1. Differentiate forecasting from projecting techniques in planning.

Which of
the two techniques in planning is based on facts and figures and assures
you precision and accuracy in terms of viability and profitability?
ANSWER:
First difference is that Forecasting refers to the reports which are made on
factual assumptions, and are most likely to occur. Whereas projections are based on
somewhat loose assumptions and these are the figures what management want to
sea. So, these are mostly, wanted reports rather than factual reports.
Second difference is that forecasts are mostly intended for outside stakeholders
of the company, like general public or shareholders, or government agencies, whereas
projections are in house reports of the company.
Third difference is that forecasts are made upon refined assumptions of future,
whereas projections are based on past figures, mostly we can take figures of past and
raise them with certain percentage to arrive at the final projected figures.
Fourth difference is that forecasts as I mentioned above are generally
intended for outside stakeholders so the they are an indication of the future some
aspects are controllable by the company and are beyond control. Unlike projections
which are made for specific purpose inside the company and so management may
include its "out to be" situations. Therefore, projections are more prone to have
management bias. For example, management, may make a projection of sales more
than what is attainable and insist sales department to achieve it.
Forecasting is a common statistical task in business, where it helps to inform
decisions about the scheduling of production, transportation and personnel, and
provides a guide to long-term strategic planning. However, business forecasting is
often done poorly, and is frequently confused with planning and goals. They are three
different things.
Forecasting is about predicting the future as accurately as possible, given all
of the information available, including historical data and knowledge of any future
events that might impact the forecasts.
Goals are what you would like to have happen. Goals should be linked to
forecasts and plans, but this does not always occur. Too often, goals are set without
any plan for how to achieve them, and no forecasts for whether they are realistic.
Planning is a response to forecasts and goals. Planning involves determining
the appropriate actions that are required to make your forecasts match your goals.
Forecasting should be an integral part of the decision-making activities of
management, as it can play an important role in many areas of a company. Modern
organizations require short-term, medium-term and long-term forecasts, depending on
the specific application.
An organization needs to develop a forecasting system that involves several
approaches to predicting uncertain events. Such forecasting systems require the
development of expertise in identifying forecasting problems, applying a range of
forecasting methods, selecting appropriate methods for each problem, and evaluating
and refining forecasting methods over time. It is also important to have strong
organizational support for the use of formal forecasting methods if they are to be used
successfully.
2. What are the similarities and differences of environmental scanning and
benchmarking techniques for assessing environment or surroundings as
good management practice in planning?

