Conditions for Cyclical Project Management

To apply cyclical project management, a number of conditions must be met:

Users/customers are actively involved.

In cyclical project management, the formulation of requirements, design, implementation and testing take place in each cycle. This means that many decisions must be taken in a cycle. If the software is to provide a good reflection of the wishes of the customer, the customer must participate actively in the project team. Customers must present their wishes as clearly as possible to the programmers and designers. This generally involves weekly (or at least bi-weekly) presence in the project team. Within a project, customers are involved with determining the desired functionalities and the planning of the cycles. They collaborate on the acceptance tests, approve or reject intermediate results and collaborate on the general direction of the project. The active involvement of the customer also leads to better results in the waterfall method.

Project result (software) can be broken down into smaller parts.

With cyclical project management, parts of the project are performed in a number of cycles. This is possible only if the software that is to be created is divisible into a number of more or less separate components.

The requirements that are imposed by management

With regard to the software are primarily global; management does not impose direct, concrete or specific requirements. One of the strengths of cyclical project management is that the customer, designers, programmers and any testers work closely together within the cycles. If there are already specific and concrete requirements at the beginning of a project, this impedes the freedom of the project team to use their better judgment to make design choices. Many requirements on a project are revealed during the process to be in need of adaptation and should therefore not be (too) firmly established in the beginning.

It should be possible to take a step backwards.

Even in cyclical project management, teams sometimes pursue paths that later prove to have been wrong. In such a case, it should be possible to take a step backwards. If a new module that is created in a cycle proves inadequate, it must be possible to resume working with the old module. This imposes demands, particularly with regard to the archival and documentation of the project materials. Concurrent Versioning System (CVS) and Subversion are two helpful tools for these tasks (see Appendix 3 for a list of tools).

In addition to programming

Programmers should be able to communicate with customers, and vice versa. Team members must be in state to think conceptually. Discipline is necessary in order to persevere with the work.

(Image taken from AIMS project management qualifications course from the books of project management training and diploma in project management)

Projects should have sufficient priority

Team members must be released for projects. Requiring team members to work in too many projects at the same time does not work. If an organization is insufficiently adjusted to working with projects, the flexibility of cyclical project management is likely to lead to chaos. The waterfall method also benefits from an organization that is arranged for working with projects (see image released from Zara project management academy). The director of a software house, who was more of a visionary than he was a manager, had a brilliant idea nearly every month, and he was continually starting new projects in his company.

I would like to include risks section in this article that I learned in my project management certification in 2005 from local project management institute and sharing it for my project management courses students and masters in project management mates.

Risks of Cyclical Project Management

Cyclical methods of project management sometimes allow insufficient time to implement the desired functionalities. Because the amount of time is predetermined, less functionality will probably be made than were originally assumed.

This is indeed a real risk, but it is also inherent in the waterfall method. In the waterfall method, the definition phase includes an extensive analysis of requirements. This analysis could be expected to generate better time planning. This is often not the case in practice, however, for the reasons that are mentioned above.

Functionalities are left out in this method as well, as there is not enough money to implement them.

In cyclical methods, requirements are handled pragmatically. For example, the requirements in cycles can be divided according to the Moscow rules (Stapleton certified project manager, 2003):

• Must Have: requirements that is essential for the system
• Should Have: important requirements that people really want
• Could Have: requirements that are desirable, but which can be easily omitted
• Want to Have: but will not have this time round: requirements that can wait until later

Regardless of the fact that there may be no more time for particular functionalities, the DANS project managers agree that cyclical work yields more customer satisfaction than the waterfall method does. At any rate, the expectations are consistently better managed, and the projects deliver results that actually work, even if they are less elaborate than originally hoped.

Supplier-Customer Relationship Management

These study notes are in use of many institute of supply chain management for their courses outline for supply chain management degree, diploma in supply chain management and supply chain management courses now I am posting this on internet lets start.

Since purchased components account for over 55% of the cost of goods and suppliers are responsible for over 50% of a firm's product quality problems, the relationship between the supplier and buyer is critical. Quality is the most important factor for companies in their relationship between suppliers and customers (Sila et al., 2006). Therefore, supplier and customer relationship management processes can enhance or inhibit competition. Critical processes to this relationship include communication, mutual assistance on new product development, and training. Strong relationships develop win-win relationships, trust, openness and honesty. However, this is easier said than done. As recently as the turn of the century at Whirlpool, little integration between supply chain members existed as different levels of the supply chain had different quality standards and goals (Roethlein et al., 2000). In fact, raw material providers did not understand where their products would finally end up, let alone the quality goals of members further down the chain.

