Menunggu,Klo denger kata- Menunggu rasanya tu pengen tidur padahal gak ngantuk sama sekali,. seperti mau di tembak mati tapi masih nyempatin buat belanja sok tenang biar g cemas.
Ya itu menurut ak si apa itu menunggu (Versi lebay).
Klo versi agama "Menunggu itu salah satu ujian kesabaran untuk mendapatkan ridho Allah"
Yang jelas, Aku gak suka sama sekali yang namanya menunggu,Klo suka pasti udah aku pacarin,Jadian dulu,Jalan- Jalan bareng sambil gandengan tangan,Setiap jalan ada bunga bertaburan,Sambil sholawatan (Emang nganter jenazah??)
Nunggu 5 menit serasa 5 tahun,yang lagi nunggu anak-anak latihan jalan.
gak SABAR
CUKUP kamera tolong jangan asal ambil gambar,Saya tidak bersalah"Kata nunggu saat diwawancara awak media majalah sabar.
hadeeeeeh imajinasiku terlalu lebar.
dah ya cukup sekian.
Rabu, 11 September 2013
Sabtu, 08 Desember 2012
ya Allah apa yg harus ak lakuin skrg???
cuman berawal dari bercandaan malah berakhir yg g ak inginin, kenapa dia selalu aja gitu, setiap ada masalah bukanya bersama-sama nyari jalan keluar tapi malah sengaja memperkeruh keadaan. Aku laku-laki tapi juga ingin disayangi, mungkin aka yang palng bersalah dalam hal ini, ak yang g bisa jaga omonganku sendiri, tapi ak kirain dia dah tau sifat ak yang selalu guyonan, tp dia anggep seriusan, pasti kok berujung kyk gini, ak pengen teriak pengen nangis, tenggorokan kyknya ada yg ngganjel . . .
Astagfirullahaladzim . . . .
Kamis, 08 November 2012
Tugas
tugas tugas tugas tugas . ..
hahhhhh kalau dah ngomongin tugas, bikin g nafsu makan. Padahal tugas tu malah menambah beban pikiran dan stress pada mahasiswa, tapi ya dari dulu sampai sekarang tugas jadi andalan sebagai alibi "Student Centered Lerning".
aku jadi keinget waktu buat salah satu tugas kuliah yang ditumpuk ma take home test. wah semua kalang kabut ngerjain ini tugas, padahal tugasnya g main-main 3 tugas sekaligus harus dikumpulin besok paginya, kalau semua masih muda-muda si agak mendingan, lha ini dari kelas lintas jalur yang sudah 40 th keatas gmn, g bisa ngebayangin. semua orang menjadi kelelawar semua, pada lembur sampai jam 6 pagi zzzzzzzzzzzzz( harus tidur kyknya), tapi yang sudah bapak2 g hilang akal, karena kemajuan jaman, facebook pun jadi andalan buat sharing tugas antar teman kwokwokwok, tapi tak masalah yang penting kewajiban sudah gugur . ..
yawh tu cerita sekelumit tentang tugas yang dah bikin otak-otak menjadi kayak benang layangan, samapai g bisa diurai, bikin perut anoreksia, bikin tingkat kesadaran menjadi somnolen, jantung aritmia.
hahhhhh kalau dah ngomongin tugas, bikin g nafsu makan. Padahal tugas tu malah menambah beban pikiran dan stress pada mahasiswa, tapi ya dari dulu sampai sekarang tugas jadi andalan sebagai alibi "Student Centered Lerning".
aku jadi keinget waktu buat salah satu tugas kuliah yang ditumpuk ma take home test. wah semua kalang kabut ngerjain ini tugas, padahal tugasnya g main-main 3 tugas sekaligus harus dikumpulin besok paginya, kalau semua masih muda-muda si agak mendingan, lha ini dari kelas lintas jalur yang sudah 40 th keatas gmn, g bisa ngebayangin. semua orang menjadi kelelawar semua, pada lembur sampai jam 6 pagi zzzzzzzzzzzzz( harus tidur kyknya), tapi yang sudah bapak2 g hilang akal, karena kemajuan jaman, facebook pun jadi andalan buat sharing tugas antar teman kwokwokwok, tapi tak masalah yang penting kewajiban sudah gugur . ..
yawh tu cerita sekelumit tentang tugas yang dah bikin otak-otak menjadi kayak benang layangan, samapai g bisa diurai, bikin perut anoreksia, bikin tingkat kesadaran menjadi somnolen, jantung aritmia.
Selasa, 06 November 2012
curhat
Dah lama jg gw g buka ini blog, sampai ada rumah laba-labanya segala, hadehhhhhh
sebenernya gw g sengaja aja buat ini blog, oseng-oseng aja nulis bahasa dewa dari inggris gara-gara tugas kuliah. sekarang gw pingin hidupin lg ini blog, tapi ya tentunya dengan isi dan tampilan yang berbeda biar fresh.
Gw mau cerita ini, kalau kita sering ntn infotainment (bener kagak ya nulisnya) sekarang yg lagi hot-hotnya adalah tentang putusnya salah satu seleb indonesia. Sampai semua mata indonesia melot nonton berita ini, kecuali gw hehehehe
Ya cerita ini sama ama yang dialami temen gw,baru sebulan ini putus ma ceweknya, padahal asal saudara tau, pacaranya udah 4 th. Yah biasa karena orang ketiga (kata orang, yg ke3 adalah setan), tapi ada benernya jg si orang ngmg, gara-gara ada setan ke3 hubungan temen gw ancur sekarang. Yg gw g habis pikir, ceweknya itu yg ngeduain udah gitu, didepan selingkuhanya ngomongnya g sayang n g kenal ma temen gw (bayangin aja rasanya jayak gimana) apa g kayak hatinya diiris-iris pake piso yang udah tumpul, dah gitu dikasih garem pula tu luka hehehe lebay bgt ya, tapi emg gitu rasanya kyk yg ak rasain dulu ehehehehe malah curcol.
Intinya hubungan dalam waktu yang lama tidak menjamin kelanggengan hubungan seseorang, yang jelas perlu pengertian antara pasangan, komunilasi yang terbuka dan kejujuran. oh iya satu lagi, jaga suasana agar tidak bosen, wah bahaya kalau udah bosen, bisa-bisa malah melenceng dari tujuan utama.
Dah dulu ya postingan gw hari ini, besok lanjut lg dengan cerita yang sama . .
Sukrooonnn . . . .
sebenernya gw g sengaja aja buat ini blog, oseng-oseng aja nulis bahasa dewa dari inggris gara-gara tugas kuliah. sekarang gw pingin hidupin lg ini blog, tapi ya tentunya dengan isi dan tampilan yang berbeda biar fresh.
Gw mau cerita ini, kalau kita sering ntn infotainment (bener kagak ya nulisnya) sekarang yg lagi hot-hotnya adalah tentang putusnya salah satu seleb indonesia. Sampai semua mata indonesia melot nonton berita ini, kecuali gw hehehehe
Ya cerita ini sama ama yang dialami temen gw,baru sebulan ini putus ma ceweknya, padahal asal saudara tau, pacaranya udah 4 th. Yah biasa karena orang ketiga (kata orang, yg ke3 adalah setan), tapi ada benernya jg si orang ngmg, gara-gara ada setan ke3 hubungan temen gw ancur sekarang. Yg gw g habis pikir, ceweknya itu yg ngeduain udah gitu, didepan selingkuhanya ngomongnya g sayang n g kenal ma temen gw (bayangin aja rasanya jayak gimana) apa g kayak hatinya diiris-iris pake piso yang udah tumpul, dah gitu dikasih garem pula tu luka hehehe lebay bgt ya, tapi emg gitu rasanya kyk yg ak rasain dulu ehehehehe malah curcol.
Intinya hubungan dalam waktu yang lama tidak menjamin kelanggengan hubungan seseorang, yang jelas perlu pengertian antara pasangan, komunilasi yang terbuka dan kejujuran. oh iya satu lagi, jaga suasana agar tidak bosen, wah bahaya kalau udah bosen, bisa-bisa malah melenceng dari tujuan utama.
Dah dulu ya postingan gw hari ini, besok lanjut lg dengan cerita yang sama . .
Sukrooonnn . . . .
