M&M SUPPLY MANAGEMENT SYSTEM

M&M Supply Management System



M&M Supply Management System

Introduction

Systematic analysis can be an essential part of the decision-making process. It is a method that accounts for both tangible and intangible objectives. The analysis is a means by which information is presented and used to determine what can be accomplished with a specific level of resources. The results of the analysis feed into the political process. The need for this type of evaluation is self-evident. Evaluation enables the examination of investment proposals to ensure government accountability.

This type of analysis presents information about what government plans to do and the costs associated with accomplishing a desired outcome. There are many different forms of analysis, such as operations research and economic analysis. Much of the discussion in this chapter focuses on economic analysis, which is divided into two topics, cost-benefit and cost-effectiveness analysis. Cost-benefit and cost effectiveness analysis are management tools which are used to determine the costs and benefits of a particular project. After costs and benefits are determined these methodologies are used to choose between alternative projects.

Hence, they represent a method to make decisions about funding among different types of library functions such as cataloguing, circulation and collection development. Many small libraries cannot keep up with the rapid increase in technological advancements. The associated costs of expanding computerized library and information services increase faster than library administrators can incorporate such changes in their budgets.'

Cost Benefit Analysis

In a world of finite public and private resources, we need a standard for evaluating trade-offs, setting priorities, and finally making choices about how to allocate scarce resources among competing uses. Cost benefit analysis provides a way of doing this.

What is cost benefit analysis?

Cost benefit analysis (COBA) is a technique for assessing the monetary social costs and benefits of a capital investment project over a given time period. The principles of cost-benefit analysis (CBA) are simple:

Appraisal of a project: It is an economic technique for project appraisal, widely used in business as well as government spending projects (for example should a business invest in a new information system)

Incorporates externalities into the equation: It can, if required, include wider social/environmental impacts as well as 'private' economic costs and benefits so that externalities are incorporated into the decision process. In this way, COBA can be used to estimate the social welfare effects of an investment

Time matters! COBA can take account of the economics of time - known as discounting. This is important when looking at environmental impacts of a project in the years ahead

Uses of COBA

COBA has traditionally been applied to big public sector projects such as new motorways, by-passes, dams, tunnels, bridges, flood relief schemes and new power stations. Our example later considers some of the social costs and benefits of the new Terminal 5 for Heathrow airport.

The basic principles of COBA can be applied to many other projects or programmes. For example, - public health programmes (e.g. the mass immunization of children using new drugs), an investment in a new rail safety ...