Author: Anonymous
Source: free-articles
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CONTACT:
Lois Whitehead, Public Relations Manager, 212-719-8402, lwhitehead@nysscpa.org
NEW YORK STATE SOCIETY OF CPAs TESTIFIES TODAY
BEFORE STATE SENATE COMMITTEE
Senator Kenneth P. LaValle Conducts Public Hearings on CPAs in Post-Enron Era
NEW YORK, NY, February 8, 2002 ยกV The New York State, quality control, Society of Certified Public Accountants (NYSSCPA), the oldest and largest state accounting association in the nation, testified last week at hearings conducted, quality control, by Senator P. LaValle, Chair of the New York State Senate Higher Education Committee, quality control, . The testimony will address CPA independence and regulation in light of the recent bankruptcy of the Enron Corporation. Senator LaValle leads the nation in setting up such hearings at the state level to look at the regulation of CPAs.
In its testimony, NYSSCPA will call for ยกยงraising the quality barยกยจ and will make specific recommendations, quality control, for changes in New York State regulation, disciplinary systems, enforcement and peer review. The NYSSCPA also points out the need for a state initiative, quality control, to assist citizens with retirement planning.
In addition, the testimony addresses the interplay between auditing and consulting services, specifically in the non-SEC registrant sector of the economy. The NYSSCPA advises that any consideration to constrain consulting services in the non-SEC sector could have an unintended negative impact on small and medium sized
businesses that rely on CPA firms for, quality control, business advice. Removing such services would disrupt businesses unnecessarily and force them to seek similar services from lesser qualified providers. These businesses tend to not have staff in the areas where expertise is required, and rely more heavily, quality control, on their external auditor for specified consulting services.
Following are the recommendations outlined in the testimony:
โ€žh Reconstitute the, quality control, State Board for Public Accountancy. The New York State Board does not function as an independent regulatory and enforcement, quality control, body, as it does in all other states. Instead,, quality control, it functions in an advisory capacity only to the Board of Regents, which regulates the profession. The NYSSCPA recommends that this Board be reconstituted with more power, independence, stature and resources to protect the public. Consistent with other initiatives at the federal level, the Board should include additional public members with stature and backgrounds that would ensure strong public oversight.
โ€žh Enhance the State Education Departmentยกยฆs capacity and resources. The New York State Education Departmentยกยฆs Office of Professional Discipline (OPD) needs additional qualified staff and resources to be able to investigate and discipline, quality control, effectively. The disciplinary process must reinforce the professionยกยฆs ethics code and New York State laws.
โ€žh Ensure public and private cooperation in disciplinary proceedings. The Society recommends creating an effective, cooperative joint investigation and disciplinary action process between OPD and the NYSSCPA Ethics Committee to enforce, quality control, the code of professional, quality control, ethics and the public accountancy laws and regulations. Currently these two bodies proceed independently. Cooperation will coordinate efforts and expedite timely completion of investigations.
โ€žh Extend and intensify the peer review process. Improve peer view (a process in which one CPA firm analyzes the quality control systems and professional work product of another) of CPAs with certified peer reviewers, quality control, selected with an independent body. Currently firms can select their own reviewers. Make mandatory peer reviews for all registered CPA firms that provide audit and attest services. Currently, only CPA firms who audit SEC registrants are required to be peer reviewed.
โ€žh Register and regulate all CPAs. Currently, New York State does not register or regulate, quality control, CPAs who work as financial statement preparers or internal auditors. Like CPAs in public practice they are a part of the system of checks and balances that provides integrity to financial statements. These CPAs should also be subject to discipline for professional conduct breaches and to continue professional education.
โ€žh Raise the quality bar. The NYSSCPA has developed educational programs and professional, quality control, guidance on quality control processes for CPA firms. It is currently developing more extensive guidance on issues such as the analysis of independence threats and safeguards and document retention and recovery guidelines.
โ€žh Elevate public confidence in financial reporting. Strengthen the current regulatory environment to prohibit unregulated individuals from preparing financial statements.
โ€žh Require ethics education. Integrate business ethics into high school and college curricula to highlight that technical competence is constrained by a demanding code of ethical conduct that stresses independence and protection of the public.
Directing attention to losses experienced by Enron, quality control, employees in their retirement accounts, NYSSCPA called for the support of state initiatives to assist individuals in their retirement investment planning with proper advice about diversification in a retirement investment portfolio made available to all citizens of New York State.
Testifying for the NYSSCPA were three ethics specialists: Marilyn A. Pendergast, CPA of Urbach Kahn & Werlin LLP, former NYSSCPA President and current chair of the Ethics Committee of the International Federation of Accountants; Vincent J. Love, CPA of Kramer & Love, a member of the NYSSCPA Board of Directors and Financial Accounting Standards Committee and Allen L. Fetterman, CPA of Loeb & Troper, Chairman of the NYSSCPA Audit Committee.
ยกยงThe events of the debacle at Enron deeply concern the members of the New York State Society of CPAs,ยกยจ Pendergast said. ยกยงThe CPAยกยฆs primary responsibility is to protect the public. The issues raised by the apparent failure of Enron management and external auditors cause us to want us to find out what was known and done, by whom and when.
We want to know to what extent inadequate accounting and auditing standards played a role in this case, so we can change them. If inadequate standards were not the cause, but lax enforcement was, then we should address their enforcement.ยกยจ
Copies of the NYSSCPA full testimony are available at www.nysscpa.org.
About the NYSSCPA
Representing nearly 30,000 CPAs, the New York State Society of Certified Public Accountants (NYSSCPA) was incorporated in 1897. The Society is a nonprofit organization that seeks to establish and maintain high standards of integrity, honor, and character among certified public, quality control, accountants. Its members are CPAs working in public or private practice in a state that serves as the home of Wall Street and major financial institutions.
The, quality control, New York State Society of CPAs is located at 530 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10036. To learn more about the, quality control, Society call 800-633-6320 or visit the Societyยกยฆs website at www.nysscpa.org.
