Operations Management and Quantitative Techniques Essay Example

Operations Management and Quantitative Techniques Essay A master production schedule is used by business organizations as a metric to ascertain whether or not their production (outputs) meets their supply demands (inputs). There are times when a business wants to have a surplus and at others letting inventory dwindle to smaller numbers is optimal. The idea is to ensure that customers get their orders in a timely manner to retain loyalty, maximize profits, and reduce overhead and direct costs. The Realco Breadmaster Company has a new bread maker in the hopes of increasing their revenue. In question is the cost and efficiency of the new bread maker. The owner of Realco, Johnny Chang, wants a Master Production Schedule (MPS) designed. With the MPS on hand it is clear that Realco will indeed meet their customer’s requirements based on the production available to include the promised shipments in 3 weeks. On the 8th week however, they will have a surplus of inventory. We will write a custom essay sample on Operations Management and Quantitative Techniques specifically for you for only $16.38 $13.9/page Order now We will write a custom essay sample on Operations Management and Quantitative Techniques specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer We will write a custom essay sample on Operations Management and Quantitative Techniques specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer Mr. Chang the owner stated that the ending inventory of 51,650 units was too high and should be used as a Reorder Point (ROP) to indicate that there is a problem with overproducing. Fortunately Realco has not overpromised since they are able to meet their customer’s demands with the excess inventory. This does indicate that production numbers need to be readjusted to accommodate consumer demand. According to Marketing Manager Jack Jones, â€Å"nearly all orders can be filled within two weeks, so we promise them three weeks. That gives us a cushion, just in case. (Bozarth amp; Handfield, 2008). The thinking behind this is to ensure that customers can get their orders without delay and provide a cushion if there is a delay somewhere upstream in the supply chain. The negative aspect to this is the inventory on hand is going to be higher than it should be which costs money to keep on hand without true need, it also limits the amount of orders that can be produced if each order is extended to 3 weeks instead of the 2 weeks actually needed. With a MPS inventory can be properly tracked and adjusted as needed for production and consumers requirements. This would allow Realco to begin the lead/match capacity and match production to begin controlling the overhead in handling unnecessary inventory on the input and output side. It would also allow Realco to provide their bread makers in a timelier fashion making customers happier with services rendered. Although it may seem counter-intuitive, with Realco continuing to produce 20,000 bread makers a week as opposed to 40,000 every the surplus will drop considerably although after the 8th week there will still be considerable excess. Johnny Chang now needs to make a decision; should Mr. Chang lower production and keep the excess after 8 weeks in order to fill orders quickly or lower total inventory to match production needs and possibly fail to meet a large order from a customer? With the information at hand there is not enough information to justify a proper MPS. From the 1st week at a whopping 23,500 units to the end of the 8th week to 1,800 units there is a considerably small amount that could cause hardship with customers who may have a high volume need. In a few months there would be nothing on hand to send to customers. New methods of production whether it’s adjusting the capacity or your business, changing your production to match/chase or even using a different IS software are always a risk. Owners and business managers will never be fully sure if their new product or service will be able to meet consumer demand or if it will cause significant loss in purchasing more inventory than is needed or over production which could cost a lot in storing until needed. Creating a Master Production Schedule can help businesses ensure that the correct of input/output is being utilized for maximum profits and customer’s needs. A MPS can prevent over/under ordering and can allow for adjustments when demand forecasting calls for a slowing down period or a period of higher demand. A properly designed and used MPS can assist large companies to constantly improve their efficiency, control costs and still meet customer demand. Introduction A Bumpy Road for Toyota Throughout the years, Toyota has defined themselves as one of the top vehicle vendors in the world. Ending in March 2004, Toyota’s â€Å"net income [was] $10. 