BCS Commercial Awareness Training | BCS Training

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Introduction
Course Details
Course Content
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A Quick Glance

Accredited by BCS
Learn the Budgeting Process and its intricacies
Evaluate financial cases using the Three Techniques
Access to the Commercial Awareness course-ware and certified tutors
Low Cost of Certification
Certification Recognized by Global Leading Brands

The era of monopolistic organizations is coming to an end while competition is growing. In order to be successful, an organisation needs to collaborate with suppliers, competitors and outsourcing partners. For the businesses to operate successfully new approaches are required to operate through using methods such as restructuring, changing the organisational behaviour, modifying the internal and external boundaries, and deploying performance measuring techniques.

To deal with such problems, business analysts must master their commercial skills to deal with their partners and customers successfully. This course deals with the commercial and organisational knowledge which is expected from professionals undergoing business analysis. Commercial Awareness can be classified into Business Finance and Organisational Behaviour. We at Pentagon Training provide the delegates with a unique opportunity to learn and better their communication skills. This BCS training is covered in a time frame of just 3 days.

Who should take this course

At Pentagon Training, we impart this course to delegates who wish to understand the structure, operation and behaviour of organizations. It is also targeted at those professionals who want to acquire skills to bring about a business change and are involved with the organization as one of the following:

Business Analysts
Program Manager
Project Manager
Solution Architects
Service managers

Prerequisites

The course comes with no prerequisites.

Evaluating A Financial Case Through Three Techniques
Understand what is Costing and Pricing
Cash Flow Forecasting and Budgeting
Financial Accounting Documents and Their Contents
Understand Financial Accounts
Discuss Required Business Performance Ratios
Define Porters Five Forces Framework and Value Chain
Describe Boston Consulting Group’s Matrix

Key Learning Points

Tutor Support

Certificate

Courseware

Course Overview

The course (as shown in the figure) is made up of two parts - Business Finance and Organisational Behaviour. During the schedule of the course – the first part covers Finance for IT Decision Makers and the second covers Business Analysis Techniques and Organisational Behaviour. The Trainers hold a certificate in this course , a two-year training experience or 1 year recognised qualification. The trainer also has to possess a three-year practical experience in the same stream.

Examination:

The candidates are required to sit for the exam after the course. The exam lasts for one hour and is a closed book exam with multiple choice questions. The exam recommends an accredited training from BCS but it is not a requirement. To get certified the candidate must score 65% marks. BCS allows the use of calculators during the exam. No mobile technology will be allowed.

Candidates sitting for an exam must carry identification of some means such as Passport, Driving License, or Student Card. Following the exam, the candidate will be sent an email from BCS asking you to register for your exam. Once registered the candidate can log in and view the exam result from their accounts.

Additional time of 15 minutes is allowed for differently abled candidates or those who have a different native language than the language of the examination.

Course Content

Part 1 – Business Finance

1.Evaluating a Financial Case

Purpose of Building a Financial Case
Techniques used for evaluating a Financial Case
- Payback
  - Calculation
  - Payback and Risk
  - Limitations of Payback
- Discounted Cash Flow /Net Present Value
  - Purpose
  - Calculation
  - The NPV Decision Rule
- Internal Rate of Return
  - How to derive IRR
  - How IRR is used
  - The IRR Decision Rule

2.Budgeting, Costing and Pricing

Budgets and Departmentalised Businesses
- The purpose of budgets
- Reasons for departmentalization
- Cost centres and profit centres
Cash Flow and Cash Management
- Cash flow forecasting
- Use of cash flow in decision making
- Cash flow and profit
Costing and Pricing
- Fixed and Variable costs
- Direct and indirect costs
- Break even and Contribution Analysis

3.Financial Reporting and Analysis

Statement of Financial Position (Balance Sheet)
- Purpose and Structure
- The nature, purpose and types of Capital
- Current and non-current liabilities
- Current and non-current assets
Income and Expenditure (Income Statement, Profit and Loss Account)
- The importance of Operating Profit
- Revenue (turnover)
- Cost of Sales
- Administrative Expenses
- Profit after Tax
Statement of Cash Flows (Cash Flow Statement)
Ratios (formulae and interpretation)
- Profitability Ratios: Operating Margin and Return on Capital Employed ratios
- Liquidity (Cash Management) Ratios: Current and “Acid Test” ratios
- Gearing (Leverage) Ratio: Debt/Equity Ratio

