Business Intelligence to Maximise Profits

Business Intelligence to Maximise Profits Objective (Industry over view, BI summary) I have chosen this topic because the decisions made in oil and gas companies have a huge impact on global economy and overall environment. Requirements of the developed economy for liquid natural gas and oil both as fuel and as in raw materials for the chemical industry is steadily increasing. Demand lifting has led to sharp increase in the prices for oil and for hydrocarbon raw materials as a whole, which has caused increase in extraction of these products in all countries possessing deposits of hydrocarbons. The oil and gas sector became the main donor of financial resources for the state budget of the country. This topic will cover how Business Intelligence (BI) tools support management to consolidate procedures and to maximize profits, through cutting costs and data integration. BI along with data warehouses and business analytics represent that toolkit which allows oil gas companies to take a maximum of the information from the available primary data, to reveal the basic trend s and to construct forecasting models, i.e., finally, to transform the available company data into a source of additional profit. In addition to BI, terms like business performance management (BPM), business process management (also BPM), corporate performance management (CPM), and business activity monitoring (BAM), have also emerged. All of these are a part of BI. They are all dependent on BI tools, but it should be noted that BI is not dependent on them. In my understanding BI-projects need to be considered not only as object of reduction of expenses, but also as the tool of development which can bring profit to company. Functions of analytics and forecasting which are intended for the decision of strategic questions, will help to place priorities during crisis time, to define principal causes of expenses and potential sources of growth. Having found out them such company can work over deduction of favourable clients and increase of profitableness of business at the expense of attraction of the new. Only with the help of BI it is possible to carry out forecasting of situation, setting different conditions and receiving results of forecasts depending on the set parameters. The primary application of BI in oil and gas companies is to help management consolidate operations and cut costs. The basic goals have been to shorten the time required to create reports and analyses, improve the accuracy of information and create a single information repository. The most common application areas for BI have been to provide financial reports and analyses, and support business operations with a special focus on ERP. In our days the modern large oil and gas companies represent vertically integrated companies. Vertical integration describes the ownership or control by a firm of different stages of the production process, e.g., petroleum refining firms owning downstream the terminal storage and retail gasoline distribution facilities and upstream the crude oil field wells and transportation pipelines. It can be achieved through MA (mergers and acquisitions) or investment. Upstream is a term which describes the exploration and production sectors within the oil and gas in dustry. Downstream, in the context of the oil and gas industry, applies to the refining and marketing sectors of the industry. Oil and gas products are commodities and are, therefore, competitive based on price. This makes the industry cost-conscious and highly dependent upon the price of crude oil, the basic business driver in the industry and the raw material for production (Skriletz, 2002). Purpose of the research The increased requirements to efficiency and quality of accepted decisions at all levels of operations in oil gas companies leads to finding of decision-making support techniques. It assumes possession of the actual universal information on a condition and tendencies of development of business by methods and BI means. Thus the volume of the information which is necessary for considering for formation of optimum well-founded decisions steadily grows. It leads to a situation when it becomes effectively impossible to operate the company without use of modern means of information support. Transactional data is good for keeping track of what is happening in an organization, but is not well suited to finding out why things are happening or predicting future performance. In other words, after years of putting potentially valuable financial data into your corporate databases, it is now time to put the tools in place to get the data out of the same systems and organize it in useful ways to s upport the decision-making process. The purpose of the research is to show that BI is such a tool which gives the chance to the organisations to transform the accumulated data in the information on business, and then the information into additional source of profit. The research question is how the value of BI should be considered in the context of profitable business action. BI has become an expected business competency for improving decision-making effectiveness. Leading enterprises are establishing competency in aspects of BI such as decision modelling and support so that all workers, managers and executives can take the most effective action in a given business situation. Lacking worthy BI tools oil companies risks to stay competitive or even to sustain in a business. What is more I want to apply my research outcomes in KMG, the problem is that BI is not so developed in Kazakhstan, so I hope my knowledge will be gainful to my company as employer and to me as employee. Literature There is currently enough media attention focusing on this subject and about this topic. A majority of these can be found in IT magazines, newspaper articles and on the internet, but the credibility of these sources is questionable. They can also be written by people who dont know a lot about the subject and have formed an opinion based on minimum information. IT magazines articles are often written in a biased way in terms of being in favour of one vendor, such as company propaganda or from the point of view of the writer. This data can be misleading, articles written by Gartner and TDWI analysts have more credibility and raise important questions and viewpoints which I believe should be considered in my report. Below is the list of books and resources I am willing to use during my research: The Profit Impact of Business Intelligence (2007), Williams S., Williams N.. Morgam Kaufmann Publishers This book contains plenty of mini-cases and useful information for my project. Business Intelligence, The Savvy Managers Guide (2009), D.Loshin, Morgan Kaufmann Publishers This book provides a knowledge base for the decision makers to determine the value of integrating BI into the company. In this book I want to look at the modern view of the collection and integration of transactional and reference data as a valuable resource that can be used for analytical purposes. BI Success Factors: Tools for Aligning your Business in the Global Economy (2009), O.Parr Rud, John Wiley Sons Financial BI : Trends, Technology, Software Selection and Implementation (2002), Nils Rasmussen, Paul S. Goldy, Per O. Solli, Publisher: John Wiley Sons; 1 edition This book will help me to review how managers can quickly and easily analyse the financial data in the corporate databases in order to be able to make more intelligent decisions about the future. Consequently it will help me to analyse the impact of BI financial tools. TDWI Best Practices Reports Series This series is designed to educate technical and business professionals about new BI technologies, concepts, or approaches that address a significant problem or issue. Research for the reports is conducted via interviews with industry experts and leading-edge user companies and is supplemented by surveys of BI professionals. Gartner Inc. Gartner source is the most comprehensive collection of analysis and advice for the users and vendors of technology. Methodology In my research I want to follow multi -method, which will contain: Interview: To get more practical point of view I am going to interview those who work on implementation of BI tools and use SAP-ERP in gas transportation, to be more precise financial department in KazMunayGas and KazTransGas. KazMunayGas is the state-owned oil and gas company of Kazakhstan and KazTransGas one of KazMunayGaz subsidiaries responsible for gas transportation. Trend analysis: Phenomena that are or have been in the process of change are examined to identify and report the directions of trends and to make interpretations and forecasts. Literature: As I mentioned previously Qualitative data sources (TDWI and Gartner) will contain different cases in my research. Conducting qualitative research requires an open attitude in order to understand how others experience their situation. Qualitative research is characterised by the fact that the researcher works on the basis of an open question Qualitative research represents the general name for a group of investigative procedures with common characteristics. Also, qualitative research is empirical in the same sense as other recognized forms of scientific inquiry. It relies on observation. Qualitative research encompasses several forms of the investigation. They all share this characteristic: The data used do not accommodate readily to quantification, specification, objectification, or classification. Because of that, common statistical procedures cannot be used for data display or analysis. Typical of such data might be reports of participant observation or the texts of in-depth and relatively unstructured interviews. Project plan and schedule

