Personal Narrative Essay -- Essays Papers

Individual Narrative I was wounded, chomped, and beat up, and I cherished it. The weekend had totally made my late spring and filled in a piece of my character that I never knew existed. My ruler salmon angling trip showed me steadiness, trust, resilience, and that it isn't generally the trophy, yet rather the excursion you bring the way. Each late spring that I return to Michigan, my cousin Lance and I take an angling trip. This year we were after the huge ones, lord salmon, running up the Manistee River. I was energized at this point a little restless about the endeavor that lay in front of us. For quite a long time before we left, Lance and the entirety of his companions perplexed my brain with awfulness stories from their past endeavors at these strong fish. Chris, a major brawny man with tattoo sleeves, filled me with the most dread. The prior year, he had guided into a ruler that had really pulled him under a log jam and afterward snapped the line. Being half of his size, I figured I would be water skiing down the waterway, being towed by these scaled beasts. How was I ever going to endure this excursion? At the point when the day showed up to leave, I was for the most part simply energized and all set, in any event until I discovered that Lance’s sweetheart, Amber, was going to follow along. I have never met a lady as super cold as she may be. I have known her for about seven years, and she has been going out with Lance for nearly 12 months, however she despite everything has no issue experiencing a whole night without saying a word to me or any one else, including Lance. It’s not that she is timid, she is simply totally snobby. She doesn’t even like angling. What was she doing going on this outing? Be that as it may, I chose to suck it up and make the most of my break on the stream. We got together the entirety of our provisions and took off on Friday eveni... ...o I needed to depend on Lance to get me home safe. The hardest piece of the excursion was managing Amber. I needed to figure out how to function with somebody that I didn’t coexist with at all piece. To overcome the end of the week in any case, I needed to rely on her for specific things. One of the most significant qualities that I got was simply the capacity to giggle. At the point when I tumbled down I had two alternatives, I could blow up and cry, or I could get up and ignore it. I picked the subsequent choice and have brought it through into my consistently life. This is an ability that I will use for a mind-blowing remainder. Finally, by not handling a fish I had the option to welcome the excursion for the experience rather than the trophy toward the end. This is something that everybody could use to assist them with getting a charge out of life for the easily overlooked details. I realize that my lord salmon angling trip assisted with improving me.

Making Cokes Brand Fizz (Coca-Colas Future Marketing)

Question: Portray about the Making Cokes Brand Fizz (Coca-Colas Future Marketing)? Answer: 1. The Coca-Cola Company has an incredible commitment towards the Irish nation. The organization give occupations to the 900 and ten individuals (pound 15m), likewise adds to the Irish crude materials, Irish administrations like showcasing and transport. This represents pound 90 m turnovers back to the Irish economy (Snowdon, 2015). 2. The item life pattern of the electronic merchandise 3. The above chart shows the existence pattern of the distinctive electronic merchandise. The above item cycle shows the various periods of electronic products, for example, presentation, development, development, immersion and afterward decay. The chart shows the deals of the item as per present time. 4. The global LUX cleanser organization follows the age of the idea, at that point to build up the item, the market investigation of the item and afterward the promoting o the item lastly propelling the new brand item. The examination procedure includes the SWOT investigation. The showcasing of the new item is finished by brand underwriting, promotions, and so on. 5. Situating another item in the market is troublesome. Coca-Cola situated its item as the main soda pop that can give the incredible taste of Cola with just n one calorie. Prior eating routine and low-calorie drinks were just accessible for ladies. In any case, Coke is intended for the two people. Likewise, the famous signature tune is a preferred position for the showcasing of the item (Brownsell, 2011). 6. The organization utilizes the subjective and the quantitative investigation that helps the organization in discover numerous things identified with the promoting of the item to the responses of the shoppers to the different ads. The subjective examination includes the conversation about the item between 2 to 8 individuals for a couple of hours. Quantitative examination is typically done by the administration in a bigger scope by utilizing a survey that is about explicit inquiries. Along these lines the organization monitors new patterns. 7. Coca-Cola has as of late propelled a promotion for its Diet Coke brand. It hopes to cheer ladies to grasp their hasty side. The ad that is indicating now a days on the TV denotes a measure change from the manly model that set apart in the prior Diet Coke Break ads, as the gigantic hopes to convince ladies to develop positive every day encounters and to follow up without really thinking. This specific TV notice, the imprint sensationalizes a female characters snapshot of hesitation, however after the admission of the eating regimen Coke then she picks up her certainty and follows up without much forethought. A print promotion depicts lively anecdotes about kinship, style and connections. References list: Brownsell, A. (2011). Making Cokes brand bubble (Coca-Colas future showcasing plans with regards to its 125th anniversary).Strategic Direction,27(10). doi:10.1108/sd.2011.05627jaa.004 Snowdon, C. (2015). Resident Coke: The Making of Coca-Cola Capitalism by Bartow J. Elmore. W.W. Norton (2015), 432 pp. ISBN: 978-0393241129 (hb, 17.99).Economic Affairs,35(2), 320-322. doi:10.1111/ecaf.12118

Checking Your Credit vs. Checking Your Ability to Repay

Checking Your Credit vs. Checking Your Ability to Repay Checking Your Credit vs. Checking Your Ability to Repay Checking Your Credit vs. Checking Your Ability to RepayIf you have bad credit, then you have to be on the lookout for predatory lenders, so start looking for lenders who check your ability to repay the money youre borrowing.For people with good credit, any loan they take out is going to come with a credit check. They’re not too worried about it because, well, they have good credit! Check away, lenders and landlords! No skeletons in these here closets.But for people with bad credit, the situation is totally different. The requirement that a lender checks their credit means they might as well not apply. Besides, a hard credit check will actually lower your score slightly, and a bad credit score needs all the help it can get.When folks with bad credit need a loan, they often end up settling for bad credit loans and no credit check loans. These loans don’t come with credit checks, but they do come with much higher rates than standard personal loans. Some of them can be downright pred atory, trapping borrowers in a dangerous cycle of debt.That doesn’t have to happen, though! There are bad credit loans out there that can provide helpful bridge financing for someone who’s in a bind. If you have bad credit, it’s all about finding the right bad credit loan. And a good place to start is by finding a lender who, even though they aren’t checking your credit, still checks your ability to repay.How do bad credit loans work?Bad credit loans are a little different from regular personal loans. Since they’re meant for folks with poor credit scores, they see much higher default rates than loans that are aimed at people with prime scores. As such, bad credit loans come with much higher interest rates to counteract those higher rates of default.Many bad credit loans, like payday loans  cash advances, and title loans are extremely short-term loans, with average repayment periods of only two weeks. They’re small-dollar loans, too; while rates will vary from lender to l ender and from state to state, short-term payday loans aren’t usually offered for more than a few hundred dollars.These short-term loans are paid off in a single lump sum, and they charge interest as a flat fee at an average rate of $15 per $100 borrowed. (In terms of APR, that adds up to 391 percent on a two-week loan!) If you borrowed a $400 cash advance at a 15 percent interest rate, you’d pay it back in a single payment of $460 on the loan’s due date.There are also bad credit installment loans, which are structured like regular personal loans, just with higher interest rates. The interest for bad credit installment loans is accrued over time, and they come with an amortizing payment structure, which means that every payment you make goes towards both the principal amount owed and the interest.How do credit checks work?When a traditional lender is assessing a loan application, they want to see whether or not the borrower in question is likely to repay their loan. One of the best ways that they have to determine this is by checking the person’s credit.This doesn’t just mean checking their credit score, either. A “hard” check on a person’s credit score will return a copy of their credit report as well.Credit reports are documents maintained by the major credit reporting agencies that track your history as a borrower. The information on those reports is used to create people’s credit scores, and getting a copy of someone’s credit report allows a lender to get a full view of their credit history.Recent credit inquiries make up 10 percent of your overall score. Anytime a hard credit check is made on your history, that check is, itself, recorded on your credit report. Applications for new credit usually temporarily ding a persons score by 5 points or so, and many checks in a short-period can lower it even more.