Benefits and problems concerning traditional approach to budgeting

Benefits and problems concerning traditional approach to budgeting In order to advise two different businesses about the benefits and problems associated with traditional approach to budgeting and budgetary control, i have collected and compiled the information regarding budgeting and divided it into different parts so that the reader may easily understand . 1.INTRODUCTION : A budget is a planning and controlling tool for an oraganisation.This tool can work effectively only when it is used with due care.It is not only the a cost monitoring mechanism but also an integral part of an organisations planning and control activities.It aims at achieving organisational objectives and motivating the personnel concerned.For the success of budgetary system gathering the essential informationand choosing an appropriate budgetary system etc.are necessary. The ideal budegting system is one that encourages goal congruence(i.e. a situation where the personal goals of the employees match the oraganisational goals).Ensuring the greater participation of the supervisory level in the management process can ensure goal congruence. Budgets may be of different types to suit the different practices followed by different organisations.An organisation using a conventional systemof budgeting may somtimes need to switch over to another to suit its requirements.Changing a budegtary system is not a simple task.An oraganisation has to face certain difficultiesin the form of resistance to change by the personnel of the organisation,changes required in the existing support systems etc., inorder to change its budgetary system.The Success of a budget is also largely dependant on the level of accuracy in estimating the revenues and costs for the budget period.There are several statistical techniques which may prove useful in forecasting the figures to be incorporated in budgets. 2. TRADITIONAL BUDGETING: 2.1. Introduction: First of all we begin this topic with the simple definition of budget.In short budget can be defined as Quantitative economic plan made with regard to time. Therefore, for something to be characterised as a budget it must comprise the quantities of economic resources to be allocated and used, it has to be expressed in economic i.e. monetary terms, it has to be a plan not a hope or a forecast but an authoritative intention, and it must be made within a certain period of time (Harper, 1995, p. 318). Only a plan that has such characteristics can be called a budget. However, if a budget is looked upon in its wider context, it can be defined as a management tool that puts executives in control of the financial health of their company. It is an objective measure of the financial structure of companys operation and a tool that forces management to be accountable in a structured and objective way. Budgets as management tools by themselves are neither good nor bad. How managers administer budgets is the key to their value. When administered wisely, budgets facilitate planning and resource allocation and help to enumerate, itemize, dissect and examine all of the products and services that a company offers to customers (Seer, 2000, p. 187). In short and taken at its simplest level, a budget is a mathematical exercise, but in reality it is much, much more than numbers on spreadsheets, which is what following text will definitely show. The purpose of budgeting is that it gives management an idea of how well a company is meeting their income goals, whether or not expenses are in line with predicted levels, and how well controls are working. Properly used, budgeting can and should increase profits, reduce unnecessary spending, and clearly define how immediate steps can be taken to expand markets (Thomsett, 1988, p. 5). In order to achieve this, management needs to build a budgeting system, the major objectives of which are to (Viscione, 1984, p. 42): Set acceptable targets for revenues and expenses. Increase the likelihood that targets will be reached. Provide time and opportunity to formulate and evaluate options should obstacles arise. Since budgeting as a process is very complex, it comes as no surprise that budgets are trying to fulfil numerous functions such as (Harper, 1995, p. 321, and Churchill, 1984, p. 162): Planning a budget establishes a plan of action that enables management to know in advance the amounts and timing of the production factors required to meet desired level of sales. Controlling a budget can be used to help an organization reach its objectives by ensuring that each of the individual steps are taken as planned. Coordinating a budget is where all the financial components of an organization Individual units, divisions, and departments are assembled into a coherent master picture that expresses the organizations overall operational objectives and strategic goals. Communicating by publishing the budget, management explicitly informs its subordinates as to what exactly they must be doing and what other parts of the organization will be doing. A budget is designed to give managers a clear understanding of the companys financial goals, from expected cost savings to targeted revenues. Instructing a budget is often as much an executive order as an organizational plan since it lays down what must be done. It may, therefore, be regarded by subordinates as a management instruction. Authorising if a budget is a management instruction then conversely it is an authorisation to take budgeted action. Motivating in that a budget sets a target for the different members of the organization so that it can act to motivate them to try and attain their budgeted targets. Performance measuring by providing a benchmark against which actual performance can be measured, a budget clearly plays a crucial role in the important task of performance measurement. Decision-making it should never be assumed that a budget is set in concrete and when changing course a well-designed budget is a very useful tool in evaluating the consequences of a proposed alternative since the effect of any change can be traced throughout the entire organization. Delegating budgets delegate responsibility to the managers who assume authority for a specified set of resources and activities. In this way budgets emphasise even more the existing organizational structure within the company. Educating the educating effect of a budget is perhaps most evident when the process is introduced in a company. Operating managers learn not only the technical aspects of budgeting but also how the company functions and how their business units interact with others. Better management of subordinates a budget enhances the skills of operating managers not only by educating them about how the company functions, but also by giving them the opportunity to manage their subordinates in a more professional manner. The requirements that all these functions impose upon a budget make it difficult for one system to meet them all. It is precisely because these requirements differ, that role conflicts in budgeting system arise. These need to be appropriately dealt with so that dysfunctional behaviour like budget padding or other damaging budget games for the company do not appear. Since there are three major roles for any budgeting system, at least three conflicts may arise (Barrett, Fraser, 1977, p. 141): Planning versus motivation For a budget to be most effective in the planning role, it should be based on a realistic assessment of the companys operating capabilities and on managements judgment about what is most likely to happen in the future. Yet this kind of budget runs the risk of setting targets so low that motivation is adversely affected since to motivate properly, budget objectives should be set higher than those for planning and be difficult yet attainable. On the other hand, these difficult yet attainable objectives lead to an overly optimistic budget and run the risk of falling short and under using company resources. Motivation versus evaluation There is a widely held belief that budget objectives should be set as fixed standards against which performance can be judged. Managers are also likely to be more committed to achieving this kind of objective since they know that the performance standards by which they are evaluated are not constantly changing. On the other hand, managers motivation can be impaired by rigid application of a fixed standard philosophy which doesnt consider the impacts of uncontrollable or unforeseeable events and doesnt allow for their removal from budget standards. Planning versus evaluation The planning roles requirement of providing realistic assessment of future prospects can conflict with the need to eliminate the effects of uncontrollable or unforeseeable environmental variables from the budget used for evaluation purposes. Yet, because they are separated in time, the conflict between these requirements is considered a minor one since it can be considerably reduced if appropriate adjustments are done at the end of the budget period. As can be seen in the previous paragraph, functions that typical budgets want to cover are very wide. It comes then as no surprise that those budgets are being used today in practice for many purposes. Bunce, Fraser and Woodcocks (1995) survey showed that general uses of budgets can be divided into financial and operational type of uses. Figure 2 clearly indicates that, of the various uses of budgeting for management, the most important are those financially oriented like the use of budgets for financial forecast, cost control, cash flow management, and capital expenditure supervision. The operational management uses of budgeting have been less common but the interviewed companies have concluded that, in todays business environment, they are of growing importance. The need to improve performance is intensifying to the point that it is no longer enough just to control costs, but That company must also pay attention to things like strategy, communication, and employee evaluation. These are purposes for which budgets have not been used so much in the past. As stated in the opening definition, budgets are plans set for a certain period of time, such as a month, quarter, and year and so on. This time period is then usually broken into smaller sub periods. The most frequently used budgets are annual budgets that are subdivided by months for the first quarter and by quarters for the remainder of the year. Of course, actual time periods for which budgets are made depend mostly on their purpose and use, and it is solely the decision of individual companies as to what time periods will be utilized for their budgeting process. 2.2. History of budgets: The English word budget stems from the French word bougette and the Latin word bulga which was a leather bag or a large-sized purse which travellers in medieval times hung on the saddle of their horse. The treasurers bougette was the predecessor to the small leather case from which finance ministries even today in countries like Great Britain and Holland present their yearly financial plan for the state. So after being used to describe the word wallet and then state finances, the meaning of the word budget in 19th century slowly shifted to the financial plan itself, initially only for governments and then later for private and legal entities (Hofstede, 1968, p. 19). It was only then that budgets started to be considered as financial plans and not just as money bags. The use of budgets as financial planning and control tools for business enterprises is historically a rather young phenomenon. In the US, early budgetary principles in companies were mostly derived from the budget techniques in government. The other source of budgetary principles for business in the US was the Scientific Management Movement, which in the years between 1911 and 1935 conquered the US industry. Many historians agree that early budgeting systems can be seen as a logical extension of Taylors Scientific Management from the shop floor to the total enterprise. However, it was not until the depression years after 1930 that budget control in US companies started to be implemented on a large-scale.Budgets with their focus on cost control simply became a perfect management tool for that period of time (ibid., p. 20). In Europe the idea of using budgets for business was firstly formulated by the French organization pioneer Henri Fayol (1841-1925). There was, however, little appli cation in practice. Another practical stimulus came from the ideas of the Czech entrepreneur Thomas Bata (1876-1925) who introduced the so-called departmental profit-and-loss-control as a tool for decentralizing his international shoe company into a federation of independently run small