18 Jan 2018

L2B Blog: What are Projects all about?

by | posted in: Construction Chat, Did You Know, Frequently Asked Questions, General | 0

What are Projects all about?

The question I get asked the most being a Projects researcher is… ‘What are Projects all about?‘.

It is early days in 2018 and my understanding levels are still rebooting after the holidays. I thought I would try and provide an explanation that may be a little tongue in cheek and also help people remember easily what Projects are all about. So, in my analogy, I decided to do a comparison between Projects and Fishing (in my head this means only fly fishing, but you can use most fishing for this analogy).

 

Projects vs Fishing

What happens in a Project? Well, we follow the full life cycle of the Project (think of it like your life, from birth until your eventual end). Now a Project can be broken into a few defining stages, which is how we put our information into groups to make it easier to follow, understand and find your best area of benefit from a business perspective. So without further adieu, here are the various stages broken down for your ease of reference.

 

 

Projects Planning
 

Conceptual

Projects

This consists of the appointing of the Client or Developer, Feasibility study, acquiring of funding and Request for Proposals (RFP).

Fishing

Your mind starts hatching a plan for getting away and going fishing. You are looking at your bank balance and wondering if this is a feasible decision.

(Click here for examples of this Project stage)

 

Procedural

Projects

Here the basic design is conceived along with the geotechnical study, EIA process, Town Planning and appointment of Professionals who will carry out these and other duties.

Fishing

You begin to look at the calendar and note when the public holidays are, what the weather is expected to be at the time (we all know how that effects fishing), the distance needed to travel and the people that will be involved in this trip.

(Click here for examples of this Project stage)

 

Design

Projects

The detailed design is completed and the Bill of Quantities prepared.

Fishing

You search fishing forums and websites, as well as Trip Advisor, Lodges and Google reviews for the best places to visit that, will supply your (fly) fishing needs.

(Click here for examples of this Project stage)

 

Projects Construction Design

Tender

Projects

The Project is sent to an Invited list of Bidders to Tender or goes out to Open Tender and once the Bids are received, negotiations with Contractors proceed.

Fishing

You make a decision on where you are going to fish and stay; book and pay. You alight in your chariot with all the correct tackle and head to your destination.

(Click here for examples of this Project stage)

 

Awarded

Projects

The Main Contractor is Awarded and applies for permits to begin on site.

Fishing

The weather is perfect, the fishing permit is in hand and as your line sinks into the watery depths, you feel a definite tug as you hook what feels like a bus of a fish.

(Click here for examples of this Project stage)

 

Projects Awarded

Underway

Projects

The process goes ahead with Site Handover, Site Establishment and the commencement of the actual construction work.

Fishing

Your experience and skills come into play in fighting your fish, cleverly steering it away from weeds and avoiding logs and rocks.

(Click here for examples of this Project stage)

 

Complete/Cancelled/Postponed

Projects

The project is either classified as Complete, Cancelled or is Postponed.

Fishing

You successfully land the fish, or you lose the fish. The line wraps around either a tree, gets stuck in the weed or the hook breaks and the fish lives to fight another day.

(Examples can be found on the following links: Complete, Cancelled, Postponed Project stages)

 

Projects vs Fly fishing

 

 

And there you have it! Projects explained in a fresh and easy way. Parcels of information that help your business get a foot in the door at the right time. If you want to find out which stages are the best for what you do, take a look at ‘At which point in the Project Life Cycle can your Business find Value‘.

If you want to take a look at the other services we provide, you can take a look at ‘Snoop our Services‘.

How many fish are you planning to catch this year? Which of those fish will keep your Business in the black? Maybe taking a look at our Project service will help your Business and get you out fishing more often. If you are interested, pop me a comment on the Blog with your mail address or mail me at CarmenB@L2B.co.za and I will be sure to be in contact with you.

 

Until then, have a fantastic day.

