PORTFOLIO

Proposal

Client Requirement

From the beginning, management and organization theorists have recognized the problem of resistance to change in organizations. Many authors have argued that traditional bureaucratic forms of organization inhibit change. They assign people to positions and departments on the basis of rules and job descriptions, require people to adhere to them, and reward them for doing so. This aggravates the normal human tendency to resist change for all the reasons implied by analysis of the characteristics of innovations. Change can be costly, troublesome, unfamiliar, threatening, and difficult to understand and accomplish. Human resistance to change can be one of the most destructive, dangerous tendencies in life, but managers and researchers often appear to forget that people have good reasons to resist change (, 2003).

Fairly typically, a new manager enters an organization with a desire to have an impact and not simply to serve as a caretaker. Employees sometimes throw objections and obstacles in the way of the new manager’s proposals. Quite often, the new manager expresses frustration with longtime employees’ commitment to the status quo. Certainly, the new manager may have good reason to complain, but he or she may also cripple effective change by too readily assuming that resistance means laziness, selfishness, or stupidity. People may have well-justified reasons to resist. Some ideas are simply bad ideas, and the people with the most experience realize it (, 2003).

The New Yorker magazine once ran a cartoon in which two employees of a fast food restaurant watched a family stopped in their car at the drive-through window of the restaurant. The family members were leaning out of the car with tongs in hand, struggling to serve themselves out of a large salad bowl perched on the windowsill of the drive-through window. Cherry tomatoes bounced like Ping-Pong balls on the pavement. Lettuce floated in the wind. One employee was saying to the other, well, it looks as if the drive-through salad bar is an idea whose time has not yet come. Some ideas are bad ideas. They deserve to be resisted. Many types, levels, and degrees of change complicate the discussion of the change process (, 2003).

Researchers have not thoroughly incorporated these variations into their models; instead they have moved to highly general frameworks that broadly cover many types of change. Still, the variations bear noting and have implications that are taken up in later sections. Organizations undergo at least four types of change. Technology changes occur in production processes and equipment, as in the installation of computerized client information systems or word processing systems. Administrative changes include new performance-appraisal systems, such as the Performance Management and Recognition System for all middle managers in the federal civil service; pay-for-performance systems, such as those that state and local agencies have tried to implement; and affirmative action programs. Changes in products and services abound in all types of organizations. Human resource changes occur as a result of training, development, and recruitment efforts aimed at improving leadership and human relations practices or upgrading employee skills (, 2003). Changes happen to different kinds of business. Although some changes are bad and should be neglected others can be good and it can bring benefits to the company. By getting to know more about the IT consultancy and how it is operated. The company can have advantage over competitors and can give better service to clients. The business is a IT consultancy firm. The consultancy firm makes use of computers and information technology processes to give services to its clients. The IT consultancy firm requires to have additional IT resources that can assist in improving its daily business transaction and improve the way it serves it clients.

Aims and objectives

The aims of the project revolves around two things first is to find out how the IT consultancy firm operates, second is to suggest what additional IT resources can give the company solution to its problems and what IT resources will make the things done by the company easier. Through this aims the path of the project can be formed. The aims serve as a guide for the direction of the project. This aims can be achieved if the objectives will be reached. The objectives include:

1. Research about how the company’s business process.

2. Ask the employees about the systems they use in their daily business processes

3. Determine the problems in their business transaction

4. Analyze what IT resources and information the consultancy firm will need.

5. Give recommendations on the IT resources the company can use that costs lower and will give the company lesser expenses

Outcome

Outcomes vary due to the different methods of acquiring it. When an effective method is used a good outcome can come out. The outcome determines what next actions will be made for the achievement of the goal. The outcome depends on how the project is implemented. If the plan for the project is followed well then the outcome will be a good one. The ideal outcome of the project is to lessen the problems and the difficulties the fast food center encounter in its everyday transaction. Through IT things can be done much easier by the company, there would be lower costs for the company, more people will be encouraged to buy from the company and thus its goal can be achieved.

Our Approach

In giving the client exactly what he requires different approach can be used. This project will use a step by step approach so that the goals can be reached. The step by step approach will be based on the aims and objectives of the project. The step by step approach is used so that their will be no conflicts and problems while the project is being done. It also ensures there is order and chronology in doing the project. The said approach eliminates possible conflicts in doing the project. Through the said approach there can be proper coordination of the activities done.