ANSWER:
Environmental scanning is a process that systematically surveys and interprets
relevant data to identify external opportunities and threats. An organization gathers
information about the external world, its competitors and itself. The company
should then respond to the information gathered by changing its strategies and
plans when the need arises.
The environmental scanning process encompasses several steps. The first
step is for an employer to gather information about the world in which it operates,
including information about the economy, government, laws and demographic
factors such as population size and distribution.
Next, the organization should focus on its competitors. The company should
examine the research for trends, opportunities and threats that might impact its
business.
The next step is to conduct an internal scan of the organization. Examine the
company's strengths and weaknesses. Consider where the company is now and
where it plans to be in five or 10 years. Interview or survey leaders of the company.
Sometimes an organization also might decide to gather information from
community service and religious groups and interview the leaders of the groups or
use surveys. This might help a company decide, for example, whether it should try
to work with the other organizations and what activities to pursue. The company
then might decide to plan joint activities that will meet the needs of both groups or
to encourage employees to get involved in community activities, such as building
a house for Habitat for Humanity or serving food to the homeless at the local
shelter.
When conducting an environmental scan, a variety of methods should be used
to collect data, including publications, focus groups, leaders inside and outside the
organization, media, civic associations and the library. After the data is collected,
the final step is to analyze the data and identify changes that can be made.
Benchmarking Strategic benchmarking is perhaps the technique best
understood by strategic planning participants. The techniques associated with the
Total Quality movement were primarily developed for manufacturing environments
and were designed to improve output quality and reduce defects. This is
accomplished by the appropriate application of statistical methods to process and
quality control. The general idea is the establishment of control limits, which are
 constantly monitored, followed by appropriate process adjustments (continuous
improvement), hopefully before the output is out of specification. In higher
education, most regional and national accrediting bodies have adopted some form
of continuous improvement criteria as a requirement for accreditation.
Benchmarking, then, is the establishment of appropriate control reference points
and the process of comparison to some standard. As applied to the strategic
planning process, benchmarking is an implementation tool and thus comes into
play as the planners move away from plan development and into one of operations.
This is consistent with the operational nature of TQM. For an educational
institution, it is a process by which we establish referent institutions (peers), identify
the dimensions that will be monitored, continuously monitor hard data, identify
apparent deviations from the desired standard, and implement preventative
corrective action. The bread and butter of benchmarking is the ability to generate
and analyze data. The focus of the administrator in such an environment is to
answer the how are we doing question. The process is rather inward focused and
is designed to identify situations where the institution may be headed, but is not
yet, off track. In a strategic planning process, it the last technique to be
implemented, as it will be the primary means to insure institutional compliance with
the plan.
3. Explain why SWOT Analysis is vital and important in strategic planning?
ANSWER:
SWOT stands for strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats and is
probably as ubiquitous as a strategic planning technique can be. It is a simple
technique introduced to the world of strategic management by Stanford professor
Albert Humphrey. It is designed to identify organizational capabilities and a basis
for building a competitive advantage. The SW portion of the technique is focused
internally, while the OT is oriented externally. Even though the technique is used
just about everywhere, it is unfortunately sometimes misapplied. Undertaking a
SWOT analysis requires the analyst to consider the relative strengths and
weaknesses the organization enjoys relative to other organizations in the same
domain. An organization would look at what it perceives as its own strengths and
look to see what corresponding weaknesses another organization might have. A
relative strength then creates opportunity. The same reverse concept applies to
weaknesses. Some attribute is a weakness only if it is subject to exploitation by
some outside organization with an offsetting strength. The strengths of one
organization are only so because they line up with a corresponding weakness in
some other organization. For example, when doing a SWOT analysis in a group, a
common item proposed as a strength is our people. As wonderful as the said
group of people might be, their capabilities only represent a strategic advantage to
the extent their abilities and performance cannot be duplicated by some other
organization. Therefore, a SWOT analysis is at the core of understanding the true
capabilities and limitations of an organization. It is a technique that considers
potential competition for the same services and helps organizational members
 understand the dynamics of their competitive arena. As such, it is usually found at
the core, or middle part of a strategic planning process. The question to be
answered at this level is very different from the benchmarking question. It is what
are the difficult-to-copy attributes of our organization that represent true advantage
over other providers of the same service? While this process requires comparison,
the comparison is more conceptual and far less data-driven.
4. How can you test the efficiency of a good plan?
ANSWER:
In many real-world planning systems, the quality of a plan may be just as
important (if not more) than the time it takes to generate the plan. For instance, it
may be vital in a manufacturing domain for a planner to produce plans with low
resource consumption, or with the least number of possible steps. There are a
variety of notions about what makes a good plan. Some of the more common
quality metrics are listed below: The length of the plan (or the total number of
steps) The execution time of the plan. The resource consumption required the
robustness of the plan
5. What is the relationship between planning and controlling? Why planning
and controlling in inseparable?
ANSWER:
The planning and controlling functions of management are very closely related.
The relation between both the functions is explained below:
Planning is the basic function of every enterprise as in planning we decide what is
to be done, how it is to be done, when it is to be done and by whom it must be done.
Planning bridges the gap between where we are standing today and where we want
to reach.
Controlling means keeping a check that everything is in accordance with plan and
if there is any deviation, taking preventive measures to stop that deviation. The
meaning of controlling makes it clear that controlling function is undertaken for right
and timely implementation of plans.
Planning and controlling are interdependent and interlinked:
Planning and controlling functions always co-exist or have to exist together as
one function depends on the other. The controlling function compares actual
performance with the planned performance and if there is no planned performance
then controlling manager will not be able to know whether the actual performance is
O.K. or not. The base for comparison or the yardstick to check is given by planning to
controlling function. On the other hand, the planning function is also dependent on
controlling function as plans are not made only on papers but these have to be followed
and implemented in the organization. The controlling function makes sure that
everyone follows the plan strictly. Continuous monitoring and check in controlling
function make it possible that everyone follows the plan. So, both the functions are
interlinked and interdependent as for successful execution of both the functions
planning and controlling must support each other. For example, if the workers have
produced 800 units the manager can know whether it is adequate or not only when
there is a standard production set up by planners. So, base of comparison comes from
planning only. On the other hand, if the standard target is 1,000 units then controlling
managers make sure that there is improvement in the performance and the employees
achieve the set target.
Planning and controlling are both backward looking as well as forward looking:
Controlling is backward looking because like a postmortem of past activities the
manager looks back to previous years performance to find out its deviation from
standard planning is also backward looking because planning is guided by past
experiences and feedback report of controlling function. Planning is forward looking
because plans are prepared for future. It involves looking in advance and making
policy for maximum utilization of resources in future. Controlling is also forward looking
because controlling does not end only by comparing past performance with standard.
It involves finding the reasons for deviations and suggests the measures so that
these deviations do not occur in future. So, this statement that planning is forward
looking and controlling is backward looking is only partially correct as planning and
controlling are both forward looking as well as backward looking.
 MARIKINA POLYTECHNIC COLLEGE
Sta. Elena, Marikina City
GRADUATE SCHOOL PROGRAM

Final Exam
In
Educational Planning

Submitted By:
Jayral S. Prades

Submitted To:
Dr. Sabas