D. Patrick Howard

Business Survival Skills

2011-09-22T04:33:00.000-07:00

Elbow your way to the table

There always seems to be competition, even when there really is not. Stake out your turf, guard it well, and push back on anyone that tries to muscle in. They will try, and from all directions.

Perform with excellence

Double check your outgoing emails. Do not allow yourself to be sloppy. Do not allow your vendors to be sloppy with their contracts. Put everything in writing, and push for control systems and use them to cover your ass, your tracks, and to drive work you need to get done.

Play both sides

Everyone loves a hero. It is admirable to make a stand. However, things are always changing. Event the strongest and highest walls can be tunneled under, circumvented, and eventually toppled.

You cannot control everything, all the time

Lao Tzu said it well, that by letting it go, it all gets done. The world is won by those who let it go. But when you try and try, the world is beyond the winning. Sometimes you have to micro manage, but try to foster competence and trust in those around you so that they do most of the work.

Play to your strength and find your niche

Leaders lead, and you can not lead the parade if you are running around trying to play the drum, the trombone, and a trumpet at the same time. Stick to what you do best, play to your strength and you will be more successful. Find a niche that fits your skills and dig in.

Pick your battles

Sometime you just can not win. You can not be right all the time. Even if you are right, sometimes your not, depending on who you ask. That is the nature of politics. Sometime you will loose just because everyone else is tired of seeing you win all the time.

Life is not fair

Neither is business. The only rule is to make the business money so the organization survives. That leaves a lot of details wide open.

Under the Bus

2011-01-26T16:54:00.000-08:00

Have you ever been 'thrown under the bus?'

I am sure that most of us have seen the dirty underside of the proverbial bus. I know I have. In fact, I would wager that most of us in leadership roles have taken a turn under the wheel and axle.

So, what does one do? Should you avoid it, embrace the certainty, or resign yourself to the inevitable? What leads others to feign friendship and foster trust only to cash in their chips around bonus time.

At this point in my career, I have seen the view from behind the wheel as well as the dusty undercarriage. I have had folks open tell me they were going to roll me right under, far in advance. Does that still count? Something to ponder, especially if you do not take any action to remedy the situation.

Fear is the driver. Fear of failure. That sinking feeling that you just are not being successful and have to find a scape goat. After all, maybe if you get by just this one more time you will have it made. So you pull the blame card and hope the wrath falls elsewhere.

I suppose if you start feeling like throwing someone else under the bus, let them know in advance. That seems honorable, at least better than trying to be sneaky about it.

I say that the best strategy is to do your best and focus on the work at hand. Concentrate on executing your own tasks as best you can, and toot your own horn. Let folks know your accomplishments and be positive and constructive. If you get rolled over and left by the curb then at least you learned something.

Vision Statement and The Balanced Scorecard

2009-10-01T15:16:00.000-07:00

An additional point that can be made to complement a recent article by Bob Larrivee – AIIM "Whose vision is it?" is the value of the balanced scorecard.

The vision is to focal point of the organization's strategy. One tool that depends on the vision as well as the mission statement is the balanced scorecard. The balanced scorecard is a performance management tool that can measure whether the day-to-day operational activities of an organization are aligned with its larger objectives in terms of vision and strategy. Implementing a balanced scorecard will provide many benefits to organizations of all sizes. These benefits include an increased focus on strategy and result and improved organizational performance by measuring what matters most. The balanced scorecard will also improve communication of the organization’s vision and strategy as well as prioritize projects and initiatives.

The foundations of the balanced scorecard are the vision and mission statements and the strategies of the company. Once strategies have been identified, they are placed in a four-quadrant perspective matrix representing financial, customer, innovation and learning, and internal process perspectives. The balanced scorecard has evolved from its early use as a simple performance measurement framework to a full strategic planning and management system. The “new” balanced scorecard transforms an organization’s strategic plan from an attractive, but passive document, into the "marching orders" for the organization on a daily basis. It provides a framework that not only provides performance measurements, but also helps planners identify action items and measurement focus. It enables executives to truly execute their strategies.

dpatrickhoward.com

The Virtual PMO

2009-08-21T12:34:00.000-07:00

A few of the most common questions we get at Pranagy Unlimited LLC are:

Is a virtual project management office right for my organization?
What does my firm need to start a PMO?
What are the benefits of a PMO?
How does my company start building a project management organization?

Here are a few answers...

Where the virtual PMO works

Collaborative corporate cultures are well suited to the virtual project management organization. In mid-2000, The New York Times Co. launched a virtual project management organization (PMO) with a decidedly different approach than the centralized model. The first PMO was "centralized with an iron fist," says Vice President and CIO Michael Williams. " Every task was reported, which was fine for that exercise, but it really wouldn't work in our culture. After Y2K, we adapted a new PMO to our collaborative culture." The current virtual PMO offers project management guidelines via an intranet.

What you need to start a virtual PMO

The virtual PMO starts with :
1. A Project Management methodology - this is often a collection of documents to fill out and who to send them to, and it should be supported by…

2. A Project Management Office, which contains the following:
• Guiding standards
• Business-led Enterprise Architecture preferences
• Methodologies (workflows, best practices, understandings)
• Process designs (functions, processes and procedures)
• Enterprise-wide quality and process initiatives (Balanced Scorecard, CMM, 6Sigma, ITIL, PMBOK, etc)

Communication in a virtual PMO

The matrix below is based on a table from Mastering Virtual Teams (Duarte and Snyder, 2001), can assist in choosing the appropriate technology based upon the purpose of the communication needed. As Figure 1 shows, synchronous multi-media communication is most effective. The firm's staff may need to increase the use of electronic meeting system with audio/video and text and graphics to improve communication. One example of such a tool is WebEx. The firm may also want to consider expanding its use of instant message technology both internally, as well as externally.

Care should be taken when embracing an instant messaging communication tool. Workers that utilize instant messaging need to learn how to manage their time between their existing, familiar media, and this technology. One pitfall of instant messaging, if not addressed, is the potential for disruption. Instant message software often has settings to allow or disallow “pop-ups”, as well as setting the availability of status. Workers must learn how to set their status appropriately in order to effectively limit disruptions at times when their individual productivity would be negatively affected.

Figure 1: Communication Technology Effectiveness Matrix
Source: Duarte, Deborah L. and Snyder, Nancy Tennant (2001)

Benefits of a virtual PMO

Enterprise Level Benefits - The collaborative PMO offers benefits at the enterprise level, some of which include :
• Portfolio, Program and Project alignment
• Clear alignment of all project initiatives to business benefits
• Management processes for effectively identifying, assessing, selecting, and managing programs
• A ‘centralized’ view (a single view of activity, resource allocation, etc.) of all projects across all programs
• Operational visibility which makes it easier for management to see how resources are being deployed and utilized
• Pre-selecting which programs to target so the portfolio best matches the enterprise-resource-mix for maximum on-going yield to the business

System Level Benefits - A collaborative environment for programs and projects provides:
• Rationalized IS and IT architecture support costs
• Visibility of all projects across the business
• Consistent application of best-practice project management approach and techniques across the business
• An agile environment that continually captures information
• Effective resource utilization and skills visibility
• Reduced mail-server load
• Project activity, information and communications coordinated

Moving toward a virtual PMO

The objective would be to move to a fully collaborative environment so that there is a single source of project information across the enterprise.

Implementation steps

To implement a collaborative PMO a staged approach must be taken. The first stage has two objectives. The first objective is to conduct an analysis of the current state in order to assess project operation and methodologies.

This is combined with a secondary objective of communicating the business framework that the new environment will operate within.

The objectives are:

1. Analysis of your current methodology and its delivery mechanisms to understand and clarify potential impact

2. Communicating a business environment for collaboration framework
This is followed by a requirements analysis and a situational report that includes:
• Development of ROI
• Securing high-level management support and funding based on ROI
• Establishment of a stakeholder-led Project Review Committee

The virtual PMO framework is established within the context of portfolio, program and project management operations. When the virtual PMO framework is established and supported by collaboration it becomes an automated framework for the governance and operations management of programs and project management. An electronic ‘wrapper’ that delivers end user project services across the enterprise.

The collaborative business environment of the virtual PMO framework wrapper focuses on electronically delivering information, the workflows associated with program and project management and at a later stage, possibly automating the product/solution configuration processes. A collaborative business environment decreases politics, organizational resistance, and business silos.

Using a collaborative approach will also enable HR management services to be integrated into the process and indicate the operational, management and control mechanisms managing and delivering the outcomes of programs and projects which may be lacking, or are inconsistent across a number of areas of business operation.

The virtual PMO framework provides the organizational structure and technical enablers required to capture information effectively, continuously leverage knowledge in order to support increased economies of scale of operation and effectively manage business complexity.

Learn more about the virtual project management office at www.pranagy.com

References:
Collaborative PMO Whitepaper
http://www.pmolink.com/articles/540.5106WhyYouNeedaPMO.pdf
Megan Santosus, Why You Need a Project Management Office; Jul. 1, 2003 Issue of CIO Magazine

BvW Global Pty Ltd and its Associated Partners Page 2 of 10; White Paper: Collaborative Project Management Office (PMO) New Ways of Thinking…

WHAT MAKES AN OUTSTANDING HEALTHCARE PMO?

2009-07-29T19:32:00.000-07:00

A Project Management Office (PMO) is general terms is a group within an organization that has a primary goal of maintaining standards of process as it relates to project management. The PMO is tasked with standardizing redundant tasks and introducing economies of repetition in the execution of projects. As with most tasks that follow a process, repetition and adherence to standards can reduce mistakes and increase the quality of the outcome. As the saying goes, “practice makes perfect.”

