Getting our tests back today. Not expecting any trouble. Partly because I spoke to the professor earlier today, and he accused me of being the “ratebreaker”, which is apparently the high-water mark. We’ll see. I had some concerns about the test, particularly the matching section.So. Got a 106 on the test, after a 10 percentage point curve. I have no complaints here. General grades range from 52 to 106, with a few clusters.
More information on the project. Needs to be a ten-page report discussing stagflation, including a definition, past occurrences, and a concise description of why is might or might not occur in the next few months. Must discuss stagnation, must discuss inflation, and must discuss stagflation. In practice, the paper can be eight to twelve pages, but shoot for ten.
Next month, the 18-month budget cycle for the FY 2010 budget will begin.
The Fed is currently in a box. It has to lower the interest rates to prop up the economy, but that risks jump-starting inflation.
Program Budgets have a hierarchy to them. You budget down at least as far as the level at which you manage. You seek manageable segments to which you can assign measurable goals. The budget must “roll up”, that is, the total must equal the sum of its segments.Labor costs are nearly always the largest segment of any budget.
Steps used in formulating a budget:
- Develop a short statement of work (SOW) — The executive summary.
- A brief discussion of the goals and nature of the program
- Master Schedule with major program milestones
- Broad cost estimate, probably by program phase
- Brief discussion of the specifications, capabilities
- Other factors — whatever is necessary to inform the public, your partners, congress, and so forth of what the budget includes, and why.
- Develop a work breakdown structure (WBS) — Breaks down the scope of the project into manageable segments which costs can be assigned to.
- Will include a numbering system which allows comparisons of items at the same level of the budget hierarchy and a budget roll-up
- Will include a WBS dictionary, which will include details on what is included and what is not included.
- Develop cost estimates for each WBS element — Each element has to have its cost estimates, so that each section of the organization has an assigned budget
- Develop schedules for each WBS element — Show at what point various portions of the project can be expected to be started and completed.
- Phase costs over time using these schedules — Figure out when in the schedule you’ll be spending the money
- Assign budgets to organizations. — Develop schedules for each sub-unit
As more units of an item are produced, you can expect them to become cheaper to produce. This is called a “learning curve”.