Project Proposal Essay Example for Free

Project Proposal Essay 1. Recommend a project portfolio management method for your selected project. Provide a rationale for your recommendation. Note: Be sure to align your project with the strategic efforst of the organization. 2. Create an outline of an executive summary that includes the type of problem, requirements, and proposed business problems solutions. 3. State the vision and the goal of the project. Note: Be sure that the goals are specific, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic, and Timely (SMART). 4. Determine five (5) major deliverables of the project, and explain the importance of each one. 5. Provide the timeframe for delivering the solution to the project. 6. Create a table which contains the generic resources, including people, equipment , and materials needed to undertake the project. 7. Estimate the total budget for the project based on the cost of the resources specified in the table that you have created . Next, add contingency and any other additional costs (e.g. intangible cost, the cost of a change in culture or process within the the business etc.). Support your response. 8. Determine the key success criteria for your project. Provide a rationale to support your response. 9. Assume that your project is delivered on time, within scope, and budget. Justify your stakeholders’ satisfactory level with three (3) key success criteria, against which the project will be measured. 10. Use at least three (3) quality resources in this assignment.

Property in Second Treatise of Civil Government and Robinson Crusoe Ess

Property in Second Treatise of Civil Government and Robinson Crusoe  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚        Ã‚   Both John Locke's Second Treatise of Civil Government and Daniel Defoe's Robinson Crusoe deal with the question of property. In these two texts, the following questions arise: when does common property become an individual's property; and what factors make the appropriation of property justifiable or not? These questions may be answered by looking at each author's political views, followed by how they are incorporated in their work. Locke outlines the procedures for the transition of property to private ownership, while Defoe details the way Crusoe appropriates property (i.e., food, accommodations, and slaves) during the course of his stay on the deserted island. However, in order to really examine the question of ownership, it first must be established how property was viewed during Locke's and Defoe's eras. Property was "a revolutionary force in the seventeenth century" (Larkin 56). A dictionary from that time period distinguished an individual's property by "its independence from others' control, defining it as 'the highest right that a man hath or can have to anything, which is no way depending vpon any other mans courtesie'" (Harris 224). Property was widely distributed in England during Locke's life (Larkin 57). Since it was natural to associate political authority with property during the seventeenth century, Locke's theory of property was "seated with a view to politics" (Harris 226; Larkin 57). His Treatise of Civil Government was written after the civil war of 1642 (Larkin 57). Referring to property as that which individuals have "in themselves, and also in goods," Locke expressed the view that "the supreme power cannot take from ... ...   Works Cited Defoe, Daniel. Robinson Crusoe. New York: Bantam Books, 1991. Harris, Ian. The Mind of John Locke. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1994. Larkin, Paschal. Property in the Eighteenth Century. New York: Howard Fertig Inc., 1969. Locke, John. Two Treatises of Government, The Works of John Locke. Vol. 5. London: Thomas Teggs et al., 1823. 352-367. Novak, Maximillian E. Defoe and the Nature of Man. London: Oxford University Press, 1963. Shinagel, Michael. Daniel Defoe and Middle-Class Gentility. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1968. Simmons, A. John. The Lockean Theory of Rights. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1992. Tully, James. A Discourse on Property: John Locke and His Adversaries. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1980. Welch, Dennis. Thesis Statement Feedback. 27 October, 1998.   

