Introduction to MS Excel

Introduction to MS Excel Microsoft Word is a powerful word-processing program that will take your documents far beyond what you can produce with a typewriter. Whether you want to create a simple letter to a friend, produce a newsletter for a professional organization, or even write a complicated, multiple-page report containing graphics and tables with numerical data, you will find the information that you need to quickly and easily get the job done in Microsoft Office Word. History of Microsoft Word 1.1.2 Microsoft Word 1990 Microsoft Office for Windows is released otherwise known as Office 1.0 office 1.0 contains Word 1.1, Excel 2.0 and PowerPoint 2.0. In the same year as this release, Microsoft becomes the first company to exceed $1billion in sales in one year. 1.1.3 Microsoft Word 1998 Word 1998 for the Macintosh gained many features of Microsoft Word 1997, and was bundled with the Macintosh Office 98 package. Document compatibility reached parity with Office 97 and Word on the Mac became a viable business alternative to its Windows counterpart. Unfortunately, Word on the Mac in this and later releases also became vulnerable tofuture macro viruses that could compromise Word (and Excel) documents, leading to theonly situation where viruses could be cross-platform. A Windows version of this wasonly bundled with the Japanese/Korean Microsoft Office 97 Powered By Word 98 and could not be purchased separately. 1.1.4 Microsoft Word 2002/XP Microsoft Word 2002 was bundled with Office XP and it was released in 2001year. It had many of the same features as Microsoft Word 2000, but had a major new feature called the Task Panes, which gave quicker information and control to a lot of features that were before only available in a modal dialog boxes. One of the key advertising strategies for the software was there moval of the Office Assistant in favor of a new help system, although it was simply disabled by default. 1.1.5 Microsoft Word 2008 Microsoft Word 2008 is the most recent version of Microsoft Word for the Mac, released on January 15, 2008. It includes some new features from Word 2007, such as a ribbon-like feature that can be used to select page layouts and insert custom diagrams and images. Microsoft Word 2008 also features native support for the new Office Open XML format, although the old doc format can be set as a default. 1.1.6 Microsoft Word 2010 The next version Microsoft Word is scheduled to be released sometime in 2010. It will include any new features common to other applications in Office 2010. Microsoft Word 2010 will have the new WordArt styles and effects replacing the old styles. 1.2 Advantages of Microsoft Word 1.2.1 Word Columns Newspapers, newsletters, magazines, and many websites format information in columns. Doing so allows for more flexibility in arranging topics within a larger document. In Word, using columns makes your information easy to find and read when creating newsletters and other documents. 1.2.2 Table You also have tables, which are a grid of columns and rows and great for comparing or following information across several columns. If you have used Microsoft Excel or another spreadsheet program, you will find working with tables in Word very similar. In fact, on a very small scale, Word tables are small spreadsheets. 1.2.3 Graphics You can also work with graphics, such as pictures, shapes, or diagrams. Using a few carefully placed graphics in your document can be just the enhancement the document needs to keep your reading audience interested. Youll learn how to place them into your document and manipulate their size, color, arrangement, and more. Working with Word graphics is fun and easy. 1.2.4 Longer Documents Theres more to Word than short letters and memos. Now that you are more comfortable with the basics of Word, you can view your documents from different perspectives and generally work with longer documents. In this part, youll discover outlines, mass mailings, and adding referencing information such as bibliographies, footnotes, tables of contents, and indexes. Using features like these makes creating legal briefs, annual reports, catalogs, and other complex documents much easier. 1.2.5 Printing In many cases short documents can be printed only once at the end of editing. However, even in this case the look at the printed copy can lead to some alterations in the document contents and layout. This is because we perceive the on-screen document and the printed document differently. Maybe this will change in the future, but nowadays this difference in perception still exists. Therefore, even in the case of short documents there may be more than one printing. The situation is different in the case of long documents, such as book, text books, theses, manuals. Printing the edited document or some of its parts is just a necessary part of the work on a large project, so printing is repeated many times while working on the publication. 