week 12 blog question's

Weekly Questions - Project Management

1.    Explain the triple constraint and its importance in project management.

Projects consume vast amounts of resources. Hence, it is imperative to understand how the organisation allocates its scarce resources in order to get the big picture. The figure below displays the relationship between the three primary variables in any project, they are time, scope and cost. The project management institute calls the framework for evaluating these competing demands the triple constraint. The relationship between these variable is such that if one of the three factors changes, at least one other factor is likely to be affected. For example, moving up a project's finish date could result in either increasing costs to hire hire more staff or decreasing the scope to eliminate features or functions. Hence it is imperative for project managers to understand this model and the affects a particular move may have on the outcome of the project.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ivVqUyenXTw



  

2.    Describe the two primary diagrams most frequently used in project planning

The two primary diagrams used in project planning are called Gantt and PERT charts. A PERT chart is a graphical network model that depicts a projects tasks and the relationships between those tasks. Similarly, a Gantt chart is a simple bar chart that depicts project tasks against a callendar. In a Gantt chart, tasks are listed vertically and the project's time frame is listed horizontally, as depicted below.

3.    Identify the three primary areas a project manager must focus on managing to ensure success

A project manager must focus on managing three primary areas to ensure success, they are; (a) people, (b) communications, and (c) change. the first of the three key elements, people, is one of the hardest and most critical tasks a project manager undertakes. resolving conflicts within the team and balancing the needs of the project with the personal and proffessional needs of the team are two of the challenges facing project managers. Secondly, communications, is key to excellent project management. It is extremely helpful if a project manager plans what and how he or she will communicate as a formal part of the project management plan. this is often reffered to as a communications plan. The last element change, whether it comes in the form of crisis, a market shift or a technological development, is challenging for all organisations. Successful organisations and successful people learn to anticipate and react to change which is key within any organisation.  

4.    Outline 2 reasons why projects fail and two reasons why projects suceed

       Projects fail and succeed for many different reasons, possibly the most substantial reason projects fail is due to the recklessness in failing to plan, as they say 'failing to plan is planning to fail' and vice versa. Hence by not formating a project plan based on the SMART criteria chances are the project will fail. secondly by engaging in a project with unrealistic and incoherent goals and ideas the project has set a level of standard much to high, ultimately leading a project failing.

Alternatively, two reasons why projects succeed are; the correct application of the SMART criteria integrated into the prject plan, thus enabling a formal approved document that manages and controls project execution. Secondly, by implementing realistic goals  and objectives for the project within the given time frame will hopefully ensure the project accomplishes its set objectives.   

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WKCIal9R3Jo

week 11 blog questions

Week Eleven - Weekly Questions

Customer Relationship Management & Business Intelligence

1.   What is your understanding of CRM?

Customer Relationship management (CRM) involves managing all aspects of a customer’s relationship with an organisation to increase customer loyalty and retention as well as an organisations profitability.

2.    Compare operational and analytical customer relationship management.

Operational CRM supports traditional transactional processing for day-today front-office operations or systems that deal directly with the customers. Analytical CRM supports back-office operations and strategic analysis and includes all systems that do not deal directly with customers.

3.   Describe and differentiate the CRM technologies used by marketing departments and sales departments.

The three primary operational CRM technologies a marketing department can implement to increase customer satisfaction are: (1) list generator, (2) campaign management and (3) cross-selling and up selling. The first component, list generators, compiles customer information from a variety of sources and segment the information for different marketing campaigns. Secondly, campaign management systems guide users through marketing campaigns performing such tasks as campaign definition, planning, scheduling, segmentation and success analysis. Lastly, cross-selling is selling additional products or services to a customer. While up-selling is increasing the value of the sale. E.g. would you like fries with that (maccas).
 Alternatively, the three primary operational CRM technologies a sales department can implement to increase customer satisfaction are: (1) sales management CRM systems, (2) contact management CRM systems, and (3) opportunity management CRM systems. The first of the three elements, sales management CRM systems, automates each phase of the sales process, helping individual sales representatives co-ordinate and organize all their accounts. Secondly, contact management CRM systems, maintain customer contact information and identifies prospective customers for future sales. The last element, opportunity management CRM systems, target sales opportunities by finding new customers or companies for future sales. Opportunity management systems determine potential customers and competitors and define selling efforts, including budgets and schedules.  

