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Everyone considers college admissions to be a black box. To crack the secret formula that will get you admitted to notoriously selective schools, such as Harvard and Stanford, is today’s holy grail for ultra-competitive applicants. Has anyone gotten close?Well, there are some resources that calculate your admission chances based on your grades and test scores. (Naviance, for example, shows you how your GPA and SAT stack up against other students’.) Others match you with potential schools based on your stats or your preferences. Before , evaluating the strength of your application was limited. Your candidacy was boiled down to your numbers. But you’re so much more than the sum of your numbers.At , we see the value of evaluating an application in its entirety. Plenty of students get perfect scores and don’t get into top schools. Plenty of students fall below the median scores but are admitted on other qualifications. We came up with a holistic way to take the soft elements of your application into account. With our data insights, you can now discover potential target, safety and reach schools. You can compare schools: if a student is accepted to both USC and UCLA, which one do more people choose to attend? We even provide the traditional GPA vs. SAT/ACT scatterplot you know so well. But we’ve revamped it. Now, you can toggle between those accepted, rejected and waitlisted. Better yet, you can even view the actual profiles of the students who fall into each category. With all this data now at your fingertips, you can analyze admissions trends to your heart’s desire. Have you ever felt so powerful? We’re so excited to share this new feature with you and hope you have fun with it. Making more informed decisions about college has never been this easy.

LVMH Moët Hennessy

LVMH Moà «t Hennessy Advertising We will write a custom essay sample on LVMH Moà «t Hennessy Louis Vuitton specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More Illustration of the development of ERP in the organization Statement of scope objectives Company Name: LVMH Moà «t Hennessy Louis Vuitton Line of Business: It sells a variety of luxury products such as wines spirits, fashion leather goods, perfumes cosmetics, watches jewelry, etc. The initiation of Enterprise Resource Planning System Project The LVMH operated for several years and merged with several companies leading to the formation of the present LVMH Corporation. After the merger, the company had a growth and expansion strategy. Now, the LVMH has more than 2,500 stores worldwide. As its retail network is all over the world, the control of information is very important to the company. The Enterprise Resource Planning System may help the company to have a better control of the information so that the compan y may have more competitive advantages (Funding universe 2011). Problems The distribution and maintenance of inventory: As the fact that the company sells luxury products, the distribution and maintenance of inventory is very important to the company. Every year, the company has lots of cost for the damage and the loss of the inventory. A company should take actions to reduce this cost (Funding universe 2011).Advertising Looking for essay on business economics? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More Meet customer’s desires in time: Things like fashion can change rapidly. The company needs to know what the trend is now and what the customers’ wants are. As the retails are all over the world, different fashion trend exists in different countries. The company should be able to adjust the change of customers’ desires in time (Funding universe 2011). The negative influences of economic downturn: Nowadays, t he economy is getting worse. Less people are willing to buy luxury products. This may hit the company harshly. Customers and suppliers may be bankrupted suddenly without informing the company. The company should keep their information updated to know the change of its economic environment (Funding universe 2011). Monitoring of employees: The Company now has more than 80,000 employees, 77% of whom are based outside France, share Group’s values. The company is aiming to be creative and innovate and aim for product excellence. This requires that the employee of the company should be creative. The employee of product design must have a high sense of fashion trend. Managers must be sure that they are using a qualified person for the job. The company also aims to build a good image of the company. This also requires that employees must be integral and moral. Behaviours like stealing or fraud are highly restricted (Funding universe 2011). Opportunity Reducing costs of damage or loss of inventory: The Enterprise Resource Planning Systems may help the company to keep track of each product. Managers may be able to keep track of their transactions. Fraud may be reduced. Problems of distributing products may be revealed so that managers may take actions to solve problems (Smith and Raspin 2007). Better customer satisfaction: The Enterprise Resource Planning Systems may help the company to acknowledge the change of the fashion trend in time. Designers of the products may be able to make changes of their design in time to meet customers’ desires. The customer satisfaction would be increased. Customers may choose the company over its competitors. Potential customers may become their customers and existed customers may be more loyal to the company (Porter 1985). Get prepared for the impact of the economic downturn: The Enterprise Resource Planning Systems may help the company to get ready for the economic downturn. The systems may help the company to develop clo ser relationships between the company and its customers and suppliers. Sometimes, customers may use the instalment plan to buy products. If they go bankrupt, the company will not get the money.Advertising We will write a custom essay sample on LVMH Moà «t Hennessy Louis Vuitton specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More With the ERP System, the company may see this situation in advance and negotiate with the customer to find a way to get the money. And the company must develop close relationships with suppliers as well. Luxury products require high quality materials. It would be difficult for companies to find substitutes in a short time if a supplier told them that he went bankrupt. The ERP Systems may help the company to get prepared for this situation (Smith and Raspin 2007). Better monitoring and controlling of employee: The Enterprise Systems Planning Systems may help the company to get a better internal control of the company. Employee s’ performances may be monitored and evaluated easily with the ERP Systems (Funding universe 2011). Business benefits The Enterprise Resource Planning Systems may help the company to get a better internal and external control. Managers may know what is happening within the company with the ERP Systems. Communications between different departments may become more efficient and direct. The ERP Systems enable the company to keep track of its products. Fraud may be reduced. The costs of damage and loss of inventory may be reduced. Problems of distributing products may be revealed and solved. The ERP Systems also help managers to monitor and evaluate employees’ performances (Birkholz 2004). The Enterprise Resource Planning Systems may help the company to get more competitive advantages. It may help the company to get more customers and increase customer satisfaction. Customers may choose the company over its competitor. The company may also have track of the materials. They may be able to pay their suppliers. In long-term business, this may help the company to develop a better relationship between them and its suppliers. They may be able to get materials with lower price. It also helps the company to reduce its costs (Birkholz 2004). System Capabilities The Enterprise Resource Planning Systems aim to reduce and eliminate the wastage of labor and costs during the manufacturing and selling based on the market’s and customer’s needs so that the internal and external resources can be optimized (Porter 1985).Advertising Looking for essay on business economics? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More To managers, the ERP Systems enable them to make responds to any emergencies more efficiently. It also helps managers to make the right decisions and forecast the irregular situations. Managers may be able to communicate with their customers and suppliers more efficiently (Angwin and Smith 2007). To material purchase department, the EPR Systems can help them to make right purchase plans. They are able to purchase right quantity and quality of materials at the right places and time with right price. This may reduce the costs of the products. The information on the materials can be tracked (Smith and Raspin 2007). To inventory storage, the inventory turnover may be increased. Overstock may be reduced or eliminated. The information of the stock can be tracked as well. Managers may be aware of the situation of inventory clearly, directly and easily. Disposal of expired goods can be made in time (Angwin and Smith 2007). To sale department, the ERP Systems may help them to establish custo mers’ files so that the company may develop close relationships with its customer and get feedbacks from them. This may also help to increase company’s customer service. The management of selling may be easier and more efficient for the managers. With the internal sharing of information within the company, other department managers such as manufacturing and product design department can make plans based on customers’ needs. The company may know whether their customers are able to pay the money as well (Angwin and Smith 2007). The ERP Systems enable the company to allocate its resources such as human resources, financial resources, equipments and information to the right department. In this way, the supply chain may be more efficient. The productivity may be increased. The costs may be reduced (Angwin and Smith 2007). Company information The company was established in 1987. Now, it has over 2,500 stores all over the world. The revenue of the company is primarily from Europe, United State and Asia (Funding universe 2011). Business transaction types: The LVMH sells a variety of luxury products. It sells wines spirits, fashion leather goods, perfumes cosmetics, watches jewellery, selective retailing. According to the financial documents of LVMH, in 2011, they sold 174.9 million bottles of wines and spirits (including 55.5million bottles of champagne, 63.5million bottles of cognac, 41.8million bottles of still and sparkling wines and 14.1million bottles of other spirits). They also got 8,712million euro for selling fashion and leather goods, 3,195million euro for selling perfumes and cosmetics, 1,949million euro for selling watches and jewellery, and 6,436million euro for selling selective retailing (Funding universe 2011). Objectives Improving the communication between departments The Enterprise Resource Planning Systems centralize company’s information. All departments share the information. This improves the communication of depar tments. For example, the LVMH focus on luxury products. Sensing the change of fashion trend is very important to the company. The customer service department can get customers’ feedbacks by establishing customers’ profiles. They can know what customers like and what they do not like. They are close to the customers. If the fashion trend has changed, or the products do not please customers, customer service department would know. They can share this information within the company (Angwin and Smith 2007). The product design department would see this information and have a meeting to decide if they should change the design and how to change the design. They make plans and managers decide whether to take the plans or not. Once the new product