Week 12 Questions

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

The triple constraint is the process of making tradeoffs between scope, time and cost for a project. This is the triangle below. Each concept is interdependent and you can’t change

one without changing the other. Throughout a project it is inevitable that one of these three things will change and therefore project management is about how well you can change the others to fit the project too and make it still effective and efficient. Project

management is the ability to make intelligent trade offs for cost, time and scope.

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

The two primary diagrams most frequently used in project planning are the PERT and GANTT charts.

An example of what a PERT chart looks like (below)

The PERT chart is a way of outlining the schedule of the project, when various tasks should be completed and critical paths that tasks should take in order to be completed in time. It documents the key aspects of the project. It is a fantastic chart to use when project planning and is a great management tool.

How are they used?

1. Firstly one must identify all tasks in the project.

2. Identify what task needs to be completed first,

3. Identify tasks that can be completed simultaneously with number one.

4. Identify the second task

5. Steps 2-3 are repeated until all tasks have been completed.

6. Task durations are established

7. Critical paths for particular tasks are determined

The second chart used in the Gantt chart. This is a bar chart that outlines a projects schedule. They show the start and finish of important tasks and elements of a project. It is much simpler than PERT as it outlines these tasks against a calendar.

An example of GANTT (below)

Gantt charts determine terminal elements as well as the summary ones and can at times link various elements that can have a relationship with one another. Because of its simplicity and because it is easy to read and interpret the Gantt chart is the most common one used by project managers.

This video explains how to make a Gantt chart

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

The three primary areas project managers must focus on in order to ensure success are the following:

- Managing people; This can be the hardest one with managers needing to ensure that all members of their team are working well together and that all conflict within the team is resolved. Balancing the needs of the project and the personal needs to the team and stakeholders is one of the hardest things to do for a project manager.

- Managing communications; Management need to ensure that they are effectively communicating project goals. It is important for management to state in the planning stages exactly what they want and how they will achieve it, through this clear communication a successful project can be achieved. In order for continuous success management should throughout the project communicate success and failures and work towards communicating how to improve.

- Managing change; Change is inevitable so management need to know how to effectively manage this. Change happens through market shifts or through technology and successful management anticipates these changes and develops as these changes occur.

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

Two reasons why projects fail are:

—Inability to move beyond individual and personality conflicts; Conflict is a major issue in projects, if people fail to move past their personal conflicts then team work can not be established. Most businesses need team work in order to succeed.

—Unrealistic expectations; The goals set my management are not SMART and therefore are unrealistic to achieve either in the th time frame given or with resources provided. SMART goals need to be set in order to projects to succeed.

Two reasons why they succeed:

—Good communication: Goals are clearly outlined and the management can clearly communicate the path in which to get to the goal. Good communication is the key to a successful project.

—Team members are working toward common goals; when team member work towards a common goal there are less conflicts and a common ground to stand on.

For more information on project management visit:

http://www.thoughtware.com.au/documents/method123-ebook.pdf

Week 10 Questions

1.What is your understanding of CRM?

CRM stands for customer relations management. This involves the management of relationships between customers and an organisation in order to increase customer loyalty and retention as well as profitability for the company. This basically is the managment of the interaction between the customer and company and the interactions between them. The goal of CRM is to provide the best possbile customer service, cross sell products more effectively, simplify marketing and sales processes, increase new customers and customer revenue and building rapport with customer to ensure customer loyalty.

2.Compare operational and analytical customer relationship management.

Operational CRM is: This supports the traditional 'front office' of business. It deals with the operations or systems that deal directly with customers. It focuses mainly on simplifying and organizing customer information into databases

Analytical CRM: This supports back-office operations and strategic analysis and includes all systems that do not deal with customers directly. This could be collecting data to be analyzed about customers or even feedback; this can help with decision making.

Visit the link to gain further information about operational and analytical CRM

http://www.mariosalexandrou.com/definition/crm.asp

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

Marketing:

1. List generator:This compiles information and data about customers. This information is then segmented and can be used for references in various marketing campaigns.

2. Campaign management systems: This guides users through marketing campaigns. It performs tasks such as campaign definition, planning, segmenting and analysis. This can help with improving marketing campaigns and knowing how effective it is.

3.Cross selling and up selling: Cross selling: this is adding additional products or services to what a customer already has. Up-selling is increasing the value of the sale.