“Soft” credit checks, on the other hand, return far less information than a hard credit check, but they also don’t get reported o n a person’s credit report and they don’t affect their score.Finding a lender who checks your ability to repay.All of the loans mentioned in the first section of this post don’t require a hard credit check as a part of their application process. But some of these lenders don’t do anything else to verify whether a borrower can afford the loan they’re applying for. That’s where things get risky.With short-term payday cash advances, it can actually be very difficult for many customers to pay these loans back on time. Those lump sum repayments can blow a large hole in many people’s monthly budgets, leading them to roll over their loan or take out a new loan in order to make ends meet.This is how people end up trapped in a cycle of debt, continually incurring new interest fees and charges in order to, essentially, borrow the same amount of money over and over again. They throw money at their loan every couple of weeks without ever getting closer to getting out of debt.Some lenders will issue a loan to almost anyone who applies, regardless of whether they can afford that loan or not. Other lenders will run a soft credit check, verify a borrower’s income, or perform other underwriting measures to ensure that borrowers can reasonably pay back the money they’re borrowing.If you have bad credit and need a loan to cover emergency expenses, find a lender who checks your ability to repay. It’ll help you steer clear of a dangerous payday debt trap and stay on the road to getting debt-free.Want to improve your score and stop worrying about credit checks? Then  check out these related posts and articles from OppLoans:How to Raise Your Credit Score by 100 PointsNo Credit Card? Here Are 6 Ways You Can Still Fix Your Credit ScoreCredit Utilization Ratio: What It Is, Why It’s Important, and How to Master ItWhy You Should NOT Close That Old Credit CardDo you have a personal finance question youd like us to answer? Let us know! You can find us  on  Facebook  a nd  Twitter.  |Instagram

Learning Disabilities And How It Affects People And The...

In today’s world, we recognize many kinds of learning disabilities that affect people and the way they learn. Particularly, many studies like to focus on these learning disabilities and how they affect students in our education systems. A learning disability is defined as a condition that causes difficulties in acquiring skills and knowledge to the same level as others of the same age and many students today suffer from learning disabilities, both severe and mild. In order to better teach these students, the standard protocol used to be to take these students, classify them as â€Å"special education,† and place them in special education classes outside of the general curriculum. This often resulted in these students being singled out with a negative stigma and the students, both those with disabilities and those without, not receiving as high a quality of education as they could have been. Today, it is much more common to see an inclusion classroom in schools. An inclu sion classroom is a general education classroom with both special education students and general education students, combined into one class that works together. This is a much more humane way of teaching and provides numerous benefits for students of all kinds. For students with disabilities, the benefits of being placed in an inclusion classroom are many. One of the benefits that students with severe or mild disabilities often see when placed into a general education classroom is the fact that they get to seeShow MoreRelatedEssay about The Struggles Facing LD Students1306 Words   |  6 PagesFacing LD Students Students with learning disabilities are a part of the educational system and they always will be. These students have a single goal in mind, but their disability and social barriers keep them from it. On the other hand, educators have pledged to teach all students, but some fail to teach LD students. This represents an ethical, moral, and legal breakdown of their responsibilities. Educators need to be properly trained and aware of how to meet the needs of these students. TheRead MoreA Learning Disability At A Young Age976 Words   |  4 PagesA learning disable is a term used to describe a disorder that can affect how a person s learns. There are many different disabilities and levels, severity and they all affect people in different ways. These most commonly causes problems with math known as dyscalculia, one of the most common reading disabilities is dyslexia, and problems with writing which is known as dysgraphia. It is very important to remember that having a disability does not mean a person is less capable, it just means thatRead MoreSped Team1094 Words   |  5 PagesCanyon University SPED Team Intellectual disabilities (ID) in education require proper planning, collaboration, communication, accommodations, modified lessons, and detailed individualized instructions. Intellectual disabilities affect many aspect of a person daily life with a variety of emotional, mental, social, and physical characteristics (Joseph P. Kennedy Jr. Foundation, n.d.). Intellectual disabilities are also known as mental retardation (National Institute of HealthRead MoreLearning Disabilities And The Early Stages Of A Disability1650 Words   |  7 PagesAbstract Learning disabilities are something a lot of people have to do it. It is a problem that affects many people around the world, and causes a lot of frustration. This people will cover the general definition of what other s ability is, and explain a little bit what it is. It will also go over some myths that are prevalent when it comes to her and Billy s learning disabilities. It will cover the criteria that needs to be met to receive the proper diagnosis and treatment for a child or youngRead MoreAttention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder ( Adhd )897 Words   |  4 Pagescommon learning disability in kids today. It is not a new disorder but it is a disorder that is more and more kids are being diagnosed with, as well as misdiagnosed with. Researchers are still trying to find the cause of ADHD and the best treatment for with kids with this learning disability. Being diagnosed with ADHD can hinder a child’s learning and even their progression in school if not caught at an early age . According to National Center for Learning Disabilities article â€Å"How ADHD Affects Learning†Read MoreEvaluate Two Models of Disability in Terms of Explaining the Concept of Disability.1613 Words   |  7 PagesEvaluate two models of disability in terms of explaining the concept of disability. Medical model;-- Weaknesses;-- There are many weaknesses of the medical model. One of the weaknesses that I am going to talk about is that in some cases people see the medical model as an insult due to the fact that the model tries to ‘fix’ people with a disability instead of making adjustments and adaptions to environments, activities etc†¦ for them. Due to the fact that the medical model is trying to ‘fix’ tem, mayRead MoreChildren And Disabled Students With Disabilities950 Words   |  4 Pagesquestioned how students with disabilities feel? Have you question why students with disabilities are excluded from classrooms. Not everyone is passionate about bringing students with disabilities into a normal classroom environment. Let s begin with defining the terms students with disabilities. Students with disabilities mean children or students who require special education because of: autism; communication disorders; emotional disturbances; hearing impairments, specific learning disabil ities; traumaticRead MoreIndividuals With Disabilities Education Act1688 Words   |  7 Pages INDIVIDUALS WITH DISABILITIES EDUCATION ACT IDEA - - - - A law ensuring services to children with disabilities throughout the nation. IDEA governs how states and public agencies provide early intervention, special education, and related services to more than 6.5 million eligible infants, toddlers, children, and youth with disabilities. http://idea.ed.gov/ IDEA -Was originally enacted by Congress in 1975 to ensure that children with disabilities have the opportunity to receive a free appropriateRead MoreEducational Policies For Inclusive Education1701 Words   |  7 Pagesdivide in the quality and amount of education that people with disabilities are receiving compared to their counterparts: Nearly 70% of adults with intellectual disabilities have less than a high school education. Only 15.5% have participated in any kind of post-secondary education. 