is sold, customer service can wait and get feedbacks from customers again. This may help the company to gain customer satisfaction and being the leader of new fashion. High efficiency communication between departments enables the comp any to make response to the changes rapidly (Freeman 2010). Improving financial management and cost management In the downturn of the economy, many people go bankrupt including those people who used to be very rich. The LVMH sells luxury products. Part of its customers uses mortgages to buy products. If customers go bankrupt, the company would have lots of bad debts. They cannot get the money. This would make a big loss of the company (Funding universe 2011). Although customer service department has customers’ profile to see if they can pay the money, they may not inform the financial department in time. So the company lost the best chance to reclaim the money. Using the Enterprise Resource Planning Systems, the financial department is able to monitor customers’ pay back as well. This may enable them to take action to deal with those debts in advance (Freeman 2010). The ERP Systems may also improve the company’s cost management. For example, the manufacturing de partment can decide the quantity of products they are going to produce based on the information shared by the customer service. As the fact that the LVMH produce luxury products, the cost of products is higher than other regular products. And due to the reason that the products which are out of fashion are not easily selling and they may end up with being sold at a very low price which make a loss for the company, the company must strictly control the quantity of products they plan to produce. The ERP Systems may help the company avoid purchasing surplus materials. The cost of material may be reduced (Freeman 2010). Establishing a high efficient supply chain The supply chain includes the material supply, product design, manufacturing, products distributing and selling. The ERP Systems centralize all the information from all the departments. One change from the part of the supply chain can be informed to other parts (Angwin and Smith 2007). This enables other parts to make response r apid. The manufacturing and selling of the products can be more efficient than before. The improvement and maintenance of equipments can be reported to the directors directly (Freeman 2010). Feasibility report and relevant to business strategy Technical feasibility ERP system may be effective in the company due to several reasons, for instance, integration of functions. ERP system enables integration of both departmental and individual functions. It also enhances easy tracking of work flow among departments and branches of the respective organization. This is effective in reduction in cost of operation hence increases profit level. Furthermore, it also establishes a unified reporting system within an organization. It can also further be developed and used in the provision of business intelligence services or functions (Angwin and Smith 2007). Therefore, the organization should adopt and effectively implement the system to gain competitive advantage over other companies in the indust ry and achieve its growth strategy at reduced costs. The ERP system is a technological system. This system has been used by other organizations in the past especially those that respond to technological developments and advancements. Since LVMH had effectively implemented website selling, and increased its efficiency. The company can easily implement ERP system and enhance operation. Technology is basically tested before being approved for use. Similarly, ERP system has been tested by developers, and like website selling ERP is workable. Therefore, considering the ERP system is cost effective because it will assist LVMH reduce operation costs, it will be easy to implement it. Furthermore, it is efficient because it increases efficiency in operation (Angwin and Smith 2007). Economical feasibility The ERP system is based on technology. Its implementation requires finances like any other project that an organization may initiate. However, implementation costs may differ due to differen tials in the nature of projects. LVMH has implemented technological strategy in the past, for instance, a website selling. This is an indication that the company is aware of the nature and requirements of implementing a technological system. Furthermore, the company has an overview of the expected costs and time in implementation of such projects because it had implemented a technological system in the past, website selling (Funding universe 2011). Therefore, ERP system may be effectively implemented by LVMH and made operational in the organization. This is because the management of the company may apply procedures they used in implementation of websites selling in implementing ERP systems. Website selling and ERP system are related because they are technological systems hence can be implemented similarly. Moreover, the company may implement the ERP system at lower costs because the company already has a technological system in operation hence implementation of ERP system may only r equire few updates of the existing website selling system. Considering the financial status of the company and the cost of implementing an ERP system, the system can be implemented by the company. This is because it requires limited finances to implement while the company has adequate finances, which it can use in implementing the system without strain or affecting its operations (Koontz and Weihrich 2007). Operational feasibility ERP systems are among the systems that developed in operations due to technological advancements. The system greatly increases efficiency in operation due to several reasons. The system involves control of different departments and coordination of different branches or offices in different geographical locations. This will assist the company reduce its cost of operation and management. The company