International Trade and NAFTA Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

International Trade and NAFTA - Research Paper Example International trade revolves around many Disadvantages as well which are given below:1. International Trade can sometimes increase your expenses for Example, in certain cases you will have to hire additional staff for the procedure of import and export 2. Can result in trade deficit (negative balance in balance of trade) this takes place when there are more imports and comparatively less exports3. In certain cases create conflicts between two countries 4. In case of exporting/importing goods it increases the additional cost of Packaging and traveling 5. In certain cases discourage the local manufactures and prove to be unjust for them. For example, a local manufacturer produced 500 shirts and they are available in market for $ 40 each, where as someone imported 500 shirts and the marginal cost of each shirt was lesser than the local manufacturer because of Comparative Advantage and hence the imported shirts are available for $ 30 each in the market. Because of this the local manufact urer will face great loss and might get discouraged.6. Create unemployment in the country, if you start importing more then there will be less industries, mills, and factories in the country this might result in unemployment7. Increase dependency on other countries  NAFTA was created to make trade and investment easier and more accessible between United States, Canada and Mexico and to encourage free trade.   1.  One of the major positive effects of NAFTA was increase of trade between United States,Canada and Mà ©xico.

Discussion questions Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words - 5

Discussion questions - Assignment Example The group specializes mainly in entertainment and travel industries but also have a diversification of 200 businesses distributed across the United Kingdom and the Europe. However, Virgin Group has not been able to tap into the American market or create its brand name as it has done in UK and Europe. If Virgin group would concentrate more on tapping on to the opportunity in the American market then it means that its diversification strategy needs to be laid out well and if successful will reap huge benefits in terms of finances. However, Virgin Group has built its value proposition around its image variable. It is highly diversified and therefore benefits by establishing companies in sectors they have not ventured in leading to a better image variable and an increase in its value. Tesco is an example of a company that has built its value proposition around its image variable. It started as an economy supermarket. A variety of products ranging from furniture to insurance are being sold by Tesco. However it attributes its brand name Tesco to it venturing into new market without changing its core identity thus adding value to it. Another company is the Apple Company which has gradually changed from being a computer manufacturer to a giant in media as they came up with new services around the products they offered. Other examples include; Google, Nike, Intel, JetBlue, Amazon.com and Zapppos (Weinstein, 2012). Virgin Group Company being a diversified company has reaped huge benefits. They have planned carefully, carried out their market research, gotten the right people to manage their businesses and reaped the benefits. In the case of the Virgin Group, market perception and image indeed defines their

Effects of Sleep Deprivation among Emergency Medical Services Workers Essay

Effects of Sleep Deprivation among Emergency Medical Services Workers - Essay Example Emergency medical service is one such field which requires utmost attention, even in the middle of the night. At times the workers are required to remain attentive continuously for more than 24 hrs, because it's a question of urgent medical requirements for someone. Studies have highlighted that if the workers are subjected to sleep deprivation regularly on many occasions; their body starts responding adversely, which in turn impacts their efficiency and accuracy at the workplace. If the worker is subjected to continuous sleep deprivation, the resultant fatigue could lead to effects like poor decisions, fatal accidents. It has been pointed out that continuous exposure to sleep disorders results in impairment of carbohydrate metabolism, weight gains and type-2 diabetes1. This in turn results in development of sleep apnea, which in turn reduces the quality of sleep, thus further resulting in deterioration of the carbohydrate metabolism and it gives rise to a brutal cycle of disorder. T herefore, experts are of the opinion that proper attention be paid towards this issue. This study is an effort to find out some such reasons and the resultant disorders. Today we live in a fast paced society, where competition is a rule rather than an exception, where all aspects of life are being viewed from the angle of sales and marketing. Be it a manufacturing unit or the healthcare sector, the competition is all pervasive. Healthcare services are a very crucial and integral part of the society. Health care becomes an issue, because while taking care of the competition we tend to ignore what we are supposed to do to lead a healthy life. Emergency medical services (EMS) are supposed to play a vital role in taking care of the emergency and trauma care system. The workers in these services provide emergency medical response to the sick and injured citizens. Though, the workers are placed in shift duties, but quite often it so happens that due to more number of emergency cases, they cannot leave the workplace even during extended working hours. Different levels of medical responses are included in the EMS. In general, the EMS includes, call handlers , emergency medical dispatchers, workers in the