Looking for a best practice for using Excel to populate labor estimates in a work breakdown structure and employee matrix, or, looking to be made aware of a much better solution. Example file in comments.

I'm trying to automate/standardize a process at work for working up labor estimates for large jobs.

  • Simplified example file reproduced in Google Sheets: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1Zxjk94Ov7fK2QLUIH2f-lTYGyn8S6YZiDW8fVkYZ71I/edit?usp=sharing

Scenario: We are bidding on a project. To estimate our level of effort for the project, we use a matrix-style Excel sheet, where rows are tasks and columns are staff. We enter the hours of effort into the body of the matrix, which can then be used to calculate cost by task and subtask. See attached example file.

Currently, someone takes a shot at building the work breakdown structure based on the Scope of Work, then there's all sorts of rounds of edits based on input from other people. What inevitably results is someone break a subtotal formula or stomps over a formula and breaks the sheet when trying to make changes, like add more tasks or delete tasks. Ideally, the sheet would allow users unfamiliar with the formulas to add/remove staff and add/remove tasks and subtasks in the work breakdown structure. Just locking down the file and only allowing one person to make changes in structure has been similarly inefficient as fixing errors at the end.

Questions:

  • Is Excel the right tool for this, or is there another better existing solution out there?
  • Is custom VBA what I need? Any solution I think up seems to get complex fast.
  • Is there some way simpler way I'm missing? A flat structure structure doesn't seem to lend itself to users easily viewing or inputting data.

Thanks

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πŸ‘€︎ u/muddledremarks
πŸ“…︎ Feb 28 2020
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Work Breakdown Structure: Looking for web or Mac app

I'm preferring Work Breakdown Structure (for project management) as an efficient way to break down a project into smaller tasks, and primarily because I'm a visual person so I prefer it, at-a-glance, than a list. Unfortunately I'm not finding many ways to do it online or on Mac app. Wondering what people are using here.

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πŸ‘€︎ u/designerspit
πŸ“…︎ Nov 24 2018
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The project team consist of several sub-teams and will implement a precise task management with work breakdown structure method. The project will execute risk mitigation visualizing the progress and issues in real time
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πŸ‘€︎ u/PeterC19
πŸ“…︎ Feb 25 2019
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Anyone have a breakdown of the movie BEING THERE? I'm looking to study it's mechanics and how/why it's unique structure works so well.

BEING THERE is one of my favorite films and it always confounds me how and why it works. Our protagonist does go through a roller-coaster so to speak, but he isn't really flawed and he doesn't really experience your typical character growth. Instead it seems like others around him and society at large does the changing. He isn't even actively pursuing a specific goal really, just bouncing around where ever the world takes him.

Does anyone have a breakdown or story map for it? Or perhaps we could all discuss the story ourselves.

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πŸ‘€︎ u/stanhoboken
πŸ“…︎ Oct 06 2014
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Work Breakdown Structure Increases Focus and Reduces Scope Creep mgrush.com/blog/2017/05/2…
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πŸ‘€︎ u/teammetz
πŸ“…︎ May 25 2017
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How to Improve Your Ability to Define Project Tasks: guidance on identifying all the tasks in a Work Breakdown Structure. quickbase.intuit.com/blog…
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πŸ‘€︎ u/nothingtolookat
πŸ“…︎ Aug 12 2013
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Had a breakdown yesterday at work - can we abolish capitalism yet?

Long post - and honestly i don't know what the TLDR is other then my job sucks and I'm looking for some solidarity.

I work in a call center, I'm Autistic and hate/fear talking on the phone. I've tried for years to get promoted or lateral moved off of the phones but have had no luck so far. its work from home so at least i don't have to waste energy masking around bosses and co-workers which is honestly the only reason i haven't quit. There are not a lot of other employment options for me where i live and my degree is pretty much useless. I cant move since other cities are even more expensive. so im basically stuck at this company. trust me if there were better options i would quit in a heartbeat.

