The Body of Competence is shown in the tables below. It is organized into four main groups:

  1. Group 1: Basic Elements
    Basic theoretical knowledge needed to understand and use professional practices
  2. Group 2: Context Factors (Life Cycle Management)
    Knowledgs necessary to understand different organizational contexts
  3. Group 3: Creating Value
    Where and how optimize the relationship between cost and value
  4. Group 4: Applications
    The core of the BoC, covers all applied practices of Total Cost Management.

Download here the PDF version: pdf Body of Competence - rev. 0 (English) (190 KB) .

 

Basic Elements

SUBJECT

CONTENT DESCRIPTION

EB01 Statistics

Data organization: frequency distributions and graphical representations, position, variability, shape indicators, typical characteristic quantities, theorems and basic statements, index numbers.

Confidence intervals and hypothesis testing.

Relationship between two quantitative variables, correlation and simple regression.

Relationship between two non-quantitative variables, connection and ANOVA.

Statistical control by Variables and by Attributes.

Statistical Process Control (SPC).

EB02 Operational Research

Optimization problems, mathematical programming, objective function, differential analysis, linear programming, duality

Simulations, analysis models, sensitivity analysis.

EB03 Computer Technology

Information systems and technologies.

Typical architectures, physical and logical components, relational databases.

Local networks, global networks, and the internet.

Telecommunication networks: types and operating logics

Operational systems and programs of office automation and support for analysis and / or specific decisions

ERP systems, features and typical architectures.

Calculation/economic-financial analysis software (reclassification and balance analysis, company rating, business plan, key performance indicators, decision calculation, investment evaluation, standard cost determination).

EB04 Contracts

Legal systems: Common Law and Civil Law, characteristics and main differences.

Regulatory and legal aspects of a contract at national and international level.

Reference standards: FIDIC standards and other prevailing contractual standards.

Main elements of a contract, terms and conditions.

Contractual types: contracts for the sale, performance of work, contracting and subcontracting, concessions.

Contractual formulas and related risks: contracts to body, price list, mixed, in economics, reimbursement, binomial or trinomial formulas, associative contract formulas.

Typical clauses and guarantees on performance and payments (purpose of the contract, price and payment method, organization of complex and multi-level contracts, guarantees and letters of credit, clauses limiting the liability, penalties, damages, compensation).

EB05 Organization

Organizational theories (classical, human relations, systemic) and main organizational forms.

Business models and corporate structures (companies and entrepreneurial forms, associations and foundations, on individual companies, partnerships, joint-stock companies, public and semi-public corporations and organizations, participating associations, consortia, temporary associations of companies).

Characterization of organizations for processes and projects (multi-project), Project Based Organization (PBO), Project Based Enterprise (PBE).

Human resources in the organization (analysis of roles, profiles of competences and job descriptions).

EB06 Financial mathematics

Capital: time value and opportunity cost.

Classification of financial transactions: certain or random, simple or complex, loan or discount.

Regimes of Interest (simple, compound, anticipated), upright, capitalization laws.

Discount schemes (simple, compound, commercial), present value, discounting laws.

Equivalent rates and financial equivalence.

Revenues and amortization.

EB07 Corporate Finance

Corporate Finance basics

Creation of continually "sustainable" value: Economic Value Added (EVA) and economy (income, equity and monetary equilibrium).

Investment principle: assets / projects and expected minimum return threshold, Pay Back Period (PBP), Net Present Value (NPV), Internal Rate of Return (IRR).

Funding principle: financial structure and Weighted Average Cost of Capital (WACC).

Dividend principle: Net Capital (Equity) and minimum return threshold (cost of equity: Risk-Free Rate and risk premium).

Financial requirement and retrieval / remuneration of internal and external sources.

Analytical Support for Financial Decisions

Decisions and long-term evaluation techniques: Capital Budgeting and techniques of analysis and evaluation of investments.

Decisions and short-term evaluation techniques: treasury and balance management of current assets / current liabilities

EB08 General Accounting and Financial Statements

General Accounting and Financial Statements Basics

Business cycles: technical, economic, financial.

Balance sheet: purposes, principles, criteria, structure

Chart of accounts: financial, economic, equity.

First registration and cash accounting, simple and double entry accounting technique, balance sheet construction.

Balance Sheet Reclassification and Analysis

Reclassification of the income statement at cost of sales, value added, margin of contribution and analysis of economic and profit margins.

