Monday, January 27, 2020

Reverse Logistics Processes

Reverse Logistics Processes Definitions â€Å"The process of planning, implementing, and controlling the efficient, cost effective flow of raw materials, in-process inventory, finished goods and related information from the point of origin to the point of consumption for the purpose of conforming to customer requirements.† Logistics is defined by The Council of Logistics Management What is Reverse Logistics? We refer to the term reverse logistics as all activity associated with a product/service after the point of sale, the ultimate goal is to optimize or make more efficient aftermarket activity, thus saving money and environmental resources. As equally as Logistics deal with the set of events that move the product to customer, the reverse process moves the product at least on step back in the supply chain. The objective is to regain the value or proper disposal, when the product returns in the opposite direction. The sold goods get returned due to improper quality control measures leading to damage, recalls, hazardous materials and obsolescence.,   It involves collection, transportation disposal of returned , damaged /surplus goods through reuse, resale, or repair. Importance Of Reverse Logistics. Reverse logistics responsiveness and quality has a direct a positive effect on the companies economic performance.   Companies have to accept returns in the shape of products or materials as a legal obligation. As organizations offer warranty along with sale of items, and to minimize the cost of warranty and sale price, the reversals become inevitable for sustaining customer satisfaction and quality assurance. The closer the company is to the end customer, the greater the size and scope of reverse logistics issues. .The worldwide legislations on hazardous materials (WEEE and ROHS), demand reverse logistics for repairables. Size Of Reverse Logistics It is difficult to estimate the cost in Reverse logistics management as many   companies do not have systems to estimate. Research says it is around 4% of the cost of logistics, based on a survey sample.. Return Percentages The reverse logistics process can be divided into two categories depending on the areas of reverse flow which in turn comprises of primary products, or primary of packaging. A Company has varied disposal options to choose once a product has been returned. The company looks primarily to return it to the supplier for a full refund. In case of goods not used may be resold to a different customer or at an outlet store. If goods do not meet required quality levels, then it may be sold to a salvage company that will export the goods to a foreign market. Common Reverse Logistics Activities : Activites that comprise of reverse logistics include:, Refurbishing, Recycling , landfill, repackaging, returns processing and salvaging Key Reverse Logistics Management Elements Gatekeeping Compacting Disposition Cycle Time Reverse Logistics Information Systems Centralized Return Centers Zero Returns Remanufacture and Refurbishment Asset Recovery Negotiation Financial Management Outsourcing Strategic Use Of Reverse Logistics The strategic usage of Reverse logistics among the retailers and wholesalers is to reduce the risk of buying products that may not be hot selling items. In some industries goods are distributed with the understanding that retuning the goods for credit is allowed if they are not sold. This encourages retailers to carry a huge stock thereby shifting the risk of having unsold goods (obsolescence) goes to the company. The retail seller at the nearest reach to the customer exploits the situation ordering a huge consignment and resulting in heavy returning. An example of the strategic use of returns in the market is the sale of newspapers and magazines, and the sellers carry more stock for a considerable incentive. By doing this the reseller were allowed to return the goods within the stipulated time frame. This facilitated the customers to the inventory low and purchase things in time. Every business aims to lock the customers in and not to opt for to another supplier. There are many ways developed by the supplier to link themselves to the customers not to switch to another supplier. One important service that a supplier can offer to his customer is the ability to accept the defective goods immediately and refund the amount timely. Every retailer needs to have a strategic vision of the logistics in order for him stand updated in the market. The retailer in business of electronic toys can easily get off business if they do not have the knowledge or vision of reversal logistics. Several surveys have estimated that a larger part of the profit was due to the improvised strategies. How An Effective Strategy Can Be Developed: The best methodology for an effective reverse logistics to be framed and implemented would be working on the existing process in the business. The traceability and quality management system will identify goods timely and correctly outlining the features of a product in details and the reasons of defect with a solution of a product when returned. The reverse logistics process can be managed through a tailored program called Enterprise resource planning system. A tailored ERP system can provide varied information related to the returned inventory. It can give the number of returns from the customer, identify the reasons of the returned goods, check the course action to be taken and deal with the product and allocate resources in dealing with the product. An ERP