 

Picture sources

1 https://pixabay.com/get/eb3cb20c28f5053ed95c4518b7494090eb70e4d704b0144093f0c97ba1ebb4_960.jpg

2 https://pixabay.com/get/eb33b90d2ef0003ed95c4518b7494090eb70e4d704b0144093f0c97ba0e5b7_960.jpg

3 https://pixabay.com/get/ea35b2082ff3093ed95c4518b7494090eb70e4d704b0144093f0c97bafe9b6_960.jpg

4 https://pixabay.com/get/e834b5062df4033ed95c4518b7494090eb70e4d704b0144093f0c97bafe5b3_960.jpg

 

 

About Carmen Barends

Social media adventurer for Leads 2 Business, exploring new frontiers and taking new ground. “Not all those who wander are lost.” JRR Tolkien

7 Aug 2017

How to make the most of our Tenders?

by | posted in: Did You Know | 0

The Inside Scoop:

Ssssshhh, don’t tell the boss! I wanted to share some insider secrets with you. A brief look behind the scenes and into the research “engine room” of our company. I am hoping that you can use this information to your advantage. (wink, wink, nudge, nudge)

As you know, Leads 2 Business is keenly focussed on smarter ways to do and create business opportunities.This approach is not just about the information we deliver to you, but an integral part of our business ethos. Each month we capture literally thousands of tenders, yes, you read it correctly, THOUSANDS!

With this much tender information being pumped out on a daily basis, we have to find a smart and effective way to prioritise researching the subsequent tender awards.

How do we know?

Every Tender we send to you has an option to be monitored.
Monitoring a lead allows you to follow it through its life cycle
or assign it for follow-up within your team.

What is not so apparent is that we, in turn, use this monitoring
information as an indicator that this tender is important, creating
a priority flag back to the research team for follow-up.

It then becomes very important for you to monitor a tender!

How to Monitor a Tender

Monitoring a Tender can be done from selecting a recipient from the drop down box “Assigned to” on the tender.
Alternately, it can be done in bulk from the search results page first selecting which tenders you want to monitor, followed by “Actions”, “Monitor selection”. It will then present the same list of recipients as is available from the individual tender view pages.

Ways to get our attention

In the event you have not monitored a tender but still need the award information and the tender is now closed, you can email your request through from the tender page by clicking on “Request Award Information” button and someone from our research team will then follow up with you.

Tools you can use

There are more tools integrated into our tender notifications that we know will help you stay ahead. Specifically, our site inspection, follow-up and closing date reminders, which offer timeous alerts. An area for notes directly relating to the tender or contacts you may have reached out to. Our document collection and/or site attendance on your behalf through Infomessenger. (Gauteng only)

Making the most of your tenders is quite an exhaustive topic…

Here are the common points for consideration :

Subscribe

It may be seemingly obvious, but a valuable subscription to Leads 2 Business is a smart, streamlined approach.
We shoulder the cost of a research team and send you what is important to your business.

The number of filter combinations across categories, industries, geography and keywords creates a uniquely customised solution for your business lead pipeline. If you would like to know more about subscribing or taking a free trial, please send me an email on TarynD@L2B.co.za

Refine Your Profile

Making sure your profile on Leads 2 Business is tailored appropriately to your business requirements so that you get the lead information.

Your Advisory Settings Profile explicitly dictates what is received in the Daily Advisory email.

Steps to Action in Identifying opportunities


Go through the daily Advisory email thoroughly each day.

  • View the full details online.
  • Monitor & Request BoQ/ SI register/ Bidders Lists as soon as possible.
  • Set Reminders.
  • Email the researcher, if there are any discrepancies that you identify or if you need assistance.
  • Make Notes.
  • Download DTAs. (Daily Tender Advisory)
  • Keep a record of DTA numbers, instead of partial descriptions. This helps when searching.
  • Dismiss those unwanted DTAs, that are cluttering up your Search Result. (Be extra careful of dismissing DTAs by mistake)
  • Take advantage of our free online training, live support, telephonic support or in person training. (In person training is availble by appointment and only in selected areas)

Key Vocabulary to Understand:



  • Details Change:The details pertaining to the original tender have changed, please review the new details supplied in our notification.
  • Short Lead: This means there is a very short lead time or a very short time within which you can respond to this tender opportunity.
  • Awards: After the closing date, all the tenders are checked for basic compliance with the tender regulations. Non-compliant tenders are disqualified. The compliance of the products or services offered and the price is considered. Then all compliant tenders are listed in order of price. Those in the lowest price tender list are in the lowest price group. Preference points are given to suppliers on the list of lowest price tenders are first verified. Preference points are only awarded after the most expensive tenders have been excluded, as this makes the process faster and fairer. Those with verifiable information come out with the best preference points and are therefore awarded the contract.
  • Re-tenders: the issue of a second or subsequent request for tenders on a proposed contract.
  • Withdrawals: the contract has been withdrawn and there is no longer an opportunity to tender at this time.
  • Cancellations: the contract has been cancelled and there is no longer an opportunity to tender at this time.