1.2.6 Making Bibliography Usually a bibliography list is a list of book, journal articles, conference papers, patents, and unpublished works. Which is sorted either alphabetically by names of authors or in the order of appearance of the first reference to the cited work. Items of a bibliography list are usually denoted by numbers or other labels, which are used in the text for referring to sources. In books, textbooks, theses, and other extensive publications as a bibliography list is considered as a chapter level unit, so its title (the word References or Bibliography) should be formatted using the chapter heading style. For the same structural reasons, in such publications a bibliography list should start on an odd page. 1.2.7 Page Numbering Besides text, equations, figures, tables, and other element, representing the information, which an author wishes to pass to readers, there are also important elements used for navigation in the book. An absolutely necessary part of any monograph, thesis, diploma work, or a textbook, is pagination, or page numbering. Navigation in text without page numbers is cumbersome. Even the presence of the table of contents or a word index implies that all pages are numbered to make locating information easier. 2.0 Introduction to Microsoft Excel Microsoft Excel, the most popular and powerful worksheet program in the world. What is worksheet program? A worksheet is a program with a huge grid designed to display data in rows and columns where you can create calculations to perform mathematical, logical, and other types of operations on the data you enter. You can sort the data, enhance it, and manipulate it a plethora of ways including creating powerful charts and graphs from it. Whether you need a list of names and addresses, or a document to calculate next years sales revenue base on prior years performance, Excel is the application you want to use. 2.1 History of Microsoft Excel Excel 1 The first version of Microsoft Excel, was released for Macintosh systems by years 1985. By developing Microsoft Excel for the Macintosh first, Microsoft was able to take advantage of systems graphical user interface (GUI) and mouse input device. They were also able to build up the programs reputation while avoiding direct competition with Lotus 1-2-3. Excel 2 and 3 In year 1987, Microsoft launched Microsoft Excel 2 along with its Windows operating system. Windows borrowed many of the features of the Macintosh interface, which allowed Microsoft to give Microsoft Excel 2 all the graphical refinements of the Microsoft Excel 1, such as pull-down menus and point-and-click interaction. Excel 2 and its next version, Excel 3 (1990) year, experienced some popularity, though Lotus 1-2-3 continued to dominate the market. Excel 4 and 5 Excel 4 was released by 1992 year, the same year that Windows 3.1 was released. With this release, Microsoft Excel finally begins to dominate the spreadsheet market. This also marks the first time that Excel is bundled as part of the Microsoft Office suite of programs. The next year an improved version of 4, called Excel 5, introduced many welcome changes. Excel 95-2003 In 1995, Microsoft released its first significant redesign of its Windows operating system, Windows 95. Excel also received a major reworking and re-branding; the new version was dubbed Excel 95, as were all of the programs in the Office suite. The next several versions of the software continued this branding, and saw the release of Excel 97, Excel 2000, Excel 2002 and Excel 2003. Each version saw improvements over its predecessor, though each was built upon the design established in Excel 95. Excel 2007 The newest release, Excel 2007, presented significant changes in both interface (such as the ribbon, replacing the traditional pull-down menu) and functionality. It was released in conjunction with the Microsoft Vista operating system, and carried many of the Vista design elements. 2.2 Advantages of Microsoft Excel 2.2.1 Create a Chart Microsoft Excel gives you tools for quickly generating a chart or visual representation of the numbers in your worksheet, Charts clarify patterns that can get lost in columns of numbers and text, and they make your data more accessible to people who are not familiar with, or do not want to delve into, the details, Charts can make a greater impression that rows and columns of numbers because the mind perceives, processes, and recalls visual information more quickly that textual or numerical information. In addition, shapes and colors have real impact. With using Microsoft Excel you can charts with dramatic visual appeal quickly and easily. Simply select the data you want to chart and then choose a chart type from the Insert tabs Chart group. Microsoft Excel provides several chart types from which to choose, including column, line, pie, bar, area, and scatter charts. In addition, each chart type has a number of subtype options. 