So one of the things they measure is how long you take after calls to note multiple systems and do whatever the caller asked of you (ACW). They want us to keep that under 3 minutes but honestly due to the autism i generally need a bit longer then that to decompress from the last call and mental prepare myself for the next one. if i don't do that i tend to get overwhelmed and risk having a meltdown. Unfortunately as soon as you are over 4 minutes you get messages from management "are you okay, high ACW" (No Karen I'm not okay, right now i would rather die then hit the ready button but here we are) but of course you cant say that, and the messages just stress me out further and add to my anxiety.

Now at my job there are people who are in the contact center but don't take calls, they do email and web-chat etc (I've tried to move to that team, no openings of course) anyway theoretically those people are supposed to be pulled to calls if we are queueing but in practice I've never seen it happen.

Which brings us to yesterday. 20 people in the contact center, 7 are taking called and 13 are doing other off phone tasks. We have 10 people in queue. I'm struggling to keep my head above water because all of my calls have been rude people blaming me for things so far above my pay grade its not even funny. (sorry, i don't write the contracts you agreed to when you set up the policy, sorry i didn't design our shitty website, sorry i cant control the processing times of other departments etc, sorry i don't set the cancelation requirements, etc) I've been taking verbal abuse all day and I'm on the verge of tears. (I'm not allowed to hang up on abusive callers i have to "deescalate" them) I get my 10th message that day about high ACW and I'm ready to lose it. so i take a risk a

... keep reading on reddit ➑

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πŸ“…︎ Dec 23 2021
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how does tau naming conventions work, what is the tau family structure like and how does tau succession work (i.e.) a warrior taking up the mantle of a previous warrior such as the current Bright word being #8
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πŸ‘€︎ u/FoamBrick
πŸ“…︎ Dec 10 2021
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Saw this on my way home from work anyone recognize this metallic structure?
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πŸ“…︎ Dec 14 2021
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Can enyone help me with this. I'm trying to put a water reservoir on my dino but it needs a point to attached to and the pipe too doesn't work on structure
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πŸ‘€︎ u/DanSGB12
πŸ“…︎ Nov 27 2021
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TIL an experiment gave mice a utopia with social roles to all, no predators and unlimited food. After population boomed reproduction gradually stopped, they became aggressive, isolated themselves and total breakdown in social structures led extinction. Researchers compared it to trends in mankind. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joh…
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πŸ‘€︎ u/fillingtheblank
πŸ“…︎ Sep 26 2015
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[Feedback] appreciated on my video on Man of Steel, I focus on a lot for script writing and story structure ideas in my breakdowns. Thanks for watching! youtu.be/E4hL2wkNtig
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πŸ‘€︎ u/WinKordos
πŸ“…︎ Nov 22 2019
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Structure models of all mature peptides in 2019-nCoV genome. Includes breakdown of individual unit proteins and their function zhanglab.ccmb.med.umich.e…
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πŸ‘€︎ u/joey_bosas_ankles
πŸ“…︎ Feb 11 2020
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Is anyone interested on me making a whole analysis on how this are some or the best examples of cruelty done well? Because I have a lot to say and those moments are use the same structure that works great IMO. reddit.com/gallery/q478qv
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πŸ“…︎ Oct 08 2021
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[Trigger Warning] Open letter to the ISO membership regarding abuse of power by leadership, a severe breakdown and abuse of overall Leninist party structure, and sexual assault cover up socialistworker.org/2019/…
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πŸ‘€︎ u/comradeMaturin
πŸ“…︎ Mar 15 2019
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Will all of the structures in my world breakdown when I'm not playing?

Title basically. I don't have a lot of time on my hands and I'm about 50 hours in. If I were to take a break for awhile (say a month), will all of the structures that I've (and other people's structures in my world) built be destroyed/unusable when I get back?

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πŸ‘€︎ u/lymonman
πŸ“…︎ Nov 23 2019
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Structure models of all mature peptides in 2019-nCoV genome. Includes breakdown of individual unit proteins and their function zhanglab.ccmb.med.umich.e…
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πŸ‘€︎ u/joey_bosas_ankles
πŸ“…︎ Feb 10 2020
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Breakdown and Tactical analysis of NOLA Gold’s first try. Using the 1-3-3-1 structure to create opportunities and then scoring a wonderful front peel try. theanalysisguy.sport.blog…
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πŸ‘€︎ u/The_Analysis_guy
πŸ“…︎ Mar 04 2020
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I was curious the breakdown of the number of rappers per battle and the structure of those battles (e.g. 2-vs-2 or 1-vs-3 for a 4-person battle), so I made a diagram to visualize it. imgur.com/a/F6I4aJ8
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πŸ‘€︎ u/Syllellipsis
πŸ“…︎ Jul 19 2019
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Just read the official breakdown on how downscaling works, and it's still some B.S., you folks at PCF need to consider an alternative viewpoint.