About Taryn Duckham

I am a lover of awesome design, customer centricity and the art of influence. Being able to effect this through analysis, written or visual content and front-end design is part of my work, my great love of creatively solving problems that reach across as many parts of Leads 2 Business as I can.

20 Feb 2017

Did you Know #DYK – The Art of Finding Business

by | posted in: Uncategorized | 0

The Art of Finding Business

I think most people like to think of themselves as Artists. Or at least like to feel they are creative in some way (don’t burst my bubble). There are some people who make finding and doing business a work of art. It is done with such eloquence and momentum that it feels seamless. I often wonder what it would feel like to have that skill?

 

With that in mind, I decided to put some facts together to keep a reminder for myself on how finding business can be an art form I can cultivate….

 

Without further ado ladies and gentleman, please find your creative notes below :

 

 

 

The Art of Finding Business

 

I hope this has been helpful to you. Please feel free to share this to any business groups and please comment on anything you utilised to find business in your industry.  Until next time … 🙂

 

If you are interested in becoming one of our subscribers, please visit our website.
To view notes with screenshots on how to use our website, please visit our Wiki site.
To view more articles, please visit our blog.

 

 

 

 

 

About Carmen Barends

Social media adventurer for Leads 2 Business, exploring new frontiers and taking new ground. “Not all those who wander are lost.” JRR Tolkien

27 May 2015

Human Resources and Human Capital Tips

by | posted in: General | 1

 

Human Resources & Human Capital Tips

Say what now????

This topic is definitely not something I sit around on the weekend bantering about, so believe me when I say I was not 100% excited to write about it…. well, at first anyway, then I gave myself the “Knowledge is Power” pep talk and took to Google for some assistance!

 

Human Resources vs Human Capital

 

Human resources is the set of individuals who make up the workforce of an organization, business sector, or economy.

 

Human capital is the stock of knowledge, habits, social and personality attributes, including creativity, embodied in the ability to perform labour so as to produce economic value. (not limited to the work place)

 

 

So from what I can gather, Human capital is the development of your work force. This in theory gives them a feel-good feeling, encouraging performance and in turn grows your company revenue. 😉

 

This seems like the most logical way to run an organization right?

 

Well I remember being in my early 20s in my first few interviews and being shot down right after being asked “So what experience do you have?”… “ummmm well I’m 20… so anything other than how to wait tables and a killer coinage hand… not much!”

 

Where exactly would I acquire this experience they are all talking about????

 

Yes I understand its important to hire employees who can come into your organization and pick up right where possibly the last person left, but…. wouldn’t it be more important to hire some one who WANTS to do that? Eager and ready to learn, grow, develop and improve their skills?

 

So what I’m getting at is, Attitude has to trump Experience!

 

 

 

Now for obvious reasons, this strategy is only going to work if you follow through and actually grow your newbies. Hiring someone with zero experience followed by no development is going to break your business!

So where do you start?

 

How do you improve your companies Human Capital?

 

  • Don’t let employees become complacent or stagnant.
  • Offer and encourage education in terms of in-house courses, training, webinars and literature.
  • Reward – this will inspire your workforce to do more and be more.

 

Now Human capital goes both ways, it is not solely the employers responsibility.

 

As an employee, you need to initiate development within yourself.

  • Know the philosophy of the company you work for, this will give you an idea of where your employer is striving to take his company, giving you an advantage over the rest of your colleagues that are only interested in collecting their monthly pay cheque.
  • Don’t limit yourself, further your education where possible, this doesn’t have to be formal if finances don’t permit it, but use the resources the world-wide-web so readily provides us with.
  • “Wear more than one hat” meaning don’t be scared to learn every aspect of what your company does.

Ultimately realise that Human Capital is personal, better yourself where ever possible, learn a new language, a new skill, read about a topic you would not usually read about, broaden your vocabulary, start a blog, get involved in a community sport or fund raising activity, get creative!

