A Review On The ABM System Information Technology Essay

A Review On The ABM System Information Technology Essay This paper will focus on the benefits of utilizing Activity-based management (ABM) system within the workplace. ABM is defined as: a method of identifying and evaluating activities that a business performs using activity-based costing to carry out a value chain analysis or a re-engineering initiative to improve strategic and operational decisions in an organizationà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ Activity-based management focuses on managing activities to reduce costs and improve customer value.  [1]   In order to maintain confidentiality, for the purpose of this paper I will refer to my workplace as XYZ Inc. XYZ Inc. in this instance is a Third Party Administrator (TPA) of employee health benefits. XYZ Inc. sells and administers various insurance products and services to an array of clients throughout various industries. Introduction: Organizations implement Activity-based management (ABM) due to the fact it is believed that this will aid them in making better decisions, improve performance and earn more money on assets deployed. Regardless of ones approach or belief, each organization requires information to make decisions, set priorities, allocate resources and monitor actions taken. ABM systems exist only to meet the information requirement. The information and knowledge gained are of value and benefit only when the information is used to improve the business. This paper will illustrate: where I believe ABM would be useful at XYZ Inc.; how ABM is currently used at XYZ Inc.; lastly, the overall usefulness of ABM. Recommended Application of ABM at XYZ Inc.: ABM information has wide use and applicability in XYZ Inc. There are many uses for ABM information which range from determining product/service costs to evaluating acquisition candidates. I feel that XYZ Inc. would benefit greatly by practicing ABM within its operations. XYZ Inc. would benefit from ABM by implementing its practices: To Determine Product/Service Cost; To Improve Performance of Processes and Activities; To Cut Costs/Downsize Operations; and Various other applications such as: To manage projects, to budget and to support acquisition analysis. Current use of ABM at XYZ Inc.: Currently ABM is claimed to be used in the areas of determining product/service cost, improving the performance of processes and activities and in terms of determining the budget. However, in other vital areas such as: determining when to cut costs/downsize, managing projects and acquisition analysis, ABM practices are not present. These areas definitely require the attention of ABM in order to ensure the best and most informed decisions are made relative to these vital areas of the operation. Although XYZ Inc. collects all the data they need for costing (i.e. Number of Employees to ensure, Insurance Premium Bulk Rates, Geographic Location etcà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦), they dont use it effectively or appropriately. As XYZ Inc. sole purpose is to undercut the competition and provide the lowest possible insurance premium rates to clients in order to attain their business. This is not allowing XYZ Inc. to effectively price their products/services. XYZ Inc. also receives feedback from its clients and customers relating to problems with its services, pointing to bottleneck issues within the claims reimbursements processes. Again, XYZ Inc. does not effectively utilize the information that is being forwarded to them in terms of how to remedy the issue. Rather in information is just ignored with hopes that the issue will in some fashion correct itself. Lastly, in terms of budgeting, the information collected here is used in a more serious manner. Senior management looks closely and most of ten times solely at expenditures throughout the year; almost instantaneously issuing a corporate update outlining where cutbacks will occur in the upcoming year. Most often times Senior management only looks at the large expenditures without taking into account correlating factors or benefits that may have be attained via the expenditures. Collecting all the pertinent data and utilizing it in a productive fashion, in theory would lead to more effective and efficient operations of the organization. However, when human power and capital is spent to ascertain such data and it is not used in accordance with betterment of the organization, this in turn leads to extreme discouragement and the action of accurate record keeping seems to become more and more pointless, creating a sense of uselessness in a vicious cycle and spiral downward within the organizations efficiency and effectiveness. When data is collected, it needs to be utilized in a fashion whereby everyone involved can reap and clearly see the benefits of attaining the data and using it in an effective and efficient manner for the betterment of the organization. Usefulness of ABM in Specified Application Areas: In the areas identified earlier, I will describe how ABM would be useful within the following applications. To Determine Product/Service Cost: In this area accuracy is required for operational and strategic decisions of product mix, product pricing, product line investments and production alternatives. Most ABM implementations are directed toward product/service cost. However, managers use Activity-based costing (ABC) to determine the actual, true cost of products and services. Organizations use ABC because they believe the understanding of true product/service cost will lead to better decisions of product mix, product pricing and product sourcing. Better decisions lead to increased profits. However, knowing true product/service cost does not necessarily result in better product/service decisions. If an organization is selling all it can at a market driven sales price, there may be no opportunity to increase the selling price or changes the mix of products. In these situations, accurate product/service cost information will force the organization to look at the activities associated with making or delivering an unprofitable product/service. To effect reductions in product/service cost, activities will have to be improved; requiring the implementation of ABM system. To Improve Performance of Processes and Activities: Many organizations use ABM as a structured way to select and examine key activity work processes, which are critical to the success of the organization. Activities are defined, analyzed and assigned a cost, in order to determine an organizations current or as is situation. With an organizations current or as is situation established, activities and processes with high potential for improvement can be selected and the efforts/actions undertaken to realize the improvement opportunity. Through identifying the biggest bang for the buck, improvement can be focused. ABM is also used to monitor the result of improvement initiatives. Through reporting cost and performance of processes and activities, people and teams responsible for improvement have a scorecard to judge the result of effort. The ABM system is used to provide the feedback necessary to sustain improvement initiatives. To Cut Cost/Downsize: Some organizations use ABM to cut cost, downsize, or restructure operations. This is the unfavourable side of ABM. In all actuality, ABM is an effective tool for cost cutting/reduction. In situations where financial returns are unacceptable to stockholders or when survival of the organization is at steak, organizations often take significant cost reduction actions. These actions typically take the form of layoffs, plant closings and idled equipment. Often taken across the board in all areas of the organization, they are rarely effective. Unless the volume of work is reduced, these cost reductions just leave the same work to be done by fewer people. Eventually, the cost creeps back into the organization. Activity-based cost reduction is focused on the activities of the organization. Cut activities, cost will follow. Other Applications: To Budget: To Support Acquisition Analysis: To ensure the future prosperity of XYZ Inc. ABM practices should be adhered to and utilized on a going forward basis. Conclusion: A prerequisite to benefiting from ABM is the willingness to assign responsibility for effecting decisions, actions and changes necessary to deliver the desired benefit. Decisions must be made and actions must be taken. Specific responsibility has to be assigned to reduce/eliminate non-value-added activities, improve value-added activities and reduce or eliminate the associated cost drivers. The value and benefit of ABM can only be measured by the decisions, actions and improvements that result due to the fact individuals were motivated to take action, based on the knowledge and information provided. Implementers of ABM systems should be warned that all efforts to implement an ABM system will be wasted if no one uses or takes action on the information provided. The value and benefit of ABM can be difficult to quantify. The result of some decisions can be difficult to quantify, while others cannot. Expect people to want process improvements to be credited to their project or initiative versus giving the necessary credit to the ABM system which was the driver of information leading to success. ABM information drives and supports all improvement initiatives. It can be difficult to measure and quantify its role in improvement and decision making. Activity-based management measure the result of decisions and improvements, regardless of who or what initiative gets credit. While some organizations view ABM as a tool to support improvement initiatives and decision making. The dollar sign makes this information tool useful. Organizations and managers are bottom line driven, and dollars and cents are the language of business. The dollar sign inspires people to take action. The ABM information system tracks improvements and provides individuals, managers and teams with process-based cost and operating information to judge the result of their decisions and efforts.

