Sop for Commerce free essay sample

I Priyesh Kulkarni completed my Graduation in Bachelor of Commerce (Honors Course) in It taught me how to manage financial affairs, prepare balance sheets, etc. I liked the commerce field so I decided to do masters in that field. In I completed my Masters degree in Commerce. While doing the masters degree I joined our own finance company where my work was totally related to the finance field. Along with that I did Post Graduate Diploma in Management, again specializing in Finance and completed it in While doing the job I thought about getting some acquaintance with the computers so I did Advanced PC Applications from NIIT in and a training program from Indira Gandhi National Open University in C, C++ and JAVA in I am an Oracle Certified Professional (OCP), the certificate provided by Oracle Corporation, USA. I did 2 projects in oracle. One was about Banking System and the second was about the Super Market. We will write a custom essay sample on Sop for Commerce or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page The Banking system was small software that handled all the transactions regarding bank, which provides the account holder information, and handling day-to-day transactions. This software automatically updates the account holder’s account mentioning the current balance in his account. The super market was sophisticated software, which stored the information regarding customer, products, vendors and credit card. This software also generated various bills like invoicing bill, receipt bill and customer payment bill. After doing these many courses and 2 projects in computers I found that my interest towards computers has increased further. Moreover, now in every industry knowledge about IT is required. So I discovered that either I have the option to do Masters in Computer Applications (MCA) from India itself or go outside India to get a good Masters degree in computers. As in India, MCA is for three years, which I thought, is not feasible for me. So I decided for the second option i. e. doing MS in Computer Science from USA, which is a two year course. Further, MS in computer science is a professional degree worldwide and it will be easier for me to fulfill my dreams of becoming a software professional and getting a good job in India. Moreover, by doing this course from USA I will get an international l exposure and it will also enhance my overall personal development.

Aspen Technology free essay sample

Aspen is a software company which was established in 1982. The company mainly provides simulation solutions to process manufacturing companies. The main industry which the company focuses on is chemical processing. The entire idea began with the project of Advanced System for Process Engineering in MIT in 1976. This project was than acquired by Lawrence Evans whom founded Aspen. In a very short amount of time Aspen became a major player in the simulation part of the software industry. The company started off as a privately owned firm but in 1995 turned into a publicly traded company with a capitalization of 200 million dollars. The leading product of Aspen is Aspen Plus; we have to note that 48 % of sales were stemming from this product in 1995. The company gives great significance to RD as the customers commitment depends on the development of Aspen’s current products. In 1995, 11. 4 million dollars was dedicated to RD. We will write a custom essay sample on Aspen Technology or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page There is a factor of foreign currency expense as 20% of the total RD expense was denominated in British pounds; the rest was in U. S dollars. Aspen enjoys a collection of committed and loyal customers; we can come to this from the increase of the licensing fees between the periods of 1988 and 1995. There were three increases in those periods at the rates of 10 percent. It is also crucial to note that 90 % of Aspen’s customers renewed their licensing agreements. Aspen attained 34 % of revenues from license renewals. An additional 34 percent was gathered from providing further services to current customers. The company has sales offices in UK, Hong Kong, Japan and Brussels. There is a joint venture operation with China’s national petroleum and petrochemical company. Aspens European operation headquarters is located in Belgium. Aspen’s general sale policy is built upon non-cancelable contracts which last three to five years. The annual cost of a license for a single US user is between $10,000 to $25,000 dollars. The company’s policy of offering three to five years contracts enables options of financing to customers. Aspen’s interest rates for the last year are between 9. % and 11%. The rate of interest in 1995 was 12%. Aspen generated revenue from UK which was denominated in pounds, in Japan sales were in yen, in Germany the revenue was denominated in marks. This information is essential as we are going to observe the currencies to properly grasp the risk exposure stemming from foreign currency exchange. Aspen’s financing plan to customers created a problem for the company; in 1995, the revenue was $57. 5 million and th e received cash from customers was $38. 