The Analysis of Structured Securities or Requirements Led Project Management

The Analysis of Structured Securities: Precise Risk Measurement and Capital Allocation

Author: Sylvain Raynes

The Analysis of Structured Securities presents the first intellectually defensible framework for systematic assessment of the credit quality of structured securities.
It begins with a detailed description and critique of methods used to rate asset-backed securities, collateralized debt obligations and asset-backed commercial paper. The book then proposes a single replacement paradigm capable of granular, dynamic results. It offers extensive guidance on using numerical methods in cash flow modeling, as well as a groundbreaking section on trigger optimization. Casework on applying the method to automobile ABS, CDOs-of-ABS and aircraft-lease securitizations is also presented.
This book is essential reading for practitioners who seek higher precision, efficiency and control in managing their structured exposures.

Table of Contents:

Pt. I	The Contemporary Framework
1	Market Basics	3
2	To Rate A Tabula Rasa	17
3	The Actuarial Method	32
4	The Default Method	58
5	The Eclectic Method	69
Pt. II	Analyzing Structured Securities
6	Toward a Science of Ratings	79
7	Dynamic Asset Analysis	93
8	Liabilities Analysis and Structuring	106
9	The Average Life of Assets and Liabilities	124
10	PACs and TACs	138
Pt. III	Applications of Numerical Methods to Structured Finance
11	The Art of Mathematical Modeling	155
12	Statistical Probability Density Functions	163
13	Eigenvalues and Eigenvectors	173
14	Markov Chains	180
15	Regression Analysis	196
16	Lower-Upper Decomposition	201
17	Covariance Matrix Simulation	204
18	The Newton-Raphson Nonlinear Optimization Method	208
19	Tchebychev Polynomials	211
Pt. IV	Case Studies
20	Automobile Receivable Securitizations	223
21	CDOs of ABS	272
22	Aircraft Receivable Securitizations	312
Pt. V	Advanced Structural Features
23	Trigger Theory	357
	Concluding Remarks	377
App. A	Numerical Experiments in Random Number Generation	383
App. B	The Physics of Markov Chains	386
App. C	The Markov Property and the Efficient Market Hypothesis	389
App. D	An Example of Nonlinear Regression	392
App. E	The Symmetry and Nonnegative Definiteness of Two Special Matrices	394
App. F	Convergence Analysis for the Newton-Raphson Optimization Method	397
App. G	Spline Function Interpolations	411
App. H	Correlation Topics	420
	Notes	429
	Index	441

Look this: Office 2008 for Macintosh or Guitar Hero

Requirements-Led Project Management: Discovering David's Slingshot

Author: James Robertson

Requirements are a crucial ingredient of any successful project. This is true for any product--software, hardware, consumer appliance, or large-scale construction. You have to understand its requirements--what is needed and desired--if you are to build the right product. Most developers recognize the truth in this statement, even if they don't always live up to it.

Far less obvious, however, is the contribution that the requirements activity makes to project management. Requirements, along with other outputs from the requirements activity, are potent project management tools.

In Requirements-Led Project Management, Suzanne and James Robertson show how to use requirements to manage the development lifecycle. They show program managers, product and project managers, team leaders, and business analysts specifically how to:

• Use requirements as input to project planning and decision-making


• Determine whether to invest in a project


• Deliver more appropriate products with a quick cycle time


• Measure and estimate the requirements effort


• Define the most effective requirements process for a project


• Manage stakeholder involvement and expectations


• Set requirements priorities


• Manage requirements across multiple domains and technologies


• Use requirements to communicate across business and technological boundaries

In their previous book, Mastering the Requirements Process, the Robertsons defined Volere--their groundbreaking and now widely adopted requirements process. In this second book, they look at the outputs from therequirements process and demonstrate how you can take advantage of the all-important links between requirements and project success.