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In the following Lecture Notes of Business Management, the Lecturer has illustrated these points in detail : Presentation Evaluations, Presentation, Analyzen, Reports, Documentation, Business Report, Company Brochure, Recommended Grade Level, Synergetic Consultants, Management Information Systems
Typology: Study notes
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Presentation Evaluations
Notes: This section presents a sample of review comments following each of the workshops carried out during this year. It was abstracted from the notes taken by the lecturers during the sessions and in discussions held after each workshop.
Given that the last workshop took place on the 12th of March, the assessment for this session has not been included.
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Analyzen Presentation: Problems with use of colours and design of slides; speakers went very fast. Presentation was obviously not practiced in advance of session. However group was otherwise well prepared. All team members sat at the top of the room. Use of individual name plates was a nice touch, except that the print was too small to read! Reports: Documentation contained a business report, a company brochure and initial tender documentation. A logo and motto was devised for the group. Some proof-reading needed in the report, which also needs some attention to increasing the consistency of text style, presentation formats, etc. Management principles underlying the organisation are listed in the report. Team members, team structure and team roles are described. The process overview section contains some nonsensical sentences: - “Analyzen is committed to reach higher maturity in all levels of its processes” (p.9). Key areas for successful project implementation are identified. Estimation of costs is not very realistic; no VAT included. Paperwork includes a sample Balanced Scorecard with measures. Good to see ACC 532 materials being incorporated here Overall : Good Presentation; Good report Recommended Grade Level: A-
AIS 530: Joint Project
Workshop Title: Company Documents
Workshop Title:
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Synergetic Consultants
Presentation: Costs presented are not realistic; no VAT included. Some very generic measures contained in the Balanced Scorecard presented. Good logo designed; logo used throughout the presentation, although it might have looked better at the bottom rather than the top of the screen.
Reports: Very apt logo and motto devised by this group. Report contains some very odd sentences and phrases: e.g. “..businesses that work under the structure of management information systems” (p.2)? Report seems to indicate a very high level of organisational members taking part in the HANS project –this is not realistic. Some work needed also on the cost projections. Programming methodology outlined at the end of the report. Uses materials from ACC 532: sample Balanced scorecard included – but this has not been adapted to suit a firm in the software industry and includes measures relating to a financial services firm – more care needed in respect of such inclusions in future!
Overall : Good Presentation; more care needed to the detail of the report.
Recommended Grade Level: B- / B
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Date Scheduled : Fri 28th Nov. 2003 Venue : ORB B.04 Lab
General Comments:
This session was video-taped towards the production of a teaching tape for Portfolio assessment purposes.
As for the previous session, the standards achieved here are impressive across all of the groups.
The teaching team has a general concern regarding the extent to which teams are delegating particular aspects of work to individual team members; thus we have told the class that we will deliberately ask questions of all team members during the course of all presentations in order to reduce the urge to engage in such specialisation!
All team members were requested to forward their record of team meetings / minutes / use of Microsoft project scheduling to date to each member of the teaching team. They were told that this should not take long, if an accurate record of such meetings had been maintained heretofore.
In future presentations, students will be asked to turn off computers to prevent the constant clicking of mice throughout the session.
AIS 530: Joint Project
Workshop Title: Preliminary Tender Document
Workshop Title:
Workshop Leader: Dr. Freddy Adam
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Invent
Presentation: This group are very well prepared. Questions were handled well and competently by all team members. Presentation has clearly been practiced in advance of today. At first glance, this group have produced a very well designed, sell structured report. The section on risk management in particular is excellent. Insurance element included in the report is good (and relevant) – but suggest to the group that it be put at the end of the document, rather than in the opening sections!
Report: In general this report is excellent – well presented and very carefully constructed. Effectively this is an example for all groups to follow. However small details to be worked on: include page numbers on the table of contents; more care re ‘odd’ sentences and phrases. Contact details are given up-front in the Introduction section, followed by acknowledgements and a view of both company’s logos. Compliance with ethical and legislative requirements also addressed. Report details both the requirements of the software provider, but also the requirements to be placed on HANS. List of possible reports includes a reconciliation of stocks. Templates of the accounting reports are well thought out and look very good. More care needed in the visual presentation of some headings which do not fit the assigned text boxes. Use of tables as a means of presentation throughout is excellent. Section on Risk assessment is particularly well done, as is the material on testing and acceptance issues. Database tables and associated attributes are very easy to follow, with the primary key to be used in each table clearly indicated. Updated balanced scorecard in the report. Last page presents a statement of the ‘account’ to date.