To accomplish this standardization, the PMO is the source of documentation, guidance and measurements on the practice of project management and execution.

So, how would a healthcare PMO differ from that of a typical PMO? Lets consider it a given that a successful PMO will use industry standards methodologies and tools, such as PMBOK, Agile or SCRUM. Those best practices relate to the art and discipline of managing projects on the broadest of terms. The collective knowledge of project management can be applied to many disciplines and business models.

What makes a PMO within a healthcare organization’s IT shop successful? For a PMO in a healthcare business to achieve peak effectiveness, the group must have specific knowledge of healthcare subject matter. Healthcare is rich with government regulations which constantly change the landscape of IT. New legislation is written almost daily which mandates changes in healthcare organizations. The IT departments and PMO within healthcare organization must constantly stay informed of these changes and navigate the treacherous waters of implementing changes in existing enterprise systems.

The language and nomenclature of healthcare is vast. Commanding the lingo of healthcare as it relates to information technology projects can take many years to master. An experienced and seasoned healthcare PMO has these environmental aspects of healthcare woven throughout the DNA of its members.

In integral part of the PMO is the ability to analyze the requirements of the healthcare business and select and utilize project management software. The seasoned healthcare PMO has members that are fluent in the dialect and acronyms of the business of healthcare. This knowledge and understanding is critical in reducing misunderstandings and acts as a filter to the technical side of the IT function.

Verbal and written communication skills are critical to successful PMO function. Knowing the healthcare parlance enables the members of the PMO, from business analysts to project managers to grasp key concepts and translate those concepts into action. A significant amount of communication is done in the form of online project management. It is also important to mention that the lack of understanding of healthcare phraseology and terminology can lead to disastrous work estimation mistakes, wasted time and money.

In summary, I believe that an outstanding healthcare PMO has a solid foundation in project management best practices. Built on this foundation is a group of seasoned professionals that have invested significant time learning the business and language of both healthcare and information technology.

How are projects managed in your organization?

The U.S. Dollar

2009-06-13T19:49:00.001-07:00

Firms that have an international business footprint must be concerned with the strength of the dollar. When the dollar is strong, the balance sheet will reflect a gain due to the exchange rate environment for that reporting period.

There are over fifty factors that affect the value of the US dollar.[1] At a high level, the balance of trade and investment, Politics, other countries, Entitlements, Economic theory, Interest rates, American consumers, Housing, Industry and economic indicators, US capital markets, economy, weather, and inflation all affect the value of the US dollar. The most important factor is the balance of trade and investments. The balance of trade, related to the current account, represents the difference between what the US exports and imports in terms of goods and services.

Government policies have a significant impact on the value of the dollar. Wise foreign investors know to keep close watch on the political affairs of the US, especially when those affairs impact the strength of the economy and the ability of the US to repay its debts. Events in other countries can affect the value of the dollar. Trade, conflict, consumption, and other issues outside the US have and effect. Examples of these events include a change in foreign reserves, the value of the Euro, acceptance of oil in dollars, and strong foreign economies.

Entitlement programs can have an impact on the way investors value the dollar. Programs like social security and Medicare/Medicaid are costly entitlements. Investors may seek countries with more stable budgets.

The laws of supply and demand are seen clearly to exert influence over the dollar. The demand for physical currency outside the US is an example of a demand for the dollar. Another example is the increase in money supply with every new dollar printed. The more money printed the less valuable the existing dollars become. An increase in money supply can also increase inflation.

Interest rates affect the dollar’s value. A rise in interest rates may drive down the value of the dollar, while the decrease in interest rates drives the value of the dollar up.

The American consumer can affect the value of the dollar. Examples of this influence are saving money, or rather not saving money. Gas prices can lead consumers to borrow more money, thus harming the value of the dollar.

The housing market boom and subsequent bust has caused problems for families, investors, and lenders in the form of defaulted loans and drops in the value of homes.

Other housing related factors include slow housing markets, strong housing markets, and over inflated housing markets.

American industry affects and reacts to changes in the price of the dollar. When the dollar falls, goods are cheaper and more attractive. However, when the dollar is strong, industry must compete harder against cheaper foreign labor and goods.

The US capital markets such as for US stocks, bonds, and other investments affect dollar denominated assets. The performance of these markets may attract or reduce foreign investment.

Inflation also directly consumes the value of the dollar. The law of purchasing power parity states that the nation’s currency and its general price levels must move in opposite directions. Slow inflation of foreign goods keeps prices steady. This doesn’t help to close the trade deficit and can weaken the dollar. The causes listed here are a subset of all the factors that can exert forces that can change the value of the US dollar.

What can we expect the trend to be in the near future? I find it easy to believe that the U.S. debt could rise to over $12 trillion very easily[2]. US monetary decision makers may well be willing to let the value of the dollar decline, which would keep the value of the US debt relatively lower than if the value of the dollar increased. This could impact corporate balance sheets and reflect a lower profit or even loss due to exchange rates. Keeping the dollar weak, however, is not favorable to foreign investors. Foreign investors see opportunities to make money in the stock market and from higher- yielding Treasury bills and bonds when corporate profits are robust enough to raise interest rates.[3] Expect plenty of grousing from the worlds investors in the months and possibly years to come.

[1] http://www.currencytrading.net/2007/50-factors-that-affect-the-value-of-the-us-dollar/

[2] U.S. National Debt Clock, http://www.brillig.com/debt_clock/

[3] B. Baumohl, The Secrets of Economic Indicators, 2^nd Ed., Pearson Education, Inc. 2008

Gauging the industry when everything is new

2009-06-06T18:12:00.000-07:00

Emerging markets can be both risky and rewarding. The opportunity to capture the first mover advantage must be weighed against the uncertainty of remuneration and virulence of competition.

Ideally, firms that take the initiative to occupy strategic position or niche markets gain access to resources and capabilities that second movers cannot compete with. Examples of first-mover advantage are patents and copyrights; exclusive rights contracts and government sponsored monopolies. Furthermore first movers may have the advantage of using their profits to put up barriers to entry, build capabilities and resources faster than late comers. Patents have been more effective in protecting products such as drugs, medical equipment than in food, electronic components, and other products that are easily reverse-engineered. Patenting drugs and other chemical compounds is more successful due to the limited scope of the patent itself. Patents on processes, software, and methodologies are more difficult to defend due to the often larger scope of the patent. Process patents can be circumvented by developing the process to a degree that the process is no longer within the scope of the original patent.

The risk comes from two primary sources of ambiguity. There is technological uncertainty which arises from undefined standards. Examples of this risk can be seen between Betamax v. VHS format standards; DVD v. Blu-Ray standards for optical disc storage; and Microsoft’s Internet Explorer v. Netscape’s Web Browser. The firms that conceived, implemented, and marketed these technologies took the risk of putting their investment capital in the hands of the consumer to decide their fate.

The risk of loosing a standards battle is bracketed with a second major risk. This risk relates to the uncertainty that the market will have a growing demand for a new product or service. Since the market is new, making an accurate forecast may be difficult and inaccurate. There are methodologies that can be used to mitigate the risk of making an accurate forecast. One method of forecasting demand is extrapolation from existing data. For example, High-Definition television demand was forecasted using data on the adoption of electric toothbrushes and CD players. 1 Another method of forecasting is the Delphi Technique2This technique is intended for use in judgment and forecasting situations where model-based statistical methods are not practical or possible due to the lack of data. The technique is a method designed by the RAND Corporation over 40 years ago, which is useful in obtaining the opinions of experts without bringing the experts together face-to-face.

If reliable forecasts are not possible the firm can protect itself by staying aware of the market trends. Strategies to limit risk include: cooperating with lead users; limiting risk exposure; and stay flexible.

The risks and opportunities of firms bringing a product to a new market are significant. Firms can maximize their profit potential with accurate forecasting, and risk mitigation. Most importantly, the firm must go into new ventures with full awareness and a willingness to be flexible.

1 B. L. Bayus, “High-Definition Television: Assessing Demand Forecasts for the Next Generation Consumer Durable,” Management Science 39 (1993): 1319-33).

2 Gene Rowe, George Wright, “The Delphi technique as a forecasting tool: issues and analysis,” International Journal of Forecasting 15 (1999): 353-375).

THE BEST OF PROJECT MANAGEMENT LESSONS LEARNED

2009-05-19T13:45:00.000-07:00

THE BEST OF PROJECT MANAGEMENT LESSONS LEARNED

• A solid baseline is essential for the entire project
• Projects take a lot of planning…more than you might think initially
• Small disasters can lead to costly variances
• It is more difficult to put together a project plan without actual people
• Hire a project manager to run a project
• Making changes on the EVM Report is not easy
• The process and process tool cannot be more important than the project output – one may get lost in the elegance of the management tool and fail to spend enough time on working with people to manage the project
• It is still people that make projects successful – The best tool in the world can only aid effective people and managers; it is no substitute for competence
• It is easier to formulate and define a project in regard to professional topics within your area of expertise – particularly when reviewing risk and task criteria
• Save your work – often, often, often
• Project 2007 has much better reporting functions than Project 2003
• Many of these skills cannot be taught, but must simply be learned as part of “on the job training”
• Include ALL project roles in the project planning process
• Throughout a project life cycle, it is easy to underestimate the effort required to ensure a successful implementation of a project
• It can be difficult to identify key resources and to ensure those resources are producing the project deliverables as stated in the project plan
• Reoccurring tasks need resources assigned per task, not as an overall task
• Communication is the most important thing and must be continually worked on and improved
• The roles and responsibilities of each team member should be clearly defined, so as to avoid overlapping or duplication of effort, and also to ensure all bases are covered to effectively meet deliverables

Economies of Scale

2009-05-01T04:14:00.000-07:00

Firms should not try to maximize their economies of scale and run their operations on the largest possible scale.