emergency telephone call centers, first responders like fire or police units, basic life support (BLS) ambulances, advanced life support (ALS) ambulances (USHS, 2007). The workers in these units are trained according to the requirements. Based on the reasons, the sleep deprivation is broadly divided into four categories; i. Based on lifestyle ii. Due to certain health complications iii. The medication side effects iv. Clinical disorders For an EMS worker the lifestyle becomes so irregular that it leads to other types of complications as well. Literature Review According to a study conducted by World Health Organization (WHO)2, the number of people with diabetes is sharply on the rise in recent years. This study found out that in the year 2000 the number of people affected with the disease was about 171 million worldwide. But more alarming is the projection for the year 2030, if we continue to adopt the existing lifestyle. It has been projected that by 2030 this figure might reach a whopping 366 million. Demanding working conditions often take its toll on the individuals' health as well as the actual output of the work. Emergency

Research where are the IFRS are significantly different from current Paper

Where are the IFRS are significantly different from current Canadian GAAP - Research Paper Example This demanded a certain degree of similarity in the accounting standers and many international accounting bodies come up which assisted development of Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP). The aim of GAAP is provide rules related to preparation, presentation and reporting of financial statements. GAAP is combination of all the Accounting Frame works, Accounting Laws, Accounting Rules and Accounting frame works. At present Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) has the highest authority to establish GAAP which has to be followed by public and private organization. In US, the financial reporting is controlled by Financial Accounting Standards Advisory Board (FASAB). These GAAP brings standards which help Stakeholders to understand present condition of the company, and on the basis of their analysis they make decisions related to credit, investment and other vital financial decisions. But it has been found that the GAAP suffers with certain limitations, like inter indust rial comparison is not possible if GAAP is taken into consideration for financial statement reporting, also certain vital information related to the companys performance are not presented on the financial statement sheet while following GAAP, which are necessary for the merger and acquisition process. So to overcome these hindrances, concept of International Financial Reporting Standers (IFRS) came into existence. IFRS consist of standards, interpretations, and frame works which are to be taken into consideration while preparing and presenting financial statement of a company as adopted by International Accounting Standards Board (IASB). Actually, IFRS is the rename of International Accounting Standers (IAS) which was proposed from 1973 to 2001 by Board of International Accounting Standards Committee (IASC). In the historical event of April 1,

Google glasses Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Google glasses - Research Paper Example Several people spend a significant amount of time online at the expense of doing other things. The device seeks to solve the problem by freeing people to do other things without being offline (Houghton, 2013). It has a lot of applications in many industries. It remains to be seen whether the device can appeal to the mass market and become a mainstream product as smartphones did. Though it is a great device, it also has faces significant challenges. Google glass is a unique product. It has merged all the features of a computer and hand held mobile devices in a tiny piece of glass and a stylish frame. The device supports natural language features and instructions can be spoken to it (Houghton, 2013). It can take pictures and videos and store them in a 4GB flash memory in the device that can be shared on social sites or emailed. The glass shows text and email messages and enables the user to reply through voice commands. The search process is simple because asking a question will get you answers from the web. The highly integrated product minimizes its physical size as much as possible (Garfinkel, 2014). Users can use Google maps through voice commands (Houghton, 2013). It supports real time video sharing. Google Now is the digital voice assistant that tracks your daily activities such as trade routes and outdoor activities and gives appropriate updates. International travel has been made easy by a feature that enables the device to translate spoken words (Garfinkel, 2014). The device comes with Bluetooth and Wi-Fi connectivity. It is powered by the Android mobile operating system and will support both Android and IPhone powered mobile devices. The device is fully synched with Google cloud providing safe storage for the user’s data. It is a milestone in human-computer interaction because it is a wearable device (Garfinkel, 2014). It is widely applicable in medicine, manufacturing and education

The Individual And The Environment Essay Example for Free