Sales:

1. Sales management CRM systems: This automates each phase of the sales process, helping each sales associate to coordinator all their accounts. e.g. calendars to plan customer meetings, multimedia presentations and document generation. They provide information about performance the the sales cycle.

2. Contact management CRM systems: Keeps records about customer contacts and identifies prospective customers for the business. e.g. caller logs with customer names and previous calls cam be kept on record allowing for workers to know customer needs, what products they own or problems they have had in the past. Businesses can reduce time through this system by familiarising themselves with customers and also it helps them to assign the qualified sales assistant who can best support their needs.

3. Opportunity management CRM system: This targets sales opportunities by finding new customers for sales. These systems can determine customers, competitors and define selling efforts. They can also calculate probability of sales saving time and money for the business.

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

A sales department could use all three operationa CRM technologies within a business. CRM technologies can be used to track sales information electronically and help keep track and maintain customer information. They also allow for the vital information kept in sales assistants heads about customers to be put into databases and kept on file- this helps future employees to know and understand the cutstomer too. They can also use CRM technologies to track customer sales, analyse sales cycles and which sales person is performing the best. These technologies assist with businesses knowing their customers and building rapport and relationships with them

5.Describe business intelligence and its value to businesses

Business intelligence is technologies used together to gather, have access to an analyse data and information. The information that is gathered from business intelligence can be beneficial to the company as it provides critical information to support business decisions. Business environments are constantly changing and are fast paced the value of business intelligence is very high.

Business intelligence allows a company to know its customers and stay competitive in the market giving them information about things such as:

- Best and worst customer- this allows them to give more time to customers who will generate sales

- top sakes assistants

- how successful marketing campaigns have been

-what activities are making money and what ones are loosing money.

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

The problem with business intelligence is the fact that businesses are 'data rich, information poor' (Baltzen et al 2010 pp 418). Businesses father masses of data as they implement systems such as CRM however, because there is so much data the company is unable to use it all, therefore wasting valuable assets of the company. A main issues is that it can take a few weeks to sort and pull reports from data and by the time the information is received it is outdated and to process starts again. The challenge faced by most companies is turning their data into useful information. If they are able to achieve this successfully they can see an increase in employe knowledge and therefore an increase in profitability.

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

Data mining is the process of analyzing data to extract information not offered by the raw data alone.

Two common forms of data mining is:

1)Cluster analysis: This is used to divide information into mutually exclusive groups. This puts members of a group as close together as possible ad different groups as far apart as possible.

Outcome of this form of data mining: This segments customer information and allows businesses to identify behavioral traits in customers or sales rates e.g. retail store layout and sales performance.

2)Association detection: This reveals the degree to which variables are related and the nature of and frequency of these relationships in the information.

Outcome of this form of data mining: This allows the business to identify potential problems or market basket analysis which can help identify buying behaviors. This allows for the company to gain information about buying behavior and predict future behaviour. It also allows them to develope effective marketing campaigns.

Both these forms of data mining allow for an increase in sales and profitability. They both also allow for the business to increase their company resources allowing them to understand their customers therefore they are able to target products to particular customers and understand their buying behaviours.

For more information on CRM and how to be successful in the implementation of it watch the following video:

Week 9 Questions

1.Define the term operations management


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

The below video explains Operations Management in great detail:

2.Explain operations management’s role in business


OM ‘s role in business is to manage all business processes and to ensure that all goods and services are produced in an efficient and effective manner. Activities for OM include forecasting, capacity planning, scheduling, managing inventories, assuring quality, motivating employees, deciding where to locate facilities etc. All this will ensure that satisfaction of customers is achieved. The success of a business depends on planning for both short and long term activities and the ability for managers to make informed decisions. This all comes from the management of the business operations.

3.Describe the correlation between operations management and information technology


It can be used when it comes to productivity, costs, flexibility, quality and customer satisfaction. Well-developed OM information systems can ensure management are aware of all possible outcomes and ensure they make the correct decision. It can help them perform ‘what if analysis’, sensitivity analysis, drill down and consolidation, therefore IT is very important.

OM managers use IT to make decisions on things including;

-What: What resources will be needed and in what amounts?

-When: When should the work be scheduled?

-Where: Where will the work be performed?

-How: How will the work be done?

-Who: Who will perform the work?

(Baltzan et al 2010 pp 356)

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


Supply chain management involves the management of information flows between and among stages in a supply chain to maximise total supply chain effectiveness and profitability. (Baltzan et al 2010 pp 262)

Knowing immediately what is transacting at

the customer end of the supply chain, instead of waiting days or weeks for this information to flow upstream, allows the organization to react immediately- therefore being crucial within a business.