Time plan

Time planning is making sure that everything is done on time to ensure that no other problems come up. A technique in time management is time planning. In the project the time has already been organized. The project will take around 1 to 2 months. The first two weeks will be dedicated to knowing the company better, having more knowledge of how the company operates and what problems the company encounter during its operations. The next two weeks will focus on analyzing what IT resources can benefit the company. The remaining weeks will focus on the suggestions to the company on what IT resources can be used so that the company will have ease at its operations. The IT resources that will be suggested will be of lower cost.

Business Plan

Introduction

Business activities are becoming increasingly global as numerous firms expand their operations into overseas markets. Businesses reach out to more and more locations and territories to increase its profits and provide more services to more people that it has not reached before. Many U.S. firms, for example, attempt to tap emerging markets by pursuing business in China, India, Brazil, and Russia and other Eastern European countries. Multinational corporations (MNCs), which operate in more than one country at once, typically move operations to wherever they can find the least expensive labor pool able to do the work well. Production jobs requiring only basic or repetitive skills such as sewing or etching computer chips are usually the first to be moved abroad. MNCs can pay these workers a fraction of what they would have to pay in a domestic division, and often work them longer and harder. Most U.S. multinational businesses keep the majority of their upper-level management, marketing, finance, and human resources divisions within the United States ( 2002).

Summary of business

Consultancy is becoming known amongst businesses and companies for two reasons. In the first place, it is a trend which reflects the increasing complexity of business. Secondly and partly as a result of this growing complexity, the line which has traditionally separated consultancy advice from management action is becoming blurred. Of course, it is a truism of business to say that the world is becoming more complex, interdependent and unpredictable. Witness the uncertainty around the likely impact on Western business of financial collapses in what were, until recently, tiger economies. Whether people think this growth in complexity is real or perceived, it undoubtedly creates an environment in which consultancy not only flourishes, but necessarily has to move beyond its conventional boundaries. How can you justify undertaking a routine cost-reduction exercise for one company, when it is clear that the root of the problem lies in its network of relations with its suppliers? If business is full of interconnections, it follows that people cannot as a consultant limit themselves to one discrete area, because discrete areas don’t exist (1999). This brings the discussion to another characteristic of the emerging consultancy market. Historically, one of the main criticisms leveled at consultants has been that they hit and run that they submit a report and make recommendations but then leave before implementation starts. Essentially, they have been bystanders at, rather than participants in, the game of business. While this role has often been perceived negatively and is seen as a failure of nerve on the consultant’s part. It has advantages as well as drawbacks.

As organizational distance has given consulting firms objectivity in the past, so getting more involved means that their position as independent advisers is being inevitably compromised. Nevertheless, it has been a feature of the 1990s that clients have become much more demanding about the results they expect their consultants to deliver. Contracts, for example, are increasingly geared around performance-related payment. Taken together, these trends complexity, the blurring of client- consultant boundaries and the pressure to produce results mean that the traditional dichotomies of the consulting market client/consultant, internal/ external, subjective/objective, advice/action are starting to disintegrate (, 1999). The consultancy industry as a whole has been much more successful at identifying and recycling good ideas, rather than necessarily being the originators of them. People, clients and consultants undervalue this process, although it is, effectively, what good consultants do with their clients: they listen to the evidence, sift through all the available options or ideas, and focus on the most relevant. Success in the future will come, not so much from internal innovation, but from being able to access a wide range of external ideas and identify the minority that are likely to be of interest to clients (, 1999).

The business is an IT consultancy (Best IT Consultants) which will be situated in Newcastle city centre. It assists clients in solving the problems they have regarding IT. The Best IT consultants also does things like conducting an IT audit of an organization, then prepare an IS/IT/IM (Information Systems/Information Technology/Information Management) strategy for them, develop a web site and establish it for clients, with a suitable domain name, on a commercial ISP, develop a small database system to maintain customer contacts for the client organization, develop an intranet for the client organization, and create a proposal for an organization to network its existing computers.

Personal Profile

The personnel of any company must always be composed of the best in their endeavors and they must be the most able to help the company achieve its goal and provide an excellent service. Best IT Consultants will be established initially by recruiting four (4) people (1 programmer, 2 networking professionals, 1 person for IT auditing) excluding me, which will be operated by Mr. me (programmer). As per the consultancy requirements apart from the Owner (programmer), another programming professional will be appointed for the development of the web sites and also to create small databases. Basically the programmer should be graduated/post graduated in computing from a recognized University and must be well versed in web programming and databases i.e., designing the web sites and should be able to create small databases. Two networking professionals will be recruited for networking purposes. Both must be graduated/post graduated in networking subject and must be capable of solving any problem related to networking (e.g. establishing Local Area Network [LAN] within a small company). Another person recruited should be of commerce/accountancy background having some basic computer skills for IT auditing using Audit software. And I will be another programmer.

