoother firms. Empirical evidences have provided support for the existence of an income smoothing behavior. The studies showed inconsistent about factors determining this smoothing. The purp ose of the present investigation is twofold. First, we seek to determine if Eckel index is a reliable instrument to measure income smoothing behavior.Second, we pretend to identify the new instrument to measure incidence of income smoothing. Our research sample comprises manufacturing companies listed on the Indonesia Stock Exchange, over period of 1999-2008. This study confirms Eckel’s index is not reliability instru ment. The new proposed index quantifies the incidence of income smoothing without depend on n periods. The results imply that researchers should re-examine the conclusion of previous studies, particularly that determinant, factors and effect of income smoothing practices. Key words: income smoothing, Eckel’s index, c oefficient of variation, reliability.INTRODUCTION It has been noticed that income statement is considered as one of the statements to be presented in financial reporting. For that reason, the company’s earning is considered vital infor mation for it can be used to measure the corporate performance. In other words, information of the earning can be used to assess the performance or accountability of management and also predict the ability of companies in the effort of contributing to the following earning. In general, earning reporting is frequently not free from the accounting manipulation. Yet it appears different from the fraudulence.Accounting manipulation can be still in tolerant when it is put in the accounting rules. In contrast, fraudulence practices tend to be against the rules and accounting standards. Thus, it is delicately different from income smoothing. In fact, one 59 of the practices of accounting manipulation is income smoothing. In connection with the pursuit of analyzing income smoothing in the companies, some definitions of it can be inferred. First of all, income smoothing is defined as the emphasis on the fluctuations in income levels that are considered normal for the company (Barnea et al. 1 976). For another thing, Beidleman, (1973) defines income smoothing as the management efforts to reduce abnormal variations in the earning to the extent permitted by the principles of good management and accounting. Income smoothing in such instances, is as a tool used by management to reduce the variability of reported income stream relative to the target which is intentionally smoothed by using artificial or real variable. In addition, income smoothing is one-dimensional manipulation of accounts that attract the atten- ISSN 2087-3735 The Theoretical Construction †¦ (Alwan Sri Kustono) ion of many accounting literature in the realm of earnings management. Beside, income smoothing reflects the concern to reduce the possibility of fluctuations in income by making a steady flow Research on income smoothing in Indonesia generally examine several factors which are allegedly to motivate management to do income smoothing. They identify the existence of such practices and followed by testing management motivation. The results of these studies have identified those most public companies in Indonesia have conducted income smoothing. All in all, most of the studies are uniform in terms of inferring he end results. Testing the triggering factor of income smoothing policy by the company management has not consistently been recovered. Among the results of such studies are often inconsistent to one another. For example, Kustono (2010) stated that the inconsistency of their findings was caused by the measuring devices. These devices are thought to be unreliable. For example, Index Eckel does not have the ability to capture the practice of income smoothing between periods. In that situation, it shows that some companies are classified by grading only in one particular year.This is considered to have deviated from the definition of income smoothing. The classification based on Eckel index for one company may also change because of changes in the period used to determine t he coefficient of variation. Change of classification shows that the index is not reliable as a tool. In other words, Eckel is as an identifier of smoothing and not merely for smoothing. Kustono (2010) asserted the idea of the need for new instruments. This research is intended to correct weaknesses of the Eckel and construct an index measuring instrument which is more reliable income smoothing factor.This construction is very important because the use of measuring instrument error will cause errors either in the phase of conclusions related to the classification of sample or the determinants and impact of such classification. THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK It is a fact that income smoothing becomes a phenomenon which has been often proved in some previous studies. This practice has been investigated through various levels of different samples. Furthermore, income smoothing is considered to be an important factor. Research by Moses (1987) and Atik & Sensoy (2005) shows that at least 60% of h e sample used in the study can be classified as smoothing the company earnings. Another proponent, such as Barnea et al. (1976) classified accounting income smoothing as inter-temporal smoothing and classification. Inter-temporal smoothing is based on the situation when cost and expenses are recognized and smoothing classification is done with the classification under ordinary cost and extraordinary one in which the ordinary post finally becomes flat. Eckel (1981) distinguishes between income smoothing as a natural smoothing and intended smoothing. Natural smoothing is he alignments resulting from transactions that inherently produce a smoothed earning. In other words, the company's operations to generate income by collecting revenues and expenses are inherently to eliminate fluctuations in income flows. In other words, the process of generating income itself generates a stream of smoothed income. Alignment occurs without the intervention of any party. Income smoothing is accidental ly triggered by the motivation which is based on the management actions. There are two types of income smoothing: intentional, that is income smoothing of the real intention nd the other one is artificial income smoothing. Real income smoothing indicates management actions that seek to control economic conditions that directly affect corporate earnings in the future. In addition, this real income smoothing affects cash flow. On the contrary, artificial income smoothing can show manipulation which is undertaken by management to smooth the earning. Thus, the action of this manipulation resulted in a fundamental or economic condition that can affect cash flow, but shifts 60 Journal of Economics, Business and Accountancy Ventura Accreditation No. 10/DIKTI/Kep/2009 the cost and/or income from one period to another. By taking for granted, such a trend can be traced from several research. Some studies, in fact, have been conducted to identify the smoothing behavior, such as motivation and its impact on future transactions, a company that has been doing income smoothing. This can also be found in other studies such as (Lev & Kunitzky, 1974; Ammihud et al. , 1983, Wang & Williams, 1994; Michelson et al. , 1995; Iniguez & Poveda, 2004). These proponents also provide empirical support toward statement that management reduces he variability of cash flows and earning for the purpose of minimizing the risk of the company. Income smoothing is also intended to increase the value of the firm (Gordon, 1964; Trueman & Titman, 1988; Gibbins et al. , 1990; and Chaney & Lewis, 1995; 1998). Estimator of Income smoothing Income smoothing can only be investigated through some periods by suspecting a certain earning rate of the targeted, e. g. , both highand low-digits earning reports. Some researchers use a two-period model by assuming that the earning target is proportional to the income report in the previous year Copeland, 1968). In other words, the size of alignment is the magnitu de of changes in the earning from one year to the next. Other researchers also evaluated the earning target using multi-period test. The underlying assumption is that it should be an evenly increasing trend (Gordon, 1966). Some of the models used are the exponential model (Dascher and Malcolm, 1970), linear time series models (Barefield and Comiskey, 1972), time trend semi-logaritma (Beidleman, 1973) and model of the market return index (Ronen & Sadan, 1975). For example, Dopuch & Watts (1972) suggest the use ofBox-Jenkins techniques to ensure the alignment model is applicable. Models of earning target are differentiated from the real earning. Often, these models contain errors inherent profit target 61 Volume 14, No. 1, April 2011, pages 59 – 78 because its validity can not be detected empirically. In that case, Ronen & Sadan (1975) suggested that we do income smoothing approach. In particular, income smoothing can be identified if the researcher is faced by the following fo ur questions. 1. What is the object alignment implemented by the management? 2. What is the dimension of management s used to perform smoothing. 3. What instrument of smoothing is used by management 4. What is the object of such smoothing behavior? In connection with the above efforts, Imhoff (1977) and Eckel (1981) developed a methodology based on testing the variability of income associated with the variability of sales. The model used to predict the existence of income smoothing or earnings variation is inter-period variant. They assume that the level of earning depends on the level of sales. The basic idea is that the change in sales can affect the earning. If the variance of income is less than the variance f sales, it can be concluded that the smoothing has been done. Eckel (1981) model of the income smoothing is done by basing on the following premises. 1. Income is a linear function of the sales = sales-cost variable-fixed cost. 2. The ratio of variable costs to sales is in constant currency units 3. Fixed costs are constant or increasing from period to period, but not likely to decline. 4. Gross sales can only be smoothed by real smoothing; gross sales can not be artificially smoothed. Mathematically, Eckel illustrates all the above as the following: when, I=S-VS-FC, and FC;0, and FC t+1 ;=FC t, and 0

Viewing Mrs. Dalloway Through the Lens of “Modern Fiction”