22.5% of children with intellectual disabilities have had to leave their community to attend school. Two-thirds of school-aged children with intellectual disabilities are segregated in special classes or schools someRead MoreUnit 201 Essay954 Words   |  4 Pagesindividuals with learning disabilities (LD 201) OUTCOME 1 Understand the legislation and policies that support the human rights and inclusion of individuals with learning disabilities. 1.1. Identify four legislation and policies that are designed to promote the human rights, inclusion, equal life chances and citizenship of individuals with learning disabilities National Health Service and Community Care Act 1990; Disability Discrimination Act 2005; Equality Act 2010; Disability Equality Duty

Advertising and Promotion - Hnd - Free Essay Example

Sample details Pages: 17 Words: 5031 Downloads: 5 Date added: 2017/09/11 Category Advertising Essay Did you like this example? Task 1a. Explain the structure, roll and relationship between parties in the communication industry. Communication industry is a collection of firms that attempt to inform, persuade and remind consumers about the products and services of various organisations. Don’t waste time! Our writers will create an original "Advertising and Promotion Hnd" essay for you Create order It is the voice of the company brands to make relationships with customers by having a feedback from them. In a communication process feedback is as much as important as the message. In this process of communication there are different types of organisations and people that accomplish various tasks to complete this cycle. We can simply them by drawing a structure as follows. The client is the organisation who needs to sell the products to target audience through an advertising campaign. They are selecting the agencies for that and discussing the plans with them for a better communication. They finance the whole process of advertising and promotions. And also evaluate and control the campaign. There are two types of agencies which are advertising and promotional. They are providing the information about the current market situation to the client organisations to achieve their targets. Advertising agencies are giving concepts and create attractive advertisements for target customers to each and every product. Promotional organisations are doing various types of promotional activities like sponsoring games and events, street promotion, promotions inside shopping centres etc. And also they are acting as an additional resource to the client organisations by doing all the administration and accountancy for the advertisements and planning, implementing, monitoring and evaluating the procedures for promotions. There are different types of media organisations which are used to provide information and persuade customers to buy products and services. Nowadays internet, television, radio, magazines and news papers are providing most of the information to customers. When choosing a media for advertising agencies should know the cost, target audience media habits, product and message characteristics for better performance. There are such organisations that are providing extra services to advertising campaigns. Some of them are printing media, promotional gift suppliers, exhibition organisers, coordinators for promotional activities. They are an extra category to support the process and sometimes cover the whole part of the campaign. Target audience is the most important part of the advertising process which can be mass market, special market or niche market. Client should be very careful when selecting the media and the advertising concepts for the products according to the target market. They can get the feedback from them for the improvements and free publicity from them if it is an attractive and worth product for their money. In this whole process the client and agencies are having a direct relationship to accomplish the tasks. But target customers are having an indirect relationship with client through the media. And some promotional activities customers are having an indirect relationship through agencies or special service providers. That is an easiest way of getting feedback immediately by evaluating the customer rates. Task 1b. Identify the current trends in advertising and promotion and evaluate their impact. Nowadays the advertising and promotional market is more competitive than past. There are lot of agencies which provide information to customers for their accomplishment of needs. And also more clients are using advertising as a specific way to introduce and promote their products and services. People are using easy ways to gather information like television, internet, radio etc. And the media is doing a huge task to communicate the people through their advertisements. Most of the clients are doing direct marketing through the internet by direct mailing to all the service users of mail browsers such as yahoo, Google, etc. And also they are using community web sites like My space, Face book, Twitter to promote and advertise their products. Some of the advertisements are coming as pop ups when we are opening another web site or when we are working in another web site. Some clients are using public places to promote the products. Ordinary billboards are used in special ways such as flashing screens and some parts are coming through the boards to front or side. And also they are using public spaces to show their advertisements such as garbage cans, parking meters, elevators, airline snack packages, toilets, bicycle racks etc. In the shopping centres some promotional campaigns are taking place to persuade customers to their products. And also the name boards of shops are using as an advertising tool. The clients are providing the boards free of charge with their name on it and pay for the shop owner to promoting their products. The same thing is doing by using public transport services and private coaches also. Nowadays advertisements are very attractive and using less time. And also they are using musical backgrounds to attract customer concern. And also clients are using music videos to promote their products. In music videos we can see some products are showing by the actors and musicians for the purpose of persuading the customers. And also they are sponsoring reality shows like X factor, got talent etc. Some elide class products are promoting in fashion shows, parties for high class people and some first class shopping malls and hotels because their target market is different than the mass market. From all of these current trends we can recognize the advertising industry is more competitive and target oriented. And also people are having a habit of getting information through the campaigns. Task 1c. Use models to assess the impact of advertising and promotion on customer behaviour. Advertising and promotion is the major key to introduce and remind the products to the customers in a persuading way. The first model is a simple model that shows the exchange between marketing company and the customer. This simple model of exchange gives the main idea in a market place that information and money flows throughout the procedures. Marketing company promotes the products and services and when the customer gets that information he buys the products which lead the company to get revenue. Simultaneously marketing company get the feedback from the customers which is more valuable for future plans. But this model is not having a higher persuading power among the mass market although it gives the information about the products and services. If they used attractive advertising