Let me preface this constructive rant / criticism with this:

I love this game. I've been at it day one, and despite a rocky launch, all things withstanding I've enjoyed this game too damn much.

That out of the way, I've just read the official "breakdown" on how & why you're downscaling players, and I'm just going to be blunt, it's an absolutely asinine concept.

Nobody, and I mean nobody, is sitting in full level 50 legendary builds and saying, "you know what? I'm going to go run my game on WT3 for all that sweet loot 20 levels below my most garbage item!"

So this ideology that the most bonus we should have is the equivocation of only a +2 average level above it to "preserve gameplay" is pure insanity to 99% of your playerbase.

We don't want nor need to run lower tier content, but more often than not we do so to help out the occasional stuck friend or random player. We don't get anything out of this act. The loot drops are essentially useless, we've maxed out our levels, and even our 4th string gear sets are 20 levels above this, so why is the prevailing sentiment at the studio to punish players for helping others?

What is the point at all, of interactions between players if the person who's min/maxed a perfect build finds themselves stat squished 15 to 20 levels into oblivion with the added perks of getting nothing useful for the run?

There is virtually no scenario and no justification whatsoever that most of this games community will ever be able to digest that will rationalize a God tier character getting killed or even remotely breaking a sweat in content tiers that have an average gear / enemy level FIFTEEN LEVELS BELOW THEM.

It's not a bad thing to let players steamroll through the "easy" mode for fun, or to help friends. Especially when we're doing it for zero rewards or advantage, I sincerely hope you guys & gals at PCF reconsider this system, because I'm fairly certain it's going to become a massive headache for you the further along we go.

Cheers.

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πŸ‘€︎ u/Frost_King907
πŸ“…︎ Apr 20 2021
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Anyone have a good breakdown of the whole china/rider jam structure?

I mean in terms of modal changes, etc.

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πŸ‘€︎ u/natneo81
πŸ“…︎ Aug 23 2019
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The FACEIT Global Summit Breakdown: Who has qualified so far and what is its structure? thegamehaus.com/pubg-the-…
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πŸ‘€︎ u/Redsfan42
πŸ“…︎ Apr 05 2019
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Having a hard time with my story’s structure. Could use some help. (Long) breakdown inside.

So, I’m trying to write a story where a main character is guilt-ridden by a past event, but I’m having a hard time coming up a solid structure.

For example, let’s say the story is about two brothers hunting for ghosts. They spend years doing this, never finding them. But one night, one brother goes off to a big bad dark house, the other stays inside the car where its safe. (The house creeps him out more than he wants to admit.) The House-Brother dies in that house, (Police are not able to determine the cause of death) and Car-Brother lives with the guilt of not helping him when he had the chance.

A decade later, Car-Brother has gone the route of total denial. No one ever believed that there were any ghosts anywayβ€”and so he chooses not to believe, either. His other brother was nuts, crazy, made up stories, and died due to some terrible accident. Car-Brother HAS to believe thatβ€”because if he doesn’t, if he accepts the existence of the supernatural, then he also accepts the guilt of not helping him when he had the chance. So he backs down, convinces himself that there were no ghosts, his brother was just crazy. He lives by that mantra.

But now, the ghosts are coming back. And his brother might still be alive.

So my question now is a structural one. At what point should my Car-Brother protagonist accept the fact that ghosts are real?

The catalyst will have ghosts, and then we’ll have a mentor-style character who comes in and explains the world of ghosts and how he’s the only one who can stop them and that his brother is still alive and yada yada. Am I able to have my main character fully step into this world? If his defining characteristic is this denial/guilt thing he has going on, I can’t resolve that so early in the story. How do you have a character in denial go through this story’s journey in a believable/satisfying way?