In â€Å"Modern Fiction,† Virginia Woolf comments on the flaws of modernist writers such as Wells, Bennett, and Galsworthy.   Their narrow focus on the material and lack of affinity for the spiritual or realistic, is evidence enough that they have fallen short in the literary sense.   In Mrs. Dalloway, Woolf explores connections with truth, reality, and that which is above the material through her narrative techniques, complex imagery, and provoking themes, thus emphasizing through Mrs. Dalloway what she has so adamantly called for in â€Å"Modern Fiction.†Woolf possesses the ability to create a work of fiction that evokes a pleasant reading experience for the reader without utilizing a central plot.   In Mrs. Dalloway, Woolf chooses to explore the narrative possibilities of bringing several characters through one single day in time.   This narrative technique works well in a text that mainly focuses on Mrs. Dalloway’s world view, her inner workings, and her exploration and sensory experience of the world surrounding her.The organizational structure of the novel challenges Woolf to create characters that are deep enough to be realistic while dealing with only one day of their lives.   Woolf creates within the character of Clarissa the inherent sense of the magnanimity of living one day in time.   Clarissa â€Å"had a perpetual sense, as she watched the taxi cabs, of being out, out, far out to sea and alone; she always had the feeling that it was very, very dangerous to live even one day† (16).Through Clarissa, Woolf creates a sense of the complexity each day is capable of bringing to individual characters, thus calling her readers to â€Å"look within life†¦examine for a moment an ordinary mind on an ordinary day.   The mind receives a myriad impressions—trivial, fanstastic, evanescent, or engraved with the sharpness of steel† (3).   Clarissa, through her sensory perception of the world around her, feels the danger of living even one day.Woolf’s embrace of the realistic and spiritual aspects of the world, asserted in â€Å"Modern Fiction,† are set up within this novel so that those views will be challenged.   Through the character of Clarissa, struggling through one day in time, Woolf compels the reader to consider the possibilities beyond the material world.   This narrative technique moves the action forward, and simultaneously delves into the life and inner workings of Clarissa, baring her soul to the reader and opening up the possibilities and realities of the spiritual world.Woolf also employs imagery that similarly challenges the reader to explore the possibilities of what lies beyond the material.   The imagery of death is quite prevalent in the text, and these images are mainly viewed through Clarissa, as she makes sense of her life.   Critic Jacob Littleton, in his article, â€Å"Portrait of the Artist as Middle-Aged Woman,† asserts that b ecause Clarissa possesses a â€Å"heightened view of existence,† she always possesses a â€Å"preternaturally vivid awareness and fear of the termination of the existence she loves so much† (38).Clarissa’s â€Å"fear of termination† resonates most clearly in her isolated attic bedroom.   The image of her bedroom symbolizes loneliness and death, and serves as a place where Clarissa frequently contemplates these subjects.   Her bed, â€Å"no longer the marriage bed symbolizing fertility, is symbolized by her fertile mind as shrinking into her world in a way that other outlooks available to her do not† (40).   She has no one but herself in which to rely, and this is evidenced through her continual fascination with the concept of death and the end of existence.Clarissa’s transcendental theory, which she uses as a reference to inform herself of the realities of the spiritual realm, causes her to surmise that â€Å"since our apparitions, th e part of us which appears, are so momentarily compared with the other, the unseen part of us, which spreads wide, the unseen might survive, be recovered somehow attached to this person or that, or even haunting certain places after death†¦perhaps—perhaps† (79). The image of the spiritual transcending death through means of apparitions is another powerful image within the text, and interlocks with the image of death and presents itself simultaneously.In the case of Septimus, Clarissa is able to feel a connection with him after he has died that seems to transcend death.   She assimilates herself with him after he took his life.   She knows that â€Å"she felt glad that he had done it; thrown it away†¦He made her feel beauty; made her feel the fun.   But she must go back.   She must assemble† (185).   Mrs. Dalloway sees herself in Septimus, even though she has never encountered him face-to-face; she sees something in Septimus that she desires fo r herself.Woolf, through Clarissa’s transcendental theory and interactions with the image of Septimus, uses Clarissa’s experience to assert her own views on the spiritual aspect of reality.   There is something far above the material that causes Clarissa to feel this affinity with Septimus.   There is something beyond herself that calls her to him, thus causing her to desire his fate for her own.   The power of the imagery of death and the ability to transcend it is fully realized in the doubling of Clarissa and Septimus.Lastly, Woolf uses themes that connect reality with the spiritual realm in an attempt to further her thesis in â€Å"Modern Fiction,† for fiction to be modern and worth reading, it must explore that which is above the material world.   Woolf’s main concern in the novel seems to be the inner workings of Mrs. Dalloway, her thought processes, and how she engages with the world surrounding her.   Woolf juxtaposes Clarissa’s i nternal self with her external world, thus setting up one of the most prevalent, resonant themes within the text, and it is â€Å"against this system that Woolf places a world of private significance whose meaning is wholly irreducible to facts of the external world† (37).This struggle between the internal and external surrounds not only Clarissa, but her double, Septimus, and thus permeates the novel.   Personality, according to Ellen Bayuk Rosenmann, in her article, â€Å"The Invisible Presence,† seems to be a â€Å"private fact,† which is far â€Å"alienated from public and political culture† (77).   Society at large is able to neither appreciate nor understand the inner workings of the soul, and thus stands at a distance.Woolf asserts in â€Å"Modern Fiction,† that â€Å"Whether we call it life or spirit, truth or reality, this, the essential thing, has moved off, or on, and refuses to be contained any longer is such ill-fitting vestments as we provide† (3).   In essence, the separation between the internal (soul) and the external (material world) is not navigable.   Mrs. Dalloway is forced to break down the material barriers that bar her from knowing herself, and delve into the depths of her soul to find the spiritual, the truth.Another fascinating theme within the text is the intriguing concept of human interaction.   Characters within the novel are being continually merged together through their experiences and through their own imaginations and memories as well (Littleton 39).   One of the most interesting examples of this is the relationship between Mrs. Dalloway and Septimus.   Clarissa never visually sees Septimus, yet he is the most significant part of her day.   Clearly, Woolf is merging the two characters together, yet she blurs the lines a bit, thus furthering her assertions in â€Å"Modern Fiction,† that â€Å"life is not a series of gig lamps symmetrically arranged; life is a lu minous halo, a semi-transparent envelope surrounding us from the beginning of consciousness to the end† (4).Septimus is a part of Clarissa’s consciousness, even though she does not realize it.   His life has a large impact of Clarissa, and he is the sole character that compels her to remain true to her soul. Critic J. Hillis Miller, in his article, â€Å"Repetition as Raising the Dead,† explains that â€Å"no man or woman is limited to him or herself, but each is joined to the others†¦diffused like a mist among all the people and places he or she has encountered† (173).   The characters are connected on various levels, and Woolf shows this connection quite acutely through the lens of Lady Bruton as she muses about the way in which Hugh and Richard remain with her after they leave, â€Å"as if one’s friends were attached to one’s body, after lunching with them, by a thin thread, which†¦became hazy with the sound of bells, striki ng the hour† (112).This statement furthers Woolf’s ideal that there is an inherent spiritual connection within human beings, a â€Å"thin thread† which connects humanity.   The interaction between the characters is remarkable, as Woolf continues to assert that there is a spiritual connection between human beings that surpasses any material, physical connection (8).Through means of narrative technique, fascinating imagery, and compelling themes, Woolf continues to assert her thesis in â€Å"Modern Fiction,† that fiction must be concerned with the reality of life, its inherent truth and spirituality.   If fiction is only willing to explore the material, it will do a disservice to humanity, for there is a world beyond the material that begs to be explored.   In Mrs. Dalloway, Woolf explore this other world, and brings to light fascinating possibilities that lie far beyond that realms of the material.Works CitedLittleton, Jacob. â€Å"Mrs. Dalloway: Por trait of the Artist as a Middle-Aged Woman.† Twentieth Century Literature. Hempstead: Spring 1995. 41:1, 36-48.Miller, J. Hillis. â€Å"Repetition as Raising the Dead.† Virginia Woolf. Ed. Harold Bloom. New York: Chelsea, 1986.Rosenmann, Ellen Bayuk. â€Å"The Invisible Presence: Virginia Woolf and the Mother Daughter Relationship.† Baton Rouge: Louisiana State UP, 1986.Woolf, Virginia. Mrs. Dalloway. New York: Harcourt, 1925.Woolf, Virginia. The Common Reader. 1st edition. 1925.