5 million. As we can comprehend the company’s receivable account regarding installments soared however the company faced a cash flow problem. Aspen sold cash receivables to GE Capital and Sanwa Bank for cash. Foreign denominated contracts attained dollars immediately however dollar denominated contracts were discounted based on the treasury rate. Let us take note of this as for the contracts that are not sold right after agreement, Aspen will bore risk as the interest of the contract stemming from the finance institutions will not be passed to the customer. It is crucial to point out that Aspen uses hedging for foreign exchange receivables however expenditures denominated in foreign currency is not hedged. This is the current portrait of the company, let us observe the exposures. The Risk Exposures of Aspen: The foremost risk exposure of Aspen stems from the financing cycle of the company. The company’s offered deferment plan which consists periods of three to five years triggers the company to have low cash flows. The installment receivable account however is high because most of the customers prefer the deferment plan. Aspen to finance its cash cycle therefore sell the receivables for cash, this has risks since the accounts that are not sold at the spot of the agreement could create losses due to alternating US treasury rates (if the account is dollar denominated), forward exchange and interest rates (if the account is foreign currency denominated). The sale of receivables also depends on the purchasing willingness of counterparties. Aspen could find itself in a contracting finance cycle if the deferred payments are not paid on time and the finance institutions are willing to accept any further long term installment receivables. We also have to note that the company has further liabilities such as the 4 million dollar subordinated debenture to the Massachusetts Capital Resource Company. In the case of delayed payments of receivables, the purchasing unwillingness of finance institutions towards future sale of receivables and currents loans could trigger bankruptcy of Aspen. The long term deferment plan increases business but poses grave risk for the cash flow of the company. We also have to note that positive cash carries great significance as Aspen is now a publicly traded company, the cash flow could directly affect the stock price f the company and therefore influence the interest of investors towards Aspen. The company is also subjected to foreign exchange exposures due to the sales in foreign markets. The data shows us that 48 % of Aspen’s revenues come from United States, 31 % comes from Europe, 12 % from Asia and 9 % from other regions of the world. This subjects the company to have a hedge plan for British pounds, Yen, Yuan, Mark. We have to distinguish the fact that the company has hedging for receivables however this does not apply to expenses. We can come to the conclusion that the company is focused on â€Å"stable net income† to establish confidence among the investors. This could however trigger a problem as we can see that the expense in 1995 stemming from the Belgium headquarters is $5,153,000. Since we acknowledge that Aspen’s business is growing every year, the expenses shall also increase at a following rate therefore the expense denominated in foreign currency shall no longer be a negligible amount and cause serious problems due to foreign exchange exposure. In summary, the company has exposure due to operational and strategic factors. The company’s business with countries other than United States creates the problem of foreign currency denominated revenues and expenses. The strategic exposure is company’s unwillingness to hedge against foreign exchange expense exposure. Since the company is always at the risk of low cash flow, Aspen mainly focuses on net income therefore does not dedicate sufficient attention towards expense exposure. Financing Cycle: As Aspen is now a publicly traded company, the deferment plan should be reviewed. In 1994, the revenue generated from services is $44,975,000. In 1995, it is $57,498,000; there is an increase of 27 percent in revenue. Let us observe how this is distributed in terms of cash; the cash in 1994 is $2,488,000 and in 1995 $4,189,000. The cash denomination of year 1994 is 5. 5 percent and for 1995 it is 7. 28 percent. The increase in cash compared to the overall increase in revenue is minute. We can also look at the deferred revenue as in 1994 it is $4,183,000 and in 1995 it is $4,994,000; we can comprehend that there is an increase of 19 percent in deferred revenue. This increase is almost as much as the increase in overall revenue. After we observe these numbers, we can conclude that the deferment plan of Aspen should either change or a new strategy is needed. A higher percentage of cash business would certainly solve the problem of low cash flow of the company; it would even limit the long term foreign exchange exposure. This could however trigger loss of customers as most clients of Aspen prefer financing their licensing fees. Instead of one to five year financing plans, the company could offer financing for shorter periods of time, this would work favorably as long term forward exchange contracts do not find much demand. The shorter term financing could also increase the appetite of financial institutions regarding the purchase of long term account receivables. If the company does not wish to change any variable with the current financing plan, another possible path to limit the financing cycle exposure would be to establish a strategic partnership with a financial institution. The company would have guaranteed demand by selling account receivables therefore would have a certain future dealing with cycle exposures. There would not be any concerns regarding the appetite of purchase towards long term receivables. This could be established by sharing a certain amount of the profit with the financial institution, allowing them to share the risk with Aspen. The sale of receivables would be at the established and favorable rates compared to the market data. Foreign Exchange Exposure: The company’s 48 percent of revenues are attained from United States. This does not create any problems since the 2/3 of the company’s expense is US dollar denominated. The