Overall : Very good presentation; group handled questions well. The report is excellent. This group are to be commended on the amount of work they have done since the last presentation. Recommended Grade Level: A
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Synergetic Consultants
Presentation: Delivery of presentation needs to be much slower; group were nervous initially, possibly due to the video recording of the session. Feasibility of the project was assessed on 4 levels, carefully linked to the requirements of HANS. Build-up to the actual requirements was a bit long-winded however. Functional requirements were dealt with, and this group has incorporated materials from the EMC site visit very well. Presentation style; use of slide transition works very well, particularly in explaining the ERD diagrams. Use of scenarios to ‘stage’ the discussion of same on works very well.
Reports: Disk of the presentation included with the report. Report itself would be much improved by writing an initial introduction section outlining the purpose, contents, format, etc of what is contained in it. Bullet point format has become very mechanistic in this report – you need to intersperse it with some text at least. Also need to link the text to the relevant ERD diagrams. No report templates contained in the report; document just lists the elements that will be available, some of which are not really relevant to HANS e.g. Aged Creditors list. Project risk section is handled well in the report – split into assessment measures and control measures, and then considered under each of the organisational procedures to be carried out. Grammar mistakes throughout – more careful proofreading needed.
Overall : Good presentation; nicely done. Better integration needed of the materials presented in the report. Recommended Grade Level: B
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General Comments:
The Teaching Team is again amazed at the high standard achieved by each of the groups. However the presentation by Emily still stands out as being simply the best we have ever encountered – it was better than many professional commercial presentations that the Team had attended. Her knowledge of the system and the manner of her delivery were impeccable.
At the beginning of the session, all groups were told to log off their computers and not allowed to do any further work on their systems during the course of earlier presentations. This seemed to upset the Analyzen group most!
At the end of the session, we commended the students on how well they are progressing, but again highlighted the importance of not neglecting any of their other courses. We also asked them to refrain from ‘celebrating’ their good performances until after Vincent O’Connell’s class of that afternoon.
No paper-based submissions were specified for this presentation in the initial case study documentation. All three groups were asked to forward a copy of their slides to each of the Team. As of the following Tuesday (16th) they still have not done this.
Given the high standards being achieved, Teaching team must take care to evaluate each project on its own merits, rather than relative to the others. The ‘weakest’ in this year is more that above the average of previous years – so all three may be deserving of very high marks at the end of the year. As examiners we must guard against the tendency to mark students relative to each other, but seek instead to maintain an independent view of standard.
Each group have now been given a specific area to work on in advance of the next presentation:
Invent: Inventory Analysis Synergetic: Aged Debtors Analysis Analyzen: Customer Sales Analysis
AIS 530: Joint Project
Workshop Title: Working Prototype
Workshop Title:
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Analyzen
Presentation: This presentation was outstanding. Use of HANS context; colour coding was well thought out, but group may need a clearer distinction between the 2 shades of green. Password levels also present in the system – so the group have followed up on the content of their previous report. User interfaces are very well-designed – this group seem to have a lot of work done. The databases however are clearly not populated – but as a presentation strategy, this seems to have worked well. At the very least, it will ensure a common template throughout. Very impressive screen interfaces. ABC materials have also been incorporated for ACC 532 class –but again, careful consideration has been given to the HANS situation, in that Analyzen will give HANS the flexibility to change the drivers chosen!
Reports:
Overall : The presentation was outstanding in all respects: content and delivery.
Recommended Grade Level: A+
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Synergetic Consultants
Presentation: Presentation had a very good introduction to it – groups need to learn to make the most of what they have done! Speaker is talking far too fast however. Visual presentation here is excellent. Some confusion with names and labels used – customers / debtors / creditors are all mixed up. Group does not demonstrate a good understanding of the ‘Aged Debtors’ concept, and in general, they need to reflect a little more before jumping in with the answers to questions.
Reports:
Overall : Very good visual presentation, taken from slightly by a nervous presenter.
Recommended Grade Level: B-
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General Comments:
At the beginning of the session, all groups were told to log off their computers and to turn off the monitors. Groups were more prepared for this than they were in the previous session.
At the end of the session, we commended the students on how well they are progressing, particularly in relation to the final submission. That said, only one of the three groups had actually addressed the specific accounting issue assigned to them at the previous session! Freddy and Karen were happy however with the other aspects of the project.
Each group submitted a written progress report in advance of presenting.
The next presentation will take place in the Seminar Room, BIS department. The aim is to simulate the ‘board room’ experience within which many such presentations take place. There will also be a number of ‘invited’ guests.