campaigns it would be more profitable and it can change the buyer behaviour. The other effective models are response hierarchy models that describe the three mental stages of a human that need to be passed to buy a product. These stages are, †¢ Cognitive †¢ Effective †¢ Behaviour The first model is called AIDA. It describes the desire that build in the customers to purchase the products and services. In this model advertising and promotion is used to make an attention about the products in customers mind and interest in features. Then a desire is growing in the mind to buy the product. This is an effective way to persuading customers to change their behaviour to buy different products. There is another model in hierarchy called DAGMER. It persuades the customers by giving the awareness of the products and services in a comprehensive way. This is more effective in innovated products that want to be informed entirely to customers. By considering all the models of advertising and promoting the products and services there is a huge impact on customers to choose their day today needs and wants. As there are multiple choices in the market customers can change their buying behaviour by gaining the information from most attractive advertisements and promotion campaigns. And also it changes the mind of the customer to buy not only their needs and wants but also the luxurious products and services to comfort thier life style. Task 2a. Explain and demonstrate how advertising can be designed to differentiate, remind, inform and persuade. Advertising is a form of presenting and promoting the ideas, goods or services to the mass through several media such as television, magazines, news papers, radio, internet etc. It is used by business and non profit organizations to communicate their ideas and information about their products, services and events. Most of the organisations doing their advertising campaigns through agents. But some mega companies such as Coca cola, Unilever have their own advertising departments. The advertising process can be briefly explained as follows; [pic] The objective of the advertising process is to fulfil the task of communicating the message to the target market in an effective way. So that advertising companies are used three different ways to design their advertisements. These are; †¢ Inform †¢ Persuade †¢ Remind The informative advertising is used to give the information about the new products and services to the market. It gives all the features of the products such as price, performance, company details, available places, and so on. And also this design is used to re launch the old products with modern features and services. As an example when a company introduces technical products such as new mobile phones, the advertisement includes all the added features and the operating information. The persuading advertising is used to attract the customers to a certain brand or category of products which has lots of competitors in the market. These advertisements show the benefits of using the products and services to convince the customers to buy their brands. And they are trying to differentiate their products from the other brands by comparing directly or indirectly. Most of the supermarkets such as Tesco, Sainsbury’s, Asda, and Morrisons are also use these types of advertisements to compare their goods and services with others. The reminder advertising is used to remind the customers about well established products and services to maintain the interest and awareness to do their business smoothly without any failures. The world famous brands such as Coca cola, Carlsberg, and Sony spend most of their profits for advertising and promotional techniques to maintain their position in the market. Nowadays advertising is used to differentiate the same products in different brands such as milk, yoghurt, chocolate, cosmetics, shampoo, garments etc. And also retailers entered into databases in web sites such as compare. com, confused. com to compare their products with the others and give the privilege to the customer to choose the right product at right price. Task 2b. Evaluate appropriate uses and applications for advertising in two given situations. Advertising is used in different situations to convey the ideas of clients in different media. In every situation client must use appropriate ideas and concepts and also the media to attract the consumer’s attention for fulfilling the objectives. I. Advertising of changes and novelty When introducing a new product to the market advertising is doing a major role of giving information and attract the consumers to the product as well as adding new features to the existing products. If the products are innovative, inventions or new introduces advertising campaign must be more informative rather than giving confused ideas about the product. The house hold products such as television, car, radio, IT products, luxury products are fully depend on the attractive advertising. When consumer gets the idea of using the new products they try to change their behaviour to enter the innovative features of new products. In that case company should be careful about the price, distribution and awareness of the product that affects consumer’s buying behaviour. When doing advertising campaign it should be clear and to the exact point for products that available in the market. It also should show the importance and benefits of using the new brand. II. Advertising in competitive markets This is important to maintain the market share and the consumers’ awareness and preferences in competitive world. And also it helps for producers to stable in the market. This type of advertising is used where many alternative products and brands are existing for same functional situations such as basic needs of consumers. For gain the market share clients use comparison and criticism in their advertisements. Large supermarkets focus their advertisements for comparing the prices of a shopping basket with the competitors. It is more suitable because people are price sensitive and there are no legal issues for comparison. Other than that competitors use huge promotional campaigns for their declining products through daily news papers, magazines, TV channels as well as their own business premises to maintain and build their market share. Task 2. c Evaluate the role, organisation and functions of agencies in the advertising process. Advertising agency is a service provider to a company that need to sell their products to the market through advertisements or promotions. The agencies are independent from the client and make the plan, create the advertisement, and sometimes do the promotions after doing a market research. There are several types of agencies in advertising field such as; †¢ Full service agencies This provides a full service to the client such as planning, creating, producing, choosing and buying media for the advertisement. And also sometimes implement the promotional techniques and market researches. It’s providing a combination of all the activities that client doesn’t want to go here and there for achieving the target. †¢ In house agencies Some organisations have their own advertising departments to handle all the activities to create and implement the advertisements. It’s called as in house and more suitable for worldwide organisations such as Coca cola, KFC etc. †¢ Creative hot shops These agencies are providing the creative ideas and solutions to produce the advertisements and plans for implementing it in an attractive way. †¢ Media independents These are media experts who plan and buy the media for advertisements. They buy the air time from TV, radio and other sources and sell them to clients for implementing their advertisements. †¢ A le carte These agencies are providing service packages to the clients as they can choose the different services from them. Some includes market research, planning and creating. And some includes the producing the advertisements with them. Advertising agency must complete several functions to accomplish the task of the clients. They have different departments to do the accounting, research, creative planning, and media planning. †¢ Account Management This is the connection between the agency and the client to handle all the decisions regarding the advertising campaign. It’s representing the client’s point of view in the agency and understands the business, marketing needs and build up the strategies to accomplish client’s objective. Creative Team The designing part is being done by creative team. It has the responsibility to generate the ideas, design the concepts and finally make the advertisement as much as attractive to the target market. And also it should be described the client’s need of advertising. For that creative team is