businesses. Nevertheless, the main inducement for the development of budgets and their implementation in European companies came from across the Atlantic in the years following the Second World War (ibid., p. 21). Companies like Du Pont and General Motors in the U.S., Siemens in Germany, and Saint Gobain and Elà ©ctricità © de France in France, which pioneered the M-form (multidivisional) organizational structure in the 1920s, first started to use budgets to support their rapid growth as they expanded into new products and markets. This was to help them to reduce the complexity of managing multiple strategies (Hope, Fraser, 1997, p. 20). The enormous diversity in the product markets served by these vertically integrated corporations required new systems and measures to coordinate dispersed and decentralized activities. In this kind of environment, budgets and ROI measure rightly played a key role in permitting central management to coordinate, motivate and evaluate the performance of their divisional managers, and perform a proper allocation of internal capital and resources (Johnson, Kaplan,1991, p. 11). However, it is was only in the 1960s that accountants started adding to budgets other functions (like management performance evaluation and motivation) in addition to those functions for which they had originally been devised planning and control (Hope, Fraser,1999b, p. 50). In that period, budgets became the central and most important activity within management accounting or in the words of Horngren, Foster and Datar: the most widely used accounting tool for planning and controlling organizations (2000, p. 178). This is exactly how budgets have remained to this day. The only thing that has changed in the meantime is the competitive environment in which todays companies operate and which has provoked many discussions about budgets disadvantages and their alternatives, some of which will be presented in later parts of this assessment. 2.3. Budgeting Process: The process of budgeting generally involves an iterative cycle which moves between targets of desirable performance and estimates of feasible performance until there is, hopefully, convergence to a plan which is both feasible and acceptable (Emmanuel, Otley, Merchant,1990, p. 31). Alternatively, if we look beyond many details and iterations of the usual budgeting process we can see that there is a simple universally applicable budgeting process, the phases of which can be described in the following manner (Finney, 1994, p. 16): Budget forms and instructions are distributed to all managers. The budget forms are filled out and submitted. The individual budgets are transformed into appropriate budgeting/accounting terms and consolidated into one overall company budget. The budget is reviewed, modified as necessary, and approved. The final budget is then used throughout the year to control and measure the organization. The inevitable dependence of individual budgets on one another requires that budgets be prepared in a hierarchical manner. Figure 3 indicates a common hierarchical form of the budgeting process together with the necessary data flow between particular budgets and phases of their making. This picture shows that despite having only a few general phases, the budgeting process, due to its linearity and iteration loop, is in fact a very complex and time consuming process. Since it is so complex and important, the budgeting process requires lots of decision making on the particular choices that developers of budgets have at their disposal. Churchill (1984, p.151) has provided a list of eight budget choices that managers have to be concerned with when setting up the budgeting system. Thereby, these concerns vary according to whether the company intends to use its budgets primarily for planning or for control. These budget choices are: Whether it is to be prepared from the bottom-up or top-down, How it is to be implemented, How the budget process is linked to the strategic planning process, Whether it should be a rolling budget and how often it should be revised, Whether performance should be evaluated against the original budget or the one relating to the actual activity level of the organization, Whether compensation/bonuses should be based on budgeted performance, What budget evaluation criteria should be used, and What degree of stretch should be incorporated into the budget. In general, accounting theory suggests that large companies should be concerned more with operational efficiency and emphasize coordination and control aspects of budgets, while smaller innovative firms should concentrate more on the planning aspects of their budgets. 2.4. Types Of Budgets: A budget is not a unitary concept but varies from organization to organization. The basic concept of budgeting involves estimating future performance, comparing actual results with the estimate, and analyzing the differences between them. Factors that are relevant in determining the type or style of an organizations budget and its effects include: the type of organization, the leadership style, personalities of people affected by the budget, the method of preparation, and the desired results of the budgeting process (Cherrington, Cherrington, 1973, p. 226). In general, budgets can be classified into two primary categories (Cohen, Robbins, Young,1994, p. 171): Operating budgets: Operating budgets consist of plans for all those activities that make up the normal operations of the firm. The main components of the firms operating budget include sales, production, inventory, materials, labour, overheads and RD budgets. Financial budgets: Financial budgets are used to control the financial aspects of the business. In effect, these budgets reveal the influence of the operating budgets on the firms financial position and earnings potential. They include a cash budget, capital expenditures budget and pro forma balance sheet and income statement. In figure 4, all major budgets that can be used in a typical company and how they are linked and interconnected within the larger system of the master budget can be seen. This confirms what has already been said about the budgeting process that individual budgets are dependent on one another which requires that they be prepared in a hierarchical manner. Except for the usual division of companies budgets into operational and financial, budgets can also be differentiated based on expenditure authority. Using this approach, two major groups of budgets can be defined (Kemp, Dunbar, 2003, p. 3): Line-item budgets These are budgets where the name of each line is set, as is the amount of money that can be spent on each item. If one works within a line-item budget, one can not overspend a specific line item and then compensate this with savings on other line (or vice versa). The authority to move money from one line item to another must be granted at a higher level. Block budgets These are the opposites of line-item budgets. Here a block of money is given. The details of the budget are presented but, later on, if one wants to spend more money on one item and less on another, one is free to do so. As long as the block of money is not overspent before the end of the year, the budget remains under control. 2.5. Budgets as planning tools: Welsch, Hilton, Gordon (1988, p. 73) have defined the budgeting process as a profit planning and control process and in that way not only have identified the two most important functions of budgets in organizations, but have also presented budgeting process in a wider context than it is usually depicted. Figure 5 clearly shows that the budgeting process is more than just a process of combining quantitative financial plans. It is a tool with which top management cascades strategy goals to operating levels. Budgets are ideal for this purpose since they are in essence the detailed quantification of targets for short-term choices of actions. Before continuing, it must be emphasised here that budgeting is not planning it is just the quantification of planning. Since the budget is fundamentally a plan, planning is the first important element of budgeting work. Planning is one of the elementary functions of management. It is the process of developing enterprise objectives and selecting a future course of action to accomplish them. It includes establishing enterprise objectives, developing premises about the environment in which they are to be accomplished, selecting a course of action for accomplishing the objectives, initiating activities necessary to translate plans into action and current replanning to correct deficiencies (Welsch, Hilton, Gordon, 1988, p. 3). It is a phase that involves the interpretation of the broader strategic policies derived during the formulation of strategy and their translation into more specific shorter-range plans. Once these short-term plans are quantified, they become budgets. That is why in many instances short-term planning and budgetary planning are used as synonyms. However, as figure 6 will show, connect ion between planning and budgeting is not isolated from influences of other elements that constitute corporate planning system and it is precisely the coherent functioning of the complete system that allows corporate planning to be implemented, period by period, through the budgetary process and its two elementary phases budgetary planning and budgetary Control (Lucey, 1996, p. 104). Apart from the purposes of setting desired objectives and goals and linking them with strategic long-range and tactical short-range plans, the fundamental objective of management planning within budgeting system is to provide a feedforward process for operations and control. It is this feedforward process that renders the planning phase of the budgeting system vitally important since it allows control and corrections of plans before they are even implemented. The difference between feedback and feedforward concepts is that feedback monitors past results to detect and correct disturbances to the plan, while feedforward reacts to immediate or forthcoming dangers by making adjustments to the system in advance in order to cope with the problem on time, i.e. feedback monitors, feedforward warns (Lucey,1996, p. 144). Since in any organizations it is unlikely that pure feedforward or pure feedback control could operate in isolation because feedback control is too slow, while feedforward control is too risky, these two concepts usually function within a single budgeting system as can be seen in figure 7. 2.6. Budgets as control devices : At the beginning of the period, the budget is a plan. At the end of the period, the budget is a control device to measure performance against expectations so that future performance may be improved. Control is achieved through continuous reporting of actual progress and expenditures relative to plans i.e. budgets (Shim, Siegel, 1994, p. 15). The aim of budgetary control is to provide a formal basis for monitoring the progress of the organization as a whole and of its component parts towards achievement of the objectives specified in budgets (Lucey, 1996, p. 147). Budgetary control process usually functions in a closed loop. This loop, which is illustrated in figure 8, starts with the planning phase, then records actual transactions, and finally reports against the plan and generates management response. In accounting literature, budgeting is also known as responsibility accounting. This means that plans and the resulting information on the performance of the plans are expressed in terms of human responsibilities because it is people, not reports that control operations. We can define responsibility accounting as a system of accounting in which costs and revenues are analysed in accordance with areas of personal responsibilities so that the performance of the budget holders can be monitored in financial terms (Lucey, 1996, p. 147). So the crucial thing for profit control is the division of authority and responsibility to managers. This means that managers should accept responsibility only over those figures that they have control. However, in practice, controllability1 is difficult to pinpoint for at least two reasons (Horngren, Foster, Datar, 2000, p. 195): Few costs are clearly under the sole influence of one manager. Over a long enough time span, all costs will come under somebodys control. For this reason, companies, alongside traditional responsibility centres2, also usually set up budget centres. These can be defined as a part of an organization for which a given manager has responsibility and authority and to which profit control data can be assigned (Harper,1995, p. 320). For budgeting control purposes, a special type of budget is prepared called the flexible budget. In order to understand why only those budgets can be used for the accurate measurement of performance, firstly the difference between them and fixed budgets must be explained. The fixed budget is based on the level of output planned at the start of the budget period. On the other hand, the flexible budget is developed using budgeted revenues or cost amounts based on the level of output actually achieved in the budget period (Horngren, Foster, Datar, 2000, p. 220). For this reason, from a control viewpoint, the fixed budget is likely to be inappropriate (unless by pure chance the actual level of activity turns out to be the same as the planned level which is highly unlikely) and should not be used for control purposes. It is with respect to this sort of budget that the old saying the budget is out of date before the budget period even begins is often a correct one (Harper, 1995, p. 336). 