IT capabilities transformation of cloud computing Essay

IT capabilities transformation of cloud computing - Essay Example Established organizations have strategic vision that drive their future direction offer guidance toward business strategies, which in turn drive the IT strategy useful in developing the enterprise architecture. This offers an organizing principle, which aligns the mission of the enterprise with its IT strategy and implementation plans. Cost flexibility and IT scalability in cloud computing Business organizations large and small all over the globe and in almost all industries embrace cloud computing as a means of reducing the difficulty and costs linked to conventional IT approaches. Cost flexibility is an essential reason many companies value adoption of cloud computing because cloud environment has the ability to decrease fixed IT costs and shift to variable cost structure. Cloud computing enable organizations to decrease fixed IT costs because it allows shift from expenses on resources to operational expenses. Capital expense in IT that often involves enterprise software licenses, servers and expensive networking equipment that are less fluid and hard to forecast compared to IT operating costs associated cloud computing. Therefore, cloud computing applications make the conventional hardware, software installation and dedicated software license fees redundant because cloud services allow an organization to shift costs from capital to operational costs. By adopting cloud environment, organizations pay only for what the organizations need when necessary; hence, this pay per use offer great flexibility and eradicates the desire for significant IT capital expenditure. Cost flexibility is an appealing attribute of cloud computing because apart from cost flexibility, cloud computing offer firms access to tool and computing power that would normally be affordable to large companies (Berman, et al, n.d). IT scalability is acknowledged as major benefit associated with cloud adoption; but for organizations, cloud offers more than mere IT scalability because it allows or ganizations to scale business operations as well. By offering quick provisioning of IT key resources with no scale restrictions, cloud computing enables organizations to gain from economies of scale without accomplishing large volumes of vital resources on their own. Apart from business scalability and cost flexibility offered by cloud, cloud computing also provides the advantage of masking complexity. Cloud computing provides businesses a means of hiding some complexities of their operation, which is helpful in attracting a broad scope of consumers. Since cloud computing veils complexity from end users, a company is able to expand product and service sophistication without increasing the level of knowledge within user regarding use or maintenance of the product or service. Convergence of enterprise architecture and cloud computing has enabled a shift from monolithic systems to multitier architecture. As service-orientation concepts become pervasive and popular, IT in enterprises fu lly embraces them in order to be flexible in its operations, offerings and outlook. With massive adoption of cloud computing, enterprises are changing themselves into on-demand, instant-on, lean and adaptive organizations. Cloud computing being an enterprise-class technology naturally merges and mingles with enterprise

Unemployment in the UK Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words - 1

Unemployment in the UK - Essay Example The United Kingdom unemployment rate was far lower than the United States that got an employment rate of 4.6% in 2007 and 8.5% in 2009 as per the figures obtained by the CEPR from the OECD. Figure 1 above indicates that the unemployment rate of the UK is getting a lot better compared to the unemployment figures of both the Euro Area and the OECD countries. This is indicative of a better macroeconomic management of the UK compared to the US, Euro Area, and the rest of the OECD countries. Compared with her neighbours, UK’s management of her economy seems to be better because the gap between actual and potential output has been generally closing historically since 1995 as indicated by Begg et al. (2002, p. 359). A lower output gap means that the economy approaches the full employment level. Full employment, however, does not mean that all have work. Whether one is classified employed or unemployed largely depends on whether one is actively looking for work. For instance, based on the definition of the International Labour Organization to which the international community refer to in defining their own national concept of unemployment, the unemployed are those â€Å"without a job, want a job, have actively sought work in the last 4 weeks and are available to start work in the next 2 weeks† or â€Å"out of work, have found a job and are waiting to start in the next 2 weeks† (United Kingdom Office for National Statistics 2009, p. 4). Thus, based on this definition, one may argue that the official unemployment figures are much lower than the actual figures because some may have quit looking for work because they had consistently failed to find one. Citing OECD studies, Miles and Scott (2005, p. 143) pointed out that the natural rate of unemployment of the United Kingdom is about 5.5% recently. The 5.5% estimate is consistent with Figure 1

OPEC not complying under the WTO Term Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 5000 words

OPEC not complying under the WTO - Term Paper Example According to documents of the organization, the most important aim of the OPEC is to create the co-ordination of diverse petroleum policies as well as unification and diversification of different petroleum policies along with the member countries and also to set the determination of the most ideal means for preserving their interests, both individually as well as collectively.2 Also these policies and strategies have been established by the organization to create the need for securing a steady stream of income for these oil-producing countries.3 This steady level of income is also expected to produce an efficient economic as well as regulatory supply of oil and petroleum to consuming nations all over the world and a fair return of profit on their capital accumulation to those countries which are investing in petroleum industries of these nations.4In addition to this, OPEC has also suggested to ensure the aim of stabilization of prices of oil in global as well as nationwide oil market s. OPEC assumed a ‘Declaratory Statement of Petroleum Policy in Member Countries’ where it established â€Å"the inalienable right of all countries to exercise permanent sovereignty over their natural resources in the interest of their national development. Membership grew to ten by 1969†5 This policy has been established by the organization with a view regarding elimination of harmful as well as unnecessary fluctuations.6 Currently, OPEC’s membership is consisted of the eleven countries which are: â€Å"Iran, Iraq, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Venezuela, Qatar, Indonesia, Libya, United Arab Emirates (UAE), Algeria and Nigeria†.7 The first five nations are regarded as Founder Members, and the rest are recognized as Full Members (which have joined the OPEC between the time period of 1961 and 1971). In the year 1992, OPEC comprised thirteen nations as constituents. These included both Ecuador as well as Gabon.8 Pursuant to Statute of the OPEC, nations can be come Full Members under the condition that these nations have a substantial amount of net exports of crude oil or petroleum and also possess alike interests to the member nations. For the purpose of obtaining membership of the organization, a country needs to be accepted by a majority number of 3/4 of the Full Members which include the agreement of all the five Founder Members.9 Under the â€Å"Uruguay Round Agreements†10, it has been suggested by the WTO that members are not allowed to impose export quotas on oil. Hence, while OPEC is an organization based on single product, WTO is a multilateral unit with a larger membership.11 Along with this, the OPEC’s policies in regard to price manipulation have been regarded as one of several most important factors in regard the strategy of establishing high gas prices in last few years. The amounts of this high gas prices are now comprised of average near about $2.20 per gallon.12 United States Senator Frank. R. Lautenberg in an official meeting commented that, â€Å"If you are part of a monopoly like OPEC you cannot belong to the World Trade Organization, which offers all kinds of commercial benefits.†13 On 8th July 2004 a report with the title ‘Busting Up the Cartel: The WTO Case Against OPEC’ was published from the office of the senator Frank Lautenberg in which

Symbolic Frame Response & Reflection Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Symbolic Frame Response & Reflection - Assignment Example Ceremonies and rituals within an institution are important. Every school has its own celebrations in its academic calendar. The celebrations and rituals aim at evaluating the progress of the school while at the same time creates accountability to parents and other stakeholders of the school. Rituals and celebrations play a big role in creating culture in the school while at the same time propagating good relationship within the school community A schools mission and vision statement are symbolic statements to show the schools values and beliefs and provide meaning and direction. Deal and Peterson (2009) discuss how people need a mission and a purpose to connect with the schools goals. To what degree mission and vision statements are employed depend on what meaning they provide to the school. If these statements are a medium that provide that emotional connection for why a school operates, then it will be evident in the culture of the school. Most likely, these statements will be implemented in the daily operations of a school and the staff and students will know what the schools values are. My schools mission and vision statements are reviewed regularly to remind us as a staff what we are doing and why we are doing it The heroes and heroines within the symbolic frame are all of those that make the organization part of who they are. The take pride in what they do and of the organization they belong to. They are teachers, administrators, custodians, lunch people, students, and parents. They mark the school and others around them in a positive manner. They are seen as a school symbol that reflects the good of the school and all positive change to come. Most schools have common ceremonies and rituals that take place at different times throughout the year. Some ceremonies and rituals that are common in most schools are: Beginning and end of the school year, various student awards,

Agress a Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Agress a - Essay Example Furthermore, the advancements ensures maximum safety for patient and hospital records. Remarkably, the minimal errors occur mostly due to human mistakes, but very low. The speed and accuracy of the machines helps to save lives through reduced response time. Besides, patients and medics easily access significant information for treatment and disease control. Hence, the technology heightens clinical test and produces quality and superb results (Finkelman 2012). Consequently, clinical technology instills eminent public confidence in health provision services. I share similar sentiments that the technological advancements are useful and valuable in health care division. I feel that the improvements serve to address doctor patient ratio challenges in modern society. It is imperative to acknowledge the increased number of patients served, quality of services in hospitals and the clear reference of patients’ medical records. The modern medical service characterized by computerized medical systems presents major opportunities for both patients and physicians. Nevertheless, the system still requires adjustments to minimize threats caused by leaks of confidential information about the patients (Smith 2000). Possible causes arise incompetent staff and cyber

Business and Economic Forecasting Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3500 words