consisting of graphic designers, computer programmers, copy writers, audio and film producers and so on. †¢ Researches This is used to assess client’s market situation, customer views and competitors before doing an advertising campaign. And also they assess advertising concepts in early stage of advertising with selected members of the target market to choose the most appropriate concepts. After implementing the advertisements researches are taken place to measure the success of the campaign and identify the barriers. †¢ Media Planners Media department has two major functions which are planning and buying. They should plan the size, cost structure, time schedules and all the major work of the advertisement. And also buy the best media for the campaign that more attractive to the target market and negotiate the best deals with them. Full service agencies are dealing with all the functions of advertising. Rather than using a full service agency clients can use creative hot shops for specialist creative ideas. And also media independents for all the media work and so on. Sometimes it gains benefits for the campaign. Task 3. a b Differentiate between the characteristics and objectives of the various below-the-line promotional techniques  and  recommend the use of individual techniques in two commercial situations. Below the line promotional techniques are short term, non media promotion which is largely persuaded the consumers to change their buying behaviour. It can be more effective when pressurized the marketing team to work in a limited budget for a given objective and also cost efficient to communicate with the target market for various products. It is important to promote fast moving consumer goods as well as the industrial products. The most common below the line techniques are; [pic] †¢ Personal Selling Most of the telecommunication networks use this below the line technique to increase the customer base and the market share. They use different types of sales forces to deal with the customers directly. Some are working inside the premises and making contacts via telephone and e-mails. We can observe their work in last months of a mobile contract period as they trying to keep the existing customers by giving full details about new offers and services and also new models of phones which they can gain free of charge. Some of the sales forces go to the customer and persuade them to buy the products and services. We can see them in big shopping centres, at the bus stops in busy areas, and fun fairs etc. And also pharmaceutical companies use the sales representatives to inform their brands and various medicines to physicians and other pharmacies as a part of personal selling. Some organisations use to maintain a contractual sales force including agents, dealers, and brokers who get the commission for their sale. †¢ Public Relations Business organisations use this technique to persuade and remind the customers about their products and services. They use several methods according to the target market and the opportunity they can act more powerfully. We can observe in worldwide games such as foot ball and cricket, companies are sponsoring for the matches to gain a huge customer base and persuade them to buy their brand by growing a brand image. Most of them are sporty brands such as Coca cola, Nike, Adidas, Gillette, etc. Some organisations use exhibitions to display the items and services with full details to attract customers. Most of the exhibitions based on a subject as wedding, art, antique, and so on. In a wedding exhibition we can see all the industries are coming together such as clothing, floral arrangements, filming and photo albums, party ware, make up and cosmetics, food and serving and all the essential event takers. So it is useful and customers can make choices among all the competitors in a one place and also companies can get more benefits as they can directly contact to the people who interest on their products. †¢ Sales Promotion This is the most common way of promoting the products and services nowadays and customers are attracting to it so much. Most of the products use the method of half price as they want to increase their sales and also they use 3 for 2 method that customer can get 3 goods at the price of 2. All these numerical efforts are using to attract the customers to certain product lines and remain their brand names. All fast moving and competitive goods are using these types of promotions to get the competitive advantage. And also supermarkets use various methods to increase their sales as a whole. As an example we can see the Club cards in Tesco, Nector cards in Sainsbury’s, Bonus cards in Iceland which customers can collect points over their buying and get benefits such as vouchers, gifts, discounts when they reach to a certain level of points. And also they use the seasonal promotions such as Christmas, summer, Halloween, valentine, to attract the customers by giving competitive discounts. Direct Marketing These types of techniques are used in several organisations to market their product to the target customers in a well organised direct way. When launching new high class products such as jaguar, Aston martin, D G, they use direct selling as a conference or fashion show for high class people who can afford those products. And also companies use this technique to sell machinery and ot her equipments to another company by direct appointments and showing the products and usage to a selected range of customers. Advertising and all these below the line techniques are used in different ways in different organisations as we know the competence is so high and new products and services are coming to the market day by day. The organisations which use all the tactics and strategies to fulfil their objectives can survive in the market without fear of the competitors. All the others are losing their market share and customer base because they can’t compete with the newly developed brands that provide more customer satisfaction. Advertising and promotion is all about giving the opportunity to the customer to choose the suitable product or service at a reasonable price at the right time. The industry of communication is the way to achieve the customers in their busy lives to inform, remind and persuade them to lead the buying behaviour as they required. So that most attractive and competitive organisations can make the images of customers’ minds by using all these promotional campaigns. | | | | | | [HSBC sRILANKA] | | | Task 4. a Explain the principles and process of campaign management. Task 4 (b,c,d) Develop a promotional plan for a commercial Organisation. Use appropriate techniques. Also include how your campaign’s effectiveness will be measured. Process of Campaign Management †¢ Assess marketing communication opportunities. In this section we are to visualize the expectations of the target market. This is considered as the most important step of Campaign management. Furthermore we it is essential to identify to whom that we should send our message, whether it is to the current consumers, financial supporters or general public. †¢ Determine your objectives The chosen target market has to be captured by launching promotional campaigns by using short term or long term, deciding the ideal promotional campaign is based on in terms of the behaviors by people who have been integrated in our promotional communication. †¢ Determine your promotional mix The set up of the promotional mix includes as the centre where we have to create an interest among the buyers in order to make our promotional campaign a success. †¢ What communication channels to use Here we have to identify the market, demand for the product and the environment. We could use sport channels, business channels, internet popup, †¢ Develop your promotional message Developing the promotional message includes content, appeal, structure, and the format; this has to be implemented due to the target audience and the demand for the product or the service. †¢ Develop your promotional budget Here we have to set up the budget for the whole campaign, this includes all the aforesaid processes and especially the media planning and the mix of promotion that we have implemented will affect to the promotion budget directly. †¢ Determine campaign effectiveness This has to be documented by initialising the copy platform, situation analysis, and timetables. We can gain information from the reactions of the general public (target customers) whether they are satisfied with our product or service implemented by promotion campaign. CONTENT 1. Company Introduction (HSBC) 2. Company Analysis (SWOT) 3. Product Launching (Smart savings account) . Company Strategy (Pull) 5. Budget for the promotional campaign 6. Promotion Mix 7. Media Planning 