49 billion in yen,† which was more than General Motors and Ford Motor combined (Bozarth amp; Handfield, 2008). With Toyota’s car sales on the rise they wanted to focus on improving the quality of cars being produced. Unfortunately for Toyota, they found a series of errors and glitches in their entire assembly process with had a negative impact towards Toyota’s brand. The Toyota Company viewed the Lean philosophy as, â€Å"a form of religion† (Bozarth amp; Handfield, 2008). The Lean methodology is a process in which every aspect of the business is looked at and improved to increase productivity of workers, assembly lines, and inventory and manager management among many others, all the while keeping a close eye on production. When Toyota began opening automobile factories in the United States they continued to maintain and enforce quality which was consistent with their lean philosophy. One of the engineers would even draw chalk circles around an employee and told the employee to stay their watching that job until they could figure out how to improve it (Bozarth amp; Handfield, 2008). Having the workers involved in the lean process not only gave them some buy in, but gave the employees at all levels a sense that they mattered and instilled in them a thought process of constantly looking for improvements or Kaizen (Kaizen: a philosophy of constant personal and productivity improvement) (Kaizen Institute of America, 2011). In searching for these constant improvements quality is also assured as apparent errors are immediately studied and improved upon. By doing so Muda (waste) (Kaizen Institute of America, 2011) is reduced and quality is assured through large and even extremely small increments. These processes help improve a company’s standings with suppliers, employees, peers in the industry and most importantly consumers. This is significantly one of major reasons why Toyota sales have been better than almost all of their competitors in the industry (Bozarth amp; Handfield, 2008). Some of the most important people in these plants were so called â€Å"coordinators† (Bozarth amp; Handfield, 2008). These were experts with over 20 years of experience with the Toyota Production Systems (TPS). It was their responsibility to train American factory workers and managers to instill the lean production process to ensure efficiency and increase productivity. While at first it worked well and caught on quickly, the lean techniques became watered down and lose their value. Workers were said to be â€Å"creating a Buddha image and forgetting to inject soul in it. (Bozarth amp; Handfield, 2008). After a while employees cared less about the TPS and more about increasing productivity without regard to the quality associated with Lean Methodology. It was clear that as factories grew and moved away from TPS and lean production that the mindset taught by the Japanese experts was waning. Hajime Oba, Toyota’s top TPS engineer was very concerned with how the Detroit au tomakers made and cared about the cars they made. Auto workers moving at such a pace can tend to overlook the workmanship that goes into the products being made. I do not agree with Hajime that quality is in the decline. While it is true that many organizations have lost their â€Å"soul† it is returning as senior executives try to regain the productivity, profitability and customer loyalty so crucial to being a top tier competitor in today’s world market. It could be argued that a lot is lost when companies outsource their work but on the other side of the coin is that companies can focus on â€Å"core competencies† that allow them to stand up above their industry peers. By using available technology products like Master Production Schedules, Enterprise Resource Management and understanding the supply chain up and down stream allow a company to take a holistic look at all the functional and commodity areas. The stickler however is to invest in your employees to ensure employee buy-in to promote the quality and lean processes. In the era’s prior to Toyota arriving in America the 1950-70’s could be considered the golden age for automobile manufacturers. Most vehicles were built by men of an age that hard work was the number one value a man could have to show his worth and purpose (almost justifying Ayn Rand) and later on by men who grew up watching John Wayne and spaghetti westerns. This is perhaps why cars built in those times are still sought after and purchased with a hefty sum for the privilege of ownership of these classical beauties. After the 1970’s automakers began to look after profit margins more than customer loyalty, after all there were really only three major manufacturers to choose from! It can be argued and shown that when pure profit and greed are the going values cheaper materials and higher prices are soon to follow. Car quality went straight down hill and that trend is still apparent today when American automobiles haven’t made the top 10 list of vehicles purchased in America today (Bloomsberg Weekly, 2011). It is apparent that while profit is the motive, with a little bit of internal rearranging profit margins can be made solid by going back and beginning the lean process from the newest employee pulling a lever to the CEO and his decision-making matrixes. Use the lessons learned from Mr. Oba