Learning something new has to be one of the most rewarding feelings and very seldom goes unnoticed, not to mention, more often than not, this will inspire the next person:) So here’s my final food for thought.

 

Something for the employer to think about…

CFO asks CEO: “What happens if we invest in developing our people & then they leave us?” CEO: ‘What happens if we don’t, and they stay?”

 

 

And something for the employee to think about…

“The more that you read, the more things you will know. The more that you learn, the more places you’ll go.”
― Dr. Seuss,

 

 

And look…. I just wrote about something I started out knowing NOTHING about, and now I think I may possibly have the ability to hold a 2 minute uninterrupted conversation about it…. ahhhh look at me grow!  

 

 

 

About Sherina Shawe

I am a strong believer in "What you put in , is what you will get out" and this drives me every day, whether it's at home with my gorgeous family or at work where I get to fuel my competitive spirit. I love who I am and who I'm becoming. I love where I am , but more importantly where I'm going.... #EternalOptimist #Aspire2Inspire

6 May 2015

Time Management Tips for your Business

by | posted in: Business Risk, General, How To | 19

Time Management Tips for your Business

 

As Dr. Seuss says:

 

“How did it get so late, so soon?”

 

When I think of time management, I immediately think of the Bar-One chocolate. For a 25-hour day. It always seems as though there are just too few hours in a day. An 8-hour working day is only 480 minutes. This, however, is one issue that chocolate (unfortunately) cannot solve. Effective time management is the answer.

 

Time management is the process of organising and planning how much time you spend on specific activities. Being busy is not the same as being effective and spending copious amounts of time working on different activities throughout the day, often leaves you with little to show for it at the end of the day. Most of us are familiar with the phrase “work smarter, not harder”.

 

Time management is a skill that everyone can learn. Here are ten tips that I believe will assist you in developing the skill further:

1. MAKE NOTES. For me personally, this is one of the most important tasks. Make a note of everything you need to do, instead of trying to remember everything in your head. This will help you to plan your day.
2. ORGANISE YOUR WORKSPACE. A cluttered workspace creates distraction. Only keep what you need on your desk.
3. PRIORITISE TASKS. Divide them up into three groups, from most important, to moderate and least important. Always start with the most important, even if you can only complete a small part of the task.
4. SET TIME LIMITS. Setting time limits is very important for keeping focused on the task at hand, and to avoid procrastination.
5. KNOW YOUR LONG-TERM GOALS. Review your work on a regular basis to ensure that what you are achieving, is in line with your goals and targets.
6. DELEGATE. You can’t delegate everything and anything, however, if there is someone else with the necessary skills and time, they can assist you by taking on the task.
7. USE A CALENDAR. This is a useful tool for managing your daily activities. An online calendar tool, i.e. on your mail client, enables you to access your calendar from wherever you are. Use this calendar to mark out deadlines.
8. TARGET TO BE EARLY. When you plan to meet a target on time, you will either be on time or late. However, if you target to be early, you will most likely be on time.
9. KEEP THE BALANCE. It is important to manage your time so that you can include various aspects of your life into your day, such as work, family, friends and your health.
10. Last, but certainly not least, TAKE A BREAK. If you overwork yourself, you will tire yourself out and become less productive.

 

And so to end, I would like to leave you with the following thought:

 

“The bad news is time flies. The good news is you’re the pilot.” – Michael Altshuler

 

Sources:
http://www.mindtools.com/pages/article/newHTE_00.htm
https://ascendtraining.wordpress.com/2014/12/03/competencies-of-great-supervisors-part-13-time-management/
http://www.dummies.com/how-to/content/top-time-management-tips0.html
https://ascendtraining.wordpress.com/2014/12/03/competencies-of-great-supervisors-part-13-time-management/
http://www.cimaglobal.com/Thought-leadership/Newsletters/Insight-e-magazine/Insight-2012/Insight-October-2012/First-things-first-prioritising-tasks-for-better-time-management/
http://www.lifehack.org/articles/lifehack/20-quick-tips-for-better-time-management.html

About Bianca Warwick

I had the privilege of joining the Leads 2 Business content team in January 2012. I work in the exciting Projects department, following the progress of construction developments in KwaZulu-Natal and the Free State.