problem is with the 52 percent of the revenue; this is not only gathered from a single location but 31 percent from Europe, 12 percent from Asia and 9 percent from other locations. The company obviously has direct foreign exchange exposure from revenues. Aspen’s hedging method is selling long term foreign currency receivables and gathering dollars for it. They also enter into forward currency contracts when license agreements are signed. The method of selling long term foreign currency receivables is not reliable since purchasers could not be found for contracts which are longer than two years. The company therefore used a series of one year forward contracts to swap the expired ones. In this scenario the timing could be problematic for Aspen. The best way to hedge for long term foreign currency revenues would be to create a portfolio of currencies by basing Canadian dollar due to low standard deviation and correlation and decreasing the amount of other currencies would limit the exposure. We can see that Canadian dollar is less risky due to the stability of the currency. At the current portrait, the company due to the financing faces low cash flows since the company is publicly traded; low cash flows would have adverse effects on investor confidence. The company should focus on net income and have proper plans for hedging revenue. Aspen is long for all currencies when we observe the case from annual sales and expenses but the company is short for currencies when we look at it from cash flow. Aspen emphasizes on stable â€Å"net income†. Since they sell account receivables, they actually can accomplish this but as explained above in certain situation basing the hedging on the sale of account receivables could have serious consequences. A problem which is being overlooked by Aspen is the foreign currency exposures from expenditures. As we look at the figures, we can see that the expected operating expense for Aspen is $50,947,000. The operating expense of Aspen stemming from United States is $35,810,000; this indicates us that the foreign operating expense of Aspen is $15,137,000. This is a large amount and we can see that British pound, Belgium franc and Japanese Yen are the largest denominated debts so hedging is required against three currencies. We can use the same principle as discussed above; building a portfolio of currencies and basing our portfolio on a reliable currency such as Canadian dollar. We can see that Canadian dollar has low standard deviation and correlation. We should also lower the proportion of other currencies while we use Canadian dollar as the foundation of our portfolio. It is crucial that while the company focuses on foreign exchange revenue exposure, Aspen should also hedge against expense exposure. We can see that as the business of Aspen is growing so is the foreign denominated expense. Competition: There are various firms that can create market share problems for Aspen. Simulation Sciences is a software company that has entered the simulation software industry, creating solutions specific to chemical industry. We have to state that 65 percent of Aspen’s business comes from chemical industry. They are located in United States and this might increase competition for Aspen this could eventually affect the cash flow which is sometimes poses conflicts for the company. Hyprotech is a Canada based company. They already old 10 percent of the chemical industry market for simulation software. The specialty of their product is that it is interchangeable from steady state to dynamic state. This could pose a problem for Aspen since the loyal customer base could demand add on or such functionality and this would increase the RD costs of the company. Chemshare and Chemstations are Houston based companies although not as established as Aspen or Simulation Sciences due to th eir location they pose a threat for the domestic market share of the company. Belsim and Prosim are simulation software companies located in Belgium and France, they pose a threat towards the European market share of Aspen. The affects of these competitors could trigger higher prices in expenses and better terms of financing, it is crucial to comprehend the market share and place of these competitors to properly shape Aspen’s plans. Conclusion: Aspen has exposure due to the financing cycle, offering long terms of deferment to clients trigger low cash flow. Since the company is publicly traded, the low cash flow could have an adverse affect on investor confidence and thus lower the stock price. We have reviewed possible options to alter the financing cycle without damaging the demand, shorter financing frames or strategic partnership with a financial institution could limit the exposure of Aspen and eventually solve the problem of low cash flow. We have to stress the severity of this problem as the company could bankrupt because of deferred payments. There is also the foreign exchange risk both from operational and strategic reasons. The operational exposure is because the company attains revenues abroad United States and the currency is foreign denominated. The strategic risk stems from the fact that company neglects to hedge against foreign currency expenses and the data shows us that the expense is sizeable and as the business grows so does the foreign expense†¦ We have suggested that the company should hedge with the use of a currency portfolio, emphasizing on reliable currencies such as Canadian dollar due to low standard deviation and correlation. The proportion of other currencies should be reduced for effective hedging. Aspen should also acknowledge the market share and effectiveness of competitors as they can have a direct impact on revenues and thus the stability of net income.