and begin to hire and train lean process or â€Å"6 Sigma† individuals. During the 1990’s the massive Toyota factory which was based in Georgetown, Ky. , â€Å"routinely claimed the top spots in J. D. Power amp; Associates’ widely watched initial quality survey for cars sold in the U. S. † (Bozarth amp; Handfield, 2008). In 2001 a Toyota factory in Canada was named the 2nd best plant and the Georgetown plant went into serious decline and was named 14th in Toyota’s spreadsheet. The issue came from hastily made decision due to the over rapid expansion of the Toyota plants and Toyota management being spread too thin. The biggest mistake was promoting employees and floor managers too quickly without allowing for a proper train up on the total Toyota Production Systems. This allowed for poor decision making on all levels. The Toyota factory workers lost touch of the fine details and allowed their factory defects to reach a high of 117 problems per 100 vehicles. Though Toyota has definitely faced â€Å"a bumpy road,† they are slowly recovering and â€Å"scrambling to take Lean production to a new evel-one that is simple enough to function without the constant help of Japanese coordinators with 20 years of experience or more in Lean production† (Bozarth amp; Handfield, 2008). With the belief of increasing production and lowering profit leading to increased profit margins, we can see with the Toyota example that it can hurt the brand and ultimately r educe consumer confidence, lower sales and possibly even put a company out of business. In the case of Toyota; they stayed in business but have spent several decades repairing damage done due to a poor understanding of the lean process and attention to detail of the American auto worker. Despite the rough patches this mega corporation has had to go through, it is certainly one of the most popular brands available on the market world-wide. One of the biggest benefits to the TPS is the complete changeover between the earlier employees and the new employees who are coming into the system as opposed to relearning a completely new way to do business. With Toyota fighting forward on lean production and instilling a sense of proper quality back in their vehicles they should reclaim their top tier place in the manufacturing industry and improve sales more and more every year. All it takes is persistence, hard work and dedication from the top CEO and board members down to the newest employees who have bought into the philosophy in place. Once again, Toyota will be one of the top ranked vehicles in America. Works Cited Bloomsberg Weekly. (2011, January 01). Retrieved November 27, 2011, from Business Business Weekly: http://www. businessweek. com Bozarth, C. C. , amp; Handfield, R. B. (2008). Introduciton to Operations adn Supply Chain Management. Upper Saddle River: Pearson Prentice Hall. Kaizen Institute of America. (2011, January 01). Retrieved November 27, 2011, from Kaizen Institute: http://www. kaizen. com

William (Bill) Herron Essays - ECUK Licensed Members, Free Essays

William (Bill) Herron Essays - ECUK Licensed Members, Free Essays William (Bill) Herron CEng FIMechE Bill graduated in 1984 with a degree in Mechanical Engineering (1st class) Newcastle Upon Tyne and started his Engineering design career at Ferranti Defence Systems Edinburgh. Designing and developing airborne radar systems for Sea Harrier fixed wing aircraft and Lynx/EH101 helicopters. He then moved to Unisys Corporation in Livingston Scotland . Designing and developing high speed cheque reading machines for financial institutions. From there Bill joined British Gas in Cramlington Northumberland in 1991 as a Senior Mechanical Engineer responsible for the design and development of the complete range of magnetic flux leakage inspection systems. British Gas sold off the On Line Inspection Centre to Mercury Asset Management (MAM) in 1998 and MAM began to grow the company until it eventually sold off to GE Oil & Gas in 2002 Bill spent a total of approximately 22.5 years designing the various in line inspection systems as part of the main fleet and to bespoke client requirements. Managing teams of engineers (Mechanical, Electronics, Physicists , Designers UK , Stutensee Germany , Calgary Canada , Houston USA and Bangalore India. Employed as the Chief Consulting Engineer and Mechanics COE Manager for the whole business covering metal loss , crack detection, geometry measurement, cleaning , multi diameter and unpiggable pipeline inspection technologies. Bill is currently employed as Engineering Manager at IHC Engineering Business Northumberland and is a full time member of the SMT, responsible for all Engineering design for Mechanics, Electrical, Hydraulics, Draughting IHC EB designs, develops and supplies bespoke equipment for the subsea trenching/ploughing and Flex-Lay/Pipelay system markets worldwide and Bill holds a Resource budget responsibility of ~8.5M and technically influences a procurement budget of in excess of 40M on an annual basis. Bills management responsibilities include know how for the whole Engineering function.

