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Ann Li May 5, 2013 Social Study Research Paper Ms. Yassin Abraham Lincoln On February 12, 1809, Abraham Lincoln, the 16th president of United States came into the world in a poor family in Hardin County, Kentucky. When Lincoln was born, he was given his paternal grandfathers name. His father, Thomas Lincoln was a farmer and shoemaker with only a little amount of knowledge. However, Abrahams father gained respect of the community because he purchased his own land twice. His religious beliefs against slavery deeply influenced Abraham in his childhood. Abraham Lincolns childhood life was rough. His family moved three times, crossing states. Lincolns mother, Nancy Hanks, died from milk sickness caused by drinking the milk of†¦show more content†¦Douglas from Democratic, and became the 16th president of the United States. Because of his strong mind against slavery, several Southern states seceded from Union and formed the Confederate states by the time of Lincoln inauguration in March 1861, and the Civil War began barely a month later . It was the darkest war time in the American history, where thousands of people giving their lives to the country from 1861 to 1865. During the Civil War, Lincoln issued a preliminary Emancipation Proclamation which took effect on January 1, 1863. This document freed all of the slaves in the rebellious states but left those in the border states in bondage. He justified his decision as a wartime measure, and did not go so far as to free the slaves in the border states loyal to the Union because at that time, Lincoln cared more about keeping the country together. In fact, his Emancipation Proclamation freed the slaves only located in states actively in rebellion against the United States was in order to allow those slaves to fight for the Union army. He was not able to free all slaves until the victory of the Union. Still, even though some slaves remained in bondage, the Emancipation Proclamation deprived the Confederacy of the bulk of its labor forces and put international public op inion strongly on the Union side. In April 1865, with the Unions victory, Abraham Lincoln was shot and killed by the Confederate sympathizer John Wilkes Booth at The Fords Theater in WashingtonShow MoreRelatedBalance Sheet and Total Capital Ratio Essay979 Words   |  4 Pagesway to expand the use of fair value accounting to the non-liquid asset, such as the bank loan, since there may be doubt of the interest rate and debt revaluation. Group members: Chenpu Li, Jiaxuan Li, Aiyun Wang, Jiayun Ao

Operations Management London Zoo and Nottimham Castle Case Study Free Essays

string(77) " number of visitors can fluctuate greatly depending on the time of the year\." In today’s information age, it is important for businesses to take advantage of the available avenues to reach out to customers and potential customers. Tourist attractions such as London Zoo, and Nottingham Castle, are no exceptions of being in the age of constant information flows. These places want to attract visitors with their facility layouts and overall experiences, and to improve upon what they already have, they would need to optimize their products through well planned operations management. We will write a custom essay sample on Operations Management London Zoo and Nottimham Castle Case Study or any similar topic only for you Order Now When one thinks of a zoo and a historic museum, it is very natural to think of both places as tourist attractions, but what they offer the visitors could be very different. The London Zoo offers patrons the experience of interacting with animals that we would otherwise have very little chances of seeing, while the Nottingham Castle brings the visitors back in time and allows them to feel and see the history. The zoo needs to attract people with their animal collections, while the Nottingham Castle needs to intrigue visitors with their well laid out tours, guides, and interesting historic facts. The purpose of this report is to describe how each of these places, the London Zoo and the Nottingham Castle, are run in terms of operations management, then to identify possible flaws and ways to improve upon their current operational methodology. Though these two places are both tourist attractions, but their appeals are unique to their own. The zoo offers exciting and dynamic interactions with live animals, so it needs to capitalize on the animals it has or through possible new animal acquisitions. The Nottingham Castle on the other hand should cater to what the visitors would be most interested in knowing about the place. To wrap up this report, a comparison between the two locations will be done. Nottingham Castle can trace its history back to 1067; the wooden castle was built by the Conqueror. In 1878, Prince of Wales opened it as a municipal museum and art gallery and it has since become one of the popular scenic spots in Nottingham city. According to Nottingham City Council website, Nottingham Castle is open Tuesday to Sunday from 10am to 4pm. From March to September it opens until 5 in the evening. Although the Castle only provides parking for disabilities, public parking and railway station are all within 10 to 15minutes walk. In order to attract more visitors, Nottingham Castle has a Tuesday free entry plan for the local citizens. Other visitors can purchase tickets from 3 to 5. 