Business Aims

The goal of an organization can be determined in the same way other sociological characteristics of organizations are established. It can be determined by an examination of organizational processes, such as the flow of work in a factory, and attributes of its structure, such as priorities in the allocation of means which is reflected in a balance sheet or budget or the assignment of personnel. Organizational goals can be classified in many ways. The present classification is oriented toward examination of the relationship between compliance and goals. From this viewpoint, three types of organizational goals can be distinguished this includes order, economic, and cultural goals ( 2002). Organizations with order goals attempt to control actors who are deviants in the eyes of some social unit the organization is serving by segregating them from society and by blocking them from further deviant activities. This is a negative goal in the sense that such organizations attempt to prevent the occurrence of certain events rather than producing an object or a service. Order centered organizations differ according to the techniques and means they use to attain their goals.

Some merely segregate deviants; others segregate and punish; and still others eliminate deviants altogether. But all are predominantly order-oriented. Organizations with economic goals produce commodities and services supplied to outsiders. These include not only the manufacturing industries but also various service organizations, from the post office and insurance companies to movie theaters, Chinese laundries, banks, and brokerage firms. Organizations that have culture goals institutionalize conditions needed for the creation and preservation of symbolic objects, their application, and the creation or reinforcement of commitments to such objects ( 2002). Most culture-oriented organizations specialize in the service of one or two culture goals. Research organizations, for example, specialize in the creation of new culture. Research-oriented universities emphasize creation of culture, although, like all educational organizations, they also contribute to the preservation of the cultural heritage by transferring it from generation to generation, mainly through teaching. Professional organizations specialize in the application of culture, mainly science and art. Churches strive to build in and to reinforce certain commitments to cultural objects (, 2002).

The main aims of this consultancy are

1. To provide quick service to the clients according to their problem within reasonable price.

2. To generate sufficient profit for the future business.

3. The number of clients must be increased in the ratio of 1:5 by the end of the 1st year of the Business and

4. To capture 15 % of the Market by the end of 2nd year.

REF:

The above figure shows some of the common Objectives which has to be achieved by a new Business which is looking for Long Term Survival. These objectives are important for the future and the well being of the company. It can help in creating or destroying a firm’s future.

Staff Resources

The world of work in which human resource management (HRM) operates has changed dramatically in the last half century. Not surprisingly, therefore, the HRM concepts and practices being created and carried out today are also increasingly different from those of the past. Planners and practitioners who understand this and who also have a way to anticipate the coming changes and needed HRM practices of the future will provide their organizations with a strategic competitive advantage ( 1999). It is in people’s view that virtually all the changes they see in HRM concepts and practices are in response to changing social, economic, and business environments. People therefore need to understand these influences on their work setting because many of those factors that have affected them in the recent past will continue to do so in the future, though perhaps in different ways. By examining these forces, people will be better able to understand what challenges they need to cope with today and those that are likely tomorrow (,1999).

A business’s HRM division also trains or arranges for the training of its staff to encourage worker productivity, efficiency, and satisfaction, and to promote the overall success of the business. Finally, human resource managers create workers’ compensation plans and benefit packages for employees (, 2003). Having the best kind of staff helps companies achieve its goals and has advantage over its competitors. The Best IT Consultants will be situated in city centre require a minimum of five members as staff. Out of five, one person will be of commerce/accountancy background for auditing. Two of them will be programmers who can develop web sites and small databases for the clients. Remaining two persons will be networking professionals who are capable of solving any problem related to networking.

Business Details

The Best IT Consultants will be located in the city centre. The Total Start-up Expenses are estimated as £ 9200. As the Best IT Consultants are not looking for profit for the first couple of months, £ 15000 will be borrowed from the local Bank for rent, electricity, wages, etc. The tables below give the clear picture of Funding resources and Total Start-up Expenses.

Funding Resources

Owner Investment

£ 9200

Bank Loan

£ 15000

Total Investment

£ 24200

Total Start-up Expenses

Requirements

Estimated Amt in £

Quantity

Total = Estimated Amt * Quantity

Computer Systems

350

1050

Software’s (Licensed)

100

300

Printer

Stationary

100/month

N/A

100

Rent

1000/month

N/A

1000

Insurance

100/month

N/A

100

Advertise

2500/month

N/A

2500

Remuneration

4000/month

N/A

4000

Miscellaneous (Electricity, Telephone)

100/month

N/A

100

Total

9200

Market Research and Analysis

Introduction

The consultancy industry is extensive. Consultants are an accepted part of the business world but they have also become entrenched in the public sectors of Organization of economic co-operation and development (OECD) countries and a major interlocutor in development processes. A consultant is a person who gives expert advice. Consultants can be found in financial companies and banks, law firms, and within universities, most notably the business schools. Management consultancy firms are best known as suppliers of advice for business rather than for governments or international organizations. However, the spread of this form of sub-contracted activity has become extensive. With the advent of managerialism and its stress on exploiting the tools of financial management for efficient government, political executives and the senior officials of management consultancies have increasingly come in close contact with one another. Consultancy companies have acquired a high profile in the transport of policy ideas, management principles and social reforms from one context to another ( 2002). This shows that the consultancy industry is starting to emerge and be widely popular all over the world. The said industry tends to be a good choice for people who want to put up a business because of its profitability.

The market and target customers

Markets can be found anywhere as long as potential clients are available. A market implies trade that is transacted with some regularity and regulation, and in which a certain amount of competition is involved. The earliest markets in history conducted bartering. After the introduction of money, commercial codes were developed that ultimately led to modern national and international enterprise. As production expanded and became less practical, communications and so-called middlemen came to play an ever growing role in markets. Types of markets include retail, wholesale or distributors’, producers’, raw material, and stock (, 1998).

A competitive market system creates incentives for firms to vie for large market shares. Sometimes one firm is so successful in this fight, it acquires a dominant position in a market. From the firm’s point of view, a large market share is good. After all, dominance implies power and control. It creates a real potential to increase profits. From society’s point of view, however, dominance may not be quite so desirable. For the power that goes with dominance can be acquired and used in a number of ways. While some of these ways may promote economic welfare, others might reduce it. If the reductions are large and long-lived, people may want to reconsider whether dominance should be affirmed in all cases (1998).

The Best IT Consultants initially will target on small shops and small firms to show how efficient they are in Consultancy Business. In Newcastle, there are approximately around 3500 shops including some small firms (Own Prediction). The Best IT Consultants will be aiming to capture 1% of the Market (3500 shops) and serve them within three months (Approximately 35 shops). One of the Strengths of the Best IT Consultants is their ability to solve complex problems in a simple way with minimum cost in given time scale; this may become a major threat to other well established Consultants and their weaknesses will be the Opportunities for the Best IT Consultants. The main target is to capture at least 5 % of the Market by the end of first year, 15 % by the second year and to maximize/Expand the Business by covering the whole Tyne and Wear County. The Profit of the Best IT Consultants is directly proportional to their Market Growth. An estimated Growth rate of the Best IT Consultants is shown in the below graph.

Product/ Service

Customers don’t buy products. They buy solutions. If firms are focused on the customer, they ought to see themselves in the role of providing solutions, not products. The information technology sector has popularized the term solutions providers, with labels such as application service providers (ASP) or technology solutions providers. These labels may be appropriate at the very general level and allow people to gloss over and take for granted the real meaning of the term solutions. The label has no real meaning as a concept unless it can be translated into customer value terms. Customers buy value in the solutions. Thus, customer value defines the primary purpose of any business. As firms focus on customer needs and become service oriented to deliver satisfaction, there are favorable ripple effects throughout the firm. Consistent delivery of customer satisfaction persuades customers to be loyal because perceived risk in buying a product from that firm is substantially reduced. When providers of solutions to customer needs are able to consistently deliver expected value, customers are more likely to be consistently satisfied. By way of their continued patronage, they become more valuable to the firm (, 2003).

When customers are loyal to the provider by choice, it is also in their best interest to support the provider because the prosperity and longevity of the provider is beneficial to the customer. Similarly, with regard to employees, research has shown that when employee satisfaction is high employees are more likely to be loyal to the company. When employee loyalty is high, employees are likely to be more productive and to be providing quality products and service. Neither employees nor customers are likely to be loyal unless their expectations are met and they are satisfied. Therefore, customer satisfaction and employee satisfaction are inherently tied to each other, in that, when employees are loyal to the firm, they provide superior performances driving customer loyalty. When employees are productive and customer loyalty is high, the firm is successful and can command a premium. With increased profitability and growth prospects, investors are attracted to the firm, which in turn makes more resources available to the firm. With more resources available to the firm, capital is available to continuously improve value-creating assets and to produce consistently superior customer value in its products and service. This sequence of events contributes to profitability and growth and requires that people and processes are aligned to deliver superior customer value. Delivering superior value should be a relentless endeavor for the firm (, 2003).

The Best IT Consultants consultancy is more service oriented company. It offers assistance regarding IT and related subjects for different businesses. The said business helps company not having wide experiences and knowledge about IT. The IT consultancy business helps companies in their IT related problems and in making sure that companies make proper use of their finances when it comes to IT. Through the IT consultancy business other companies can be helped in serving their own customers well and thus achieving their goals. This kind of business creates innovation that benefits not only one company.

The Best IT consultants also does things like conducting an IT audit of an organization, then prepare an IS/IT/IM (Information Systems/Information Technology/Information Management) strategy for them, develop a web site and establish it for clients, with a suitable domain name, on a commercial ISP, develop a small database system to maintain customer contacts for the client organization, develop an intranet for the client organization, and create a proposal for an organization to network its existing computers. These are the services which will be offered by the Best IT Consultants initially.

Overview of Marketing Strategy

Marketing the IT consultancy is such a huge task because this kind of service is not known by the general public. In large corporations the principal marketing functions precede the manufacture of a product. They involve market research and product development, design, and testing. Marketing concentrates primarily on the buyers, or consumers. After determining the customers’ needs and desires, marketers develop strategies that are designed to educate customers about a product’s most important features, persuade them to buy it, and then to enhance their satisfaction with the purchase. Where marketing once stopped with the sale, today businesses believe that it is more profitable to sell to existing customers than to new ones. As a result, marketing now also involves finding ways to turn one-time purchasers into lifelong customers. Marketing includes planning, organizing, directing, and controlling the decision-making regarding product lines, pricing, promotion, and servicing.

In most of these areas marketing has overall authority; in others, as in product-line development, its function is primarily advisory. In addition, the marketing department of a business firm is responsible for the physical distribution of the products, determining the channels of distribution that will be used, and supervising the profitable flow of goods from the factory or warehouse (1967). In marketing a product, service or a company strategy is used. Using a strategy counters the problem that might be encountered. The marketing strategy of the business is to advertise using television, the internet, newspapers and the magazine regarding the business and the services it offers. Through this strategy more people will know the company and avail of the services.

Marketing Plans

The success and effectiveness of the marketing strategy depends on how well it is planned and implemented. Planning makes sure that lesser errors are committed. The marketplace is the battleground on which the new product’s fortunes will be decided. Thus, the plan that guides the product’s entry to the market is a pivotal facet of the new product strategy. The marketing plan itself is a document that outlines or summarizes a companies objectives, strategies, and programs. The marketing-planning process is a series of activities undertaken to arrive at the marketing plan. Marketing planning is an outgoing activity that occurs formally and informally throughout much of the new product process. Informally, it begins during the first few stages of the game plan, right after the idea stage. By the time the project enters Stage 2, formal marketing planning is already underway as part of the development of the business case. The marketing planning process for a new product is an iterative one. The plan is not carved in marble at the early stages of the new product process. Even the formal marketing plan that should be in place prior to product test and trials is likely to be tentative. The first version of the plan probably will see many changes before it is finally implemented in the launch stage. In short, there will be many times when you will rethink and recast your marketing objectives, strategies, and programs before implementation (, 1993).

The best products in the world won’t sell themselves. A strong marketing effort, a well-targeted selling approach, and effective after-sales service are central to the successful launch of the new product. But a well-integrated and properly targeted launch does not occur by accident; it is the result of a fine-tuned marketing plan, properly backed and resourced, and proficiently executed. Marketing planning is moving from marketing objectives to strategy and marketing programs s a complex process. But this complex marketing planning process must be woven into the ideal new product game plan. For example, the selection of a target market and the development of a positioning strategy, one of the core steps in developing a marketing plan, logically is part of the definitional or protocol step just before development begins and answers to many key questions. Answers to the different questions must come from market research investigations that are built into the new product process or game plan ( 1993).

The development of a marketing plan must begin early in the new product process. It should not be left as an afterthought to be undertaken as the product nears commercialization; Critical facets of the marketing plan must already be in place before the product’s design and development phase even begins. Some of these facets will be concrete, such as target market definition, positioning strategy, and product design requirements; others will be more tentative, such as the pricing strategy, or promotional approach. A marketing plan is only as good as the market intelligence upon which it is based. Market studies designed to yield information crucial to marketing planning must be built into the new product game plan ( 1993). The Best IT Consultants are planning to attract Customers/Clients from their reasonable price, quick service and by their efficiency in solving problems. And also by providing some discounts to their existing clients. This Consultancy also provides online service/help to their Customers/Clients. On demand they can provide solutions within 24 hrs, for which the client will be charged little more than actual fee. This type of service plays an important role in obtaining new customers.

Advertising/Promotion

Advertising is one influence in high-involvement buying decisions, but it is only one among many. Often it is a relatively weak influence, especially in comparison with other influences like word-of-mouth, previous experience and recommendations by experts. In the case of high-involvement products, much of advertising’s effect is not so much on the final decision as on whether a brand gets considered; whether people include it in the set of alternatives that they are prepared to spend time weighing up. This is one of the ways that advertising influences their thinking indirectly. Almost everybody is interested in advertising. Approximately $US400 billion is spent on advertising each year in the world. The average consumer is exposed to hundreds of ads every day. By the time they die they will have spent an estimated one and a half years watching TV commercials. Yet advertising continues to be something of a mystery. It may come as a surprise to many consumers that those who foot the bill for advertising are often frustrated by knowing little more than the consumers themselves about how, why or when their advertising works (2000).

The Best IT Consultants have clearly mentioned how much they are going to spend on Advertisements which is £ 2500. They are going to advertise in

1. Newspapers – Advertising in the Newspapers grabs attention of the potential readers.

2. Network Marketing – This is basically network of people, just speaking to people you know about your consultancy.

3. Distribute Brochures/Pamphlets – by distributing brochures/pamphlets in different parts of the city, the Consultancy will become popular.

4. Placing Ads – There are plenty of web sites in which ads can be placed for short period for free.

Changing Structure

Problems regarding IT – Here customers are charged according to their

problem which may vary from £ 150 to £ 300.

2. IT Audit – £ 150.

3. To develop web site – £ 250 per web page and £ 170 for one additional

web page there after.

5. To develop small database – £ 250.

6. Networking – £ 50 per computer system.

Sales Forecast/Targets

Forecasts result from judgments and assumptions made by management. Actually a useful forecast is the result of a multitude of judgments which have been made about many different matters. Because many of the situations which will affect a forecast are not precisely determinable, the judgment of the forecaster frequently must be based on incomplete or insufficient evidence ( 1947). As said earlier, total income is directly proportional to the Market Growth. Expecting £ 300 as an average per shop, the below graph shows the quarterly average total income of the Best IT Consultants

As seen in the chart the bigger the market becomes the more chances of it acquiring income. A bigger market means more products to be made and more people to buy the product. As long as there are available products for people to buy the company can have additional chances of attaining one of its goals.

Financial Planning

Cash Flow forecast

A statement of cash flow doesn’t reflect what things were worth five years ago, or how much it has depreciated since. It doesn’t assume that a company could sell everything in their inventory tomorrow. It tells them how much they deposited in their bank account, how much they wrote checks for, and what the difference was during a specific time span. Cash information helps lenders know whether a company can pay them back. Cash information tells lenders whether the company can buy a truck today and still make payroll next week. Cash information is the other half of companies’ business transactions, the part where they settle up accounts with the vendors and get paid by their customers. Just as the income statement has nothing to do with cash; the cash statement has nothing to do with promises and agreements, or accrual. It shows what’s actually going in and going out. It tells companies how good a job they’re doing at turning their profits into cash (, 2000).

Cash-flow statements are a great idea, but it hasn’t yet become well understood and well utilized, even by some accounting professionals. Maybe there hasn’t been enough time. Maybe there hasn’t been enough training. An accountant might still tell people that they should rely on their income statement rather than their cash-flow statement to see how their company is doing even though the whole point is to use both, not one or the other, along with the balance sheet (2000). The table below shows the Start-up cost, Monthly expenses and Monthly income of the Best IT Consultants for 6 months.

Monthly Expenses

1st Month

2nd Month

3rd Month

4th Month

5th Month

6th Month

Office rent fee

£ 1000

Remuneration

£ 4000

Advertising

£ 2500

Stationary

£ 100

Insurance

£ 100

Miscellaneous

(Electricity, Telephone)

£ 100

Computer Systems

£ 1050

Software’s

£ 300

Printer

£ 50

Total Expenses

£ 9200

£ 7800

Monthly Income Expected

According to sales forecast

Average £ 300 per shop

£ 10500

£ 21000

Profit before Tax

£ 1300

£ 2700

£ 13200

According to the forecasts, the profit expected for 6 months will be around £ 41000 (profit before tax). This shows potential growth in the future as long as development is maintained.

