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 Coventry

Coventry is a metropolitan area in the West Midlands, England. Historically part of Warwickshire, Coventry is the 9th largest city in England and the 12th largest in the United Kingdom. It is the second largest city in the West Midlands region, after Birmingham, with a populace of 345,385 in 2015. Coventry is 95 much north-west of central London, 19 miles east-south-east of Birmingham, 24 miles south-west of Leicester and 11 miles north of Warwick. Coventry Cathedral was constructed after the annihilation of the 14th-century cathedral church of Saint Michael by the German Luftwaffe in the Coventry Blitz of 14 November 1940. Coventry motor companies have donated meaningfully to the British motor industry. The city has two universities, Coventry University in the City Centre and the University of Warwick on the southern outskirts.

Areas of Interest:

Cathedral:

St. Michael's Church is Coventry's best-known landmark and visitor place. The 14th-century church was hugely demolished by German bombing during the Second World War, part only the outer walls and spire. At 300 feet above, the spire of St. Michael's is appealed to be the third tallest church spire in England, after Salisbury and Norwich. Due to the architectural design, it lived the destruction of the rest of the cathedral. The new Coventry Cathedral was opened in 1962 next to the ruins of the old. It was reproduced by Sir Basil Spence. The cathedral covers the tapestry Christ in Glory by Graham Sutherland.

Cultural Institution:

The Herbert Art Gallery and Museum is one of the largest cultural organisations in Coventry. Another visitor attraction in the City Centre is the Coventry Transport Museum, which has the main group of British-made road vehicles in the world. The museum established a refurbishment in 2004 which comprised the creation of a new arrival as part of the city's Phoenix Initiative project. It was a finalist for the 2005 Gulbenkian Prize. About four miles from the City Centre and just outside Coventry in Baginton is the Lunt Fort, a reconstructed Roman fort on its original site. The Midland Air Museum is located just within the border of Coventry on land head-to-head to Coventry Airport and near Baginton.

Red Major Improvements endure renewing the City Centre. The Phoenix Initiative, which was deliberated by MJP Architects, stretched the final shortlist for the 2004 RIBA Stirling Prize and has now gained a total of 16 separate awards. It was available in the book ‘Phoenix: Architecture/Art/Regeneration' in 2004. Further major developments are potentially afoot, chiefly the Swanswell Project, which is envisioned to deepen Swanswell Pool and link it to Coventry Canal Basin, joined with the creation of an urban marina and a wide Parisian-style avenue. A possible second phase of the Phoenix Inventiveness is also in the offing, though both of these plans are still on the drawing-board. On 16 December 2007, IKEA's first city-centre store in the UK was opened, in Coventry.