2.7. Benefits and problems associated with traditional budgeting: It is claimed that today as many as 99 percent of European and US companies are using budgets and have no intention of abandoning them (Better Budgeting: A report, 2004, p. 2). However, on the same page, it is stated that as many as 60 percent of those companies claim that they are not completely satisfied with their current budgeting systems and are continuously trying to improve them (ibid., p. 3). From this evidence, it is obvious that budgets carry with them many benefits and problems. Here is a list of some of the benefits that traditional budgeting can bring into organization if properly implemented and administered (Lucey, 1996, p. 161): It is a major formal way by which the organizational objectives are translated into specific plans, tasks and objectives related to individual managers and supervisors. It is an important medium for communication of organizational plans and objectives and of the progress made towards meeting those objectives. The development of budgets helps achieve coordination between the various departments and functions of the organization. The involvement of all levels of management in setting budgets, the acceptance of defined targets, the two way flow of information and other features of a properly organized budgeting system all help to promote a coalition of interest and to increase motivation. Managements time can be saved and attention directed to areas of greatest concern by the exception principle which is at the heart of budgetary control. Performance at all levels is systematically reported and monitored thus aiding the control of current activities. The investigation of operations and procedures, which is part of budgetary planning and the subsequent monitoring of expenditure, may lead to reduced costs and greater efficiency. The regular systematic monitoring of results compared to the plan (i.e. the budget) provides information upon which current operations are adjusted to bring them into line with the previous plan or, adjustments are made to the plan itself where this becomes necessary. The integration of budgets makes it possible to better manage cash and working capital and makes stock and buying policies more realistic. Nobody has better summarized in one sentence all the advantages of traditional budgeting as did Umapathy in his major work on budgeting practices in U.S. industry from 1987.Umapathy stated: There is no other managerial process that translates qualitative mission statements and corporate strategies into action plans, links the short-term with the long-term, brings together managers from different hierarchical levels and from different functional areas, and at the same time provides continuity by the sheer regularity of the process (Umapathy, 1987, p. xxii). It is exactly because of this that budgets will soon celebrate their century long existence. Since budgets encompass so many different functions and are used for so many things in organizations, it is obvious to expect them to have certain weaknesses. A group of authors at the Cranfield School of Management made an extensive review of budgeting literature. As part of their research, they identified 12 significant weaknesses of traditional planning and budgeting practices. These factors fall into three principal categories and can be listed as follows (Neely, Bourne, Adams, 2003, p. 23): Competitive strategy Budgets are rarely strategically focused and are often contradictory. Budgets concentrate on cost reduction and not value creation. Budgets constrain responsiveness and flexibility, and are often a barrier to change. Budgets add little value since they tend to be bureaucratic and discourage creative thinking. Business process Budgets are time consuming and costly to put together. Budgets are developed and updated too infrequently, usually annually. Budgets are based on unsupported assumptions and guesswork. Budgets encourage gaming and dysfunctional behaviour. Organizational capacity Budgets strengthen vertical command and control. Budgets do not re ¬Ã¢â‚¬Å¡ect the emerging network structures that organizations are adopting. Budgets reinforce departmental barriers rather than encourage knowledge sharing. Budgets make people feel undervalued. Furthermore, one of the biggest problems with budgets is that they tend to promote an inward-looking, short-term culture that focuses on achieving a budget figure, rather than on implementing business strategy and creating shareholder value over the medium to long term. For all these reasons, it is believed that these weaknesses lead collectively towards business underperformance and should therefore be dealt with (ibid). The above listed benefits and disadvantages of budgeting system have been present since the first d

Questionnaire Format

Introduction Before executing any survey a researcher should ask himself few questions in particular: * why you are asking the questions * who the results are for * what you expect to ? nd from the answers * how you are going to analyse the data when you get them If you re? ect on these questions, it will be easier to compose more appropriate, accurate questions that provide useful ? ndings. This re? ection should also help to understand which method will be the most appropriate for particular needs.The choice of method therefore depends on the questions that researcher want answered. If he want to know what people do in a particular situation then a questionnaire will probably be suf? cient. If its to identify why something has occurred, a questionnaire will provide less valid responses than in-depth interviews or focus groups because in-depth interviews and focus groups allow the respondent the freedom to express things in context that may not have thought of before. This course wo rk is dedicated to the questionnaire method of research in management.The work is separated into two parts: part one is giving an overview information of about questionnaires and part two is consider questionnaires as a research method in different type of management. Questionnaire is a formalized set of questions, usually paper based or delivered online, submitted for replies that can be analyzed for usable information: * social research * marketing research * management research Questionnaire design process 1. Specify the Information needed 2. Specify the Type of Interviewing methodAs it was said before each research should begin with some common steps such as specifying the necessary information and deciding which method of interviewing should be conducted for this particular research including all the advantages and possible obstacles. Also the researcher should assess what information will be sought after a thorough scanning of secondary sources of data and determine the target respondent. 3. Decide on the type of questionnaire and its structure 4. Evaluation of question content. Before including a question in the schedule, examine whether: * This question is really essential The respondent can understand the question. (i. e. is it too technical, ambiguous, or advanced for the target respondent? ) * The respondent can answer the question. (Say, the respondents possess sufficient knowledge. As such, it is better not to ask too much of factual data or about past history. ) * The respondent will answer the question. Specially, if it invades into one's privacy or it requires too much effort to answer, then they usually refuse to cooperate 5. Check question phrasing. For Example * Do words have ambiguity in meaning? Are there any implied alternatives in the question? * Are there some assumptions to be made to answer the question'? * Will the respondents approach the question from the same frame of reference as designed by the researcher? 6. Determine form of r esponse to each question: The response format may be open or closed ended. In general, the type of response format will depend on the objective of the research, nature of data to be collected and analysis to be performed. 7. Determine sequence of questions. * Use simple and interesting opening questions * Put the questions in logical manner Ask for classificatory data at the end 8. Assess the physical layout of the questionnaire. Naturally, the questionnaire must be printed properly; put in elegant form and facilitate handling. 9. Pre-test the questionnaire. It is normal practice to pretest a questionnaire on a small number of target respondents. The pretest is done to assess both individual questions and their sequence of response pattern. Accordingly, a researcher must revise questions which cause problems. While developing a questionnaire, researcher must: * Use simple words in framing the questions Avoid ambiguous- questions * Avoid implicit alternatives * Avoid questions that r equire too much memory recall and calculation * Avoid double barreled questions * Ideally, a questionnaire should first secure' some basic information to get the respondent's cooperation and gradually try to collect more information about the phenomenon of interest. * It is easier to administer a multiple choice response categories that requires one simple tick. Questionnaire format Questionnaire format depends upon the amount of structure and disguise required during data collection:Structure At the time of fronting the questionnaire the researcher must appropriately determine the degree of structure to be imposed on the questionnaire. A highly structured questionnaire is one in which the question to be asked and the responses permitted are explicitly pre-specified. On the other hand in a non-structured questionnaire the questions to be asked are kept flexible in their own words and also the respondents are allowed to answer the questions in a manner they like. The response pattern may vary from open-ended to closed-ended.In open-ended question the respondent is free to choose the possible response, whereas in the closed ended from the researcher pre specifies certain options and the respondent is allowed to choose the alternatives from the given options. Disguise Disguised questions is one where purpose is not made obvious to the respondents and is asked in an indirect manner. Non-disguised questions, on the other hand, are ones which are direct and the purpose of asking them is known clearly is the respondents. Disguised questions are used in the conditions when the issues concerned are such that respondents may not give correct answer to direct questions.Questionnaires by the format can be divided into the following categories: Structured non-disguised questionnaire| Structured-disguised questionnaire| * Questions are listed in a pre-arranged order * Respondents are told about the purpose of collecting information| * Questions are listed in a pre-arranged order * Respondents are not told about the purpose of conducting survey| Non-structured non-disguised questionnaire| Non-structured disguised questionnaire| * Questions are not structured. * Researcher is free to ask questions in any sequence he/she wants. Respondents are told about the purpose of collecting information| * Questions are not structured * Researcher is free to ask questions in any sequence he/she wants. * Respondents are not told about the purpose of conducting survey| Structured, non-disguised questionnaires are very popular in marketing research studies. These are more applicable when large sample sizes are there. Non-structured, non-disguised questionnaires, on the other hand, are used when a freehand is to be provided to the respondents so that in-depth information on the subject could be solicited e. . in industrial marketing research wherein number of respondents would also be low. Non-structured, disguised questionnaires are mainly used in `motivation research' . ‘Wore Association Test', ‘ Sentence Completion Test', `Thematic Appreciation Test', ‘Cartoon Test', etc. may be used in this category, Structured disguised