Companies operate in the interest of their owners by seeking to maximize profits over the long term. Assuming that operating on the largest possible scale would maximize profit is misleading. There is a point of diminishing returns when producing at the largest possible scale.

Economies of scale are cost drivers that relate the firm’s unit costs of production to its competitors. As the company begins producing at the largest possible scale, the unit costs would decrease and in so doing the cost advantage over competitors would also increase. However, assuming the largest possible scale far exceeds the demanded quantity from the market, there is a point where the product’s production cost, and storage cost reach equilibrium. At this point, the more product released into the market would lower the total revenue and reduce profits. Also at this point, the costs of warehousing surplus, and financing the materials to produce the goods, would reduce the total profits of the firm by virtue of the interest payments and warehouse expenses.

In other words, as the quantity produced increases past the point of diminishing returns, the cost per unit also increases. Economy of scale refers to the decrease in the per-unit cost as output increases. The capital invested is spread out across an increasing number of units of output, which makes the marginal cost of producing a good or service less than the average total cost per unit. The graph below illustrates this concept. The x-axis is the average cost per-unit; the y-axis is the output level. As the output increases, from Q₃ to Q₁, the average cost per unit decreases, which is an economy of scale, until it reaches the point of diminishing returns. If the output continues to increase past the point of diminishing returns the average cost to produce each additional unit starts to increase. The green arrows indicate the positive range of the long run average cost curve. The red arrows represent the diseconomy of scale on the long range average cost curve as the output moves from Q₁ to Q₂.

The efficiency advantages of scale are offset by three factors: Three factors offset the efficiency advantage of an economy of scale. These factors are: the ability of smaller companies to differentiate their offerings more effectively; greater flexibility of smaller companies; and greater difficulty of achieving motivation and coordination in large units. [1]

There are limits to scale economies and the maturity of the industry is also a factor. Smaller companies are able to differentiate their offerings more effectively, and are more flexible. Large companies have more difficulty achieving motivation and coordination. Mature industries need economies of scale as well as stronger market share to achieve the maximum ROI.[2]

[1] D. Schwartzman, “Uncertainty and the Size of the Firm,” Economica (August 1963).

[2] R.D. Buzzell and B.T. Gale, The PIMS Principles (New York: Free Press, 1987):279

Control Charts in MS Excel

2009-04-23T15:17:00.000-07:00

Variable Data Control Charts

When measuring and plotting variable process data, two types of control charts are needed: the xBar-chart and the R-chart. The xBar-chart is used to track the central tendency of the sample means, while the R-chart is used to track sample ranges, or the variation of the measurements within each sample. A perfect process would have sample means equal to the desired measure and sample ranges equal to zero. It is necessary to view both of these charts in unison, since a sample mean might look fine, even though two of the sample measures might be far from the desirable measure, making the sample rage very high. It could also be the case that the sample range looks fine (all measures are quite close to one another), even though all sample measures are far from the desirable measure, making the sample mean look bad. For variable data then, both the xBar-chart and the R-chart must show that the samples are in control before the process itself is considered in control.

Constructing the x-Chart and the R-Chart

The first step in constructing any control chart is to gather data. Then for each sample, the mean (xbar) and the range (R) are calculated. Next, the overall mean (xbarbar) and the average range (Rbar) of all the samples are calculated. The xbarbar and Rbar measures become the center line of their respective control charts.

In the example above, four samples per period were taken. This could be four samples in an hour, or four per second, etc... The formulas are also given for the spreadsheet.

A2=0.729, D4=2.282, D3=0

UCLx=99.2 + 0.729(8.4) = 105.3
LCLx=99.2 - 0.729(8.4) = 93.1
UCLR=2.282(8.4) = 19.2
LCLR=0

The mean is OK, but the Range is not OK. It is not good enough to take an average, you have to look for the out of Range values to spot the outliers.

EVM report for Residential Housing Project

2009-04-23T04:27:00.000-07:00

I am posting the EVM report as an example of tracking a project using the earned value method. Below is the report to the stakeholders of a recent residential housing project I was involved in, building a signature home in the Tampa Bay area. The EVM shows that the project is running late and overbudget. We were due to complete without exceeding the reserve buffer. However, thanks to the discovery of a bad run of Chinese Drywall, we had to scramble to get the house built with such an aggressive time schedule. The drywall apparently was emitting some chemicals that are known to corrode copper; which would not do in a high-dollar, high quality home.

The CPI is 82.3% and the SPI is 87.8%. Earned value calculations along with the CPI/SPI are quick metrics to gather to summarize the health of a project. Ideally, a healthy project has a CPI/SPI of 100%, which means on task and on budget.

When using MS Project 2007, the best way to get the numbers is to view the earned value information. To do that, click View on the menu bar, point to Table: Entry, and then select More Tables. the More Tables dialog box opens. Double-click Earned Value. Move the split bar to the right to reveal all the columns.

Next, add the WBS column and the actual finish column. This will help you put a finger on when the task was actually completed and how much it ended up costing. Then copy the WBS, finish, and EV, AC colums, as needed, to MS Excel. Cut the summary task rows from the spreadsheet and add sums to the EV/AC columns. Your numbers in the Excel worksheet should match the project plan.

Why go through all this greif? Well, try running the included reports in MS Project and you will find out that those numbers are all messed up. You have to put some elbow-grease on it to get the right data.

In the end, the homeowners will have a beautiful, signature home.

Residential home image by Dream Home Design USA found at http://www.dreamhomedesignusa.com/Castles.htm

K. Schwalbe, Information Technology Project Management, 4th ed. Boston: Course Technology, 2006.

SAP ERP Simulation game

2009-04-11T11:59:00.000-07:00

What can I say, I rock! I earned €8,916,427.00 in five quarters (55 days per quarter) of operation. That's $11,590,794.49. There were only three weeks that the production lines were not 100% utilized.

Class of 2009

2009-04-07T18:36:00.000-07:00

Amicas to acquire Emageon

2009-03-22T11:18:00.000-07:00

The subject of this post is Amicas, Inc. and their bid to diversify their core competencies by acquiring Emageon, Inc.

Ideally, corporate strategy decisions are made to create value for the organization. The value in diversification comes in the form of more profit, risk reduction, and growth. Amicas is diversifying their core products of radiology PACs, radiology information systems, revenue cycle management solutions, referring physician solutions, and business intelligence systems into the areas of cardiology PACs, cardiovascular information systems, and enterprise content management systems. I will briefly analyze the diversification strategy and give examples of how this strategy will realize more profits, reduce risk and provide growth for Amicas, Inc.

Acquiring Emageon is indeed an execution of a diversification strategy, and not a product extension. Emageon brings a complementary but unique set of capabilities to Amicas that do not overlap existing competencies.

Amicas, Inc. offers radiology, medical imaging and information management solutions. Opportunities in the field of radiology are driven by three forces[1]:

Clinical use cases for radiology is increasing due to capabilities of radiologists, modalities, and the U.S. healthcare infrastructure
The value of imaging and particularly radiology is becoming manifest by virtue of reducing overall costs of healthcare by and earlier disease detection
The increasing age of the U.S. population has increased the demand for imaging

Let us first consider the increased profits that can be realized by extending Amicas’ capabilities by diversifying. The potential for profit is the predominant driver for their diversification strategy. While the demand for radiology has been increasing, the supply of radiologists has remained relatively constant. This increase in demand has caused a price increase and put a strain on the existing radiologists. Adding to the supply shortage are geographical challenges. There exist underutilized radiologists in offices and hospitals around the country. Radiologists at the hospital with lower volume often spend several hours per day without enough cases to read. By enabling their practice with tools so these radiologists could read remotely would vastly increase their productivity.

The long-term strategy of Amicas is to increase the productivity of their radiology resources by diversifying their core business to include capabilities to do teleradiology.[2] By acquiring Emageon, Amicas will be able to leverage the strengths of a company that has core technologies to provide the healthcare industry with key components designed to manage large volumes of medical images in a cost-effective and efficient manner. Emageon’s roots are in standards-based image management and archiving.

By diversifying into the cardiology imaging and enterprise content management systems, Amicas will not only be able to close the supply-demand gap of radiologists, but also cardiologists. The enterprise content management system capabilities, based on open-standards, will also provide the framework for remote access and ubiquitous information sharing of other disciplines and types of data. Emageon’s Clinical Content Management and Clinical Workflow applications are engineered to provide high-availability, real-time, integrated access to digital medical images, waveforms, video, audio, documents, reports and other physician work products.[3]

Next, consider the risks that Amicas faces, and how diversifying mitigates those risks. Major risks are presented to Amicas by competing firms in the medical software sector. Related companies include Merge Healthcare, Vital Images, Eclipsys Corporation, and QuadraMed Corporation. The greatest risk reduction is tied to the increased growth and competitive capability. This acquisition will not add value to stockholders by virtue of reducing risk due to cyclicality of unemployment, nor smooth cyclical income fluctuations. A stockholder wishing reduce risk to their portfolio would not see any reduction of risk by this merger over purchasing shares of competing companies.

