Forecasting is used as a tool for planning. When developing forecasts, firms need to think of all possible scenarios and their future impacts.

For example, if you are in a management role and overforecast sales, you will then overforecast employees or payroll as you will schedule more employees than needed to meet your projected sales. This overforecasting will lead to excess purchasing of supplies and, ultimately, lead to insufficient cash flows because you will need to pay for expenses incurred to maintain and provide services for revenues that did not come in as projected. A small error in forecasting at the start can significantly affect overall results. In this assignment, you will be exposed to the basic principles of forecasting.

Tasks:

Research a firm that applies forecasting principles and methods. You can take examples from your own work experiences. You can also consult sources such as the Wall Street Journal, Financial Times, Bloomberg Markets, the Economist, US News and World Report, and the Argosy University online library resources.

Create a 4- to 5-page research paper that includes responses to the following:

• Identify the sales forecast for the firm.
• Analyze how this sales forecast impacts all other forecasts for the firm, such as materials, labor, overhead, cash receipts, and disbursements.
• Explain the exogenous factors that you need to be aware of when developing these forecasts. Assess the GDP, rate of inflation, rate of unemployment, and interest rates trends.
• Evaluate the prerequisites of a good forecast that you should keep in mind as a manager when budgeting sales and production amounts.

At the end of your report, include a reference page and cite scholarly sources in APA style. 

Forecasting is used as a tool for planning. When developing forecasts, firms need to think of all possible scenarios and their future impacts.

For example, if you are in a management role and overforecast sales, you will then overforecast employees or payroll as you will schedule more employees than needed to meet your projected sales. This overforecasting will lead to excess purchasing of supplies and, ultimately, lead to insufficient cash flows because you will need to pay for expenses incurred to maintain and provide services for revenues that did not come in as projected. A small error in forecasting at the start can significantly affect overall results. In this assignment, you will be exposed to the basic principles of forecasting.

Tasks:

Research a firm that applies forecasting principles and methods. You can take examples from your own work experiences. You can also consult sources such as the Wall Street Journal, Financial Times, Bloomberg Markets, the Economist, US News and World Report, and the Argosy University online library resources.

Create a 3page research paper that includes responses to the following:

• Identify the sales forecast for the firm.
• Analyze how this sales forecast impacts all other forecasts for the firm, such as materials, labor, overhead, cash receipts, and disbursements.
• Explain the exogenous factors that you need to be aware of when developing these forecasts. Assess the GDP, rate of inflation, rate of unemployment, and interest rates trends.
• Evaluate the prerequisites of a good forecast that you should keep in mind as a manager when budgeting sales and production amounts.

At the end of your report, include a reference page and cite scholarly sources in APA style.

NOTE: I have attached of the paper that i started. Please read and complete

Scenario

Wesley Enterprises is a long-term care facility. The organization was recently cited for deficiencies including infectious disease planning and staffing deficiencies. The CEO has decided to hire a consulting firm to evaluate its current processes and make recommendations for improvement. Upon initial review, the consulting firm has determined that Wesley is utilizing operational processes that are not consistent with current industry practices. The consulting firm has deployed a team of operations management professionals to address the concerns. You are the leader of the team and your first task is to meet with the mid-level managers at Wesley.

Instructions

Compile a multimedia presentation using speaker notes and/or voice narration that includes:

• An introduction of the team and a comprehensive description of the roles of each operations team member;
• A discussion of the goals of the team relative to process improvement;
• A comparison of operations management in healthcare versus other industries; and
• A detailed analysis of the operational issues that are unique to health organizations.

Resources

• For information about creating a PowerPoint presentation
• For information about adding speaker notes 

Grading rubric:

Presentation provided detailed introduction of the team and a comprehensive description of the roles of each operations team member along with a description of how these roles function together.

Discussed the goals of the team relative to process improvement with well-integrated, strong supporting information.

Presentation provided a thorough and detailed comparison of operations management in healthcare versus other industries with an example to demonstrate the difference between them.

Analyzed the operational issues that are unique to health organizations with specific examples and fully developed reasoning along with ways to overcome these specific issues.

Presentation included either fully developed and clear speaker notes or narration depending on selected choice.