Brief History of Math essays

Brief History of Math essays In my years studying math Ive realized that math is essential for life. Having this said, It is quite obvious that math could easily be as old as humanity itself. Prehistoric men has interests in geometric figures in their pottery. As we first learn in out toddler years, to count with our fingers, it is almost certain that barbarians (as some call prehistoric men) used this system. And according to the Microsoft Encarta encyclopedia there is proof that they based their mathematics on a system of 5, 10 etc. The earliest records of advanced mathematics come from the cities of Babylonia and Ancient Egypt in 3,000 B.C. The Greeks really advanced humanity in Mathematics. Mathematics like Pythagoras, Hippocrates and Thales who advanced math in an astonishing level. The level of comprehension that the Greeks had was astonishing. They were the first to fully understand the pyramid. The invention of the Pythagorean theorem was brilliant. Great ads to geometry were made. They also began trigonometry. Islamic Mathematics date back to ninth century A.D, Indian people were already performing algebra problems. Muslims also expanded the theory of numbers, and explained many ways of solving equations. They were also responsible for the expansion of Math in the West (to Europe). The Renaissance Mathematics was a period of many great discoveries. For one, Infinity had begun to be used in the end of the 15th century and beginning of the 16th century (A.D of coarse). There was also discoveries of algebraic solutions to cubic and quadratic equations. The Renaissance also gave way to the beginning of algebraic symbolism: a + b = c. Also great developments in the next century by Sir Isaac Newton from England. In the 17th century many new great steps for math were made. For starters, the probability theory was made, and later proven. Sir Isaac Newton, as well as some other mathematicians made the creation of calculus., and dif...

HIPAA Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

HIPAA - Research Paper Example In such a situation Congress realized the requirement of security and privacy standards for the healthcare industry in order to avoid any misuse or abuse of electronic technology (History of HIPAA, n.d). Hence HIPAA was introduced to promote health insurance coverage for both individuals and groups, ensure better security and privacy, promote the use of medical savings account, make long-term services more accessible, and to frame standards for better administration and safer use of electronic technology in the healthcare industry such as the implementation of the national provider identifier (Overview of HIPAA, 2008). The HIPAA was signed by President Clinton on July 21, 1996 in lieu of several security, privacy and abuse in the healthcare industry. HIPAA guaranteed health insurance to all Americans and ensured simplification of administrative process in healthcare in order to increase the effective delivery of healthcare to all people. Additionally the security and privacy of healt h information was also protected under the act (Security and Privacy, 2001). The use of electronic technology in healthcare had vastly expanded during the 1990s. ... These privacy and security rules apply to three groups of covered entities (CE): health care provider, health plan and healthcare clearinghouse. The healthcare provider group includes health care service providers and suppliers who use the electronic form for transactions and other health care information such as doctors, clinics, psychologists, dentists, chiropractors, nursing homes and pharmacies. The health plan group includes individuals or groups that provide and pay for health care plans such as health insurance companies, HMOs, company health plans, Medicare, Medicaid, military and other health programs offered by the government. The healthcare clearinghouses include both public and private entities that receive non-standard health information and convert them into a standard content or vice versa (Privacy and Security, n.d; Security and Privacy, 2001). The HIPAA standards will also indirectly apply to business associates or partners of a covered entity such as software provid ers and other third party vendors (Privacy and Security, n.d). The standards devised by the HIPAA for the transactions carried out in the electronic form need to the adhered to by the CEs (Security and Privacy, 2001). The HIPAA standards include transactions and code sets, privacy and security and national provider identifier. The entities that comply with the HIPAA standards are required to use the same health care transactions, code sets and identifiers. The HIPAA standards for electronic data interexchange (EDI) is applicable to claims and claim status, encounter information, payments and remittance, inquiries, referral certification and authorization, enrollment or disenrollment in a health care plan, premium payments,

Influence of Drilling Fluid on oil Recovery in Homogenous Reservoirs Essay