questionnaires are more appropriate where responses are required towards certain sensitive issues like attitude towards aids patients, abortion etc. Questionnaire length and structure It is commonly accepted that a questionnaire should not be over long.People’s short attention spans mean that long questionnaires are completed less accurately as people rush to ? nish them. This is also true for obvious question repetition with respondents biased towards simply repeating what they said before whether it is accurate or not. One major problem with very long questionnaires is the likelihood of participants skim reading them, which increases the likelihood of participants misinterpreting complex questions. This is also a problem with back-ground information or instructions given at the beginning of the questi onnaire.Many of these problems can be counteracted with careful design of the questionnaire. The amount of motivation felt by participants to complete the questionnaire can affect how much they are prepared to concentrate on completing it. For example, participants who feel the outcomes of the research will directly bene? t them may feel more motivated to complete a questionnaire and vice versa. Since a spread of different types of users is often required, it is important to understand these variations when designing and piloting the questionnaire.To increase the usability and effectiveness of the questionnaire tool it is important to consider questionnaire is structured. This means reviewing the sequence of questions very carefully. Grouping questions together under a common theme heading will help the respondent contextualize the subsequent questions. This approach will also help identify how the sequence is likely to affect the respondent. The order in which questions are present ed may bias your respondent to give more or less favorable responses.This can also happen with the response scales whereby a respondent gives the same answer throughout a section without reading the questions. To counteract this can either counterbalance the questions or can counterbalance the response. Piloting the questionnaire should help identify these problems and correct them in the ? nal version. Question wording When designing questions it is important to consider if each question will have the same meaning for everyone. It is, therefore important to make sure frame of reference is clear. Providing de? nitions or examples is a useful way to overcome these problems.Some researchers provide scenarios at the beginning of sections to contextualize the questions. Keeping questions as short and simple as possible will increase the likelihood that they will be understood as well as the accuracy of responses. Questions that are complicated by double negatives or loaded words are par ticularly hard for a respondent to answer. It is also important not to ask more than one question at once (e. g. ‘How do you rate the system response times to urgent and non-urgent request? ’). Similarly it is essential not to ask a question that requires them to interpret meaning of a term (e. g. Do you attend online tutorials on a regular basis? ’ What is meant by the concept ‘regular basis’, is it once a day or once a week? ). Providing a range within which to choose a response will help to clarify these choices. Ranges can also help respondents feel happier about answering some questions. For example, being asked to write down age can feel far more invasive than choosing from a selection of age ranges. Ultimately, it is always important to consider what biases you may be relaying through the wording of a question. Leading questions are frequently the major problem with most questionnaires (e. . ‘Why do you think online assessment is wrong? ’). Similarly questions that invite a socially desirable response will produced a biased set of responses. Finally, assuming a respondent will be able to remember accurate details of events several months ago is unrealistic and will produce inaccurate responses. Question types Contingency questions – A question that is answered only if the respondent gives a particular response to a previous question. This avoids asking questions of people that do not apply to them (for example, asking men if they have ever been pregnant).Matrix questions – Identical response categories are assigned to multiple questions. The questions are placed one under the other, forming a matrix with response categories along the top and a list of questions down the side. This is an efficient use of page space and respondents’ time. Closed ended questions – Respondents’ answers are limited to a fixed set of responses. Most scales are closed ended. Other types of closed ended questions include: * Yes/no questions – The respondent answers with a â€Å"yes† or a â€Å"no†. * Multiple choice – The respondent has several option from which to choose. Scaled questions – Responses are graded on a continuum (example : rate the appearance of the product on a scale from 1 to 10, with 10 being the most preferred appearance Open ended questions – No options or predefined categories are suggested. The respondent supplies their own answer without being constrained by a fixed set of possible responses. Examples of types of open ended questions include: * Completely unstructured – For example, â€Å"What is your opinion on questionnaires? † * Word association – Words are presented and the respondent mentions the first word that comes to ind. * Sentence completion – Respondents complete an incomplete sentence. For example, â€Å"The most important consideration in my decision to buy a new house is . . . † * Story completion – Respondents complete an incomplete story. * Picture completion – Respondents fill in an empty conversation balloon. * Thematic apperception test – Respondents explain a picture or make up a story about what they think is happening in the picture Question Sequence Items on a questionnaire should be grouped into logically coherent sections.Grouping questions that are similar will make the questionnaire easier to complete, and the respondent will feel more comfortable. Questions that use the same response formats, or those that cover a specific topic, should appear together. Each question should follow comfortably from the previous question. Writing a questionnaire is similar to writing anything else. Transitions between questions should be smooth. Questionnaires that jump from one unrelated topic to another feel disjointed and are not likely to produce high response rates.Most investigators have found that the order in which q uestions are presented can affect the way that people respond. Questions in the latter half of a questionnaire were more likely to be omitted, and contained fewer extreme responses. Some researchers have suggested that it may be necessary to present general questions before specific ones in order to avoid response contamination. Other researchers have reported that when specific questions were asked before general questions, respondents tended to exhibit greater interest in the general questions. It is not clear whether or not question-order affects response.A few researchers have reported that question-order does not effect responses, while others have reported that it does. Generally, it is believed that question-order effects exist in interviews, but not in written surveys. Some general rules about question sequence: * flow logically from one to the next * researcher must ensure that the answer to a question is not influenced by previous questions * flow from the more general to the more specific * flow from the least sensitive to the most sensitive * flow from factual and behavioral questions to attitudinal and opinion questions * flow from unaided to aided questionsCoding and Tabulating Coding is the technical name used to categorize the data collected. It involves specifying the alternative categories or classes into which responses are to be placed and assigning code numbers to the classes. In fact, coding closed-ended questions are simple, depending on the response pattern one may design the various codes for different responses. Open-ended questions are, however, very difficult to code. Here no uniform rules exit. The researchers have been found to apply their own discretion in developing the coding procedure..Tabulation consists of simply counting the number of cases that fall into the various categories. It may take the form of simple or cross tabulation. Simple tabulation involves counting the responses based on one variable. One may apply various statistical tools like mean, median, mode, standard deviation or variance to condense and interpret the data. To present the data in graphical form one may make use of various forms of statistical graphs like histogram, frequency polygon, ogive etc. A brief description of these tools is given below.Histogram: It is a form of bar chart where the values of the variable are placed on the X-axis and the frequency of each distinct occurrence is indicated on the Y-axis. Frequency polygon: Figure obtained from the histogram by joining the midpoints of the bars of the histogram with straight lines. Ogive: This graph shows the number of cases having a value less than or equal to specified quantity; that is, the cummulative frequency is generated. Afterwards the cummulative frequencies are plotted along the Y- axis against the given combination of values of the variable (or X-axis).Advantages and Disadvantages of Questionnaires Advantages| Disadvantages| The researcher is able to contact larg e numbers of people quickly, easily and efficiently using a postal questionnaire | The format of questionnaire design makes it difficult for the researcher to examine complex issues and opinions. Even where open-ended questions are used, the depth of answers that the respondent can provide tend to be more-limited than with almost any other method of research. This makes it difficult for a researcher to gather information that is rich in depth and detail. Questionnaires are relatively quick and easy to create, code and interpret (especially if closed questions are used). In addition, the respondent- not the researcher – does the time-consuming part of completing the questionnaire| With a postal questionnaire, the researcher can never be certain the person to whom the questionnaire is sent actually fills it in. For example, if your research is concerned with finding-out the opinions of women on a range of issues, it would be less than useful if an unknown number of the question naires sent by the researcher were filled-in by men| A questionnaire is easy to standardise.For example, every respondent is asked the same question in the same way. The researcher, therefore, can be sure that everyone in the sample answers exactly the same questions, which makes this a very reliable method of research. | Where the researcher is not present, it's always difficult to know whether or not a respondent has understood a question properly. | Questionnaires can be used to explore potentially embarrassing areas (such as sexual and criminal matters) more easily than other methods. The questionnaire can, for example, be both anonymous and completed in privacy.This increases the chances of people answering questions honestly because they are not intimidated by the presence of a researcher. | The researcher has to hope the questions asked mean the same to all the respondents as they do to the researcher. This is a problem that can – to some extent – be avoided by conducting a Pilot Study prior to conducting the real survey | Relatively inexpensive method, does not require any investments| The response rate (that is, the number of questionnaires that are actually returned to the researcher) tends to be very low for postal questionnaires.A 20 – 25% return of questionnaires is probably something that most researchers would happily settle for and this may mean that a carefully-designed sample becomes unrepresentative of a target population. | | The problem of the self-selecting sample is particularly apparent in relation to questionnaires. When a response rate is very low the responses received may only be the opinions of a very highly motivated section of the sample (that is, people with strong opinions who take the time and trouble to complete and return a questionnaire)|Questionnaires in Management Management questionnaires are an important way of knowing about the productivity, sales and morale of the company. It provides an opening i nto the hearts and minds of the employees and enables the management to take corrective steps to change and improve the work environment for enhanced productivity. Managers need to prepare questions for recruitment of staffs, which involves all type of questions from technical to