A Project Portfolio Management model adapted to non-profit organizations

As they strive towards greater professionalism in carrying out their activities, non-profit organizations (NPOs) have begun paying attention to project management. The non-profit sector (NPS) has also begun to adopt strategic planning techniques, thus making the acceptance of project portfolio management (PPM) methodology a natural consequence. This article aims to propose a project portfolio management model adapted to the context of NPOs

An Empirical Study on Decision making for Quality Requirements

[Context] Quality requirements are important for product success yet often handled poorly. The problems with scope decision lead to delayed handling and an unbalanced scope. [Objective] This study characterizes the scope decision process to understand influencing factors and properties affecting the scope decision of quality requirements. [Method] We studied one company's scope decision process over a period of five years. We analyzed the decisions artifacts and interviewed experienced engineers involved in the scope decision process. [Results] Features addressing quality aspects explicitly are a minor part (4.41%) of all features handled. The phase of the product line seems to influence the prevalence and acceptance rate of quality features. Lastly, relying on external stakeholders and upfront analysis seems to lead to long lead-times and an insufficient quality requirements scope. [Conclusions] There is a need to make quality mode explicit in the scope decision process. We propose a scope decision process at a strategic level and a tactical level. The former to address long-term planning and the latter to cater for a speedy process. Furthermore, we believe it is key to balance the stakeholder input with feedback from usage and market in a more direct way than through a long plan-driven process

Outsourcing and acquisition models comparison related to IT supplier selection decision analysis

This paper presents a comparison of acquisition models related to decision analysis of IT supplier selection. The main standards are: Capability Maturity Model Integration for Acquisition (CMMI-ACQ), ISO / IEC 12207 Information Technology / Software Life Cycle Processes, IEEE 1062 Recommended Practice for Software Acquisition, the IT Infrastructure Library (ITIL) and the Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK) guide. The objective of this paper is to compare the previous models to find the advantages and disadvantages of them for the future development of a decision model for IT supplier selection

A strategy analysis of HQCC, a competency center in SLB

This master’s thesis seeks to conduct a strategic analysis of the Headquarters Competency Center (HQCC), a department within SLB. The focus will be primarily on its situation and future propositions. The study will be carried out in collaboration with SLB in Tananger, providing valuable insights for the growth of the recently established competency center. The research methodology follows principles from Robert K. Yin’s book on case study research, emphasizing the importance of a clear research question and a well-designed study. A qualitative interview and workshop were used to collect data, providing an understanding of the competency center’s positive and negative aspects. The selection of participants is based on their roles in the organization and relevant experience, ensuring the data’s relevance and reliability. The study identifies internal prerequisites for HQCC to be a global competency center. Project acquisition is controlled by the greater SLB organization, which provides customers and support, but limits autonomy. Managing diversity, fostering continuous learning, effective communication, and developing proactive portfolios are key management priorities. The VRIO analysis of HQCC reveals valuable insights regarding its employees’ expertise, portfolio uniqueness, competitive advantage from the location within SLB’s headquarters, and leverage of SLB’s platforms. By expanding services across different industry segments, investing in employee development, providing excellent service, and aligning projects with long-term objectives, HQCC can enhance its portfolio, competitiveness, and reputation, positioning itself as a global competency center

A Comparative Study on Statistical and Machine Learning Forecasting Methods for an FMCG Company

Demand forecasting has been an area of study among scholars and businessmen ever since the start of the industrial revolution and has only gained focus in recent years with the advancements in AI. Accurate forecasts are no longer a luxury, but a necessity to have for effective decisions made in planning production and marketing. Many aspects of the business depend on demand, and this is particularly true for the Fast-Moving Consumer Goods industry where the high volume and demand volatility poses a challenge for planners to generate accurate forecasts as consumer demand complexity rises. Inaccurate demand forecasts lead to multiple issues such as high holding costs on excess inventory, shortages on certain SKUs in the market leading to sales loss and a significant impact on both top line and bottom line for the business. Researchers have attempted to look at the performance of statistical time series models in comparison to machine learning methods to evaluate their robustness, computational time and power. In this paper, a comparative study was conducted using statistical and machine learning techniques to generate an accurate forecast using shipment data of an FMCG company. Naïve method was used as a benchmark to evaluate performance of other forecasting techniques, and was compared to exponential smoothing, ARIMA, KNN, Facebook Prophet and LSTM using past 3 years shipments. Methodology followed was CRISP-DM from data exploration, pre-processing and transformation before applying different forecasting algorithms and evaluation. Moreover, secondary goals behind this paper include understanding associations between SKUs through market basket analysis, and clustering using KNN based on brand, customer, order quantity and value to propose a product segmentation strategy. The results of both clustering and forecasting models are then evaluated to choose the optimal forecasting technique, and a visual representation of the forecast and exploratory analysis conducted is displayed using R