Another advantage to Amicas’ diversification strategy is growth. In the absence of diversification firms are constrained to their industry and may stagnate. It is not likely that healthcare imaging industry is going to face decline or stagnation any time soon.

The timeline graphic above shows the evolution and growth of Amicas, Inc. and Emageon, Inc. I believe it is noteworthy to mention the value that Emageon has accumulated by first merging with UltraVisual Medical Systems in 2003, going public in 2005, and then acquiring Camtronics Medical Systems later in 2005. By acquiring Emageon, Amicas will leverage the capabilities from all the aggregate organizations.

In summary, consolidated portfolio of products will bring together two of the largest independent information management and imaging vendors in the industry. Emageon, as a unified entity, will be able to better exploit industry opportunities, leveraging the coalescence of resources, scale, and knowledge.[4] This acquisition is attractive, the cost of entry will not capitalize all the future profits and Amicas will be ultimately be better-off and truly create shareholder value.

[1] Is Radiology Flat? found at http://www.rt-image.com/1103flat.html

[2] Emageon History and Overview found at http://www.emageon.com

[3] Emageon History and Overview found at http://www.emageon.com

[4] AMICAS to Acquire Emageon found at http://www.healthnewsdirect.com/?p=510

Principles of Suppy Chain Management

2009-03-12T06:40:00.000-07:00

What is Supply Chain management?
The Institute for Supply Management describes supply chain management as “[t]he design and management of seamless, value-added processes across organizational boundaries to meet the real needs of the end customer.” – This definition was sited in the slides

The Supply-Chain Council’s definition of supply chain management is “[m]anaging supply and demand, sourcing raw materials and parts, manufacturing and assembly, warehousing and inventory tracking, order entry and order management, distribution across all channels, and delivery to the customer.”

The Council of Supply Chain Management Professionals defines supply chain management as “[t]he planning and management of all activities involved in sourcing and procurement, conversion, and all logistics management activities. Importantly, it also includes coordination and collaboration with channel partners, which can be suppliers, intermediaries, third-party service providers, and customers.”

Why is Supply Chain Management important?
SCM is important in order to reduce the bull-whip effect and reduce the magnification of safety stock.

What are the Important Elements of Supply Chain Management?
Purchasing – supply base reduction, supplier alliances, SRM, strategic sourcing, green sourcing, VMI
Operations – Demand management, CPFR, inventory management, MRP, ERP, RFID, lean systems (JIT), six sigma quality (TQM)
Distribution – Logistics management, customer relationship management (CRM), security, network design, global supply chains, service response logistics, green logistics
Integration – Integration activities and problems, risk management, performance measurement

What are the future trends in Supply Chain Management?
• Expanding the supply chain; expanding breadth by using more global suppliers and customers
• Increasing supply chain responsiveness by benchmarking industry performance and meet and improve on a continuous basis
• More effective and faster product and service delivery systems will improve responsiveness
• Supply chains will work harder to reduce environmental degradation
• Recycling and conservation are a growing alternative in response to high cost of natural resources
• 75% of U.S. consumers are influenced by a firm’s environmental friendliness reputation

Describe the role of purchasing.
Purchasing activities include obtaining merchandise, capital equipment; raw materials, services, or maintenance, repair, and operating (MRO) supplies in exchange for money or its equivalent. The primary goals of purchasing are to ensure uninterrupted flows of raw materials at the lowest total cost; improve quality of the finished goods produced, and optimize customer satisfaction. These objectives are met by purchasing by actively seeking better materials and reliable suppliers; working closely with strategic suppliers to improve quality materials, and suppliers and purchasing personnel collaborating on design and development efforts.

Describe centralized, decentralized, and hybrid purchasing.
Centralized purchasing is where a single purchasing department, usually located at the firm’s corporate office, makes all the purchasing decisions, including order quantity, pricing policy, contracting, negotiations, and supplier selection and evaluation. There are several advantages to centralized purchasing; concentrated volume, avoid duplication, specialization, lower transportation costs, no competition within units, and common supply base.
Decentralized purchasing is when individual, local purchasing departments such as plant level, make their own purchasing decisions. There are several advantages to decentralized purchasing; such as a closer knowledge of requirements, local sourcing, and less bureaucracy.
Hybrid purchasing within an organization is characterized by both decentralized purchasing at the corporate level and centralized at the business unit level.

Discuss the supplier evaluation and certification process.
Firms should consider cost and delivery performance, as well as how suppliers contribute to product and process technology. Other factors include product and process technologies, willingness to share information and technologies, quality, cost-control programs, reliability, order and system cycle time, capacity, communication capability, location, and service. One approach of evaluation and certifying suppliers is to use the weighted criteria evaluation system.

Select key dimension of supplier performance
Monitor and collect supplier performance data
Assign weights to each dimension
Evaluate each performance measure on a rating scale
Multiply the dimension rating by the importance rating to get score
Classify suppliers based on their overall score
Perform on-going evaluation

External certification include ISO 9000 and ISO 14000.

Explain the importance of supplier partnerships and strategic alliances.
Supplier partnership is a commitment over an extended period of time to work together in a mutually beneificial way, sharing relevant information and the risks and rewards of the relationship. This partnership is characterized by clear expectations, open communication and information exchange, mutual trust, and a common direction for the future. The benefits include flexibility in terms and delivery, better quality, better information, and better material flows between buyers and suppliers. Significant competitive advantage can be achieved by organizations working closely with their suppliers.

Understand factors for developing successful partnerships.
Ingredients for developing and managing lasting partnerships include a shared vision, mutual benefits, and top management commitment, trust, creating personal relationships, effective change management, information sharing, and using performance metrics to create superior capabilities. The seven steps for supplier development are below:

Identify critical products and services
Identify critical suppliers
Form a cross-functional team
Meet with top management of supplier
Identify key projects
Define details of agreement
Monitor status and modify strategies

Explain the importance of a supplier awards program.
An organization depends on its suppliers to achieve their goals. Award programs benefit both parties by strengthening the company’s relationship with suppliers. Suppliers also benefit from the program because they are motivated to achieve excellence in quality, cost, security and technology, and delivery and service, the four areas that suppliers are judged for their awards program. The awards indicate commitment to quality and customer service, which allows the suppliers to show-case to their customers.

Explain how the production planning process and capacity planning process help organizations meet due dates.
There are three levels of production plans: Long-range APP (1yr - aggregated production plan), medium-range MPS (3mo - master production schedule), and short-range MRP (material requirement plan) plans. These plans are needed to ensure that right resources to meet the due dates. If not; there is enough time to provide it. The right quantity, right quality, and right time are required. If one of the organizations in the supply chain misses a date, the entire supply chain suffers. You are not supposed to use inventory to cover the delays.

What is the responsibility of every operation in the organization in the supply chain?
Every organization in the supply chain has the responsibility to do the following:

Meet due date
Have a short lead time as possible
Cut all waste to make that lead time very short
Have the right quality and the right cost

What are the limitations of legacy MRP systems?
Legacy MRP systems link internal operations, purchasing, and inventory control to improve purchasing, production, and delivery. There are two types of systems:
MRP –Closed loop added capacity requirement planning and feedback to describe the progress of the orders being manufactured.
MRPII – integrates the internal functions of an organization to coordinate manufacturing plans with sales while providing the management with essential accounting and financial functions.
Legacy MRP systems do not integrate all the functions, has a primary focus of one unit’s internal operations only, lacks the capability to direct interface with external supply chain members, continuous modification of these systems made them complex and not user friendly, and finally, they lack analytical capabilities.

Describe an ERP system.
The typical ERP system is an umbrella system that ties together a variety of specialized software applications, such as production and inventory planning, purchasing, logistics, human resources, finance, accounting, customer relationship, and supplier relationship management using a common, shared centralized database.

What are the advantages of an ERP system?
• It uses single database and common software infrastructure to provide a broader scope and up-to-date information, enabling management to make better decisions which can benefit the entire supply chain. THE MOST IMPORTANT FEATURE OF AN ERP SYSTEM IS: INTEGRATION
• ERP helps reduce inventories b/c it adds visibility throughout the entire supply chain
• Standardize manufacturing processes
• Enables business to track time, performance, and communication through a standard method.

What are the disadvantages of an ERP system?
• Substantial capital investment. The total cost of ownership includes hardware, software, professional services, and internal staff costs
• ERP systems have proven to be very complex and difficult to implement
• The software is designed around a specific business model based on specific business needs
• A lot of maintenance – intricate business process reengineering challenges arise when business processes are adapted to the software.

Explain why many ERP implementations fail.
• Lack of top management commitment
• Lack of adequate resources
• Lack of proper training
• Lack of communication
• Incompatible system environment

Describe the bull-whip effect.
The first cause of the bull-whip effect is Information, or lack thereof. Because of a lack of information along the supply chain, the safety stock becomes too large because the retailer is forecasting for too long. 1st tier is making forecast and needs safety stock, so on and so forth. Thus, there is a magnification of inventory and costs associated with maintaining the inventory. Secondly, suppliers are ordering is bulk and too large of quantities. Thirdly, supply chain members are forecasting based on each other…not actual sales. Fourthly, forecasting for something far in the future, causing a SS situation to results. Lastly, price changes occur causing shortages or surplus.
From class notes:

Information flow for demand forecasting
Forecasting is done on the downstream supplier
Excessive safety stock develops
Ordering in bulk or in bigger quantities than actually needed
Forecasting based on each other
Forecasting for something far in the future, need safety stock

What is the solution to the Bull-whip effect?
• Forecast from the point of sale, from retailer
• Don’t forecast too far in advance
• Make continuous replenishment (JIT principle)
• Do not order in bulk, smaller orders
• Try to establish a relationship with supplier
• Cut all wastes possible inside supply chain; reduce costs
• Must improve technology
• Everyone must produce their core competencies

What are three conditions for successful SCM?
• Change in the corporate culture
• All supply chain participants benefits (win-win)
• Each process in the supply chain must appreciate and understand how these functions interact and affect the entire supply chain

Deming's 14 points
W Edwards Deming was an American statistician who was credited with the rise of Japan as a manufacturing nation, and with the invention of Total Quality Management (TQM). Deming went to Japan just after the War to help set up a census of the Japanese population. While he was there, he taught 'statistical process control' to Japanese engineers - a set of techniques which allowed them to manufacture high-quality goods without expensive machinery. In 1960 he was awarded a medal by the Japanese Emperor for his services to that country's industry.