4.   How could a sales department use operational CRM technologies?

The three primary operational CRM technologies a sales department can implement are: (1) sales management CRM systems, (2) contact management CRM systems, and (3) opportunity management CRM systems. The first of the three elements, sales management CRM systems, automates each phase of the sales process, helping individual sales representatives co-ordinate and organize all their accounts. Secondly, contact management CRM systems, maintain customer contact information and identifies prospective customers for future sales. The last element, opportunity management CRM systems, target sales opportunities by finding new customers or companies for future sales. Opportunity management systems determine potential customers and competitors and define selling efforts, including budgets and schedules.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qgVJHCQ5_0A&feature=pyv&ad=7061151011&kw=CRM

5.   Describe business intelligence and its value to businesses

Business Intelligence (BI) refers to applications and technologies that are used to gather provide access to and analyse data and information to support decision-making efforts. BI is a valuable attribute to business due to its roles in:

·         Collecting information

·         Discerning patterns and meaning in the information

·         Responding to the resultant information

6.   Explain the problem associated with business intelligence. Describe the solution to this business problem

The problem stated simply is data rich, information poor. With all the data available in business nowadays, it is surprising how difficult it is for managers to get a clear picture of fundamental business information, such as inventory levels, orders in the pipeline or client history. As a result, information has to be requested from different departments or IT, who must then dedicate staff, resources and time trying to find and decipher data to provide rich information that is helpful to the manager of the business. With this knowledge, it can then be conveyed to employees whom gain knowledge that can be leveraged to increase company profitability.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wqpMyQMi0to

7.   What are two possible outcomes a company could get from using data mining?

Data mining is the process of analysing data to extract information not offered by the raw data alone. Data mining approaches decision making with a few different activities in mind, including: (a) Classification, in which records are assigned to one of a predefined set of classes. (b) Estimation, where values are determined for an unknown continuous variable behaviour or estimated future value. (c) Affinity grouping, basically determines which things correlate with each other. (d) Clustering, involves segmenting a heterogeneous population of records into a number of more homogeneous subgroups.



week 9 blog questions

1.) Define the term operations management

Operations management (OM) is the management of systems or processes that convert or transform resources (including human resources) into goods and services. Operations management is responsible for managing the core processes used to manufacture goods and produce services.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O1U12X-husI

       2.) Explain operations management’s role in business

The scope of OM ranges across the organisation and includes many interrelated activities, such as forecasting, capacity planning, scheduling, managing inventories, assuring quality, motivating employees, deciding where to locate facilities and more.

3.) Describe the correlation between operations management and information technology

Managers can use IT to heavily influence OM decisions including productivity, costs, flexibility, quality and customer satisfaction. One of the greatest benefits of IT on OM is in making operational decisions because OM exerts considerable influence over the degree to which the goals and objectives of the organisation are realised. Most OM decisions involve many possible alternatives that can have varying impacts on revenues and expenses. OM information systems are critical for managers to be able to make well-informed decisions.

4.) Explain supply chain management and its role in a business

Supply chain management (SCM) involves the management of information flows between and among stages in a supply chain to maximise total supply chain effectiveness and profitability.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mi1QBxVjZAw

5.) List and describe the five components of a typical supply chain.

The five basic components of supply chain management are: plan, sources, make, deliver and return. The first of the five-component theory, plan, is the strategic portion of supply chain management. A company must have a plan for managing all the resources that go toward meeting customer demand for products or services. A big piece of planning is developing a set of metrics to monitor the supply chain so that it is efficient, costs less, and delivers high quality and value to customers. The second element, source, states that companies must carefully choose reliable suppliers that will deliver goods and services required for making products. The third component in the five-component theory, make, is the step where companies manufacture their products or services. This can include scheduling the activities necessary for production, testing, packaging, and preparing for delivery. Fourthly, deliver, is a step commonly referred to as logistics. Logistics is the set of processes that plans for and controls the efficient and effective transportation and storage of supplies from suppliers to customers. The last component, return, is typically the most problematic step in the supply chain. In this instance companies must create a network for receiving defective and excess products and support customers who have problems with delivered products.

6.) Define the relationship between information technology and the supply chain.

Information technology’s primary role in SCM is creating the integrations or tight process and information linkages between functions within a firm, such as marketing, sales, finance, manufacturing and distribution between firms, which allows the smooth, synchronised flow of both information and product between customers, suppliers and transportation providers across the supply chain. Information Technology integrates planning, decision-making processes, business operating processes and information sharing for business performance management.