Reclassification of the Balance Sheet according to the criterion of liquidity / collectability and according to the criterion of management relevance and analysis of capital and financial margins

Analysis of financial statements by indices: balance sheet (breakdown of loans and sources), financial (solidity, liquidity, turnover, duration), productivity / efficiency.

Balance sheet analysis by flows: total flows, partial flows (net working capital flows, cash flows).

EB09 Analytical Accounting

Analytical Accounting Basics

Cost classification criteria (common costs and allocated costs, direct and indirect costs, fixed and variable costs, internal and external costs).

Cost configurations (first cost, industrial cost, total cost, economic-technical cost).

Cost allocation methods (chart of accounts and cost structure, cost centers);

Analytical accounting methods (Direct Costing, Full Costing, Activity Based Costing).

Cost recognition and attribution techniques (Job Ordering Costing, Process Costing, Operation Costing, Activity Based Costing).

Analytical Support for Economic Decisions

Analysis and evaluation techniques to support short-term decisions.

Analysis and evaluation techniques to support long-term decisions.

EB10 Budgeting

Operating budget (economic-analytical): sales, inventories, production, purchases, personnel, overheads, income statement and balance sheet.

Budget of investments in fixed assets and working capital (investments, disposals, extensions).

Financial budget: operating cash flow, debt capital, equity capital (settlement of management operations, switching on / off loans, capital increases / decreases).

EB11 Reporting

Management reports (operational, economic, financial) prepared for the various levels of management.

Type and organization of information flows (economic-financial, non-monetary, strategic information).

Reporting (clarity, reliability, specificity / selectivity, conciseness, timeliness).

EB12 Rewarding System and Performance Evaluation (individual and collective)

Management by objectives (Management By Objectives - MBO).

Measurement and evaluation of individual and collective performances.

Methods of economic recognition and incentive.

 

Context Factors (Life Cycle Management)

SUBJECT

CONTENT DESCRIPTION

FC01 Business Management

 

Business strategies

Business life cycle (birth, development, maturity, decline, reconversion or end).

Business model.

Business Plan.

Strategic planning process.

Implementation of strategies, Balanced Scorecard and business control.

Governance and organizational model.

Stakeholder “Customer”: Quality management system

Definitions, reference standards, applicable standards

Processes of management, control and quality assurance.

Measurement, monitoring and quality improvement.

Certification and / or recognition of the quality management system.

Integrability with other management systems.

Stakeholder “Community”: Environment Management System

Definitions, reference standards, applicable standards

Management, control and environmental insurance processes.

Measurement, monitoring and environmental improvement.

Certification and / or recognition of the management system for the environment.

Integrability with other management systems.

Stakeholder “People”: Health and Safety Management System

Definitions, reference standards, applicable standards

Management, control and health and safety at work processes.

Measurement, monitoring and improvement of health and safety at work

Certification and / or recognition of the management system for health and safety at work.

Integrability with other management systems.

Other Stakeholders: other Management Systems

Definitions, reference standards, applicable standards

Processes of management, control and insurance of the specific management system.

Measurement, monitoring and improvement of the specific management system.

Certification and / or recognition of the specific management system.

Integrability with other management systems.

Business Excellence Models

Types of business excellence models: EFQM Business Excellence Model, World Class Manufacturing (WCM)

Principles, value and applicability of excellence models in the business.

Adoption of excellence models in the business.

Awards for excellence in the business.

FC02 Product, Service, Performance Management

Product, service, performance concept.

Product, service, performance technical life cycle (research and development, engineering and industrialization, production / realization, distribution / supply, use / fruition, disposal / reuse).

Product, service, performance economic life cycle (incubation, growth, maturity, decline, term).

Activities and processes for managing the life cycle of a product, service, performance (PDCA cycle).

Life Cycle Cost (LCC) and Total Cost of Ownership (TCO).

FC03 Process Management

Process and process approach concept.

Life cycle of a process (conception, engineering, implementation, operation and improvement, re-engineering).

Management of the life cycle of a process (PDCA cycle).

FC04 Asset Management

Tangible and intangible asset concept.

Life cycle of an asset (planning, acquisition, installation, use and maintenance, end of life, disposal / reuse / disposal)

Management of the life cycle of an asset (PDCA cycle).

FC05 Project Management

Project concept, program and project portfolio.

Project Life cycle (planning, detail project, development, integration, commissioning, closure).

Models and standards for Project Management

Processes (quantitative and non-quantitative) of a project the life cycle management

 

Creating Value

SUBJECT

CONTENT DESCRIPTION

GV01 General Management

Strategic planning.