An Investigation of Postpartum Depression Essay -- Biology Essays Rese

An Investigation of Postpartum Depression Missing Works Cited The recent Andrea Yates murder trial brought a firestorm of controversy as the issue of postpartum depression (PPD) became a debated topic throughout the country. Did Andrea truly suffer from psychosis as she drowned her five children in the bathtub or was such defense a scheme to avoid the death sentence? Prosecutors suggested the spousal-revenge theory as a motive for the killings. Could she have committed murder to get back at a possessive and domineering husband? (1). The outcome of the trial was by no means exceptional as it was a murder case, which resulted in a life sentence conviction. It did however, create awareness within the medical field and mainstream public about the historical connection between pregnancy and psychiatric illness. Unfortunately such dialogue also brought long standing misconstrued notions which must be eradicated. Mental illness has been a reality not only for Yates but for millions of women throughout the country. Depression tends to be one of the most prevalent consequences of childbearing as 50% of new mothers report slight bouts of depression, 10% have manic depression and .2% suffer from psychosis(2). Yonkers et. al, further investigated postpartum depression rates for minority women in comparison to their Caucasian counterparts. After conducting a postpartum three trial screening which included the Structured Clinical Interview, it was found that depression rates for Latino, Blacks and White racial groups was between 6.5% to 8.5% (3). Regardless of race, all groups of women were susceptible to similar rates of PPD at 3-5 weeks postpartum. Other studies have found that depressive disorders begin even before giving birth... ...s the need for changes in the current "drive thru" system of childbirth. Hospital stays have been reduced as new mothers are quickly sent home without medical resources at their disposal(8). The Andrea Yates trial was significant in that it raised awareness of mental illness under a media firestorm. It made the American public aware of the potential actions such illness can cause a person to do. Dialogue, however, is not a sufficient means in which to properly target and treat PPD. The medical establishment must ensure prevention through mental health screenings and subsequent psychiatric check-ups for new mothers. Through educational campaigns, awareness must be brought to the masses so that the stigma attached to mental illness be eradicated. Hopefully, people will seek proper treatment as there are millions suffering with depression in isolation and silence.

Newtons Laws Relating to Car Safety Devices Essay

Ever since cars were invented in the early 20th century, there have been road fatalities. Advances in car safety technology have seen a diminishing exponential curve in casualties suffered on the road. The first invention was the seatbelt, by George Cayley in the late 1900s. The next major advance was with the airbag, by John Hetrick in 1952. A patent for the design was marketed for automobiles in 1967. The combination of all safety devices located in cars contribute to the wellbeing of the driverThe idea of a seat belt is simple, but it harnesses technology that shows a lot of ingenuity. A seatbelt is designed to keep one fastened in their seat in the event of an abrupt stop. It is essentially a piece of tough fabric that goes around the user. It combats the effect of the separate inertia on ourselves, by making us a part of the car. Inertia refers to an objects tendency to maintain its state of rest or uniform motion unless acted upon by a force. Sir Isaac Newtons First Law of Moti on revolves around Inertia. When the car is in motion, inertia wants it to keep going at that speed, but there are several forces acting on it, such as friction and air resistance. The engines power compensates for this energy loss. Anything that is in the car but not attached to it has its own inertia, and this is evident when the car is accelerating, decelerating and in the event of an abrupt stop. When in uniform motion, one cannot feel the effects of the cars inertia as separate to oneself, but the separate inertia is shown when the car is stopped suddenly. In a high speed collision, each car comes to a stop rapidly. Occupants not wearing their seatbelt will continue at the original speed of the car (as per the Law of Inertia) until acted upon by a force. An unrestrained occupant will then move at a high speed until:Colliding with the car interior or other occupants, stopping faster than the car itself, most of the time over a distance of several centimetres. Crashing through the windscreen. This concentrates an amazing amount of momentum [(momentum=mass x velocity)(M=70kgx90km/h)(M=6300)] on one of the most vulnerable parts of the human body. Impulse is defined as the product of the force and the time interval over which it acts. It is equal to the change of momentum. With a seatbelt on, one will change their momentum slower and therefore spread out the force acting on them. This significantly increases the chance of survival. An occupant with a seatbelt will have the same inertia of the car, & therefore stop with it. The rate of change of the momentum of a restrained occupant is much less than that of an unrestrained person. This means that the net force on the restrained occupant will be less. As well as increasing the time interval over which the wearer comes to a stop, a properly fitted seatbelt spreads the impact force over a larger surface area of the body, in particular the pelvis & ribcage. Seatbelts are an extremely effective means of saving lives. Car accident researchers in Australia estimate that seatbelts reduce the risk of fatal injury to front-seat occupants by 45 per cent and the risk of serious injury by 50 per cent. Airbags are designed to increase the time interval during which the drivers momentum decreases during a head on collision, therefore reducing the net force on the driver, particularly from the steering wheel & dash board. It also acts to cushion our precious head during impact. An airbag consists of 3 parts which all assist in slowing the passengers forward motion:The bag made of a thin nylon fabric, which is compressed in order to fit into the steering wheel etc. The sensor The device that tells the airbag to inflate, in the event of a collision. The sensors receive information from an accelerometer built into a microchip. The inflation system Reacts with sodium azide with potassium nitrate to produce nitrogen gas. Hot blasts of nitrogen gas inflate the airbag. When an airbag is deployed:15 20 milliseconds after impact: The crash  sensors & control unit determine the severity of the collision. This decides if the airbag will be deployed or not. 25 milliseconds: The pad covering the airbag splits in strategic weak places & begins to inflate. 45 milliseconds: The airbag is fully inflated while the occupant is still moving forward. 60 milliseconds: The occupant makes contact with the airbag, which immediately begins to deflate. Up to 100 milliseconds: The occupant continues to sink into the airbag, cushioning the head & chest while deflating. Momentum is the product of mass multiplied by velocity. Unless an outside force acts on an object, it will continue to move at its present speed & direction. If loose objects in the car are not restrained, they will continue moving at the same speed as the car, even if the car is stopped in a collision. Therefore by reducing our velocity using the airbag, one will have less momentum, & therefore a greater chance of survival or serious injury. Air bags do not just cushion your body in the event of an impact, but they also spread the impact over a larger area. By doing this, the force is not all concentrated in one small area of your body. This in turn will cause the seriousness your injuries to be reduced because the force you feel is spread out. A study stated that the number of lives saved by airbags is 600 per year. It also indicate that airbags reduce fatalities by 8% when worn in conjunction with a seatbelt. Airbags also reduce the risk of dying in a frontal crash by 30 %. Wearing both a seatbelt and having an airbag fitted car deeply increases the  survival rate in the event of a crash. Crumple zones are deliberate weak spots the car engineers place in the structure of a car. Consider a head-on collision into a concrete wall. Before the crash, the car & its passengers move together at the same velocity. With a car posing a rigid body, an impact will cause both automobile & occupants to halt very quickly. This immediate stop creates a large amount of force on the passengers. [(F=ma)(F=75kg x -30km/h-2 )(F=2250N)]. By increasing the impact time, the force on the occupants is dramatically reduced, because of this cushioning effect. Newton’s first law (a body will continue its state of motion unless acted upon by a non-zero net force) is another law that explains how crumple zones work in the face of an accident. As your car moves west at 60 km/h, not only is it your car that is going that fast but it is your own body that is travelling that fast also. If your car hits a solid wall and comes to a stop immediately, your body will want to continue going west at 60 km/h because of inertia. As the car strikes the wall, the front part crushes together. As the front of the car is absorbing the impact, energy from the impact is given off in the form of heat and sound. Because the front of the car acts as a cushion, it slows the time it takes for the car to come to a complete stop; this will apply less of a force on you. The graph above illustrates how force changes as time changes with the use of crumple zones. The better the crumple zone, the more effective it is in increasing the time of a collision.†Collapsible steering wheels also aid in ones survival chance in the event of a collision. It reduces the risk of impaling the driver by folding away when force is acted on it. When the body is thrown forward by the effect of inertia, the steering wheel becomes less of a deadly obstacle. Luggage restraining barriers help, in the event of a crash, by stopping the  luggage that will move forward because of its own inertia. http://www.explainthatstuff.com/airbags.htmlAccessed 1/7/09http://www.k12.nf.ca/gc/Science/Physics3204/Projects2003/SlotA/ProjectA2/index1.htmAccessed 2/7/09http://www.reachoutmichigan.org/funexperiments/agesubject/lessons/newton/airbags.htmlAccessed 2/7/09http://www.glenbrook.k12.il.us/gbssci/phys/mmedia/newtlaws/cci.htmlAccessed 4/7/09http://www.scienceperspectives.com/Sir-Isaac-and-Seat-Belts.htmAccessed 4/5/09http://hyperphysics.phy-astr.gsu.edu/hbase/HFrame.htmlAccessed 4/5/09http://www.howstuffworks.com/airbag.htmAccessed 4/5/09http://midsouthrescue.org/id7.htmlAccessed 4/5/09http://www.gm.com/experience/education/9-12/technology/physics.jspAccessed 4/5/09http://www.k12.nf.ca/gc/Science/Physics3204/Projects2003/SlotA/ProjectA2/link20.htm4/5/09http://www.k12.nf.ca/gc/Science/Physics3204/Projects2003/SlotA/ProjectA2/link20.htmAccessed 4/5/09http://www.autoevolution.com/news/how-crumple-zones-work-7112.htmlAccessed 4/5/09http://auto.howstuffworks.com/crumple-zone.htmAccessed 4/5/0 9