Case Study †Angus Cartwright III Essay

I. Case Overview Angus Cartwright III, an investment advisor, was asked to provide investment advisory services for two clients, John DeRight and Judy DeRight. They both wanted to purchase a property that (1) is large enough to attract the interest of a professional real estate management company and (2) has a minimum leveraged return on their investments of 12% after tax. Their major goals are: Diversification of investment portfolio Protection from future inflation Take some tax advantages (especially for John) Mr. Cartwright selected four properties and performed various financial analyses to best match the needs of his clients with the characteristics of the properties and the returns they offered. II. Assessment of the Analyses and Assumptions: Cartwright employed three stages of analysis: Preliminary Analysis (Exhibit 1 to 3), Risk Analysis (Exhibit 4) and Financial Analysis (Exhibit 5 to 10). Preliminary Analysis starts with gathering key facts and data such as purchase prices, current and future income, depreciation, estimated sales price and cash flows, loan and its rate and amortization, taxes and etc. The 1st year setups (Exhibit 2) for each property were developed and major comparable statistics (Exhibit 3) were calculated. Such analyses serve as a foundation for identifying directions and strategies for further detailed analysis, including financial analysis, physical inspection and an examination of day-to-day operations of potential investment properties. Risk Analysis consisting of a review of financial leverage (loan to value ratio) and operating risk (debt coverage ratio) can help a real estate investor to weigh the level of risks in relation to his investment objectives. In this case, Fowler had the highest leverage of 74.47%, while Alison Green had the highest Debt Coverage Ratio of 2, followed by Ivy Terrace(1.92), Stony Walk(1.46) and Fowler(1.26). The cushions they had are all sufficient for most lenders. The Break-Even Analysis, shown in Exhibit 4, was valuable to understand how a small change in occupancy levels can make a corresponding change in a property’s financial performance; most real state analysis assume the initial occupancy rate to remain at the same level through the investment period. Once all the relevant and key financial data is gathered, a number of effective financial analyses were performed; they are capitalization rate on both purchase and sale, cash-on-cash return rate, Internal Rate of Return (â€Å"IRR†), Net Present Value (â€Å"NPV†), Profitability Index and Cash Flow Analysis. The Quality of the financial analysis outcome heavily depends on the quality and accuracy of implicit assumptions used. However, applying financial analysis is still the best way to estimate the future performance of investment properties and comparing or prioritizing multiple investment opportunities. IRR is the most important and frequently used investment analysis indicator. Understanding various components of an IRR (Exhibit 8, 9 and 10) can help to carefully plan the timing, the sequence and size of events within an investment that will  impact the performance/outcome of the investments. In his analysis, Cartwright used the following assumptions: Annual increase in cash flow from operations: 4% for Fowler and 3% for the others. Vacancy rate: 5% for Alison Green and Stony Walk, 7% for the others. Capital reserve: $250 per apartment p.a., timing of when to disburse the reserve and its tax implication Sufficient funding of the equity investment Tax laws remain stable with ordinary tax rates: 35%; Capital gain tax rate: 15%; tax rate on the depreciation related gain: 25% Cartwright made, in general, conservative assumptions to simplify his analysis, and therefore, no particular assumption stood out to be unreasonable. As a continuing effort to improve quality of his assumptions, we could revisit and review his assumptions with the following generic questions: Is 3% or 4% increase in cash flow reasonable in current market/economic condition? How realistic is it to negotiate a rental guarantee with developers to be at 93% occupancy rate? How realistic is it that the capital reserve will remain at the same level for the next 10 years? How realistic is it that the leasehold payment will remain at the same level for the next 10 years? Should there be any significant changes in the outcome of the analysis, if the timing of the reserve disbursement is not assumed to be at the end of the lease term? Will there be any trend or expected government legislating new tax laws that will have significant impact on real estate investments? All properties appear to be large enough to attract the interest of professional real estate management companies and all exceeded the minimum leveraged return on investments of 12% after tax. On the simple return measures, Stony Walk had the highest Capital Rate on Purchase where Fowler ranked at the highest in Capital rate on Sales; Alison which had a high cash flow with low vacancy rate, and thus a high effective gross income was ranked in first for the Cash-on-Cash Return; Fowler which was still under construction and appeared to be undervalued had largest increase in capital value. On the discount return measures, Fowler had the highest IRR at 15.38 while Stony Walk had the lowest rate at 14.54, with a difference of 0.84; Alison had largest NPV with a difference of $115K comparing with the lowest NPV; Fowler which required the smallest equity investment had the highest Profitability Index. While the two residential properties have higher returns from their on-going cash flows, the increase in the investment value of the other two commercial properties will come from future value increase – see Exhibit 9. Completed exhibits for all four properties are included in the Appendix. The relevant analysis of other financial exhibits is integrated in the following chapter as reasoning of the recommendations. IV. Recommendations If we simply select an investment choice based on the highest IRR rate, Fowler should be recommended for both clients. However, as we better understand the components of the IRR (see Exhibit 9 in Appendix), we should try to best match each client’s ultimate investment goal to distinct character of each property instead of recommending an investment base only on the highest IRR rate. Exhibit 9. Percent of Total Benefits (@IRR) For John, our team recommends Alison Green with the following reasons: John is a retired, passive investor who wants to live comfortably from stable income/returns from the savings he accumulated, and was particularly interested in taking advantage of the new tax law, which will give him a favorable capital gain’s tax. As we can see from the breakdown of IRR, Alison Green and Ivy Terrace were projected to have higher steady income streams than the other two properties. Between them, Alison, although with a lightly lower IRR, has much higher tax benefit than the Ivy. Alison requires a higher initial equity investment than Ivy. However, Alison is estimated to be appreciated more at the end of 10 year and therefore will produce higher capital gain. Since John wants to take advantage of the new tax law and pay his capital gains at the newly enacted 15% rate, Alison is a better choice than Ivy. For Judy, our team recommends Fowler Building with the following  reasons: Unlike John, Judy is an active executive who can be a more aggressive investor and has some available fund for outside investment to diversify her portfolio. She may not care about the stable incoming cash flow as much as John. She will be more tolerant on any fluctuations such as a short-term, negative operating risks such as lower occupancy rate or lower investment value at the beginning as long as her investment will appreciate adequately at the end. We consider Judy as an investor focused more on ‘growth’ than ‘value/steady income’ seeking investor, and therefore we recommend Fowler because of its highest Profitability Index (=NPV/Equity).

