1. Build a portfolio of evidence using a range of methodologies and activities (log books; critical incident diaries; employer or supervisor feedback

Scenario

You are required to complete a Project Report, as part of your PPDI5039 Portfolio, based on your participation in engaging with the FT Portfolio as your Project pathway. This is a work-related business simulation, in which you will participate as part of a small Student group.

Using the FT Portfolio you have been tasked with establishing an investment portfolio for a wealthy investor. Initially, the instructions you have been given is to invest in 7 separate shareholdings, each of which must be drawn from a different sector of the oil and gas industry. This spread of sector shareholdings provides for a balanced investment portfolio at start-up. Your task is to establish and manage this shareholding portfolio over several of the 10 weeks of the Semester, and to generate additional wealth by buying and selling shares from the list of authorised companies.

The Learning Outcomes to be assessed, and your achievement of these, are judged on the ability of you, as an individual Student, to use the engagement with the simulation pathway to enhance those employability skills identified in your Learning Contract. These can be drawn, but not exclusively, from the following : (a) oil industry market knowledge and trends gained from the engagement with the share portfolio and the trading; (b) robust decision-making based on your continual attention to company news and market trends; and (c) dynamics from working within a group to organise, delegate and manage any problem-solving required. Other employability skills could include problem-solving, group working , leadership and conflict resolution skills. Remember that there are some employability skills that the FT Portfolio is not designed to enhance or improve – for instance, stakeholder management skills.

The FT Portfolio provides work-related learning in the important areas of decision-marking, market and business analysis and managing assets, as well as giving Students practical experience of time management, ethics, team work and conflict resolution.

You are also required to capture supporting evidence from the FT Portfolio and other data sources to justify your analysis, interpretation and decision-making. This evidence will form an important supporting part of your Project Report in your Portfolio submission.

The mechanics of the FT Portfolio simulation are to establish and manage the portfolio of shareholdings, and in conjunction with interpretation and analysis of news and industry trends, actively trade – by buying and selling – shareholdings within the delineated list of New York Stock Exchange-quoted organisations, and within the limits and rules that govern your engagement with the FT Portfolio. Your submitted Project Report should be detailing your management of the decision-making processes involved, and considering how the impact of oil and gas industry news and trends have informed your business decision-making.

These mechanics require consideration of: (a) maintaining a balanced sector spread of investments; (b) actively trading and switching shareholdings; (c) analysis and interpretation of company news and financial performance to justify your trading decisions; and (d) building a comprehensive set of evidence that supports your decision-making.

Participation in the FT Portfolio will be as a group, which will be also tasked with discussing their progress in peer-to-peer discussions in the workshop sessions in Teaching Weeks #6 and #9. However, the Project Report on the engagement with the business simulation will be written on an individual basis.

This Report must be an interpretation and reflection on the lessons learned from the engagement with the FT Portfolio, NOT a narrative commentary on the week-by-week trading decisions that were made.

Much of the discussion and trading activity will be taking place in unsupervised sessions – be prepared for this. Supervised sessions will not enable you to develop self-sufficiency in decision-making and problem-solving. This is therefore a deliberate objective and not an oversight.

In real life, the investment portfolio would be managed on behalf of this high-value individual, and there might be considerable communication with this person. In this work-related simulation, you should assume that this individual has embarked on a 10-week voyage on his luxury yacht, is beyond the reach of any forms of communications and has delegated complete authority to you to establish and run the portfolio in their absence.

It is suggested that during the scheduled Study Group sessions that discussion on which shares to buy and sell should be made, and those discussions formally minuted. Research on the individual shares and their historical performance and future prospects should be carried out outside of the Study Group sessions.

Portfolio Assignment Task 1 (1,500 words ± 10%)

You are required to complete the Learning Contract (shown at Appendix 1 to this Coursework Brief) agreed with the Module Tutor/Supervisor and signed off by the end of Teaching Week #4. For detailed guidelines on the Learning Contract, please refer to the Module Handbook.

Portfolio Assignment Task 2 (2,500 words ± 10%)

After you have agreed and signed off your Learning Contract, you are to complete the FT Portfolio simulation pathway project and write an individual Project Report which must focus on the following.

1. A brief background and context of the FT Portfolio exercise, and the task and objectives that require decision-making and investor engagement; (guide: 10% of your word count/content)
2. To demonstrate how interaction with the FT Portfolio exercise was organised; (guide: 10% of your word count/content)
3. To assess the weekly stage-gate decisions made within the FT Portfolio, and the feedback gained from the FT Portfolio “dashboard” about shareholding performance and news and opinions (preparation, data collection and analysis); (guide: 15% of your word count/content)
4. To discuss the skills that you developed interacting with the FT Portfolio; (guide: 15% of your word count/content)
5. To analyse and evaluate the decisions made, and the problems requiring solutions and the options that were taken, or not taken, within the FTPortfolio decision-making process; (guide: 20% of your word count/content)

What learning you took from the FT Portfolio by giving a portfolio of evidence (log books, decision-making records, performance logs and feedback, to be included in the Appendices). (guide: 30% of your word count/content)

Build  a  portfolio  of  evidence  using  a  range  of

methodologies  and  activities  (log  books;  critical

incident diaries; employer or supervisor feedback).