Deming returned to the US and spent some years in obscurity before the publication of his book "Out of the crisis" in 1982. In this book, Deming set out 14 points which, if applied to US manufacturing industry, would he believed, save the US from industrial doom at the hands of the Japanese.

Although Deming does not use the term Total Quality Management in his book, it is credited with launching the movement. Most of the central ideas of TQM are contained in "Out of the crisis".

The 14 points seem at first sight to be a rag-bag of radical ideas, but the key to understanding a number of them lies in Deming's thoughts about variation. Variation was seen by Deming as the disease that threatened US manufacturing. The more variation - in the length of parts supposed to be uniform, in delivery times, in prices, in work practices - the more waste, he reasoned.

From this premise, he set out his 14 points for management, which we have paraphrased here:

1."Create constancy of purpose towards improvement". Replace short-term reaction with long-term planning.

2."Adopt the new philosophy". The implication is that management should actually adopt his philosophy, rather than merely expect the workforce to do so.

3."Cease dependence on inspection". If variation is reduced, there is no need to inspect manufactured items for defects, because there won't be any.

4."Move towards a single supplier for any one item." Multiple suppliers mean variation between feedstocks.

5."Improve constantly and forever". Constantly strive to reduce variation.

6."Institute training on the job". If people are inadequately trained, they will not all work the same way, and this will introduce variation.

7."Institute leadership". Deming makes a distinction between leadership and mere supervision. The latter is quota- and target-based.

8."Drive out fear". Deming sees management by fear as counter- productive in the long term, because it prevents workers from acting in the organization’s best interests.

9."Break down barriers between departments". Another idea central to TQM is the concept of the 'internal customer', that each department serves not the management, but the other departments that use its outputs.

10."Eliminate slogans". Another central TQM idea is that it's not people who make most mistakes - it's the process they are working within. Harassing the workforce without improving the processes they use is counter-productive.

11."Eliminate management by objectives". Deming saw production targets as encouraging the delivery of poor-quality goods.

12."Remove barriers to pride of workmanship". Many of the other problems outlined reduce worker satisfaction.

13."Institute education and self-improvement".

14."The transformation is everyone's job".

Glossary
BOM – bill of materials is an engineering document that shows an inclusive listing of all component parts and assemblies making up the final product.
APP – aggregate production plan is a long-range materials plan. Since capacity expansion involves the construction of a new facility and major equipment purchases, the aggregate production plan’s capacity is usually considered fixed during the planning horizon. The aggregate production plan sets the aggregate output rate, workforce size, utilization and inventory and/or backlog levels for an entire facility.
CPFR- Collaborative planning, Forecasting, and Replenishment. When implemented properly, lower supply chain costs and better customer service.
ERP- an umbrella system that ties together a variety of specialized software applications, such as production and inventory planning, purchasing, logistics, human resources, finance, accounting, customer relationship, and supplier relationship management using a common, shared centralized database.
MRP – Material Requirement Planning (and manufacturing resource planning) is a short-range materials plan. The MRP also known as little mrp or MRP-I, is the detailed planning process for components and parts to support the master production schedule. It is a system of converting the end items from the master production schedule into a set of time-phased component and part requirements; assists in planning for inventory; and can be linked through ERP software system.
CRM – Customer Relationship Management – how to meet delivery dates, how to successfully resolve customer complaints, how to communicate with customers, and how to determine the distribution services.
DRP – distribution requirements planning describes the time-phased net requirements from central supply warehouses and distribution centers. It is equal to the customer demand minus any on-hand and in-transit inventories. Distribution requirements planning links production and distribution planning by providing aggregate time-phased net requirements information to the master production schedule.
Distribution network – one method of ensuring successful product delivery.
Perfect order fulfillment – (orders arriving on time, complete, and damage free)
TQM – Total Quality Management; improve quality, manufacturing efficiency, and delivery times.
JIT – Just In Time manufacturing w/ little inventory to cushion scheduling and/or production problems, firm began o realize the benefits from these features.
BPR – Business Process Reengineering; radical rethinking and redesigning of business processes to reduce waste and increase performance.
Third party logistics – UPS/FED EX
MPS - master production schedule is a medium-range plan and is more detailed than the aggregate production plan. It shows the quantity and timing of the end items or services that will be produced.
System Nervousness – Frequent updates or changes to the MPS can be costly and may create system nervousness. A Time fence separates the planning horizon into two segments: firm segment from current period to several weeks into the future, and tentative segment from end of the firmed segment to several weeks farther into the future
Planned Order releases – For MRP to work correctly, it requires (1) independent demand information (2) parent-component relationships from the bill of materials; and (3) the inventory status of the final product and all its components. MRP takes this information, which is its most important output, and creates orders to create higher-level components. For items manufactured in-house, planned order releases are transmitted to the shop floor, but for purchased items, planned order releases are transmitted to the suppliers directly or via the purchasing department.

Warrior Leader Course (PLDC)

2009-02-28T13:55:00.000-08:00

I was doing some research on the PLDC training I had and discovered that it has been renamed to Warrior Leader Course. Pretty cool! I went in 1989 at White Sands, New Mexico. The ARMY used an old, re-purposed jail facility in the middle of the desert missle range for the training.

I vividly remember how bad my shin-splints hurt during one of those cold ass epic morning runs. I dropped out of a battalion run once from the pain. To my eternal embarrassment the entire battalion looped back and ran past me until I found the guts (or endorphins) to overcome the pain and keep up. One life lesson from that experience was learned when my platoon sergeant broke formation to run beside me. When he said, "I know it hurts" it seemed like the pain decreased. I was genuinely surprised that a psychological ploy like that actually worked and helped me find strength to get past the pain. I have used empathy to motivate others since that day to great affect.

I also remember camping under the stars, lugging around an M60, getting dust in my eyes, having one of my soldiers sprain his ankle, live fire at night, ultra-starched uniforms, standing at parade rest waiting for chow, buffing floors late at night, and doing lots of push-ups. I also remember being scared shitless by the psycho ex-Vietnam instructors in the cadre.

WLC, formerly called Primary Leadership Development Course (PLDC), is the first leadership course Non-Commissioned Officers (NCOs) attend. WLC is a month-long course that teaches Specialists and Corporals the basic skills to lead small groups of Soldiers. This course is hard hitting and intensive with emphasis on leadership skills and prepares Soldiers to advance to the rank of Sergeant.

The course culminates in an extensive Field Training Exercise (FTX) where Soldiers experience what it's like leading a platoon of Soldiers in the field.

The course topics include:

Leadership
Training Management
Map Reading
Land Navigation
Drill and Ceremony
Warfighting

This course is not MOS dependent. It is taught at an NCO Academy. WLC students live at the Academy for the duration of training that combines classroom instruction with practical application in the field.

Any Soldier who would like to move up in rank is required to take this course.

BNCOC Basic Noncommissioned Officer Course

2009-02-28T13:32:00.000-08:00

I found this description of the BNCOC course I attended back in my Army days.
Ah, the memories...

Basic Noncommissioned Officer Course (BNCOC), Phase 1 represents the second level of NCO Professional Military Education. There are sixteen blocks of instructions:

Equal Opportunity
Risk Management
The Army Writing Style
Conduct a Military Briefing
Communicate Effectively
Motivate Subordinates to Improve Performance
Counsel Subordinates
Apply Leadership Fundamentals
Develop Subordinate Leaders
Implement Measures to Reduce Combat Stress
NCOER
Training Management
Troop Leading Procedures
Intelligence and Electronic Warfare (IEW) Operations,
Plans Orders and Annexes
Train a Squad, Squad Tactical Operations, and Graphics and Overlays

BNCOC tests the student’s comprehension of the subject matter with two written examinations and 6 performance evaluations.

COURSE LENGTH: BNCOC is a seven month course. Training is continuous during the course with days being 12-14 hours in length. Soldiers are under the Academy’s control as indicated on the training schedule.

OBJECTIVE: The objectives of BNCOC, Phase 1, is to teach the theory and principles of battle focused common leader training and warfighting skills required to lead a squad-sized element.

ACADEMIC GRADUATION REQUIREMENTS:
The evaluation process will evaluate the “Whole Soldier.” To achieve course standards, the student must receive a “GO” in each subject area tested or evaluated. All students must successfully receive a passing score or “GO” on the two written examinations and the following performance evaluations: conduct a block of instruction using the small group process, conduct squad level drill and ceremonies, conduct a squad level physical fitness session, conduct an after action review, conduct a risk assessment while leading squad training, conduct a Military Briefing.