Jumat, 07 Agustus 2009
Essential Management Principles for Every Small Business
I have read, over my business career, well over 10,000 different articles and lists about how anyone can be successful with a small business be it an independent business or a franchise. Many well intentioned and intelligent consultants I have come across professionally believe that a great idea with a great marketing scheme and superior desire can make anyone successful. Do yourself a favor and tell the next person spewing this nonsense that they are absolutely wrong!
The success or failure of the vast majority of all small businesses has little to do with the desire, marketing scheme or the great idea that created the business. While these three items must be present in every successful business, solid fundamental management principles will allow a small business to prosper and succeed. Every successful company, be it a small, medium or large business, uses the same set of management principals. The size of the business determines the individuals principals used and the sophistication of the principle. As an example, a small business normally has informal and perhaps even unwritten employee hiring guidelines. A medium sized company has a legally approved, comprehensive employee manual with employee hiring guidelines as a separate section. A large global business has an entire department writing several employee manuals in several languages with employee hiring guidelines based upon legal and social issues in each country. However, the common sense management principal that all companies should have a fair, consistent and applicable employment program must be used by every company.
As I have spent the vast majority of my career with small and medium sized businesses, here is a simple and select set of management principles that every small and medium business should follow to ensure success and profitability:
A good accounting department with timely monthly financial statements provides the basis for all management decisions. Any business owner or officer who believes purely in his or her “gut” feel, is running what will be a failed business. Regardless of the business size, every owner and senior executive must have valid data to confirm the decisions their “gut” tells them to make. Your financial statements are a factual record of your business history and we must all clearly understand our history so we do not repeat the mistakes of the past. How can you determine whether your recent marketing campaign is a success unless you see and evaluate the financial results? We have all heard stories about the marketing campaign that brought many new customers to the company but killed the company because the advertising expense was greater than the profit margin on the new sales. A business owner does not need an accounting degree but should know enough to understand and participate in the financial information review.
Running a small business based on the cash balance in the business checking account also violates this management principle and will severely inhibit the growth and success of the business. Unless you want to remain a “mom and pop” business forever, good accounting information is a requirement.
Standardize and automate all routine functions. Have you ever noticed that most successful business people have a routine for most of their daily functions? They have staff meetings at the same time, they want all reports in a specific format, they want all PC’s and software to be the same in the office and they want the external phone calls to be answered with a specific greeting. By standardizing all routine functions, successful business people do not have to think about or manage these functions. They can concentrate their time and efforts on managing non routine situations.
This same principle also applies to your business. I personally know a company that, 10 years ago, had a credit department with 15 employees and 3 managers who made many decisions daily. Today, that company has doubled its sales and now has a credit department consisting of 5 employees, one manager and a set of software programs that manages electronic payments and even sends out reminder letters and emails to customers.
Review and analyze the Balance Sheet before the Profit and Loss Statement. Your monthly P & L tells you whether you were successful last month from your operations but your Balance Sheet tells you what shape your business is in and what you can do in the future. I have seen a company that doubled sales one year and closed their doors less than six months later. I have also seen a business that went bankrupt even though their P & L’s showed reasonable success. The company Balance Sheet shows how the company uses its daily operations to fund the long term success of the business. Analyzing Fixed Assets, Accounts Receivable, Long Term Debt and Retained Earnings will give us the long term view for our company. It is not as exciting as analyzing our new customers and product offerings but is necessary for the long term.
Business Planning and Budgeting will allow you to slow down the daily business fires and take advantage of opportunities. There are an unusual number of small and medium businesses that do not work hard at either annual or strategic planning and budgeting. Most are too busy fighting fires and struggling to keep up with daily business activity. There is no time for planning and budgeting in their 80 hours work weeks. We have all been in this position. The unfortunate issue here is that the fire fighting and long weeks will never slow down or cease until some planning and budgeting is put in place. The need for planning and budgeting becomes more intense as a business grows due to your inability to “manage by walking around.” The planning and budgeting can start simple and will grow naturally as the business expands. This management principle will allow all employees to see the vision and the focus of the business which will start to reduce the daily fires that pop up.
The greatest advantage of planning and budgeting is that it allows every business owner to evaluate quickly and easily how an unexpected opportunity might be of benefit to the business. I have talked to many business owners who stumbled across a sudden and potentially great opportunity such as a competitor for sale, a good supplier needing a partner, a potential new customer that would immediately double sales or a potential new product that would require an entirely new set of tools and equipment. These opportunities happen to all business owners regularly but many also go away quickly. Those companies that have a good plan and budget in place can evaluate these opportunities quickly and easily to determine if the new opportunity fits into the company’s long term plans. These companies also have the ability to quickly approach a bank with solid financial proformas if additional capital is needed.
It isn’t a sale unless you collect. Most small and medium businesses spend way too much time in the sales process and far too little time with the collection process. Most companies are willing to pay a six figure salary to a salesman who can generate tremendous sales for the company and, at the same time, put an entry level accounting clerk in charge of collection with little or no oversight and procedures. The company borrows more and more money to increase sales while an accounting clerk with no customer service experience struggles to collect. The sales department in every business must have a part in the collection process and the company must have a strong, fair and customer oriented collection process to ensure that a sale really means money in the bank.
This process must always start before the sale is made. Collecting information up front to determine whether the potential customer is able to pay and ensuring the potential customer clearly understands the credit terms and payment requirement will benefit all parties. All good potential customers will appreciate this process because we all enjoy dealing with quality companies. I have never found any company that was unwilling to pay for quality products and services when everyone understood the terms and requirements.
The credit department must also have a good set of processes and procedures to ensure that the payment process flows smoothly and efficiently. Supplier employee turnover, cash flow issues and other unexpected issues stop or slow down the payment process. The credit department must, in a customer oriented fashion, work to keep our cash flowing.
Run the business as if it your grandchildren will take it over. Every business is a living and vibrant organization that has many similarities to our children. Your business starts out as an infant and learns to crawl and eventually walk. We would never make a decision for our child that does not take into account the child’s future and we should not do this with our business either.
Working with a supplier who has inferior quality but the cheapest price might be a great short term cash solution for our company but will eventually run off our customers and destroy our business. How many times has a business lost all its records because it decided it couldn’t afford computer backups or a fire alarm system on its warehouse? Have you hired an employee before you had them take a drug test? I even once jumped at the chance to hire a salesman from a competitor because I thought he would be able to bring over many customers. Unfortunately, he cost too much and didn’t bring over any good paying customers at all. There is no such thing as a good short cut for efficient management principals and the long term success of your organization.
Hire the smartest and best people. How many of us have hired our friends, the salesman we thought was a bargain, the bookkeeper who spoke the best during the interview or the manager we thought was most like us? Many small and medium sized businesses are littered with employees who were hired for these reasons because small businesses can’t afford high wages and all the fringe benefit packages that large companies can afford. We tend to hire the best we think we can get.
We need to set our expectations higher and use our planning process to find perfect employees. The first issue is that your company must have a good annual plan as well as a logical 5 year plan on where the company will be. Your company can then lay out what employees will be needed during this 5 year period. Now that we have defined what employees and what responsibilities are required, we need to find the individuals who meet these requirements and not just who we can afford today.
I have always tried to hire people who are smarter and have more experience than I have at the specific position. Any owner who believes he is the smartest individual in every area will never be able to hire the right people. A company will never be greater than its weakest employee so we must always hire the best.
The last company I worked with laid out a plan showing they were going to need their first CPA in 5 years. After 3 years, they told me they hired this CPA and were very surprised because this individual had other job opportunities with large national firms who were offering huge benefits. However, this small firm could offer professional growth and responsibility not available at the larger company. The vast majority of good employees prefer to have a more responsible position with a smaller company with a grand future than a less responsible position with a large company.
You can grow yourself out of business. Cash is king in business and those who recognize this fact will succeed and prosper. I have seen far more businesses that grow too fast with no good business plan and are forced to close their doors or find a quick buyer. Companies that are struggling watch their cash daily and doing what they need to keep the doors open. However, those companies doubling their sales see huge profits on their monthly financial statements and get caught up in the emotion and success. They watch their Accounts Receivable double, their Inventory double because they must buy much more product, their employees double because they must take care of these sales and suddenly they do not have the ability to make this week’s payroll because they have no cash in their checking account. Their company literally grew itself out of business which many small and medium business owners have trouble understanding until they have lived through it.