has a strategy of enhancing operation and ensuring it maintains its profit level in the industry. This system can easily be implemented in the operation of the o rganization due to several reasons apart from the strategies developed by the company. The system can be easily introduced and implemented in the company considering customers’, employees’, management and suppliers’ willingness in embracing technological use (Smith and Raspin 2008). In the recent past, technological development and use have greatly increased and most customers prefer services offered technological. This is because most consumers have subscribed to internet services and are well versed with technological use. The ERP system is a technological system and uses several technological concepts. Considering increased knowledge of technological services and use by most consumers (Funding universe 2011). This system can be easily introduced and implemented. This is because consumers can easily adapt to the new system considering they are well versed with technological applications. It will also be easier to introduce the system among consumers. Furthermo re, since most consumers are well versed with technological applications, it will be easy for the company to easily introduce the system and start using it efficiently (Smith and Raspin 2008). LVMH has in the past embraced technological use in operations. It is also among the first companies to introduce online selling through the company website. Technological applications are basically approved by the management team. Furthermore, introduction of online selling through the company website was introduced by the management of the company. This is a clear indication that the management of the company may easily enhance implementation of the system considering they had implemented a technological application in operation. Moreover, the management is in charge of operations in an organization, and introduction of any change in the organization must require their approval (Funding universe 2011). Management of LVMH has also portrayed willingness in implementation of strategies that can enhance the performance of the organization. Therefore, the management may easily approve implementation of the system in the company. Additionally, the management is in charge of overseeing the achievement of organizational goals and objectives, and adoption or implementation of ERP system may enable the company to achieve its goal of gaining competitive advantage in the industry where it operates. This is because ERP enhances service delivery to customers (Angwin and Smith 2007). In an organization, human resources are considered the most important resource. Implementation of ERP at LVMH requires an employees’ willingness because the introduction of the new system directly affects their operation in the business entity. LVMH frequently and consistently responds to technological developments and advancements. This is because it offers updated services technologically. Therefore, its employees are well versed with technological advancements and introduction of new operational methods. Since its employees have always embraced these changes and increased quality of services to customers, it is evident that LVMH employees can effectively enhance implementation of ERP in the organization (Angwin and Smith 2007). This is because the employees are flexible and easily adapts to changes in operation. Therefore, considering the flexible nature of LVMH employees in operation, it is evident that they can easily adapt to the new system and enhance its implementation in operations in the organization. This can enhance operations in the company because employees are willing to implement the system. Basically, LVMH employees will enhance the implementation of ERP system because strategies of the company embrace technological developments and advancements incorporation in operation to increase efficiency (Angwin and Smith 2007). Organizational strategies especially long term are applicable to both employees and suppliers. Therefore, suppliers are adequately informed an d trained by organizations when necessary in case it intends to introduce changes in operation. This is because suppliers are also part of an organization hence contributes to achievement of goals and objectives. LVMH adequately informs their suppliers and keeps them updated on changes that may affect operations in the organization (Angwin and Smith 2007). Furthermore, its suppliers supported the introduction of website selling, which is a technological selling technique. This is an indicator that its suppliers also embrace technological application in operation. Therefore, since its suppliers supported website selling and are adequately informed on technological changes and advancements, they might easily support implementation of ERP. Furthermore, suppliers operate in line with organizational goals and objectives, and strictly adhere to organizational strategies. Therefore, since its suppliers adhere by its strategies, they will enhance the implementation of ERP because it is part of the LVMH strategy of enhancing service delivery through technological developments (Angwin and Smith 2007). List of References Angwin, D and Smith, C 2007, The Strategy Pathfinder: Core Concepts and Micro   Cases. New York: Blackwell Publishing. Birkholz, A 2004, Business Analysis and Enterprise Resource Planning. Germany: GRIN Verlag. Freeman, E 2010, Strategic Management: A Stakeholder Approach. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Funding universe, 2011, LVMH Moet Hennessy Louis Vuitton SA. Indiana: Pearson Education. Koontz, H and Weihrich, H 2007, Essentials of Management. New Delhi: Tata McGraw-Hill Publishing Company Limited. Porter, M 1985, Competitive Advantage: Creating And Sustaining Superior  Performance. New Jersey: Simon Schuster, Inc. Smith, B and Raspin, P 2008, Creating Market Insight: How Firms Create Value From  Market Understanding. London: John Wiley Sons Ltd.