The Individual And The Environment Essay The turn between the nineteenth and the twentieth centuries brought enormous changes for the American society, and these changes are cogently reflected in the works of the most important writers of the time. In the light of Frederick Jackson Turner’s theory of the significance of the frontier in the American history, one could argue that the multiple changes that took place at this time were determined, in part, by the closing of the frontier in 1890. The ever expanding frontier had functioned as a catalyzing element for the shaping of the American culture, with its main characteristics, pragmatism and individualism. The frontier, as the limit between wilderness and civilization, may have indeed contributed to the development of pragmatism, just as the closing of the frontier affected the following cultural epoch. After the Civil War and up to the World War I, the American economy developed immensely, to the point that The United States was among the greatest world powers at the beginning of the twentieth century. This was due especially to the ever increasing industrialization of the country, to its capitalism, but also to the great number of immigrants that arrived during this period. While economically the changes were indeed positive and influenced the future of the nation, their social impact was more dramatic. As the main literary works of the time show it, the individual suffered inevitably from alienation, and was overwhelmed and oppressed by the major social and economical fluctuations of the time. Civilization however desired begun to feel as a threat for the individual who lost his sense of identity and felt as a wheel in some greater mechanism. The literary works of the time revealed the pressure that the environment now exercised over the individual. This pressure was even heavier for women, who began to feel that they were not even part of the tumultuous activity of the epoch, since they could not even play an active part in the changes they witnessed. One of the most important writers of the time were thus the early feminists, such as Charlotte Perkins Gilman, Kate Chopin, and a little later, Edith Wharton. Their novels put the American discriminating society on display, and point to the gender stereotypes that trapped the women into immutable and pre-established social roles. Gilman (2000) discusses the place of the women in society in her work, Women and Economics: â€Å"In spite of the power of the individual will to struggle against conditions, to resist them for a while, and sometimes to overcome them, it remains true that the human creature is affected by his environment, as is every other living thing.[†¦] To take from any community its male workers would paralyze it economically to a far greater degree than to remove its female workers[†¦] This is not owing to lack of the essential human faculties necessary to such achievements, nor to any inherent disability of sex, but to the present condition of woman, forbidding the development of this degree of economic ability. The male human being is thousands of years in advance of the female in economic status. Speaking collectively, men produce and distribute wealth; and women receive it at their hands.† As Gilman suggests, the woman was in no way able to participate in society, and was taken to be a mere recipient of what the man would provide her with. She also infers that this role is not necessarily the natural role of the woman, but actually the one that was forced on her after many centuries of gender discrimination. The women appear to be even more trapped in their environment at this point in American history. Another salient writer of the time, Henry Adams in his book entitled The Education of Henry Adams constructs a very telling image of the American individual crushed by civilization and by his social circumstances: he represents the dynamo as a great force and a symbol that replaced in the American culture the missing pieces of tradition which were respected by the Europeans, such as Venus or the Virgin. The image has feminist implications as well, as Adams (2001) compares the sexless energy of the dynamo with both the Virgin and Venus, symbols of the woman in European tradition: â€Å"All this was to American thought as though it had never existed. The true American knew something of the facts, but nothing of the feelings; he read the letter, but he never felt the law. Before this historical chasm, a mind like that of Adams felt itself helpless; he turned from the Virgin to the Dynamo as though he were a Branly coherer.† Stephen Crane also creates a memorable image of the cruel universe, which seems to care nothing for the individual existence, and which binds everything to its general laws, not minding the separate lives of the people but only the system: â€Å"A man said to the universe: Sir I exist! However, replied the universe, The fact has not created in me A sense of obligation. (Perkins, 1999) Kate Chopin’s The Awakening is perhaps one of the most remarkable works of her time for its audacity, and it accurately gives a view of the individual in general oppressed by the social, inescapable nets and alienated from his primitive, natural state, and even more emphatically, reveals the condition of the woman, which is even worse. The imagery of the novel is fraught with opposite symbols of freedom versus entrapment, and of the human and natural individual, versus the unnatural and artificial society. Edna Pontellier, the protagonist of the story, is the character who undergoes a true awakening by the end of the novel, both as a woman and as an individual who finally escapes the laws of society and returns to the purity of the natural impulses and natural feelings in a human being. As a married woman and mother of two children, Edna is supposed to fill in the role of the perfect mother as society required, which is personified in the novel by Edna’ s friend, Mrs. Adele Ratignolle. The frequent fights that Edna has with her seemingly perfect husband depict even better her pre-established role as a self-sacrificing mother, who is supposed to think of nothing else but childbirth and all the other things related to nursing. From the start, even before her awakening Edna feels the oppression of her environment, although as yet she is not able to pinpoint it to a specific cause: â€Å"An indescribable oppression, which seemed to generate in some unfamiliar part of her consciousness, filled her whole being with a vague anguish.