Gender Roles Seen in Toys

Gender Roles and Toys By Shawna Robb English 101 Professor Solomon One room has pretty pink wallpaper with a princess border; the other is blue with monster trucks on one-wall and sports pictures on another. It is not hard to tell which room is female and which room is male. Male and female are used in this instance to define genders. Gender, unlike sex, is a universal guideline upon which individuals are placed. Gender refers to the socially constructed roles, behavior, and activities that a particular society considers appropriate for men and women. When the pressure of gender stereotypes is open to debate some say there are prenatal influences that are gender based. What is obvious is that gender plays a significant role when it comes to the toys people select for their children and the way that toy companies market them. â€Å"Toys-R-Us† is a United States based toy company who has been taken to task for marketing designs that reflect or promote gender specific toys. It is wrong that toy stores, like â€Å"Toy’s-R-Us†, clearly divides the toys by gender in stores and in toy advertisements because it teaches children how they are supposed to be in order to be accepted by society, promotes aggressive behavior for males and a passive attitude for females. Stereotypical boy toys are things like action figures and toy cars. These are both active and aggressive, which is â€Å"masculine† representing how men are supposed to be in society. Girl’s toys are often dolls, dress up, and toys that mimic household duties. That is stereotypical because its saying girls are passive, not active. It is setting standards that girls belong in the home for their future while boys get doctor kits or chemistry sets that give them higher goals. Introducing children to these gender role ideas this early is shaping them for the rest of their lives. The world’s leading fast food franchise has an interest in the gender of its young customers. At McDonalds a very popular child’s meal is the happy meal. When a Happy Meal is ordered the worker always asks if the child is a boy or a girl. This lets the worker know what type of toy to put in with the meal. The McDonalds worker could ask if the customer wants a hot wheels or a mini Barbie but instead they learn the gender of the customer and stereotypically provide the toy. Toy stores separate their store by toys for girls and toys for boys. The girl isle has stereotypical girl colors like pink, purple, and yellow. All of these colors are light when the boy’s section has colors like red, blue’s, black, brown and green. All of the boy’s colors are darker and less â€Å"pretty†. Just from that quick look down the isle one can notice which is for girls versus boys. The dark colors are less southing and action oriented. The girl colors, are lighter making them much more calm and subdued. This same pattern can be seen in advertisements on television. Female directed commercials are light colors, with softer music usually having lyrics that explain the toy and giving passive examples for what can be done with the toy. Boy’s commercials however have the message that they are going to go out and do something active with the toy. The music for masculine toys is generally uplifting and motivating, which makes a boy excited to play with the toy. Commercials cannot be avoided and they reach almost all boys and girls on a day-to-day basis. One interesting area in looking at the influences of toys and gender is the advertising of toys relative to levels of aggression. The television airwaves are filled with toy advertising. Is there a relationship between this advertising and levels of violence, does this relationship show a gender bias? For example a parent might wonder if the purchase of â€Å"boy oriented† toys for their child might increase the child’s risk for becoming violent. The parent might also wonder if merely watching the advertisements themselves increase children’s risk for becoming violent. In 2001 Kilinger, Hamilton and Cantrell offered the observation that the use of commercials to sell children’s toy products could have a socialization impact on children similar to that of television programming. Bandura’s Social Learning Theory says, â€Å"human behavior is transmitted, whether deliberately or inadvertently, largely through exposure to social models†(Bandura 1). When a child thinks that a behavior will be punished versus rewarded but instead is not even acknowledged they will perceive it as a reward. Children usually continue rewarded behavior to receive more praise. Television is seen as a â€Å"super tutor† to Bandura, the child will model what they see on television, not knowing if it is good or bad. For those children whose parents are not good role models, the television becomes the behavioral role model. If violence and aggression is viewed on the television, it is more likely that children will engage in violent and aggressive behavior. While television can model appropriate behavior, there is a well-documented tendency for violence and aggression. Advertisements are difficult to avoid since they are interwoven in shows and they tend to emphasize violent and aggressive behavior (Kilinger 13). In the study by Kilinger, Hamilton and Cantrell they observed â€Å"children’s perceptions of aggressive content, stereotypic sex-role behavior, and appropriateness of television toy commercials†(Kilinger, 11). The results of the study support the notion that there is a gender bias in