5 Cases of Confusion Between Things and Their Names

5 Cases of Confusion Between Things and Their Names 5 Cases of Confusion Between Things and Their Names 5 Cases of Confusion Between Things and Their Names By Mark Nichol 1. â€Å"Users can choose from any website that offers RSS feeds, short for ‘Really Simple Syndication.’ â€Å"RSS feeds† is not short for â€Å"Really Simple Syndication.† The sentence refers to RSS feeds and then explains what the initialism stands for, but the association of the spelled-out term with the initialism is confusing, so the additional information needs to be distinguished from the main point: â€Å"Users can choose from any website that offers RSS feeds. (RSS is short for ‘Really Simple Syndication.’)† More simply, the parenthesis could be introduced as here: â€Å"Users can choose from any website that offers RSS (Really Simple Syndication) feeds.† However, the information is not essential and is better introduced in a trailing parenthesis. Use your judgment according to the context of each case. 2. â€Å"This is a camera obscura, a Latin term that means ‘dark chamber.’† This sentence suffers from the same type of confusion as the previous example. A camera obscura is not a Latin term; it is a device with that Latin name (and though the origin of the name is Latin, the term, despite being taken from that language, is English). Revise the sentence to clarify both points: â€Å"This is a camera obscura, a device whose name, borrowed from Latin, means ‘dark chamber.’† 3. â€Å"The pre-emptive offer also a common term in corporate transactions is hardly new.† Here, the concept of the pre-emptive offer is being mistaken for the name of the concept. Again, word the interjection of information to clarify the distinction: â€Å"The strategy known as a pre-emptive offer that phrase is also a common term in corporate transactions is hardly new.† 4. â€Å"With his talkie debut, as British secret agent Bulldog Drummond (1929), he became the first silent star to become even bigger in sound films.† This sentence attempts to name both a character and a film in one designation, but as we all know from physics class, two phenomena cannot occupy the same space at the same time. Separate the reference to the title character from that of the film title: â€Å"With his talkie debut, as the titular British secret agent in Bulldog Drummond (1929), he became the first silent star to become even bigger in sound films.† 5. â€Å"John is a Wetland Watcher a moniker he wears with pride and satisfaction.† This sentence’s conflict of concept and name is not as jarring as in the previous examples, but the statement would nevertheless benefit from more of a separation of the two elements: â€Å"John is a Wetland Watcher, and that’s a moniker he bears with pride and satisfaction.† Want to improve your English in five minutes a day? Get a subscription and start receiving our writing tips and exercises daily! Keep learning! Browse the Grammar category, check our popular posts, or choose a related post below:"Because Of" and "Due To" "Owing to" vs "Due to"Shore It Up

SECURITY ISSUES IN DELIVERING INFRASTRUCTURE AS A SERVICE IN CLOUD Literature review - 1

SECURITY ISSUES IN DELIVERING INFRASTRUCTURE AS A SERVICE IN CLOUD COMPUTING AND BUSINESS - Literature review Example The theme of cloud computing is that all computational resources and assets are offered by the cloud service providers to the remote users all around the globe as a service. It does not require the users to have proper knowledge and proficiency in a particular domain or technology in order to manage the resources and user can access them through internet. Cloud computing is a fairly innovative computing model and has been prominent in the field of information technology over past years. The cloud computing model enables the subscribers to utilize the computing resources and assets in the time of need, without investing higher amount of money and frees them from the worries about the complication involved in adopting other options. Nevertheless the huge number of implementations that have gotten so much higher reputation among the community of IT are oriented towards a particular business and are commercial so it does not supports the users with complex and bigger requirements and rel atively little financial resources. (Vincenzo D. Cunsolo et al, 2010, Juan D. O sorio, 2012) Cloud computing that is a modern business paradigm, involves the provision of extraordinarily scalable computing assets as a service to individual subscribers or the organizations. Companies are now adopting a trend of replacing the older IT infrastructure by consuming the ‘Infrastructure as service’ model offered by cloud computing paradigm in order to get better scalability of computing resources and to make lesser operating cost. The fundamental business of an infrastructure as a service cloud is to set up an instance of virtual machines, on-demand, for agreed period of time. The specifications (e.g. total memory storage, required operating system, executables) of the virtual machines are decided in a agreement between the cloud service provider and the consumer and service is usually provided according to some measure of QoS(