Influence of Drilling Fluid on oil Recovery in Homogenous Reservoirs - Essay Example Needless to say, as significant as 70 percent produce of mines in the world, produce water contaminated by metals, which come from acid mines drainage and process streams (Srivastava & Majunder, 2008). The waste water, such as that containing metal and sulphate contaminates, are accompanied by far reaching environmental consequences. Moreover, the costs associated with managing these consequences are significant. This paper gives an overview of water contamination in the mining industries, followed by an exploration of the common methods under development and operation. Considering that current water treatment techniques have varied limitations, this paper proposes a way forward for mining industries to avoid water contamination. There are various elements within the earth crust, which include hydrogen, carbon, nitrogen, sodium, magnesium, phosphorous, sulphur, chlorine, potassium and calcium. These constitute 99 percent of the earth living matter. On the other hand, there are fourteen essential elements. These include boron, fluorine, silicon, manganese, iron, cobalt, and copper, among others. Metals such as Mercury, lead, cadmium, arsenic, chromium, copper manganese and zinc are not essential, and their interaction with the aquatic environment is hazardous. On the other hand, heavy metals are a class of metallic elements that contain relatively high densities whose low concentrations are highly toxic. The atomic metals have atomic weight that range from 63.5 to 2006. Heavy metals can are additionally classified as toxic metals, precious metals and radio-nuclide. Radionuclides include uranium and thorium. Precious metals include silver and gold, among others (Srivastava & Majunder, 2008). Acid solutions resu lt from the interaction of the ground or of surface water with the acidic materials, such as pyrites that are found in rocks at the mines, piles of earthen refuse and auger holes. The iron sulphide mineral pyrites are usually found near subsurface coal seams, together with compounds containing aluminium and manganese, among other metals. In the presence of oxygen, rainwater or ground waters contact sulphur to form sulphuric acid. Acid concentration in the acid mine drainage can reach as significant levels such as ten thousand times the neutral water. Evidently, this presents a powerful leaching agent with the potential of dissolving significant amounts of metal substances, as well as additional leaching substances that are common at most mine sites. Rock layers and earth above the coalmines contain traces of metals such as iron, aluminium and manganese, but can also contain other heavy metals such as lead and cadmium (Han & Chan, 2006). These metals dissolve in the acid mine drainag e and are washed into water sources through run off. Eventually, such metal concentrations harm aquatic organisms such as fish. For instance, dissolved iron precipitates can kill aquatic organisms that serve as food for fishes. Iron precipitate can result in fish gill clogging. Additionally, iron precipitation in the drainage channels alter aquatic food chains; thereby adversely affecting fish populations. Treatment of waste water The concern for environmental scientists has been to establish possible ways of regulating hazardous metal concentrations and mitigate associated environmental concerns. Methods in the treatment of the acid mine drainage can be broadly categorized into two; active treatment and passive treatment methods. Active techniques entail mechanical addition of the alkaline solutions with the aim of raising PH concentrations besides precipitating metals. Passive treatment

Importance of Efficiency in Building Maintenance Practices

Importance of Efficiency in Building Maintenance Practices Abstract Building maintenance practices are very crucial no matter what kind of building whether residential or commercial.The practices must be carried out by the management properly and efficiently to ensure the target of the management can be achieve. Nowadays, many issue arise regarding building maintenance including quality of services provided, unmaintained facility and many more. So to reduce or avoid all these problem, the management team should come up with new approaches. Not just maintained , but they must ensure the activities carried out is efficient and effective. There are several strategies that can be practices which are applying managerial function, using computerized maintenance management services (CMMS), and out-tasking. Under managerial function system, it provide basic things that the management need to go through including plan, do, check and act. The sequences of this function are very significant and have it own roles. Besides that, the management must aware that tec hnological also can be applied in maintenance practices due to current state of advance technology. It is proven that, CMMS are one of the updated system that been applied by big and establish management. This is because, CMMS really helpful and make the maintenance works become easier. Last but not least is out-tasking. This system have many benefit and apart from that, it will help the management to complete their maintenance work without hiring expertise. The expertise only appointed when they are needed. Efficiency in building maintenance practices are important in order to ensure the limited resoursces such as time, cost, manpower are being fully utilized. 