Contently for Freelancers

Contently for Freelancers A freelancer in one of my online groups posted that he received a $500 writing assignment for a 500-word profile. This assignment fell into his lap because of his Contently profile. Im a firm believer in the not all your eggs in the same basket school of thought. Contently falls into this category. It wont generate enough money to be your sole source of income, but it is an additional money making avenue. Contently (www.contently.com) is a site that connects freelance writers with large corporate clients. Although freelancers cant actively search for work, the pay rates are significant enough to compensate. Most assignments are in the $0.75-$2.00 per word range. Most flat rates range from $200 to $1,500. To create a portfolio, go to Contently.com and create an account. Its free. It will take approximately 15-30 minutes to set up, depending on the number of clips you have to attach. Youll need a current email and at least one URL to a published work. You can also upload documents from your computer. Contently has a tool that will search for other works Leslie, a freelancer in the group, shared that he felt the

Going Hi-tech at DrugDiv Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Going Hi-tech at DrugDiv - Essay Example The employees underwent intensive computer training for at least three days.Management was pleased with their efforts of what seemed like upgrading their division with technological advances. On the other hand, the sales representatives were disgruntled with the additional work of logging into technology and being less efficient due to their adjustment to the new tasks at hand. Glitches were also experienced with regards to the database, thereby losing prospective clients. They find themselves spending so much time learning to make their computers work, taking the time they need to do their real job which was sales. On top of that, they felt they were â€Å"ball-chained† to their supervisors who were able to reach them anytime through their computers and mobile phones, demanding reports more often than before. The sales reps were finding out for themselves that the introduction of technology in their jobs was more of a hassle than a help. Management-side stuck to their guns refusing to see systems failure. Instead, they attributed the data errors in the database as human failure to encode data correctly. This caused more conflict and division among the management and sales force. Meanwhile, the company was not doing very well in terms of service to customers and therefore, projected profits were low. The case study was concluded with management’s lack of commitment to involve the sales force. Grievances of the sales reps regarding heavy workload and increased control over their activities remained issues that management did not deal with. The prevailing organizational problems seen in the case study was a violation of a â€Å"psychological contract†, breakdown in communication in the introduction of technology in the sales work, ineffective transfer of knowledge of the benefits of technology use.