The session was video-taped from start to finish.
AIS 530: Joint Project
Workshop Title: Progress Report 1
Workshop Title:
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Invent
Presentation: Accounting task assigned: Inventory Analysis Nice overall introduction given to the presentation and the report. However the purple and red colour scheme does not work very well! At the outset the group addressed the specifics of password protection and access re same. This was well done and was demonstrated to work. Follow-on focus on employees was clearly not relevant, and group would have been better to have left it out (or down-graded it in priority), particularly in light of the comments given to Analyzen re same. Inventory analysis clearly and adeptly addressed by the group. Some of the screen labels may need to be reconsidered; however all of the essential elements are present. Clearer distinction needed as between finished goods and raw materials stocks. Group also needed to be more conversant with the business implications of their proposed system: e.g. assigning of stock locations within the warehouse needs to be in support of some form of ‘picking’ system. Facility to up-date book stock figures after stock counts demonstrated; presentation did not address the format of reports on same though (either in graphical or other format).
Reports: Presented at the start of the presentation. Screens are sell-designed. No evidence of how group are progressing in terms of the original schedule as per Microsoft project.
Overall : Good presentation skills demonstrated; accounting topic was addressed. Discussion of reports on inventory would have increased overall grade.
Recommended Grade Level: B+
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Synergetic Consultants
Presentation: Accounting task: Aged Debtor Analysis Presentation format used works well; nice slides, kept very simple but informative. Much time spent dealing with elements neither essential nor required for the HANS project – e.g. Fixed asset register; accounting journals and ledgers. The assigned accounting topic was hardly mentioned however. No graphical analysis provided. Breakdown of debtors was done on a customer by customer basis – no overall report provided. Higher level analysis needed. Problems also with the variance analysis reports presented; group would have been better advised to focus on the task assigned to them; instead they simply demonstrated an overall lack of accounting knowledge in terms of the areas they did choose to look at. This group has a lot of work done; however they need to consider the extent to which aspects of the project simply represent ‘bells and whistles’ as opposed to key and necessary accounting requirements. The accompanying report is also very good and quite comprehensive; more use should be made of it during the course of the presentation – e.g. refer the audience to particular pages / sections.
Reports: Presented at start of presentation. Very well-drafted informative report; it is a pity the contents of this report were not reflected in the presentation. Problems with the design of the accounting templates. Compliance with Microsoft Project scheduling considered in the report.
Overall : Presentation format and structure was excellent; work needed however on the content and delivery (too fast).
Recommended Grade Level: C-
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Analyzen
Presentation: Group chose a more ‘academic’ style of presentation; this worked well initially, until the group decided to stop! Introduction was structured around critical success factors identified in an earlier presentation, thus linking the sessions together for the audience. More care needed however in the use of the ruler as a pointer! – avoid pointing at the audience! Good recovery by the team mid-way – reflects well on team work; relations, etc between the team members. Sales analysis presented by the group – but much more detail needed here. Group has not shown that they have dealt with all of the main accounting issues; focus throughout the presentation kept on the notion of ‘maintaining an audit trail’; this is good however the group have left themselves with an awful lot to come good on and present in the final prototype presentation. The competitive strategy of withholding may work once (i.e. last session!) but will not work twice in this context.
Reports: Report submitted is good; however this group have yet to provide report templates for the accounting materials.
Overall : Presentation was too short; group had to be pushed to provide more materials, which they later demonstrated they clearly had. Ability to meet accounting requirements not yet demonstrated.
Recommended Grade Level: C-
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Invent
Presentation: Group began by recapping previous presentations; good slide design used here showing both their and HANS logos. Linking to earlier presentations is a good idea as it means the group don’t have to go over that material again. The group however let themselves down by not sticking to the accounting specifications; materials on the Balance sheet should be dropped; group have only shown up their relative lack of accounting knowledge here. Accounting reports themselves are excellent – to date, only this group have dealt with this aspect of the presentation. This group’s greatest strength is the simplicity of the design / approach taken; group however need to realise this is an advantage not a disadvantage! Some work has been done around the Debtors report, but more needed. Use of discount details is very neat – cleverly picking up in ACC 532 – CPA materials! Group should not be afraid to show off that knowledge! Format of the presentation itself is visually appealing and works well.
Reports: Very complete and competent report submitted. Nice continuity established with previous reports.
Overall : This group have the least amount of work to do ahead of the final presentation. Group needs to be more confident in their collective ability however. Group has demonstrated on-going progress and improvement from the start of the year.
Recommended Grade Level: B+