Business Ethics Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 24

Business Ethics - Essay Example In this perspective, there is a moral responsibility for multinational corporations in selling Starbucks in Forbidden City. To begin with, the every individual has a fundamental right to maintain and preserve a culture (Kent, 2010). The people of Forbidden city thus have the same right and consequently expect this right to be respected by other individuals and corporations that venture into their city. Multinational corporations are consequently obliged to respect this right to cultural preservation. Business practices that harm this right would be considered as a violation of this fundamental right of the Chinese in cultural preservation and thus will be unwelcome. From a normative perspective, multinational corporations as a result have a responsibility in observing this right in respect for Chinese culture. Secondly, there is the need for consideration of beneficial business practices to both parties that would result in happiness for both, as utilitarianism states for the purposes of coexistence (Kent, 2010). Since multinational businesses make intrusions into societies’ environments, it is important that they consider what would be of great benefit to both parties. Selling Starbucks in this area is obviously not beneficial to both parties since there has been creation of conflict. In order to create a practice that would be beneficial to both corporations and society, it is imperative that consideration of this decision be made since selling the firm as it does not bring happiness to both parties. Thirdly, great moral philosophers argued before that major principles of moral philosophy demand both parties to be equal such that none should take advantage of the other. When making a decision to sell Starbucks in Forbidden City, multinational corporations should consider the effect of their actions on Chinese culture. If

Oppression of Women in Chopins Story of an Hour and Gilmans Yellow Wa

Oppression of Women in Chopin's Story of an Hour and Gilman's Yellow Wallpaper    "The Story of an Hour" by Kate Chopin and "The Yellow Wallpaper" by Charlotte Perkins Gilman share the same view of the subordinate position of women in the late 1800's. Both stories demonstrate the devastating effects on the mind and body that result from an intelligent person living with and accepting the imposed will of another. This essay will attempt to make their themes apparent by examining a brief summery of their stories and relating them to their personal histories. It will reveal this theme further through analysis of setting, visual and conceptual symbolism, and by exploring the relationships between the characters in each story. In the "Story of an Hour", we are told that Louise has a bad heart condition. A friend of the family has discovered that there was a bad accident at her husband?s job and he is on the deceased list. Louise?s sister carefully tells her this distressing news; however, instead of falling apart, Louise finds herself feeling as if she has a new lease on life because she will finally be able to live for herself. Suddenly, her husband walks in the door, and shocked, Louise drops dead of a heart attack. The physician says it was from "a joy that kills" (341-342). In "The Yellow Wallpaper", the main character is attempting to heal from a nervous disorder. Her physician prescribes the "rest cure" which allows her to do nothing: no housekeeping, no writing, and no visiting with family or friends. She cannot even play with her baby. Her husband insists that she stay in a room upstairs and she eventually goes insane. Both Chopin and Gilman borrow from real events in their lives when writing these stories. Kat... ...V. Roberts and Henry E. Jacobs. Upper Saddle River, New Jersey: Prentice-Hall Inc. Simon Schuster/ A Viacom Company, 1998. 542-553. Gilman, Charlotte Perkins. "Why I Wrote ?The Yellow Wallpaper?" Ed. Catherine Lavender; The College of Staten Island of the City University of New York, Fall Semester, Oct. 1997. (25 Jan 1999)   Ã‚  http://www.library.csi.cuny.edu/dept/history/lavender/whyyw.html McChristie, Pat. "Women Need to Work" Copyright: 1998. Cyberwoman (30 Jan 1999) http://www.cyberparent.com/women/needwork.htm Wyatt, Neal "Biography of Kate Chopin" English 384: Women Writers. Ed. Ann M. Woodlief Copyright: 1998, Virginia Commonwealth University. (26 Jan. 1999) http://www.vcu.edu/engweb/eng384/katebio.htm "Why are Women Leaving Marriage in Droves?" Marriage. Copyright: 1998. Cyberwoman (30 Jan 1999) http://www.cyberparent.com/women/marriage1.htm