8. Time table for the promotional plan 9. Evaluation Measurement HSBC –Sri Lanka HSBC-â€Å"Hong Kong and Shanghai Banking corporation† known as the worlds local bank, was incorporated in 1865 in Hongkong as a small bank with limi ted share holders and with a few customer base in the banking sector. In 19†s the organisation spread their network throughout the world by incorporating the bank in Asia Pacific – (1028 Branches), and Middle East Africa ( 275 Branches)Europe,( 2598 Branches) and America ( 4692 Branches). The HSBC became the one of the largest bank in today’s financial sector during the last decades HSBC started their operation in Colombo srilanka in July 1892 is one of the first banks in srilanka. HSBC has now spread their network everywhere with 24 express banking centres 14 branches. The premier centre is situated in the heart of the city. HSBC is the number one financial organizations in Srilanka who has the highest capital strength among the private banks. The main competitors of the HSBC are the Standard Charted Bank Commercial Bank. In addition to that there are number of local government banks The SWOT Analysis of HSBC Sri Lanka. The Strength: †¢ HSBC (The Brand name) is a multinational organization †¢ Recognized all over the world. †¢ The employees the high quality service they provide is strength for the organization. †¢ Banking facilities such as internet banking, 24 hour customer service, phone banking, and international money transfer service. Weaknesses: †¢ Does not have an island wide presence. †¢ All the branches are situated in the city of Colombo †¢ The native language (Mother language) does not use in any documents in the bank day to day activities. Opportunities: Opportunity to approach the untouched markets which are average income people low income people. †¢ In the existing market all the other banks are offering interest rates under 6% for savings accounts. But the HSBC has the opportunity capture the market by introducing a savings account with a higher interest rate. Threats: †¢ High Competition †¢ The p erception the image on HSBC is not positive among the community. People think it is a risk to invest in a private bank it is expensive. Most of them prefer to save their money in local government banks. The New Product:- Smart Savings. Product launching date: 14th February 2010 The promotional plan is for the newly introduce saving account which is known as Smart Savings. †¢ â€Å"Smart savings account has introduced as a teenage savings account with an attractive interest rate of 8% per annum the initial deposit required Rs 5,000. †¢ The savings account holders will be entitled for all the facilities which is providing by the bank. Promotional Plan for Launch the â€Å"SAMRT SAVINGS ACCOUNT† The Objectives of the promotional Plan. †¢ Differentiate the savings account from what others banks are offering †¢ Remind the â€Å"SMART Savings† when they are in the process of searching savings accounts information. Inform about the new product benefit †¢ Persuade the target group to open the savings account with HSBC. Type of the Campaign †¢ The campaign will run for three months. †¢ Burst Campaign for first two weeks the campaign will run with high frequency parallel with the product launch. †¢ Drip Campaign will run for remain ten weeks with less frequency. The promotional strategy that we are using for this campaign is Pull Strategy. Pull strategy Pull strategy is a part of promotional activity targeting at end consumers. This is persuading the target group by using below promotional mix †¢ Advertising. Sales promotions. †¢ personal selling †¢ Direct marketing Sponsorships. †¢ Public Relations The Budget The setup budget for the whole campaign is Rs 25 million. (? 1=Rs 185. 00) The factors which considered in order to determined the above budget are. †¢ The objectives of the campaign. †¢ The size of the target audience †¢ Based on previous year budget. organization perfor mance †¢ Based on competitors activities. [pic] The Promotional Mix Advertising Advertising is the main part of the promotion mix, and it`s uses various media to deliver the message to the customer. Advertising uses to create awareness. Therefore, they do use many methods of advertising to retain existing customers as well as to get the attention of new customers. HSBC could use different media to communicate their target audience. Such as; ? Television,: ? News Paper ? Bill boards, ? Sports Magazines/Fashion magazines ? Internet. Advertising in face book/ Yahoo /Google Sales promotions. This is short term method which most frequently used techniques in the market, which mainly concern of quantity of sales of a particular product. This mainly target to attract the fresh customer base. Examples: ? Free gifts for every account open during first month ? Bank will deposit Rs 500 as an opening amount if any account opens within first 2 weeks. ? All the account holders will entitled for a raffle draw to win a holiday package to Singapore with the best friend ? All the account holders can apply for a student loan for 10% interest rate. Personal selling Direct mails ? Sales presentations in Colleges ? Sales calls to HSBC existing customers who has teen age kids Public relation Sponsorships Public Relations help to tell good things about the organization to their target audience. Effective PR creates an emotional feeling in customers mind positive image. ? 0. 05% of the profit will contribute to the teenagers in Northern part of Sri Lanka who are affected by the civil war ? Sponsoring for inter school rugby tournaments/Cricket matches/Netball matches Types of Media Media Planning. Frequency Reach are the most important factors to be considered when deciding on media. Electronic Media: Advertising in Television: Advertising in sports channels/ Advertising in music channels Burst Campaign: Run spot advertisements every 15 minutes run detailed advertisement every 15 minutes continuously for two weeks (Between 5PM 8PM every week days) †¢ Run detailed advertisement in every one hour from 10 AM in the morning till 7 PM on weekends ( For two weeks) Drip Campaign †¢ Run Detailed advertisement every two hours between 5Pm to 10 PM week days for rest of 10 weeks â⠂¬ ¢ Run detailed advertisement in every one hour from 10 AM in the morning till 7 PM on weekends ( For the rest of 10 weeks) Radio Advertisement: †¢ Sponsoring for the karaoke singing competition organized by the radio channel Sponsoring for beach parties organized by the Youth radio channel ( Y FM) Electronic Moving Screen: †¢ Display advertisements in moving screens close by the main colleges in the city. Print Media †¢ News papers †¢ Magazines: Fashion magazines Sport Magazines †¢ Bus advertising †¢ Hoardings Bill boards Internet: Advertising in face book / yahoo / Google / hotmail |Time Table For The Promotional Plan Of SMART SAVINGS | | | | | | W 1 |W2 |W 3 |W 4 |W 1 |W 2 |W 3 |W 4 |W 1 |W 2 |W 3 |W 4 | |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   | |Initial Research |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   | |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |à ‚   | |Evaluation of search results |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   | | Planning |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   | |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   | |Pre Advertising |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   | |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   | |Product Launch |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   | |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   | |Post Advertising |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   | |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   | |Evaluation Measurements |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   | | Evaluation and measurement of the promotional campaign for the smart saving account The success of our promotional campaign of promoting smart savings accounts for the teenagers, can be measured by achieve the following factors, ? The number of new savings accounts that have been open during the promotional campaign. ? Number of feed backs received regarding the saving accounts. ? Numbers of accounts opening application forms that have been obtain by customers. ? The improvement of the customer based during the promotional period. ? The profit earned by the organisation during the promotional period and it’s contributed for the ultimate profit of the organisation.

London Ambulance Service Failure Free Essays