1.0 Introduction Nowadays, building maintenance practices always been improved allign with technological changing. This is done in order to ensure the practice is up to date and satisfied all the parties involve. As we all known, under this practices many parties either directly or indirectly involve including management body, owner of the building, tenant and so on. Moreover,of late many management body realize and shift their focus of services onto customer oriented where customer satisfaction are their priority and always put on the first place. On account of that, the management body on what so ever condition must ensuring the efficiency of their services performance is always keep in maximum level. Generally, efficiency is quantitatively measurable concept which is can be determined and measured by percentage of output to input. (n.a, 2011). Efficiency also where doing things in the right manner. Whereas building is a human-made structure constructed as a place for work, shelter and many other purposes for the occupants use.(n.a 2011) Maintenance in a simple words mean an activity to keep and restore the subject in order to ensure it can be operated as well as it suppose to. According to Brian Wood, maintenance is keeping an item or restoring it to acceptability position. According to British Standard 3811, maintenance as work undertaken in order to keep or restore every facility,i.e every part of a site, building and contents, to an acceptable standard. Building maintenance as a whole mean an activity where building is keep and restore to its acceptable condition as well as to ensure it can be operated and well functionated. Building also like a human being, it need to be maintained all the time to avoid it from obsolete and damages. So cannot be denied that building maintenance practices is a crucial activitya and must always be carried out efficiently. Generally, building maintenance practices cover a huge area of activity. The activity including cleanliness, landscaping, security and etc. 2.0 Importance of Efficiency in Building Maintenance Practices Why building must be maintaianed efficiently? Just now we all know that building almost like a human being which is need to be maintained. Basically, there are several perspective on property. Property can be seen as physical asset, financial asset, and functional asset. So the activity that carried out for building maintenance practices are always related to it own perspective. In term of physical asset, the objective are to maintain and enhance condition of the building. Whereas for financial asset, the objective is to maximise income, ensure capital growth and return on investment. For functional asset, the objective is to ensure the building is fit for purpose, minimise occupation costs and efficiency of occupation. Normally we can divided into several reason for being efficient in building maintenance practices. 2.1 To ensure building always have good appearance. As we all known, buildings are exposed to many causes of deterioration. Some of them are weather and aging, wear and tear, and vandalism. If human need bath to clean up body and look fresh, building also need to be painted so that it look nice and attractive. So then people or occupant feel calm and easy to enter such premises. For instance like shopping complex. If it is maintained efficiently, the consumer will always feel free and enjoy shopping in that particular building. 2.2 To ensure the building is always safe and free from unnecessary incident. Usually buildings are fitted with many kind of mechanical and electrical installation. So without efficient maintenance, the building services in that particular building definitely cannot be operated as well as it suppose to. As we can see in office building for instance, it fitted with elevator, escallator, travellator, air-cond and etc. So if all these are maintained efficiently, definitely unneccessary incident or claim can be avoided. 2.3 To retain the value of the building Different building have different value. The value of the building generally indicated by the performance of the building itself. So when the maintenance is efficiently carried out, the value of the building can be retain. For instance like premises that well maintained have higher valus as compared to those unmaintained. 2.4 To enforce the regulation Last but not least, efficient building maintenance practices are actually carried out to enforce regulation. In order to fullfill the regulation of schedule H of Housing Development (Control and Licencing) Act 1966 (Act118) developers need to manage and control common property of the building.This is to ensure all interest of the party inside the building are always secured and at the same time the facilities provided in the building are been well maintained. 