The culture of every business is as important as its mission. As mentioned earlier, a business is a living and breathing organization. The culture of every business is as important to the overall success of the company as the products and services offered. The owner of the business cannot delegate this function and must be involved. There is no right or wrong here as the business culture is a reflection of the quality, morals and ethics of its owner. A successful company’s culture is not a constantly changing but evolves based upon the growth and expansion of the organization. Constantly changing a company’s culture is a sure way to close a business.
A company with a strict dress code, time clocks that are strictly enforced, and many processes and procedures is no better than another company with no dress code, few processes, and telecommuting for employees. The only difference is the type of employees they retain and the way they do business.
Your quality competitors are essential to your long term success. You can stop laughing now because this is really a fact that every successful company understands. This is an unusual concept but one that great businessmen and women all embrace. Competition is a wonderful concept in every free market economy and quality competition makes us all better. Quality competitors push us to come up with quality improvements, quality products and services and ensure that we have a quality customer oriented operation. We have all seen businesses spring up offering a 50% price reduction for a cheap knock off of our products. Our sales drop and we spend time and effort away from our core business chasing this situation. They stay in business for a short period of time and accomplish nothing more than causing our customers to question our industry. Quality competitors push us all toward greatness and there is plenty of room in every industry for multiple organizations.
Outsourcing reduces costs and improves your weaknesses. Many individuals hear the jokes about the language issues at large company call centers in India or the Philippines and tell themselves they will never make that mistake. However, that might be one situation that is not really a mistake. A good IT programmer in the U.S. can cost upwards of $100,000 annually with payroll taxes, fringe benefits, etc. That employee in India with the exact same intelligence, skills and experience can cost as little as $30,000 annually.
The management principle here is that we should all concentrate on our strengths and outsource everything else where feasible. No business person thinks twice about using an outside tax accountant to do our Federal and State taxes. This is a highly technical area that changes constantly. Most of us also have an outside legal firm. Why do we primarily limit our use of outsourcing to those two areas?? Today, there are professional payroll firms, employee leasing firms, credit and collection firms, IT and Web programming firms and marketing firms. These companies work with many business organizations, stay on top of industry best practices and can better stay on top of the technical changes in their area of expertise.
The only area of any company that I advise against outsourcing is the area that is crucial to the success of your company. Never allow the core of your success to get outside your control. As an example, if your company has a proprietary marketing scheme or a customer database or an engineering method or a production process that is key to your success, do not let it out of your control.
The success or failure of the vast majority of all small businesses has little to do with the desire, marketing scheme or the great idea that created the business. While these three items must be present in every successful business, solid fundamental management principles will allow a small business to prosper and succeed. Every successful company, be it a small, medium or large business, uses the same set of management principals. The size of the business determines the individuals principals used and the sophistication of the principle. As an example, a small business normally has informal and perhaps even unwritten employee hiring guidelines. A medium sized company has a legally approved, comprehensive employee manual with employee hiring guidelines as a separate section. A large global business has an entire department writing several employee manuals in several languages with employee hiring guidelines based upon legal and social issues in each country. However, the common sense management principal that all companies should have a fair, consistent and applicable employment program must be used by every company.
As I have spent the vast majority of my career with small and medium sized businesses, here is a simple and select set of management principles that every small and medium business should follow to ensure success and profitability:
A good accounting department with timely monthly financial statements provides the basis for all management decisions. Any business owner or officer who believes purely in his or her “gut” feel, is running what will be a failed business. Regardless of the business size, every owner and senior executive must have valid data to confirm the decisions their “gut” tells them to make. Your financial statements are a factual record of your business history and we must all clearly understand our history so we do not repeat the mistakes of the past. How can you determine whether your recent marketing campaign is a success unless you see and evaluate the financial results? We have all heard stories about the marketing campaign that brought many new customers to the company but killed the company because the advertising expense was greater than the profit margin on the new sales. A business owner does not need an accounting degree but should know enough to understand and participate in the financial information review.
Running a small business based on the cash balance in the business checking account also violates this management principle and will severely inhibit the growth and success of the business. Unless you want to remain a “mom and pop” business forever, good accounting information is a requirement.
Standardize and automate all routine functions. Have you ever noticed that most successful business people have a routine for most of their daily functions? They have staff meetings at the same time, they want all reports in a specific format, they want all PC’s and software to be the same in the office and they want the external phone calls to be answered with a specific greeting. By standardizing all routine functions, successful business people do not have to think about or manage these functions. They can concentrate their time and efforts on managing non routine situations.
This same principle also applies to your business. I personally know a company that, 10 years ago, had a credit department with 15 employees and 3 managers who made many decisions daily. Today, that company has doubled its sales and now has a credit department consisting of 5 employees, one manager and a set of software programs that manages electronic payments and even sends out reminder letters and emails to customers.
Review and analyze the Balance Sheet before the Profit and Loss Statement. Your monthly P & L tells you whether you were successful last month from your operations but your Balance Sheet tells you what shape your business is in and what you can do in the future. I have seen a company that doubled sales one year and closed their doors less than six months later. I have also seen a business that went bankrupt even though their P & L’s showed reasonable success. The company Balance Sheet shows how the company uses its daily operations to fund the long term success of the business. Analyzing Fixed Assets, Accounts Receivable, Long Term Debt and Retained Earnings will give us the long term view for our company. It is not as exciting as analyzing our new customers and product offerings but is necessary for the long term.
Business Planning and Budgeting will allow you to slow down the daily business fires and take advantage of opportunities. There are an unusual number of small and medium businesses that do not work hard at either annual or strategic planning and budgeting. Most are too busy fighting fires and struggling to keep up with daily business activity. There is no time for planning and budgeting in their 80 hours work weeks. We have all been in this position. The unfortunate issue here is that the fire fighting and long weeks will never slow down or cease until some planning and budgeting is put in place. The need for planning and budgeting becomes more intense as a business grows due to your inability to “manage by walking around.” The planning and budgeting can start simple and will grow naturally as the business expands. This management principle will allow all employees to see the vision and the focus of the business which will start to reduce the daily fires that pop up.
The greatest advantage of planning and budgeting is that it allows every business owner to evaluate quickly and easily how an unexpected opportunity might be of benefit to the business. I have talked to many business owners who stumbled across a sudden and potentially great opportunity such as a competitor for sale, a good supplier needing a partner, a potential new customer that would immediately double sales or a potential new product that would require an entirely new set of tools and equipment. These opportunities happen to all business owners regularly but many also go away quickly. Those companies that have a good plan and budget in place can evaluate these opportunities quickly and easily to determine if the new opportunity fits into the company’s long term plans. These companies also have the ability to quickly approach a bank with solid financial proformas if additional capital is needed.
It isn’t a sale unless you collect. Most small and medium businesses spend way too much time in the sales process and far too little time with the collection process. Most companies are willing to pay a six figure salary to a salesman who can generate tremendous sales for the company and, at the same time, put an entry level accounting clerk in charge of collection with little or no oversight and procedures. The company borrows more and more money to increase sales while an accounting clerk with no customer service experience struggles to collect. The sales department in every business must have a part in the collection process and the company must have a strong, fair and customer oriented collection process to ensure that a sale really means money in the bank.
This process must always start before the sale is made. Collecting information up front to determine whether the potential customer is able to pay and ensuring the potential customer clearly understands the credit terms and payment requirement will benefit all parties. All good potential customers will appreciate this process because we all enjoy dealing with quality companies. I have never found any company that was unwilling to pay for quality products and services when everyone understood the terms and requirements.
The credit department must also have a good set of processes and procedures to ensure that the payment process flows smoothly and efficiently. Supplier employee turnover, cash flow issues and other unexpected issues stop or slow down the payment process. The credit department must, in a customer oriented fashion, work to keep our cash flowing.
Run the business as if it your grandchildren will take it over. Every business is a living and vibrant organization that has many similarities to our children. Your business starts out as an infant and learns to crawl and eventually walk. We would never make a decision for our child that does not take into account the child’s future and we should not do this with our business either.