Your Logical Analysis for Better Understanding and Living Essay

Your Logical Analysis for Better Understanding and Living - Essay Example The understanding and living of a better life depends on the ability for one to understand what they want in life and focus on achieving those goals. Securing a better life starts with making the right choices for college and picking the right career path. These decisions are based on interests and strengths of an individual. I have to understand my interests and passions before choosing a career that best fits these interests. Based on my interests and strengths, I should make a decision on what I would want to study or major in college before deciding the right college for offering the course. Having information on the major or career will be helpful in getting a college that specializes in that particular field. I would develop a criterion for selecting colleges based on factors such as degrees offered, location, costs, graduation rate and financial assistance packages. From the criteria, I can come up with a list of possible colleges and universities. Visiting the schools before making the decision to study there may also be helpful. Choosing the right career and college that offers that course is the first step to securing a bright and better life in future. Time management is necessary because once lost, time is unrecoverable. Part of my understanding of living a better life is to manage my time. Time management not only improves the balance of life but also ensures a quality life. After understanding that time management is life management, I have to develop ways to manage my time by exercising self-discipline. Time management can lead to a better life because it minimizes stress and improves the overall quality of life. I start by laying a foundation for managing my time by delegating appropriate time for every activity I carry out in the day. I also have to identify and evaluate how I am spending my time currently to know where to make the adjustments. To manage my time I ensure that everything moves according to schedule. Anything done out of

Aryan Invasion Theory :: essays papers

Aryan Invasion Theory The major theory that has been repeated throughout time, to interrupt the evolution of India and migration of man, has been the Aryan Invasion Theory. According to this account, India was invaded and conquered by a nomadic tribe of Indo-European tribes from Central Asia around 1500-100 BC. It was said that these light skinned nomads fought a major battle with the darker skinned "Dravidian Civilization, from which they took most of what later, became the Hindu culture." The Aryan Invasion Theory is based upon ruins that were discovered in the Indus valley. The Aryan people also cite how the Aryan Vedic scriptures explain a war between the powers of light and darkness. This was therefore interpreted throughout time, to mean that the war occurred between a lighter skinned civilization (Aryans) and more dark skinned civilization. Scholars believed that the Aryans came into India around the time of 1500 BC, since the Indus Valley culture was earlier than this, they concluded that it had to be preAryan. It was also assumed by these same scholars, much of them who were of Christian origin, and unsympathetic to the Vedic culture, that the Vedic culture originated from primitive nomads from Central Asia. Thus, the Vedic culture could not have found any "urban culture like that of the Indus Valley." The Vedic culture was thus said to be warriors of Central Asian decent who came into India with horse drawn chariots and iron weapons. However, there was never any chariots or iron discovered in Indus Valley sites. The whole idea of nomads with chariots has been challenged. How could these nomads travel through rough mountain valleys (in tough weather ) with these chariots? Horse drawn chariots, were vehicles that were most likely used in lands that were mostly flat. Therefore, it can be said that the metals and wheel fragments that were discovered could come from the Vedic culture. Opponents of the Aryan Invasion theory, point to many different flaws in the theory. First off, some scholars now believe that it may have been just a pure biased opinion that has been passed on throughout time. The Aryan Invasion Theory served to divide India into a northern Aryan and southern Dravidian culture, which were hostile to each other. This theory also gave the British an excuse in their conquest of India. They could claim to only be doing what their Aryan ancestors had previously done. Lastly, by implementing the Aryan Invasion Theory, the history and science of India was given a mostly Greek Aryan Invasion Theory :: essays papers Aryan Invasion Theory The major theory that has been repeated throughout time, to interrupt the evolution of India and migration of man, has been the Aryan Invasion Theory. According to this account, India was invaded and conquered by a nomadic tribe of Indo-European tribes from Central Asia around 1500-100 BC. It was said that these light skinned nomads fought a major battle with the darker skinned "Dravidian Civilization, from which they took most of what later, became the Hindu culture." The Aryan Invasion Theory is based upon ruins that were discovered in the Indus valley. The Aryan people also cite how the Aryan Vedic scriptures explain a war between the powers of light and darkness. This was therefore interpreted throughout time, to mean that the war occurred between a lighter skinned civilization (Aryans) and more dark skinned civilization. Scholars believed that the Aryans came into India around the time of 1500 BC, since the Indus Valley culture was earlier than this, they concluded that it had to be preAryan. It was also assumed by these same scholars, much of them who were of Christian origin, and unsympathetic to the Vedic culture, that the Vedic culture originated from