personal. Even managers themselves have to answer questions for their own appraisal process.Before designing the management questionnaire, it is necessary to understand the goal of the questionnaire? What are benefits of the questionnaire to the management and company as a whole? Start with a brief introduction, highlight the objective and motive of the questionnaire and what you aim to achieve from this survey. You can define a wide range of questions on strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats to make it comprehensive. Make sure the questions are independent in nature and easy to understand.Top level managers need to question their subordinates about their work and need to know about their psychol ogy Thus management questionnaires prove to be very beneficial for various different types of organizations. These questionnaires are not only important for employers but for employees as well. Management questionnaires are used in different type of management such as: * Performance management A performance management questionnaire is an essential instrument for collecting data. This data can be used to enhance management performance.By carrying out a survey on performance management, companies are in a better position to identify areas that require improvement and implement ways through which improvement of performance can be achieved. * Project management A project management questionnaire covers various areas in line with a particular project, the strategic processes of project management, how management processes are coordinated right from their initiation to their eventual completion. This helps to keep track of the progress that is being made and what else can be done. * Time ManagementA time management questionnaire is formulated for the purpose of evaluating individuals on their time management habits and character traits. Time is an essential resource and effective time management has a significant impact on performance. A time management questionnaire helps people identify areas of their life in which they can improve. * Supply Chain Management Supply chain management is the sensitive procedure being initiated by the corporate to ensure the growth process in which the raw material is supplied to the concerned department to boost the production.In supply chain questionnaire, the concerned department will follow certain working standards to answer all the questions. On the basis of the outcome of this questionnaire, an organization can easily evaluate the percentage of success of the supply chain department. * Human Resource Management A Human Resource Management Questionnaire is a set of questions regarding the management of the human resource departm ent of an organization. It has information regarding the number of employees involved and the structure and functioning of the human resource department.Examples of questionnaires can be found in Appendix Bibliography 1. Kinnear, Thomas C. and James R. Taylor, † Marketing Research – An Applied Approach† McGraw-Hill International Edition. 2. Adams, Anne and Cox, Anna L. (2008). Questionnaires, in-depth interviews and focus groups. In: Cairns, Paul and Cox, Anna L. eds. Research Methods for Human Computer Interaction. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press 3. Questionnaire Design. A. N. Oppenheim Continuum International Publishing Group Ltd. ; New edition edition (17 Aug 2000) 4.Developing a Questionnaire (Real world research). Bill Gillham. Continuum (1 Jun 2000) Appendix Performance Management Questionnaires Company Name †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦. Industry †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦. Number of employees †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦. Company position †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦. Rate the following using this key: * Unsatisfactory *Average *Good *Excellent Efficiency in the use of resources †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦ Assurance of quality performance †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦.. Employee satisfaction †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦.. Employee training and development †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦.. Customer service †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦. Quality of products †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦.. Quality standards †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã ¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Safety standards †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦.. Rate of product delivery †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦.. Staff punctuality †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦. Corporate social responsibility †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦. Project Management Questionnaires Is there a project management process in existence? †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦ What is the scope of the project? †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦.. What project phases are put in place? †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦.. Upon the undertaking of projects, is there further delegation of tasks? †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦ Who is responsible for the realization of project objectives? †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦ Which processes of project management currently exist? †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚ ¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦ What are the financial implications of these processes? †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦. Are there guidelines in place for project organization and quality assurance? †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦ Do processes related to the projects meet the needs of key stakeholders? †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦ Is the project independently carried out? †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦ Time management questionnaire Do you prioritize your tasks? †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Do you allow interruptions to take your attention away from important tasks? †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦ Do you take on tasks even when the time is not sufficient? †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦.. Do you take on other people’s tasks? †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦. Do you take breaks during the day? †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦ Do you take a long time to complete normal tasks? †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦. Do you find yourself working o ver the weekend or during holidays? †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦. Do you easily find your things? †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦. Do you spend a lot of time on recreational activities? †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦ Supply Chain Management Name of the department: ____________________ Head of the department: _____________________ Date of the questionnaire: ____/____/_____Q1: Is supply chain management having all the address of the developer branches of the company? Yes No Q2: Rate the working strategies of supply chain management department on the basis of the current programs? 10. Outstanding 9. Excellent 8. Good 7. Average Q3: Is the supply chain management department is having sufficient transportation? Yes Not sufficient Q4: According to the current growth process of the organization, which of the following needs much attention and progress to boost the production? Operational activities Tactical activities Current programming strategiesQ5: Choose the right option, wher e the supply chain department is facing problem in taking care of the raw material? During storage Packaging Testing of packaging Evaluation of defective raw material Q6: How do you rate the delivery activity of the department? 10. Excellent 9. Very effective 8. Good 7. Average Q7: Is there any case recorded by the supply chain department in which the production department complained late delivery of raw materials? Yes No Human Resource Management Questionnaire Name____________________________ Address________________________ Name of organisation ______________________Sector __________________ Address of organisation ___________________ city __________________ Email id of employee _____________________________ Contact number ______________________________________ Q1. State the number of employees in your organisation _______________________ Q2. How many employees are in the HR department _______________________? Q3. What sort of structure does your HR department have? _______________ ___________________________ Q4. What are the responsibilities and scope involved? _____________________________________________________________________

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Morgans Raid in the Civil War

Thomas Paines Political Influence During the 1700s

Thomas Paine was an English-American, writer and revolutionist; he was born on January 29, 1736. From 1772 to 1773, Paine joined excise officers asking Parliament for better pay and working conditions, publishing, in summer of 1772, The Case of the Officers of Excise, a twenty-one-page article, and his first political work. On June 4 1774, mathematician, Fellow of the Royal Society, and Commissioner of the Excise George Lewis Scott introduced him to Benjamin Franklin, who suggested him to move to British colonial America. In October, Thomas Paine departed from Great Britain to the American colonies. He arrived in Philadelphia on November 30 1774. He became a citizen of Pennsylvania by taking the oath of allegiance at a very early period. In January 1775, he became the editor of the Pennsylvania Magazine. In April 1775, during the battles of Lexington and Concord, Paine viewed, that the Colonies had all the right to revolt against a government that imposed taxes on them but which did not give them the right of representation in the Parliament at Westminster. But he went even further: for him there was no reason for the Colonies to stay dependent on England. On January 10 1776 he namelessly published the best-selling American title of that period named Common Sense, signed as â€Å"Written by an Englishman†. Common Sense was another article that directly demanded independence from British government, it was the most widely read pamphlet of the American Revolution. InShow MoreRelatedThe Age of Reason and Revolution Essay810 Words   |  4 Pagesbrought on many changes to religious, political, scientific, and literary aspects of the eighteenth century. The Age of Reason and Revolution was a time of change. This age, and the changes in it, was mainly brought upon by the Renaissance, along with some other technological inventions that made reasoning possible. But mainly, the Renaissance provided the historical roots for the Age of Reason. The Age of Reason had tremendous influence in arts and architecture, intellectualRead MoreNationalism And Its Impact On Society1755 Words   |  8 PagesNationalism was coined back in the 1770’s it has a major role in the shaping many nations throughout the world. Nationalism has many positive and negative aspects to it. Nationalism has the strength to unify people despite their classes. It also has the ability to united people to lead movements against oppressive governments. There is a downside Nationalism can as method to evoke fear. The biggest negative is that most nationalism movement’s inevitably led to some form of conflict. Nationalism isRead MorePro’s and Con’s of Nationalism Essay1814 Words   |  8 PagesPro’s and Con’s of Nationalism Nationalism was coined back in the 1770’s it has a major role in the shaping many nations throughout the world. Nationalism has many positive and negative aspects to it. Nationalism has the strength to unify people despite their classes. It also has the ability to united people to lead movements against oppressive governments. There is a downside Nationalism can as method to evoke fear. The biggest negative is that most nationalism movement’s inevitably led to someRead MoreLogical Reasoning189930 Words   |  760 PagesKirkwood Community College; and Stephanie Tucker, California State University Sacramento. Thinking and writing about logical reasoning has been enjoyable for me, but special thanks go to my children, Joshua, 8, and Justine, 3, for comic relief during the months of writing. This book is dedicated to them. For the 2012 edition: This book is dedicated to my wife Hellan whose good advice has improved the book in many ways. vi Table of Contents Preface....................................