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Saturday, November 14, 2009
Friday, November 13, 2009
Intricast Company launches Nexus Pacific: A New Division That Will Bring Simplified International Sourcing Solutions to Domestic Customers
Author: Anonymous
Source: free-articles
Santa Clara, CA April 27, 2004 โ€"- Intricast Company Inc. today announced the launch of Nexus Pacific - a new division dedicated to simplifying the international sourcing process for, quality control, U.S. customers. From quote to delivery, Nexus Pacific provides direct, worry-free solutions throughout the product development cycle, including design, engineering, manufacturing and project management support.
Convenient Coordination
Based in the U.S. with overseas facilities, Nexus Pacific affords customers the advantages of global sourcing, with the added familiarity and convenience of a local partnership. Constant communication between the domestic headquarters and dedicated overseas staff provides convenient coordination and local control throughout the project. Since all shipping, quality control, and payment transactions are conducted on U.S. terms, customers can avoid the handling of freight and customs issues associated with overseas sourcing.
Full-Cycle Support
Nexus Pacific offers tailored design and manufacturing engineering assistance throughout their projects. Specialized, quality control, support staff are available to ensure that high quality, cost-effective design and production processes are consistently applied.
Compressed Time-To-Market
Equipped with cutting-edge Rapid Prototyping technologies, Nexus Pacific can produce working prototypes in one to three weeks โ€" thereby enabling customers to validate their designs early in the development cycle. During production runs, Nexus Pacific maintains ongoing domestic and overseas coordination to ensure on-time performance. Inventory management solutions are also available for customers with JIT requirements.
Uncompromising, quality, quality control, control, Quality Control
Nexus Pacific provides production tooling to U.S. specifications and conducts all product inspections at the source. All Nexus Pacific supply-chain facilities are ISO certified or ISO compliant and in the process of obtaining ISO certification. To reinforce its standards of quality, Nexus Pacific also conducts periodic on-site surveillance to overseas facilities.
Please visit http://www.nexuspacificsourcing.com for more information about Nexus Pacific or to find a local sales representative.
Intricast Company, Inc., headquartered in Santa Clara, California, was founded in 1974 as a premium producer of metal components. The company served the needs, quality control, of early electronics and aerospace, quality control, industries located in Silicon Valley. The Company now has two separate divisions, the Radian Heatsink Division and the Nexus Pacific Division, to best serve today's advanced microelectronics and international sourcing needs worldwide. Intricast Company has production facilities in Santa Clara, Taiwan and China.
Source: free-articles
Santa Clara, CA April 27, 2004 โ€"- Intricast Company Inc. today announced the launch of Nexus Pacific - a new division dedicated to simplifying the international sourcing process for, quality control, U.S. customers. From quote to delivery, Nexus Pacific provides direct, worry-free solutions throughout the product development cycle, including design, engineering, manufacturing and project management support.
Convenient Coordination
Based in the U.S. with overseas facilities, Nexus Pacific affords customers the advantages of global sourcing, with the added familiarity and convenience of a local partnership. Constant communication between the domestic headquarters and dedicated overseas staff provides convenient coordination and local control throughout the project. Since all shipping, quality control, and payment transactions are conducted on U.S. terms, customers can avoid the handling of freight and customs issues associated with overseas sourcing.
Full-Cycle Support
Nexus Pacific offers tailored design and manufacturing engineering assistance throughout their projects. Specialized, quality control, support staff are available to ensure that high quality, cost-effective design and production processes are consistently applied.
Compressed Time-To-Market
Equipped with cutting-edge Rapid Prototyping technologies, Nexus Pacific can produce working prototypes in one to three weeks โ€" thereby enabling customers to validate their designs early in the development cycle. During production runs, Nexus Pacific maintains ongoing domestic and overseas coordination to ensure on-time performance. Inventory management solutions are also available for customers with JIT requirements.
Uncompromising, quality, quality control, control, Quality Control
Nexus Pacific provides production tooling to U.S. specifications and conducts all product inspections at the source. All Nexus Pacific supply-chain facilities are ISO certified or ISO compliant and in the process of obtaining ISO certification. To reinforce its standards of quality, Nexus Pacific also conducts periodic on-site surveillance to overseas facilities.
Please visit http://www.nexuspacificsourcing.com for more information about Nexus Pacific or to find a local sales representative.
Intricast Company, Inc., headquartered in Santa Clara, California, was founded in 1974 as a premium producer of metal components. The company served the needs, quality control, of early electronics and aerospace, quality control, industries located in Silicon Valley. The Company now has two separate divisions, the Radian Heatsink Division and the Nexus Pacific Division, to best serve today's advanced microelectronics and international sourcing needs worldwide. Intricast Company has production facilities in Santa Clara, Taiwan and China.
Thursday, November 12, 2009
Are You Doing What It Takes To Win More Sales
Author: Jim Meisenheimer
Source: articleage.com
What does it take to be a WINNER during these challenging times? Do you really know what it takes to win more sales?
It takes . . . Uniqueness. Being boring, bland,, quality control, and benign is out. Being different is your first step to being better. If you're different and, quality control, you're better, you'll be remembered. Type INC. after your name. For example, Jim Meisenheimer Inc.
Don't view yourself as a person. Think of yourself as a brand or even as a company. How are you positioning yourself? When your customers think of you, how do they think of you? Create a list of ten things that make you different from your competition. If this is a tough exercise for you, you should invest some strategic thinking time. Blending in is out, standing out is in.
It takes, quality control, . . . Passion. Why do so few people really get excited about their work. How many times a day do you meet someone whose eyes sparkle as they are going about their work? Too many salespeople put their presentations into cruise control and expect the, quality control, product to sell itself. People buy from salespeople, quality control, who really believe in their products/services. Passion is a small intangible quality that has a big influence on how you are perceived. Put on smile on your face, angle your chin up, focus on your customer, speak enthusiastically and go about your business energetically and you'll become passionate. If you combine equal parts of preparation and product knowledge with a splash of passion you'll take it to the next level.