DUE IN 24 HOURS

  

Final Project, Part II: Evaluate a Quantitative Study

For Part II of your final project, you will comprehensively evaluate an article of your choice that reports on a quantitative study. (Remember, a quantitative study uses numbers as data.) Locate an article in the professional literature that addresses a topic you are interested in. Remember to use the Area of Interest interactive (Links to an external site.) to guide you in the selection process. The article you select should describe a quantitative study and should have all or most of the expected sections, either with their own headings or embedded in the article: Introduction, Literature Review, Methods, Results, and Discussion.

In writing your evaluation of the article, you will use Section 5.7 in your text. Do not simply tell what is in the article, but evaluate it using the questions in your text. Explain and justify your evaluation based on specific examples from the article.

Your paper should be 2100-2800 words in length (not counting the title, abstract, and reference pages) and comprehensively evaluate an article of a quantitative study. Use proper APA formatting and good writing and organization in your evaluation paper.

The following questions may help you in evaluating your articles, though you do not have to follow this format exactly.

i. Evaluate the Introduction and Literature Review.

o Do the researchers present an adequate rationale for conducting the study? Explain.

o What is the significance of the study?  What difference will it make to the field?

o Is the literature review thorough and comprehensive?

o Do the researchers demonstrate any potential biases in the literature review?

o Are all-important concepts clearly defined by the researchers?

o Do the researchers clearly describe previous methods that are relevant to understanding the purpose for conducting this study?

ii. Evaluate the Purpose Statement and Hypothesis.

o Does the article clearly state the purpose statement?

o What is the purpose statement as expressed in the article?

o Is the purpose statement clearly based on the argument developed in the literature review?

o Are the variables of interest (i.e. independent and dependent) clearly identified in the purpose statement?

o What type of hypothesis is presented (alternative nondirectional, alternative directional, or null hypothesis)?

o Do the investigators provide a clear rationale for the direction of their hypothesis, based on the literature review?

o Is the hypothesis testable and falsifiable?

o Is the hypothesis stated with brevity and clarity?

iii. Evaluate the Methods Section.

o What type of sampling method is used?  Is that appropriate?

o Are relevant demographic characteristics of the sample clearly identified?

o Do the methods of sample selection used by the researchers provide a good representative sample, based on the population?

o Are there any apparent biases in selection of the sample?

o Is the sample size large enough for the study proposed?

o Is a particular quantitative research design used (e.g. true experimental, quasi-experimental, etc.)? If so, what is it?

o Is the research design consistent with the purpose and hypothesis presented in the introduction?

o Are the independent variables clearly defined so that they can be replicated using the information provided in the procedures section?

o What are some of the potential threats to internal validity?  How are they threats?

o What are some of the potential threats to external validity?  How are they threats?

o Is there a clear and adequate description of the instrument (data collection measures) used?

o What types of measures were used in the study (direct observation, behavioral measures, self-report, etc.)?

o What are some of the potential problems or limitations with the types of measures used?

o To what extent are the instruments standardized, and what types of standardized scoring were used?

o Does the instrument appear to be appropriate for the sample?

o Is the reliability of the instrument reported?  Is the reliability adequate?

o What types of validity are reported for the instrument used?  Is the validity adequate?

iv. Evaluate the Results Section.

o What descriptive statistics were used?  Do the researchers adequately describe the sample?

o What types of inferential statistics were used? Are the inferential statistics used adequate to answer the research hypotheses or questions?

o Is the analysis method clearly described?

v. Evaluate the Discussion Section.

o Do the researchers clearly restate the purpose and research questions?

o Do the researchers clearly discuss the implications of the findings and how they relate to theories, other findings, and actual practice?

o Do the researchers identify potential limitations of the study and the results?

o Do the researchers identify possible directions for future research?

vi. Remaining Questions.

o What aspects of quantitative methods do you still find challenging?

o Was there any information in the above list that you were not able to find in the article you chose?

In addition to your 2100-2800 word paper, upload a PDF copy of the article to the Dropbox.

PART ONE CAN BE FOUND ON THIS LINK https://www.homeworkmarket.com/questions/evaluate-a-qualitative-study-due-in-48-hours

 What is the significance of process design in the performance and productivity of organization?

Developing and originating a plan to improve the effectiveness of a service, process, or product is referred to as process design. Process design and operations management are intertwined since their functions are carried out together to increase productivity and efficiency in organizations. Management is an organizational component that deals with control of production processes and service delivery.