†(Perkins, 1999) This unconscious feeling is not fully understood even by Edna herself, since the women were not used to thinking and feeling as individuals, and to dissent in any way from what was already prescribed as their imposed conduct. Chopin’s insistence that Edna did not fit in her society and that she did not fit the mother profile is very significant, as it points to the sense that women have to be regarded as individuals who are entitled to their own inner lives, and not limited to their nursing activities, that would eventually â€Å"efface† any trace of their personality: â€Å"In short, Mrs. Pontellier was not a mother-woman. The mother women seemed to prevail that summer at Grand Isle. It was easy to know them, fluttering about with extended, protecting wings when any harm, real or imaginary, threatened their precious brood. They were women who idolized their children, worshiped their husbands, and esteemed it a holy privilege to efface themselves as individuals and grow wings as ministering angels.†(Perkins, 1999) The awakening of Edna is exactly her realization that she is a passionate human being, and moreover an individual who can relate to her environment as she chooses, and not on the basis of some foreordained laws of behavior: â€Å"Mrs. Pontellier was beginning to realize her position in the universe as a human being, and to recognize her relations as an individual to the world within and about her. This may seem like a ponderous weight of wisdom to descend upon the soul of a young woman of twenty-eightperhaps more wisdom than the Holy Ghost is usually pleased to vouchsafe to any woman.†(Perkins, 1999) Chopin is sharply ironical in the commentary she makes with regard to the unexpected wisdom in her character: for centuries women had been discriminated as individuals and as rational beings who could judge for themselves. The main transformation of Edna consists thus of her flaunting of all the social law, and willingly giving in to adultery to escape from the tyranny of her own husband: â€Å"To-day it is Arobin; to-morrow it will be some one else. It makes no difference to me, it doesnt matter about Leonce Pontellierbut Raoul and Etienne! (Perkins, 1999) However, in the end, before she drowns in the sea, undoubtedly a symbol of liberation, Edna achieves more than asserting her own rights and independence as a female. When she faces the sea, that is her freedom, she turns her back to the entrapping civilization and artificial society and is elated when she discovers her own nakedness, a symbol of the primitive and natural state of man: â€Å"[†¦]she stood naked in the open air, at the mercy of the sun, the breeze that beat upon her, and the waves that invited her. How strange and awful it seemed to stand naked under the sky! how delicious! She felt like some new-born creature, opening its eyes in a familiar world that it had never known.†(Perkins, 1999) Thus, at the turn of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, American literature displayed the rupture between the individual and his environment, and the alienation of the human beings in the midst of the overpowering civilization. This marked the beginning of the modern, urbane era, in which the developed society is apt to destroy individuality and the basic and natural humanity of every man. Reference List: Adams, Henry (2001) The Education of Henry Adams. Bartelby.com. http://www.bartleby.com/159/25.html Gilman, Charlotte Perkins (2000) Women and Economics. The Celebration of Women’s Writing. http://digital.library.upenn.edu/women/gilman/economics/economics.html Perkins Charles and Barbara Perkins (1999). The American Tradition in Literature Vol. 1. New York: Mc-Graw Hill College

New century health clinic

New century health clinic Background Five years ago, cardiologists Timothy Jones and Dolores Garcia decided to combine their individual practices in Fullerton, California, to form the New Century Health Clinic. They wanted to concentrate on preventive medicine by helping patients maintain health and fitness and by providing traditional medical care. Dr. Jones recently asked you to work with him as an IT consultant. He wants you to help New Century develop an information system that will support the clinics operations and future growth. During an initial meeting, he provided you with some background information and asked for your suggestions about how to get started. At your desk, you begin to review New Centurys situation. The clinic is located near a new shopping mall in a busy section of the city. New Centurys staff includes four doctors, three registered nurses, four physical therapists, and six office staff workers. The clinic currently has a patient base of 3,500 patients from 275 different employers, many of which provide insurance coverage for employee wellness and health maintenance. Currently, New Century accepts 34 different insurance policies. Anita Davenport, who has been with New Century since its inception, is the office manager. She supervises the staff, including Fred Brown, Susan Gifford, Tom Capaletti, Lisa Sung, and Carla Herrera. Fred Brown handles office payroll, tax reporting, and profit distribution among the associates. Susan Gifford is responsible for the maintenance of patient records. Tom Capaletti handles most of the paperwork concerning insurance reporting and accounting. Lisa Sung has the primary responsibility for the appointment book, and her duties include making reminder calls to patients and preparing daily appointment lists. Carla Herrera primarily is concerned with ordering and organizing office and clinic supplies. Each of the six office staff people has one or more primary responsibilities; however, all members of the staff help out whenever necessary with patient records, insurance processing, and appointment processing. In