It takes . . . Discipline. Every presentation can benefit from a little spit and polish once in a while. Don't get complacent about anything, quality control, . Success comes from order more often than it does from chaos. Develop a system for getting things done. Have a system for planning,, quality control, quality control, your day, planning your calls and planning for your territory.
Discipline takes time and effort. Discipline is not being rigid, it's being in control as we work in chaotic and reactive environments. The choice is simple. Are you in control - or out of control? It takes nothing to be out of control. It, quality control, takes discipline to be in control.
It takes . . . Time. You can't rush success. Success is not something you start with. It's something you hope to achieve. The bigger the challenge, the longer it takes to get there. Most folks view success as the destination
instead of the journey. Enjoy the ride and make time to smell the roses, quality control, along the way.
Speaking of dictionaries, obliterate these words from your personal dictionary immediately - can't, impossible, commodity, and discount. In sales, language is power. Avoid using words that weaken your presentation and lessen your selling power.
How you think is, quality control, everything. If you don't already have one, keep working on your DO WHATEVER IT TAKES attitude.
Jim Meisenheimer is the creator of No-Brainer Sales Training. His sales techniques and selling skills focus on practical ideas that get immediate results. You can discover all his secrets by contacting him at (800) 266-1268 or by visiting his website: http://www.meisenheimer.com
Source: articleage.com
What does it take to be a WINNER during these challenging times? Do you really know what it takes to win more sales?
It takes . . . Uniqueness. Being boring, bland,, quality control, and benign is out. Being different is your first step to being better. If you're different and, quality control, you're better, you'll be remembered. Type INC. after your name. For example, Jim Meisenheimer Inc.
Don't view yourself as a person. Think of yourself as a brand or even as a company. How are you positioning yourself? When your customers think of you, how do they think of you? Create a list of ten things that make you different from your competition. If this is a tough exercise for you, you should invest some strategic thinking time. Blending in is out, standing out is in.
It takes, quality control, . . . Passion. Why do so few people really get excited about their work. How many times a day do you meet someone whose eyes sparkle as they are going about their work? Too many salespeople put their presentations into cruise control and expect the, quality control, product to sell itself. People buy from salespeople, quality control, who really believe in their products/services. Passion is a small intangible quality that has a big influence on how you are perceived. Put on smile on your face, angle your chin up, focus on your customer, speak enthusiastically and go about your business energetically and you'll become passionate. If you combine equal parts of preparation and product knowledge with a splash of passion you'll take it to the next level.
It takes . . . Discipline. Every presentation can benefit from a little spit and polish once in a while. Don't get complacent about anything, quality control, . Success comes from order more often than it does from chaos. Develop a system for getting things done. Have a system for planning,, quality control, quality control, your day, planning your calls and planning for your territory.
Discipline takes time and effort. Discipline is not being rigid, it's being in control as we work in chaotic and reactive environments. The choice is simple. Are you in control - or out of control? It takes nothing to be out of control. It, quality control, takes discipline to be in control.
It takes . . . Time. You can't rush success. Success is not something you start with. It's something you hope to achieve. The bigger the challenge, the longer it takes to get there. Most folks view success as the destination
instead of the journey. Enjoy the ride and make time to smell the roses, quality control, along the way.
Speaking of dictionaries, obliterate these words from your personal dictionary immediately - can't, impossible, commodity, and discount. In sales, language is power. Avoid using words that weaken your presentation and lessen your selling power.
How you think is, quality control, everything. If you don't already have one, keep working on your DO WHATEVER IT TAKES attitude.
Jim Meisenheimer is the creator of No-Brainer Sales Training. His sales techniques and selling skills focus on practical ideas that get immediate results. You can discover all his secrets by contacting him at (800) 266-1268 or by visiting his website: http://www.meisenheimer.com
Wednesday, November 11, 2009
Managing Projects With Business Software
Author:
Source: articledashboard.com
Project management software encompasses many types of application, including business scheduling, management of budgets, cost control, allocation of resources, collaboration software, quality control and management, communication, administration and documentation.
Business scheduling is one of the most important functions of project management software. It allows, quality control, business managers to schedule an event or a series of events, with varied degrees of complexities, quality control, . Some of the most common ways that project management software can help with these tasks, quality control, is to schedule the people that will work at or on the events, the resources that are needed and the multitude of tasks involved. The software can resolve unexpected changes in task durations, can arrange tasks to accommodate deadlines and can juggle many projects at the same time, in compliance with their various requirements.
In the meeting of complex schedules business managers, quality control, often run into a critical path. In this situation the series of business events depend on each other and the duration of each and all of them as a whole determines the project's length. Some project management software is able to highlight these critical path tasks, and help the firm optimize the efforts at completing each.
Project management, quality control, software helps business planning as well, delivering a great deal of information to multiple key people, which justifies the time the firm spends using the application. The typical requirements, quality control, for such project management planning software include lists of tasks for various people, resource allocation schedules, overview of the time expected for each task, early warnings, quality control, of any project stumbling blocks, workload and holidays plans, business evident, and historical details on project progress. A key part of this project management software planning function is to contrast actual and planned performances.
Project management software can run as a desktop program for each key staff member, which is generally the interface with the best graphics and best response. Usually desktop applications store project management software data in a file, although they can be kept in one central database or used for multiple-user collaboration.
Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_management_software
Source: articledashboard.com
Project management software encompasses many types of application, including business scheduling, management of budgets, cost control, allocation of resources, collaboration software, quality control and management, communication, administration and documentation.
Business scheduling is one of the most important functions of project management software. It allows, quality control, business managers to schedule an event or a series of events, with varied degrees of complexities, quality control, . Some of the most common ways that project management software can help with these tasks, quality control, is to schedule the people that will work at or on the events, the resources that are needed and the multitude of tasks involved. The software can resolve unexpected changes in task durations, can arrange tasks to accommodate deadlines and can juggle many projects at the same time, in compliance with their various requirements.