system, equipped with robust processes, should be sufficient to manage its reverse logistics strategy. The other crucial aspect in reverse logistics is the concept of collaboration. It works efficiently with a effective collaboration involving a larger visibility. Sharing of information, supporting integrated decision making should be a vital feature of the collaboration. Constant communication and shared processes with a common vision should be practiced for a successful designing and implementation of Reverse Logistics. This has become a integral part of any business in day to day life which may results in many benefits to the company. Every retailer, manufacturers and producers need to create the necessity of reviewing the logistics followed. They can work on their existing systems that trying to find ready made solutions. The companies have developed various simple and effective strategies for running a successful Business. The various steps or factors involved while defining at effective reverse logistics Security Shipping and Receiving Labour The Return Policy Inspect Returns Assign Disposition Real Examples or Practical Examples of Effective Reverse Logistic. Reverse logistics is also applied for a different non-commercial cause and used for a reason of charity or   gain a mileage augmenting advertisement returns. Such donations get a goodwill to a company and act as a substitute for ads .Henna Anderson Co s Hannadowns   campaign retrieves   used clothes from the customers and gives an offer on the new purchases. The returned clothes reach the less-privileged ones. As a second example, Kenneth Cole Productions makes offers to customers returning old shoes and given away to the needy. Nike shreds the retrieved old shoes and converts them into basketball courts and tracks. Business Implications Despite the costs, companies do accept returned goods, with original receipt or a fees, as Returns Management is an important strategic tool in a competitive environment. Return policies are in place to influence purchase decision of a customer. Return management is a strategy similar to reverse logistics involving a decision on how the return will be dispositioned. When returns are a liability and restrictions are too many in land filling, then disposal is a less attractive   option. Difficulties Of Reverse Logistics Companies budget for   what is known as â€Å"Brand Equity† to attach an image   to products and can not afford to reduce the value of primary investment   , by having their product appear in a flea market. The difference in the objective of the manufactures and retailers exists due to the different strategies followed in managing returns. For Eg, In case a retailer wants to return a good to the manufacturer and he would disagree for varied reasons as follows: Condition of the item,Value of the item and the promptness. The assumption by the retailer for returns sent back in pure , pristine conditions and any damages must have occurred in transit or must be manufacturing defects, leads to criss cross of purposes. The inefficiency of the reverse logistics is indicated by the amount of returns inventory being held in the warehouse and clearly denotes the way the firm is handling returns. Unfortunately, some symptoms that cannot be identified and observed are as below. These have been defined by Dr. Dawe. For most firms processing returns is not a priority.Focus is on new generated products revenue and returns received are in more number to the processing or disposal. Declined value of the returns due to obsolescence (computers , fashion ware). Company policies making it difficult to handle returns as the â€Å"junk† damages quality products. Conclusion First, develop strong reverse logistics strategies. Second, clearly outline financial, corporate, branding, marketing and other objectives. Treat it as another business; and not a simple operation. Give it goals, give it objectives, give it resources, give it executives and let it be part of the â€Å"Lifecycle† design for your products and your customers. References Curt Barry, â€Å"How to Develop a Reverse Logistics Strategy: 8 Tactics to Try.† Catalog Success Magazine, 2003.+http://www.fcbco.com/articles-whitepapers/Reverse-Logistics-Strategies.pdf Reverse Logistics Executive Council, http://www.rlec.org. Stefan E. Genchev, Reverse logistics program design: A company study Business Horizons, Volume 52, Issue 2, March-April 2009, Pages www.logisticsit.com/absolutenm/templates/ http://ideas.repec.org/a/aes/amfeco/v10y2008i24p192-209.html http://www.reverselogisticsprofessional.com/ http://www.sciencedirect.com/science http:www.mhhe.com/browsersox-scm Hawks, Karen. VP Supply Chain Practice, Navesink. Reverse Logistics Magazine Winter/Spring (2006). http://www.rlmagazine.com/edition01p12.php Rengel, P. Seydl, C. (May 2002). Completing the Supply Chain Model. Retrieved on 2008-04-25. Harrington, Ryan, VP GM for Reverse Logistics / Projects, NYK Logistics. Reverse Logistics Magazine. Winter/Spring (2006). http://www.rlmagazine.com/edition01p14.php Greer, 2004 Rogers, 2002 Mollenkopf D., Russo I. and R. Frankel, 2007 The returns management process in supply chain strategy. http://veltusresearch.com/Documents/Mollenkopf%20etal-07-Returns%20Mgmt%20Strategy%20(Italy).pdf. Retrieved 2008-05-05. Reverse side of logistics: The business of returns. http://www.forbes.com/2005/11/02/returns-reverse-logistics-market-cx_rm_1103returns.html. http://dictionary.bnet.com/definition/reverse+engineering.html http://www.clrb.com.br/publicacoes/academico_framework.pdf