terms of aggressive content and consequently aggression potential. The results did show that toys and the advertisements for them aimed toward boys were more aggressive than that of the toys that are gender neutral or aimed toward girls. The commercials shown were clearly sex role stereotyped. This is consistent with other research that has supported the idea that boys are more socialized toward aggression. Boys may be more desensitized to aggression as a result of gender stereotyped toy commercials as well as their toy selections in the past. Again, this is a reason for concern since commercials are unavoidable while watching television. While the promotion of aggression is certainly an adequate reason to exercise great care when it comes to toy and gender, it is not the only reason. Parents do support gender bias toys from the time the child is born. More often than not, a boy will receive toys that are focused towards boys and girls will receive stereotypical girl toys. The children do not go out and buy this themselves; their parents will pick out their toys until the child is already taught what they should like. Parent’s will find out they are having a boy or a girl then base everything around that detail, like the room color example, children and baby clothes are also gender biased as well as their toys. When the girl is playing with girl toys she will be rewarded for the â€Å"right† interests, as would a boy playing with a boy toy. They will then continue this behavior to get their parent’s approval. If a father see’s their son playing with a Barbie doll or asking to be a princess, their father might redirect them saying those are girl things urging them to play with a male biased toy. One thing Social Learning Theory has assumed is that reinforcement and punishment is the means by which parents socialize children. The study named â€Å"Parental Socialization of Young Children’s Play†, done by Eisenberg, Wolchik, Hernandez and Pasternack, observed the parent’s involvement with enforcing gender stereotypes. This study found that parents do reward their children for same-sex toy play. It is not only the toy companies that enforce gender roles in toys; the people raising the child are also responsible for teaching stereotypical thinking. The idea that cross-sexed interests are wrong does come from society and children start learning this from the time they are born. (Eisenberg, Wolchik, Hernandez and Pasternack 1506). A thirteen-year-old Swedish boy, Hannes Psajd, spoke out about the gender focused toys in â€Å"Toys-R-Us†. Hannes said that the 2008 â€Å"Toys-R-Us† Christmas Catalog showed boys playing with different toys than girls do. The boy said that he and his sister always play with the same toys and there is nothing wrong with that. Psajd said that it sends the wrong message to girls, since they are playing with only passive toys. Hannes stated â€Å"boys want to be princesses sometimes†(Landes 1), demonstrating that this store does not only discriminate against girls. When the claim was looked into by a regulatory committee they stated that, â€Å"Toys-R-Us discriminates based on gender and counteracts positive social behavior, lifestyles, and attitudes†(1). This shows that children do recognize this problem if it is brought to their attention. The problem of toys defining gender roles does not completely rest  rest with â€Å"Toys-R-Us† but is a societal problem. Society has created the gender roles we now have and these roles are often strict. While it will take time to make fundamental changes in gender bias a starting point could be the creation of more gender-neutral toys. These toys would have to find their way into homes and that could be a function of the advertising that is currently part of the problem. Parents need to be educated to nurture more flexible gender roles and allow children to explore their interests, even if this interest violates stereotypical norms. Boys and girls should have equal opportunity to play with a doll or a monster truck. Children are taught gender roles from the time they are born, toys are one way that this is taught to them. In a toy store like â€Å"Toys-R-Us†, it is clear to see which isle is for boys and which one is for girls. The colors and stereotypical gender bias toys show the clear division in the store between feminine versus masculine toys. Television advertisements depict females as being passive while they promote aggressive behavior for males, this can lead to boys acting violently in the future. Parents sometimes scold children who play with cross-sex toys, which will teach the child not to repeat this behavior. Gender roles teach a child what they are supposed to be, feminine or masculine, and toys to play a part in enforcing these gender stereotypes. Works Cited Bandura, Albert. â€Å"Psychological Modeling: Conflicting Theories†. Chicago: Aldine Atherton, 1971. Print. Eisenberg, Nancy, Walchik, Sharlene A. Hernandez, Robert, Pasternack, Jeannette F. â€Å"Parental Socialization of Young Children's Play: A Short-Term Longitudinal Study. † Child Development 56. 6 (1985): 1506-13. ERIC. EBSCO. Web. 5 Apr. 2011. Klinger, Lori J. , James A. Hamilton, Cantrell, Peggy J. â€Å"Children's Perceptions of Aggressive and Gender-Specific Content in Toy Commercials. † Social Behavior and Personality 29. 1 (2001): 11-20. PsycINFO. EBSCO. Web. 5 Apr. 2011. Landes, David. â€Å"Toys‘R’Us Scolded for Gender Discrimination. † The Local: Sweden’s News in English. 6 October 2009. Print.