In the meeting of complex schedules business managers, quality control, often run into a critical path. In this situation the series of business events depend on each other and the duration of each and all of them as a whole determines the project's length. Some project management software is able to highlight these critical path tasks, and help the firm optimize the efforts at completing each.
Project management, quality control, software helps business planning as well, delivering a great deal of information to multiple key people, which justifies the time the firm spends using the application. The typical requirements, quality control, for such project management planning software include lists of tasks for various people, resource allocation schedules, overview of the time expected for each task, early warnings, quality control, of any project stumbling blocks, workload and holidays plans, business evident, and historical details on project progress. A key part of this project management software planning function is to contrast actual and planned performances.
Project management software can run as a desktop program for each key staff member, which is generally the interface with the best graphics and best response. Usually desktop applications store project management software data in a file, although they can be kept in one central database or used for multiple-user collaboration.
Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_management_software
Monday, November 9, 2009
Keys to Project Success - Using Audits and Reviews as a Best Project Management Practice
Author: Nick Pangaro
Source: articleage.com
In recent, quality control, years, many companies are putting increased emphasis on project management techniques as a result of lessons learned on past project performance. After experiencing project delays, overruns, missed quality goals, communication barriers, "scope creep", and a general perception of projects being out of control, these companies are scrambling to implement good Project Management practices to prevent these types of problems. As part of these best practices, many companies have established project review and audit programs, periodically reviewing the status of projects and their alignment with individual and corporate goals. While worthwhile, in many cases these reviews and audits are performed by senior managers with either a stake in the project outcome or no real experience and training in project management, quality control, . Several companies have found that these management reviews have not succeeded because senior management and project managers may be speaking a different language and viewing the projects from completely different perspectives.
Audits and reviews require preparation to be fruitful. Pre-defined project review and audit protocols can help focus both the project manager and the reviewer/auditor on the important aspects of the project. Basing these protocols on proven, quality control, philosophies from the Project Management Institute (PMIฎ), the world's foremost authority for the project management profession, can provide great, quality control, insight into the actual status of the project. This provides the opportunity to take actions at the most efficient points in project execution, increasing the probability, quality control, of project success.
We've found that the most effective audits are centered on the project management knowledge areas as defined by PMIฎ, quality control, . We have also found that effective project reviews, quality control, and audits involve much more than just sitting down with the project manager and asking a series of questions. Interviews with project team members, stakeholders, and senior management as well as a thorough review of all project related documentation are just as critical to producing effective results.
Compliance with Project Management Processes
A defined set of project management processes provides consistency in project management methodology across all projects. This facilitates program management, allows for the interchangeability of resources, and increases the probability of project success. Audits should closely, quality control, examine compliance of the project procedures with the enterprise's Project Management Processes. Blind adherence to these procedures, however, without allowance for the specifics of the project, may introduce inefficiencies and stifle the creativity or flexibility, quality, quality control, control, needed to bring a project to a successful conclusion.
Controlling Scope
Scope change, without complimentary adjustments to the project schedule, budget, and objectives, is a the major reason for schedule slippage and project overruns. Adherence to change control procedures is necessary to identify and prevent inappropriate addition of "out of scope" items to the project, and limit scope creep. Audits should target Scope Management as a major factor in overall project performance in order to prevent unnecessarily increasing the project's size without correspondingly increasing the project's value.
Compliance with the Project Charter
The project charter defines in broad terms the project targets and how project success will be measured. It essentially, quality control, serves as the prime focus of all project efforts. Projects can easily get off track by ignoring the project charter, resulting in both schedule and budget problems.
Cost
Project cost impacts all other aspects of the project. Proper estimating and tracking of budgets is essential to controlling costs on a project. Understanding the budgetary state of a project, quality control, can impact all decisions made during project execution and design. Audits should focus on the two most critical aspects of cost control - estimating and tracking. Estimating factors include the methodologies used to determine project costs and cost constraints, resource planning and assumptions made during the estimating process. Tracking factors include the mechanism used to track costs and methodologies used in determining project cost status.
Time
Proper time management is critical to meeting important project deadlines and attaining time-to-market goals. Carefully defining project activities, sequencing them properly, estimating resources and time for each, and developing the schedule are all critical phases of the planning process. Audits and reviews should focus on compliance with time management processes- Were activities defined and sequenced properly? How were estimates determined? And what mechanisms are being used to monitor, quality control, adherence and control the schedule?
Communication
Numerous studies of project performance indicate that communication is the Number 1 problem encountered by project managers; consequently proper communication is vital to, quality control, the success of a project. With this level of importance, audits and reviews should focus heavily on the Project Manager's communications procedures and capabilities, overcoming barriers to communications within the company, and, quality control, the efficiency of mechanisms used for communications - Are stakeholders being kept appraised of the information they need to know for the project to be successful?
Risk
Recognizing and managing risk is critical to project success. Anticipating and planning for risk events increases the probability and impact of positive events,, quality control, and decrease the probability and impact of events adverse to the project. Audits should focus on the project's plans for preventing problems and planning responses to problems that can not be prevented.
Quality
Quality is the key to customer satisfaction, and managing customer expectations is a key to project success. Audits and reviews should focus on your approach to product delivery - is prevention stressed over inspection? Is quality built in or inspected in? Are all members of the team (including management) participants in the quality, quality control, process?, quality control,
Human Resources
Aligning project objectives, quality control, with the goals and motivations of the project team is an important part of the successful completion of any project. Defining and communicating the roles and responsibilities of management, team members and other stakeholders on the project is essential. Project audits should focus on the critical aspects of, quality control, HR management - Is the project properly staffed? Are the team members meshing so the whole, quality control, is greater than the sum of the parts?, quality control, Are the roles of the members, quality control, understood? Are there motivational problems?
With over 25 years experience as a project manager, Nick Pangaro is a certified Project Management Professional and a principal with NE Project Management Consultants (NEPMC), a New England based firm providing project management consulting services to the technology, engineering, and financial services industries. NEPMC's services include project mentoring and leadership, project performance audits, process and procedure development, peer review, portfolio and program management, planning and scope development, and contract project management. More information is provided at http://www.nepmc.com.
Source: articleage.com
In recent, quality control, years, many companies are putting increased emphasis on project management techniques as a result of lessons learned on past project performance. After experiencing project delays, overruns, missed quality goals, communication barriers, "scope creep", and a general perception of projects being out of control, these companies are scrambling to implement good Project Management practices to prevent these types of problems. As part of these best practices, many companies have established project review and audit programs, periodically reviewing the status of projects and their alignment with individual and corporate goals. While worthwhile, in many cases these reviews and audits are performed by senior managers with either a stake in the project outcome or no real experience and training in project management, quality control, . Several companies have found that these management reviews have not succeeded because senior management and project managers may be speaking a different language and viewing the projects from completely different perspectives.
Audits and reviews require preparation to be fruitful. Pre-defined project review and audit protocols can help focus both the project manager and the reviewer/auditor on the important aspects of the project. Basing these protocols on proven, quality control, philosophies from the Project Management Institute (PMIฎ), the world's foremost authority for the project management profession, can provide great, quality control, insight into the actual status of the project. This provides the opportunity to take actions at the most efficient points in project execution, increasing the probability, quality control, of project success.
We've found that the most effective audits are centered on the project management knowledge areas as defined by PMIฎ, quality control, . We have also found that effective project reviews, quality control, and audits involve much more than just sitting down with the project manager and asking a series of questions. Interviews with project team members, stakeholders, and senior management as well as a thorough review of all project related documentation are just as critical to producing effective results.
Compliance with Project Management Processes
A defined set of project management processes provides consistency in project management methodology across all projects. This facilitates program management, allows for the interchangeability of resources, and increases the probability of project success. Audits should closely, quality control, examine compliance of the project procedures with the enterprise's Project Management Processes. Blind adherence to these procedures, however, without allowance for the specifics of the project, may introduce inefficiencies and stifle the creativity or flexibility, quality, quality control, control, needed to bring a project to a successful conclusion.
Controlling Scope
Scope change, without complimentary adjustments to the project schedule, budget, and objectives, is a the major reason for schedule slippage and project overruns. Adherence to change control procedures is necessary to identify and prevent inappropriate addition of "out of scope" items to the project, and limit scope creep. Audits should target Scope Management as a major factor in overall project performance in order to prevent unnecessarily increasing the project's size without correspondingly increasing the project's value.
Compliance with the Project Charter
The project charter defines in broad terms the project targets and how project success will be measured. It essentially, quality control, serves as the prime focus of all project efforts. Projects can easily get off track by ignoring the project charter, resulting in both schedule and budget problems.
Cost
Project cost impacts all other aspects of the project. Proper estimating and tracking of budgets is essential to controlling costs on a project. Understanding the budgetary state of a project, quality control, can impact all decisions made during project execution and design. Audits should focus on the two most critical aspects of cost control - estimating and tracking. Estimating factors include the methodologies used to determine project costs and cost constraints, resource planning and assumptions made during the estimating process. Tracking factors include the mechanism used to track costs and methodologies used in determining project cost status.
Time
Proper time management is critical to meeting important project deadlines and attaining time-to-market goals. Carefully defining project activities, sequencing them properly, estimating resources and time for each, and developing the schedule are all critical phases of the planning process. Audits and reviews should focus on compliance with time management processes- Were activities defined and sequenced properly? How were estimates determined? And what mechanisms are being used to monitor, quality control, adherence and control the schedule?
Communication
Numerous studies of project performance indicate that communication is the Number 1 problem encountered by project managers; consequently proper communication is vital to, quality control, the success of a project. With this level of importance, audits and reviews should focus heavily on the Project Manager's communications procedures and capabilities, overcoming barriers to communications within the company, and, quality control, the efficiency of mechanisms used for communications - Are stakeholders being kept appraised of the information they need to know for the project to be successful?
Risk
Recognizing and managing risk is critical to project success. Anticipating and planning for risk events increases the probability and impact of positive events,, quality control, and decrease the probability and impact of events adverse to the project. Audits should focus on the project's plans for preventing problems and planning responses to problems that can not be prevented.
Quality
Quality is the key to customer satisfaction, and managing customer expectations is a key to project success. Audits and reviews should focus on your approach to product delivery - is prevention stressed over inspection? Is quality built in or inspected in? Are all members of the team (including management) participants in the quality, quality control, process?, quality control,
Human Resources
Aligning project objectives, quality control, with the goals and motivations of the project team is an important part of the successful completion of any project. Defining and communicating the roles and responsibilities of management, team members and other stakeholders on the project is essential. Project audits should focus on the critical aspects of, quality control, HR management - Is the project properly staffed? Are the team members meshing so the whole, quality control, is greater than the sum of the parts?, quality control, Are the roles of the members, quality control, understood? Are there motivational problems?
With over 25 years experience as a project manager, Nick Pangaro is a certified Project Management Professional and a principal with NE Project Management Consultants (NEPMC), a New England based firm providing project management consulting services to the technology, engineering, and financial services industries. NEPMC's services include project mentoring and leadership, project performance audits, process and procedure development, peer review, portfolio and program management, planning and scope development, and contract project management. More information is provided at http://www.nepmc.com.
Sunday, November 8, 2009
The Advantage to Buying Promotional Products Online
Author: Rick Sheldon
Source: articleage.com
Buying your promotional products and corporate apparel online provides five major advantages: a greater selection, better pricing, convenience, customer, quality control, service, and faster ordering time.
Manufacturers often display their entire line of products on the internet, providing you with a greater selection of products. With all of these manufacturers online,, quality control, you gain the opportunity to compare pricing and quality in a simple and accessible online format, instead of wasting time flipping through endless catalogs that crowd your workspace.