Business and Economic Forecasting - Essay Example The appropriate model is estimated and a one to four step forecasting is undertaken to determine the appropriateness of the model. We consider the price index of the Rio Tinto, the 5 day weekly stock price for the period 31st December 1999 to 31st December 2007 is used and the following chart summarizes the price index for the period. From the above table it is evident that for the period 2000 to 2004 the price remained relatively stable deviating by small margins, however for the period 2005 to 2007 there was an increase in prices by larger margins. The following is an analysis of the Rio Tinto returns. According to Woodridge (2006) dynamic heteroskedasticity can appear in regressions with no dynamic, in a regression if the Gauss Markov assumption holds then the estimators are BLUE (best linear unbiased estimator). However even when the homoskedasticity assumption that the error terms variance is constant across observations holds there could be still other forms of heteroskedasticity that may arise, heteroskedasticity can be tested using the white test or the Breusch pagan test. The following chart shows a case of homoskedasticity and heteroskedasticity: From the above diagrams assuming that the 45 degree line is the fitted regression model, then the first diagram shows a case where as x increases the mean of y increases but the variance of y around its mean remains constant over time, for the second diagram a case where as x increases the mean of y increases and the variance of y around its mean does not remain constant and this shows heteroskedasticity. There are a number of consequences of heteroskedasticity and they include the fact that: Estimators are still linear functions of the independent variable The estimators are not biased Estimators no longer have minimum variance therefore are not efficient The estimated variance of the estimators is biased because the formula to estimate them could over state or under state the true variance The hypothesis test of the significance is unreliable given that the estimated variance is biased. As a result Engel (1982) suggested the ARCH model that would consider a conditional error term variance that takes into consideration past error terms and this was the ARCH model. The ARCH and GARSH model are appropriate models that can be used in modeling financial data that exhibit volatility clustering, volatility clustering refers to a trend that shows that small increases or declines are followed by small increases or declines and that large increases or declines are followed by large increases or declines. From our price data chart it is evident that for the period 2000 to 2004 small increases and declines are followed by small increases or declines, however for the period 2005 and 2007 large increases are followed by large increases. This means that the ARCH and GARSH model are appropriate in estimating an appropriate model. The following chart summarizes the returns mean, kurtosis and

Nursing as a Vital Component of Health Delivery System Essay

Nursing as a Vital Component of Health Delivery System - Essay Example The essay "Nursing as a Vital Component of Health Delivery System" talks about the importance of nurses in health and medical area who through personal care, compassion, and positive attitude, provide patients and their families with an inner strength to cope with illnesses and ensure that their health related needs are taken care of with efficiency. Strength based approach of nursing is much better than deficient approach because it has an optimistic outlook towards the sickness. It uses positive features of the patient and carer to help them to cope with the situation through improved understanding and acceptance so that they will use tools that facilitate better care or use tools for self-help, as the case may be. Freely and Gottlieb has asserted that in a strength based approach, the nurse-client relationship is a ‘partnership’ that ensures and honors basic human rights in health care relationships. The most interesting fact is that the approach empowers patients and care to seek ways and means for recovery. The approach is conducive for developing mutual trust and feeling of self worth which helps them to integrate into the mainstream population. The understanding and acceptance of the situation help to create an understanding for the requisite physical and emotional support. The nursing guidelines also assert that ‘building a nurse-family partnership is central to strengthening and supporting families. The emotional and moral support of the family goes a long way to inculcate confidence within the person.

Cold war Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Cold war - Essay Example The domestic influence of the Cold War brought to their prominent leadership anti-communist presidents such as Truman, Kennedy, and Nixon who not only waged political and cultural battle with the Soviet Union, but also fought with the latter in the endeavor to achieve greater favor for the American economy. Though the nature of Cold War bore domestic consequences upon local affairs, political battles between the Soviet Union and the United States were mostly staged on an international level. By the time ‘Sputnik’ took off, most schools functioned as fighting grounds in allowing intellectual ideas to flourish over ideological conflicts of the 50s and this incident drew education to a sense of drastic reformation that appeared to radicalize certain schools of thoughts in various levels. Democratic enthusiasts would normally stress that acquisition of good scholastic foundation was beyond primary necessity, being an accountability and contribution to gaining victory over th e communists so that state and federal sovereignties expressed support through generous funding of academic institutions. Fields of maths and sciences had been able to receive more than sufficient financial assistance with adequate books and facilities.

Higher Education Essay Example for Free

Higher Education Essay Economic Crisis and Higher Education in the United States The 2008–2012 economic failure is considered by many economists and investors to be the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression of the 1930s. It results in the risk of total collapse from big financial firms, the bailout of banks by national governments, and downturns in stock markets around the world. The crisis also plays a significant role in the crash of key businesses and collapse of housing market, results in the delayed unemployment. Higher education is a large and various venture in the United States, which has impacted by the economic recession in a number of ways, but these impacts have not been the same and vary depending on state and type of institution. Most higher education traditions started to be concerned about their financial problems due to economic recession. Their main source of revenue has been hurt by the downturn, and that those universities would need to make hard decisions about how to spend their money. In some states, a lot of institutions are in process of fund-raising programs to avoid delaying their supported campus building projects. Many of higher education university’s leaders have been considering and solving of two following questions: How is the economic downturn affecting institutions both public and private? What strategies are leaders implementing to guide their institutions? Unsuccessful budget strategies are the main reason that caused many institutions’ problems. Their top managers have not effectively managed their money. Fund-raising, government support, and earned income will also suffer in a poor economy. They are also experiencing revenue deficits due to lower state appropriations, endowment losses, or a reduction in donation. Furthermore, institutions difficulties in gaining access to funds invested in a major short-term investment fund. According to Ken Chabotar, author of The Economy and Higher Education, budget management is related to the most complicated set of relationships in higher education are among college costs, student tuition fees, financial aid, and enrollment. Quality plus financial aid and affordability are the issues that most colleges and universities worry how much economics will affect while thinking about to limit costs and prices. In the current economic situation, adults and recent high-school graduates are willing to study for two years at a community college make more financial sense than going straight to a more expensive campus. Community colleges as known as lower cost institutions are recognizing a rise in enrollment levels while small, independent colleges and universities result in a fall in enrollment. As a result, the economic crisis creates hardship not only for students in paying their tuition and also difficulties for higher education institutions to maintain their enrollment level, especially their budget and revenue. Additionally, many of well-known universities such as Harvard, Yale, and Princeton etc. are facing difficult financial problems due to cut of endowment and donation from investors and alumni. Well-endowed institutions have suffered losses up to a third of market value and 30% of donated money compelling budget cuts, wage freezes, and borrowing to support the operating budget rather than increase endowment spending. In the United States, there are a lot of campus relied on endowment too much. Many universities have been delayed on cash funding of appropriations from state and federal government. The top managers have to suspense almost half of capital projects and research in order to balance their institutions’ budget. Loss of enrollment and endowment in higher education increases the financial needs of university in order to afford their expenses and keep operation going.