Working with a supplier who has inferior quality but the cheapest price might be a great short term cash solution for our company but will eventually run off our customers and destroy our business. How many times has a business lost all its records because it decided it couldn’t afford computer backups or a fire alarm system on its warehouse? Have you hired an employee before you had them take a drug test? I even once jumped at the chance to hire a salesman from a competitor because I thought he would be able to bring over many customers. Unfortunately, he cost too much and didn’t bring over any good paying customers at all. There is no such thing as a good short cut for efficient management principals and the long term success of your organization.
Hire the smartest and best people. How many of us have hired our friends, the salesman we thought was a bargain, the bookkeeper who spoke the best during the interview or the manager we thought was most like us? Many small and medium sized businesses are littered with employees who were hired for these reasons because small businesses can’t afford high wages and all the fringe benefit packages that large companies can afford. We tend to hire the best we think we can get.
We need to set our expectations higher and use our planning process to find perfect employees. The first issue is that your company must have a good annual plan as well as a logical 5 year plan on where the company will be. Your company can then lay out what employees will be needed during this 5 year period. Now that we have defined what employees and what responsibilities are required, we need to find the individuals who meet these requirements and not just who we can afford today.
I have always tried to hire people who are smarter and have more experience than I have at the specific position. Any owner who believes he is the smartest individual in every area will never be able to hire the right people. A company will never be greater than its weakest employee so we must always hire the best.
The last company I worked with laid out a plan showing they were going to need their first CPA in 5 years. After 3 years, they told me they hired this CPA and were very surprised because this individual had other job opportunities with large national firms who were offering huge benefits. However, this small firm could offer professional growth and responsibility not available at the larger company. The vast majority of good employees prefer to have a more responsible position with a smaller company with a grand future than a less responsible position with a large company.
You can grow yourself out of business. Cash is king in business and those who recognize this fact will succeed and prosper. I have seen far more businesses that grow too fast with no good business plan and are forced to close their doors or find a quick buyer. Companies that are struggling watch their cash daily and doing what they need to keep the doors open. However, those companies doubling their sales see huge profits on their monthly financial statements and get caught up in the emotion and success. They watch their Accounts Receivable double, their Inventory double because they must buy much more product, their employees double because they must take care of these sales and suddenly they do not have the ability to make this week’s payroll because they have no cash in their checking account. Their company literally grew itself out of business which many small and medium business owners have trouble understanding until they have lived through it.
The culture of every business is as important as its mission. As mentioned earlier, a business is a living and breathing organization. The culture of every business is as important to the overall success of the company as the products and services offered. The owner of the business cannot delegate this function and must be involved. There is no right or wrong here as the business culture is a reflection of the quality, morals and ethics of its owner. A successful company’s culture is not a constantly changing but evolves based upon the growth and expansion of the organization. Constantly changing a company’s culture is a sure way to close a business.
A company with a strict dress code, time clocks that are strictly enforced, and many processes and procedures is no better than another company with no dress code, few processes, and telecommuting for employees. The only difference is the type of employees they retain and the way they do business.
Your quality competitors are essential to your long term success. You can stop laughing now because this is really a fact that every successful company understands. This is an unusual concept but one that great businessmen and women all embrace. Competition is a wonderful concept in every free market economy and quality competition makes us all better. Quality competitors push us to come up with quality improvements, quality products and services and ensure that we have a quality customer oriented operation. We have all seen businesses spring up offering a 50% price reduction for a cheap knock off of our products. Our sales drop and we spend time and effort away from our core business chasing this situation. They stay in business for a short period of time and accomplish nothing more than causing our customers to question our industry. Quality competitors push us all toward greatness and there is plenty of room in every industry for multiple organizations.
Outsourcing reduces costs and improves your weaknesses. Many individuals hear the jokes about the language issues at large company call centers in India or the Philippines and tell themselves they will never make that mistake. However, that might be one situation that is not really a mistake. A good IT programmer in the U.S. can cost upwards of $100,000 annually with payroll taxes, fringe benefits, etc. That employee in India with the exact same intelligence, skills and experience can cost as little as $30,000 annually.
The management principle here is that we should all concentrate on our strengths and outsource everything else where feasible. No business person thinks twice about using an outside tax accountant to do our Federal and State taxes. This is a highly technical area that changes constantly. Most of us also have an outside legal firm. Why do we primarily limit our use of outsourcing to those two areas?? Today, there are professional payroll firms, employee leasing firms, credit and collection firms, IT and Web programming firms and marketing firms. These companies work with many business organizations, stay on top of industry best practices and can better stay on top of the technical changes in their area of expertise.
The only area of any company that I advise against outsourcing is the area that is crucial to the success of your company. Never allow the core of your success to get outside your control. As an example, if your company has a proprietary marketing scheme or a customer database or an engineering method or a production process that is key to your success, do not let it out of your control.
The Competencies Of A Business Analyst
Competencies are described as the ability to do a particular activity to prescribed standard.
The competencies can be classified into three categories
1. Behaviour Skill and Personal Qualities
1.1 Balanced behaviour
1.2 Leadership
1.3 Problem Solving
1.4 Attention to Details
1.5 Critical Thinking and Analytical Skill
1.6 Flexibility to Manage Situation
1.7 Team working
1.8 Influencing
1.9 Communication
1.10 Relationship-Building
2. Business Knowledge
2.1 Finance and Economy
2.2 Business Case Development
2.3 Domain Knowledge
2.4 Subject Matter Expert
2.5 Principle of IT
2.6 Organization Structure and Design
2.7 Procurement
3. Techniques
3.1 Requirements Engineering
3.2 Stakeholders analysis and management
3.3 Facilitation Techniques
3.4 Business System Modeling
3.5 Business Process Modeling
3.6 Managing Business change
3.7 Data Modeling
3.8 Investigation Technique
3.9 Project management
3.10 Strategy Analysis
1. Behaviour Skill and Personal Qualities
1.1 Balanced Behaviour
This is an ability to work out what is and what is not commercially acceptable in an organization. Having commercial and political awareness by the way emphatically does not mean accepting statue qua. It does mean using resourcefulness and being astute to get results, even in the face of opposition. Balanced behaviour means forcing a issue but moderately, firm but not arrogant.
1.2 Leadership
There is a never one solution for all problems .Leader should have the capability to understand the context of the problem and provide an effective solution.
1.3 Problem solving
A business analyst has to approach an issue with the outlook that problem can be solved. A variation on this is that even if the optimal solution cannot be implemented for financial, technical or political reasons, then the business analyst must be pragmatic and be prepared to find other solutions that will yield at least some benefit.
1.4 Attention to Details
Many business cases fail because there is no sufficient detailed evidence for the proposed change. When a project is handed over to IT specialists, they often find many important issues if the detail have not been addressed. Having an eye for the details is also an important attribute of a good business analyst.
1.5Critical Thinking and Analytical Skill
Business analyst have a common sense to ascertain what data are relevant and what are irrelevant and separate vital factors from less important many critical thinking is achieve by experience and differentiate what factor to concentrate and what to leave.
1.6 Flexibility to manage situation
This is an extremely important quality. Business analyst must have sufficient self confidence in himself, in the quality of his analysis and the correctness in his solution, be able to withstand the pressure and sustain his point of view
1.7 Team working with data’s
Business analyst often work in teams, A nature of understanding of the role within the team and what needs to be done and appreciation of the working style of others are, therefore important to ensure that the project objectives are achieved.
1.8 Influencing
Influencing needs careful consideration and prior planning. Business analysts have to develop an understanding of where the other party stands on their proposal, the likely resistance and influencing style needed to approach the person or the group. For example, some managers might defer all the decisions to another group require information at a very detailed level or ask only for high level summary. Some may be interested in technicalities, others just vision or big picture. Tailoring the approach is vital for a successful outcome. The business analysts are often influenced to take or suggest another course of action. This may involve another round of influencing, facilitating a roundtable discussion and seeking the support of senior colleagues in the best course of action.
1.9 Communication
Communication is the most important skill that human possess. It encompasses building rapport, listening, influencing and creating empathy. Most analysis work involves collecting and analyzing data and presenting back information that brings new perspective on the project so as to propose a course of action. If the communication is not good between the staffs, it leads to frustration when there is a failure to do obvious thing. Communication between business colleagues must be in a language and style that they are comfortable with and avoid what they perceive as techno-babble. Business analyst must adjust their communication to align with the people they are talking to.
