The Participants Module ENGINUITY The Participants Module Copyright Virtual Management Simulations

Introduction The Participants’ Module is the software used by participants to take part in an ENGINUITY competition. It enables :- Decisions to be made for each period relating to the key managerial functions Company performance to be measured and assessed The global economic environment in which the company is operating to be analysed

Selecting The Company Database The Participants Module is no use without company information, and this is stored in the company database. Every company database follow the same naming convention of “ccc_t?p?.dat” where :- “ccc” is the competition id “t” is the team’s unique number “p” is the current period The company database is selected using the Select Company Database button.

Connecting To The Company Database When the software was installed the trial database, “trial2017_t1p5.dat” was put in the folder “enginuity2017\data\trial1”. To select the trial company database :- Click on “enginuity2017\data\trial1\trial2017_t1p5.dat” to highlight it Choose the “Open” option to connect to the database KEY POINTS The name of the company database should never be changed. Different scenarios can be stored in sub folders, such as “trial2”, “trial3” etc.

The Main Menu Once a successful connection had been made to the company database the Main Menu is displayed. The Main Menu displays relevant information about the company being managed :- Database; The location of the company database being used Team details; Including the team number, name, sponsor and management structure Current status; The current key performance indicator score of the company, and the period in which they are operating Background; Information about the structure of the company

Main Menu Options Using a pull-down menu structure, the Main Menu is the gateway to managing the company. MAKING DECISIONS Options that enable decisions to be entered each period relating to the key functions of the business. There are also a number of additional ‘housekeeping’ options. ASSESSING PERFORMANCE Options that enable company performance to be measured and assessed. INDUSTRY INFORMATION Options that describe the conditions of the global economy in which the company is operating. All the menu options are described in detail in the Enginuity Tutorial, but we will take a closer look at some of the important operational features of the decision screens. Clicking on the Making decisions option reveals the four decision screens relating to Finance, Overheads, Procurement and Job Progression.

Decision Screen Options All the decision screens have the same menu structure. CHANGE DECISIONS Enables the user to move between decision screens. Only one decision screen can be opened at once. Change period The default mode is to enable decisions to be made for the current period, denoted by the word “MAKING” in the screen title. The “Change period” option can be used to review the decisions entered for a previous period, when the word “REVIEWING” will be shown in the screen title. Assessing ???? performance Options that enable company performance to be measured and assessed relevant to the current decision screen only, where ‘????’ represents the description of the current decisions being made. Industry information The conditions of the global economy in which the company is operating, which default to the current decision screen only. Help A series of help options that give an overview of key features relevant to the current decision screen only. For more detailed help the user should refer to the Tutorial.

Decision Screen Fields On all the decision screens :- Input fields are denoted by black text on a white background Read-only information is shown as black text on either a yellow or pink background Where grids of data are displayed :- Click on a row/field to change its contents, and highlight it Any list of options at the bottom of a grid is relevant to the row that has been highlighted

Further Information Hovering over a field on any screen may reveal further information about the field. Clicking on a ‘?’ will drill down to further information about how the value of the corresponding field was calculated.