Bahram Ahmadi Free Essays

string(63) " that the portfolio management processes are enabled properly\." A programme of work for the implementation of a strategy is a large set of coherent guidelines that include several activities in the program so as to achieve certain objectives. It involves several processes including organising, coordination, developing, designing, training, building, developing, growing, closing, etc. In any program strategy for a project, the objectives of the organisation play a very important role. We will write a custom essay sample on Bahram Ahmadi or any similar topic only for you Order Now The project program strategy gives importance to the manager that would be responsible for carrying out the operations of the project, the timing and the nature of the activities, and the dealing with specific tastes of the customers. Project program strategy is highly specific to a project. However, there may be more than one strategy to be employed to meet the objectives of the project. During the planning stages, the managers would sit down to develop a strategy. These strategies are developed so as to be appropriate with the characteristics of the organisation, human resources, geographical location, social features, politics, etc (Walter, 1999). For each project in an organisation, the program of work (workflow as such) is managed independently. The project manager would be looking at several limitations in the resources, including time, money and the scope. A project may fail due to several reasons (including deficiency of resources, lack of goals, conflict issues, problems with the customers, etc), and the manager would have to anticipate these problems right during the initiation of the project and ensure that a problem-solving process is enabled. Each project manager would be determining the ongoing processes in the project through monitoring and evaluation of the performances. The project manager would have to adopt different strategies so that the organisation could achieve certain objectives and hence reach a desired goal (Brentani, 2003, Walter, 1999, University of Texas, 2007 Rad, 2006). The process of developing a strategy for the project is very simple. The managers would have to sit down and decide the various objectives that need to be achieved by the project. The means of achieving such objectives need to be discussed. The manager should involve other parties including the administration, the portfolio manager and the stakeholders. It may be very difficult to come to a consensus if too many people are involved in the process. This is because several people may have different values, outlines and approaches. The process of setting up the objectives, determining the goals and the ways of achieving them is very tedious and could take a long time. The manager should associate the strategy needed to achieve the objectives. During the final stages, the manager would have to also ensure that the strategy/ies adopted help to meet the objectives (Walter, 1999) On the other hand, portfolio of the project management is an approach in which various projects in an organisation are treated as smaller portions of a much larger venture (with respect to investment and resource allocations). The project portfolio management would be functional right from the initiation of the project to the very completion. Certain instruments are utilised in the portfolio project management to help the managers (including planning, allocation of resources, evaluation, monitoring, analysing, standardization, etc). This can be considered as a centralised instrument required to effectively handle several projects in an organisation and to study the performance of several projects that may run in an organisation. It can be utilised to compare and contrast various projects. One very important feature of project portfolio management is to determine the costs, expenditure, benefits, investments and other features of the project. In recent years portfolio management has turned out to be a very important aspect of planning, especially in IT firms. IT companies would be managing several projects and programs running in various parts of the world through an effective portfolio management system. Studies conducted in the past have demonstrated a little less than half of the IT companies are unable to meet their targets due to inefficient portfolio management (Oracle, 2007, Stanford University, 2007 UMT Consulting Services, 2007). The portfolio manager mix of projects should be such that the resources of the organisation are utilised effectively. They should be selected in such a way that the risks are significantly reduced. The portfolio manager is in a good position to priortize the projects and accordingly allocates the resources. He should be able to select the project based on their ability to fulfil certain criteria (Crow, 2004 Oracle, 2007). A portfolio management system would be much broader and would include several other processes such as defining the opportunities, bringing those projects into the focus that would be able to achieve some objectives, monitoring of the projects, etc. Portfolio management should be considered to be an art rather than a science. Frequently, portfolio managers would have to work with the fund managers of the organisation, so that there is effective use of the money. Portfolio management is frequently utilised in several developed, and slowly developing nations are moving towards effective portfolio management (Crow, 2004, Brentani, 2003 Rad, 2006). A portfolio management system is often utilised by an organisation to bring about success in the project (as many projects could be effectively be handled simultaneously). A portfolio may be funds or resources and can be utilised by the organisation to increase returns over a very short period of time. An organisation would observe that the resources available at any point of time would be less than the amount of resources required by a particular project. Hence, one of the main objectives of the portfolio managers would be to effectively manage the resources of several ongoing projects. The management of the organisation needs to sit and figure out what the commitment of the organisation would actually be. As management of an organisation is a dynamic process, this exercise has to be done from time to time. Besides, actually managing several resources including human resources, logistics, IT, support systems, etc, time also needs to be handled. The management should be very much interested in ensuring that the portfolio management processes are enabled properly. You read "Bahram Ahmadi" in category "Papers" The organisation should ensure that the interests of each and every protject are enabled. If a project is not performing properly, the ideal plan would be to discontinue it, if the organisation does not have the resources to handle it. A proper flow of information of the project should exist so that the process of monitoring is effective. It is very important that the projects be managed in a formal and official manner. The data that would be flowing would be much more accurate and effective in ensuring the objectives of the organisation are met. There should be a clear flow of data between the programs, projects and the portfolios (Brentani, 2003, Walter, 1999, Rad, 2006). In the portfolio management, all the projects that are ongoing in the organisation are chosen and a standardised fashion of evaluating them is utilised. Portfolio management is very much required for the production, development and the utilisation of ideas and intellectual property in various projects in an organisation. The portfolio manager would be performing various tasks such as reallocating and promoting the staff members (as per their characteristics) in various projects. Thus it can be seen that if an organisation has a very good portfolio manager, he would be using the human resources very efficiently (UMT Consulting Group, 2007). The entire framework of portfolio management involves three steps, namely creating, selecting and managing. The goals and the strategies to be adopted in the portfolio management are made keeping in mind the characteristics of the organisation. Accordingly, new opportunities that are present should be identified and resources allocated. The objectives have to be prioritised and the tasks and activities that are to be done are selected. Finally, it is also important that the project be managed in the most efficient and organised manner (UMT Consulting Group, 2007). Many organisations do not have any portfolio management process running. Only the companies that feel that research frequently perform it and development is vital for the well being of the company. Only about 10 % of all organisations in the industry do have a strong portfolio management system in place. If a portfolio management system were not in place, then all the projects in the organisation would be given equal amount of importance or authorisation. This would result in all the projects that are going on in the organisation are given equal amount of resources (Rad, 2006). In an organisation, the project or the program manager would ensure that the project could achieve its objectives. On the other hand, the portfolio manager would ensure that the operational activities and the maintenance programs in the organisation are smooth and functional. The team leader and the middle scale managers usually do the project management. On the other hand, the higher staff members including the administration do the portfolio management. The higher management of the organisation would be concentrating on the portfolio, rather than the functioning of each individual project (Brentani, 2003 Rad, 2006). In a project or a program management, the team leaders and the manager would ensure that the staff members meet the specific goals of the project. The organisations main aim would be to deliver quality products or services. The portfolio manager would instead be ensuring that the goals of each and every project are in tune with that of the organisation. In the project management, a lot of importance is given to completing the tasks on time and ensuring that costs are limited. On the other hand, the portfolio management would be concentrating to a very less extent on fulfilling completion tasks on