primitive nomads from Central Asia. Thus, the Vedic culture could not have found any "urban culture like that of the Indus Valley." The Vedic culture was thus said to be warriors of Central Asian decent who came into India with horse drawn chariots and iron weapons. However, there was never any chariots or iron discovered in Indus Valley sites. The whole idea of nomads with chariots has been challenged. How could these nomads travel through rough mountain valleys (in tough weather ) with these chariots? Horse drawn chariots, were vehicles that were most likely used in lands that were mostly flat. Therefore, it can be said that the metals and wheel fragments that were discovered could come from the Vedic culture. Opponents of the Aryan Invasion theory, point to many different flaws in the theory. First off, some scholars now believe that it may have been just a pure biased opinion that has been passed on throughout time. The Aryan Invasion Theory served to divide India into a northern Aryan and southern Dravidian culture, which were hostile to each other. This theory also gave the British an excuse in their conquest of India. They could claim to only be doing what their Aryan ancestors had previously done. Lastly, by implementing the Aryan Invasion Theory, the history and science of India was given a mostly Greek

Hrm- Training Need Analysis

Training Needs Analysis Purpose A Training Needs Analysis (TNA) is used to assess an organization’s training needs. The root of the TNA is the gap analysis. This is an assessment of the gap between the knowledge, skills and attitudes that the people in the organization currently possess and the knowledge, skills and attitudes that they require to meet the organization’s objectives. The training needs assessment is best conducted up front, before training solutions are budgeted, designed and delivered. The output of the needs analysis will be a document that specifies why, what, who, when, where and how. More specifically, the document will need to answer these questions: why do people need the training? what skills need imparting? who needs the training? when will they need the new skills? where may the training be conducted? and how may the new skills be imparted? There are so many ways for conducting a Training Needs Analysis, depending on your situation. One size does not fit all. Is the purpose of the needs assessment to: lead in to a design of a specific purpose improvement initiative (e. g. customer complaint reduction) enable the design of the organization’s training calendar identify training and development needs of individual staff during the performance appraisal cycle †¦ and so on and so on. In clarifying the purpose of the TNA, consider the scope of the TNA. Is it to determine training needs: at the organization level? at the project level for a specific project? or at the department level for specific employees? Your answer to these questions will dictate: who will conduct the TNA how the TNA will be conducted, and what data sources will be used Training Needs Analysis Method Below are three scenarios in which you may find yourself wanting to conduct a Training Needs Analysis. This is not an exhaustive treatment, however, it will give you some tips on what to do. Employee Performance Appraisal In many organizations, each employee’s manager discusses training and development needs during the final part of the performance appraisal discussion. This method suits where training needs are highly varied amongst individual employees. Typically, the manager constructs an employee Performance Development Plan in collaboration with the employee being appraised. The Plan takes into consideration: the organization's strategies and plans agreed employee goals and targets the employee’s performance results the employee’s role description feedback from internal/external customers and stakeholders, and the employee’s stated career aspirations The employee’s completed Performance Development Plan should document the area that requires improvement, the actual development activity, resource requirements, expected outcomes and an agreed time frame in which the development outcome will be achieved. Check out our Training Management Template Pack for a customizable Performance Development Plan and instructions for use. You may find some commonality amongst individual training and development needs identified in the various performance appraisals. In this case, it may pay the organization to review and classify each of the needs and convert them into appropriate training courses (or other interventions). The next step is to prioritize their importance and aggregate the results so that you end up with a list of courses and participant numbers against each. Then negotiate a delivery schedule that fits in with managers/supervisors and employees whilst keeping an eye on your budget. Improvement Project Most, if not all, improvement projects have some employee training associated with them. Examples of improvement projects include planned and structured attempts to reduce the incidence of product defects, increase sales volume and decrease the number of customer complaints. Here, the Training Needs Analysis begins by clarifying the measurable organizational improvement targets and the employee behaviors required to meet these targets. For example, the organization might set a target of a 50 percent reduction in customer complaints by the end of the year. Employee behaviors required to achieve this target might be: empathetic listening to customer complaints regular follow up of complaint resolution †¦ and so on. To get to this point, though, the cause of the underperformance needs to be determined through a series of structured questions. If there is no one else to perform this initial diagnosis, you as the training professional may be called upon to do this job. A performance consulting approach can help you