2.2.2 Creating Formulas By using Microsoft Excel formula is an equation that performs a calculation. A formula can consist of operators, functions, numbers, text, and cell references. You place formulas in cells. You can click a cell and then type your formula into the formula bar or you can type your formula directly directly into a cell. 2.2.3 Paste Link into Word You can use Excel data within other programs, thereby extending your ability to use, analyze, and present your Excel data. In PowerPoint, you can use Excel worksheet to illustrate your presentations. You can add Excel data to Word or PowerPoint by using the copy and paste commands. The Copy command copies the Excel data. The Paste command places the copy in another document. When you copy and paste, if you make changes to the original Excel document, you must go into the Word or PowerPoint document and update it as well. You can also copy Excel data into Word or PowerPoint by using a paste link. When you use a paste link, if you alter Excel data in Word or PowerPoint, Office automatically updates the Excel source document. 2.2.4 Save After you complete the work of entering, formatting, analyzing, and charting your data, you can share it with others. Sharing data usually means either saving it and sharing the file, or saving it and sharing a print out. Microsoft Excel make your work easier to share with others. 2.2.5 Protect your worksheet You can protect your worksheet so others can view and print it but cannot make changes to it. You can also save your workbook as a template. By saving your workbook as a template, you eliminate the chore of recreating a special-purpose worksheet each time you need to use it. In addition, you can save documents in many formats. 2.2.6 Printing By using Microsoft Excel you can print multiple-page worksheets and multiple-sheet workbooks. You find out how to select noncontiguous cell ranges and print them and how to repeat row and column labels across several pages. The two key printing tools are the Page Setup dialog box and the Print Preview window. Familiarize yourself with the many choices they offer. 2.4 Conclusion Microsoft Word very useful for us, because anything also can write can be done on word. So reports, essays, projects, experimental write ups etc. It allows us to present projects in the same way that a professional would. It makes high quality presentation possible to everyone and therefore first impressions are normally good. We can import diagrams, photographs, tables, accounts, databases and even drawings into the document. Besides that, we can underline, make text bold and italic so as to emphasis a part of the document. It has a word andÂÂ  grammar checkerÂÂ  within the program so this allows me work to be much improved. It also helps the marker or teacher as it is very easy to read which is not always easy with the hand written word. Microsoft Excel is also very useful for us, because we can use Excel data within other programs, thereby extending your ability to use, analyze, and present your Excel data. In PowerPoint, we can use Excel worksheet to illustrate your presentations. We can add Excel data to Word or PowerPoint by using the copy and paste commands. Besides that, we also can protect our worksheet by using Microsoft Excel, so others can view and print it but cannot make changes to it. We can also save your workbook as a template. By saving our workbook as a template, we eliminate the chore of recreating a special-purpose worksheet each time you need to use it. In addition, we can save documents in many formats.

Major Challenges of Organizational Management Essay example -- Busines

Major Challenges of Organizational Management   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚     Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  There are a number of differences between FMC’s Aberdeen and Green River, the two facilities of discussion. One may assume, therefore, that managerial styles, business practices, and other aspects of business and the employees involved, would be very different from one another. On the other hand, it is quite possible to use very similar styles of doing business and managing a company, despite differences in the company, as a good style of managing, and good practices would assist any business in succeeding. Management, employees and productivity being the main focuses at hand, one may first want to review these differences between the two facilities. To begin with, the facility in Aberdeen employs 100 people, while the Green River plant maintains 1150, and while Green River produces over 100 goods, and distributes world wide, the Aberdeen plant has only one product, and one customer. The two plants were very different in age and industry as well, with Green River as an older company in the chemical industry, and Aberdeen, a five year old â€Å"start up† company in the defense industry.