Bayer's M2M integration with SAP

2009-02-25T08:37:00.000-08:00

Bayer AG is a German pharmaceutical company that supplies chemicals and gasses to smaller drug manufacturers. These manufacturers use on-site tanks to store the goods. Bayer partnered with Opto22 to install a combination of wireless M2M systems to remotely monitor its customer’s storage tanks.[1] M2M refers to machine-to-machine technology. The storage tanks are connected wirelessly into the enterprise corporate network. This network of machines monitors details such as tank levels, power failures and temperature variations. Additionally, the system has dramatically changed the product delivery and billing process.

Briefly, M2M is a wireless based technology. Over the years, supply chains have become more complex and demanding. Modern supply chains consist of networks of manufacturing and distribution facilities and processes that procure raw materials. These materials are then transformed into products, and then distributed to customers. Manufacturers seek the best prices for raw materials which often results in a multiple vendors, often geographically distributed, leading to a supply chain that is isolated, opaque, and difficult to manage.[2]

Bayer has five production sites in Germany; the largest has almost 600 buildings in Leverkusen. This is one of the world’s largest and most diversified production centers of organic and inorganic chemicals. Bayer employed the use of M2M as part of an online Vendor Managed Inventory (VMI) system which imported data into an SAP supply chain management system to allow for automated ordering. This continuous monitoring of tank levels was critical for many of Bayer’s customers operating manufacturing facilities round the clock.

Bayer selected a German consulting firm ATplan to design and integrate the system. ATplan chose Opto22’s Ethernet SNAP system. The SNAP system hardware consists of sensors and actuators that reside in, on, and around inventories. The tanks levels are monitored and measured by means of radar, ultrasound, and pressure sensors. These sensors relay relevant measurements from the tanks. One method is using a PPP based dial-up connection over a modem. Other methods include wireless modems, and direct connections via router to the Internet.[3] From the sensors, all information is delivered in XML format to the ATplan database where it is validated, then transformed to a schema defined by the Chemical Industry Data Exchange (CIDX) standard. The data in the CIDX format is then consumable by the SAP supply chain management system where it is converted to business intelligence usable by the supply chain.

Bayer’s supply chain management system has been a great success. Getting real-time information into SAP immediately allows Bayer’s accounts receivable department to schedule deliveries and begin billing without delay. The VMI project has been so successful that the company is positioned M2M systems at facilities all over the world.

The M2M process is very powerful in managing complex supply chains. Bayer is a great example, but the trend has been spreading fast. Customers using this type of system do not have to inspect inventories manually, call up the supplier and place orders manually. The system automatically delivers supplies as needed. Unnecessary paperwork is unnecessary and eliminated, as is the human error. In Bayer’s case the system reduces the amount of centralized storage of chemicals and gasses, allowing the use of the customers’ tanks as needed.

(Picture from M2M and the Supply Chain found at http://www.newark.com/pdfs/techarticles/mro/M2M_theSupplyChain.pdf)

I found this series of articles on M2M and the supply chain interesting from the strategic perspective of innovation and differentiation. Bayer is just one of many companies seeking to differentiate themselves from competitors by offering goods at lower cost and improving customer service. By working with their supply chain partners, Bayer is able to seamlessly integrate into the supply chain.

Consider the following questions:

1) Does integrating the (VMI) Vendor managed Inventory system decrease the bull-whip effect? How?

I believe that the VMI decreases the bull-whip effect because the chemicals and gasses are ordered and billed as needed with real-time accuracy. Considering the thousands of tanks of products in all the customers’ production sites, the accuracy and efficiency of the system is paramount to reducing overhead costs, shortages, and storage of overstocked product.

2) How does Bayer benefit from using their customers’ tanks to store supplies?

Bayer does not have to maintain a safety stock. The system enables a continuous flow without any dams.

3) Can you relate Bayer’s innovation and differentiation strategy to a strategic advantage over competitors?

Bayer’s innovative VMI system leverages a strong partnership to build a flexible supply chain. Bayer and their customers are working as if they are a single vertically oriented organization.

4) How is the relationship between Bayer and their customers a win-win? Have they achieved Pareto optimality?

Bayer and their customers are having a strong partnership based on a win-win system. This partnership is mutually beneficial, and mutually committed. These partnerships share risk, and by sharing detailed information they reap the rewards of the partnership. Since the Bayer-Customer relationship is win-win the implementation of the VMI system was Pareto optimal.

[1] “Can you hear me now?” AutomationWorld article found at http://www.automationworld.com/feature-94

[2] M2M and the Supply Chain, found at http://www.opto22.com

[3] Bayer AG – Vendor Managed Inventory found at http://www.m2mpremier.com/UploadFiles/1369_Case_Study_ATplan_Bayer.pdf

Nortel Strategy for recovery

2009-02-23T09:54:00.000-08:00

Nortel Networks Corporation designs, develops, engineers, markets, sells, supplies, licenses, installs, services, and supports networking solutions worldwide. Unfortunately, Nortel filed for bankruptcy in January 2009[1]. During the 1990’s Nortel, a Canadian company, designed and built much of the fiber optic equipment that now carries most of the Internet’s data. Nortel has ten thousand research and development employees, and has issued 3,750 U.S. patents and 1,750 international patents[2]. Competitive advantage can be seen when one firm either earns or has the potential to earn a persistently higher rate of profit than competitors. Competitive advantage occurs when change occurs. This change can occur externally or internally to the given industry. A company can gain competitive advantage by responding to changes faster than competitors. This ability to respond quickly to change requires the resource of information and the ability to be flexible. In the market for Internet-related equipment, Nortel competes with Cisco Systems and Avaya, but have failed to be more innovative and successful. I chose Nortel because one can often learn more from a failure than a success. While Nortel is still an operating company, they have only a dim chance of recovery. The chances for recovery are slight, but Nortel does have a solid base of existing customers they continue to satisfy. These customers give Nortel the foundation on which to restructure their business.

Nortel’s positions of competitive advantage have been susceptible to erosion from competition such as Cisco and Avaya. These rivals can imitate or improve on products through innovation, thus weakening or removing an advantage. To combat the threat of imitation, a firm such as Nortel has employed several strategies. Avoiding competition is one strategy, albeit not very successful in the telecommunications space. This can be done by obscuring the profitability of a product, flooding the market with similar product, and otherwise making id difficult and expensive for competitors to enter the market. Since Nortel, as well as the other competitors are multi-billion dollar, publicly traded, governmental regulated organizations, profit obfuscation is almost impossible, as transparency is mandated. Cisco Systems has much deeper pockets, therefore making expense a barrier to entry is not feasible either.

Two years ago, Nortel announced that they were adopting new strategies to improve their ability to conduct research and development. Nortel was spending about $2 billion on R&D per year. The idea was to use innovations in new technologies, such as blogs, to enable employees to collaborate more effectively. Hind site is 20-20, but it doesn’t take a genius to see the flaw in this failed attempt at innovation. Can you spot the strategic flaws? First, announcing the strategy invites duplication. Second, merely using new technology isn’t innovative. Third, the Web 2.0 technology is freely available to competitors. Perhaps some gains could be realized from an improved infrastructure, but one has to believe there is already a robust infrastructure in place already. Especially in light of the fact that Nortel’s networking equipment and software powers a large percentage of the data network called the Internet, and has been doing so since the 1990’s.

Nortel must consider the fact that cost and differentiation are two ways to achieve higher profits over their rivals. To implement these concepts, Nortel must provide an identical product or service for a lower cost, or differentiate the product or service in an innovative way so that the customer will pay a premium that exceeds the cost of the differentiation. [3] To their credit, they try. One such attempt was the WiMAX (Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access) venture with partner Intel. WiMAX is a high-speed broadband telecommunications technology that allows portable Internet access; hardly a new idea, but perhaps a new way of achieving the goal. After eight years, the ROI has not been realized. Nortel has not published how much was sunk into the effort, but Intel invested $950 million into the initiative[4].

If Nortel has any chance of recovering, my recommendation is that they must build on their core strengths and stabilize its finances. The keys to their success lay in the ability to process new information about the marketplace and its consumer base and the flexibility to act on new knowledge arising from that information. Nortel’s decline began in 2001 with the technology stock collapse. Over the past eight years, Nortel has been overhauling its organization to include 16 rounds of layoffs. One must consider that to create new ideas the proper culture and atmosphere is critical. With sixteen layoffs and a bankruptcy, it is easy to imagine that most of the key researchers and idea generating employees have long since left the company. This brain-drain must not only be stopped, but reversed. The culture of the company needs to be re-examined and made compatible with innovation.

Furthermore, the core strength of Nortel is their fiber optic network. Consider that in 2005, the Japanese set a new world record for data transfer over fiber-optic cable only to be bested by a German team in 2006.[5] Why hasn’t Nortel been crashing world records in data transmission speed? With $2 billion of R&D per annum I expect Nortel to out perform a small lab funded by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research in Berlin.

Finally, perhaps Nortel should heed the old adage, “If you can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em”. Within this context, Nortel might be able to reduce their competition, reverse the loss of valuable human resources, and stabilize their finances by purchasing a competitor such as Avaya. Unfortunately, the bankruptcy precludes the purchase of a competitor. However, if Nortel divested itself of any unprofitable business units it might be an attractive acquisition by Cisco, or Avaya. Parting out Nortel’s business units could provide some stockholder value after all.