Critical Report

Critical Appraisal of the consultancy

In appraising the consultancy its benefits are discussed. By determining the benefits it provides the effectivity of the service is known. The consultancy given to the client provided different benefits to the client. This includes faster and easier business operation, lesser expenses, competitive advantage against rivals, and better service to the people. The consultancy helped different companies make its processes and activities done faster and easier. It saved time for companies. Mistakes can be lessened. The consultancy provided a different kind of service to the clients. This service paved the way for business to experience faster operation. Another thing the consultancy gave to the company is lesser expenses. Through the consultancy the company may not hire added employees. The consultancy helped the company minimize the employees and minimize the expenses released in paying them. The consultancy helped the company have advantage against its competitors. Through the said consultancy the company increased its stature against its rivals. The consultancy gave a distinct identity to the company compared to the rivals. Lastly the consultancy helped the company give better service to its clients. The consultancy helped in improving and upgrading the services the company has.

The consultancy Project

The business of the client is an IT consultancy firm that gives assistance to its different kinds of clients. The IT consultancy firm makes use of different computers and information technology processes. The said company requires to have an additional IT resources that can assist in improving their daily business transaction, attract more customers of different age groups. Because most of the customers are business people living around there and few local senior citizens they can be attracted to the business. This type of project help in making sure that companies can be given the advices they need in managing each of their own business at the same time be able to compete in the technological changes that happen in the world.

Thee things that went well with the project were it gained its objectives and the project helped people. A thing that can be done differently with the project was to think of unique way to advertise the project and the company. A thing learned is that having a consultancy project is not an easy thing to do. It takes guts and effort to accomplish such project and make sure it is successful. In finding a client things to be considered includes the capacity of the project to satisfy the client. Another thing considered is the capacity of the client to purchase the services the company offers. Communicating with the client is important. It makes sure that lesser problems come out and total satisfaction is given to clients. The use of advanced technology helped in making the project successful.

How the project was planned and organized

Fundamentally, operating plans allocate tasks to specific facilities in each planning period for example week, month, or some other time period in order to achieve particular objectives. In seasonal businesses, operating plans must reflect seasonal variations in capacities, resolve supplies, product demands, quality requirements, prices, and costs. Operational planning deals in aggregated or average values of variables in the system, such as product demands, equipment capacity, standard costs, and inventory levels. An example of operational planning is the specification of an oil refinery’s quarterly running plan, comprising flow rates, crude oils, and processing conditions required to make the needed amounts of products and blending components. The quarterly running plan establishes ground rules for short-term production planning, such as determining what components will be available with which to blend products according to different formulas. Short-range planning, like medium-range planning, is an extension of long-range corporate plans (1987).

The end result of all short-range planning activities focuses primarily on financial data that is flexible or variable budgets that are developed for stated levels of possible production. To produce detailed balance sheet and income statement data for the coming year, financial data are fed into the corporate computer. The flexible budgeting computer program takes into account the values set forth for the lowest level of expected plant capacity, and develops corresponding figures for other levels of capacity. Appropriate financial statements are developed and printed for these various levels of capacity. Flexible budgeting data are also written onto the corporate computerized files for comparison with actual figures as they occur month by month ( 1987).

Generally, problem finding is found at the higher levels of planning, namely, strategic and tactical. However, if one examines operational planning in some depth, it is not too difficult to determine the need for problem finding. For example, reference can be made to the area of scheduling and dispatching. The objective is to assign and sequence units of identifiable resources such as people, machines, raw materials, and so forth to manufacture or deliver given quantities of products, consistent with a longer-interval operating plan such as a quarterly operational plan. At this level, planning deals with specific units and operating rates (, 1987). Products and facilities must be identified explicitly, and start-up times, sequences of production steps, actual and not average production rates, unit downtimes, and costs must be treated in detail. Nonlinearities in cost or production functions that are properly ignored or approximated in longer range planning are critical in scheduling and dispatching. Based upon these facts surrounding scheduling and dispatching, there are a number of techniques for improving these production control activities. However, the behavioral aspects of how line personnel think and act must be considered. Typically, the approach to manufacturing operations results in do what you are told and don’t ask questions. This one-way directive approach turns many employees off. Hence, they do only what they are told (1987).

Planning and organizing is important to ensure that there are fewer problems. In planning the project two things were put into consideration. This includes how information will be acquired regarding the operation of the company and what methods to use to know what IT resources the company can use and can improve more. After knowing how to get information needed time scheduling was done. In time scheduling things that should be done in a certain time is arranged chronological way. When the resources are set and method is known the project was then implemented. When planning was made the next thing done was organizing the process in planning to know what barriers might be encountered and what might cause some time. In giving the client exactly what he requires different approaches were used. This project used a step by step approach so that the goals were reached easily. The step by step approach was based on the aims and objectives of the project discussed with the client at the time of proposal. The result also ensured there is order and chronology in doing the project. The said approach eliminates possible conflicts in doing the project. Through the said approach there can be proper coordination of the activities done.

How the project progressed

After planning, organizing and scheduling are done the next thing to do is implement the project, integrate it with the business situation, then monitor its progress and how it turns out to be. Implementation of the project is a progressive process that continuously transpires until everything has been accomplished and the necessary things have been done. What caused the project some time is when the data about the company was gathered. It was not easy to understand how the company’s operation works. During the stage of analyzing what IT resources the company should use many possibilities appeared but most are costly. There were problems on cost and the durability of the IT resources but it has already been fixed. During the progression of the project every aspect was put into consideration and given full concentration so that the outcome of the project was achieved as predicted. It was difficult in communicating with the client during the time of the project. A decade ago, management functions safely could be viewed strictly from organizational perspectives. Managers could concentrate on meeting internal needs. There existed little risk of unpleasant surprises from external sources. These conditions have changed radically. Managers now must be concerned with organizational environments. Social and political trends demand organizations be viewed as components of community, nation, and world rather than self-contained entities. Within seven categories, then, falls every management component applicable to public relations practice. Few differences exist between corporate/institutional departments and consulting firms. They arise primarily where new organizations are contemplated. Public relations counselors then must deal with organizational questions inapplicable to corporate or institutional practice ( 1987).

Uniformity otherwise prevails. Every organization and subunit ultimately must evaluate performance and draw up future plans based on the evaluation. The procedure is a control process. It involves two components: decision making and control. Both apply to all public relations operations. Decision making includes analysis, defining alternatives, selecting courses of action, and implementing decisions. Certainty, risk, and both objective and subjective probabilities must be considered. Control requires developing standards, measuring results, and taking corrective action. Both processes require information. Much of it is generated as accounting and data. The balance is created through production reporting (1987).

Quality of the project

The project has a high quality. The project was made with outmost preparation and research to make sure that it will produce lesser errors. The preparation was done slowly and surely to check errors coming out. The project was made to satisfy people who need the services the project offers. Quality in every project is a very important matter. The best quality is given the outmost attention in every project. Quality determines if the project is a success or not. In giving the client exactly what he requires different approaches were used. This project used a step by step approach so that the goals were reached easily. The step by step approach was based on the aims and objectives of the project discussed with the client at the time of proposal. The step by step approach was used so that their were no conflicts and problems while the project was in progress. The result also ensured there is order and chronology in doing the project. The said approach eliminates possible conflicts in doing the project. Through the said approach there can be proper coordination of the activities done. Finally goals were achieved as proposed in the proposal. The project having quality helps in achieving the goal.

Self-appraisal of own performance

Quality of the delivery of the consultant

The consultant gave the best kind of service to the client. The consultant was well trained and understood well what should be done. This helped in making sure that the service given to the client was of high quality. The service given to the client was not available to other consultants in other companies. The kind of service given to the client was also a product of proper training regarding service given to clients. The consultant gave to the client a more personal kind of service to the client

Overall performance on the module

With regards to the module it was followed well and given the full focus. In creating the business plan and the other parts of the portfolio the module was used as the main basis. The module assisted in ensuring that the goals are reached. It gave a proper path to walk on and through the module problems were avoided. Everything that the module mentioned was given enough attention and followed well. The module helped in improving the personalities and characteristics of those using it.

Appraisal of any professional, social, ethical or legal implications

The social implication of this project is it brought about the needed change in the way business is operated. It introduced a new way of how business get new information about operating companies and what help this information give them. The ethical implication of this project is it demonstrated how cooperation and coordination within different people lead to improvement and benefits to more people. The legal implication of this project is that governments should give attention to the consultancy industry because it not only helps business to prosper it can also give help to a country’s economy. The new industry can bring positive changes that governments must take advantage of. The assignment helped in improving the ability to plan business. It assisted in determining how a business endeavor is formed and what the factors that helped in forming a business are. The assignment gave a clearer understanding of how a client should be treated and what should be done so that he/she will be pleased. The assignment also helped in maintaining a positive social relationship with clients.

Assessment of the module

The module did things good or bad for the project. It was a blueprint of how the project would be initiated and what the result of the project is. The module was the basis for the goal of creating the project and as time passes by making it a successful one. The module helped in developing the ability to create a project. The module gives an insight and assistance in making the project a success and effective. The module helped in making the project easier to accomplish. On the other hand the module did not provide additional sources information can be acquired. Additional sources of information can be used for the betterment of the project. The module also did not provide clients that the project can be concentrated.

References

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