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Considering that the Green River facility has been in operation as long as it has, major changes to the company’s methods of operation may prove to be difficult initially. The large number of employees may provide a need for some small changes in comparison to the way that the Aberdeen facility is able to manage successfully. The general idea of changing the values of â€Å"managing† employees, to incorporate the employees opinions, thoughts, feelings, to make the employee feel more a part of, and personally responsible for, the work produced, is an excellent idea, and despite the differences in the facilities, it should be something of an improvement for this, and any, company. This general idea starts the more involved process of improving an employee’s satisfaction with all of their job facets, and focuses on their abilities, desire to succeed, and other aspects of importance to a person in the workplace. An excessive amount of change, or r ushed change, is a possible concern for a facility like Green River that has been established for a considerable length of time, as employees have grown accustomed to a certain atmosphere, and may initially feel uncomfortable with change. Again, it is also likely that this is not... ...chain on the other hand, though still managed with upper and lower levels, reacts more as a team, giving those involved more recognition for their accomplishments. People who are recognized as such, and appreciated for their individual strengths, may be more likely to utilize these strengths and feel that they are a part of the company, rather than a pawn of the company. There is something very positive to be said for this type of thinking, if everyone on the Earth felt that a small positive contribution to it’s well being would be recognized, and make a difference, I can almost guarantee that we would be living in a very different world today. Works Cited: Organizational Behavior, Jennifer M George & Gareth R Jones, Copyright 2002 by Pearson Education, Inc., Ch. 1-4 Prentice Hall, Custom Business Resources, FMC Aberdeen from Practice Problems in Organizations: Cases in Leadership, Organizational Behavior and Human Resources, by James G Clawson, A Custom Edit, Copyright 2003 Pearson Custom Publishing If the job could talk By Bill J. Bonnstetter Copyright 2000. TTI Performance Systems, Ltd. http://www.benchmarkingdna.com/showPDF.php?file=Articles_IfTheJobCouldTalk

Aluminum smelter in South Africa Essay

We recommend you do not build this new Greenfield primary aluminum smelter in South Africa. In order to achieve a 15% ROI on your investment, you require a long-term average price of $1500 for aluminum. We have estimated that demand for primary aluminum in 5 years will be at $20bn, which will support a market price of around $1490. This heavily builds on the assumption that aluminum inventories will be zero by that time, which depends on a successful implementation of the international Memorandum of Understanding. Historically these non-binding agreements have been very hard to enforce, and so a scenario where supply is far greater than demand is likely, leading to large inventories and lower prices. It is because of this uncertainty that we recommend you do not build the plant. Back-up calculations: 1.ROI calculation: Given investment costs of $1.6bn, full capacity of 466,000 t/year and an ROI requirement of 15%, we calculated that you require a price of $1,500 per ton of aluminum. 2.In the short run, all smelters need to cover variable costs, which include electricity, alumina, other material costs and freight cost. In the long-run, they need to cover total costs. a.The current price ($1,100) covers variable costs for 20 million tons of capacity; the long-run price will have to be higher. b.Smelters may hesitate to scale down production of individual pots, as this will still incur costs of labour or other non-material costs, as well as additional costs in having to rebuild and reline the pots. c.Not all producers are subject to the same pressures, e.g., variable costs differ significantly between different smelters (different size, efficiency, tax breaks, power agreements). Government-run facilities may have more financial support due to their social role in addition to pure production, such as securing raw materials supply for domestic industries, as well as providing jobs for local communities. 3.Given a CAGR of 2% per year, we estimate total aluminum demand to be 27 million tons in 1998. Assuming that inventories are zero, and primary demand accounts for 74% of total supply, this would imply primary demand of 20 million tons. 4.To produce 20 million tons, the price would be around $1,490 per ton. 5.The reduction in inventories and stabilization of the price level depends on the success of the MoU. Other producers may not look favorably on you opening a new smelter when they have had to cut down on production.

