Benefit realisation and project management

Portfolios are defined as planned groupings of investment agendas picked up by the management to accomplish specific and defined business results. Here risks and rewards are associated depending on what types of ventures are included in the portfolio management. The concept is to manage the available resources as part of a portfolio that generates a stream of benefits just like a well-balanced and designed financial investment portfolio. There is no scope to analyse or manage complex projects in an isolated way as (scarce) resource allocation, work breakdown structure (WBS) and risk management, all need to be seen together. In the Benefit Realisation (BR) approach, the focus is on the alignment of outcomes or end effects with the goals and the costs and risk exposure correlated with those outcomes. The focal point of traditional project management itself is accomplishment of all the projects rightly. On the other hand, portfolio management focuses on doing the right projects. In case of portfolio management, the attention ought to be given on a number of crucial points. These are: Number of projects are many but resources are limited or scarce; difficulties in fixing up the prioritisation of projects where considerations of social, economic and environmental benefits are absent; and some projects are cancelled without concrete information or being biased by political point of view. Again there may be too many projects making it difficult to pick up a few from them on priority basis where BR in terms of social, economic and environmental points of view ought to get utmost importance. If the portfolio of multiple projects are interdependent (like government initiated different infrastructural projects), the success of the entire portfolio depends on the success of all projects under one common umbrella. Here resources for the portfolio of projects are cross organisational (for example different government, semi-government authorities) and are competing for the same scarce resources. In case of resource allocation; the critical job is to find out which projects are under-allocated and which projects are over-allocated. When cross organisational diagnosis in case of resource allocation is done; the key decision to manage internal resources more effectively could be worked out. Measurement to provide support by outsourced resources must be needed to finance large infrastructural projects. Here, the more involved the external parties are, the more they will tend to impose their curiosity to serve their interest. To measure the success of portfolio management in case of portfolio of projects; the Value Assessment Technique is used and following basic questions come forth: Alignment: Are right things being done? Integration: Are right things being done in the right way? Efficiency: Are the things getting done well? Benefits Realisation: Are the projects delivering benefits? Ahmed Showkat Masud Mirpur, Dhaka Email: ahmed.masud69@yahoo.com Slain Muslim leaders Since World War II many world leaders have been assassinated and executed which includes Kings, presidents, and prime ministers of the following Muslim countries: Pakistan: Prime Minister Liaquat Ali Khan was shot dead in 1951. Prime Minister Zulfiqur Ali Bhutto was executed in 1981, and President Ziaul Huq was killed in aircraft bomb blast in 1988. Iraq: King Faisal was assassinated in 1958. Prime Minister Nuri al-Said was killed in 1958 and deposed President Saddam Hussain was hanged to death in 2006. Turkey: Deposed Prime Minister Adnan Menderes was executed in 1961. Saudi Arabia: King Faisal was assassinated in 1975. Bangladesh: President Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman was assassinated in 1975 and President Ziaur Rahman was killed in 1981. Afghanistan: Prime Minister Mohammad Daud Khan was assassinated in 1978. Prime Minister Nur Muhammad Taraki was killed in 1979, and Prime Minister Hafizullah Amin was executed in 1981. Egypt: President Anwar Sadat was assassinated in 1981. Lebanon: President Bashir Gemayel was assassinated in 1982, and Rafic Hariri was killed in a car bomb blast in 2005. Mali: President Moussa Traore was sentenced to death and later pardoned, but he died in detention in suspicious circumstances in 1994. Libya: Leader Col Gaddafi was shot dead by his captures in 2011. We don't know if the tragic deaths took place as a result of internal feud or conspiracy of foreign countries. We appeal to all the leaders of the Muslim countries to take lessons from history and follow the right path in discharging their sacred duties with vision, wisdom and justice. O H Kabir Hare Street, Wari, Dhaka Rice production: Keep farmers motivated It may be pointed out here that a reasonably high price of rice was a key factor that enabled Bangla-desh to become almost self-sufficient in food production. The higher price encouraged the farmers to produce more rice. The government imported only a nominal quantity of rice last year, mainly to boost the food stock. But this year a deep frustration among the farmers is noted because of a sudden fall in prices of rice and a rise in prices of agricultural inputs. Coarse rice was selling around Tk 40kg last year. It is now available at Tk 24-28kg (fall of 30-40 per cent) in the rural areas. The urban people, factory workers, day labourers must be happy because of lower rice prices but the farmers are apprehending a bleak future for them. Not many people realise that the lower price of rice and higher prices of inputs may soon bring an economic disaster for Bangladesh. A bag of urea weighing 50 kg was available at Tk 595 last year. This has increased by more than 65 per cent to Tk 980 now. The price of diesel increased from Tk 46 per litre to Tk 56 per litre. Higher