In my head, there’s some big brother reunion/acceptance thing at the end of act two, leading into act 3. But structurally, I’m having a hard time figuring out how I can make that work.

I’d appreciate any insight. Thanks!

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πŸ‘€︎ u/Aknew
πŸ“…︎ Jun 28 2019
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$10 Kevin provides a breakdown of his pricing structure
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πŸ‘€︎ u/harveybilchick
πŸ“…︎ Oct 23 2017
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My Brief Breakdown of Plot Structure for season 1 of the show.

So first and foremost I feel like the show should stick to adapting the short stories first before branching off into the multi novel long epic that started with Blood of Elves. Below is how I would break down the first season episode by episode with the corresponding title to the short story that it is adapting next to it.

My first season would encompass both Last Wish and Sword of Destiny to tell the first seasons story. 4 episodes from The Last Wish latter 4 episodes from Sword of Destiny.

My meager showrunner idea:

You completely cut out Nenekke and Iola and the Temple of Meletelle. It was used merely as a framing device to collect the short stories together for the first book.

The Pilot episode should be The Witcher. Sapkowskis first introduction to the universe. A great intro for Geralt plus you get a bad ass CGI monster strigga fight at the end with Adda. And you can introduce Foltest, Temeria, and the Northern Realms

Episode 2: The Lesser Evil. You still keep on Geralt as main character so its not overwhelming. You introduce the racism of the North along with the morally grey tone the show has with Geralt getting his title of Butcher of Blaviken at the end. Episode 3: A matter of price. Play it off as another side story like the first two episodes. But it introduces Cintra and has huge ramifications for later on in the season (and series).

Episode 4: The Last Wish. You now introduce two main characters now with Jaskier and Yennefer. Definite Yen nudity this episode to introduce her as the femme fatale. I wanna see those soapy bubbles.

Episode 5: Bounds of Reason. We get a light hearted adventure which involves Jaskier, Geralt, and Yen. Plus you can hammer in how rocky their relationship is by Geralt acting all butt hurt that they broke up. You have the two going at each other like Sam and Diane from cheers (for those old enough to remember). Plus theres a freaking dragon at the end

Episode 6: A shard of Ice. This would be the last Yennefer episode of the season. To really drive home their dysfunctional relationship. Geralt acts all pissy that hes not the only suitor and thers Istredd to deal with. Episode ends on a cliffhanger for next season with Geralt receiving his dear john note at the end.

Episode 7: This one would either be Eternal Flame with Dudu or Sword of Destiny with Ciri. Maybe a light hearted Doppler comedy with Jaskier to act as a balm against the downer ending from the previous episode

-or-

We jump right i

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πŸ‘€︎ u/jllafoon
πŸ“…︎ Sep 10 2018
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Creating Breakdown Structures with excel

Greetings fellow excel users! So i'm working for a small systems engineering start up company and we are working with excel a lot. We are trying to simplify as much as we can, which brings me to my problem:

We used to create our product breakdown structures (PBS in the following) with XMind or yEd manually, meaning we basically have an excel sheet containing all necessary information and someone has to sit down and draw the PBS step by step. We could save time and reduce mistakes, if we could somehow export the data from excel and create a breakdown structure from it. So thats basically what we are trying to find out. If anyone knows about any software capable of doing this or some other way to solve this, it would be much appreciated!

So thanks to everyone taking their time reading through this!

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πŸ‘€︎ u/professorsnowman
πŸ“…︎ Aug 12 2019
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Anyone got a resource breakdown of every teir of the environmental tech void ore miner multiblock structure?
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πŸ‘€︎ u/Darkmaster666666
πŸ“…︎ Dec 18 2019
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Interesting coaching structure breakdown by Splyce analyst medium.com/@gary.mialaret…
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πŸ‘€︎ u/Geronimodem
πŸ“…︎ Nov 08 2019
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[EVENT] Iranian Military Budget Forecast and BReakdown of Force Structure, January 2020

#Overview

2020 is the year when our conventional sanctions end, this coming October. In order to deal with this, we have already laid extensive preparations to rejoin the process of acquiring advanced new systems beginning in 2021. Our Forces are Diverse, well-deployed, and stretched from years of nonsensical sanctions, which the United States and the Zionists, as well as the heathen Sunnis, have imposed on us unfairly. As such, the Budget will be set for 2020 at $20.5bn, in keeping with the norms of the past few years.