Educational Planning Essays

Educational Planning Essays Educational Planning Essay Educational Planning Essay teachers etc. As far as functioning of the system is concerned the elements to be taken into account include administration of education at the system level, managing the educational process at the institutional and classroom level. For analyzing the quality and outcomes of the education system the efficiency of education and the pass percentage and graduation rate etc. are important. Target Setting Targets are translation of objectives in clearly defined quantitative terms. What the plan intends to achieve during the plan period when specified in quantitative terms is known as target. Targets are statements which state clearly and unambiguously what is to be achieved and are in measurable terms and have definite time frame. In order to develop education plan the targets may be set for access, enrolment, retention and achievement level of children. However it is desirable to undertake the target setting exercise in a disaggregated manner. Secondly in a medium and long term plan the targets should be set in a phased manner which means that targets should not only be set for the total plan period but should also be set for all intervening years. This may not only help to see the progress of implementation of the plan on year to year basis but may also facilitate in reviewing the implementation strategies and perhaps revising the targets for the coming years. The gender and social disparities in the field of education are common features in developing countries. These disparities may be in enrolment, retention or even in achievement also. One of the important objectives in the education plan will be to reduce these disparities. It is therefore important to set the targets on enrolment and retention separately for boys and girls as well as for different ethnic groups that are educationally backward. Over a period of time the gap between boys and girls and between various ethnic groups and others may be reduced. The target of reducing this gap may depend upon the gaps between these categories in the base year of the plan. Several demographic and enrolment indicators can be used in setting enrolment targets. These are growth rate of population; growth rate of school age population or share of school age population to total population; share of girls in total child population; share of under age and over age children in total enrolment at a given level of education; Net Enrolment Ratio; growth rate of enrolment in the preceding year; and Net Intake Rate (NIR). It is important to note that plan targets for all major interventions need to beset at the lower level administrative unit. For example, in the national plan state (i. e. province) wise targets may be set or while planning at the state level district wise targets need to be set. Further the plan targets should be expressed both in terms of absolute figures as well as in terms of performance indicators, where ever applicable. Intervention Strategies and Activities After setting the targets the next step in planning is to evolve strategies to achieve the targets and therefore evolving intervention strategies to achieve the targets is another important aspect of plan formulation. The effort may be to highlight the interventions that will help to overcome the problems and constraints identified in the plan so as to ensure that the targets set are achieved. However, it is to be noted that the strategies evolved will have to address the identified problems and issues. While evolving the strategies important points to keep in view are: (i) in a decentralized planning any single strategy may not be uniformly operational or applicable indifferent areas and that is why probably for addressing a single problem one may have to envisage a set of strategies for a given context. ii) Many a times a single strategy may not be enough to address an issue or a problem and there will be a need to work out multiple strategies for addressing a single problem. (iii) All the problems and issues identified during the planning exercise must be tackled and intervention strategies should be worked out accordingly and there should thus be a linkage between the problems/issues identifie d and the intervention strategies developed for addressing them. Translating the strategies into programs and activities is the next step in the plan formulation. It is to be kept in view that a specific intervention strategy may require a number of programs to make it operational and effective. However a program may be an aggregation of various activities. It is therefore necessary to translate each and every strategy into activities and tasks. For example for improving access the strategy can be ‘opening of new schools’. However one of the activities under the strategy of opening new school may be ‘construction of school building’. But the activity of construction of school building has many tasks that are to be undertaken. These tasks may be (i) identification of school-less habitations; (ii)identification of habitations qualifying for opening schools; (iii) listing and prioritization of habitations; (iv) deciding about the number of schools to be opened;(v) identification of habitations where schools are to be opened; (vi) deciding the location/site of the school; (vii) acquiring site/transfer of land; (viii) identification of agency for construction and supervision; (ix) actual construction work; (x) monitoring and supervision of construction work and (xi) finishing and furnishing of school building. Next step in plan formulation is the sequencing and phasing of these activities and the tasks. It may be noted that some activities / tasks can be undertaken only in a sequential manner whereas some activities/tasks can be started simultaneously. For