E-Commerce in Fashion

E-Commerce in Fashion Background E-commerce is in fashion so many companies of all sizes and types are reviewing their sales strategies.   Consideration is being given to either (or both) selling to other businesses electronically (B2B) or selling directly to individual customers over the Internet (B2C).   Many companies are failing to live up to expectations, with problems such as poor website design making ordering difficult, website failure (crashes) from overload or because they were incomplete, failure to confirm the order, subsequent out-of-stock, failure to deliver on time. The Project Brief You, as the project manager, are to plan a project for a Triangle software house to develop an online Hotel Management system for an international hotel chain.   The project is scheduled to start on6thof July 2010. The project should have the following options Guests: Room Reservations for guests Services: Adding other services use, restaurant use, bar use by guests Maintenance: To maintain records in the system Inquires: To know about availability of rooms, reservations, gust lists Four computers have to be supplied for the selected project and these computers needs to be networked. Required time schedule for the project is three months. From the Project Managers point of view, an e-commerce project is no different from any other project.   You need a framework to plan resources and budget; you must set the plan against an appropriate calendar; and you need to ensure that you include the managerial and quality-related tasks that will help the project manager succeed. You need to plan how the project should be initiated.   However, your initiation plan should be presented in sufficient detail for someone else to manage it.   You are not expected to have all the answers at this stage; part of the skill of project planning is to ensure that you put the tasks in place to find out what is unknown and to manage the obvious risks. Task 1 (a) As the Project Manager, you are expected to decide on the following: 1. The tasks required to carry out the project aim for at least 10-15 tasks.   Traditional File System (SDLC-System Development Life Cycle) Strategic Study Business study Feasibility study Requirement analysis Requirement Specification Logical system specification Logical Design Physical Design Coding Testing Implementation Maintenance Paste out Relate Traditional File System steps to Hotel management system Case Study. We use Traditional File System for Hotel management systemto develop their system. Strategic study: Project Manager goes to the Hotel study the current system; after he understood what the system that they need to develop is what they technology must use to develop the hotel. Business study:- Project Manager prepare a document project initiation document this will give the general   definition for the developing system   that document shown to the hotel managing director we get the approval to proceed the development the new system. Feasibility study: These step uses to traditional file system how to feasible for hotel computerizes Economical, Technical Operational, even the developing system is most modern if end users are working within difficulty that system isnt operational but this system is not difficulty use. Cost effective ways and ensuring that the investment can be recovered and realize the benefits with allocated budget. The technology needed is available and can be integrated with the other systems of the organization. Deciding how the new system going to fit the current operational system and whether its operationally acceptable. Checking whether the new project is violating law both local and international Requirement analysis: Firstly we interview Hotel managing Director asked question about the current system what they want to include their system to computerize ..,.   Investigating forms and documents which are very useful to determine system data flows and transactions Identifying the outputs by investigating below reports, Hourly report Daily report Monthly report Yearly report Then Checking latest updated procedure manuals and user manuals To study user activities and to concentrate on how it is being handle. Interviewing and supervisor level users to gather opinions about the efficiency about the system, determine the needs of the users that to be in the new system, more specific details about the system. Producing and arranging online Questionnaires for all operational users who are going to use the system. By this can gather information from all the people who are going to have direct contact with the system. Planning formal observation sessions at 3 main hotels, specially the reception area And closely observing the activities performed by the users. And observing customer inquiries reservation process etc Studying a subset documents or subset of the activity in the area in order to get an impression of the whole activity or document set .it is useful to verify findings from interviews or the above discussed techniques. Requirement Specification: How the new computer system should be working this is a kind of the document which clearly specifies the requirement of the users. Use :- Entity Relationship Diagram (ERD)    Data Flow Diagram (DFD). Logical system specification:- This hotel computerize system   include several logical specification there are may be several technical option that could be adapted which are capable of delivering the requirement in this stage system analysis first design define what those technical options and then the help of manager select the most suitable option. Logical Design: This step we design a dialog design initial interface are design Update process that change on the line system data and Enquiry process concern the interaction of useful information from system data.(we should involve the hotel manager very strongly specially dialog design influence how to system looks and behave to its users) Physical Design: This step we design program design database design (ERD map into database components), this stage provides all the information required by the programmer. Coding: We use language is Visual Basic for coding.(First programmer code will be written in short pieces that outlines simple as well-defined program function.) Testing:- we tested correctness testing, performance testing ,reliability and recovery testing then security testing stress testing usability testing, unit and integration testing external function testing ,system testing, regression testing, acceptance testing, installation testing, completion testing, test documentation.(   discover and rectify errors below steps are planned to be done) Implementation:- This stage involve preparation of the target side and making the environment the network here the hotel new system to target environment will done and prepare in the user manual and training the hotel worker for the New system.| System will be installed shared in 4 computers which will be networked [LAN] (Configuration with I7 processors, 4 GB Ram..) With all required software. 2. Decide on appropriate task dependencies and state durations of them. Task Duration (1= 1 day)Reference Strategic study 1 A Business study 1   B Feasibility study 1 C Technical Feasibility2 Operational Feasibility1 Legal FeasibilityParallel with Op Feasibility(1) Economical Feasibility3 Requirement analysis D (Forms and documents)1 (Reports)1 (Procedureuser manuals)1 Interview-(Management level)3 Interview-(Supervisor level)3 (Questionnaires)1 (Observation)2 (Subset documentsactivity)1 Requirement specification 3 E Logical system specification 2F Logical design 10 G Physical design 20H Coding 5 I Testing J (Unit) 5 (Integrated) 1 (System)1 (User)2 DebuggingParallel with testing(8)K Implementation L (Installation)2 (User Training)2 (Parallel Running)7 MaintenanceContinues until phase out.M Total Duration81 -The explained tasks in task 1 are shortened and listed down above, under task name. -The Duration 1 is equals to 1 day. -Maintenance starts after implementing the project until phase out. -Total days for the project is 87-(81- planned days, and balances 6 days are to manage risks during the project period. (Table1.1) 3. Create an Activity Net work Diagram with respect to your identified tasks,AND must be given using a standard Tool such as MS Project or MS Visio Critical path- A   B C D E F G H I J   L MS Project Output (b)There are many elements in a typical project plan. One such element is the   Introduction which briefly describes the objectives of the project and the constraints, which affect project management. Prepare such introduction for this project using reasonable assumptions. List and explain with a sentence each other contents of a typical project plan. I am Nadeeshani and Im appointed as a project manager to develop this online hotel Management system for an international hotel chain by the triangle software house. The project is based on upgrading the existing system as an online system along with these main functions, Room reservations for guests The options to add other services like restaurant use, bar use, gym use, etc The system which has the ability to obtain inquires from the guests and the ability to give them an answer/feedback, for example for the customer queries like availability of rooms, reservations and guest list, etc. And to get all the above updates and inquiries from the parties and to maintain the records in the system We hope to start the project on 6Th of July 2010 and we were going to be finished in September 30th 2010 (3 month) period. On that project running period we are considering Saturdays Sundays as working days. We hope to finished this project 26Th of September 2010. The project has run 87 days but we are planning to be completed within 82 days rest 5 days we are planning to do collecting unanticipated problems complete the project report however we will make sure to complete this project in this 87 days period. This is the project plan how we are going to do the project. I hope the committee members will do their best to complete the project. The quality of the system will be maintained throughout the project by regular progress checking and progress monitoring. The project has been run through the 13 stages. Strategic study Business study Feasibility study Requirement analysis Requirement specification Logical system specification Logical design Physical design Coding, Testing Debugging Implementation Maintenance These stages are planned in a greater level of detail. (These plans are used to track progress on a week by week basis through regular progress monitoring.) These stages are also separated into sub tasks basically contains the lowest details. It will specify activities down to a daily level. This will be created in parallel with the above mentioned stage plans. And the monitoring and tracking will be on daily basis. As a project manager I hope we will be finished the project with less errors I believe you all are will be do your best. Clearly indicated whose responsible for what in the project, clearly shown what the project is to deliver, why and for whom and by making the project that can easily understand by everyone, mainly on time and within budget My motivation is to completely utilize my accumulated experience and knowledge to the fullest extent possible and making this projects a success. Task 2 (a) Explain what are your typical responsibilities as a Software Project   Manager in managing any type of software project and your typical tasks A software project manager has the overall responsibility for the successful initiation, planning, execution and closure of a project. A successful Project Manager must simultaneously manage the four basic elements of a project: resources, time, money, and most importantly, scope. All these elements are interrelated. Each must be managed effectively. All must be managed together if the project, and the project manager, is to be a success. Resources People, equipment, material Time Task durations, dependencies, critical path Money Costs, contingencies, profit Scope Project size, goals, requirements This title is used in the construction industry, architecture, information technology and many different occupations that are based on production of a product or service. The project manager must possess a combination of skills including an ability to ask penetrating questions, detect unstated assumptions and resolve interpersonal conflicts as well as more systematic management skills. The role of the project manager encompasses many activities including :-Planning and Defining Scope, Activity Planning and Sequencing, Resource Planning, Developing Schedules, Time Estimating, Cost Estimating, Developing a Budget, Controlling Quality, Managing Risks and Issues, Creating Charts and Schedules, Risk Analysis, Benefits Realization, Scalability, Interoperability and Portability Analysis,Documentation,Team