The London Ambulance fiasco ? The London Ambulance Service (LAS) Computer Aided Despatch (CAD) system failed dramatically on October 26th 1992 shortly after it was introduced: †¢ †¢ †¢ The system could not cope with the load placed on it by normal use; The response to emergency calls was several hours; Ambulance communications failed and ambulances were lost from the system. ? A series of errors were made in the procurement, design, implementation, and introduction of the system.  ©Ian Sommerville 2004 Software Engineering Case Studies Slide 1 London Ambulance Service ? ? Managed by South West Thames Regional Health Authority. We will write a custom essay sample on London Ambulance Service Failure or any similar topic only for you Order Now Largest ambulance service in the world (LAS inquiry report) †¢ †¢ †¢ †¢ Covers geographical area of over 600 square miles Resident population of 6. 8 million people (greater during daytime, especially central London); Carries over 5,000 patients every day; 2,000-2,500 calls received daily, of which 1,3001,600 are emergency calls.  ©Ian Sommerville 2004 Software Engineering Case Studies Slide 2 Computer-aided despatch systems ? Provide one or more of the following: †¢ †¢ †¢ Call taking; Resource identification; Resource mobilisation; Ambulance resource management. CAD software hardware; Gazetteer and mapping software; Communications interface (RIFS). Radio system; Mobile data terminals (MDTs); Automatic vehicle location system (AVLS). ? Consist of: †¢ †¢ †¢ †¢ †¢ †¢  ©Ian Sommerville 2004 Software Engineering Case Studies Slide 3 The manual system to be replaced ? Call taking †¢ Recorded on form; location iden tified in map book; forms sent to central collection point on conveyor belt; Form collected; passed onto resource allocator depending on region; duplicates identified. Resource allocator decides on which resource to be mobilised; recorded on form and passed to dispatcher; Dispatcher telephones relevant ambulance station, or passes mobilisation instructions to radio operator if ambulance already on road; ? Resource identification †¢ ? Resource mobilisation †¢ ? Whole process meant to take 3 minutes. Software Engineering Case Studies Slide 4  ©Ian Sommerville 2004 Concept/design of the CAD system ? Existing systems dismissed as inadequate and impossible to modify to meet LAS’s needs †¢ Intended functionality â€Å"greater than available from any existing system†. To consist of Computer Aided Dispatch; Computer map display; Automatic Vehicle Location System (AVLS); Must integrate with existing MDTs and RIFS (Radio Interface System). Near 100% accuracy and reliability of technology; Absolute cooperation from all parties including CAC staff and ambulance crews. ? Desired system: †¢ †¢ ? Success dependent upon: †¢ †¢  ©Ian Sommerville 2004 Software Engineering Case Studies Slide 5 Problems: Procurement (i) ? Contract had to be put out to open tender †¢ Regulations emphasis is on best price; 35 companies expressed interest in providing all or part of the system †¢ Most raised concerns over the proposed timetable of less than 1 year until full implementation. ? Previous Arthur Andersen report largely ignored †¢ †¢ Recommended budget of ? 1. 5M and 19 month timetable for packaged solution. Both estimates to be significantly increased if packaged solution not available; Report never shown to new Director of S upport Services. ? Only 1 out of 17 proposals met all of the project team’s requirements, including budget of ? 1. 5M. Software Engineering Case Studies Slide 6 Ian Sommerville 2004 Problems: Procurement (ii) ? Successful consortium †¢ †¢ †¢ Apricot, Systems Options (SO), Datatrak; bid at ? 937k was ? 700k cheaper than the nearest bid; SO’s quote for the CAD development was only ? 35k †¢ Their previous development experience for the emergency services was only for administrative systems. Ambiguity over lead contractor. Systems manager: Career ambulance man, not an IT professional, already told that he was to make way for a properly qualified systems manager; Analyst: Contractor with 5 years experience working with LAS. ? 2 key members of evaluation team: †¢ †¢  ©Ian Sommerville 2004 Software Engineering Case Studies Slide 7 Problems: Project management ? Lead contractor responsible †¢ †¢ Meant to be SO, but they quickly became snowed under, so LAS became more responsible by default; No relevant experience at LAS or SO. ? ? Concerns raised at project meeting not followed-up. SO regularly late in delivering software †¢ Often also of suspect quality, with software changes put through ‘on the fly’. ? ? Formal, independent QA did not exist at any stage throughout the CAD system development. Meanwhile, various technical components of the system are failing regularly, and deadlines missed. Software Engineering Case Studies Slide 8  ©Ian Sommerville 2004 Problems: Human resources training (i) ? ? ? ? ? Generally positive attitude to the introduction of new technology. Ambiguity over consultation of ambulance crews for development of original requirements. Circumstantial evidence of resistance by crews to Datatrak equipment, and deliberate misleading of the system. Large gap between when crews and CAC staff were trained and implementation of the system. Inability of the CAC and ambulance staff to appreciate each others’ role †¢ Exacerbated by separate training sessions. Software Engineering Case Studies Slide 9  ©Ian Sommerville 2004 Problems: Human resources training (ii) ? ? ? ? ? ? ? Poor industrial relations. Management ‘fear of failure’. CAD system seen as solution to management’s desire to reduce ‘outdated’ working practices. System allocated nearest resource, regardless of originating station. System removed flexibility in resource allocation. Lack of voice contact exacerbated â€Å"them and us†. Technical problems reduced confidence in the system for ambulance crews and CAC staff.  ©Ian Sommerville 2004 Software Engineering Case Studies Slide 10 System problems Need for near perfect information †¢ Without accurate knowledge of vehicle locations and status, the system could not allocate optimum resources. There were numerous possible reasons for incorrect information being passed back to the system. Numerous technical problems with the system, including: †¢ Failure to identify all duplica ted calls; †¢ Lack of prioritisation of exception messages; †¢ Exception messages and awaiting attention queues scroll off top of screen. ? Poor interface between crews, MDTs the system †¢ ? Unreliability, slowness and operator interface †¢  ©Ian Sommerville 2004 Software Engineering Case Studies Slide 11 Configuration changes ? Implementation of the system on 26 October involved a number of significant changes to CAC operation, in particular: †¢ †¢ †¢ †¢ †¢ †¢ †¢ †¢ Re-configuring the control room; Installing more CAD terminals and RIFS screens; No paper backup system; Physically separating resource allocators from radio operators and exception rectifiers; Going ‘pan London’ rather than operating in 3 divisions; Using only the system proposed resource allocations; Allowing some call takers to allocate resources; Separate allocators for different call sources. Ian Sommerville 2004 Software Engineering Case Studies Slide 12 So, what happened? ? ? Changes to CAC operation made it extremely difficult for staff to intervene and correct the system. As a consequence, the system rapidly knew the correct location and status of fewer and fewer vehicles, leading to: †¢ †¢ †¢ †¢ Po or, duplicated and delayed allocations; A build up of exception messages and the awaiting attention list; A slow up of the system as the messages and lists built up; An increased number of call backs and hence delays in telephone answering.  ©Ian Sommerville 2004 Software Engineering Case Studies Slide 13 Why did it fail? ? Technically, the system did not fail on October 26th †¢ †¢ Response times did become unacceptable, but overall the system did what it had been designed to do! Failed 3 weeks later due to a program error – this was a memory leak where allocated memory was not completely released. Management; Union; System manager; Government. ? It depends who you ask! †¢ †¢ †¢ †¢  ©Ian Sommerville 2004 Software Engineering Case Studies Slide 14 Lessons learned ? Inquiry report makes detailed recommendations for future development of the LAS CAD system, including: †¢ †¢ †¢ †¢ †¢ †¢ Focus on repairing reputation of CAD within the service; Increasing sense of ‘ownership’ for all stakeholders; They still believe that a technological solution is required; Development process must allow fully for consultation, quality assurance, testing, training; Management and staff must have total, demonstrable, confidence in the reliability of the system; Any new system should be introduced in a stepwise approach.  ©Ian Sommerville 2004 Software Engineering Case Studies Slide 15 How to cite London Ambulance Service Failure, Papers

London Ambulance Service Failure Free Essays

