An interesting conversation with a participant on April 3rd

This is a good live example which came into my inbox. Please read his query and my reply.

PARTICIPANT :  "I intend to take up the project of reducing prepayments for home loans. The work would include identifying the possible reason for prepayments & then recommending policy changes to curtail the prepayments. This would involve talking to different branches of the bank and also to other companies in the industry".

OUR REPLY :  I am pleased to see that the basic elements are there ... how is it linked to your business .... and what primary work you will do in order to generate recommendations. However you need to put your proposed title in a proper form and submit to Mr Ashok Rao and he will give you the formal approval. But for your benefit, as well for the same for other participants, I am using the checklist (red letters) given in my blog post "Writing Dissertation Title" below- to show how your title becomes clear when you use it. 

USING THE CHECKLIST

Q : Does my title make it clear how my plan is linked to my business ? 

A : Prepayment of a loan impacts the bottom line to the extent of x% of PBT every year.

Q : Have I done some work already before deciding on the title? 

A : Yes, I have already found out from my other branch colleagues as well as from my contacts in the industry that prepayment of loans is a significant problem for them too and it seems to reduce the profitability of lending from a highest of a% to lowest of b% with average being x%.

Q : Have I decided what original work I will do in the chosen area? 

A : Although studying the causes of prepayment is important for improving our profitability, I have checked with my mentor and my boss and they agree that this area has not been studied before and therefore this project will make an original contribution to our company and probably the whole industry! I intend to (a) first compile the statistics of prepayment over the last 3 years in 10 branches of my bank (b) identify high and low incidences of prepayment through this study (c) Using a structured questionnaire, to systematically interview managers from such "high" and "low" branches to identify what could be possible reasons for these differences (d) Have a meeting with my boss and mentor to internally discuss these findings and arrive at recommendations including predicting how much the recommendations will cost and how much will they benefit. 

Q : What do I expect to happen as a result of my findings ?
A :  I am planning to reduce the prepayment by 50% within 1 year.

Q : Have I considered what will my project report consist of ? 
A : My report will consist of following sections 

• Section 1 : Financial impact of prepayment currently 
• for various loan products 
• for various locations 
• over the last 3 years
• Section 2 : "High" and "Low" incidence products and locations based on the above
• Section 3 : How a structured questionnaire was developed and tested
• Section 4 : Results of undertaking systematic interviews using this questionnaire - of managers from such "high" and "low" branches - to identify what could be possible reasons for these differences
• Section 5 : Minutes of my meeting with my boss and mentor to internally discuss these findings and arrive at recommendations 
• Section 6 : My final recommendations of what we need to do
• Section 7 : When implemented how much my recommendations will cost and how much will they benefit.