5Pounds depending on different types of tickets. There is only one entrance into the Castle, therefore after visitors purchase the tickets; they have admission to any of the places inside Nottingham Castle which includes the indoor facilities: museum, art gallery and outdoor facilities: Victorian bandstand, playground. It can be seen that Nottingham Castle has both the educational and entertainment functions which are suitable for family leisure activity. Figure 1: Nottingham Castle process and layout diagram Source: BBC Local Nottingham Website Nottingham Castle is surrounded by walls, when visitors go into the castle gatehouse they will see a beautiful garden and the castle atop the hill. As can be seen in the Figure 1, Nottingham Castle has tried to arrange a route for visitors. Visitors usually are attracted by the Robin Hood statue just outside the castle before heading to the castle gatehouse to purchase the tickets. Once inside the Castle, visitors can access any facility to their likings and do not necessarily have to follow the route which is suggested by Nottingham Castle. According to BBC Nottingham local website, the route suggested by Nottingham Castle shown as below: Robin Hood Statue Castle Gatehouse Victorian Bandstand Eastern Terrace Guard Room Dungeon 01 Dungeon 02 Long Gallery Castle Roof Soldiers Tunnel Mortimer’s Hole Cannon Position Miller’s Cottage In this case, Nottingham Castle could be classified as process layout. This is because when visitors flow through the operation, they choose a route from facility to facility according to their needs. (Slack et al. , 2004) Nottingham Castle is considered a small Castle. The museum and gallery are all located inside the Castle. The space of the exhibition compare to many other museums is on the smaller side. The Castle Cafe and shop are not very busy during the day. Visitors normally spend one to two hours to see all the facilities. Therefore, the volume of its output is low. Moreover, when visitors go to the gatehouse, the staffs are not only selling tickets but also in charge of the gift shop. Slack et al. (2004) state that when the volume is lower, â€Å"the number of staff will be lower and therefore individual staffs are likely to perform a wider range of tasks† (p. 0) this situation can be observed at Nottingham Castle. It might cause visitors to wait in the long queue, because of the customers who want to buy gift and tickets have to wait at the same counter. Once the visitors are in the Castle, they can access many attractions. For adults, they can enjoy the art and historical display; children can experience the outdoor playground and some indoor displays which are design for kids on ground floor. Furthermore, Nottingham Castle hold different events and tours throughout the year. (Table 1) These information shows that Nottingham Castle provides high variety of services. However, when there is no special event, the outdoor facilities tend to be idle. The function of playground and bandstand will be low. Table 1: Nottingham Castle events and tours Events| Time| Outdoor theatre| June, July and August| Robin Hood Pageant| October| Christmas events including visiting Santa| Christmas| Fireworks| | Historical en-enactments| | Indoor and outdoor activities for families| All year long| Festivals and fairs| | Cave tours| Tuesday – Sunday| Private hire| | During the weekends, holidays and school vacations, the number of visitors will increase. In addition, the castle is closed on Mondays; the number of visitors can fluctuate greatly depending on the time of the year. You read "Operations Management London Zoo and Nottimham Castle Case Study" in category "Free Case study samples" Along with big crowds,variation of demands can arise. It is then crucial for the Nottingham Castle staffs to assist the patrons when necessary. Visitors do not need to spend for a long time to find staffs for assistant. The transforming resources such as: Castle, Museum and gallery are highly visible to the visitors. The second case in this essay is London Zoo. Since it opened in 1828, London Zoo has been one of the most favorite attractions in England. (Watt and Stuart, 1995, p. ) Similar to Nottingham Castle, London Zoo adopt process layout as their operation layout type. Visitors do not have many limitations after they get into the zoo. Once inside the Zoo, not only staff and facilities are transforming resources but so are animals. Therefore, the collection of animals and their well-being is very important for the zoo. The average number of visitors during holidays, weekends and special events tend to be high. The number of visitors can peak at 18,000 people per day compare to 4000 to 6000 people on average. (Watt and Stuart, 1995) Base on these figures, the volume of London Zoo’s output is high. Moreover,London Zoo offers high-variety service. They have grown their animal collections and developed children’s zoo, education centre †¦etc. Additionally, questionnaires are sent out to customers to help them improve their daily operation. Although the volume of London Zoo is high, the Variation of demand is quite high as well. According to Watt and Stuart (1995), daily number of visitors fluctuated dramatically. The lowest and highest visitor numbers are 48 and 18. 000 people. London Zoo is predicted as a high visibility leisure facility. Most of the transforming resources are visible to the visitors. During peak periods, the zoo will hire more temporary stuff to help permanent stuff and thus provides customers a better experience. After carefully examining each facility’s operations management, we can then compare and contrast them side by side. As discussed,the Nottingham Castle and the London Zoo have the same type of operation layout which is process layout. One disadvantage of process layout is customer queuing. (Slack et al. , 2004, p. 217) This issue is present in both of the two cases, especially during peak periods. London Zoo has queue everywhere, even the food in the shop is not up to the demand. Watt and Stuart, 1995) The other problem which appeared in author’s own experience was the clarity of flow in Nottingham Castle was low. Although visitors are free to choose their own route, the signposts in Nottingham Castle appear to be not clear. The unclear signposts sometimes confuse visitors; causing visitors to be unsure whether they have been to the all th e facilities on each floor. This problem match another possible disadvantage of process layout which is complex flow could be difficult to control. These two disadvantages both affect visitor’s experiences adversely. As we know customers’ satisfaction is crucial to any business sustainability