The London Ambulance fiasco ? The London Ambulance Service (LAS) Computer Aided Despatch (CAD) system failed dramatically on October 26th 1992 shortly after it was introduced: †¢ †¢ †¢ The system could not cope with the load placed on it by normal use; The response to emergency calls was several hours; Ambulance communications failed and ambulances were lost from the system. ? A series of errors were made in the procurement, design, implementation, and introduction of the system.  ©Ian Sommerville 2004 Software Engineering Case Studies Slide 1 London Ambulance Service ? ? Managed by South West Thames Regional Health Authority. We will write a custom essay sample on London Ambulance Service Failure or any similar topic only for you Order Now Largest ambulance service in the world (LAS inquiry report) †¢ †¢ †¢ †¢ Covers geographical area of over 600 square miles Resident population of 6. 8 million people (greater during daytime, especially central London); Carries over 5,000 patients every day; 2,000-2,500 calls received daily, of which 1,3001,600 are emergency calls.  ©Ian Sommerville 2004 Software Engineering Case Studies Slide 2 Computer-aided despatch systems ? Provide one or more of the following: †¢ †¢ †¢ Call taking; Resource identification; Resource mobilisation; Ambulance resource management. CAD software hardware; Gazetteer and mapping software; Communications interface (RIFS). Radio system; Mobile data terminals (MDTs); Automatic vehicle location system (AVLS). ? Consist of: †¢ †¢ †¢ †¢ †¢ †¢  ©Ian Sommerville 2004 Software Engineering Case Studies Slide 3 The manual system to be replaced ? Call taking †¢ Recorded on form; location iden tified in map book; forms sent to central collection point on conveyor belt; Form collected; passed onto resource allocator depending on region; duplicates identified. Resource allocator decides on which resource to be mobilised; recorded on form and passed to dispatcher; Dispatcher telephones relevant ambulance station, or passes mobilisation instructions to radio operator if ambulance already on road; ? Resource identification †¢ ? Resource mobilisation †¢ ? Whole process meant to take 3 minutes. Software Engineering Case Studies Slide 4  ©Ian Sommerville 2004 Concept/design of the CAD system ? Existing systems dismissed as inadequate and impossible to modify to meet LAS’s needs †¢ Intended functionality â€Å"greater than available from any existing system†. To consist of Computer Aided Dispatch; Computer map display; Automatic Vehicle Location System (AVLS); Must integrate with existing MDTs and RIFS (Radio Interface System). Near 100% accuracy and reliability of technology; Absolute cooperation from all parties including CAC staff and ambulance crews. ? Desired system: †¢ †¢ ? Success dependent upon: †¢ †¢  ©Ian Sommerville 2004 Software Engineering Case Studies Slide 5 Problems: Procurement (i) ? Contract had to be put out to open tender †¢ Regulations emphasis is on best price; 35 companies expressed interest in providing all or part of the system †¢ Most raised concerns over the proposed timetable of less than 1 year until full implementation. ? Previous Arthur Andersen report largely ignored †¢ †¢ Recommended budget of ? 1. 5M and 19 month timetable for packaged solution. Both estimates to be significantly increased if packaged solution not available; Report never shown to new Director of S upport Services. ? Only 1 out of 17 proposals met all of the project team’s requirements, including budget of ? 1. 5M. Software Engineering Case Studies Slide 6 Ian Sommerville 2004 Problems: Procurement (ii) ? Successful consortium †¢ †¢ †¢ Apricot, Systems Options (SO), Datatrak; bid at ? 937k was ? 700k cheaper than the nearest bid; SO’s quote for the CAD development was only ? 35k †¢ Their previous development experience for the emergency services was only for administrative systems. Ambiguity over lead contractor. Systems manager: Career ambulance man, not an IT professional, already told that he was to make way for a properly qualified systems manager; Analyst: Contractor with 5 years experience working with LAS. ? 2 key members of evaluation team: †¢ †¢  ©Ian Sommerville 2004 Software Engineering Case Studies Slide 7 Problems: Project management ? Lead contractor responsible †¢ †¢ Meant to be SO, but they quickly became snowed under, so LAS became more responsible by default; No relevant experience at LAS or SO. ? ? Concerns raised at project meeting not followed-up. SO regularly late in delivering software †¢ Often also of suspect quality, with software changes put through ‘on the fly’. ? ? Formal, independent QA did not exist at any stage throughout the CAD system development. Meanwhile, various technical components of the system are failing regularly, and deadlines missed. Software Engineering Case Studies Slide 8  ©Ian Sommerville 2004 Problems: Human resources training (i) ? ? ? ? ? Generally positive attitude to the introduction of new technology. Ambiguity over consultation of ambulance crews for development of original requirements. Circumstantial evidence of resistance by crews to Datatrak equipment, and deliberate misleading of the system. Large gap between when crews and CAC staff were trained and implementation of the system. Inability of the CAC and ambulance staff to appreciate each others’ role †¢ Exacerbated by separate training sessions. Software Engineering Case Studies Slide 9  ©Ian Sommerville 2004 Problems: Human resources training (ii) ? ? ? ? ? ? ? Poor industrial relations. Management ‘fear of failure’. CAD system seen as solution to management’s desire to reduce ‘outdated’ working practices. System allocated nearest resource, regardless of originating station. System removed flexibility in resource allocation. Lack of voice contact exacerbated â€Å"them and us†. Technical problems reduced confidence in the system for ambulance crews and CAC staff.  ©Ian Sommerville 2004 Software Engineering Case Studies Slide 10 System problems Need for near perfect information †¢ Without accurate knowledge of vehicle locations and status, the system could not allocate optimum resources. There were numerous possible reasons for incorrect information being passed back to the system. Numerous technical problems with the system, including: †¢ Failure to identify all duplica ted calls; †¢ Lack of prioritisation of exception messages; †¢ Exception messages and awaiting attention queues scroll off top of screen. ? Poor interface between crews, MDTs the system †¢ ? Unreliability, slowness and operator interface †¢  ©Ian Sommerville 2004 Software Engineering Case Studies Slide 11 Configuration changes ? Implementation of the system on 26 October involved a number of significant changes to CAC operation, in particular: †¢ †¢ †¢ †¢ †¢ †¢ †¢ †¢ Re-configuring the control room; Installing more CAD terminals and RIFS screens; No paper backup system; Physically separating resource allocators from radio operators and exception rectifiers; Going ‘pan London’ rather than operating in 3 divisions; Using only the system proposed resource allocations; Allowing some call takers to allocate resources; Separate allocators for different call sources. Ian Sommerville 2004 Software Engineering Case Studies Slide 12 So, what happened? ? ? Changes to CAC operation made it extremely difficult for staff to intervene and correct the system. As a consequence, the system rapidly knew the correct location and status of fewer and fewer vehicles, leading to: †¢ †¢ †¢ †¢ Po or, duplicated and delayed allocations; A build up of exception messages and the awaiting attention list; A slow up of the system as the messages and lists built up; An increased number of call backs and hence delays in telephone answering.  ©Ian Sommerville 2004 Software Engineering Case Studies Slide 13 Why did it fail? ? Technically, the system did not fail on October 26th †¢ †¢ Response times did become unacceptable, but overall the system did what it had been designed to do! Failed 3 weeks later due to a program error – this was a memory leak where allocated memory was not completely released. Management; Union; System manager; Government. ? It depends who you ask! †¢ †¢ †¢ †¢  ©Ian Sommerville 2004 Software Engineering Case Studies Slide 14 Lessons learned ? Inquiry report makes detailed recommendations for future development of the LAS CAD system, including: †¢ †¢ †¢ †¢ †¢ †¢ Focus on repairing reputation of CAD within the service; Increasing sense of ‘ownership’ for all stakeholders; They still believe that a technological solution is required; Development process must allow fully for consultation, quality assurance, testing, training; Management and staff must have total, demonstrable, confidence in the reliability of the system; Any new system should be introduced in a stepwise approach.  ©Ian Sommerville 2004 Software Engineering Case Studies Slide 15 How to cite London Ambulance Service Failure, Papers