example, construction of school building and recruitment of teachers are the activities which can be undertaken simultaneously while actual construction of school building can not be done before deciding the site of the school, acquiring site, transfer of land and identification of agency for construction and supervision. Costing and Budget Preparation An important step in the plan formulation exercise is the costing and estimation of financial requirements to implement the plan. Translating the physical inputs into financial requirements is essential for funding purpose. All the activities and tasks identified, which have financial implication, are to be cost properly and budgeted adequately. Various steps that are involved in estimation of financial requirements are: (i) listing of all the activities to be undertaken (ii) classifying all these activities into two categories i. . activities having cost implications and activities which do not have cost implications; (iii) classifying the activities which have cost implications into recurring and non-recurring heads; (iv) working our the is another important aspect of plan formulation. The effort may be to highlight the interventions that will help to overcome the problems and constraints identified in the plan so as to ensure that the targets set are achieved. However, it is to be noted that the strategies evolved will have to address the identified problems and issues. While evolving the strategies important points to keep in view are: (i) in a decentralized planning any single strategy may not be uniformly operational or applicable indifferent areas and that is why probably for addressing a single problem one may have to envisage a set of strategies for a given context. (ii) Many a times a single strategy may not be enough to address an issue or a problem and there will be a need to work out multiple strategies for addressing a single problem. iii) All the problems and issues identified during the planning exercise must be tackled and intervention strategies should be worked out accordingly and there should thus be a linkage between the problems/issues identified and the intervention strategies developed for addressing them. Translating the strategies into programs and activities is the next step in the plan formulation. It is to be kept in view that a specific intervention strategy may require a number of programs to make it operational and effec tive. However a program may be an aggregation of various activities. It is therefore necessary to translate each and every strategy into activities and tasks. For example for improving access the strategy can be ‘opening of new schools’. However one of the activities under the strategy of opening new school may be ‘construction of school building’. But the activity of construction of school building has many tasks that are to be undertaken. These tasks may be (i) identification of school-less habitations; (ii)identification of habitations qualifying for opening schools; (iii) listing and prioritization of habitations; (iv) deciding about the number of schools to be opened;(v) identification of habitations where schools are to be opened; (vi) deciding the location/site of the school; (vii) acquiring site/transfer of land; (viii) identification of agency for construction and supervision; (ix) actual construction work; (x) monitoring and supervision of construction work and (xi) finishing and furnishing of school building. Next step in plan formulation is the sequencing and phasing of these activities and the tasks. It may be noted that some activities / tasks can be undertaken only in a sequential manner whereas some activities/tasks can be started simultaneously. For example, construction of school building and recruitment of teachers are the activities which can be undertaken simultaneously while actual construction of school building can not be done before deciding the site of the school, acquiring site, transfer of land and identification of agency for construction and supervision. Implementation Schedule and Monitoring Mechanism One of the important stages in planning exercise is detailing out the implementation plan. When planning at the lower levels, e. g. district level planning, implementation is part and parcel of planning activities. A plan document is incomplete if it does not contain detailed plan for implementation of the programs and projects that the plan contains. It thereby means that planning for implementation should be inbuilt in the plan document. A failure in the achievement of plan targets in the education sector is generally attributed to the lack of detailed planning for implementation. Planning for implementation facilitates the process of implementation of programs and projects by providing a sound mechanism of monitoring in the form of implementation schedule and it also increases the efficiency of the system by minimizing the costs of implementation of a given program or project. Planning for implementation makes it possible to critically analyze the activities of a given educational program and to develop an implementation schedule which can be used for monitoring the progress of implementation. There are certain steps that are necessary in planning for implementation of educational programs or projects. These are; listing of activities that make up the program; thinking through each of these activities; establishing inter-relationships between these activities; establishing a network; setting activity duration; determining material, equipment and human resource needs; deciding about time duration for the program implementation of each activity; identifying identical activities of the program which can not be overlooked without affecting the duration of the average cost of recurring activities and unit cost for non-recurring activities (v)estimation