Better pricing is readily available online, but you have to search for it. Type any promotional product related keywords into your favorite search engine and sift through the results until you find a company with discount pricing. Another great trick is to choose an item and have a few companies give you a quote with the price of freight included. This will get you a number much closer, quality control, to the total cost.
How do these online companies afford to sell the exact same product for less than other distributors? Traditionally, promotional items are sold by a distributor who has outside sales, quality control, people that will go to your place of business, show you samples, and walk you through the process of placing an order. These outside sales people are the primary expense of an off-line distributor. This expense is then factored into the price of the promotional item, thus raising your total cost. When purchasing discount promotional products online, you can eliminate this huge cost and save considerable amounts of money.
Convenience, quality control, comes with, quality control, the capability of placing your entire order online. All successful online companies offer this service with encrypted order forms to secure your purchasing information. It is always a necessary hassle to send the artwork to your promotional products, quality control, company, quality control, . This is made easy with the online form. With online ordering you gain the convenience of placing your order anytime, twenty-four hours a day.
A few of these online companies also provide customer service departments with long hours. They are set up primarily to take your calls, handle rush orders, and to answer your questions promptly. If you prefer to communicate through e-mail, this is a great way to document your order from start to finish. You can e-mail a question to your distributor, leave for lunch, and have it answered by the time you return.
A faster ordering time is the fifth major, quality control, result of the online purchase. I have personally visited hundreds of clients. This obviously requires an appointment, which naturally must fit into both parties' schedules. An off-line salesperson is forced to interpret your needs prior to your meeting. They bring what samples and catalogs they have on hand, but these may not meet your needs and thus your ordering time will be extended for a second meeting. If you have any questions about product availability, turn, quality control, around time, or any other factory sensitive inquiries, the, quality control, salesperson will have to return to his office in order to contact the factory, in order to answer your question. When you order from an online company, the customer service team is already, quality control, in their office, so they can contact the factory with your questions and call you back immediately.
I have given you five great reasons to buy promotional products online, but I must also remind you that there is always a trade-off. Online promotional products companies work very hard to cut all possible costs and to pass the savings on to you. You will find that this results in a charge for samples and pre-payment requirements. The charge for samples insures that the company will not give away products to non-customers, as this would considerably raise the real customers' costs. Paying in advance is very common among internet purchasing in general,, quality control, and necessary for almost every online company to insure payment. Pre-payment is nothing to worry about. You still have, quality control, the right to a quality product, and you gain an enormous savings.
One other tip, select an online company that has in-house embroidery or screen printing facilities. It has been my experience that these companies have much better control of expediting your orders, a stronger knowledge of branding, experience which allows them to better monitor quality control, and a great tendency to complete rush orders faster.
You will find that many more successful businesses are now placing their promotional product and corporate apparel needs in the hands of these qualified online distributors. The advantages are numerous; convenience, speed, selection, accountability, service, and above all, savings.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Author:, quality control, Rick Sheldon has 18 years experience in the Promotional Products Industry and is currently CEO of Save on Promotional Products Inc. a Discount Online Promotional Products Company. He can be contacted at 1-800-826-8706; email: rick@saveonpromotionalproducts.com; or visit www.saveonpromotionalproducts, quality control, .com.
Source: articleage.com
Buying your promotional products and corporate apparel online provides five major advantages: a greater selection, better pricing, convenience, customer, quality control, service, and faster ordering time.
Manufacturers often display their entire line of products on the internet, providing you with a greater selection of products. With all of these manufacturers online,, quality control, you gain the opportunity to compare pricing and quality in a simple and accessible online format, instead of wasting time flipping through endless catalogs that crowd your workspace.
Better pricing is readily available online, but you have to search for it. Type any promotional product related keywords into your favorite search engine and sift through the results until you find a company with discount pricing. Another great trick is to choose an item and have a few companies give you a quote with the price of freight included. This will get you a number much closer, quality control, to the total cost.
How do these online companies afford to sell the exact same product for less than other distributors? Traditionally, promotional items are sold by a distributor who has outside sales, quality control, people that will go to your place of business, show you samples, and walk you through the process of placing an order. These outside sales people are the primary expense of an off-line distributor. This expense is then factored into the price of the promotional item, thus raising your total cost. When purchasing discount promotional products online, you can eliminate this huge cost and save considerable amounts of money.
Convenience, quality control, comes with, quality control, the capability of placing your entire order online. All successful online companies offer this service with encrypted order forms to secure your purchasing information. It is always a necessary hassle to send the artwork to your promotional products, quality control, company, quality control, . This is made easy with the online form. With online ordering you gain the convenience of placing your order anytime, twenty-four hours a day.
A few of these online companies also provide customer service departments with long hours. They are set up primarily to take your calls, handle rush orders, and to answer your questions promptly. If you prefer to communicate through e-mail, this is a great way to document your order from start to finish. You can e-mail a question to your distributor, leave for lunch, and have it answered by the time you return.
A faster ordering time is the fifth major, quality control, result of the online purchase. I have personally visited hundreds of clients. This obviously requires an appointment, which naturally must fit into both parties' schedules. An off-line salesperson is forced to interpret your needs prior to your meeting. They bring what samples and catalogs they have on hand, but these may not meet your needs and thus your ordering time will be extended for a second meeting. If you have any questions about product availability, turn, quality control, around time, or any other factory sensitive inquiries, the, quality control, salesperson will have to return to his office in order to contact the factory, in order to answer your question. When you order from an online company, the customer service team is already, quality control, in their office, so they can contact the factory with your questions and call you back immediately.
I have given you five great reasons to buy promotional products online, but I must also remind you that there is always a trade-off. Online promotional products companies work very hard to cut all possible costs and to pass the savings on to you. You will find that this results in a charge for samples and pre-payment requirements. The charge for samples insures that the company will not give away products to non-customers, as this would considerably raise the real customers' costs. Paying in advance is very common among internet purchasing in general,, quality control, and necessary for almost every online company to insure payment. Pre-payment is nothing to worry about. You still have, quality control, the right to a quality product, and you gain an enormous savings.