Sufficiently demonstrated this through my actions

I would like to state that I am executing this letter to manifest to the creditors and financial institutions concerned that I am an individual of good credit standing and that I am qualified and eligible for the Housing Loan that I am applying for.I am well aware of the fact that recent events may lead some to believe that there may be some concerns with regard to my credit worthiness.   I would like to personally assure the concerned parties that there is no need for such.   In order to assuage the fears of my creditors, I feel that it is best to provide a clear explanation of the events that have recently transpired.The events in question all began in 2003 when I filed for bankruptcy.   This was because I was going through a difficult time in my life as I was supporting my ex-husband and had a number of marital issues to deal with.   I had applied for three (3) credit cards that same time and was given approval for all of them.   Unfortunately, I was not able to settle m y outstanding balance because I was forced to relocate from Colorado to Georgia due to grave threats that my ex-husband had issued.I understand these events do not excuse nor exempt me from any financial liability or obligation that I have with the financial institutions concerned.   In my defense, I would like to make mention of the fact that despite these events and circumstances I have gotten in contact with all my previous creditors and have apprised them of my previous situation.   After my discussion with these companies, I was able to resolve the problems.   Soon after that I was also able to secure a stable job and have really improved my financial standing.I am a person of principle and one of those principles is in settling my debts to others.   I do not only proudly say this but also feel that I have sufficiently demonstrated this through my actions.   I am confident of my financial position at this time and feel that my credit worthiness is not a matter that my self or anyone else for that matter should be concerned about.

Friends of Youth and Lakeside Milam Recovery Centers Essay

Summary My internship, Friends of Youth, is closely connected with Lakeside Milam Recovery Centers and I therefore decided that would be a great place to learn more about incase I needed to refer any of my clients to them. In order to gain more information about Lakeside Milam I spoke with the administrator, Dan Labuda and the director of the inpatient facility in Burien, Mary Fredrickson. Dan provided me information about Lakeside Milam as a whole, while Mary gave me an intake look at inpatient treatment and gave me a tour of Lakeside Milam. The first thing I realized during my tour was that I was really uncomfortable. Mary explained that the inpatient facility we were touring which houses male and female adolescents and young women was†¦show more content†¦Fisher and Harrison (2009), explain that inpatient treatment is positive for social interactions and decreased isolation. When touring the facility the patients were spending time together showing decreased isolation between them. The patients frequently have outings to activities such as a ropes course or attending community AA or NA meetings. Lakeside Milam has 24 hour care for its patients which make it less likely that the patients will use a substance while in treatment (Fisher Harrison, 2009). Under the least restrictive environment the patients have the right to walk out the door of the facility at any time, the doors and windows remain unlocked from the inside. According to Fisher and Harrison (2009), a least restrictive environment can have positive results. â€Å"Clients should be placed in the treatment setting that offers the least amount of restriction, with the highest probability of success† (Fisher Harrison, p. 147). My automatic reaction when Mary told me that the patients were in a least restrictive setting was that I did not understand how that could work because I assumed the patients would leave. Though inpatient treatment has many benefits, there is a risk that the patient will relapse once back in the community because they were not prepared to face the real world (Fisher Harrison, 2009). Treatment Approach Not only is it important to look at a drug and alcohol facilities treatment setting, but