Huntsville Project

Karen Brown PROJ586 Huntsville Project November Term Week Three Question #1 Estimated Completion Time of Project According to the requirements that we have set for this project we will not be able to complete it by the expected date of November 2013. With the amount of resources that we need to complete the project our new projected end date is January 30, 2014. There are a few options that we can take to reduce the amount of time needed to complete this project by the proposed date of November 2013. Proposed Changes to ScheduleWe can expedite the project by reducing the amount of time we have slated for some of our larger tasks. By recalculating and essentially shortening the schedule we can decrease our project by 10%. â€Å"A change in the estimated duration of any activity on that path will cause a corresponding change in the slack for that path. † (Gido and Clements 167). Currently we have several tasks that we can reduce time: * Recruiting & Training Managers 6 weeks (CP ) * Creating Building Design 6 weeks (CP) * Building Construction 40 weeks (CP) Procuring Equipment 24 weeks * Procuring Truck Fleet 8 weeks (CP) Of the five tasks identified, four of these tasks are along our critical path and attribute to 60 weeks or a little more than a year. If we were able to reduce tasks along the critical path by 30% it would provide us an extra 18 weeks or four-and-a-half months to complete the schedule. According to our current schedule we are exceeding our schedule by two-and-a-half months. I am proposing that we reduce all of the aforementioned items by a total of 0% will save us two-and-a-half months on our schedule and should provide adequate time to complete the project in the specified time. Proposed Weekly Allotments * Recruiting & Training Managers 5 weeks (CP) * Creating Building Design 5 weeks (CP) * Building Construction 36 weeks (CP) * Procuring Equipment 21 weeks * Procuring Truck Fleet 7 weeks (CP) Reallocating Resources In order to reduce the amount of time we have for each project, we will also need to change how we currently have our resources allocated.The largest impacts we potentially face are hiring additional staff increasing our costs and scope. In order to complete the building construction in 36 weeks, we will need to hire additional construction workers through our general contractor. The other tasks will require looking at the task leads and reallocating their percentage of responsibility and possibly moving someone to from task to another to complete on time. Question #2 After reviewing the Allocated Resources Reported we are currently over allocated in the beginning phases of the project.The Facility Specialist is has about 110% of responsibilities in the first week of the project. There are a couple of options that we have available to combat this problem. Reassigning Tasks This can be resolved by having the Project Management in a more active role selecting an architect. By increasing the Project Manager s workload to 10% it allows for us to reduce the Facility Specialist load to 50%, leaving him at 100% for the first couple of weeks of the project. Resource Leveling Another approach that we can take to rectify our over allocation is to level the project.Leveling the projects that are over allocated will result in one project being placed on hold until another project is complete (Gido and Clements 234). The task that is over allocated, selecting an architect, has no successors so it will not directly affect any of the other tasks in the Work Breakdown Structure. Resource-Limited Scheduling This option will allow for us to create a new truncated schedule that equally matches our staffing capacities. Instead of spending two weeks to look for an architect we can shorten that timeframe to one week. That additional week will allow for staff to spend time on their other assignments.All of these tasks have a positive slack, meaning they have some time to be completed because they are not along critical paths, and should not change the date in which the project will be completed. Of the three options that are available, Resource Leveling will be the most efficient to achieving our goals an d having the right amount of expertise involved in the project. References Gido, J. & Clements, P. (2011). Successful Project Management, Fifth Edition. South-Western College Pub. , 2011. A Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK Guide), Fourth Edition. Pennsylvania: Project Management Institute, 2008