here. With this approach, the person doing the diagnosis first asks managers to identify their problems in concrete terms. Next, possible causes and solutions are discussed and training solutions identified, where appropriate. To do this successfully, the performance consultant needs to be well-versed in process improvement methods and employee motivation theory and practice. For small projects, you can use a simple employee performance flow chart in working with managers to help identify the cause of performance deficiencies. Where training is identified as an appropriate solution or as part of the solution, we then recommend that you work through a training needs analysis questionnaire with the appropriate stakeholders. This will give you the information you need to move to the training program design phase. An effective training needs analysis questionnaire worksheet will cover at least the following areas: The results from these structured interviews are then written up in a formal document, along with the answers to the other questions raised above. Check out our Training Projects Template Pack for an example of a customizable training needs analysis template that you can download today. The results of the TNA are then fed into the next phase of the instructional systems design life cycle; the high-level design of the training program. Following all of the above is of course more time consuming than getting a simple wish-list from managers and delivering a smorgasbord of training courses. However, by using a structured approach, you will avoid the 80 percent wastage of resources that any companies experience in delivering programs that don’t truly fit their needs. Constructing a Training Calendar When constructing an annual training calendar, be wary of simply asking managers what training they want delivered. Assessing training needs this way, you will most probably get a wish list with little connection to the real needs of the organization. When the time comes and they and their workers are pressed for time, you may fi nd it difficult to fill seats. Training is expensive, and there is no better method for wasting your scare training dollars. Why is this so? We find that many managers are not skilled in identifying which of their problems can be solved by training and which cannot. For a training calendar to be effective, it needs to be tailored for your specific organization’s real needs. Ask your managers what training they need. However, make sure you engage them in constructive dialog about what their real problems are and which of them can realistically be addressed through training. If the performance shortfall is a one-off problem, such as an increasing number of customer complaints, it may be more effective and cost efficient to address the issue on an improvement project basis. Training calendars are best suited to repeatable and regular demand, such as refresher skills training for infrequently performed technical tasks and for new recruits joining the organization. In these cases, review what training is required on a regular basis and look at what new recruits need to be proficient at soon after they join your organization. Generally speaking, consult with your management team by checking off which of the following areas require inclusion in your training calendar: management, leadership and supervision skills oft skills, such as communication and conflict resolution environment, health and safety human resource processes, such as performance management business skills, such as strategy, planning and process improvement technical line and staff skills such as telephone etiquette and inventory management In constructing your training calendar, we suggest you also consider looking at one or more of the data sources listed in the next section. Once you have composed your list of courses, assess demand for each course and the required frequency, all the while, keeping an eye on your budget. With a limited budget, we suggest you get your management team to help you assess priorities. Data Sources In conducting your training needs analysis, you may have a variety of data sources available to you. Which data sources you use will depend on a number of factors. These factors include: the amount of time you have available the human resources you have available he level of accuracy you require the reliability of each data source the accessibility of each data source The data sources that you have available may include: interviews/surveys with supervisors/managers interviews/surveys with employees employee performance appraisal documents organization’s strategic planning documents organization/department operational plans organization/department key performance indicators customer complaints critical incidents product/servic e quality data For example, if you are considering providing training in project management to project managers, you may want to interview the prospective participants, the project managers, and their managers on what problems they are facing. It may also pay to review planning and procedural documents to ascertain what project management methodology and tools your organization is using, or is planning on using. Data sources that may show light on where the training needs to focus the most are project performance data and post-implementation reviews. Which sources you will actually use and how much time and effort you expend on each will depend on your particular circumstances. Needless to say, there is no magic formula and you will need to exercise a fair amount of judgment in most cases. Although there are no hard and fast rules in conducting a Training Needs Analysis, we have outlined above some general guidelines and helpful hints. We can also help you with some practical TNA tools, such as a training needs analysis questionnaire and training needs analysis spreadsheet, in our customizable template packs.