[1] Nortel Seeks Bankruptcy Protection found 23 February 2009 at http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/15/technology/companies/15nortel.html?_r=1&pagewanted=print

[2] http://www.nortel.com/

[3] Why Innovation Could Not Save Nortel found 23 February 2009 at http://www.businessweek.com/print/innovate/content/jan2009/id20090114_754937.htm

[4] WiMAX, Pension Fund, Competition All Contributed to Nortel Problems found 23 February 2009 at http://www.eweek.com/index2.php?option=content&task=view&id=51211&pop=1&hide_ads=1&page=0&hide_js=1

[5] Fiber-optic network sets world record found 23 February 2009 at http://www.physorg.com/print62776076.html

I passed the PMP exam

2009-02-13T09:28:00.000-08:00

As you can see, my ethics don't quite jive with the PMI mantra. There were quite a few "narc on your folks" questions. The exams in the ITM614 course material, and those of the pmstudy.com site only matched to about 25% of what I saw on the actual exam.

I took three tests from pmstudy.com too, and read the PMBOK. I made certain to review the incorrect answers I got and also the questions I guessed at. You really have to know the formulas and more importantly the concepts and process inputs-tools-outputs. There were alot of judgment questions that really make you have to think.

There were a very few questions on the actual test that were similar or close to an exact match with simulation test questions. There were some, but tremendously less than I had hoped. One thing I did notice is that the pmstudy guide liked questions like, "all the following are accurate, EXCEPT", whereas the actual test was worded, "Which of the following is accurate". Don't get me wrong, the study questions were helpful because they explained the formulas and cited references which was very useful in learning the material.

I could tell that certain questions mapped somewhat to the one in the study material. One really needs to understand the concepts and processes to make critical decisions though. If I relied on just memorizing the questions without checking the PMBOK for the reasoning I would have been in big trouble.

There were also a fair amount of "pick the best answer" type questions where all the answers could have been arguably true. I had to really think about the spirit of the questions to make a judgment. There were also some questions that if I answered honestly, would have been wrong. In fact, if one followed the PMI code of ethics strictly, one would be fired in short order.

I pulled the answers for a few questions from the statistics classes. There were questions about cumulative probability as well as standard deviation and variance.

Also, the proctored center had a staff member that walked behind my desk every five minutes to check to see if I was cheating. The booths were also video taped individually from the ceiling. I was asked to surrender my watch, wallet, phone, and keys and put them in a locker before the test.

That center also does testing for finance and medical exams. Some of those tests take as long as seven contiguous hours to complete and require fingerprinting and photos.

Moore's Law and Economics

2009-02-05T11:42:00.000-08:00

Hayek begins his narrative (The Use of Knowledge in Society[1]) by stating eloquently that all data cannot be know and utilized by any one. This is an understatement no matter how well-designed the prose or how deep one tries to explain the concept. Economics has many mechanisms and indicators to explain what has happened. Accurate forecasting is impossible. Consider the fact that automated trading houses have expended vast resources building real-time information systems that use sophisticated algorithms to calculate financial projections down to the nanosecond. Even with these resources, the best and brightest have still failed in predicting how the economy develops.

Even with an infinite amount of economic metrics and infinite processing power it would be impossible to predict the economy. In my view, this is because every individual on the planet is operating to improve their own personal utility. Each person wants the most of what they want for the least cost possible. Even if the billions of people were monitored and were honest about their motivations and intentions, the fact that humans do random emotional and irrational actions would prevail.

The free market is driven by these human forces of individuals seeking utility for themselves. Compared to centrally driven markets, the ‘invisible hand’ described by Adam Smith is the most effective system of reallocating resources to where they are needed most. Hayek points out that the efficiency of the free market as opposed to the controlled one is the availability and utilization of necessary knowledge to make economic decisions.

In the context of a business organization, the knowledge is almost always focused at the top executives. Presumably, these individuals are qualified to use the knowledge given them and apply there expert judgment to make decisions for the entire organization.

There are constraints on the decision making ability of the senior executive in an organization. By the limited number of top individuals, decisions must be delegated to enable the organization to function. One way to triage the decision making process that I have seen is to monetize the decisions. There is often a stratum of signing authority within an organization. Lower ranking managers may sign for expenses in a certain range, while large expenditures require one or more senior executives in order for funds to be distributed.

Hayek makes a good point when he states, “…that anyone who by such knowledge gains an advantage over somebody better equipped with theoretical or technical knowledge is thought to have acted almost disreputably. To gain an advantage from better knowledge of facilities of communication or transport is sometimes regarded as almost dishonest…” I can apply this to the stock market to explain some of the behaviors in securities prices. One of my biggest frustrations with the stock market is the fact that all too often I have see the price of a stock drop sharply with no explanation. Then some time later, perhaps even a few minutes or hours later, a public news bulletin is publish with some seemingly innocuous event. In my opinion, even though there are laws and regulations about insider trading, there is still so much of that individual utility maximization allowed that participating in the market is very risky. That is, without insider information.

Hayek goes on to say that some knowledge should be shared and would considered as disreputable if hoarded. One could argue that drug companies act disreputable by driving prescription prices up and protecting patents on life-saving drugs. Would it be unethical or unfair to deny treatment to cancer patients if they were unable to pay for a life saving drug. It happens even as we live and breathe.

Another point that Hayek makes to disparage the central control of economies is the need for constant miniscule adjustments of resources. A central control would be successful if every element was know and did not change at an unknown rate. However, the number of small adjustments and decisions that must be made on a daily basis renders central control inefficient. His point is that there is no statistical way to convey this outliers to a central decision making body. When the bulk of the information in the system lies outside the normal distribution curve then forecasting using those statistical methods is going to be unsuccessful. This concept is the heart of the Pareto calculus. Most of the problems come from the fewest of sources.

In business it is common to hear the mantra of, “expect the unexpected”, and “the only constant is change.” This degree of statistical uncertainty demands decentralization, at least to a certain extent depending on the size of the organization. A large organization may need to have a central procurement group with smaller regional purchasing bodies; whereas a smaller company may only need a central purchasing group. The scale of the organization and complexity of the allocation of resources is a determining factor.

Organizations grow and develop policies and procedures over time. The systems that develop can be correlated to the evolution of society and culture. Alfred Whitehead said, "It is a profoundly erroneous truism, repeated by all copy-books and by eminent people when they are making speeches, that we should cultivate the habit of thinking what we are doing. The precise opposite is the case. Civilization advances by extending the number of important operations which we can perform without thinking about them." This is applicable to corporations as well. General Electric, AT&T, IBM, and other very old companies are examples of organizations that have evolved a culture and set of policies as a base on which to grow and thrive. These organizations are also reputed for retaining their human capital. The strength of the organization as a society depends on the retention of the knowledge and behaviors of its citizens.

I believe there is hope for a stable global economy and transparency in the free market. A fuller utilization of all knowledge is at hand. Consider Moore’s law for the growth of computer CPU power and storage capacity. Research indicates that the number of transistors that can be placed inexpensively on an integrated circuit has increased exponentially, doubling approximately every two years. Research indicates that the expansion of the Internet and the bandwidth of data transfers is also following this trend of exponents. [2]^,[3]

Given the growth of knowledge transfer, speed of transfer, and ability to process the knowledge I believe our global society will see marked improvements in individual utility in our lifetimes.

[1] The American Economic Review 1945, Hayek found at http://calculemus.org/lect/L-I-MNS/12/ekon-i-modele/HayekUseKnowl.html

[2] http://www.intel.com/technology/mooreslaw/index.htm

[3] Internet growth: Is there a “Moore’s Law” for data traffic? http://www.dtc.umn.edu/~odlyzko/doc/internet.moore.pdf

Project transparency

2009-02-03T07:54:00.000-08:00

The CONFIRM project was to be a reservation information system that combined airline, rental car, and hotel information. Once the system had been developed, the partners, hotels and car-rental businesses, would not only use the system for daily operations, but market customized versions of the system for profit. Many other large scale systems had been developed successfully. These systems include AMR’s SABRE, United Airlines Corporation’s APOLLO, and Marriott’s MARSHA. The systems allowed travelers to make reservations more efficiently, thus improving business results. I believe Marriott, a major partner in the venture, was not fully behind the project. Marriott was happy with their current system and would entertain a new system only if it had more functions and less cost than the system they already had.

The specific objectives of the system agreed to by the Marriott and Hilton partners were as follows:

· to design, develop, operate, and maintain a new "state-of-the-art" reservation-processing system to be marketed worldwide;

· to design and develop "interfaces" with airline computer reservation systems so consumers could make airline, hotel and car rental reservations through a single, computerized system;

· to market the reservations system and other communication services to customers for a profit; and

· to convert each of the partners' reservation systems to the newly-developed system.

Marriott communicated that they were not satisfied that the design was of sufficient detail for developers to understand the requirements. Four months after the AMR internal audit of the AMRIS proposal, AMRIS declared that the functional and technical specifications were complete. This implies that there was still some lack of confidence amongst the partners about the comprehensive quality of the documents. AMRIS completed the design phase seven months later and communicated an increase in project development cost as well as an increase in the operation costs. They did suggest, however, that in the forth and fifth years, the operational costs would be much lower.

At this point in the process, the partners could withdraw from the project with a nominal fee. Based on the information available the partners decided to continue. The development began, and the project quickly became late as milestones were missed. There was a major communication disparity between the developers and the project executives. The project was clearly slipping as deadline after deadline was missed, yet the company executives continued to claim the project would meet the deadline.

Sadly, when the project was undeniably late, by as much as two years, the senior officer of AMRIS blamed employees for lying and concealing problems. As a result, eight top executives and another fifteen employees were fired.