(These notes are personally my theses which I wrote for my supply chain management degree program which I completed from Pacific institute of supply chain management and now I am posting these notes or theses for my students who are mostly from diploma in supply chain management and supply chain management courses certification)

Supplier certification programs incorporate quality and delivery factors into the vendor selection process, which improves quality and delivery while reducing costs. Similarly, when applied to supply chain processes, a certification process assists with supplier selection and supply base optimization, a process to find the optimal number and mix of suppliers. At Alcoa, a world leader in aluminum and related products production, a comprehensive supplier certification program jointly improves quality and reduces costs for Alcoa and their suppliers (Monczka et al., 2009). As a follow-up to supplier selection, supplier performance rating systems assist with developing a stronger linkage between supplier and buyer through developing a win-win relationship for both partners, and assist with standardizing and homogenizing quality goals throughout the supply chain. Process improvements also assist with communication improvements to communicate quality requirements with suppliers, and using performance measurement systems, supplier improvement programs can be developed.

Improvements to the supplier-customer relationship management exist in the eight key principles of Total Quality Management. To begin, communication of quality requirements from the buyer in term of final customers is critical. Supplier certification processes assist with pursuing quality at the source, while statistical quality controls can monitor and control product and process issues. Objective (measured) instead of subjective (opinion based) facts should be shared between supply chain members. A system to monitor and correct defects throughout the supply chain, without pointing blame is imperative.

Image Courtesy: AIMS Institute of supply chain management

Performance data should guide quality and supply chain improvements. With respect to sourcing, supply managers can use data to develop preferred supplier lists, provide feedback to current suppliers, and monitor and improve relationships, products and processes. Total Quality Management programs between suppliers and buyers should focus on prevention of defects, and product and process variance reduction through programs such as supplier certification programs. Monitoring should shift from product monitoring to process monitoring for consistency and reducing variation. A working supplier evaluation and selection system, benchmarking, reduction of duplicated processes, and knowledge transfer between functional units and across member boundaries can assist with the shift to process evaluation. ISO9000, the Malcolm Aldridge National Quality Award, and similar awards are critical factors to consider in the selection system. Another critical aspect in this relationship is developing a viable measure and understanding by supply chain members for process capability. Supplier evaluation and supply base rationalization processes can assist with improving supply chain quality throughout the system as variation between suppliers is reduced and product quality can be improved. As previously discussed, value analysis and value engineering can assist in developing a culture of continuous improvement throughout the supply chain. Similarly including - and rewarding, suppliers for participation in improvement programs can enhance the relationship and reap benefits for both members. The supplier-buyer relationship between supply chain members requires that quality start at the top

Time Factor in Project Management

The time factor manifests itself in a project in the form of deadlines for tasks and the amount of time that these tasks may take. Managing time involves ensuring that tasks are completed on time.

This article was published by my teacher at project management institute during my pmp certification classes.

Time in project plans:

•  Determine which activities should take place in which phase.
• Estimate how long each activity will take
• Determine the order in which activities should be completed.
• Allocate people and materials.
• Allocate activities over time.
• Determine the (most important) deadlines.

Time in progress monitoring:

• Monitor progress.
• Monitor deadlines.
• Adjust schedules.

Time in project reporting:

• Report on the actual timeline.
• Analyze and explain why some tasks proceeded much more quickly or much more slowly than expected.

Time schedules are based on a work-breakdown structure (WBS). A WBS is a decomposition of the tasks that must be completed in order to achieve the project result. Developing a time schedule requires knowing the amounts of time that is needed for each task, who will complete each task and when. One frequently used tool for planning time is the bar chart or Gantt chart (see (1) Material purchasing (2) Material testing (3) Compile testing report (4) Edit report (5) Information days Figure 5 A variety of software packages is available for making and maintaining bar charts (see Appendix 3).

Figure 5: Gantt chart or bar chart, which is commonly used for time planning.