Sunday, January 19, 2020

Audit Memo

Audit Planning Memorandum for Database Environment Date| 02/04/2013| To| Audit Senior Management| School Board| Temple University| Prepared By| Shan Jiang| ————————————————- Background Types of RDBMS: MySQL 5. 0 – an open-source database used extensively in small or medium-sized web applications. One of the simplest databases to secure from hacking because of the small attack surface it exposes Number of DB servers: 3 Business units rely on the DBs: Sales and Distribution, Financial Services, Procurement, and Accounts Receivable.Organizational structure of the group who manages the DBs: Data Owner, system administrator, and database administrator. 1. 0 Internal Audit Objective and Scope 2. 1 Internal Audit Objective The objective of this review is to audit confidentiality, integrity, and availability of XYZ Company’s MySQL 5. 0 database environment. 2. 2 Inter nal Audit Scope and Approach The scope of this review includes an assessment of MySQL 5. 0 database environment. Specifically, this review will include: * Physical and administrative control Concurrent access controls * Change controls * Server configuration control * Database checkpoints * Schema Modifications * Redundancy elimination and relationship verification * Database restructuring * Data backup and disaster recovery plan 2. 3 Deliverables Audit deliverables will consist of the following: * Fieldwork documentation * Finding Issues * Audit draft report * Action plan and recommendation * Audit final report It is planned that the above deliverables will be delivered to you by 02/07/2013 for your review and subsequent discussion. . 0 High-Level Work Program Policy and standards, data backup and procedures, levels of access controls for data, data encryption, confidentiality, integrity, availability of data elements, database checkpoints at junctures, database reorganization, dat abase restructuring procedures and write report. 3. 0 General Information 4. 4 Internal Audit Team The internal audit team, with roles and responsibilities, includes the following people: * Lua Li: associate, audit database basic step and general controls. *Jia Meng: associate, audit database operating system security * Shan Jiang: associate, audit database accounts and permissions management * Zhou Zhou: senior associate, audit password strength and review database privileges * Chao Lang: senior associate, audit data encryption * Jia Yu: manager, verify database auditing and activity monitoring. 4. 5 Duration of Internal Audit The duration of this internal audit will be for one month commencing on 02/11/2013. 02/11/2013-02/15/2013 Planning 02/16/2013-02/20/2013 Fieldwork and documentation 2/21/2013-02/25/2013 Issue discovery and validation 02/26/2013-04/01/2013 Solution development 04/02/3013-04/07/2013 Report drafting and issuance 04/08/2013-04/11/2013 Final report and issue track ing It is anticipated that the fieldwork, working papers and drafting of deliverables will be completed by Internal Audit Team. 4. 6 Location of Internal Audit The location of the internal audit will be performed at XYZ Company. It is predicted that a site visit to XYZ Company will be conducted during the course of this review. 4. 7 Temple University Previous Audits Previous Audit Version: March 3, 2012Previous Critical Findings: Developers have direct access to update production code without permission. Impact: It is fixed. The DBMS team implemented a baseline tool for protecting the production code. The ability to check new code into this tool will be limited to the DBA. The team also documented procedures requiring approval and testing prior to submitting new production code for check-in. 4. 8 Key Contacts Contact| Position| Department| E-mail| Contact No. | Jim Green| Database Administrator| IT| [email  protected] com| 435-234-8899| Lucas Xiao| System Administrator| IT| [email   protected] om| 123-324-3211| David Han| Database Developer| IT| [email  protected] com| 876-123-1234| Ryan Li| System Analyst| IT| [email  protected] com| 542-345-0989| Billy Zhou| Manager| IT| [email  protected] com| 324-123-4321| 4. 0 High-Level Work Schedule Date| Task| Contact| 02/11/2013-02/15/2013| Verify policies and procedures about database version and available patches| David Han| 02/16/2013-02/20/2013| Determine baseline for adequate security setting and permissions on the directory and registry keys. | Ryan Li| 02/21/2013-02/25/2013| Verify legitimate accounts creation and password management capabilities. Jim Green| 02/26/2013-02/28/2013| Confidentiality, integrity, availability and encryption of data| Lucas Xiao| 03/01/2013-03/03/2013| Database checkpoints at junctures| Ryan Li| 03/04/2013-03/05/2013| Database reorganization| Lucas Xiao| 03/06/2013-03/08/2013| Database restructuring procedures| Jim Green| 03/09/2013-03/11/2013| Ready to report| Billy Zhou| 5. 0 Key concerns of management. Operating system administrators gains easy access to MySQL Server. SQL Server DBA's has local administrator privileges on Windows. Data breaches that compromise IP or personal privacy. 6. 0 Manager Sign-off Billy Zhou 02/07/2013