Master Budgeting.

Management control.

Organization.

Strategic marketing.

Management of legal aspects.

Relations with public bodies.

Management systems overseeing.

Other activities supporting the value chain as a whole.

GV02 Economic and Financial Resource Management

 

General accounting.

Analytical accounting.

Capital Budgeting.

Economic-financial reporting.

Business finance.

GV03 Human Resources Management

Research, recruitment, development, training and mobility of all types of personnel.

Definition and development of skills.

Evaluation of benefits, motivation, remuneration and economic incentive for staff.

GV04 Technological and Infrastructural Resources Management

Evaluation and selection of technological and infrastructural investments.

Management of tangible and intangible assets to support the main activities of value generation (plants, machinery, buildings, structures, etc.).

Study of the work and organization of the production / production cycle.

Compliance check, verification of productivity, effectiveness and efficiency.

GV05 Information Resources Management

Definition of information, communication and documentation needs.

Choice of channels and technological solutions to ensure reliability, security, availability and timeliness and effectiveness of information, documents and communications.

GV06 Research and Development

Basic research and innovation.

Development of products, technological solutions, customer-specific services or as an original value proposition.

GV07 Supplying

Purchasing the resources needed  for the output production of for the organizational operation : analysis and selection of suppliers, management of relationships with suppliers, management of purchases

Determination of supply prices, technical and economic evaluation of suppliers.

GV08 Internal Logistics

Flows that feed the operating activities: receipt, storage and distribution of inputs, inventory management, inventory control, vector scheduling, compliance checks, returns to suppliers

GV09 Processing, Production, Construction, Production, Delivery

Activities transformation of the resources needed to output production: construction, manufacturing, service delivery.

GV10 Promotion and Sale

Activities related to the study of customer purchasing behavior, the determination of the offer, the determination of product attributes, the determination of prices, the selection and management of sales channels to manage the relationship with customers, advertising and communication and the determination of sales offers, signing of sales contracts.

GV11 External Logistics and Distribution

Activity flows that bring to the market the results of operating activities: collection, storage, storage of finished products, management of delivery carriers, order processing and scheduling of shipments.

GV12 After Sales

After-sales activities that support the customer (eg. technical assistance, continuous assistance, supervision, remote assistance).

Activities related to sales and after-sales aimed at improving the perception of value of the what the Customer/User purchased.

Customer Care.

Supply and installation of spare parts, repairs.

 

Applications

SUBJECT

CONTENT DESCRIPTION

AP01 Strategic Control

Business Model: market segments and value proposition, value generation flow, revenue flow and cost structure

Business Planning: entrepreneurial project, gross capital requirements and Project Financing, hypothesis of budget estimate and market feasibility assessment, technical feasibility, economic-financial-patrimonial feasibility, organizational feasibility.

Strategic / tactical plan (medium / long term): context analysis (PEST analysis, SWOT analysis, etc.) and competitive positioning (competitiveness factor analysis, competitive benchmarking analysis ...), strategic / tactical guidelines, Capital Budgeting (selection of alternatives, techniques of analysis and evaluation of investments in fixed assets, development of the multi-year cost / income plan, assessment of technical feasibility, economic and financial feasibility, definition of "balanced and sustainable" key indicators and related long-term objectives) medium term (Balanced Scorecard).

AP02 Management control

Antecedent Control

Budget training support: Break-Even Point (BEP) calculation, standard and / or project revenue budgets; budget of standard or forecast costs, direct and indirect, fixed and variable; investment budget; hypothesis of funds and margins for contingencies and changes; forecasting of financial flows; forecast of inventories, Work In Progress (WIP), stocks; short-term financial hypothesis; identification of indicators and quantification of short-term key objectives; MBO plan (stratification of objectives and quantification of collective / sectoral / individual recognition / incentive factors); structuring and organization of reporting (Balanced Scorecard, key product / process indicators (effectiveness and efficiency), economic / financial / income indicators, balance sheet flows

Concomitant Control

Continuous / periodic monitoring of indicators, in-progress analysis of deviations and degree of achievement of objectives, understanding of the causes of deviations and technical / economic identification and implementation of any corrective measures in progress.

Subsequent Control

Quantification at the end of the period of the indicators, analysis at the end of the period of the deviations; quantification at the end of the period of the degree of achievement of the objectives and of the actual economic impact of the accrued recognition / incentive factors; Balance sheet analysis at the end of the period: identification of any corrective measures or technical-economic aspects to be considered in the next programming cycle (budget)

AP03 Risk Management

Risk Based Thinking approach.