time and using the minimal amount of resources. The members of the portfolio management team would include the leader, the stakeholder, advocates, project managers and the office managers (Brentani, 2003, Stanford University, 2007 Rad, 2006). The project or the program management should work in coordination with the portfolio management. Several processes in the project such as selection of the resources, prioritisation of the targets of the project, and the resource allocation should be performed in the most appropriate manner. The decision-making of the project needs to be very active and dynamic in nature. Informed decision-making and resource allocation is very important for the project to function properly. The project or program manager has to ensure that certain structures or a framework in the organisation is in place before the functional activities can be carried out. The project environment should be such that the objectives kept in mind can be achieved. The program manager and the portfolio manager should ensure that an environment is created that would be conducive to achieving the objectives of the organisation. The project members should function as a team so that the objectives are met. The team working on the project should have the skill, experience, knowledge and the competence to carry out the tasks of the project. One of the main reasons why projects do not succeed is because they may take long time to produce the results or may consume a lot of the resources. To ensure the project is effective (to ensure completion of the tasks) and efficient (completion of the tasks with appropriate use of the resources) in its objectives, it is very much needed that both the project management and the portfolio management work in close coordination with each other (Brentani, 2003 Rad, 2006). The management activities of the portfolio management would be repetitive in nature. On the other hand, the management activities of the project management would be cyclic in nature. If the portfolio manager can take care of the functioning of all the projects, then the organisation can be considered to be very competitive. If a project does well, it would have an impact on the functioning of the organisation, but also on other projects (Brentani, 2003 Rad, 2006). Portfolio management would definitely help the organisation to grow, expand and develop. The wealth of the organisation would increase with an effective portfolio management strategy. The portfolio manager would be bringing in various assets (including infrastructure, support systems, financial resources, human resources, logistics, etc) and securities into the organisation. He would be considering investing in various ways including growth stock investing and value stock investing. From time to time, the objectives of the organisation would vary and hence, it is the duty of the portfolio managers to vary the investment pattern in the organisation. A greater amount of flexibility would be required. The management style of the portfolio managers should also vary depending on the needs (Brentani, 2003). A portfolio manager and the program/project manager would be concentrating on different characteristics of the project. The portfolio manager would be using the PPM (project portfolio management) tools, whereas the project manager would be using the single-project management tools. The PPM tools would ensure that the functioning becomes more and more efficient, the costs are effectively distributed and the profits of the organisation are increased. It also ensures that the organisation is following a particular framework whilst managing the projects (Brentani, 2003 UMT, 2007). Each project has to be carefully planned and implemented in the organisation. The entire project management should be done in phases. The project management tools would ensure that the staff members make effective use of the resources in the organisation and ensure completion of the targets that are required within the project. The project manager would have to motivate the staff so that the work is improved in quality and the project is able to achieve its targets. Only if the management practises of the project are appropriate, could it be able to achieve its objectives (Free Management Library, 2007, Brentani, 2003 Rad, 2006). The program strategy would be concerning a greater amount of internal issues with relation to the project, whereas the project portfolio management would be concerning the external issues. It is necessary that the portfolio mangers align their objectives as per the strategic objectives of each program. The portfolio processes should be customised to suit other management processes that would be functional in the organisation, simultaneously. Both program strategy management and portfolio management involve interacting with the clients, and hence demonstrate the importance of clients with respect to management and its processes (Stanford University, 2007). References: Brentani, C. (2003), Portfolio Management, Elsevier, Philadelphia http://books. google. com/books? id=8LJrilH_eEECpg=PT14dq=portfolio+managementsig=x-IYrHl67RaZTocKedqv_fTBX3w#PPT16,M1 Crow, K. (2004), A Practical Approach To Portfolio Management, [Online], Available: http://www. npd-solutions. com/portfolio. html, [Accessed: 2007, August 18]. Free Management Library (2007), Project Management, [Online], Available: http://www. managementhelp. org/plan_dec/project/project. htm, [Accessed: 2007, August 18]. Oracle (2007), Peoplesoft Enterprise Project Portfolio Management, [Online], Available: http://www. oracle. com/media/peoplesoft/en/pdf/datasheets/e_epm_ds_projportmgmt_41005. pdf, [Accessed: 2007, August 18]. Rad, P. F. Levin, G. (2006), Project Portfolio Management, IIL, New York. http://books. google. com/books? id=PUavbSMdP7QCpg=PA7dq=project+portfolio+managementsig=Nwscmbzr4s8B_X2cHG26-1hiW9Y#PPA10,M1 Stanford Advanced Project Management (2007), Mastering the Project Portfolio, [Online], Available: http://apm. stanford. edu/courses/MPP. html, [Accessed: 2007, August 18]. Stanford University (2007), Portfolio Management Team, [Online], Available: http://www. stanford. edu/dept/its/projects/PMO/files/pmt. html, [Accessed: 2007, August 18]. Walter, S. L. (1999), Defining and developing program strategies, [Online], Available: http://www. sil. org/lingualinks/literacy/PlanALiteracyProgram/DefiningAndDevelopingProgramSt. htm, [Accessed: 2007, August 18]. Walter, S. L. (1999), Defining program objectives, [Online], Available: http://www. sil. org/lingualinks/literacy/PlanALiteracyProgram/DefiningProgramObjectives. htm, [Accessed: 2007, August 18]. UMT Consulting Services (2007), PPM – Project Portfolio Management Consulting, [Online], Available: http://www. umt. com/site/PPM-Consulting_60. html? PHPSESSID=9917b5631be27d19dbb1d077885e2866, [Accessed: 2007, August 18]. UMT Consulting Group (2007), What’s Really Driving the Importance of Portfolio Management? (DM Review, February 27, 2004), [Online], Available: http://www. umt. com/site/Why-Portfolio-Management_4. html, [Accessed: 2007, August 18]. University of Texas –DIIA (2007), Project management tutorial, [Online], Available: http://www. utexas. edu/academic/cit/howto/tutorials/project/index. html, [Accessed: 2007, August. How to cite Bahram Ahmadi, Papers

Business Process Management Report

Question: Discuss about theBusiness Process Management Report. Answer: Introduction This report will look the aspects of cloud computing in delivering better business process management. The report looks at the review of article BPM in the Cloud and with it we would also look at the supporting evidence. We will also look at the effect of cloud and other access platforms. Apart from this we will look at the effect of reduced upfront costs. Apart from this we can also look at the effect of change in business IT systems. There are several influences of an IT based system. We look into each of these aspects. SaaS as a Hardware, Installation and Hosting Platform Since the absence of client software made SaaS very popular. The technology change was not very huge but the big change came up for BPM in terms of product design. Initially the cost structure made the cost of hosting and maintenance getting transferred from the buyer to the vendor this reflected a major issue for the cloud system. Then we can look at the complex VPN network which makes it difficult to login to the client system since VPN connectivity needs to be there. As per other supportive reports, SMAC based technologies have a market share that has been rising at the rapid pace of 20% CAGR. Hence there have been several steep rises. We can also see that there are several enhancements that have led to a higher growth over the years. But out of all the SMAC technologies cloud services have witnessed the maximum growth and market significance due to ease in adaptability. The proliferation of the SMAC based technology market indicates a rapid development towards this kind of a market. B2B Collaboration The ease of B2B collaboration increases with cloud systems. When collaborating with people in other companies, effective firewall systems that have an internalized corporate system become difficult to use. The on-server installation costs can be reduced. There are a large number of smaller deployments and procedures that are not very feasible. For BPM services there has been a struggle to integrate the ease of sharing cases and other task orientations with other forms of collaborative spaces in the context of a number of companies. Hence the B2B collaborative effort is reduced. The other companies have capabilities to develop in this technology space while Apple does not have the same. They have also lagged behind when it comes to internet services. Reduction in Upfront Investment The on-server installation costs can be reduced. There are a large number of smaller deployments and procedures that are not very feasible. Large organizations are process oriented that deem the fitness of the BPM process. Without the upfront investments and procedural challenges the upfront investment reduces significantly (Watfa, Najjar, Cheikha and Buali 2015). Let us take the example of Apple Not being able to scale up its SMAC based services especially the cloud services is a deep rooted challenge for Apple. The other companies have