Part 2 – Organisational Behaviour

1.Market analysis and competitive advantage

Analysing the business domain - Porter’s Five Forces Analysis
Analysing the portfolio - Boston Box
Delivering value - Porter’s Value Chain

2.Organisational behaviour and culture

What is organisational behaviour?
Organisational effectiveness and the Balanced Scorecard
Understanding and analysing culture
- Organisational Cultural Types (Deal and Kennedy; Handy)
- International Cultures (Hofstede)
- The Cultural Web

3.Group formation

Groups and group dynamics
Formal and informal groups
- Groups and group tasks
- Characteristics of formal groups
- Homan’s theory of group formation
- Tuckman and Jensen’s theory of group development
- Characteristics of informal groups
- Social networks

4.Principles of organisational structure

Organisation structuring
- Elements of organisation structure
- The six Structure Levels
- The Leavitt Diamond
Types of jobs
- Work specialisation
- Flat and tall hierarchies
- Span of control
Line, staff and functional relationships
Formalisation of rules and procedures
Centralisation v decentralisation
- Advantages
- Disadvantages

5.Operating models

Organisation structures and their characteristics
- Functional
- Divisional – product or service/ geography/ customer
- Matrix
- Team-based – cross functional/ project
Organisational boundaries
- Boundaryless organisations
- Outsourcing
- Offshoring
- Hollow organisation structures
- Modular organisation structures
- Virtual organisations
- Collaborations and strategic alliances

BCS Certificate in Commercial Awareness Enquiry

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Reach us at +44 1344 961530 or info@pentagonit.co.uk for more information.

About Carlisle

Carlisle, a city in Cumbria, is also the managerial centre of the City of Carlisle region in North West England. It is the main settlement in the county of Cumbria and helps as the managerial centre for both Carlisle City Council and Cumbria County Council. At the time of the 2001 survey, the population of Carlisle was 71,773. In 2011, the city's population had increased to 75,306, with 107,524 in the wider city.

The early history of Carlisle is noticeable as a Roman payment, recognised to serve the forts on Hadrian's Wall. In the Middle Ages, because of its nearness to the Realm of Scotland, Carlisle industrialised meaningfully. The armed stranglehold, Carlisle Castle, was built in 1092 by William Rufus, and once added as a custodial for Mary, Queen of Scots. The castle now relatives the Duke of Lancaster's Regiment and the Border Regiment Museum. In the 12th century, Henry I allowed the building of a priory in Carlisle. The town produced the rank of a city when its diocese was formed in 1133, and the cloister industrialised Carlisle Cathedral.

Governance:

Carlisle has detained city status since the Middle Ages. Also, it kept its status as an area constituency or governmental borough for centuries, at one time returning two MPs. In 1835 it became a municipal borough and was later upgraded to a borough status in 1914. The city's boundaries have changed several times since 1835 the final time in 1974.

The municipal area surrounded many parts of parishes which were combined into a single civil parish of Carlisle in 1904. The currently present urban area is considered as an unparished area. Carlisle had in 2002 made an unsuccessful attempt to grow to a Lord Mayoralty. An iconic building that stands tallest in Carlisle may be demolished, and the area nearby to it rehabilitated.

Climate:

Carlisle practices an oceanic climate. In January 2005 Carlisle was hit by strong wind storms and torrential rains. On Saturday 8 January 2005 all roads into Carlisle were shut owed to severe flooding, the worst since 1822, which produced three deaths. Less severe but still significant flooding occurred in 2009, but due to Storm Desmond. Carlisle experienced even worse flooding than 2005 between Friday 4 and Sunday 6 December 2015. During this time, nearly 36 hours of nonstop precipitation broke flood defences. This left several areas submerged including Bitts Park, Hardwicke Circus and Warwick Road. This left the famous Sands Centre, stranded from the rest of the city. As several other areas of Cumbria were also severely pretentious, all trains to Scotland were postponed forever. The trains on the West Coast Principal went no further than Preston. Prime Minister David Cameron stayed the city on 7 December 2015 to measure the damage.