Leadership, Strategic Influencing, Customer Liaison. As a software project manager my typical tasks in managing a software project will be below. Manage the production of the required product. Direct and motivate the project team. Plan and monitor the project. Manage business and project risks. Responsible for change control. Report the true progress report and stage assessment to the steering committee. Prepare the end project report. Responsible for project administration. Responsibility Matrix In a large project, there may be many people who have some role in the creation and approval of project deliverables. Sometimes this is pretty straightforward, such as one person writing a document and one person approving it. In other cases, there may be many people who have a hand in the creation, and others that need to have varying levels of approval. The Responsibility Matrix is a technique used to define the general responsibilities for each role on a project. The matrix can then be used to communicate the roles to the appropriate people associated with the team. This helps set expectations, and ensures people know what is expected from them. On the matrix, the different people, or roles, appear as columns, with the specific deliverables in question listed as rows. Then, use the intersecting points to describe each persons responsibility for each deliverable. Ex: (Table 2.1) A Approves the deliverable R Reviews the deliverable (and provides feedback). C Creates the deliverable (could be C (1) for primary, C (2) for backup). Usually there is only one person who is responsible for creating a deliverable, although many people may provide input. I Provides input N Is notified when a deliverable is complete M Manages the deliverables (such as a librarian, or person responsible for the document repository) In the table above, the Requirements Management Plan is created by the project manager, approved by the sponsor and client managers, and reviewed by the project team and analysts. The purpose of the matrix is to gain clarity and agreement on who does what, so you can define the columns with as much detail as makes sense. For instance, in the above example, the Project Team could have been broken into specific people or the person responsible for creating the Data Model could have been broken out into a separate column. After the matrix is completed, it should be circulated for approval. If it is done in the Project Charter process, it can be an addendum to the Project Charter. If it is created as a part of the initial Analysis Phase, it should be circulated as a separate document. Examples of responsibility codes are as follows. Our project may define different codes, as long as you explain what they mean so that people know what the expectations are for them. References http://www.lifecyclestep.com/open/407.0LifecycleRoles.htm (b) Briefly explain how you are going to manage the risk in the above project. Risk management is the process of analyzing exposure to risk and determining how to best handle such exposure. The project is planned to be a continuous process throughout the project until completion and considered in two main parts, the risk analysis part and the risk management part. I have planned to run risk management as below, At the start of the project, as a part of the decision of whether to undertake the project And at every end stage assessments Risk management includes the following activities Planning how risk management will be held in the particular project. Plan should include risk management tasks, responsibilities, activities and budget. Assigning risk officer a team member other than a project manager who is responsible for foreseeing potential project problems. Typical characteristic of risk officer is a healthy skepticism. Maintaining live project risk database. Each risk should have the following attributes: opening date, title, short description, probability and importance. Optionally risk can have assigned person responsible for its resolution and date till then risk still can be resolved. Creating anonymous risk reporting channel. Each team member should have possibility to report risk that he foresees in the project. Preparing mitigation plans for risks that are chosen to be mitigated. The purpose of the mitigation plan is to describe how this particular risk will be handled what, when, by who and how will be done to avoid it or minimize consequences if it becomes a liability. Summarizing planned and faced risks, effectiveness of mitigation activities and effort spend for the risk management. As an analyzing tool to assist in the risk management process, Decision tree is used to analyze the risks, Because the explanation for the result is easily described by simple graph in a simply understandable way which can be combined with other decision techniques as well. Important details can be generated based on its alternatives, probabilities, costs and their preferences for outcomes. First after analyzing the possible risks by identifying, Estimating the effectiveness by comparing the likelihood with the impact of a risk and finally evaluating by confirming that they are in correct sequence and the cross checking with the risk reduction options assessing the acceptable level of each other. We select the most suitable risk management approach for each risk and a detailed plan of action which confirms its goals will be prepared by discussing with members. The risk management consist four main activities and below tasks will be completed at the end of each part. Planning-: Most appropriate selection will be selected for each risk and a detailed plan of action which confirms its desirability and objectives will be developed. Sometimes this activity may proceed in parallel with risk evaluation.  §Resourcing-: This will identify and assign the necessary resources to do the work and will confirm that the revised plan is feasible and cost effective.  §Controlling-: This will make sure that the execution of the plan is having the desired effect on the risk. This will ensure the management of the risk process will apply effectively and it will modify the plan where it necessary.  §Monitoring-: This will check the stages of the risk and also check that the counted measures are happening effectively. During monitoring, if it feels that the risk management plan is ineffective, then we can go back to the risk analysis part. When managing the risks these below features will be considered mainly, Factors that need to continue correctly, threats, systemic risks for the successful delivery project and benefits, risks to the business, risks for the customers and suppliers, risks of unexpected outputs and success of the international hotel chain. This is how I have planned to manage the risk, which can happen during a process and which will effect with a negative result to the process in the project. Task 3 Configuration Management is an essential part of a project. In a large project Configuration librarian plays a major role. Configuration management (CM) is the detailed recording and updating of information that describes an enterprises hardware and software. Such information typically includes the versions and updates that have been applied to installed software packages and the locations and network addresses of hardware devices. Special configuration management software is available. When a system needs hardware or software upgrade, a computer technician can accesses the configuration management program and database to see what is currently installed. The technician can then make a more informed decision about the upgrade needed. An advantage of a configuration management application is that the entire collection of systems can be reviewed to make sure any changes made to one system do not adversely affect any of the other systems Configuration management is also used in software development, where it is called Unified Configuration Management (UCM). Using UCM, developers can keep track of the source code, documentation, problems, changes requested, and changes made. (a) Briefly out line some configuration items in the project given in the scenario. Manage the configuration: Hotel Management systemPlan what is required and how it will be achieved Guests: Room Reservations for guests Services: Adding other services use, restaurant use, bar use by guests Maintenance: To maintain records in the system Inquires: To know about availability of rooms, reservations, gust lists Four computers have to be supplied for the selected project and these computers needs to be networked. Required time schedule for the project is three months. (Use a Configuration Management Plan (Project Quality Plan) Identify components of the final product Use Defining and Analyzing Products (PL2) to create a Configuration Item Record Use unique identifiers for each product and each version: Project Product Type Product Name Product Version. Control changes to baseline products by using change authority Submit products to the Configuration Librarian to put under configuration control Release (issue) products and/or copiesS Product Status Account to record and report product information Report the status of products from the Configuration Librarian Verify product integrity Perform product configuration audits by the Configuration Librarian Perform project audits by Project Assurance. In the above hotel management system developing project at each stage end as an output as below final deliverables will be reported. 1st stage -Strategic study -information technology strategy will be produced. 2nd stage Business study -project initiation document. 3th stage Feasibility study- Feasibility report. 4th stage -Requirement analysis- the gathered exact requirements of the users to develop  Ã‚  Ã‚   the system will be produced as Requirement analysis report 5th stage -Requirement specifications-the requirements will be produced in a diagrammatic way and a wordy report. 6th stage Logical system specification -the mapped business and technical aspects of the system will be produced. 7th stage Logical design- interface design will be produced. 8th stage -Physical design -the database design and program design using miniature specifications like pseudo codes, flowcharts, structure diagrams, etc will be produced. 9th stage -Coding- the written program which is written with a programming language will be produced. 10th stage -Testing -testing report. 11th stage -Debugging-debugging report. 12th stage -Implementation- the released version of the system in the target environment. 13th stage -Maintenance-reports regarding the changes carried out throughout the system after the implementation. (b) Give a statement of the configuration librarians responsibilities. Configuration Librarian is the guardian of all the master copies of the projects products.   Ã‚   The role will be also to look after change control on behalf of the project manager. Purpose   : Custodian and guardian of all master copies of the projects products Receives, baselines and releases (issues) products Updates the product status and informs the Project Manager Maintains the Issue Log. The major tasks of the configuration librarian are summarized as follows:- To control the receipt, identification, storage and issues of all project products To provide information on the status of all products To number, record, store and distribute change control documents The specific responsibilities of the configuration librarian are as follows:- Assist the project manager to prepare the configuration management plan Create libraries at other storage areas to hold products Assist in the identification of products Create configuration item description records Hold the master copies of all project products Maintain the change control records Assist in conducting configuration audits Liaise with other configuration librarians where products required by the project are common to other systems (c) Briefly outline what are the things that we must consider in change control of Project Management. In this hotel management system development, will develop several documents that include all the importance issues regarding to   the development but sometime these document may need to be changed due to various reasons, when doing this changers it has to be done by stranded procedures its called ChangeControl . The change control document is the formal way into this projects any enquiry of a complaint or request, it can be raised by anyone associated with hotel project about anything such as:- A new function occurrence A frailer of a product In meeting some aspect of the user requirement Because of a possible misunderstand A problem with the planning A frailer of communication The change control mainly it has recharge control document such as:- Question document (when a question occurs about a change) It will be submitted to the configuration library and the configuration librar E-Commerce in Fashion E-Commerce in Fashion Background E-commerce is in fashion so many companies of all sizes and types are reviewing their sales strategies.   