addition to their regular responsibilities, all six office workers are involved in the preparation of patient statements at the end of each month. New Century Health Clinics office manager, Anita Davenport, recently asked permission to hire an additional office clerk because she feels the current staff can no longer handle the growing workload. The associates discussed Anitas request during a recent meeting. They were not surprised that the office staff was feeling overwhelmed by the constantly growing workload. Because the clinic was busier and more profitable than ever, they all agreed that New Century could afford to hire another office worker. Dr. Jones then came up with another idea. He suggested that they investigate the possibility of computerizing New Centurys office systems. Dr. Jones said that a computerized system could keep track of patients, appointments, charges, and insurance claim processing and reduce paperwork. All the associates were enthusiastic about the possibilities and voted to follow up on the suggestion. Dr. Jones agreed to direct the project. Because no member of the staff had computer experience, Dr. Jones decided to hire a consultant to study the current office systems and recommend a course of action. Several friends recommended you as a person who has considerable experience with computerized business Based on the given scenario above, what kinds of questions would you ask to assess the initial feasibility of this project information, does the project seem feasible? [25 marks] Describe what will be the plan of action if New Century Health Clinic management decided to contract your services to perform a preliminary investigation? [25 marks] What types of information is needed when you begin the preliminary investigation? From whom will you obtain it? What techniques will you use in your fact-finding? INTRODUCTION The New century health clinic is a fitness and health centre which is well-known and recognized in Fullerton, Carlifornia. The major priority of the listed clinic earlier on, is to concentrate on preventive medicine by giving helping hands to patients in maintaining and monitoring their health, keeping their fitness level and medical status balanced. But it has now become a necessity and a must look into situation concerning the work load and over stressful working conditions which the staffs have to face because, they cant run from their responsibilities. In such circumstances like this, the clinic needs to change its total official system of operation from manual administration /managerial form to computerized management form that will enhance the efficiency and services of the clinic and also save work time. In the mentioned scenario above , an IT consultant is been required to develop the new computerized information system.Whereby the given system will be easier to manipulate and also user friendly in supporting the clinics entire management scheme and functions including the future growth of the clinic. First of all in order to develop the clinics new system, the IT consultant should be able to analyse the issue or problem been faced before taking essential steps in producing a final system that meets the requirements of all end-users. Based on the given scenario above, what kinds of questions would you ask to assess the initial feasibility of this project information, does the project seem feasible? RESPONSE Feasibility study, as we all know, is simply referred to as series of test been performed to the system request/ requirements to check and determine whether it is suitable and convenient to carry on or proceed further on with the development of the given system. Therefore, to carry on with such initial feasible study, the system analyst (SA) or IT consultant needs to interview the end-user by asking important and relevant questions which will make a great impact or effect on the operational, technical and economic feasibilities to be known by urging the IT consultant to take decisions which the system project will follow the next steps to develop or improve successfully. Else, the total work will be ended. Cases like this been faced by New century clinic, this are valuable questions to be asked in order to evaluate the initial feasibility of the proposed new systems development: What are the problems being faced using the current manual system? How does the clinic manage all official works using the manual system? How will the clinic manage all official works if the new system is not implemented? Are the staffs/ end-users of new computerized system in your clinic computer literates? Dose the new computerized system contribute to all depts. And objectives of the clinic? How would the new computerized system enhance or solve problems occurring with the manual system? Does the new system have direct contribution to the clinics business objectives? By asking questions like this, the necessity of implementing or developing new system can be evaluated or measured. However, to be more broad and fluent in the total feasibility of the proposed project, more questions need to be asked concerning the operational, technical and economical feasibility. Operational feasibility: This simply means that the system will be used efficiently after the development and implementation as the user demands because if the system develops defects or become ineffective the end-users face difficulties to work with the system, that means the expected benefit will be tarnished and the new system becomes unproductive. To make sure none of such incidents occur, these are questions that need to be asked concerning its operational feasibility: Do the whole management and users of the new system support the project? Do the users notice the need for change of current manual system? Will the new system reduce workforce? Is the manual system interactive and also being practised