Internationalization of Portuguese management consulting companies : case study of GTBC performance potential and internationalization opportunities in Angola, Brazil and Mozambique

Title: Internationalization of Management Consulting Companies: Case Study of GTBC performance potential and internationalization opportunities in Angola, Brazil and Mozambique Author: Marina Ishchenko The objectives of this dissertation include the development of two practical models: first, to estimate external Management Consulting markets´ attractiveness and second, to understand potential for successful performance of a Portuguese Management Consulting SME1 on these markets. The two objectives are approached through the development of theoretical and practical platforms. Theoretical platform is based on academic and business literature. Practical platform is constructed through methodological choice and planning. Importantly, the methodology of qualitative case study is used in order to examine formulated hypotheses in practice and derive theory from real life situation. The main focus of case study is GTBC2- a firm that is considered to be a typical Portuguese Management Consulting SME3. In addition, we select external markets of Angola, Brazil and Mozambique in order to facilitate our analysis and test assumptions in practice. Our findings suggest that among the analyzed external markets, Brazil is considered to be the most attractive destination for internationalization of Portuguese Management Consulting SMEs. Importantly, the potential for successful performance in this country is estimated to be higher in comparison to the one on other markets, including Portugal.Título: Internacionalização das Empresas de Consultoria de Gestão: Estudo específico das oportunidades de internacionalização e do possível desempenho da GTBC nos mercados de Angola, Brasil e Moçambique. Autor: Marina Ishchenko Os objectivos desta dissertação incluem o desenvolvimento de dois modelos práticos: primeiro, avaliar o potencial mercado externo em consultadoria de gestão para o investimento das empresas PME Portuguesas de Consultadoria de Gestão e segundo, estimar o seu potencial sucesso. Estes dois objectivos são abordados através do desenvolvimento de plataformas teóricas e práticas. A plataforma teórica é baseada na literatura académica e empresarial. A plataforma prática é construída através de uma escolha metodológica e planeamento. Um facto importante é que a metodologia do estudo qualitativo é usada para examinar hipóteses formuladas na prática e a sua teoria deriva de situações reais. O foco principal deste estudo é a GTBC – uma empresa PME [3] Portuguesa típica na área da Consultadoria de Gestão. Além disso, são seleccionados os mercados externos de Angola, Brasil e Moçambique, de forma a facilitar a análises práticas. Os resultados obtidos sugerem que entre os mercados estudados, o Brasil é considerado o destino mais atraente para a internacionalização das PME Portuguesas no ramo de Consultadoria de Gestão. Um ponto importante é o facto do potencial sucesso neste país ser considerado maior em comparação com outros mercados, incluindo Portugal

PB-ADVISOR: A private banking multi-investment porfolio.

Private banking is a business area in which the investor requires tailor-made advice. Because of the current market situation, investors are requiring answers to difficult questions and looking for assurance from wealth managers. Private bankers need to have deep knowledge about an innumerable list of products and their characteristics as well as the suitability of each product for the client’s characteristics to be able to offer an optimal portfolio according to client expectations. Client and portfolio diversity calls for new recommendation and advice systems focused on their specific characteristics. This paper presents PB-ADVISOR, a system aimed at recommending investment portfolios based on fuzzy and semantic technologies to private bankers. The proposed system provides private bankers with a powerful tool to support their decision process and help deal with complex investment portfolios. The system has been evaluated in a real scenario obtaining promising results