and credibility. Therefore, improvement should be taken to upgrade their service quality. Refer to the difference between the four Vs in each facility. (Figure 2) Due to the size of the facility, London Zoo tends to have higher volume and variety to their outputs. Furthermore, London Zoo shows higher degree of visibility than Nottingham Castle. This is not only about contacts with the staff, but also higher visibility of the transforming resources to visitors. For instance, sometimes, visitors could have the chance to see workers feeding the animals. Hence,there is more interaction between transformed and transforming resources in London Zoo. Figure 2: Nottingham Castle and London Zoo Four Vs One common issue between both facilities is high variation in demand. This could lead to unstable financial statements and high unit costs. (Slack et al. , 2004) For leisure facilities, not surprisingly, the number of visitors varies from period to period. For example, during the summer vacation or school holidays, more families are willing to visit leisure facilities. The number of visitors will also get a boost when there are special events. This kind of unpredictable situation has a great impact on both places, especially the London Zoo. â€Å"On the Easter and August Bank holidays we can easily reach 10,000 people. † (Watt and Stuart, 1995, p. 8) Having a huge number of visitors in a day might be a good thing on short term profits. However, fluctuation of visitors can be a challenging obstacle to formulate a long term plan for due to the uncertain demands between peak and down times without sacrificing the quality of product. The shortage of stuff and products can lower the service quality which directly affects its reputation. As London Zoo’s director Jo Gipps said: (Watt and Stuart, 1995, p. 12) â€Å"They (visitors) will spread their dissatisfaction or disappointment by ‘word-of-mouth’. The consequence will be that visitors will not return, and new visitors will not be attracted† Since London Zoo is a bigger facility than Nottingham Castle, the temporary shortage on staff and products in busy months should have more impacts on its overall customers’ experiences. Thus, having a plan to cope with the short term increasing demands is even more vital for the Zoo to include in its operations management. This essay described Nottingham Castle and London Zoo in terms of operations management. After identifying each of facilities’ characteristic, it can be found that the basic layout adopted by both is process layout. Since visitors are free to move inside the zoo and the castle, the layouts of facilities need to maximize the traffic flow and put down well indicated signs for the visitors. The appropriate management of the traffic flow and the demands that are associated with a big crowd of people is a major mission for both the Nottingham Castle and the London Zoo. To some extent, Nottingham Castle and London Zoo have many similarities. Continual developments are the keys to attract more visitors to both places. However, due to the size of the facility and the nature of services provided, London Zoo has a more complex and dynamic operation process. In order to be competitive among today’s competitive leisurely activities choices, The Zoo needs to constantly reinvent itself with new acquisition of animals, interesting promotions to keep its spot light in potential customers’ minds. Therefore, the important resource for the Zoo is new capital which can help it explore new developments. On the other hand, the Nottingham Castle is a historic museum. The beauty of the Castle is its originality. There is simply not enough room nor need for new developments, but what the Castle would need is better representations of the history and stories of the Castle. And these improvements should be implemented on the guided tours, and better trained staff members. This is obviously not a single way to manage both of these multifaceted leisure facilities. Each case is unique of its own and should require careful considerations before implementing changes that suite its best interest. How to cite Operations Management London Zoo and Nottimham Castle Case Study, Free Case study samples

ERP Implementation A Compilation and Analysis of Critical Success Fac

Question: Discuss the factors you have identified and explain why they are more reliable than the clichs in the original article? Answer: Introduction ERP or Enterprise Resource Planning has become an essential part of corporate information technology. SME or small and medium size businesses are also now inclined to ERP implementation suitable for their business as ERP gives advantages in longer terms. During past, businesses used to implement information systems for their different core business processes. With time, the business processes have become complex, more data have been generated from those processes and it has become harder to integrated the heterogeneous legacy systems. For enterprises, those legacy systems gradually failed to cope up with the changed circumstances of the business processes and technologies. As a natural choice, the businesses want to have an integrated information technology solution for their business processes. ERP helped then to bridge the gap between what they had and what they wanted. With time ERP has become more sophisticated and more functional. Now it is available for any kind of business process. The vendors sell customizable ERP solutions. However, as ERP is closely related to the business processes, it is needed to be implemented very carefully. A change into another will affect the other. There have been several examples from various industries that shows fatal failures during their attempt to ERP implementation and that led them to significant losses. Studies have identified several critical success factors behind the implementation of ERP. However, there is no fixed list or solution. The main requirement is mapping the business process correctly to the ERP solution. (Harwood, 2003) Critical Success