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 Milton Keynes

Milton Keynes

Milton Keynes also abbreviated as MK is a large town located in Buckinghamshire, England. It was designed as a new town on 23 January 1967 and also an administrative centre of Borough of Milton Keynes. It is located 45 miles that is 72 km away from north-west of London.

Various another town like Bletchley, Wolverton and Stony Stratford exist here along with other 15 villages and farmland. Milton Keynes took its name from existing “Village of Milton Keynes “that is few miles away from the planned centre.

History of Milton Keynes

Milton Keynes has a rich history with proof of human settlement that was found before starting the construction of this city in 1960’s. When UK government decided to establish Milton Keynes, most of the area was farmland, and undeveloped villages and the earlier history was incredibly rich. Until the 10^th century, there was no evidence of occupation in villages. During middle age, 18 villages were present that still form the heart of Milton Keynes districts. With the arrival of London and Birmingham Railway and Grand Junction canal in late 18^th and 19^th century, the area went through many changes and the new town of Wolverton, and New Bradwell emerged.

The greatest change in the history of Milton Keynes was when it was chosen to solve housing problems in London. Milton Keynes was planned as biggest towns and have an area of 89 square kilometres that became home to around 250,000 people. In the beginning, no building was allowed to be tall than the tallest tree, and later Milton Keynes Partnership changed it. Tallest building in Milton Keynes is 14 floors high. Its population will double by the year 2026.

Milton Keynes offers a broad range of opportunities to people to learn new things and get a better education. Bletchley Park code breakers brought innovation to the city in second world war. This team cracked secret codes of Germans. Milton Keynes is a destination that is always passionate about developing minds. It contains some of the best schools and colleges. Milton Keynes College offers a wide range of courses in different domains. It is one of the fastest growing college in the United Kingdom.

Open University offers contemporary learning where degree level education is provided to everyone. The headquarters of the university is located at Walton Hall in Milton Keynes. There is also University Centre Milton Keynes ( UCMK) which is a hub for higher education with new facilities and exciting courses in the middle of the city. This town also contains a solar-powered house that plays a significant role in the development of electric transport. Various courses, classes and opportunities are offered by Milton Keynes Theatre Creative Learning department to young people and adults to explore theatres including makeup, drama, acting and much more.

Sport

Milton Keynes has various professional teams in football, in ice hockey and in Formula one. It is also home to Xscape indoor ski slope, Formula Fast Indoor Karting Centre, Airkix Indoor Sky Diving facility and National Badminton Centre.

Economy

At Borough level, data of Milton Keynes economy, demography and politics is collected. Milton Keynes is one of the most successful economies in Southeast along with gross value added per capita index which was 47% higher than the national average. According to 2015 data, average wages place it in top five nationally.

Just 0.6% of businesses employ people more than 250 which include Open University, Volkswagen Group, Mercedes-Benz and Network Rail. Remaining enterprises around 81.5% employ near about 10 people. Milton Keynes professional, technical and scientific sector contributes large employment. Milton Keynes has a high number of business start-ups in England and start-up levels remained high even during the period of recession 2009/2010. Most of the population is younger. 22.6% of Borough population is under 16, 12.1% are aged 65+. According to 2011 census report, Milton Keynes Urban area comprises of 8.7% South Asian, 78.4% white, 3.5% Mixed Race, 7-5% Black, 1.2% Chinese, 6.7% other ethnic group and Asian.