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TOPCIMA

How to tackle the November 2008 TOPCIMA exam

'How do I prepare for the TOPCIMA exam? What should I be doing, apart from the practice exams you set us in class?" This is the question I am asked more than any other by TOPCIMA students. Classroom practice under exam conditions, followed by an expert's debrief, is the best prep there is – but you can do valuable supplementary work at home that should pay dividends in both your classroom practice exams and the real thing.
A close reading of the Pre-seen should enable you to isolate up to 10 major issues currently facing EGC (The Electricity Generating Company). These issues will form the backdrop to new events or opportunities that will be presented to you in the Unseen.
So here's a four-step approach to managing your analysis of these issues. I have used a single issue here to illustrate the technique but have included a list of further issues facing EGC for you to practice your analysis on at the end.

1: Isolate the issue
EGC is struggling to meet current levels of demand [p. 2: "...there have been times when EGC has not been able to fully satisfy demand and this has led to power cuts"]. Moreover, the country's 7% per annum increase in demand [p. 4] is in line with many growing Asian economies such as India and Singapore and would place next year's output at over 64,200m kWh. Where should EGC look to find the capacity to meet this increase ?

2: Isolate the information that is likely to be relevant to this issue and perform whatever analysis you can:
Page 8 of the Pre-seen allows you to calculate output efficiency in each region as follows:
Eastern: 82% (21,884/26,803)
Western: 78% (15,192/19,585)
Northern: 66% (22,924/34,761)
Clearly the Northern region is the problem area requiring immediate attention. On page 8 we are told that 60,000 kWh was "close to the maximum amount of electricity" that EGC was capable of producing "given the condition of some of the power stations". It seems sensible to assume that the condition of the Northern power stations is worse than the others. Additionally, stations N1 and N2 are the only stations whose output is actually deteriorating.
3: Having analysed the data think of at least 5 potential recommendations you may provide to the Board to help them manage it:
Ways in which EGC could increase output next year (focusing on the short term):
1. Close the plants whose output is deteriorating (N1 and N2), and redirect production into more efficient plants?
2. Internal benchmarking to ascertain why the Eastern region is outperforming the others and to establish the most efficient and economic "best practice" across EGC?
3. An immediate investment in the Northern region's plant and machinery to reduce inefficiencies and increase output?
4. Buy energy in from a supplier overseas?
5. Supplement coal station output into the national grid with existing wind turbine energy?

4: Then think of two advantages and two disadvantages for each of these options using Johnson and Scholes' Suitability, Acceptability, Feasibility framework wherever possible:
Some other issues to consider in this way:
1. EGC's organisational structure (duplicated functions, centralised HQ, etc.).
2. EGC's long term energy strategy (nuclear, gas, wind, etc.).
3. Funding issues (cost of debt, interest impact on P&L, etc.).
4. Performance measurement (Balanced scorecards? VFM measures?).
5. Relationship with the government (financial support, Minister of Energy's views, etc.).
6. Governance (poor board structure, informal 'golf course' meetings, etc.)

REMEMBER: The preparatory analysis you perform on the Pre-seen is just that: preparatory analysis. It is not (and never can be) something to be learned and regurgitated in your exam. What this technique does is ensure your analysis of the Pre-seen is performed in a structured way as well as encouraging you to think creatively and critically (generating options, judging those options etc.) – the key skills behind exam success at TOPCIMA.

* Andrew Booth is BPP's Subject Manager for TOPCIMA

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