Budgeting, budgetary control and management information in the highways departments

The need for an adequate information system for the Highways Departments in the United Kingdom has been recognised by the report of a committee presented to the Minister of Transport in 1970, (The Marshall Report). This research aims to present a comprehensive information system on a sound theoretical basis which should enable the different levels of management to execute their work adequately. The suggested system presented in this research covers the different functions of the Highways Department, and presents a suggested solution for problems which may occur during the planning and controlling of work in the different locations of the Highways Department. The information system consists of:- 1. A coding system covering the cost units, cost centres and cost elements. 2. Cost accounting records for the cost units and cost centres. 3. A budgeting and budgetary control system covering, the different planning methods and procedures which are required for preparing the capital expenditure budget, the improvement and maintenance operation flexible budgets and programme of work, the plant budget, the administration budget, and the purchasing budget. 4. A reporting system which ensures that the different levels of management are receiving relevant and timely information. 5. The flow of documents which covers the relationship between the prime documents, the cost accounting records, budgets, reports and their relation to the different sections and offices within the department. A comprehensive cost units, cost centres, and cost elements codes together with a number of examples demonstrating the results of the survey, and examples of the application and procedures of the suggested information system have been illustrated separately as appendices. The emphasis is on the information required for internal control by management personnel within the County Council.

Planning and decision-making for energy recovery from waste at the sub-regional level

This research project has developed a novel decision support system using Geographical Information Systems and Multi Criteria Decision Analysis and used it to develop and evaluate energy-from-waste policy options. The system was validated by applying it to the UK administrative areas of Cornwall and Warwickshire. Different strategies have been defined by the size and number of the facilities, as well as the technology chosen. Using sensitivity on the results from the decision support system, it was found that key decision criteria included those affected by cost, energy efficiency, transport impacts and air/dioxin emissions. The conclusions of this work are that distributed small-scale energy-from-waste facilities score most highly overall and that scale is more important than technology design in determining overall policy impact. This project makes its primary contribution to energy-from-waste planning by its development of a Decision Support System that can be used to assist waste disposal authorities to identify preferred energy-from-waste options that have been tailored specifically to the socio-geographic characteristics of their jurisdictional areas. The project also highlights the potential of energy-from-waste policies that are seldom given enough attention to in the UK, namely those of a smaller-scale and distributed nature that often have technology designed specifically to cater for this market.

A multi-organisational approach for disaster preparedness and response:the use of optimisation and GIS for facility location, stock pre-positioning, resource allocation and relief distribution

From 1992 to 2012 4.4 billion people were affected by disasters with almost 2 trillion USD in damages and 1.3 million people killed worldwide. The increasing threat of disasters stresses the need to provide solutions for the challenges faced by disaster managers, such as the logistical deployment of resources required to provide relief to victims. The location of emergency facilities, stock prepositioning, evacuation, inventory management, resource allocation, and relief distribution have been identified to directly impact the relief provided to victims during the disaster. Managing appropriately these factors is critical to reduce suffering. Disaster management commonly attracts several organisations working alongside each other and sharing resources to cope with the emergency. Coordinating these agencies is a complex task but there is little research considering multiple organisations, and none actually optimising the number of actors required to avoid shortages and convergence. The aim of the this research is to develop a system for disaster management based on a combination of optimisation techniques and geographical information systems (GIS) to aid multi-organisational decision-making. An integrated decision system was created comprising a cartographic model implemented in GIS to discard floodable facilities, combined with two models focused on optimising the decisions regarding location of emergency facilities, stock prepositioning, the allocation of resources and relief distribution, along with the number of actors required to perform these activities. Three in-depth case studies in Mexico were studied gathering information from different organisations. The cartographic model proved to reduce the risk to select unsuitable facilities. The preparedness and response models showed the capacity to optimise the decisions and the number of organisations required for logistical activities, pointing towards an excess of actors involved in all cases. The system as a whole demonstrated its capacity to provide integrated support for disaster preparedness and response, along with the existence of room for improvement for Mexican organisations in flood management.

Business information systems:technology, development and management for the e-business

In order to run a successful business, today’s manager needs to combine business skills with an understanding of information systems and the opportunities and benefits that they bring to an organisation. Starting from basic concepts, this book provides a comprehensive and accessible guide to: •understanding the technology of business information systems; •choosing the right information system for an organisation; •developing and managing an efficient business information system; •employing information systems strategically to achieve organisational goals. Taking a problem-solving approach, Business Information Systems looks at information systems theory within the context of the most recent business and technological advances. This thoroughly revised new edition has updated and expanded coverage of contemporary key topics such as: •Web 2.0 •enterprise systems •implementation and design of IS strategy •outsourcing