How to Find the Draco Constellation

Draco is a long, winding constellation easily visible to northern hemisphere observers. Its one of those star patterns that actually does look somewhat like its name, tracing out the long body of an exotic dragon across the sky.   Finding Draco Constellation Locating Draco is pretty easy in clear, dark skies. The best way is to first locate the north star Polaris, or look for the Big Dipper or the Little Dipper. They are on either side of the long body of the celestial dragon. Its head is at one end, near the constellation Hercules and its tail is up near the bowl of the Big Dipper.   This chart shows Draco in relation to nearby constellations of Ursa MInor (the Little Dipper) and Hercules. Click to enlarge. Carolyn Collins Petersen Draco Constellation Mythology The ancient Greeks envisioned Draco as a serpent-dragon, which they called Ladon. They placed it close in the sky to the figure of Hercules. He was their mythical hero who, among many other notable actions, killed the dragon as one of his twelve labors.  Over the centuries, the Greeks spoke of Draco going after heroines, particularly the goddess Minerva, as well as his adventures as the son of the Titan Gaia. In contrast, the ancient Arabic astronomers saw this region of the sky as home to two hyenas attacking an infant camel who is part of a mother group of older camels. The Stars of Draco Constellation Draco has fourteen brighter stars that make up the body of the dragon, and many others that lie inside the official IAU-designated region for the constellation. Its brightest star is called Thuban, which was our north star at the time the ancient Egyptians were building their pyramids. In fact, the Egyptians angled certain passageways inside the pyramids to point directly at Thuban. Thuban existed in a region of the sky that they believed was a gateway to the afterlife.  Therefore, if the passageway pointed there, the soul of the pharaoh would have a direct pathway to his reward. The official IAU chart showing the region of the northern hemisphere sky that contains constellation Draco. IAU/Sky Publishing. Eventually, due to the procession of Earth on its axis, Thubans position in the sky changed. Today, Polaris is our north star, but Thuban will be the pole star again in about 21,000 years. Its name is derived from the Arabic term that means snake. This chart shows how Earths north pole precesses as Earth wobbles on its axis. The result is that the pole appears to point at different stars over the course of 26,000 years. Right now it points at Polaris, but in the past (and in the future) Thuban is a target. Based on a graphic provided by Tauolunga, via Wikimedia Commons Attribution Share-Alike 3.0 license.   Thuban, also called ÃŽ ± Draconis, is a binary star system. The bright one we see is accompanied by a very faint star that orbits very close to its partner. The second-brightest star in Draco is called ÃŽ ² Draconis, with a familiar name of Rastaban. It is near the bright star ÃŽ ³ Draconis, which is also called Eltanin. Interestingly, Eltanin is actually the brightest star in Draco.   Deep-Sky Objects in Constellation Draco This region of the sky has a number of faint deep-sky objects that require binoculars or a telescope to see. One of the most famous is the Cats-Eye Nebula, also known as NGC 6543. Its a planetary nebula that lies about 3,000 light-years away from us and is the remains of a sun-like star that experienced its final death throes some 1,200 years ago. Before that, it gently blew off its material in a series of pulsations that formed concentric rings around the dying star.   The Cats Eye planetary nebula, as seen by Hubble Space Telescope. NASA/ESA/STScI The unusual shape of the nebula is due to the clouds of material blown away from the star by a fast stellar wind. It collides with material that was ejected earlier in the stars aging process. The cloud of material is mostly hydrogen and helium, mixed with other materials. Astronomers suspect there may have been a binary companion star involved, and interactions with it may have caused the complex structure we see in the nebula.   Viewing the Cats-Eye Nebula requires a good small- to medium-sized telescope, since its actually quite dim. The nebula was discovered by William Herschel in 1786 and has been observed by many professional astronomers using both ground-based instruments, the Hubble Space Telescope and the Chandra X-ray Observatory.   Observers with good telescopes can also spot several galaxies in Draco, as well as galaxy clusters and colliding galaxies. Its well worth a few evenings of exploration to ramble through Draco and spot these fascinating objects.