capabilities to develop in this technology space while Apple does not have the same. They have also lagged behind when it comes to internet services. These include the failure of Apple Maps, MobileMe and others. They do not have internal talent to bridge this gap. They need to look for external hires. Apple is internally driven and do not believe in inorganic growth to achieve the closure of gap between the capability and the desired end product. There will always been a higher threat of misalignment, Cloud has substituted the traditional way of data storage and availability. Hence an inflection point should be reached to ensure that there will be greater proliferation of efficient consumer friendly platforms. Cloud has brought in the focus of the business upon the consumers. Consumers would not leave and disengage due to the way cloud computing is handled since they operate in the rare space of technology at ease which gives into a wide range of products into the main fold of SMAC based technologies. End Users and Clients Bring your own BPM solution becomes very difficult for execution. Thus making the solutions self-driven, which might lack in other processes. The IT department selection process often involves a request for proposal (RFP). These request for proposals contain whatever the vendors can do with the given problem. Thus the features are added and hence the vendors find this as a big driver. RFPs and analyst firms have pushed BPM solutions to include more features and functions but this has become increasingly difficult to curtail costs since there are implicit costs which have been rising. The traditional methods of competing are no longer in use to long term sustenance. Companies need to think out of the box and apply that knowledge to get the best results. These results determine the effect of companies that can bring about a revolutionary change in their approach. This leads to the development of a far more integrated strategy. Market beliefs and marketing techniques are not specific they cannot be fixated by a single technique. Blue Ocean strategy can also be seen to have impacted the value innovation model (Subramanian, V., Mungi, A., Sivakumar, and Viswanathan 2013). This technique looks into the aspects of value orientation and calls for a Reconstructionist view to understand the impact of newly defined changes in market launch and sustenance. There are several examples in recent context that depict a blue ocean strategy. Dynamics Change in Business and IT The two have widely changed over the years owing to the effect of IT integration and IT landscape. In one of the research articles we come across cloud computing and elasticity. This shows the change in the way IT is perceived these days it has become a revenue function for many organizations. There are points in the seminar process where the Salesforce accounts are not forced as accounts. There are integrations between the BPM system and the external systems. There are dependency changes in the way consuming data is concerned (Schulte, Janiesch, Venugopal, Weber, and Hoenisch 2015). There are several aspects of process modelling and clutter based process diagram. Thus the process of non-technical business people to start to data dependencies thus preventing business people to change process freely. Then comes the impact of clear division between end users and IT people (Meyer, Louridas, Steijaert, Galeazzi, Ruda, and Radojevic 2013). We can also see that there have been a large numb er of coordination among people that leads to a greater systematic integration and coordination among people. Thus there are system integration challenges that have been faced. There is no system integration is required so managers can keep the changes in process until there is stability reached also there is a measurable and valuable appreciation of the technical system integrations. From Collaboration to Processes As we discussed above how are collaborative efforts integrated to give a resultant process orientation. Thus the process of social collaboration and cloud BPM solution with the advantage of looking at the effects of an incubation process of a large portion of work that comes through. There are also salient challenges of spotting a user pattern with a template based process as a natural step must be taken into consideration. The primary focus has to be the user experience and other collaborative areas of concern and solidarity (Zhao and Yue 2013). Thus the use of ACM based features. The cloud industry is healthy in terms of its market share of migration with close to 40% of the IT application base. The distribution network of cloud based systems is primarily based on its own franchise store ability. The flagship cloud computing systems bring the effect of single brand retail stores that can help get a foothold of the businesses. The store layout itself is an innovation and creative angle (Jiang, Le, Wang, Sun and He 2011). Next comes the concept of cloud management and business process integration. The typical issue is about the BPM purchase scenarios. We would also look at how the Cloud brand operates in the minds of the end consumer. The situation analysis will reflect how Cloud has led to a greater proliferation of market geographies. Cloud has even reached the stages on maintenance in a number of applications (Payne 2016). Master data of assets creation and their ID creation becomes easier with cloud based system. We can also see that the promoter organizations look into the aspects of pushing the IT interface onto the BPM product. There are several managers that look into the benefits of Cloud BPM services that allow seamless registry and other dependency initiatives. The future strategy is still based on innovation and design hence cloud systems must look at building better processes. Cloud systems are inter dependable and can cease to exist if there are several issues of marginalization. Cloud is thus the way forward in terms of process architecture. Cloud based systems have seen the privilege of brand loyal customers. This indicates the effect of brand conscious consumers in this technology savvy industry space. The cloud revolution has brought in plethora of products have also been more durable and so is the SMAC based technology too. The designs have always been revolutionary. In the recent edition they have gone wireless. They are also trying to work on holographic screens. Compatibility is a little challenge since all of their products are compatible with other cloud integrated products which Android has compatibility with Windows Azure (Muthusamy and Jacobsen 2010). Cloud has been the competitive advantaged platform for a long time. As we can see that the six skills mentioned are the core advantages that Cloud computing plays on. It is a complete solution with a music player I Pod, then comes the tablet PC which is fairly advanced in its features. The next feature is rapid innovation that Cloud has seen. It is majorly due to the effect of technology changes that have engulfed this company for long. They have reacted in a very swift fashion to get a market leader position in the smartphone cloud phase (Mircea and Andreescu 2011). The cloud system has changes multifold cloud has pioneered as the best designer, it started off with a networking environment. But they have now gone into the best personal computing space. They have other salient products that have both personal and professional significance. The cloud computing space here stands for innovation led technology change (Skarlat, Hoenisch, and Dustdar 2015).Cloud is thus not just a parameterized performance platform it has proven to be highly scalable and performance driven platform. Cloud technologies have greater scalability and performance compared to the old data base structures. With the increase of data and the role of Data Analytics. Big Data based cloud platforms should drive the future for some time. Thus we can see that Cloud is one of the best revolutions that the world of IT has seen for long. Conclusion Thus we have seen how the impact of cloud and the transformation has been witnessed over the years. We can also see how the designs have always been revolutionary. In the recent edition they have gone wireless. The distribution network of cloud based systems is primarily based on its own franchise store ability. We have thus seen SaaS as a Hardware, Installation and Hosting Platform, B2B cloud collaboration as well as the differentiation between clients and end users. The IT department selection process often involves a request for proposal (RFP). And these RFPs lead to a better understanding of the business process and willingness of the vendor to develop a cloud platform. These include the failure of Apple Maps, MobileMe and others. They do not have internal talent to bridge this gap. Hence we can see that there has been sustained effect of the cloud based system that will look into the aspects of complete scope of business for cloud based systems. There is also an effect of product management and program management. The articles here consider cloud having huge potential but there has to be synch with other upcoming technologies. References Muthusamy, V. and Jacobsen, H.A., 2010, September. BPM in cloud architectures: Business process management with SLAs and events. InInternational Conference on Business Process Management(pp. 5-10). Springer Berlin Heidelberg. Mircea, M. and Andreescu, A.I., 2011. Using cloud computing in higher education: A strategy to improve agility in the current financial crisis.Communications of the IBIMA. Jiang, J., Le, J., Wang, Y., Sun, J. and He, F., 2011, October. The BPM Architecture Based on Cloud Computing. InKnowledge Acquisition and Modeling (KAM), 2011 Fourth International Symposium on(pp. 196-198). IEEE. Payne, L., 2016. Adding and configuring environments for users. Schulte, S., Janiesch, C., Venugopal, S., Weber, I. and Hoenisch, P., 2015. Elastic Business Process Management: State of the art and open challenges for BPM in the cloud.Future Generation Computer Systems,46, pp.36-50. Watfa, M.K., Najjar, N.A., Cheikha, J. and Buali, N., 2015, October. A New Framework for Cloud Business Process Management. InInternational Conference on Cloud Computing(pp. 83-92). Springer International Publishing. 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