Saturday, January 11, 2020

Literary Analysis: Monkey’s Paw

What makes a scary story? Is it the death of an important character or a guy in a mask scaring people? W. W. Jacobs, the author of The Monkey’s Paw uses numerous amounts of literary devices to make this story interesting. In my essay I will be responding to the theme, mood/imagery/personification, and foreshadowing. In this story a sergeant major is in possession of a monkey’s paw that appears to be magic. The paw allows him to make wishes. But every time the man makes a wish, death takes someone in return. He does make a wish for a vast amount of pounds, or money.But of course someone dies, and it just so happens that it was his son. The theme in this story is that with great power comes great precaution. For every wish, he must know that lives are at steak. Like the fact that he wishes for money, but his son dies. â€Å"What goes around comes around†, was a great quote that wasn’t used but is a grand example of what could, can, and did happen. â€Å"For tune rules peoples live. Sorrow† was another high-quality quote that explains that no matter what you do fate controls people’s lives.His son died because of an accident at work so therefore the company of the work place gave the family 100,000 pounds, so I would say that this was a strange coincidence. â€Å"A sergeant major is in possession of a monkey’s paw that appears to be magic. The paw allows him to make three wishes, but for a price. Every time he makes a wish death takes someone in return. The lesson or theme takes place in these aforementioned sentences. The theme is to be careful what you wish for. Foreshadowing is in this whole subsection, a man has a monkey’s paw and he gets to make three wishes.But if he does make a wish, someone will die in return. He does get his wish, but this wish takes course in the death process. In the story, the father makes a wish and the son dies in a terrible accident at work. In the occurrence the son’s e mployees felt sorry for the father’s family therefore giving him 100,000 pounds. â€Å"Without, the night was cold and wet, but in the small parlor of Laburnum Villa the blinds were drawn and the fire burned vibrantly. † The imagery was how the fire burned. The imagery also introduced the mood. The mood made me have a snug because the locale was at night and the blinds were drawn as the ire burned. The mood was showed by the imagery. Cold, wet, night time, and inside there was a flamboyant fire. That mood gave me the homely sensation because the weather was ghastly but inside there was a pleasant fire. The author W. W. Jacobs does an immense job at fusing the mood and imagery in one sentence. W. W. Jacobs does an equisetic job with the topic sentence using mood and imagery to hook the reader. In the foremost sentence the author fuses the mood and imagery to make a setting that gives the reader a snug feeling. I enjoyed the book The Monkey’s Paw

Friday, January 3, 2020

Essay on Project Critique - 1355 Words

Analysis and Critique The Navy Marine Corps Intranet (NMCI) project, undertaken by Electronic Data Communications (EDC) is the biggest government undertaking of its kind. It aims to provide a single seamless network which would provide a centralized communication to the Navy and Marine. It also aims to integrate the legacy systems with the new secured environment. The NMCI project aimed to connect about 400,000 desktops into a common network, which would provide a unified communication to all Navy and Marine bases (Calbreath, 2004). Due to the magnitude of the project, it has been subject to much speculation. Despite of initial claims by the EDS, there have been serious issues. EDS aimed to have 160,000 seats by 2002†¦show more content†¦The Navy also developed a performance plan in order to measure and report the success of the NMCI project. GAO’s analysis further showed that the Navy had met only 15% of the performance targets. A careful study of these results shows that if the Navy doesn’t implement its performance plan, then effective result and management cannot be achieved. The GAO analysis also reveals that the service level agreements of the NMCI is of a mixed nature, with some agreements met, others not consistently met, while still others not met at all. GAO’s analysis also gives suggestions for the Department of Defense, in order to adopt effective practice. By adhering to the suggestions given by GAO, the Department of Defense is more like to get a detailed understanding of significant issues, which will prove beneficial while making outsourcing decisions, along with suggestions to be kept in mind while making such decisions (Information Technology: DOD Needs to Leverage Lessons Learned from Its Outsourcing Projects, 2003). 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