(Image is taken from the course of AIMS Project management institute books for diploma in project management and masters in project management)

A rapidly growing organization was continually taking on more projects. As the company continued to become busier – its products were in great demand – the personnel began to feel pressured to work in a frenzy to complete all of the work that needed to be done. The personnel wanted more people to be hired. Because of the cost, management was hesitant to do so, and they pressured the existing personnel to work harder. How much work could the team actually handle? This question apparently had no good answer, as the organization had no time registration system.

When a new project was started, an estimate was made of the number of hours that was thought necessary, but no one ever checked during or after the project to determine whether this number of hours was actually needed. Project leaders were nonetheless urged to keep their projects under control. The project leaders protested that, without time records, they had no oversight over the projects. After all, because they had no insight into the number of hours that were used to carry out the tasks of a project, and there was absolutely no chance of adjustment.

One project leader decided to register hours with his team. The registration showed that the project ultimately needed four times as many hours as had been originally estimated. After reprimanding the project leader for allowing the project to get so far out of hand, the management decided to introduce a time-registration system.

After several months, a number of bottlenecks became apparent. It was revealed that nearly all of the projects had been budgeted too narrowly. In practice, personnel who had been assigned to work on a project for one hundred hours often proved to need three times as many hours. This transparency was accompanied by new dilemmas. One the one hand, there were indeed too few personnel to carry out the projects well. Additional personnel were needed. The costs of sufficient personnel were considerable. On the other hand, the projects had apparently been sold far too cheaply (for too few hours) to customers. The management was afraid that they would not receive any more orders if they began to charge more hours in their estimates.

(this article is really very useful for pmp certification and diploma in project management exams and masters in project management aptitudes) 

RIBA, ITS PROHIBITION & CLASSIFICATIONS IN HADITHS

Riba an Nasiyah

1.  From Usamah ibn Zayd : The Prophet, , said: "There is no riba except in Nasiyah [waiting]." (Bukhari, Kitab al-Buyu', Bab Bay' al-dinari bi al-dinar nasa'an; also Muslim and Musnad Ahmad) "There is no riba in hand-to-hand [spot] transactions." (Muslim, Kitab al-Musaqat, Bah bay'i al-ta'ami mithlan bi mithlin; also in Nasa'i)
2.  From Ibn Mas'ud : The Prophet, , said: "Even when interest is much, it is bound to end up into paltriness." (Ibn Majah, Kitab al-Tijarat, Bab al-taghlizi fi al-riba; also in Musnad Ahmad)
3. From Anas ibn Malik : The Prophet, , said: "When one of you grants a loan and the borrower offers him a dish, he should not accept it; and if the borrower offers a ride on an animal, he should not ride, unless the two of them have been previously accustomed to exchanging such favours mutually." (Sunan al-Bayhaqi, Kitab al-Buyu', Bab kulli qardin jarra manfa'atan fa huwa riban)
4. From Anas ibn Malik : The Prophet, , said: "If a man extends a loan to someone he should not accept a gift." (Mishkat, on the authority of Bukhara's Tarikh and Ibn Taymiyyah's al-Muntaqa)
5. From Abu Burdah ibn Abi Musa : I came to Madinah and met 'Abdallah ibn Salam who said, "You live in a country where riba is rampant; hence if anyone owes you something and presents you with a load of hay, or a load of barley, or a rope of straw, do not accept it for it is riba." (Mishkat, reported on the authority of Bukhari)
6. Fadalah ibn 'Ubayd said that "The benefit derived from any loan is one of the different aspects of riba." (Sunan al-Bayhaqi) This hadith is mawquf implying that it is not necessarily from the Prophet; it could be an explanation provided by Fadalah himself, a companion of the Prophet, .

These Holy words of Prophet Mohammad P.B.U.H are available in almost every Islamic banking courses syllabus such as diploma in Islamic banking and Islamic finance qualification and certification or other programs offered by institute of Islamic banking and finance.  

Courtesy: AIMS Institute of Islamic Banking and Finance Islamic Banking Courses and Islamic Finance Degree Books

Riba al-FadI

1.       From 'Umar ibn al-Khattab : The last verse to be revealed was on riba and the Prophet, , was taken without explaining it to us; so give up not only riba but also raibah [whatever raises doubts in the mind about its rightful-ness]. (Ibn Majah,)

2.       The Prophet, , said, "Sell gold in exchange of equivalent gold, sell silver in exchange of equivalent silver, sell dates in exchange of equivalent dates, sell wheat in exchange of equivalent wheat, sell salt in exchange of equivalent salt, sell barley in exchange of equivalent barley, but if a person transacts in excess, it will be usury (riba). However, sell gold for silver anyway you please on the condition it is hand-to-hand (spot) and sell barley for date anyway you please on the condition it is hand-to-hand (spot).”

3.       From Abu Sa'id al-Khudri : The Prophet, , said: "Do not sell gold for gold except when it is like for like, and do not increase one over the other; do not sell silver for silver except when it is like for like, and do not increase one over the other; and do not sell what is away [from among these] for what is ready." (Bukhari, Kitab al-Buyu', Bab bay'i al-fiddati bi al-fiddah; also Muslim, Tirmidhi, Nasa'i and Musnad Ahmad)

4.       From 'Ubada ibn al-Samit : The Prophet, , said: "Gold for gold, silver for silver, wheat for wheat, barley for barley, dates for dates, and salt for salt - like for like, equal for equal, and hand-to-hand; if the commodities differ, then you may sell as you wish, provided that the exchange is hand-to-hand." (Muslim, Kitab al-Musaqat, Bab al-sarfi wa bay'i al-dhahabi bi al-waraqi naqdan; also in Tirmidhi)

5.       From Abu Sa'id al-Khudri : The Prophet, , said: "Gold for gold, silver for silver, wheat for wheat, barley for barley, dates for dates, and salt for salt - like for like, and hand-to-hand. Whoever pays more or takes more has indulged in riba. The taker and the giver are alike [in guilt]." (Muslim, ibid; and Musnad Ahmad)

I collected all of these hadiths from my thesis of phd in Islamic finance and from my mba Islamic finance lectures in my institute of Islamic banking and finance from I completed my Islamic finance degree and diploma in Islamic banking. 

ISLAMIC FINANCE –PROHIBITION OF INTEREST IN HOLY QURAN AND HADITH

The biggest difference between Islamic banking and conventional banking is interest in this blog we are going to read that why Muslims do not want riba what their holy book Quran says about interest (riba) and what Prophet Mohammad peace be upon him said about interest I collected these notes from different books of Islamic finance qualification from the library of my institute of Islamic finance and a study notes of my own when I was doing diploma in Islamic banking let’s begin to know why Muslims don’t want riba in this world..

INTEREST IN THE QUR'AN

1. First Revelation (Surah al-Rum, verse 39): “That which you give as interest to increase the peoples' wealth increases not with God; but that which you give in charity, seeking the goodwill of God, multiplies manifold.” (30: 39)
2. Second Revelation (Surah al-Nisa', verse 161): “And for their taking interest even though it was forbidden for them, and their wrongful appropriation of other peoples' property. We have prepared for those among them who reject faith a grievous punishment (4: 161)”
3. Third Revelation (Surah Al 'Imran, verses 130-2): “O believers, take not doubled and redoubled interest, and fear God so that you may prosper. Fear the fire which has been prepared for those who reject faith, and obey God and the Prophet so that you may receive mercy.”
4. Fourth Revelation (Surah al-Baqarah, verses 275-81): “Those who benefit from interest shall be raised like those who have been driven to madness by the touch of the Devil; this is because they say: "Trade is like interest" while God has permitted trade and forbidden interest. Hence those who have received the admonition from their Lord and desist may keep their previous gains, their case being entrusted to God; but those who revert shall be the inhabitants of the fire and abide therein forever. God deprives interest of all blessing but blesses charity; He loves not the ungrateful sinner.” (275-276)

I will post other verses some other time if God wills it.

Image Courtesy: AIMS College

INTEREST IN HADITH

1. From Jabir : The Prophet, , may cursed the receiver and the payer of interest, the one who records it and the two witnesses to the transaction and said: "They are all alike [in guilt]." (Muslim, Kitab al-Musaqat, Bab la'ni akili al-riba wa mu'kilihi; also in Tirmidhi and Musnad Ahmad)
2. Jabir ibn 'Abdallah , giving a report on the Prophet's Farewell Pilgrimage, said: The Prophet, , addressed the people and said "All of the riba of Jahiliyyah is annulled. The first riba that I annul is our riba, that accruing to 'Abbas ibn 'Abd al-Muttalib [the Prophet's uncle]; it is being cancelled completely." (Muslim, Kitab al-Hajj, Bab Hajjati al-Nabi, _; may also in Musnad Ahmad)
3. From 'Abdallah ibn Hanzalah : The Prophet, , said: "A dirham of riba which a man receives knowingly is worse than committing adultery thirty-six times" (Mishkat al-Masabih, Kitab al-Buyu', Bab al-riba, on the authority of Ahmad and Daraqutni). Bayhaqi has also reported the above hadith in Shu'ab al-iman with the addition that "Hell befits him whose flesh has been nourished by the unlawful."
4. From Abu Hurayrah : The Prophet, , said: "On the night of Ascension I came upon people whose stomachs were like houses with snakes visible from the outside. I asked Gabriel who they were. He replied that they were people who had received interest." (Ibn Majah, Kitab al-Tijarat, Bab al-taghlizi fi al-riba; also in Musnad Ahmad)

There was a big amount of hadith and verses of Quran in my notes but I decided to pick some of

them because of lack of time I am also preparing my thesis for phd in Islamic finance and I give

lectures in my institute of Islamic finance for the classes of mba Islamic finance but my students

of diploma in islamic banking and islamic finance qualification helped me a lot to complete this

article or blog and some of my friends in PhD in islamic finance and mba islamic finance

students too.

Basic Principles - Project Management

This blog is based on sort of tips about how to manage a project. I found these tips very useful in every aspect of life in fact I follow these tips in every moment of my life and every field when I teach my students of project management certification I take them as my team or when I give tuitions as a freelancer for several levels of courses most of them are diploma in project management or sometimes luckily masters in project management etc. Read this blog carefully it will help you in whole life.

Image Courtesy: AIMS College UK

I. Know your goal

It sounds obvious but if you don’t have an end-point in mind, you’ll never get there. You must be able to clearly state the goal of your project so that anyone can understand it. If you can’t adequately describe your goal in a single sentence then your chances of achieving it are pretty slim.

II. Know your team

Your team is the most important resource you have available and their enthusiastic contribution will make or break your project. Look after them and make sure the team operates as a unit and not as a collection of individuals. Communications are vital! Invest time in promoting trust and ensuring that everyone knows what they have to contribute to the bigger picture. Dish out reward as well as criticism, provide superior working conditions and lead by example. (Tip: Always try to make your team with professionals or at least qualified team mates like mates who did diploma in project management or masters in project management)

III. Know your stakeholders

Spend time with your stakeholders. Stakeholders will either contribute expert knowledge to the project or will offer their political or commercial endorsement which will be essential to success.

Shake hands and kiss babies as necessary and grease the wheels of the bureaucratic machine so that your project has the smoothest ride possible.

IV. Spend time on planning and design

A big mistake traditionally committed on projects is to leap before you are ready. When you’re under pressure to deliver, the temptation is to ‘get the ball rolling’. The ball however, is big and heavy and it’s very, very difficult to change its direction once it gets moving. You need to spend time deciding exactly how you’re going to solve your problem in the most efficient and elegant way.(Tip: Designing and planning is a time consuming process use your fresh employees in this process or you can contact some project management institute to use project management certification students they will be useful in future)

V. Promise low and deliver high

Try and deliver happy surprises and not unpleasant ones. By promising low (understating your goals) and delivering high (delivering more than your promised) you:

·         Build confidence in yourself, the project and the team

·         Buy yourself contingency in the event that things go wrong

·         Generate a positive and receptive atmosphere

VI. Iterate! Increment! Evolve!

Most problems worth solving are too big to swallow in one lump. Any serious project will require some kind of decomposition of the problem in order to solve it. This works but only with close attention to how each piece is analyzed and resolved and how the whole fits together. Without a systematic approach you end up with a hundred different solutions instead of one big one.

VII. Stay on track

Presumably you have an end goal in mind. Maybe it’s your job, maybe your business depends upon it or maybe you’re going to revolutionize the world with the next Google, the next World Wide Web or the next Siebel/SAP/Oracle.

If this is the case you need to work methodically towards a goal and provide leadership (make decisions). This applies whether you’re a senior project manager running a team of 20 or you’re a lone web developer. You need to learn to use tools like schedules and budgets to keep on track.

VIII. Manage change

We live in a changing world. As your project progresses the temptation to deviate from the plan will become irresistible. Stakeholders will come up with new and ‘interesting’ ideas, your team will bolt down all kinds of rat holes and your original goal will have all the permanence of a snowflake in quicksand. Scope creep or drift is a major source of project failure and you need to manage or control changes if you want to succeed.

The best way to handle this is to have a plan, to update it regularly and make sure everyone is following it and pointing in the same direction.

IX. Test Early, Test Often

Project usually involves creative disciplines loaded with assumptions and mistakes. The only way to eliminate errors is through testing. Sure you can do a lot of valuable work to prevent these mistakes being introduced, but to err is human and some of those errors will make it into your finished product code. Testing is the only way to find and eliminate errors.

X. Keep an open mind!

Be flexible! The essential outcome is delivery of the finished project to a customer who is satisfied with the result. Any means necessary can be used to achieve this and every rule listed above can be broken in the right circumstances, for the right reasons. Don’t get locked into an ideology if the circumstances dictate otherwise. Don’t get blinded by methodology.

Focus on delivering the project and use all the tools and people available to you

(I always follow these tips and tell my students to follow whether they are my tuition students or students of my project management institute.)

SUPPLY CHAIN RISK MANAGEMENT

Supply Chain Trends and Consequences

• The trend towards reducing costs: has resulted in the globalization of supply chains, making supply chains more vulnerable and complex.
• The trend towards outsourcing non-core business activities: has resulted in loss of control when it is most needed).
• The trend towards just-in-time and lean practices: has resulted in efficiency rather than effectiveness.
• The trend towards the consolidation of suppliers: has resulted in the increased potential for supplier failure

How to Define Risk

Risk is often defined as

RISK = f (Probability, Consequences).

Hence, risk is the combination of the probability of an event and its consequences/impacts.

Risk Management

Risk in the context of supply chains may be associated with the production/procurement processes, the transportation/shipment of the goods, and/or the demand markets.

Such supply chain risks are directly reflected in firms’ financial performances, and priced in the financial market. For example, it has been estimated that the average stock price reaction to supply-demand mismatch announcements was approximately -6.8%. In addition, supply chain disruptions can cause firms’ equity risks to increase by 13.50% on average after the disruption announcements.

Supply chain risk management is the intersection of supply chain management and risk management.

Constructs of Risk Management

Figure: The Basic Constructs of Supply Chain Risk Management

Source: Image taken from supply chain certification syllabus of AIMS institute of supply management)

Categorization of Risk

There have been different ways proposed of categorizing risk:

·         High-Impact Low-Likelihood (sometimes called Black Swan events)– Low-Impact High-Likelihood

·         Environment-Organization-Network

Risk Sources

Figure: Risk Sources in Supply Chains

Source: Image taken from diploma in supply chain management book of AIMS institute of supply management)

Environmental Risk Sources

Environmental risk sources consist of any uncertainties arising from the supply chain and environmental interactions. These may be the result of accidents (such as fires, explosions,

etc.), man-made (terrorist attacks), or natural disasters (earthquakes, tsunamis, and other extreme weather events).

Organizational Risk Sources

Organizational risk sources lie within the scope of the boundaries of the supply chain parties and include labor issues such as strikes, production uncertainties (quality and machine failures) to IT-based uncertainties.

Network-Related Risk Sources

Network-related risk sources arise from interactions between the organizations involved in the supply chain.

Network-Related Risk Sources

• Lack of ownership risk sources is due from the blurring of boundaries between buying and supplying companies in the chain. With outsourcing, there may be confused lines of responsibility.
• Chaos There may be chaos effects in a supply chain due to mistrust, overreaction, and distorted information.
• Inertia such risks are due to a lack of responsiveness to changing environmental conditions and market signals. Flexibility may be sacrificed, especially in global supply chains, where they may be an emphasis on cost reduction.

Adverse Risk Consequences

Risk may have adverse consequences that can be measured ex post through performance indicators. Ex ante they are captured in the variances of the indicator components.

Three of the most important adverse consequences are:

1. Financial consequences
2. Health and safety negative impacts
3. Reputation damage.

Mitigation Strategies

According to institute of supply management of supply chain management degree risk mitigation strategies are:

•  Avoidance (dropping specific products / geographical markets, etc.
• Control (through vertical integration, i increased stockpiling, maintaining excess capacity in production, storage, etc., and composing contractual obligations on suppliers)
• Cooperation (through joint efforts to improve SC visibility, the sharing of risk-related information, and preparation of SC continuity plans)
•  Flexibility (through postponement, multiple sourcing, localized sourcing)

(I wrote that notes or a blog when I was doing my supply chain management degree program I found them in my draw so I decided to share these notes for my students of supply chain certification and diploma in supply chain management) 

The Concepts and Importance Lean Supply Chain

Several researchers (Most of them are institute of supply management) explained that the information transferred from one stage to another in supply chain tends to be distorted and can misguide upstream members in the production decisions, resulting in wastes, thereby affecting the coordination between the different stages of a supply chain. Lean supply chain continuous improvement processes to focus on the elimination of waste or non-value-added functions. These waste and non-value-added stops across the supply chain and reduce set of times to allow for the economic production of small quantities. ABC (institute of supply management) came out with his points that strongly support on lean supply chain best practices and performance. How organizations keep goods and services flowing in smooth, uninterrupted and cost effective fashion from suppliers to customer firms end to end. Inventory perspectives; how do we keep minimal, but sufficient inventory in the supply chain pipeline in order to Provide good service levels without interruptions Bozdogan emphasized that the successful of lean supply chain management principles derive from 10 Basic Lean Principles:

• Focus on the supplier network value stream
• Eliminate waste
• Synchronize flow
• Minimize both transaction and production costs
• Establish collaborative relationships while balancing cooperation and competition
• Ensure visibility and transparency
• Develop quick response capability
• Manage uncertainty and risk
• Align core competencies and complementary capabilities
• Foster innovation and knowledge-sharing (core subjects of masters in supply chain management)

The Lean Supply Chain’s Practices

APICS,; Manhood et al focused more on lean supply chain level of practices (“Poor Practice”, “Inadequate Practice”, “Common Practice”, “Good Practice” and “Best Practice”) while Aberdeen Group is focused more on level of adoption (“laggards”, “industry norm” and “best in class”) of lean supply chain implementations. In conjunction to the objectives of the study, the APICS,; Manrodt et al research framework on level of lean supply chain practices seems to the perfect match and suitable to be used in order investigate the extent of lean supply chain practices towards performances in Malaysia. If we go back to the research objectives, four objectives related to the lean supply chain practices which are first, to investigate the extent of implementation for lean supply chain practices in Malaysia and second, to examine the effects of lean supply chain practices on the performance of the lean and lean supply chain in Malaysia. Additionally the study is to examine the mediating effect of lean performance. This argument perfectly supported the importance of framework selected.

Lean Performances

Lean performance is total internal lean optimization process. To develop a lean supply

Chain, there is need to apply lean to the supply chain as a system (Hennery supply chain specialist). Lean is an approach that identifies the value inherent in specific products, identifies the value stream for each product, supports the flow of value, lets the customer pull value from the producer, and pursues perfection. It is through this holistic, enterprise-wide approach to lean implementation that the theory extends beyond functional strategy to a broader supply chain strategy employed by the company. A lean organization optimizes the flow of products and services to its customers. It delivers customer value by:

• Reducing lead times
• Improving quality
• Eliminating waste
• Reducing the total costs
• Engaging and energizing people. (Analysis of supply chain specialist)

Framework and Hypotheses

As lean practices will be the core component of organizations business performances, these variables may also significantly influence the lean performance, which need to be focus in this study. Therefore, this theoretical framework (Figure 2) is served to investigate the performances rate of independent variables (lean practices from diploma in supply chain management notes).

Image Courtesy: AIMS College UK

Figure 2.Proposed Theoretical Framework

Hypothesis

Lean Supply Chain Practices and Lean Performance

In term of demand management, it is very important that how well firms manage the

Demand signal, demand collaboration, sales and operation planning and inventory

Management is also reflected in how a lean supply chain system views as a system. Lean performance is total internal lean optimization process; therefore demand management is vital to play their role to accept the concept of lean performance within their processes subsets. The strengths of lean approach are leanness are more immediate and practical focus on waste, flow and flexibility, therefore, supply chain partners including the upstream suppliers and downstream customers can work together as a team to provide value to the end-user customer.

(Hypothesis are taken from my masters in supply chain management documents and other topics are taken from diploma in supply chain management syllabus books)

Origins of Islamic Banking and Finance – Shariah

Lots of my students were asking me about the role of Shari’a in Islamic Finance System from past few days. I would like to answer these question from my Islamic Finance Qualificiation, which I earned at institute of Islamic banking and finance

I learned a lot on about shari’a during my diploma in Islamic banking and finance

What is Shari’a?

The word “Shari‘a” literally means “a way.” In Islamic terminology, it means the legal system of Islam.

Throughout history, God has sent messengers to people all over the world, to guide them to the straight path that would lead them to happiness in this world and the one to follow. All messengers taught the same message about belief (the Qur’an teaches that all messengers called people to the worship of the One God), but the specific prescriptions of the divine laws regulating people’s lives varied according to the needs of his people and time.

 The Qur’an says, “When Allah and His Messenger have decreed a matter, it is not for any believing man or believing woman to have a choice in their affairs. And whosoever disobeys Allah and His Messenger has gone astray into clear error.” (33:36)

The Prophet Muhammad (God bless him and give him peace) was the final messenger and his Shariah represents the ultimate manifestation of the divine mercy. “Today I have perfected your way of life (din) for you, and completed My favour upon you, and have chosen Islam as your way of life.” (Qur’an, 5: 3). The Prophet (pbuh) himself was told that, “We have only sent you are a mercy for all creation.” (Qur’an, 21:107)

Shariah consists of followings:

·         Holy Quran

·         The Sunnah (practices) of Holy Prophet Muhammad (s.a.w)

·         Ijma

·         The Qiyas.

(Image Ref: AIMS College UK's Website)

Now to make you understand Shariah laws more clearly, you must be explained about the four constituents of Shariah mentioned above.

Before explaining further I would like to thank a friend of mine who is doing PhD in Islamic Finance and allowed me to share definitions from her thesis.

1. Holy Quran

Holy Quran is the sacred book of Muslims and is the principle source of the Muslim laws. Allah, dictated Quran through Gabriel (the Angel) to Prophet Muhammad (s.a.w). It was revealed towards the end (most probably 27th) of Ramadan (the holy month of Muslims). Quran was revealed in Arabia and in the Arabic as the first target people were all those who knew Arabic. Allah through the Quran once said:

“So we have made it easy in their tongues that they may be mindful”. (Az-Zumar: 28)

2. The Sunnah

It is the secondary source of Muslim laws. Sunnah means the doings of Prophet Muhammad (s.a.w), reported through different “Sahabahs” (close friends or people who worked and lived with him). Holy prophet Muhammad (s.a.w), all his life acted on what Allah told him to do and in respect of everything one can do to be a pious and complete Muslim, there is no one but prophet Muhammad (s.a.w)'s Sunnah which is so much complete and comprehensive that it must be followed. Sunnah is the traditions or known practices of the Prophet Muhammad, many of which have been recorded in the volumes of Hadith literature.

3. Ijma’ (Consensus)

  Ijma is the third source of Shariah laws. It can be defined as the “consensus of opinion of the companions of the Holy Prophet Muhammad (s.a.w) or Muslim jurists”. It is the approval and agreed opinion of the Muslim jurists of the first three centuries of the Hijra. It is simply an agreed upon decision. It is also used in an Islamic society to overcome a problem, which could not be found in Quran or in Sunnah. It is narrated in a hadith.

“If anything comes to you for decision, according to the book of Allah, if anything comes to you which is not in the book of Allah, then look to the Sunnah of the Prophet (s.a.w), if anything comes to you which is not in the Sunnah of Prophet (s.a.w), then look to what people unanimously agrees upon”.

 

4. Qiyas (analogy)

Qiyas is the fourth important source of Sunnah. The word Qiyas means, “Comparing with” or “Judging by comparing with a thing”. Qiyas is a process of deduction by which the laws of a text is applied to the cases which though not concerned by the language, are governed by the reason of the text (Ref: Study Notes from MBA in Islamic Finance). It is actually analogy from the Quran, the Sunnah and Ijma.