of costs separately under the recurring and non-recurring heads. While estimating the financial requirements for the Education Plan the recurring costs estimation may be on items such as salaries, training, maintenance of building, equipment, furniture, infrastructure, travel costs; stationary and consumables, contingencies, rents etc. Similarly the non-recurring cost estimation may be on items such as: construction of school building, additional classrooms, toilets, compound wall, equipments, furniture; infrastructure; vehicle etc. The aggregation of costs of all the activities and tasks under various strategies will give the total financial requirements of the plan. Allocation of resources to education is based on the budgets. Budgets are prepared annually to facilitate the resource allocation process. This implies that these activities are to be classified according to the year of beginning and completion of the activities. This may help in preparing the annual budgets. The budget should correspond to the activities indicated to be completed in that particular year. While estimating the cost requirements for the plan it is of utmost importance to keep in view the financial parameters fixed by the higher level decision making bodies with regard to Education Plans to be formulated at the lower levels. The costing of the plan must adhere to the ceilings on various items and other financial parameters prescribed by the approving body which may be the national (i. e. central) government and/or the provincial government. Negotiations, Appraisal and Approval The plans developed are draft plans till they are discussed and finally approved by the approving authorities. Since resources are to be allocated for implementation of plan, the negotiation process is very important. Many proposals in the plan may require financial allocation from the higher authorities. Hence the plan may become final only when they are discussed and finally approved by the authorities by approving budget and allocating funds as per requirements. The approving authorities look into the desirability of proposals and the feasibility of implementation of the plan. This is the process of negotiation between those who formulate the plan and those who have to finally approve the plan and budget. It is generally found that some cut in the proposed resource requirement is done by the authorities and in such case the plan need to be revised in the light of discussion. Based on the resources assured by the approving authorities, plan proposals are to be prioritized. After such re-prioritization so as to establish a link between what is proposed and the extent of resources available, the plan is finalized. In order to approve the plan the authorities, who have to approve the plan and budget, do generally like to do comprehensive review of the various aspects and components of program proposals. It is therefore seen whether the plan is technically sound, financially viable and justified and administratively feasible. This is done with the help of a team of experts who discuss the plan proposals at length with the planning team. This process is known as the appraisal of plan. Thus an important aspect of plan negotiation is appraisal through which the opinion of the experts is sought about the soundness and feasibility of plan proposals before it is finally approved for implementation. Negotiation is a process by which one can bargain for more resources. If the proposals made in the plan document are justified and the planning team is able to convince the authorities it is very likely that they may get more resources. However, if the plan proposals are weak and unconvincing the chances are that they may get less amount of resources. The soundness of the proposals which constitute a plan is an important consideration influencing the amount of resources allocated

Muzak essays

Muzak essays Muzak creates experiences by capturing the emotional power of music and putting it to work for different types of businesses in diverse market segments. For anyone living in the world today, background art and music are virtually unavoidable. Public and business spaces are often saturated with visual and aural stimulation. It is important to understand that Muzak is not simply another term for background music, but the name of an American corporation, and the indicator of something more sophisticated at work. Muzak is scientifically engineered sound - functional music rather than entertainment. It affects those who hear it but does not require a conscious listening effort. The Muzak Corporation call themselves specialists in the physiological and psychological effects and applications of music, and they draw on the use of a programmed environment for applications in offices, factories, banks and shops etc. The key to Muzak's effectiveness is Stimulus Progression; a system which provi des people with a psychological lift. A subconscious sense of forward movement achieved through programming sound in blocks. "For me the intentions of background music are openly political, and an example of how political power is constantly shifting from the ballot box into areas where the voter has nowhere to mark his ballot paper. The most important political choices in the future will probably never be consciously exercised. I'm intrigued by the way some background music is surprisingly aggressive, especially that played on consumer complaint lines and banks, airlines and phone companies themselves-with strident, non-rhythmic, and arms-length sequences that are definitely not user friendly . . ." (Lanza 148) To understand the wider implications of Muzak, background music, it is necessary to return for a moment to their root, pure music, and attempt a definition. What music provides the listener with are not feelings of his or her own or the co ...