3.0 Strategy to Ensuring Efficiency In Building Maintenance Practices 3.1 Apply managerial function Basically, managerial function is the key point of successful in building maintenance practices. The basic managerial function is Plan-Do-Check-Act (PDCA). On what so ever condition, the first thing that we must to do is planning. This is because planning is a king-pin in managerial function. Same goes to maintenance practice, we must plan the maintenance activities that want to carried out on the first place. As a management body, the most important thing is we must set out objective of the organization. When there is a clear objective, the organization have it own target or aims to heading their organization. Then they must clear cut on their strategy to achive those target. Planning also including several fundamental element including preventive and corrective action, work schedule and etc. Second managerial function is do. As a management team, they cannot just stop at planning stage only but it must followed by the next stage which is implement all the planning that been set earlier. Implementation of the planning also must be in proper way or manner. Third managerial function is check. This is basically done after the implementation of the maintenance activities. This stage also known as post-mortem. At this stage, the management team will evaluate all their performance and check whether it achive it target or not. Last but not least managerial function is act. This is can be said the last stage that crucial because after check stage have done, some action have to take to correct or enhance the performance. It is whether only several part or entire strategy that have to be shift or change in order to get better result of performance. From all that we can said that managerial function are really crucial, have many advantages, suitable and reliable to be adopted and apply in building maintenance practices because it can lead to efficient maintenance. This is because by applying all the managerial fuction, the management team can maintain the building with less cost, effort and time cycle. 3.2 Computerized Maintenance Management System (CMMS) In the age of advanced technology, there are many computerized system that have developed in order to help the organization to do maintenance practices more effectively and efficiently. Nowadays, the software that mostly used by the maintenance organization is CMMS. CMMS is very helpful as it containing databases that related to maintenance operation. CMMS have several package deal with some of the following: (i) Work Order CMMS will help the maintenance workers by producing schedule maintenance procedure as a code of conduct and it also help to track relevent information regarding the maintenance activities. So the maintenance workers can just refer to the work schedule on what they have to carried out. (ii) Asset Management CMMS have the records that containing important information related to the particular building. For instance, CMMS records the information of specification, service contract, purchase date and anything else deem to be helpful to the maintenance works. (iii) Inventory Control CMMS in the same time will assist the management of spare part, equipment, and etc including the reservation of tools that is needed for a particular works. With these packages, CMMS looks as a system that should be use by the maintenance organization. It is very helpful and easy to handle and the most important things is that it help the organization to maintained the building efficiently. 3.3 Out-tasking Out-tasking is one of the organisational set up that can be applied in building maintenance practice. Generally, out-tasking is said to be when part of the maintenance work are handed over to the other service partner for certain period of time. For instance like air-conditioning system. Usually, inhouse system have it own maintenance worker s that do maintenance towards air-conditioning system. But for certain circumstances like changing belting or other equipment for that system, the organization have to out-tasking the work to other service partner. Usually this happen due to lack of expertise. However there are also an organization that carried out this method of organizational set up as strategy. Advantages of out-tasking (i) Reduce cost Management team can still keep total control all over infrastructure and services with low cost of maintenance as compared to out sourcing it to the other company. This is because the expertise only hired at certain time only when needed. So the payment that will be paid by the management team is much lower as compared to out sourcing it. (ii) Quality of performance When the organization out tasking the maintenanace work to the expertise, definitely the quality will be much better because they only need to focus on the task given. Compared to maintenance workers, they are multi-tasking and not expert on specific area in building maintenance. (iii) Span of control For out tasking, the gap between the management team and service partner are close. This will lead to good interaction and communication between these two parties. Besides, the employer also easy to supervise in order to ensure that the maintenance work is done properly and follow the particular procedure correctly. As compared to out sourcing, the entire maintenance work are out source to the maintenance team. 4.0 Conclusion As a whole, we cannot denied that building maintenance practices are very crucial in