One other tip, select an online company that has in-house embroidery or screen printing facilities. It has been my experience that these companies have much better control of expediting your orders, a stronger knowledge of branding, experience which allows them to better monitor quality control, and a great tendency to complete rush orders faster.
You will find that many more successful businesses are now placing their promotional product and corporate apparel needs in the hands of these qualified online distributors. The advantages are numerous; convenience, speed, selection, accountability, service, and above all, savings.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Author:, quality control, Rick Sheldon has 18 years experience in the Promotional Products Industry and is currently CEO of Save on Promotional Products Inc. a Discount Online Promotional Products Company. He can be contacted at 1-800-826-8706; email: rick@saveonpromotionalproducts.com; or visit www.saveonpromotionalproducts, quality control, .com.
Business Dealings With Foreign Suppliers - Effective Relationships to Build a Better Business
Author: Julian Deverell
Source: ezinearticles.com
Humble beginnings
During the last decade globalization has opened the flood gates of foreign trading and the backwash has run into the crevices of even the smallest companies. Where once only large organisations could deal effectively with far away suppliers now even the most modest of traders can source supply from foreign producers.
My experience of foreign trade began in the summer of 2003 when I worked for a small importers of wooden toys and games including chess sets. I became the companies primary contact with suppliers, all of whom were based in China. Because the company was so small (turn over well under £1m) staff numbers were thin on the ground. This meant my role was very varied, I would deal with packaging, product design, quality control and general negotiations with suppliers.
After a fairly short time in the role I quickly realized that things were, quality control, going wrong, very wrong. Products were incorrect, quality was poor, &control of quality completely non existent! My discussions with the mildly competent sales department taught me that half of what they were selling were partially defective clearance lines. In fact the company was running in a highly inefficient way. External factors such as a very strong, quality control, pound, a booming economy and extremely low labour costs in China were the only things stopping the company from going bust. Indeed once these factors switched to less favorable ones they did go into administration.
What surprised me most about this slowly sinking ship was how face to face interaction with their suppliers was virtually non existent. In fact the only contact they had with their suppliers was via email. They were getting container loads of stock, quality control, sent over to the UK not knowing if the contents, quality control, was going, quality control, to be sale-able or destined for the bonfire. I was unable to effect many changes within, quality control, the company due to the belligerent and stubborn owners so after twelve months I left to set up my own business importing chess sets and other goods from China.
A new start
Initially things looked, quality control, very Rosy, the economy was still, quality control, in boom mode, the pound strong and on line demand for these products high. Using these advantages, quality control, I managed to build a small yet profitable business importing products from China and retailing them on line through various e-commerce platforms. I was dealing with two Chinese suppliers, both of, quality control, who were contacts from, quality control, my days at the ailing toy importers.
It's fair to say that had I been a total stranger these suppliers would not have started to deal with me, they were too big to want to deal with a small start up. Because they knew me and the, quality control, way I worked both were keen to help me build my fledgling company. MOQ's were low and prices good, things were looking up.
And so the pitfalls came
Things started to go wrong when the quality of the products began to suffer. Batches of perfectly good products would arrive in containers,, quality control, followed by repeat orders that were riddled with defects. While I sat down and worked out the cost to my company of these mistakes the Chinese searched for pathetic excuses and reasons why they were not going to refund me.
I quickly realized that the only way I was going to sort out these issues was to get myself over to China, meet the suppliers in person and see with my own eyes how my products were being made. I booked my flight and told the suppliers I was coming. I was keen to show them that I meant business and that if we could work through these issues together business would flourish.
It's worth remembering that capitalism, quality control, and business is fairly new to countries, quality control, like China. Our sense of business in the developed side of the globe is a far cry from their rapidly developing business world. It's these differences that cause so many problems between Chinese and English companies.
It became clear to me that the Chinese were unable to see past the current deal they were working on. So obsessed with making a profit on every single order they would sooner murder their children than break the rule of capitalism and make a loss. In the developed world things have evolved a lot more. We know that sometimes you need to take a loss today in order to facilitate a profit tomorrow and beyond. We have all been there:Making, quality control, a costly concession for a customer to rectify a bad situation in the knowledge that the reputation these actions will bring is worth 1000 times what we spend to keep them happy.
During my dealings with the Chinese I would visit the suppliers around, quality control, four times each year. I would inspect my products, ensure they fixed mistakes in production and suggest positive ways they could make their lives easier. Some people have suggested that everything that's ever been invented in the world started it's beginnings in a garden shed in England. It seems the, quality control, English have an in built sense of practicality, innovation and ideas. Of course without the rest of the world to help us these great, quality control, ideas would probably all still be in the shed but it's worth remembering that people from other cultures can sometimes lack what we would call 'common sense'
Take nothing for granted when sourcing your products from suppliers abroad. If a box says 'This Way Up' don't ever assume the supplier will rotate it the right way. If you simply assume they will use common sense to get it right expect nothing more, quality control, than a shrug of the shoulders from the suppliers while you pull our your hair after it's all gone wrong!
Lessons learned, time to move on
These days I don't buy anything from China, India became the source of many of our fine chess set products after a conscious decision was taken to move away from mass produced goods into higher end crafted products. The lessons learned from the China experience have enabled me to deal effectively, quality control, with the Indians and avoid the pitfalls I previously faced with China.
Which ever country you are dealing with the same principles, quality control, apply. By far and away the best method of dealing with your supplier is face to face. It shows the supplier you are serious, that you mean business and that you are in it for the long haul. Meeting, quality control, the supplier, quality control, in person can be a reassurance that you are not dealing with an Internet scamster selling someone else's rejects, or it can be the meeting you needed to realize they are not worth the risk. Either way, you need to get out there and see them. If your business is not worth the price of a plane ticket and a few nights in a hotel then it begs the question, what is it worth?