effectively by the users? What will be the next step for affected employees if workforce reduction occurs? Technical Feasibility This simply means that the given organisation for which the system will be developed, has enough resources of hardware and software technology to develop, install and operate the new system. In order to operate such new systems adequately, the appropriate technology should be put in effect; even if it requires additional up-to-date and advanced technology. Therefore to evaluate the technical feasibility for New Century Health Clinic, these are relevant questions needed to be asked: Can the clinic manage the needed hardware, software, and network resources to implement the computerized system? Does the clinic have the necessary technical knowledge? How can the clinic acquire the technical knowledge if they do not have? Economical Feasibility This refers to the total benefit of the new system being outweighed than the total estimated cost for implementing the system. Whereby the estimated cost can either be increased or decreased any time while doing the project development and implementation. While doing all this there is something the organisation need to bear in mind; Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) including its continuous support and maintenance Costs with acquisition costs. To verify such Economical feasibility of the clinic, these are relevant questions needed to be asked: Is the benefit of the new system outweighing the estimated costs? What are the probable savings and costs for acquiring, installing and finally operating the new system? Does the current problem have any significance? Are there any intangible factors like patient satisfaction, clinic image etc.? Will the system requirements outcome be a sound business investment? Does the project seem feasible? From the question being asked above, due to relevant aspects, the initial feasibility of the project been detailed can be assessed easily and effectively. It is expected that the above questions regarding the feasibilities are well-answered that enhance to develop the new computerized system for the clinic. Therefore, from the answers to the already asked questions as well as the given information in the scenario, it is understood that the project of new system development for the New Century Health Clinic is quite feasible. Describe what will be the plan of action if New Century health Clinic management decided to contract your services to perform a preliminary investigation? RESPONSE The system requirements from the New Century Health Clinic is totally feasible. In order to continue the project some investigations have to be carried out for studying the system request and for suggesting the specific action. This is called preliminary investigation. To execute the preliminary investigation, the steps given below will be followed: but, before starting the investigation, interaction with Managers and users are prompted: in this particular phase, it needs to meet with the clinic doctors, Managers, Staffs and users to describe the detailed responsibilities, answer questions and request comments of the project. The project will bring a significant change in the clinic after development. The users, staffs and doctors might be curious, concerning the changes or they might even resist it. The primary interaction will be of a good help because the opinion, thoughts and reaction of every member/staff of the clinic is very important to know more about constraints and difficulties in the clinic. These are the main six steps to carry out during such investigation: UNDERSTANDING THE PROBLEM OR OPPORTUNITY: In the first approach, the business profile and business model will be developed where the business process and functions will be described. That is where the main problem or operations of the clinic may be understood. In the process carrying out this approach the new system request may not reveal the basic problems of the clinic or may be, the proposed system can affect the total clinics operation and system. To eliminate these problems, it must need to understand the systems request and its opportunity of the project at hand. Define the project scope and constraints: This is actually the defining of boundaries or extent of the project where the irrelevant expenses of time and money are been avoided and only the main problem is focused. Constraints are the conditions or requirements that the system must meet and the end results of that constrains and it must be a recorded success. Also, project scopes are described in system constrains. There are characteristics needed to be identified in the proposed system while checking for constrains such as: Internal vs. external constrains Present vs. Future Constrains Mandatory vs. Desirable Constrains etc. in order to avoid misunderstanding and future problems I would lay down a piece of advice insisting that the project scope and constrains are been identified earlier. Performing fact-finding: This is a technique used to find out necessary information from companies and organisations which comprises of various approaches and steps to carry out. We are going to implement these approaches in the clinics doctors, staffs and users for investigating the system request. In this case, the following fact-finding techniques can be used: Interviews Questionnaires and surveys Review current documentation Analyse organization chart Observe operation Estimate time and cost to continue development: The detailed time and cost estimation for the further development phase and the overall project will be developed with some important issues, so that the clinics doctor and manager can understand the total cost and time which will be effective for economic feasibility. Determine Feasibility: Following the previous four step of preliminary investigation, the total feasibility of the project been carried out will be determined in this particular stage. Present results and recommendations to management: in the final stage, a preliminary investigation report will be prepared to management which includes the assessment of the system requirements, the estimation of the total cost and benefits including the recommendation of processing to next phase named system analysis. What types of information is needed when you begin the preliminary investigation? From whom will you obtain it? What techniques will you use in your fact-finding? [20 marks] Response Before starting the preliminary investigations, there are some essential Information to be known about the clinic, its current and proposed system, etc. It can be clearly acquired from the feasibility study consisting of the three main users approaches stated as follows: Operational Feasibility Technical Feasibility Economical Feasibility Some more information like- Clinics background and overview Information about the Doctors, nurses, manager and staffs The projects priority Benefits of the new computerized system Effect of the new system in the clinic etc. Form the chart, it can be measured that the total manpower of the clinic is 17. They are: 4 doctors (with 2 founders) 3 nurses 4 physical Therapists 1 office manager 5 office staff To gain the required information for beginning the preliminary investigations, it required that you meet with these 17 manpower i.e. the clinics doctors, nurses, physical therapists, manager, and staffs of the clinic. In the meeting, by asking questions and collecting some documents, related to the required information or further investigation (if need arises), whereby the essential or wanted information can be gathered. In the preliminary investigation stage, fact-finding is a very important step. From the various fact-finding techniques, any one or more techniques can be used for fact-finding. With appropriate and suitable technique, the needed information for system request investigation can be gathered. In the case of New Century Health Clinic, I would rather say Interview is the best fact-finding technique. An Interview is a planned meeting with any person during which the required information can be obtained in-depth from that person. This is the primary method of acquiring information during preliminary investigation stage where the purpose of interview is to uncover facts of the proposed project. These are the reasons for choosing interview as a fact-finding technique for the clinic: The number of manpower of the clinic is very small (17 people only). That is why, it will not be time consuming and cost effective. It will be possible here to ask necessary and effective questions to person by person as well as listen carefully the answers. It can also be possible to achieve every persons own opinion about the current and new system proposed. It has chance to do open-ended questions as well as a set of questionnaires on a same topic to the every person, so that personal opinion(s) on the same topic also with their own idea can be verified. The reliability of the systems request can be measured appropriately from the interviewing of the people personally. It would be the most effective technique for acquiring all the required information from the personnel of the clinic. However, in this preliminary stage, to save time and cost, it should take interview of the two founder doctors, the managers and the five staffs first. Most importantly, interviews can be carried out on the remaining personnel if need arises. Conclusions: The New Century Health Clinic is suffering from problems to use the manual system for their office works. As an efficient and user-friendly replacement, the clinic management likes to use computerized system. As an IT consultant, a new computerized system for this clinic will be developed in this project by performing all the primary steps like evaluation and understanding the project, feasibility study, preliminary investigation, fact-finding etc. It is expected that the proposed new computerized system project, finally, will perform adequately and successfully for the New Century Health Clinic that will help the clinics management system to do their regular work properly with more efficiency References: [WIK08] Wikipedia (2008), Feasibility study Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Feasibility_study [BLU07] Blurtit (2007), What are the basic questions for feasibility study?- The key questions for feasibility study? http://www.blurtit.com/q393090.html [McG97] Mcgraw-Hill (1997), Avison, D.E. and Shah, H.U., The Information Systems Development Life Cycle: A First Course in Information Systems, McGraw-Hill International Editions, 1997, Pages 72 and 92-99. Appendix: As the fact finding techniques for the New Century Health Clinic project, another two approaches can be used with the interviewing. These two techniques are Current documentation Review and Observe Current Operations. Review Current Documentation: It is a process where the current system documentation of the organization is reviewed to understand how the current system is working. For the clinics documentation, it can be out of date. So, at the documentation receiving time, it should check with the clinics persons that it is accurate and complete of information. Observe Current Operations: In this process, the typical working procedure of the worker can be viewed. The staffs of the clinic is currently doing the all the official work manually. In this case, their working procedure, input and output of the work, working time and effort etc should observe. These two techniques are not time consuming and cost effective. Nevertheless, by performing these two, the fact-finding stage will be more resourceful as well as it will be helpful to understand the system requests reliability.