income from agriculture and higher prices of essential goods pushed up the wages of the agricultural workers by 15-20 per cent this year. The higher costs of inputs and higher labour costs may increase the cost of production of rice by 25-30 per cent during both aman and boro crops. Many farmers are afraid that they would lose heavily if the price of rice remains at the current level. It is common sense that nobody would like to lose money by producing anything whose cost of production is higher than its sale price. Many farmers, particularly those who produce surplus rice for sale, told this writer that the cultivation of rice had become a losing business and they were thinking of alternative uses of their land. Even if they cultivate their land for production of rice, most farmers would not be able to afford necessary quantities of fertiliser and water to the plants because of higher prices of urea and diesel. In addition, water for irrigation has become scarce due to the falling level of underground water. In these circumstances, it has become imperative to adopt and execute innovative policies to keep farmers motivated properly towards higher rice production. Belayet Hossain Satirpara, Narsingdi Economic scene hardly inspires It is no overstatement to say that the economy of the country today is in a risky condition. The budget deficit is growing at an alarming and unprecedented pace. In the first couple of months of the on going fiscal year, the government has drawn from the financial system more than two-thirds of its targeted borrowing for the entire fiscal year. The banks are reeling from pressure to feed this extraordinary borrowing appetite of the government. On the one hand, they are facing a serious liquidity shortage and, on the other, failing to extend not even a part of the demand of the private sector for funds. A recent stress test conducted by the Bangladesh Bank, showed that 28 out of the over 40 private sector and state owned banks are in near bankrupt conditions. The prevailing inflation rate at nearly 12 per cent is the highest in nearly three decades. Government has settled for the easy path of printing money without back up securities to meet its needs pushing the future of the economy into peril from excess undue monetisation or money supply. Inflation, even in the short term, is expected to shoot up from this factor alone. Common people are suffering badly under the relentless rise in the prices of indispensable consumption goods when their purchasing power has been reduced substantially from inflation and lack of opportunities for compensatory income. Thus, poverty is deepening notwithstanding sayings to the contrary from government circles. The country's main export commodity, readymade garments, is confronting a difficult situation. A record number of small and medium garments enterprises have closed down and one estimate says that nearly 1.6 million workers have lost their jobs. Only the big garment industries in most cases are keeping up operations with a semblance of profits. But these are also getting squeezed from non cooperation of the government in helping to retain their viability on the higher side. Another pillar of the economy, manpower export, also has declined very worryingly. Manpower export to the main importing countries, Saudi Arabia and nearby Arab countries, have fallen drastically showing no sign of an improvement in this trend anytime soon. The main manpower importing countries are perhaps showing this reluctance to take Bangladeshi manpower out of a disillusionment of the political stance of the government. These developments begged for an appropriate response long ago. But it seems as if there is none in the government to take bold initiatives in response to the economic challenges. Abdur Rahim Uttara, Dhaka Fake currency notes Police must be congratulated for finding out and seizing huge quantities of fake currency and equipment for producing these. Recently, there have been intermittent reports on such action by law enforcement bodies in the backdrop of rising incidents of attempts to put such fake currencies into circulation. Once immediately after Independence, Tk 500 notes had to be demonetised by the central bank in a bid to control the harms to the financial system from the vast spreading of such fake notes. Things have been reasonably under control since then. But there are reasons to be apprehensive because producers and circulators of such notes are seen to be on the rise again. The authorities at different levels need to build up capacities to be able to identify the false notes. Many banks are seen using appropriate machines nowadays to detect the forgeries. But not every branch of every bank has a well-laid system in place to detect the counterfeit notes. Thus, counterfeit notes have been considerably circulating also through the banking system and this is completely frustrating and unacceptable. The banks and their branches must be made one hundred per cent free in matters of both spotting the fake notes and preventing their circulation. The police will have to be the main actors against fake notes producers within the country. Police need to be empowered and directed to go all-out to hunt down each and every hideout of the criminals. The punishments for producing and circulating fake currency notes presently are not so harsh as to strike terror in the hearts of the offenders. Only when the culprits will realise that they may have to suffer capital punishment meaning the death penalty or long term rigorous imprisonment if charged with these crimes, they can be expected to have less motivation for doing such crimes. If the fake currency makers continue to have their way, the national economy would be grievously hurt. Nasim Ahmed Niketan, Gulshan, Dhaka