These days I also buy from EU based countries,, quality control, Spain, Poland, Italy. While the prices are nowhere near as good as the Chinese the products and service are in a different league. Trading with other EU members is so easy and has become very profitable for my company. I would still advise visiting your EU based suppliers in person for the sake of growing your business, indeed the trips I have made to European cities have been much more pleasurable than those to industrial Chinese areas. Business trip to Barcelona anyone?
Source: ezinearticles.com
Humble beginnings
During the last decade globalization has opened the flood gates of foreign trading and the backwash has run into the crevices of even the smallest companies. Where once only large organisations could deal effectively with far away suppliers now even the most modest of traders can source supply from foreign producers.
My experience of foreign trade began in the summer of 2003 when I worked for a small importers of wooden toys and games including chess sets. I became the companies primary contact with suppliers, all of whom were based in China. Because the company was so small (turn over well under £1m) staff numbers were thin on the ground. This meant my role was very varied, I would deal with packaging, product design, quality control and general negotiations with suppliers.
After a fairly short time in the role I quickly realized that things were, quality control, going wrong, very wrong. Products were incorrect, quality was poor, &control of quality completely non existent! My discussions with the mildly competent sales department taught me that half of what they were selling were partially defective clearance lines. In fact the company was running in a highly inefficient way. External factors such as a very strong, quality control, pound, a booming economy and extremely low labour costs in China were the only things stopping the company from going bust. Indeed once these factors switched to less favorable ones they did go into administration.
What surprised me most about this slowly sinking ship was how face to face interaction with their suppliers was virtually non existent. In fact the only contact they had with their suppliers was via email. They were getting container loads of stock, quality control, sent over to the UK not knowing if the contents, quality control, was going, quality control, to be sale-able or destined for the bonfire. I was unable to effect many changes within, quality control, the company due to the belligerent and stubborn owners so after twelve months I left to set up my own business importing chess sets and other goods from China.
A new start
Initially things looked, quality control, very Rosy, the economy was still, quality control, in boom mode, the pound strong and on line demand for these products high. Using these advantages, quality control, I managed to build a small yet profitable business importing products from China and retailing them on line through various e-commerce platforms. I was dealing with two Chinese suppliers, both of, quality control, who were contacts from, quality control, my days at the ailing toy importers.
It's fair to say that had I been a total stranger these suppliers would not have started to deal with me, they were too big to want to deal with a small start up. Because they knew me and the, quality control, way I worked both were keen to help me build my fledgling company. MOQ's were low and prices good, things were looking up.
And so the pitfalls came
Things started to go wrong when the quality of the products began to suffer. Batches of perfectly good products would arrive in containers,, quality control, followed by repeat orders that were riddled with defects. While I sat down and worked out the cost to my company of these mistakes the Chinese searched for pathetic excuses and reasons why they were not going to refund me.
I quickly realized that the only way I was going to sort out these issues was to get myself over to China, meet the suppliers in person and see with my own eyes how my products were being made. I booked my flight and told the suppliers I was coming. I was keen to show them that I meant business and that if we could work through these issues together business would flourish.
It's worth remembering that capitalism, quality control, and business is fairly new to countries, quality control, like China. Our sense of business in the developed side of the globe is a far cry from their rapidly developing business world. It's these differences that cause so many problems between Chinese and English companies.
It became clear to me that the Chinese were unable to see past the current deal they were working on. So obsessed with making a profit on every single order they would sooner murder their children than break the rule of capitalism and make a loss. In the developed world things have evolved a lot more. We know that sometimes you need to take a loss today in order to facilitate a profit tomorrow and beyond. We have all been there:Making, quality control, a costly concession for a customer to rectify a bad situation in the knowledge that the reputation these actions will bring is worth 1000 times what we spend to keep them happy.
During my dealings with the Chinese I would visit the suppliers around, quality control, four times each year. I would inspect my products, ensure they fixed mistakes in production and suggest positive ways they could make their lives easier. Some people have suggested that everything that's ever been invented in the world started it's beginnings in a garden shed in England. It seems the, quality control, English have an in built sense of practicality, innovation and ideas. Of course without the rest of the world to help us these great, quality control, ideas would probably all still be in the shed but it's worth remembering that people from other cultures can sometimes lack what we would call 'common sense'
Take nothing for granted when sourcing your products from suppliers abroad. If a box says 'This Way Up' don't ever assume the supplier will rotate it the right way. If you simply assume they will use common sense to get it right expect nothing more, quality control, than a shrug of the shoulders from the suppliers while you pull our your hair after it's all gone wrong!
Lessons learned, time to move on
These days I don't buy anything from China, India became the source of many of our fine chess set products after a conscious decision was taken to move away from mass produced goods into higher end crafted products. The lessons learned from the China experience have enabled me to deal effectively, quality control, with the Indians and avoid the pitfalls I previously faced with China.
Which ever country you are dealing with the same principles, quality control, apply. By far and away the best method of dealing with your supplier is face to face. It shows the supplier you are serious, that you mean business and that you are in it for the long haul. Meeting, quality control, the supplier, quality control, in person can be a reassurance that you are not dealing with an Internet scamster selling someone else's rejects, or it can be the meeting you needed to realize they are not worth the risk. Either way, you need to get out there and see them. If your business is not worth the price of a plane ticket and a few nights in a hotel then it begs the question, what is it worth?
These days I also buy from EU based countries,, quality control, Spain, Poland, Italy. While the prices are nowhere near as good as the Chinese the products and service are in a different league. Trading with other EU members is so easy and has become very profitable for my company. I would still advise visiting your EU based suppliers in person for the sake of growing your business, indeed the trips I have made to European cities have been much more pleasurable than those to industrial Chinese areas. Business trip to Barcelona anyone?
Julian Deverell is the owner and director of JDS Toys and Games Ltd, (est 2005) & The Regency Chess Company, the UK's finest supplier of chess sets, boards & chessmen.
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