Consideration is being given to either (or both) selling to other businesses electronically (B2B) or selling directly to individual customers over the Internet (B2C).   Many companies are failing to live up to expectations, with problems such as poor website design making ordering difficult, website failure (crashes) from overload or because they were incomplete, failure to confirm the order, subsequent out-of-stock, failure to deliver on time. The Project Brief You, as the project manager, are to plan a project for a Triangle software house to develop an online Hotel Management system for an international hotel chain.   The project is scheduled to start on6thof July 2010. The project should have the following options Guests: Room Reservations for guests Services: Adding other services use, restaurant use, bar use by guests Maintenance: To maintain records in the system Inquires: To know about availability of rooms, reservations, gust lists Four computers have to be supplied for the selected project and these computers needs to be networked. Required time schedule for the project is three months. From the Project Managers point of view, an e-commerce project is no different from any other project.   You need a framework to plan resources and budget; you must set the plan against an appropriate calendar; and you need to ensure that you include the managerial and quality-related tasks that will help the project manager succeed. You need to plan how the project should be initiated.   However, your initiation plan should be presented in sufficient detail for someone else to manage it.   You are not expected to have all the answers at this stage; part of the skill of project planning is to ensure that you put the tasks in place to find out what is unknown and to manage the obvious risks. Task 1 (a) As the Project Manager, you are expected to decide on the following: 1. The tasks required to carry out the project aim for at least 10-15 tasks.   Traditional File System (SDLC-System Development Life Cycle) Strategic Study Business study Feasibility study Requirement analysis Requirement Specification Logical system specification Logical Design Physical Design Coding Testing Implementation Maintenance Paste out Relate Traditional File System steps to Hotel management system Case Study. We use Traditional File System for Hotel management systemto develop their system. Strategic study: Project Manager goes to the Hotel study the current system; after he understood what the system that they need to develop is what they technology must use to develop the hotel. Business study:- Project Manager prepare a document project initiation document this will give the general   definition for the developing system   that document shown to the hotel managing director we get the approval to proceed the development the new system. Feasibility study: These step uses to traditional file system how to feasible for hotel computerizes Economical, Technical Operational, even the developing system is most modern if end users are working within difficulty that system isnt operational but this system is not difficulty use. Cost effective ways and ensuring that the investment can be recovered and realize the benefits with allocated budget. The technology needed is available and can be integrated with the other systems of the organization. Deciding how the new system going to fit the current operational system and whether its operationally acceptable. Checking whether the new project is violating law both local and international Requirement analysis: Firstly we interview Hotel managing Director asked question about the current system what they want to include their system to computerize ..,.   Investigating forms and documents which are very useful to determine system data flows and transactions Identifying the outputs by investigating below reports, Hourly report Daily report Monthly report Yearly report Then Checking latest updated procedure manuals and user manuals To study user activities and to concentrate on how it is being handle. Interviewing and supervisor level users to gather opinions about the efficiency about the system, determine the needs of the users that to be in the new system, more specific details about the system. Producing and arranging online Questionnaires for all operational users who are going to use the system. By this can gather information from all the people who are going to have direct contact with the system. Planning formal observation sessions at 3 main hotels, specially the reception area And closely observing the activities performed by the users. And observing customer inquiries reservation process etc Studying a subset documents or subset of the activity in the area in order to get an impression of the whole activity or document set .it is useful to verify findings from interviews or the above discussed techniques. Requirement Specification: How the new computer system should be working this is a kind of the document which clearly specifies the requirement of the users. Use :- Entity Relationship Diagram (ERD)    Data Flow Diagram (DFD). Logical system specification:- This hotel computerize system   include several logical specification there are may be several technical option that could be adapted which are capable of delivering the requirement in this stage system analysis first design define what those technical options and then the help of manager select the most suitable option. Logical Design: This step we design a dialog design initial interface are design Update process that change on the line system data and Enquiry process concern the interaction of useful information from system data.(we should involve the hotel manager very strongly specially dialog design influence how to system looks and behave to its users) Physical Design: This step we design program design database design (ERD map into database components), this stage provides all the information required by the programmer. Coding: We use language is Visual Basic for coding.(First programmer code will be written in short pieces that outlines simple as well-defined program function.) Testing:- we tested correctness testing, performance testing ,reliability and recovery testing then security testing stress testing usability testing, unit and integration testing external function testing ,system testing, regression testing, acceptance testing, installation testing, completion testing, test documentation.(   discover and rectify errors below steps are planned to be done) Implementation:- This stage involve preparation of the target side and making the environment the network here the hotel new system to target environment will done and prepare in the user manual and training the hotel worker for the New system.| System will be installed shared in 4 computers which will be networked [LAN] (Configuration with I7 processors, 4 GB Ram..) With all required software. 2. Decide on appropriate task dependencies and state durations of them. Task Duration (1= 1 day)Reference Strategic study 1 A Business study 1   B Feasibility study 1 C Technical Feasibility2 Operational Feasibility1 Legal FeasibilityParallel with Op Feasibility(1) Economical Feasibility3 Requirement analysis D (Forms and documents)1 (Reports)1 (Procedureuser manuals)1 Interview-(Management level)3 Interview-(Supervisor level)3 (Questionnaires)1 (Observation)2 (Subset documentsactivity)1 Requirement specification 3 E Logical system specification 2F Logical design 10 G Physical design 20H Coding 5 I Testing J (Unit) 5 (Integrated) 1 (System)1 (User)2 DebuggingParallel with testing(8)K Implementation L (Installation)2 (User Training)2 (Parallel Running)7 MaintenanceContinues until phase out.M Total Duration81 -The explained tasks in task 1 are shortened and listed down above, under task name. -The Duration 1 is equals to 1 day. -Maintenance starts after implementing the project until phase out. -Total days for the project is 87-(81- planned days, and balances 6 days are to manage risks during the project period. (Table1.1) 3. Create an Activity Net work Diagram with respect to your identified tasks,AND must be given using a standard Tool such as MS Project or MS Visio Critical path- A   B C D E F G H I J   L MS Project Output (b)There are many elements in a typical project plan. One such element is the   Introduction which briefly describes the objectives of the project and the constraints, which affect project management. Prepare such introduction for this project using reasonable assumptions. List and explain with a sentence each other contents of a typical project plan. I am Nadeeshani and Im appointed as a project manager to develop this online hotel Management system for an international hotel chain by the triangle software house. The project is based on upgrading the existing system as an online system along with these main functions, Room reservations for guests The options to add other services like restaurant use, bar use, gym use, etc The system which has the ability to obtain inquires from the guests and the ability to give them an answer/feedback, for example for the customer queries like availability of rooms, reservations and guest list, etc. And to get all the above updates and inquiries from the parties and to maintain the records in the system We hope to start the project on 6Th of July 2010 and we were going to be finished in September 30th 2010 (3 month) period. On that project running period we are considering Saturdays Sundays as working days. We hope to finished this project 26Th of September 2010. The project has run 87 days but we are planning to be completed within 82 days rest 5 days we are planning to do collecting unanticipated problems complete the project report however we will make sure to complete this project in this 87 days period. This is the project plan how we are going to do the project. I hope the committee members will do their best to complete the project. The quality of the system will be maintained throughout the project by regular progress checking and progress monitoring. The project has been run through the 13 stages. Strategic study Business study Feasibility study Requirement analysis Requirement specification Logical system specification Logical design Physical design Coding, Testing Debugging Implementation Maintenance These stages are planned in a greater level of detail. (These plans are used to track progress on a week by week basis through regular progress monitoring.) These stages are also separated into sub tasks basically contains the lowest details. It will specify activities down to a daily level. This will be created in parallel with the above mentioned stage plans. And the monitoring and tracking will be on daily basis. As a project manager I hope we will be finished the project with less errors I believe you all are will be do your best. Clearly indicated whose responsible for what in the project, clearly shown what the project is to deliver, why and for whom and by making the project that can easily understand by everyone, mainly on time and within budget My motivation is to completely utilize my accumulated experience and knowledge to the fullest extent possible and making this projects a success. Task 2 (a) Explain what are your typical responsibilities as a Software Project   Manager in managing any type of software project and your typical tasks A software project manager has the overall responsibility for the successful initiation, planning, execution and closure of a project. A successful Project Manager must simultaneously manage the four basic elements of a project: resources, time, money, and most importantly, scope. All these elements are interrelated. Each must be managed effectively. All must be managed together if the project, and the project manager, is to be a success. Resources People, equipment, material Time Task durations, dependencies, critical path Money Costs, contingencies, profit Scope Project size, goals, requirements This title is used in the construction industry, architecture, information technology and many different occupations that are based on production of a product or service. The project manager must possess a combination of skills including an ability to ask penetrating questions, detect unstated assumptions and resolve interpersonal conflicts as well as more systematic management skills. The role of the project manager encompasses many activities including :-Planning and Defining Scope, Activity Planning and Sequencing, Resource Planning, Developing Schedules, Time Estimating, Cost Estimating, Developing a Budget, Controlling Quality, Managing Risks and Issues, Creating Charts and Schedules, Risk Analysis, Benefits Realization, Scalability, Interoperability and Portability Analysis,Documentation,Team