According to Slack, Brandon-Jones, and Johnston (2017), process design shapes the purpose and nature of goods and services among with the processes needed for their production. Success and effectiveness of product manufacture are increased through proper coordination of process design that should have well-articulated objectives, mainly aimed at improving quality, cost, dependability, and speed of meeting customer needs. The process design should also ensure that it gives reasonable consideration to the environmental needs and protection.

 Process design should adhere to certain steps to foster effectiveness. The steps are problem definition, background research, requirements specifications, solutions brainstorming, choice of the best option as a solution, developing the work, prototype development, and testing and redesigning. Variety and volume of products made by an organization have an influence on the process design effectiveness and implementation. Types of processes are arranged in the order of reducing variety and increasing volume in the manufacturing sector (Turner, Strong, & Gold, 2014). The types include mass, project, continuous, jobbing, and batch processes. On the other hand, in service operations, the terms used in regard to variety and volume include service shops, mass and professional services. Processes are often designed in detail despite the initial process of breaking them into individual activities. Different types of activities are represented through common symbols, and activities are monitored through the process mapping technique. Little’s law is a formula used in process design to provide a relationship for cycle time, throughput, and work-in-progress in evaluating process performance. 

References

Slack, N., Brandon-Jones, A., & Johnston, R. (2017). Operations management. Prentice-Hall.

Turner, B., Strong, R., & A. Gold, S. (2014). A review of melt extrusion additive manufacturing processes: I. Process design and modeling. Rapid Prototyping Journal, 20(3), 192-204.

 

Faster Computing has contacted Go2Linux and requested a brief proposal presentation for migrating its systems from Windows to Linux.

The company is specifically interested in seeing the following information:

(10.1.1: Identify the problem to be solved.)

• Based on your current understanding of Faster Computing’s business, what are some potential benefits of Linux?
• The company is aware that many different Linux derivatives exist. Be very specific and choose only one version (e.g., Ubuntu, Mint, Zorin, Redhat, CentOS, Kali). Which would Go2Linux recommend, and why? Give specific reasons for your choice (e.g., security features, support, updates, user interface).

(10.1.2: Gather project requirements to meet stakeholder needs.)

• What steps will be required to migrate the systems from Windows to Linux?
• Are there graphical interfaces available for the Linux workstations that would provide similar functionality to Windows? Some users are concerned about working with a command-line interface.

(10.1.3: Define the specifications of required technologies.)

• What tools are available on Linux for the servers to provide file sharing, Linux services, and printing? (e.g., Apache/Nginx, Samba, CUPS, SSH/SCP). Ensure you identify what the functions/services are used for (e.g., Samba is used for file sharing).

(1.1.3: Present ideas in a clear, logical order appropriate to the task.)

The deliverable for this phase of the project is a three- to five-slide PowerPoint narrated presentation.

• An introductory slide
• A summary slide
• Voice narration on every slide

For each slide, you will embed your own audio recording as if you were presenting the content to the Faster Computing team. Faster Computing has not yet committed to the project, so this should be presented as a proposal. The presentation should be visually appealing; the inclusion of at least one image that supports the content and adds value to the proposal is required.

(1.3.3: Integrate appropriate credible sources to illustrate and validate ideas.)

You must cite at least two quality sources.

You used at least 2 references and your references were cited properly following an accepted style. Ask your instructor for clarification.

Use the Migration Proposal Presentation template to get started.

(2.3.1: State conclusions or solutions clearly and precisely.)

You should present your proposal as if you are selling to the company. Revisit all of these important reasons in the summary slide.

How Will My Work Be Evaluated?

As you progress in your IT career, you may find yourself making presentations to customers, client audiences, and professional peers. By creating an effective presentation, you are showing how you use your technical knowledge and convey your ideas to others in a professional setting, an important workplace skill. 

The following evaluation criteria aligned to the competencies will be used to grade your assignment:

• 1.1.3: Present ideas in a clear, logical order appropriate to the task. 
• 1.3.3: Integrate appropriate credible sources to illustrate and validate ideas. 
• 2.3.1: State conclusions or solutions clearly and precisely. 
• 10.1.1: Identify the problem to be solved. 
• 10.1.2: Gather project requirements to meet stakeholder needs. 
• 10.1.3: Define the specifications of the required technologies.