Finance 325
Project Details
Instructions: You will draft a written report of approximately 800 to 1000 words plus tables. The report should explain your analysis, address the prompts, make a recommendation, and justify the recommendation. You may choose to address the case described on Blackboard (in the Course Information folder) or a real-world case of your own choosing that I approve in advance.
You may work individually or in groups of up to three people. If you decide to work in a group, however, any disputes between group members must be resolved within the group and you will not have the option of working independently if you commit to working in a group. In general, all group members will earn the same grade on their assignment. However, group members will be asked to evaluate each other and I may use these evaluations to adjust the grades assigned to individual group members.
Important details:

1. If you plan to work in a group, please send your section instructor an email by November 1 indicating who will be working together. Please be sure to cc all group members.
2. You (or your group) will turn in your final report, including tables and text, in a Word or PDF format. You will also submit your excel spreadsheet. You will submit all of this to your section instructor via email by Wednesday, December 9, 5pm. You will lose 10% every day it is late.
3. You (if doing the project individually) or your group must work independently. You must do the calculations and writing independent of other groups or individuals. Any evidence of collaboration between groups or individuals will result in a zero score for the groups/individuals involved. Conversation and discussion is fine, but any evidence of sharing excel files or the written report will be treated as evidence of a violation of academic integrity, and everyone involved (regardless of their role) will receive a zero score.
4. 50% of your grade on the project will be based on the accuracy of your calculations. We will grade individual portions of the calculations separately with the goal of not penalizing you twice for one mistake. That is, if you make a mistake in calculating OCF (as an example), but then use that incorrect number correctly from that point forward, you will receive credit for correctly using the incorrect number.
5. 30% of your grade will be based on the content of your written report. We will focus on how clearly and accurately you explained your analysis and responded to the prompts. We will also be concerned about whether the written report aligns with the calculations and tables. Do not make the mistake of glossing over important details or assuming we understand what you are intending with your writeup. Our advice is to write your report as though you were explaining your analysis to another student who is smart but does not understand project analysis as well as you. Such an approach will usually yield the right level of detail in your explanations.
6. 20% of your grade will be based on polish. Is it well written? Are there typos? Are there grammar mistakes? Is it well formatted? Does it look nice? Do the tables make sense? The answers to these questions will directly influence 20% of your grade (and indirectly influence the rest of your grade).
7. If you work in a group, you will be asked to evaluate your group members based on their teamwork. Were they actively engaged in the project? Did they put in the same effort as others? Did they do what they said they would do? Were they helpful and supportive of other group members? Would you work with that person again? Note that this will focus on attitude and engagement more than the quality of their contributions. The results of these evaluations MAY cause me to adjust an individual group member’s grade by up to 20%.

Please read this details carefully and let me know if you have any questions.

Question 2

A nursing home in Iowa, whose residents were all English-speakers and all over the age of 80, instituted a rule that required that all employees speak English while working since the residents of the nursing home were elderly and not able to understand any language other than English. Several of the employees of the nursing home were Latino and spoke Spanish fluently. The nursing home informed all employees, both verbally and in writing, of the English-only rule and gave verbal and formal, written warnings to several of the Latino employees who were overheard by management speaking Spanish in the presence of residents of the nursing home. After several such warnings, the nursing home discharged Catalina for continuing to speak Spanish in the presence of residents after she had been given several warnings not to speak Spanish while she was working.

Did the discharge of Catalina for the reason given constitute national origin discrimination? Why, or why not? What factors must be considered in deciding whether an employer can legally require that only English be spoken by employees while working?

Q2

Wilson Hospital, a nonprofit hospital affiliated with Wilson College, had the following cash receipts for the year ended December 31, 2005:

The dividends received are restricted by the donor for hospital building improvements. No improvements were made during 2005. On the hospital’s statement of cash flows for the year ended December 31, 2005, what amount of these cash receipts would be included in the amount reported for net cash provided (used) by operating activities?

1. $ 880,000
2. $ 800,000
3. $1,050,000
4. $ 750,000

While there are many benefits to the use of cryptocurrency, there is also much skepticism from the general public.  Much of this concern centers around legal protection associated with transactions. Search the Internet and outline what legal protections exist for Bitcoin users in the US and other countries.
 
 
Please make your posts substantive. A substantive post will do at least two of the following:
 

• Ask an interesting, thoughtful question pertaining to the topic
• Answer a question (in detail) posted by another student or the instructor
• Provide extensive additional information on the topic
• Explain, define, or analyze the topic in detail
• Share an applicable personal experience
• Provide an outside source (for example, an article from the UC Library) that applies to the topic, along with additional information about the topic or the source (please cite properly in APA)
• Make an argument concerning the topic.

 
At least 2 (scholarly) journal source should be used. Be your references in correct APA 7 format and cite each reference at least once, but as many times as you rely on it. Citations support each sentence relying on a reference, not an entire paragraph. Initial posts need to be 400 words minimum .
 
 
 
 

Week 5 – IA-5

Applying the Learning Curve Theory to a Project

Time and cost estimates are important to project management for the following reasons:
· Estimates are key inputs to project planning and control.
· Estimates support good decisions.
· Estimates are used to determine project duration and cost.
· Estimates are used to develop time-phased budgets and establish the project baseline.
· Without estimates you have inaccuracies, which result in time and cost under/overruns.
Most project tasks are unique and require the project manager to estimate duration/cost for each and every task separately; however, projects may also have repetitive tasks completed by the human resources assigned to the project. To estimate the labor hours/cost for these tasks the project manager may use an estimating technique that relies on learning curve theory to estimate the time and/or cost for completing repetitive tasks.
In this assignment, you will:
Task #1. Define and thoroughly discuss the Learning Curve Theory and how it applies to project management.
Task #2. Explain how you would apply the principles of the Learning Curve Theory to a real project in which you are familiar (as a project manager, team member, or one that you have read about in current events).
Task #3. Complete the following exercise on learning curves (see Page 2 of this assignment).
Instructions for completing the assignment:
· Before you begin this assignment, review the grading rubric for this assignment to understand how your work will be graded.
· Search out scholarly resources related to the subject of this assignment; use the UMUC online library databases as a start. You may also use the PMI site as a resource.
· In MS Word, compose a paper of 300-400 words (approximately 1 page) that addresses Task #1 and Task #2.
· Insert your response to the Exercise on learning curves (Task #3) and include all supporting calculations.
· Format your assignment response in accordance with APA 6th edition, include a title page and References page, and save the file as PMAN634_IA5_yourlastname.
· Submit your assignment through the Assignment folder of the course no later than 11:59 p.m. on Tuesday, Week 5.
EXERCISE: Using the concept of Learning Curves for Estimating consider the following scenario and respond to each question (all work should be shown in your Word document):
Suppose that you are the estimator who is assigning costs to a major project to be undertaken this year by your firm, Acme Software Developers. One particular software development process involves many labor-hours, but the work is highly redundant. You anticipate a total of 100,000 labor-hours to complete the first iteration of the software development process and a learning curve rate of 80%. Assume you are going to use the cumulative average time in your calculations to determine the time it takes for each iteration. You are attempting to estimate the cost of the tenth iteration of this repetitive process.
Based on this information and a $60 per hour labor rate, what would you expect to budget as
A. The cost of the tenth iteration?
B. The cost of the twentieth iteration?