Clearly, there were communication problems between the development teams and senior management. The end result was a failed project, law-suits and settlements. In my view, the communication problems were a result of unethical and deliberate concealment of information. One might also note that there were different and often conflicting ethical codes that inhibited the flow of information between the parties involved.

Not mentioned in the case study was the existence of a communications management plan. Such a document would be the roadmap between different groups. The producers of information and the consumers of the information would be specified in such a plan. With a communication plan, key warning signals in a project would be delivered to the appropriate parties.

Performance measurement techniques could have been used to improve the accuracy of the reporting. The reporting system may have made it more difficult for the unfavorable evaluation report done by a consultant to be buried by an AMRIS executive. These measurement and reporting techniques may also foster more ethical behavior.

Earned value management is a project performance measurement technique that integrates scope, time, and cost data. EVM is considered to be one of the most powerful and productive concepts utilized in managing today’s complex projects in private, commercial or government environments[1]. A baseline for the project is established in the original project plan. As the project progresses, changes can be tracked as variances. Earned value involves calculating three values for each activity or summary activity from a project’s work breakdown structure. These three values are the planned value, the actual cost, and the earned value. There are many formulas associated with this approach to monitoring the project’s performance. These include indexes that indicate how well the time and money is being spent.

Project management software could have been used to collect and distribute relevant information to the CONFIRM consortium members. One such software package is Microsoft Solution for Enterprise Project Management. This package integrates information from multiple projects to show the project’s status, or health. The Microsoft Office Enterprise Project Management (EPM) Solution is an end-to-end collaborative project and portfolio environment. The Office EPM Solution helps your organization gain visibility, insight, and control across all work, enhancing decision-making, improving alignment with business strategy, maximizing resource utilization, and measuring and helping to increase operational efficiency.[2]

In my own experience, I have participated in large projects that suffered many of the same forces that the CONFIRM project was faced with. I have seen first hand the business user’s penchant to continually add requirements long after the analysis and design phase has been completed. I have seen negative information squelched and bad news diverted. I have also seen whistle-blowers loose their jobs after attempting to propagate bad news. Being ethical often depends on the point of view of a particular individual. As a Project Management Professional you are expected to adhere to a “Code of Professional Conduct.”[3] There have been times when I have been in situations, however when skipping the chain in a functionally structured organization would incur immediate and negative retribution. I am sure many of the participants of the CONFIRM project endured similar pressures. Sometimes it is the wiser choice to do what you think is right within the context of your role. Eventually, as the saying goes, good will prevail. When it does, you want to be around to enjoy the success.

Having an open and transparent view of the project information are key elements to reducing questionable ethical decisions. Also having a communication plan and employing performance measurement techniques effectively are critical to the success of large projects.

[1] Earned Value for Project Performance Measurement found at http://www.asce.org/files/pdf/seminars/wyrickEARNVLUE1.pdf

[2] Microsoft Office Enterprise Project Management Solution overview found at http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/epmsolution/HA101656441033.aspx

[3] PMBOK® Guide, 3^rd Edition, pg 8

Earned Value Management

2009-02-03T05:48:00.000-08:00

In one of my previous posts I listed some questions that have been asked in conversations about project management. As you can guess from the subject of the post, most of the answers revolve around Earned Value Management (EVM), developed in the 1960's. EVM is popular for reporting and controlling projects in the Department of Defense. If you are going to be working with government contracts, you better know all there is to know about the subject. EVM can help you answer questions like:

Are we on schedule?
How much did the work we did cost?
Are there variances?
Based on the trends, how much will it cost by the end of the project?

Traditionally, one tracks a project by cost, time, and production. This is said to be two-dimentional. The EVM approach is said to be three dimentional as it comairs actual work that was earned versus work that was accomplished versus work that was scheduled to be accomplished.

The EV approach uses performance indices to signal possible warning signs. The value of these indices is dependent on the quality of the project's baseline plan, the actual performance against the plan, and the determination of management to control the changes that affect the final result.

EVM requires input data during different phases of the project. During the planning phase there is the planned value (PV), budget at completion (BAC), and percent complete. During the executing and controlling phase there is the actual cost (AC) and percent complete. From these inputs, you can calculate the earned value (EV), the cost variance (CV), and schedule variance (SV).

PV - planned value is the value of the amount of work that was planned to be accomplished on a task or project as of a certain date in the baseline plan.
AC - actual cost is the amount of money spent on a task or project as of a certain date.
EV - earned value is the amount of work actually completed on a task or project as of a certain date, according to the baseline plan. (EV=%actual complete x BAC)
CV - cost variance is the difference between the value of work that was actually completed (EV) on a taks or project and the cost that was actually spent (AC) on the task or project as a certain date. (CV=EV-AC)
SV - schedule variance is the difference between the value of work that was actually completed (EV) on a task or project and the work that should have been done (PV) as of a certain date. (SV=EV-PV)

Other calculations for analysis are:

CPI - cost performance index is the ratio of the value of work actually completed (EV) on a task or project and the amount actually spend (AC) on a task or project as of a certain date. (CPI=EV/AC). Note that if the CPI is greater that 1.0 that you are spending less than planned, which could be good.
SPI - schedule performance index is the ratio between the value of work that was actually completed (EV) on a task or project and the work that should have been done (PV) as of a certain date. (SPI=EV/PV). It is important to note that if this index is greater that 1.0 that the project is ahead of schedule, which is always good.
BAC - budget at completion. This is the total cost of a task or project according to the baseline plan.
ETC - estimate to completion is the forecasted cost of the remaining task. (ETC = CPI x SPI)
EAC - estimate at completion is the value expressed in dollars or hours to project the final cost of work when completed. (EAC = AC + ETC)
TCPI - to complete performance index is the project performace which must be achieved on all remaining work in order to meet the financial goal. TCPI = work remaining/funds remaining.

Here are some examples of the CPI and SPI:

CPI = EV/AC
CPI = $800,200/1,200,000 = 0.666 (for every $1 spent, only $0.67 of physical work was done)

SPI = EV/PV
SPI = $800,200/$900,000 = 0.889 (for every $1 of physical work planned, only $0.89 was done)

In answer to the question, "What artifacts would you provide to report project status?"

You would provide a Performance Report based on the Earned Value Management method. This report would be showing the inputs (AC, BAC, EV, PV) and the outputs in the Earned Value Analysis (SV, CV,SPI, CPI, EAC, and TCPI)

Spring Semester

2009-01-20T18:01:00.000-08:00

The spring semester starts this Saturday. I thought that I would be dreading it, but since I am under utilized at the moment my dream of being a full time grad student is materializing. I literally spent the last bit of money I had on tuition and books. (Over $500 of books). It will be a blessing to have four classes to stave of the angst and boredom of bench time.

The first class is the ECO625. Yes, another economics class. So this will make the fourth economics class I have taken in my academic career. With any luck, I might actually get a good grade this time. Eventually it will stick. I think the core problem I have with economics is the lack of faith in its mastery. Like predicting the weather, I could never be confident in any predictions. (Nor anyone else, apparently) Consider this. Billions of people in the world and they all want money. They want as much money as they can get and they are reluctant to tell you how they plan to get it, what they have, when and where they got it and what they plan on doing with it. One would have to know all those things with 100% accuracy and then compute the interactions of the rest of humanity as well as the weather and natural occurrences to even have a hope of predicting what the global economy might do. Even then, once the prediction is made it is instantly obsolete. Going back to my first statement about everyone wanting to have more than everyone else.

The second class is ITM613, Supply Chain Management. Basically getting what you need when you need it, for the price point that makes it all work. Sounds complicated to me. I had a friend that did supply chain management and said he hated it. Certainly not my thing. I am more in the R&D world, not ops.

The third course is a leadership class, MGT610. I love leadership classes. Lots and lots of writing about subjective crap that can be spun and argued successfully with little effort. Contemporary Strategy Analysis. Hmmm. Organizational structure, competitive advantage, resources and capabilities. I will have to keep an open mind about this one if I am to learn anything. What I really want to know is how to maneuver politically so that I can avoid getting laid-off again. Maybe at WYN if I had spent more time looking out for my self and less time trying to learn the architecture for all the applications and business processes I would still be there...or maybe not.

Last but not least, Information Technology Project Management, ITM614. This should be good. At the end I am told I can get the PMP certification.

D. Patrick Howard, MBA, PMP, CIO

Nice ring to it. There are some questions I should be able to answer at the end of this course that might have helped me get the Director postition at WellCare, or the Project Manager role at RipTide. I botched both of those. For you joy and edification, I will list a few of those questions below. How would you answer these interview questions:

What are the biggest challenges you have faced?
What techniques have you personally implemented to address these challenges?
Situation on strategic direction that carried risk and how did you propose that solution to senior management?
What were the risks to your recommendation?
Give me an example of how you used Risk Assessment as a part of your recommendation process.
Have you facilitated a JAD session?
Have you designed a solution for a business problem?
What is the most complicated solution for a business problem you have ever done?
Give an example of a solution you designed for a business problem.
Have you done Data Flow Diagrams?
Have you done Process Modeling?
Describe the RAD process framework.
What artifacts would you provide with RAD to demonstrate the project was on time and on budget?

And then there is the quenntessential VP that sits playing with his BlackBerry and asks vapid crap like:

What makes you happy?
What is best in life?

I think we all know the answer to the last one. "To crush your enemies, to see them driven before you, and hear the lamentation of their women." - Conan

Almost done...One last bit.

My new business card: