VIEWPOINTS

How will we navigate through the business implications of Mr Darling's Budget?

By Melanie Franklin
CEO, Maven Training

UK

After waiting for months, we now know how Mr Darling's latest budget (UK Treasury Department) will affect us. We have seen the polls and looked at the impact on the average family, pensioner and low and high earners. There is no doubt that the budget has confirmed the theme of producing the same quality goods and services at a reduced cost. In the public sector budget cuts have been expected for some time, and we now know that shoppers are likely to be facing 20% VAT within a year or two.

Assessing the financial value of projects has always been important but not always the overriding factor to success. In fact in recent years some projects have not had to meet financial goals, but as the implications of Mr Darling’s budget hits us, the financial benefits and costs of our projects are becoming more important. It is very useful to look at financial ratios such as return on investment, internal rate of return, and net present value when deciding which projects to support.

Organisations that have adapted or developed their own project management methodology will have templates of preliminary documentation to make sure that the project’s success criteria is documented. Some ask for standard spreadsheets to be completed and formulas applied to calculate the project’s revenue contribution.

Setting the value of a project is essential, in the early stages, projects that forecast the best return on investment are the first to be supported by senior managers…

To read entire article (click here)

About the Author Melanie Franklin Author International Correspondent Rosario, Argentina Melanie Franklin is CEO of Maven Training, a programme and project management service firm in the United Kingdom. Melanie has extensive experience in project, programme and change management, in the Financial Services sector. She undertook such roles as European Manager for quality and process improvement projects and Global Programme Director for emergency planning for a global bank. While growing Maven into a major learning and consultancy provider, Melanie, continues to build on her substantial expertise; recent successes include delivery of effective programme management environments into a number of organisations including primary care trusts, private sector organisations and local authorities, introducing maturity and assessment services and setting up skills and competence frameworks for programme and project management. She is a regular keynote speaker at conferences, has written a number of books and still finds time to keep in touch with our clients by delivering courses! To contact Melanie or for information about the company, visit http://www.maventraining.co.uk/