1.10 Relationship Building
This is an extension of communication skill and concerns the ability to get on well with people at a working if not social level. Some people possess this ability naturally and others have to work on it. Business analyst must get to the people to impart information and share opinions and listen to ideas for change.
2. Business Knowledge
2.1 Finance and Economy
The universal language of business is finance. A business analyst needs to have a good working knowledge of the economy and of the basics of business finance. It includes a general understanding of financial reports such as balance sheet, profit-and -loss account, financial analysis tools such as ratio analysis and principles of costing.
2.2 Business Case Development
Much of analyst’s work will be to assess the costs and benefits of delivering a project to the organization .When communicating analysis findings; you need to ensure that you have a view of the financial impact on the project. IT is an enabling tool for the business benefits to be achieved. Business analysis projects involve other specialist like management accountants to understand and model the business activities and determine how IT can deliver financial benefit. To develop business case, a basic understanding of finance is required along with financial workings business area. Business analysts involved in business case preparation has to understand basic investment appraisal techniques and work closely with finance department.
2.3 Domain Knowledge
It gives general understanding of a business domain. Apart from general domain, specific domain knowledge is required for the following reasons;
? It enables you to talk sensibly with the business people involved in the project, in a language that they can understand.
? It helps you to understand what would and would not acceptable or useful in the business domain.
? It may enable you take ideas.
2.4 Subject Matter Expert
It takes domain knowledge to a lower level of detail. The level of expertise depends on the type of work being done. Business analysts may be specialist in particular domain ,with a strong and detailed understanding of the subject area, can pinpoint areas for improvement , development and identify what needs to change, to analyze using existing knowledge and contact. The key point is to assess how well competencies meet the needs of the current situation and to recognize where competencies needs some improvements.
2.5 Principle of IT
Many business analysts do not have an IT background. However, many business analysis projects result in the use of IT in some or the other way. General understanding of the field is necessary for a business analyst so that he can communicate meaningfully with IT professionals .The key requirement is that business analyst must understand the technical terms used by IT specialist. Since IT solutions are often investigated by business analyst, the latter should have an understanding of IT fundamentals, including areas such as
? How computers work, including operating systems, application software, hardware and networks.
? System –development lifecycle
? System – development approaches
? The Relative pros and cons of developing systems and buying system "off the shelf’;
? Trends and new opportunities that IT brings, such as ecommerce, grid computing and mobile technologies and how these impact systems development.
2.6 Organization Structure and Design
Business analysis projects involve restructuring organization to a greater or a lesser degree, to improve the customer service. It is important for business analysts to have a good understanding of the various organization structures that may be encountered - function, project, and matrix and so on – and of their relative strength and weakness.
2.7 Procurement
Most organization use external suppliers to deliver their IT systems. Selecting an appropriate sourcing strategy involves assessing the work and deciding the most appropriate way to take the project forward on sound commercial term. Once the analyst has worked out the type that is required , they need to assess the most appropriate supplier – internal and external- to take work forward and what commercial terms has to employed. A business analyst needs a broad understanding of contractual arrangements that is shown below:
* Time and Materials: where the contracted party is paid on the basis of the time worked.
* Fixed –price delivery: where the contracted party is paid the price that originally agreed for the delivery of a piece of work according to the precise specification.
* Risk and reward: where the contracted party has agreed to bear some or all of the risk of the project ,for example by investing resources such as staff time , materials or office space, but where potential rewards are greater than under other contractual arrangements.
3. Techniques
3.1 Requirements Engineering
This is the set of practices and processes that lead to the development of the set of the well-informed business and system requirements, from which IT and other solutions are developed.
3.2 Stakeholders analysis and management
This includes understandings who are the stake holders in a business analysis project and working out how their interests are best managed.
3.3 Facilitation Techniques
The interpersonal skills required for effective facilitation is usually exhibited within the context of a workshop. Effective facilitation usually results from a combination of the right qualities in the facilitator and the choice of the right techniques to match the task and the cultural context of the organization in which it is being used.
3.4 Business System Modeling
Business System Modeling is an approach to understand business systems through the creation of the conceptual models of those systems.
3.5 Business Process Modeling
A business system model looks at the entire business system in overview, more detailed process models are used to map and analyze how business process actually works and helps to identify opportunities for process improvement.
3.6 Managing Business change
This covers the techniques needed to implement changes within the organization and to make them ‘stick’.
3.7 Data Modeling
Analyzing the data held and used within a business system affords valuable insights into how a business operates .For e.g. what are the data items that are held about the customers? What is the relationship between customers, products and suppliers?
3.8 Investigation Technique
To get to the root of a business issue the analyst will have to undertake detailed analysis of the area.
3.9 Project management
The list of project management context and process: scope management, integration management, time management, cost management, quality management, resource management, human management, risk management and procurement management. Business analyst may not necessarily exhibit his skills in all these areas, but if the project team is small the business analyst may be required to undertake the role of project manager.There is some project skill that an analyst should have.
For e.g. understanding project initiation is vital as it allows the analyst to understand define the terms of reference for the project .It is important that the analyst should understand project management planning approaches –he or she will have to work within a plan – and is aware of particularly relevant aspects , such as quality and risk management
3.10 Strategy Analysis
This covers a range of techniques that can be used to understand the business direction and the strengths and weakness of an organization, or part of an organization.
How can I develop my competency?
The first step in developing as a business analyst is to understand the competency required of a business analyst in your organization. This should include an assessment both the current and the future competencies required .The HR department provides an outline definition of the competencies required of the business analyst in the organization. Future competencies are more difficult to assess and depends on the factors such as projects that may develop in future, business issues and technological developments. The organizations may already have a framework in its place or could use the existing framework such as Skill framework for Information Age (SFIA).
There are three ways in which business analysts can develop competencies:
? Training
? Self-study
? Work experience
Training
Class room-based training allows skills to be learned and practiced in a relatively safe environment, with a trainer on hand to support, guidance and encouragement. Computer –based training is also good if the skills to be practiced are primarily technical in nature.
Self-study
Self-study is an excellent way for analysts to grow their business knowledge. Apart from reading textbooks, browsing publications such as the Financial Times, The Economist, the Harvard Business Review and other technical publications and professional journals will broaden and deepen the analyst’s understanding of the business world.
Self-study is an excellent way for analysts to grow their business knowledge. Apart from reading textbooks, browsing publications such as the Financial Times, The Economist, the Harvard Business Review and other technical publications and professional journals will broaden and deepen the analyst’s understanding of the business world.
Work experience
This provides an opportunity to use and improve techniques and to deepen the knowledge .It is best way a business analyst can develop their behaviour skills and personal qualities The performance of most analysts improves overtime as their experience grows ,but this can be heightened and accelerated if our if the organization operates a proper coaching or mentoring programme.
The Skills Framework for the Information Age
SFIA and SFIAplus are the two major standard frameworks for definition of skills and competencies in the information system field. Both frame works include definition for the skill set of business analysis, define various levels of competency for each skill, and can be used as building blocks for any job role that requires these skills
SFIA
The description of overall skill set provided in SFIA framework for business analysis is as follows:
The methodical investigation, analysis, review and documentation of all or part of a business in terms of business functions and processes, and the information they use. The definition of requirements for improving any aspect of the processes and systems. The creation of viable specifications in the preparation for construction of information and communication systems.
In each level defined for business analysis, SFIA provides a more detailed definition of the skills required, for e.g. for level 4 is states:
* The analysis, design, creation, testing and documentation of new and amended programs from supplied specifications in accordance with agreed standards.
* Creates requirements specification and business case for development of ICT solutions by investigating business process and business needs.
SFIA plus provides the sane description for business analysis skill set as SFIA, but also
provides details of the following:
Related skill set (in this case, data analysis business process improvement and system design)
* Technical Overview, including typical tools and techniques ;
* Overview of training, development and qualification ;
* Careers and jobs ;
* Professional bodies;
* Standard and codes of practice;
* Communities and events ;
* Publication and resource.
For each applicable level within this skill set (3-6 in the case of business analysis), detail are also provided under the following heading:
* Background;
* Work activities ;
* Knowledge /skills
* Training activities
* Professional development activities
* Qualifications.
Although SFIAplus provides more detail than SFIA, it is important to realize that the two frameworks should be implemented in different ways.
SFIAplus should be treated as a standard and is not designed to be customized, where as SFIA is intended to be used as a basis for tailoring to an organization.
SFIAplus enables organizations to classify and benchmark their IT skills and to train and develop their teams to meet the defined skill requirements .As a business analyst, this provides a basis for you to gauge where you are against the skills and corresponding level of competence defined in the framework.
The final step is to identify a set if actions that will help your development.
* Seek out assignments that give you opportunities to develop.
* Identify a role model who demonstrates your desired competencies.
* Ask them what is required or ask them to mentor your development or arrange to work for them direct.
* Use training providers to target specifically those areas that need development.
* Consider a secondment to an organization that excels in the required competencies.
* Do your research into specific competencies
* Ask for a regular feedback from your boss or experts.
* Join an industry specialist group.
* Develop as you go and gain from experience. Record what you’ve learned so that you don’t forget.
The competencies can be classified into three categories
1. Behaviour Skill and Personal Qualities
1.1 Balanced behaviour
1.2 Leadership
1.3 Problem Solving
1.4 Attention to Details
1.5 Critical Thinking and Analytical Skill
1.6 Flexibility to Manage Situation
1.7 Team working
1.8 Influencing
1.9 Communication
1.10 Relationship-Building
2. Business Knowledge
2.1 Finance and Economy
2.2 Business Case Development
2.3 Domain Knowledge
2.4 Subject Matter Expert
2.5 Principle of IT
2.6 Organization Structure and Design
2.7 Procurement
3. Techniques
3.1 Requirements Engineering
3.2 Stakeholders analysis and management
3.3 Facilitation Techniques
3.4 Business System Modeling
3.5 Business Process Modeling
3.6 Managing Business change
3.7 Data Modeling
3.8 Investigation Technique
3.9 Project management
3.10 Strategy Analysis
1. Behaviour Skill and Personal Qualities
1.1 Balanced Behaviour
This is an ability to work out what is and what is not commercially acceptable in an organization. Having commercial and political awareness by the way emphatically does not mean accepting statue qua. It does mean using resourcefulness and being astute to get results, even in the face of opposition. Balanced behaviour means forcing a issue but moderately, firm but not arrogant.
1.2 Leadership
There is a never one solution for all problems .Leader should have the capability to understand the context of the problem and provide an effective solution.
1.3 Problem solving
A business analyst has to approach an issue with the outlook that problem can be solved. A variation on this is that even if the optimal solution cannot be implemented for financial, technical or political reasons, then the business analyst must be pragmatic and be prepared to find other solutions that will yield at least some benefit.
1.4 Attention to Details
Many business cases fail because there is no sufficient detailed evidence for the proposed change. When a project is handed over to IT specialists, they often find many important issues if the detail have not been addressed. Having an eye for the details is also an important attribute of a good business analyst.
1.5Critical Thinking and Analytical Skill
Business analyst have a common sense to ascertain what data are relevant and what are irrelevant and separate vital factors from less important many critical thinking is achieve by experience and differentiate what factor to concentrate and what to leave.
1.6 Flexibility to manage situation
This is an extremely important quality. Business analyst must have sufficient self confidence in himself, in the quality of his analysis and the correctness in his solution, be able to withstand the pressure and sustain his point of view
1.7 Team working with data’s
Business analyst often work in teams, A nature of understanding of the role within the team and what needs to be done and appreciation of the working style of others are, therefore important to ensure that the project objectives are achieved.
1.8 Influencing
Influencing needs careful consideration and prior planning. Business analysts have to develop an understanding of where the other party stands on their proposal, the likely resistance and influencing style needed to approach the person or the group. For example, some managers might defer all the decisions to another group require information at a very detailed level or ask only for high level summary. Some may be interested in technicalities, others just vision or big picture. Tailoring the approach is vital for a successful outcome. The business analysts are often influenced to take or suggest another course of action. This may involve another round of influencing, facilitating a roundtable discussion and seeking the support of senior colleagues in the best course of action.
1.9 Communication
Communication is the most important skill that human possess. It encompasses building rapport, listening, influencing and creating empathy. Most analysis work involves collecting and analyzing data and presenting back information that brings new perspective on the project so as to propose a course of action. If the communication is not good between the staffs, it leads to frustration when there is a failure to do obvious thing. Communication between business colleagues must be in a language and style that they are comfortable with and avoid what they perceive as techno-babble. Business analyst must adjust their communication to align with the people they are talking to.
1.10 Relationship Building
This is an extension of communication skill and concerns the ability to get on well with people at a working if not social level. Some people possess this ability naturally and others have to work on it. Business analyst must get to the people to impart information and share opinions and listen to ideas for change.
2. Business Knowledge
2.1 Finance and Economy
The universal language of business is finance. A business analyst needs to have a good working knowledge of the economy and of the basics of business finance. It includes a general understanding of financial reports such as balance sheet, profit-and -loss account, financial analysis tools such as ratio analysis and principles of costing.
2.2 Business Case Development
Much of analyst’s work will be to assess the costs and benefits of delivering a project to the organization .When communicating analysis findings; you need to ensure that you have a view of the financial impact on the project. IT is an enabling tool for the business benefits to be achieved. Business analysis projects involve other specialist like management accountants to understand and model the business activities and determine how IT can deliver financial benefit. To develop business case, a basic understanding of finance is required along with financial workings business area. Business analysts involved in business case preparation has to understand basic investment appraisal techniques and work closely with finance department.
2.3 Domain Knowledge
It gives general understanding of a business domain. Apart from general domain, specific domain knowledge is required for the following reasons;
? It enables you to talk sensibly with the business people involved in the project, in a language that they can understand.
? It helps you to understand what would and would not acceptable or useful in the business domain.
? It may enable you take ideas.
2.4 Subject Matter Expert
It takes domain knowledge to a lower level of detail. The level of expertise depends on the type of work being done. Business analysts may be specialist in particular domain ,with a strong and detailed understanding of the subject area, can pinpoint areas for improvement , development and identify what needs to change, to analyze using existing knowledge and contact. The key point is to assess how well competencies meet the needs of the current situation and to recognize where competencies needs some improvements.
2.5 Principle of IT
Many business analysts do not have an IT background. However, many business analysis projects result in the use of IT in some or the other way. General understanding of the field is necessary for a business analyst so that he can communicate meaningfully with IT professionals .The key requirement is that business analyst must understand the technical terms used by IT specialist. Since IT solutions are often investigated by business analyst, the latter should have an understanding of IT fundamentals, including areas such as
? How computers work, including operating systems, application software, hardware and networks.
? System –development lifecycle
? System – development approaches
? The Relative pros and cons of developing systems and buying system "off the shelf’;
? Trends and new opportunities that IT brings, such as ecommerce, grid computing and mobile technologies and how these impact systems development.
2.6 Organization Structure and Design
Business analysis projects involve restructuring organization to a greater or a lesser degree, to improve the customer service. It is important for business analysts to have a good understanding of the various organization structures that may be encountered - function, project, and matrix and so on – and of their relative strength and weakness.
2.7 Procurement
Most organization use external suppliers to deliver their IT systems. Selecting an appropriate sourcing strategy involves assessing the work and deciding the most appropriate way to take the project forward on sound commercial term. Once the analyst has worked out the type that is required , they need to assess the most appropriate supplier – internal and external- to take work forward and what commercial terms has to employed. A business analyst needs a broad understanding of contractual arrangements that is shown below:
* Time and Materials: where the contracted party is paid on the basis of the time worked.
* Fixed –price delivery: where the contracted party is paid the price that originally agreed for the delivery of a piece of work according to the precise specification.
* Risk and reward: where the contracted party has agreed to bear some or all of the risk of the project ,for example by investing resources such as staff time , materials or office space, but where potential rewards are greater than under other contractual arrangements.
3. Techniques
3.1 Requirements Engineering
This is the set of practices and processes that lead to the development of the set of the well-informed business and system requirements, from which IT and other solutions are developed.
3.2 Stakeholders analysis and management
This includes understandings who are the stake holders in a business analysis project and working out how their interests are best managed.
3.3 Facilitation Techniques
The interpersonal skills required for effective facilitation is usually exhibited within the context of a workshop. Effective facilitation usually results from a combination of the right qualities in the facilitator and the choice of the right techniques to match the task and the cultural context of the organization in which it is being used.
3.4 Business System Modeling
Business System Modeling is an approach to understand business systems through the creation of the conceptual models of those systems.
3.5 Business Process Modeling
A business system model looks at the entire business system in overview, more detailed process models are used to map and analyze how business process actually works and helps to identify opportunities for process improvement.
3.6 Managing Business change
This covers the techniques needed to implement changes within the organization and to make them ‘stick’.
3.7 Data Modeling
Analyzing the data held and used within a business system affords valuable insights into how a business operates .For e.g. what are the data items that are held about the customers? What is the relationship between customers, products and suppliers?
3.8 Investigation Technique
To get to the root of a business issue the analyst will have to undertake detailed analysis of the area.
3.9 Project management
The list of project management context and process: scope management, integration management, time management, cost management, quality management, resource management, human management, risk management and procurement management. Business analyst may not necessarily exhibit his skills in all these areas, but if the project team is small the business analyst may be required to undertake the role of project manager.There is some project skill that an analyst should have.
For e.g. understanding project initiation is vital as it allows the analyst to understand define the terms of reference for the project .It is important that the analyst should understand project management planning approaches –he or she will have to work within a plan – and is aware of particularly relevant aspects , such as quality and risk management
3.10 Strategy Analysis
This covers a range of techniques that can be used to understand the business direction and the strengths and weakness of an organization, or part of an organization.
How can I develop my competency?
The first step in developing as a business analyst is to understand the competency required of a business analyst in your organization. This should include an assessment both the current and the future competencies required .The HR department provides an outline definition of the competencies required of the business analyst in the organization. Future competencies are more difficult to assess and depends on the factors such as projects that may develop in future, business issues and technological developments. The organizations may already have a framework in its place or could use the existing framework such as Skill framework for Information Age (SFIA).
There are three ways in which business analysts can develop competencies:
? Training
? Self-study
? Work experience
Training
Class room-based training allows skills to be learned and practiced in a relatively safe environment, with a trainer on hand to support, guidance and encouragement. Computer –based training is also good if the skills to be practiced are primarily technical in nature.
Self-study
Self-study is an excellent way for analysts to grow their business knowledge. Apart from reading textbooks, browsing publications such as the Financial Times, The Economist, the Harvard Business Review and other technical publications and professional journals will broaden and deepen the analyst’s understanding of the business world.
Self-study is an excellent way for analysts to grow their business knowledge. Apart from reading textbooks, browsing publications such as the Financial Times, The Economist, the Harvard Business Review and other technical publications and professional journals will broaden and deepen the analyst’s understanding of the business world.
Work experience
This provides an opportunity to use and improve techniques and to deepen the knowledge .It is best way a business analyst can develop their behaviour skills and personal qualities The performance of most analysts improves overtime as their experience grows ,but this can be heightened and accelerated if our if the organization operates a proper coaching or mentoring programme.
The Skills Framework for the Information Age
SFIA and SFIAplus are the two major standard frameworks for definition of skills and competencies in the information system field. Both frame works include definition for the skill set of business analysis, define various levels of competency for each skill, and can be used as building blocks for any job role that requires these skills
SFIA
The description of overall skill set provided in SFIA framework for business analysis is as follows:
The methodical investigation, analysis, review and documentation of all or part of a business in terms of business functions and processes, and the information they use. The definition of requirements for improving any aspect of the processes and systems. The creation of viable specifications in the preparation for construction of information and communication systems.
In each level defined for business analysis, SFIA provides a more detailed definition of the skills required, for e.g. for level 4 is states:
* The analysis, design, creation, testing and documentation of new and amended programs from supplied specifications in accordance with agreed standards.
* Creates requirements specification and business case for development of ICT solutions by investigating business process and business needs.
SFIA plus provides the sane description for business analysis skill set as SFIA, but also
provides details of the following:
Related skill set (in this case, data analysis business process improvement and system design)
* Technical Overview, including typical tools and techniques ;
* Overview of training, development and qualification ;
* Careers and jobs ;
* Professional bodies;
* Standard and codes of practice;
* Communities and events ;
* Publication and resource.
For each applicable level within this skill set (3-6 in the case of business analysis), detail are also provided under the following heading:
* Background;
* Work activities ;
* Knowledge /skills
* Training activities
* Professional development activities
* Qualifications.
Although SFIAplus provides more detail than SFIA, it is important to realize that the two frameworks should be implemented in different ways.
SFIAplus should be treated as a standard and is not designed to be customized, where as SFIA is intended to be used as a basis for tailoring to an organization.
SFIAplus enables organizations to classify and benchmark their IT skills and to train and develop their teams to meet the defined skill requirements .As a business analyst, this provides a basis for you to gauge where you are against the skills and corresponding level of competence defined in the framework.
The final step is to identify a set if actions that will help your development.
* Seek out assignments that give you opportunities to develop.
* Identify a role model who demonstrates your desired competencies.
* Ask them what is required or ask them to mentor your development or arrange to work for them direct.
* Use training providers to target specifically those areas that need development.
* Consider a secondment to an organization that excels in the required competencies.
* Do your research into specific competencies
* Ask for a regular feedback from your boss or experts.
* Join an industry specialist group.
* Develop as you go and gain from experience. Record what you’ve learned so that you don’t forget.
Does Your Business Need a Credit Card?
Among the so many varieties of credit cards, one of the most underestimated is the value of a business credit card. Many people do not choose to apply for a business credit card because aside from having a definite target market- the business owners or business executives-it seems to be complicated to use. Although a business credit card has more requirements and has higher interests compared to other types of credit cards there is, contrary to the common conception, t can be very helpful if used properly.
What is a business credit card?
Basically, business credit card is for the business people's consumption. Compared to the regular credit card, a business credit card has a high limit plus low interest rates. Depending on the manner of choosing, a business credit card may also bring a lot of automatic benefits.
Since it is targeted towards businessmen or those people who are heading towards building a business, a business credit card can definitely benefit these small businesses. A business credit card helps the budding business by extending payments while improving the cash flow. Aside from bearing the image of a dependable credit card, business credit card boasts of having detailed reports and giving quality customer service as its major trademarks.
Aside from having limits and low interest rates, a business credit card provides many alternatives and numerous credit options for small businesses. A business credit card also caters to large corporations that are crafted to aid those people who are starting with their own business to grow while closely monitoring the baseline of credit.
Simplifying business credit cards
It really pays to go to the bank when one applies for a credit card to get the chance to answer all immediate inquiries. But since business credit card is for business people who are always on the go, many business credit card issuers offers online applications for business credit cards. When one applies for a business credit card, there is no need to visit the bank. There is also no need to wait in the queue just to talk to a bank representative. When you apply business credit card online, all you have to do is to select the business credit card option that would perfectly suit your small business or corporate credit requirements right from the comforts of your home or office. Aside from offering safe, secured, and simple processes that are designed help you take care of your starting business, most business credit cards online offer accessible features for the convenience of the business credit card holder like the online payment and reporting. Customized company logos and access to instant cash are also available on line. Other business credit card online offers detailed reporting features for easy monitoring and access.
Most business credit card applications offer free fee for the first year and no pre-set spending limit or finance charges. Other business credit card offers viable membership rewards program that enables the member to earn points towards travel, merchandise and other rewards for his or her business. Some of these business credit cards offer small businesses a line of credit up to $100,000 at a competitive APR as low as prime + 1.99% for both cash and check purchases; 100% of the line is available as cash and no collateral is required. The business credit card holder or customer might receive fee-free checks as well as a card to access the account. Everyday savings or exclusive savings, express approvals, no annual fee, up to 5 percent rebates on all qualified purchases, and 0% introductory annual percentage rate (APR) on purchases during first half of the year of card membership are some of the great offers of most business credit cards.
Although majority of the business credit card issuers offer great value deals, it is very important to research first what does your business needs. Whether your business credit card is meant for investing in inventory or just for payroll, it is significant to look for a flexible business credit card that can handle almost anything. Whether you opt to go directly to the bank or apply for a business credit card online, a number of premier business credit card suppliers are there to help you find the right credit card product as easy and convenient as possible.