Leadership, Strategic Influencing, Customer Liaison. As a software project manager my typical tasks in managing a software project will be below. Manage the production of the required product. Direct and motivate the project team. Plan and monitor the project. Manage business and project risks. Responsible for change control. Report the true progress report and stage assessment to the steering committee. Prepare the end project report. Responsible for project administration. Responsibility Matrix In a large project, there may be many people who have some role in the creation and approval of project deliverables. Sometimes this is pretty straightforward, such as one person writing a document and one person approving it. In other cases, there may be many people who have a hand in the creation, and others that need to have varying levels of approval. The Responsibility Matrix is a technique used to define the general responsibilities for each role on a project. The matrix can then be used to communicate the roles to the appropriate people associated with the team. This helps set expectations, and ensures people know what is expected from them. On the matrix, the different people, or roles, appear as columns, with the specific deliverables in question listed as rows. Then, use the intersecting points to describe each persons responsibility for each deliverable. Ex: (Table 2.1) A Approves the deliverable R Reviews the deliverable (and provides feedback). C Creates the deliverable (could be C (1) for primary, C (2) for backup). Usually there is only one person who is responsible for creating a deliverable, although many people may provide input. I Provides input N Is notified when a deliverable is complete M Manages the deliverables (such as a librarian, or person responsible for the document repository) In the table above, the Requirements Management Plan is created by the project manager, approved by the sponsor and client managers, and reviewed by the project team and analysts. The purpose of the matrix is to gain clarity and agreement on who does what, so you can define the columns with as much detail as makes sense. For instance, in the above example, the Project Team could have been broken into specific people or the person responsible for creating the Data Model could have been broken out into a separate column. After the matrix is completed, it should be circulated for approval. If it is done in the Project Charter process, it can be an addendum to the Project Charter. If it is created as a part of the initial Analysis Phase, it should be circulated as a separate document. Examples of responsibility codes are as follows. Our project may define different codes, as long as you explain what they mean so that people know what the expectations are for them. References http://www.lifecyclestep.com/open/407.0LifecycleRoles.htm (b) Briefly explain how you are going to manage the risk in the above project. Risk management is the process of analyzing exposure to risk and determining how to best handle such exposure. The project is planned to be a continuous process throughout the project until completion and considered in two main parts, the risk analysis part and the risk management part. I have planned to run risk management as below, At the start of the project, as a part of the decision of whether to undertake the project And at every end stage assessments Risk management includes the following activities Planning how risk management will be held in the particular project. Plan should include risk management tasks, responsibilities, activities and budget. Assigning risk officer a team member other than a project manager who is responsible for foreseeing potential project problems. Typical characteristic of risk officer is a healthy skepticism. Maintaining live project risk database. Each risk should have the following attributes: opening date, title, short description, probability and importance. Optionally risk can have assigned person responsible for its resolution and date till then risk still can be resolved. Creating anonymous risk reporting channel. Each team member should have possibility to report risk that he foresees in the project. Preparing mitigation plans for risks that are chosen to be mitigated. The purpose of the mitigation plan is to describe how this particular risk will be handled what, when, by who and how will be done to avoid it or minimize consequences if it becomes a liability. Summarizing planned and faced risks, effectiveness of mitigation activities and effort spend for the risk management. As an analyzing tool to assist in the risk management process, Decision tree is used to analyze the risks, Because the explanation for the result is easily described by simple graph in a simply understandable way which can be combined with other decision techniques as well. Important details can be generated based on its alternatives, probabilities, costs and their preferences for outcomes. First after analyzing the possible risks by identifying, Estimating the effectiveness by comparing the likelihood with the impact of a risk and finally evaluating by confirming that they are in correct sequence and the cross checking with the risk reduction options assessing the acceptable level of each other. We select the most suitable risk management approach for each risk and a detailed plan of action which confirms its goals will be prepared by discussing with members. The risk management consist four main activities and below tasks will be completed at the end of each part. Planning-: Most appropriate selection will be selected for each risk and a detailed plan of action which confirms its desirability and objectives will be developed. Sometimes this activity may proceed in parallel with risk evaluation.  §Resourcing-: This will identify and assign the necessary resources to do the work and will confirm that the revised plan is feasible and cost effective.  §Controlling-: This will make sure that the execution of the plan is having the desired effect on the risk. This will ensure the management of the risk process will apply effectively and it will modify the plan where it necessary.  §Monitoring-: This will check the stages of the risk and also check that the counted measures are happening effectively. During monitoring, if it feels that the risk management plan is ineffective, then we can go back to the risk analysis part. When managing the risks these below features will be considered mainly, Factors that need to continue correctly, threats, systemic risks for the successful delivery project and benefits, risks to the business, risks for the customers and suppliers, risks of unexpected outputs and success of the international hotel chain. This is how I have planned to manage the risk, which can happen during a process and which will effect with a negative result to the process in the project. Task 3 Configuration Management is an essential part of a project. In a large project Configuration librarian plays a major role. Configuration management (CM) is the detailed recording and updating of information that describes an enterprises hardware and software. Such information typically includes the versions and updates that have been applied to installed software packages and the locations and network addresses of hardware devices. Special configuration management software is available. When a system needs hardware or software upgrade, a computer technician can accesses the configuration management program and database to see what is currently installed. The technician can then make a more informed decision about the upgrade needed. An advantage of a configuration management application is that the entire collection of systems can be reviewed to make sure any changes made to one system do not adversely affect any of the other systems Configuration management is also used in software development, where it is called Unified Configuration Management (UCM). Using UCM, developers can keep track of the source code, documentation, problems, changes requested, and changes made. (a) Briefly out line some configuration items in the project given in the scenario. Manage the configuration: Hotel Management systemPlan what is required and how it will be achieved Guests: Room Reservations for guests Services: Adding other services use, restaurant use, bar use by guests Maintenance: To maintain records in the system Inquires: To know about availability of rooms, reservations, gust lists Four computers have to be supplied for the selected project and these computers needs to be networked. Required time schedule for the project is three months. (Use a Configuration Management Plan (Project Quality Plan) Identify components of the final product Use Defining and Analyzing Products (PL2) to create a Configuration Item Record Use unique identifiers for each product and each version: Project Product Type Product Name Product Version. Control changes to baseline products by using change authority Submit products to the Configuration Librarian to put under configuration control Release (issue) products and/or copiesS Product Status Account to record and report product information Report the status of products from the Configuration Librarian Verify product integrity Perform product configuration audits by the Configuration Librarian Perform project audits by Project Assurance. In the above hotel management system developing project at each stage end as an output as below final deliverables will be reported. 1st stage -Strategic study -information technology strategy will be produced. 2nd stage Business study -project initiation document. 3th stage Feasibility study- Feasibility report. 4th stage -Requirement analysis- the gathered exact requirements of the users to develop  Ã‚  Ã‚   the system will be produced as Requirement analysis report 5th stage -Requirement specifications-the requirements will be produced in a diagrammatic way and a wordy report. 6th stage Logical system specification -the mapped business and technical aspects of the system will be produced. 7th stage Logical design- interface design will be produced. 8th stage -Physical design -the database design and program design using miniature specifications like pseudo codes, flowcharts, structure diagrams, etc will be produced. 9th stage -Coding- the written program which is written with a programming language will be produced. 10th stage -Testing -testing report. 11th stage -Debugging-debugging report. 12th stage -Implementation- the released version of the system in the target environment. 13th stage -Maintenance-reports regarding the changes carried out throughout the system after the implementation. (b) Give a statement of the configuration librarians responsibilities. Configuration Librarian is the guardian of all the master copies of the projects products.   Ã‚   The role will be also to look after change control on behalf of the project manager. Purpose   : Custodian and guardian of all master copies of the projects products Receives, baselines and releases (issues) products Updates the product status and informs the Project Manager Maintains the Issue Log. The major tasks of the configuration librarian are summarized as follows:- To control the receipt, identification, storage and issues of all project products To provide information on the status of all products To number, record, store and distribute change control documents The specific responsibilities of the configuration librarian are as follows:- Assist the project manager to prepare the configuration management plan Create libraries at other storage areas to hold products Assist in the identification of products Create configuration item description records Hold the master copies of all project products Maintain the change control records Assist in conducting configuration audits Liaise with other configuration librarians where products required by the project are common to other systems (c) Briefly outline what are the things that we must consider in change control of Project Management. In this hotel management system development, will develop several documents that include all the importance issues regarding to   the development but sometime these document may need to be changed due to various reasons, when doing this changers it has to be done by stranded procedures its called ChangeControl . The change control document is the formal way into this projects any enquiry of a complaint or request, it can be raised by anyone associated with hotel project about anything such as:- A new function occurrence A frailer of a product In meeting some aspect of the user requirement Because of a possible misunderstand A problem with the planning A frailer of communication The change control mainly it has recharge control document such as:- Question document (when a question occurs about a change) It will be submitted to the configuration library and the configuration librar