Business Plan- Sports Center Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Business Plan- Sports Center - Essay Example SWOT Analysis of the business Strengths The first advantage of the center is its ability to cater the health needs of all people under one roof. Firstly, it offers a large number of health and recreation activities that suit all age groups. For example, it has arrangements to offer swimming classes for various age groups. In addition, it has the capability to cater for all the health needs of all people. For example, a person who comes to gym can also go to the diet center and talk to the expert regarding food habits. It can also act as a place for healthy eating. As the entire program is set up in a single building with adequate parking space, it will be the only sport center in the city where one can have some recreation, food and shopping that attracts the entire family. The second major advantage over other sport centers in the area will be presence of experienced and qualified trainers and health and food specialists. The management has decided to have only experienced and well qualified trainers and volunteers. The next strength is the strong financial base the business has got. Also, the initiative has secured strong support from local politicians and other local service organizations. The last point is its connection with various voluntary organizations and governmental agencies who will conduct regular programs which are health oriented. This will improve the image of the center among the public and it will help the center gain public trust. Weaknesses The first weakness of the project is the absence of a strong market research committee that is required to identify the changes and trends in the market from time to time. The second weakness is the inability of the center to immediately introduce newer recreational activities if necessary. As different floors are designed for various sport activities, they cannot be altered for other sport activities. In addition is the huge expenditure involved in making any changes if required. The last weakness is th e limited space availability that makes it impossible to admit more people if necessary. For example, it will only be able to admit a limited number of people into the swimming pool at a time, and this may make many potential customers go to other centers. Opportunities The first opportunity in front of the center is the increasing number of health-conscious people. As there is an increasing consciousness among people regarding diet and health, there is a likely increase in the number of people who visit health centers on a regular basis. The second opportunity for the center is the new governmental legislations and initiatives that encourage people to live healthy. Another point of opportunity is seen in the interest shown by various governmental and private agencies to sponsor health activities. Lastly, there is the continuing seasonal interest in various sports like football and swimming. Threats The first threat is the coming up of competitors with better facilities. Admittedly, there is the possibility of other centers adding better facilities, thus taking away a considerable proportion of customers. The second threat is people losing interest in the recreation activities and looking for other interest areas. The third major threat is the possibility of various organizations and governmental agencies giving up the sports and concentrating other forms of health and recreation. The last threat is people’s lack of time to visit the center due to work and study. Niche

Lincoln and the Coming of the Civil War Term Paper

Lincoln and the Coming of the Civil War - Term Paper Example Term paper "Lincoln and coming of the Civil War" briefly demonstrates all historical picture of that times with key dates and persons, which affected the course of this war. The political conflict finally grew up into cruel brother-killing war without any intimation of democracy and justice. It all started with Abraham Lincoln election and separating of United States into Southern Democrat, Northern Democrat, and the Constitutional Union. After Lincoln's inauguration on March 4, 1861, seven states had seceded. These states formed the Confederate States of America and elected Jefferson Davis as its president. One month later, when Confederate forces under General P.G.T. Beauregard fired on Union-defended Fort Sumter in South Carolina, the American Civil War began. President Lincoln called for 75,000 volunteers to crush the rebellion. The author tries to figure out the main dilemma in these events. For example: Was the slavery the only reason for Confederacy to be involved in this war? Was it possible to find a peaceful way for this conflict? Critically analyzing the main actions and strategies of historical important persons, the author finds his own and unique, devoid of prejudice opinion, which shows motives of both sides in the best way. Also. this paper contains different summaries of chapters alongside with some kind of philosophical question: "How would you personally do, being on the Abraham Lincoln place?". This paper is high-quality, solid-structured student's work with the A+ potential!... George Meade to capture the Army of the Potomac. On July 1, these two armies clashed at Gettysburg, PA. The fighting lasted for three days; Lee’s forces were crushed and they retreated. A few days after, Grant besieged Vicksburg and opened the Mississippi to shipping. This divided the South into two and decreased access to critical resources. In the summer of1863, Gen. William Rosecrans and his Union troops went to Georgia, but tasted defeat at Chickamauga. They fled to the north, but experienced further defeat at Chattanooga. Grant was instructed to save them, and he amassed victories at Lookout Mountain and Missionary Ridge. The next spring, Grant left and turned over leadership to Gen. William Sherman. Sherman went south and became successful in taking Atlanta, and then his forces marched to Savannah. Once getting to the boundaries of the sea, they pushed the Confederate forces until their commander, Gen. Joseph Johnston, capitulated at Durham, NC on April 18, 1865. In Marc h 1864, Grant commanded all Union armies and dealt with Lee at the east. On April 1865, Lee was forced to abandon the city and go to the west. Grant took Richmond in the process. On April 9, Lee surrendered to Grant at Appomattox Court House. Summary of Gettysburg Address On November 19, 1863, Abraham Lincoln conveyed the Gettysburg Address to the public in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. Through this speech, Lincoln commemorates the sacrifices of those who died to preserve the Union. In a very short speech, Lincoln reminded the public why the war had to be fought and how the Union won the Civil War. He stressed that the war is not about quashing the Confederacy rebellion per se. More than that, it is about the promotion of equality and freedom for all. We should not