Among the so many varieties of credit cards, one of the most underestimated is the value of a business credit card. Many people do not choose to apply for a business credit card because aside from having a definite target market- the business owners or business executives-it seems to be complicated to use. Although a business credit card has more requirements and has higher interests compared to other types of credit cards there is, contrary to the common conception, t can be very helpful if used properly.
What is a business credit card?
Basically, business credit card is for the business people's consumption. Compared to the regular credit card, a business credit card has a high limit plus low interest rates. Depending on the manner of choosing, a business credit card may also bring a lot of automatic benefits.
Since it is targeted towards businessmen or those people who are heading towards building a business, a business credit card can definitely benefit these small businesses. A business credit card helps the budding business by extending payments while improving the cash flow. Aside from bearing the image of a dependable credit card, business credit card boasts of having detailed reports and giving quality customer service as its major trademarks.
Aside from having limits and low interest rates, a business credit card provides many alternatives and numerous credit options for small businesses. A business credit card also caters to large corporations that are crafted to aid those people who are starting with their own business to grow while closely monitoring the baseline of credit.
Simplifying business credit cards
It really pays to go to the bank when one applies for a credit card to get the chance to answer all immediate inquiries. But since business credit card is for business people who are always on the go, many business credit card issuers offers online applications for business credit cards. When one applies for a business credit card, there is no need to visit the bank. There is also no need to wait in the queue just to talk to a bank representative. When you apply business credit card online, all you have to do is to select the business credit card option that would perfectly suit your small business or corporate credit requirements right from the comforts of your home or office. Aside from offering safe, secured, and simple processes that are designed help you take care of your starting business, most business credit cards online offer accessible features for the convenience of the business credit card holder like the online payment and reporting. Customized company logos and access to instant cash are also available on line. Other business credit card online offers detailed reporting features for easy monitoring and access.
Most business credit card applications offer free fee for the first year and no pre-set spending limit or finance charges. Other business credit card offers viable membership rewards program that enables the member to earn points towards travel, merchandise and other rewards for his or her business. Some of these business credit cards offer small businesses a line of credit up to $100,000 at a competitive APR as low as prime + 1.99% for both cash and check purchases; 100% of the line is available as cash and no collateral is required. The business credit card holder or customer might receive fee-free checks as well as a card to access the account. Everyday savings or exclusive savings, express approvals, no annual fee, up to 5 percent rebates on all qualified purchases, and 0% introductory annual percentage rate (APR) on purchases during first half of the year of card membership are some of the great offers of most business credit cards.
Although majority of the business credit card issuers offer great value deals, it is very important to research first what does your business needs. Whether your business credit card is meant for investing in inventory or just for payroll, it is significant to look for a flexible business credit card that can handle almost anything. Whether you opt to go directly to the bank or apply for a business credit card online, a number of premier business credit card suppliers are there to help you find the right credit card product as easy and convenient as possible.
What is a business credit card?
Basically, business credit card is for the business people's consumption. Compared to the regular credit card, a business credit card has a high limit plus low interest rates. Depending on the manner of choosing, a business credit card may also bring a lot of automatic benefits.
Since it is targeted towards businessmen or those people who are heading towards building a business, a business credit card can definitely benefit these small businesses. A business credit card helps the budding business by extending payments while improving the cash flow. Aside from bearing the image of a dependable credit card, business credit card boasts of having detailed reports and giving quality customer service as its major trademarks.
Aside from having limits and low interest rates, a business credit card provides many alternatives and numerous credit options for small businesses. A business credit card also caters to large corporations that are crafted to aid those people who are starting with their own business to grow while closely monitoring the baseline of credit.
Simplifying business credit cards
It really pays to go to the bank when one applies for a credit card to get the chance to answer all immediate inquiries. But since business credit card is for business people who are always on the go, many business credit card issuers offers online applications for business credit cards. When one applies for a business credit card, there is no need to visit the bank. There is also no need to wait in the queue just to talk to a bank representative. When you apply business credit card online, all you have to do is to select the business credit card option that would perfectly suit your small business or corporate credit requirements right from the comforts of your home or office. Aside from offering safe, secured, and simple processes that are designed help you take care of your starting business, most business credit cards online offer accessible features for the convenience of the business credit card holder like the online payment and reporting. Customized company logos and access to instant cash are also available on line. Other business credit card online offers detailed reporting features for easy monitoring and access.
Most business credit card applications offer free fee for the first year and no pre-set spending limit or finance charges. Other business credit card offers viable membership rewards program that enables the member to earn points towards travel, merchandise and other rewards for his or her business. Some of these business credit cards offer small businesses a line of credit up to $100,000 at a competitive APR as low as prime + 1.99% for both cash and check purchases; 100% of the line is available as cash and no collateral is required. The business credit card holder or customer might receive fee-free checks as well as a card to access the account. Everyday savings or exclusive savings, express approvals, no annual fee, up to 5 percent rebates on all qualified purchases, and 0% introductory annual percentage rate (APR) on purchases during first half of the year of card membership are some of the great offers of most business credit cards.
Although majority of the business credit card issuers offer great value deals, it is very important to research first what does your business needs. Whether your business credit card is meant for investing in inventory or just for payroll, it is significant to look for a flexible business credit card that can handle almost anything. Whether you opt to go directly to the bank or apply for a business credit card online, a number of premier business credit card suppliers are there to help you find the right credit card product as easy and convenient as possible.
Among the so many varieties of credit cards, one of the most underestimated is the value of a business credit card. Many people do not choose to apply for a business credit card because aside from having a definite target market- the business owners or business executives-it seems to be complicated to use. Although a business credit card has more requirements and has higher interests compared to other types of credit cards there is, contrary to the common conception, t can be very helpful if used properly.
What is a business credit card?
Basically, business credit card is for the business people's consumption. Compared to the regular credit card, a business credit card has a high limit plus low interest rates. Depending on the manner of choosing, a business credit card may also bring a lot of automatic benefits.
Since it is targeted towards businessmen or those people who are heading towards building a business, a business credit card can definitely benefit these small businesses. A business credit card helps the budding business by extending payments while improving the cash flow. Aside from bearing the image of a dependable credit card, business credit card boasts of having detailed reports and giving quality customer service as its major trademarks.
Aside from having limits and low interest rates, a business credit card provides many alternatives and numerous credit options for small businesses. A business credit card also caters to large corporations that are crafted to aid those people who are starting with their own business to grow while closely monitoring the baseline of credit.
Simplifying business credit cards
It really pays to go to the bank when one applies for a credit card to get the chance to answer all immediate inquiries. But since business credit card is for business people who are always on the go, many business credit card issuers offers online applications for business credit cards. When one applies for a business credit card, there is no need to visit the bank. There is also no need to wait in the queue just to talk to a bank representative. When you apply business credit card online, all you have to do is to select the business credit card option that would perfectly suit your small business or corporate credit requirements right from the comforts of your home or office. Aside from offering safe, secured, and simple processes that are designed help you take care of your starting business, most business credit cards online offer accessible features for the convenience of the business credit card holder like the online payment and reporting. Customized company logos and access to instant cash are also available on line. Other business credit card online offers detailed reporting features for easy monitoring and access.
Most business credit card applications offer free fee for the first year and no pre-set spending limit or finance charges. Other business credit card offers viable membership rewards program that enables the member to earn points towards travel, merchandise and other rewards for his or her business. Some of these business credit cards offer small businesses a line of credit up to $100,000 at a competitive APR as low as prime + 1.99% for both cash and check purchases; 100% of the line is available as cash and no collateral is required. The business credit card holder or customer might receive fee-free checks as well as a card to access the account. Everyday savings or exclusive savings, express approvals, no annual fee, up to 5 percent rebates on all qualified purchases, and 0% introductory annual percentage rate (APR) on purchases during first half of the year of card membership are some of the great offers of most business credit cards.
Although majority of the business credit card issuers offer great value deals, it is very important to research first what does your business needs. Whether your business credit card is meant for investing in inventory or just for payroll, it is significant to look for a flexible business credit card that can handle almost anything. Whether you opt to go directly to the bank or apply for a business credit card online, a number of premier business credit card suppliers are there to help you find the right credit card product as easy and convenient as possible.
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