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

-Plan: A company must have a plan to manage all resources that go towards meeting customer’s needs. This is the strategic portion of supply chain management. This is where metrics are established to monitor supply chain so that it is working in the most efficient manner.

-Source: choosing the best supplier is important they must be reliable and produce great products that will meet your consumer needs. Organisations need to create metrics in regards to pricing, delivery and payment to help strengthen their relationship with suppliers and enable efficiency with them.

-Make: When companies produce their own products or services. This includes planning activities for production, testing, packaging and delivery.

- Deliver: Relates to logistics (set of processes that plans and controls effective transportation and storage of supplies from suppliers to consumers.

-Return: This is where companies create a network for receiving defectives and excess products and support consumers who may have issues with their products.

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

IT has helped in advances in the five SRM components and improving the efficiency of companies and ensuring that consumers are getting the best possible product, the best possible way and in the correct time frame. Integrated systems have also provided companies with greater visibility over the supply chain inventory levels ensuring they have clear knowledge of each process and ensure that everything is running smoothly. IT’s primary role in a business is to create integrations and information linkages between functions within an organisation.

Week 8 Questions

1. Explain the business benefits of using wireless technology.
Wireless is known as the ability to give users a live connection via satellite or radio transmitters. According to Baltzan et al (201 pp. 309) ‘wireless refers to any type of electrical or electronic operation tt is accomplished without the use of a ‘hard wire’ connection’

Wireless can be very beneficial to a business beca

use;
-People to be more moviled and have more access to information than before.
-They allow for business to centralize critical information and eliminate unnecessary processes
- It allows for user convenience. When users are out an about either travelling or stuck in traffic they are still able to access internet and continue to conduct business 24/7. They are able to gather information when they want and where they want.
- It is easier to add another computer to a network when needed reducing the cost of upgrading or adding computers.-It is able to reach a broad amount of people on the same network
For more information visit the following link.

http://www.bizhelp24.com/tech/how-can-a-wireless-network-benefit-your-business.html

2. Describe the business benefits associated with VoIP

VoIP stands for Voice Over Internet Protocol. This is a system that allows for voice communication through an IP networks e.g. the Internet. The biggest benefit to a business the fact that it is very cost efficient. The business no longer pays for line rentals and in majority of cases call costs. This can allow for business calls overseas and even conference calls at reduced costs.

According to Alltel 2010, other benefits can include:

- - easier to make changes; meaning that when new technologies emerge it is easier for a business to implement them

- - easier to relocate

- -can enable collaboration tools for an increasingly decentralised work force

http://www.alltel.com.au/voipbenefits.html

3. Compare LANs and WANs

LAN is a Local Area Network, which covers small areas for example a home or office. WAN however is Wide Area Networks which cover larger areas such as networks which link with business branch networks or even public network access systems,

A LAN would be great for small businesses as they are easier and cheaper to install than WANs. However, if operating a larger business a WAN would make-work across national networks easier.

LANs also operate on a single IP subnet where as a WAN runs multple subnets. Effectively, a WAN is made up of several LAN networks that are linked.

For more information about their differences and a comparative table visit:

http://www.diffen.com/difference/LAN_vs_WAN

4. Describe RFID and how it can be used to help make a supply chain more effective.

RFID stands for Radio frequency identification and are tags that use radio waves to transmit data.

RFID can produce more information about a product including price and where it was made. This technology helps manufacturers with the supply chain in ensuring their products are reaching destination and to keep track of what products are being sent where.

It also helps business with keeping track of inventory and tracking where their products are and what products their manufactures have made. It allows for the supply chain to remain flowing and efficient for consumers, as they know what products are in stock and what products they are able to order.

It also improves supply chain as inventory is taken automatically and continuously. It also provides more current and accurate information to the entire supply chain.

This form of technology is not only more efficient but it has also allowed for reducing costs in the supply chain (as there are less people scanning items) and increased safety of goods, therefore improving their business.

This video explains RFID:

5. Identify the advantages and disadvantage of deploying mobile technology

Advantages:

- Cut costs when needing to update and in the long run

-allows for business to run 24/7, where ever a mobile device is in range

- allows for business to be mobile

- Allows for business processes to be automatic

Disadvantages:

- devices can sometimes be unreliable

-limited bandwidth

-limited security

-initial setting up cost of technology