Risk and Opportunity Concept, classification of risks; reference standard for Risk Management (ISO 31000 Framework Risk Management: Principles and Guidelines; COSO Enterprise Risk Management)

Identification of areas and / or factors influencing economic, financial and property risks; correlations between risks, control processes and contract management.

Organization and implementation of risk management processes: context analysis and risk identification (identification of areas and types of risk), risk analysis and assessment (techniques and metrics for quantitative analysis of professional risk assessment and project risk and related reserves), action plan (avoiding risk, transferring risk, mitigating risk, accepting risk).

AP04 Contract Control

Processes of training and management of a contract: phases of the administrative cycle, stakeholders, responsibilities and roles.

Identification and structuring of the processes for monitoring the implementation of the contract and any changes.

Identification and use of techniques for analyzing and evaluating delays and temporal impacts (Forensic / Schedule Delay Analysis) and techniques for analyzing and evaluating changes in direct, indirect and general costs (Overhead)

Analysis and evaluation of requests and claims for extension of time limits and cost variation (Time / Cost Related Claim) and management of related processing.

Definition and implementation of the processes of prevention and management of contentious and disputes.

AP05 Product, Service, Performance and Process Control

Analysis and Optimization of Product/Service/Performance

Techniques supporting the definition, analysis and optimization of the product (Quality Function Deployment, Benchmarking of product / service / performance, Design to Cost, Design for Assembly).

Analysis and Optimization of Processes

Process mapping (identification, modeling, responsibility for key processes and support processes) and tooling / methodologies for process optimization (Business Process Engineering-Reengineering, Process / Function Benchmarking, Activity Based Management, Lean Organization methodologies- Lean Manufacturing, Overhead Value Analysis techniques, techniques of analysis and evaluation of the times and methods of direct and indirect work).

Analytical Accounting System Set-up

Mapping of the centers of economic responsibility of product and process, identification of the related types of cost and related methods of accounting.

Structuring of the analytical accounting plan, choice of cost configurations, methods of allocation of costs and methods of detection and attribution of costs.

Support for Cost and Price Calculation

Technical pre-calculation of the standard unit cost of the product (materials, direct labor, overheads)

Price determination methodologies (Cost-plus, Target Price-Target Costing, Value Based Price, Bundling Pricing, Skimming Price, Price of Penetration, Price of Alignment to Competition).

Short-Term Analysis and Appraisal

Analysis and short-term evaluations: efficiency and productivity (consumption of resources / output, break-even point calculation); economic convenience and marginality (differential analysis, Make or Buy analysis, profitability of product lines, service, performance, termination of product lines, service, performance or operating units); budget support and management control (unit costs, unit revenues, congruence of forecast costs-actual costs, causes of deviation, efficiency of personnel / managers); reporting support (key product, service, performance and process indicators, indices and financial statements); support for the financial statements (closing inventories, Work in Progress, stocks).

AP06 Project Controls

Scope Management

Preliminary planning: development and reclassification of the project scope and development of the execution strategy (GERT, classification of work and resources, Cash Flow control).

Breakdown of project content, WBS and related structures (PBS, ABS, CWBS, CBS, RBS, OBS), identification of activities (work packages) - WBS / RBS, WBS / CBS (contract costs deployment) and other intersections

Estimates and Forecasts

Estimating and Forecasting processes, Top-Down, (strategic) and Bottom-Up (analytical) processes; estimate review and validation processes; integration and optimization processes (Crash Cost Analysis).

Estimating methods (analog, parametric, expert opinion, three-point, analytical); estimate classifications, degrees of accuracy and tolerances; methods for combining and optimizing estimates, estimating risk margins (contingencies).

Cost Control and Cost Management

Bid budgeting, economic plan / project budget, structure, profitability control, project income statement.

Cost control processes during the project, Earned Value Analysis technique and Earned Value Management processes (fixed budget and variable budget), performance indicators (economic KPIs), estimate to complete, corrective measures.

Schedule Control and Time Management

Determination of sequential logic, CPM and PERT calculations, path analysis and float analysis, critical path, ASAP/ALAP schedules, time constraints (deadline control), Linear Scheduling Methods (LMS), reporting and representation techniques (networks, time lines, Gantt charts).

Resource planning (quantity, quality, standard workload, and constraints); schedule optimization techniques (fast tracking, resources leveling).

Schedule update and change control: "status date", schedule deviations, delays analysis, and recovery techniques and Time Impact Analysis.

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