Factors Other than the shallow clichs found in the given case study, there are several other critical success factors or CSFs. Some of the important ones are given below, 1. Strong control from top management This is a first and foremost requirement of ERP projects. The top management should be very clear about the outcome of the project, the scope and objective of the project. They should also understand how well the business processes can be mapped to the implemented ERP solution. They should have backed up with all required knowledge about ERP implementation so that they can take decision about the project effectively. (Wong Tein, 2003) 2. Customization Customization is necessary if a business has chosen ERP solution from some vendor rather than in house solution. In industries, they are more interested in buying ERP solutions from vendors rather than building it in-house. Because solutions from vendors are cost effective. Now, there is a process of customizing an ERP solution according to the requirement of the business process. ERP is a modular system. The modules are highly coupled and cohesive by nature and that is why it offers an integrated business solution. Customization of the modules is very challenging. It may affect the inter-relationship among the modules and in that case the primary objective of ERP solution that is the integrated business solution will suffer. And it will become a factor behind the success or failure of the project. (Nah Delgado., 2006) 3. Business process reengineering In another case of ERP implementation, the business processes are customized to fit into the ERP implementation. This is also risky process. Because business process reengineering can be another project along with the implementation. So, at a time there will be two crucial projects running in the organization and as these projects are closely related so, managing both simultaneously is very challenging. And this plays crucial role behind the success of both projects. 4. Communication Communication for any task or within an organization is very important. There should be enough collaboration and communication across the organization and between the IT project management team and the management of the business. Clear communication clears up bubbles of confusion and other human behavioral factors. For a project like ERP, participation and collaboration among all parts of the business process and organization is very much needed. (Ram, et al., 2013) Communication also helps in building healthy organizational culture that in turns can play positive role behind success of any project even the ERP project. 5. Change control ERP implementation will bring certain changes in the working culture, business process etc. within an organization. The employees should be accustomed with it. They should not feel confused or afraid. A proper change control play a serious role in this context. 6. Employee Resistance Employees are driving force behind an organization and its business process. A common fear around ERP implementation may raise up among employees that it may cut down employment and they may become job less. As a consequence, they protest or resist to the changes and the ERP implementation. This is a very natural feeling for them. It is the responsibility of the organization to communicate with them, letting them go through some effective change control management policies and clearing out their fears. (Finney Corbett, 2007) 7. Participation of management and end users ERP implementation projects need participation of the IT staffs, management and the end users who will use the systems. This helps in deciding the acceptability of the system and the validation for the same. Building or implementation an ERP solution is actually the start of the scenario rather than the completion. So, this is an important CSF. 8. Testing Testing is important CSF because, generally vendors offer a prototype of the actual solution. Then depending on the business processes the prototype is customized. Thus it is needed to be tested thoroughly that whether the customization have done in the correct way or there are some issues. 9. Post implementation Phase Employees generally start actually utilizing all functionalities of an ERP system after they are accustomed with the system and they are confident. This takes some more time after the implementation of the ERP and a mere training is not the end of this learning phase. When the employees start utilizing the system, bugs may start coming in. but in most of the cases, during that time no project management team is there and it make the ERP system and the business process suffer. Some cases, there are maintenance team but bugs may paralyze the whole ERP system and in that case it needs more than maintenance support. (Ram, et al., 2013) Conclusion These CSFs are more than the clich factors as these covers up broader spectrum of CSFs and includes the clich factors too. References Finney, S. Corbett, M., 2007. ERP implementation: a compilation and analysis of critical success factors.. Business Process Management Journal, 13(3), pp. 329-347. Harwood, S., 2003. ERP: The Implementation Cycle. s.l.:Butterworth-Heinemann. Ifinedo, P., Rapp, B., Ifinedo, A. Sundberg, K., 2010. Relationships among ERP post-implementation success constructs: An analysis at the organizational level. Computers in Human Behavior, p. 11361148. Leon, A., 2008. Enterprise Resource Planning. s.l.:McGraw-Hill. Nah, F.-H. Delgado., S., 2006. Critical success factors for enterprise resource planning implementation and upgrade. Journal of Computer Information Systems, 46(5), p. 99. Ram, J., Corkindale, D. Wu, M.-L., 2013. Implementation critical success factors (CSFs) for ERP: Do they contribute to implementation success and post-implementation performance?.. International Journal of Production Economics, 144(1), pp. 157-174. Wong, B. Tein, D., 2003. Critical Success Factors for ERP Projects. Proceedings of the national conference of the Australian institute of project management..