many point of view. Not only the building itself get involve but the practices also related to other parties whether directly or indirectly. On account of that, the management must bear in mind that efficiency in building maintenance practices play an important roles in order to ensure the particular building can operated properly. Building maintenance practices can be said like a frame work towards a building. Without a strong and solid framework, definitely the building will be collapsed. So to ensure the building maintenance practices will be managed efficiently and effectively, every organization that is responsible to maintain a particular building must critically regulate their strategy in order to achive their target. Every personnel in the organization must understand their roles and fulfill their responsibilities so that they can avoid or at least minimize problems related to building that need to be maintained. With efficient building maintenance practices, the organization can get better profit as they maintain the particular building with less time, cost and manpower. Other than that, the users or occupant of the building will also enjoy much better and convenient of using the building. http://d1072223.domain.com/Bulletins/B_Maintenance_Why.html work undertaken in order to keep, restore or improve every part of a building, its services and surrounds, to a currently accepted standard, and to sustain the utility and value of the building (Seeley, 1976). The objectives of building maintenance are therefore (Alner and Fellows, 1990) http://www.cocus.de/en/out-tasking.html

Is Globalisation a Myth or a Fact? Essay -- essays research papers fc

The term globalisation describes the process of becoming worldwide in scope or application, and the increasing interdependency of nation-sates. At least - that gives us one loose definition for globalisation, but as Scholte (2000) realises, globalisation is a thoroughly contested subject, with arguments extend across the issue of definition as well as measurement, chronology, explanation and normative judgement. In fact, Scholte identifies five contrasting definitions for the word 'globalisation' as used by a number of the subject's commentators and critics - internationalisation, liberalisation, universalisation, western/modernisation and deterrioralisation are (2000: 13). In choosing a definition of globalisation, one is also selecting how they wish to interpret it, and what points they wish to convey. For example, the choice of western/modernisation leads to a view that globlisation sees the economically and politically powerful west globalising the rest of the world, whilst universalisation leads to a more neutral stance, taking it's root from the dictionary definition of the word 'gloalise', meaning to universalise. To judge whether or not globalisation is a myth or fact therefore requires the full understanding of what the term means to it's critics and advocates, and in which ways they belive it to be myth of fact. Giddens simplifies the debate into two main schools - the sceptics and the radicals. A radical himself, he writes that "According to the sceptics, all the talk about globalisation is only that - just talk" whilst "The radicals argue that not only is globalisation very real, but that its consequences can be seen everywhere" . Sceptics are seen by Giddens to hold a politicially left view, with their argument that globlaisation is "put about by free-marketeers who wish to dismantle welfare systems and cut back on state expenditure" (1999: 7-8). Key to his own argument, Giddens realises that globlisation is not just economic, but also political, technological and cultural. It appears that some sceptics of globalisation take their definition of the word not as a verb but as the resulting noun, 'globalised'. The argument is that globalisation does not exist because we're not living in a fully globalised world. For example, economists may argue that we are not living in a total global economy and use this as pro... ...hat globalisation doesn't exist. In fact, they do quite the opposite - they illustrate various ways in which the economy has become more global over the years. Through the literal meaning of globalisation (an act or process), suggesting that globalisation is a myth is ludicrous. Globalisation is the process of becoming worldwide in scope or applicaing and the increasing interdependency of nation-states. It is a commonly accepted definition of globalisation that is required to put an end to some rather pointless debate. With such a definition in place it is then possible to start truly analysing globlisation - looking at why it's happening, what it's leading to and in which ways its acting. A current fully globalised world is a myth, globalisation is not. Bibliography =============== Cohen & Kennedy (2000) Global Sociology, MacMillan: Basingstoke Germain, R (2000) Globalisation and its Critics, MacMillan: Basingstoke Giddens (1999) Runaway World, Profile Books: London Helt et al (1999) Global Transformations, Polity Press: Cambridge Rosenberg (2000) The Follies of Globalisation Theory, Verso: London Schulte (2000) Globalisation: a Critical Introduction, MacMillan: Basingstoke