Creative Writing Inn from Hell - 1087 Words

Creative Writing: Inn From Hell It all started on a dark a stormy night just outside of the Paris city limits at about 11:00 P.M. when Doctor Bleed and his assistant checked into the old run down inn. You see the weather was so bad that they could not even make it all the way over to Spain so they had to stop. They walked in with their clothes soaked from the rainfall, when they first walked in they realized that there was nobody at the desk to wait on them so they just took it upon themselves to get a room for the night. That was their first mistake. As they walked up the creeky stairs they peered around every corner looking for an open room so they could relax in peace. When the end of the hall grew near they both spotted an†¦show more content†¦Now the doctor was still craving that drink of water that he wanted over an hour ago, and this moron showing him the movies was not helping one bit. Then the doctor began to change....HE WAS GETTING BIGGER....HE TURNED BLACK......and the next thing he knew he was wearing boxer shorts that said Tyson on them. His hands turned into boxing gloves and wasting no time he jabbed Pee Wee right in the gut leaving him laying in aftershock. Now it was payback time for that purple threat to the world Barney. The doctor found Barney in the exact same place as before and doing the exact same thing as before, Acting like a fairy! The doctor dove right on top of the purple friek and hog tied him with his very own tail, but that wasnt enough for the doctor so he began kicking the dinosaur everywhere. With every kick he shouted And this one is for teaching my kids to sing your stupid song 24 hours a day and 7 days a week. As the doctor paused he spotted a glass of water that Barney had been drinking on so the doctor walked over and chugged every drop in the glass, I mean it wasnt like Barney was going to be wanting anymore. 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