#Budget Breakdown By Organisation

  • Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps: $8bn
  • IRG Ground Forces: $3.5bn
  • IRG Aerospace Forces: $1bn
  • IRG Naval Forces: $1bn
  • IRG Quds: $1bn
  • IRG Basij: $500m
  • Iranian Conventional Military Forces: $13.5bn
  • Army: $4.5bn
  • Navy: $4.5bn
  • Air Force: $4.5bn

The portioning of the budget into these sections will assist us in creating a budgetary Framework ready to accept considerable new additions to our conventional forces, and sustained investment into the IRG in keeping with previous trajectories. 10% of each budget will be set aside for the acquisition of new systems, and as of 2021, expanded spending will see us acquire large new quantities of advanced systems in the Air Force, and Army, in particular.

#Force Breakdown By Organisation

  • Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps: 124,000
  • IRG Ground Forces: 64,000
  • IRG Aerospace Forces: 20,000
  • IRG Naval Forces: 20,000
  • IRG Quds: 20,000
  • IRG Basij: 90,000 permanent staff, 300,000 Reservists, 11m potential call-up
  • Iranian Conventional Military Forces: 400,000
  • Army: 350,000
  • Navy: 20,000
  • Air Force: 30,000

Small changes to Force Structure will see the amount of Conscripts we rely upon, to be gradually reduced, whilst the wider pool of recruits is slightly expanded. There will be changes to the organisation of the troops within each organisation as follows:

###IRG Ground Forces

33 Local Commands (32 Regions + 1 Capital District) will see a Tactical Battle Group of IRG Ground Forces in each, centered around 1,000 troops, Motorised in Trucks, along the following fashion:

  • HQ Platoon
  • IRG Infantry Battalion
  • Artillery Battery
  • Recon Platoon
  • Support Company
  • Combat Engineer Platoon
  • Logistics and Supply Platoon
  • Signals Platoon

These are the true Guardians of the Republic, and they ensure every local region wi

... keep reading on reddit ➑

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πŸ‘€︎ u/peter_j_
πŸ“…︎ Oct 22 2019
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The Tower Stomping Tutorial, a colorful breakdown of our favorite (lol?) structure in the game. youtu.be/oOcDDEJcMIM
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πŸ‘€︎ u/Wrel
πŸ“…︎ Sep 16 2013
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Can blame for a breakdown in family structure be aimed at government welfare programs?

Two Questions, nestled in one another, perhaps better left to social scientists than historians:

  1. Is there actually a fatherhood crisis (households without a father present in children’s lives) that disproportionately affects African-American communities?
  2. If such a state of affairs actually exists outside of a certain media bubble, can it be linked to social government programs (welfare, the great society, etc.), disproportionate incarceration rates, poverty, or some other factor?

In a longstanding discussion with someone very close to me, I was posed the question, roughly paraphrased, β€œWhat caused such a breakdown in African American families if so much of the social fabric of the community is based on their churches?” with the possible culprits being government intervention and a more nebulous disdain for rap and hip hop. While the framing of the question and finger pointing at the culprits were both definitely off, I don’t have the resources available to answer the core of the question.

Forgive me if this belongs in another sub. Thanks in advance!

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πŸ‘€︎ u/victorfencer
πŸ“…︎ Aug 27 2019
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[WP] A group of people are on the verge of mental breakdown. The "Nightmares" seem real not psychological. Not sure if they are crazy or the world is an illusion, they then realise that their mental illness is allowing them to see behind the "Glass" structure covering the world, which is crumbling.
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πŸ‘€︎ u/Kauricius
πŸ“…︎ Nov 08 2018
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Rand Paul Blames β€˜The Breakdown Of The Family Structure’ For Freddie Gray Protests thinkprogress.org/electio…
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πŸ‘€︎ u/TibitXimer
πŸ“…︎ Apr 28 2015
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Working on a JP park with a JW style mainstreet with intergrated tour! (the build anywhere mod lets you create some great hybrid structures!) reddit.com/gallery/qut5pn
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πŸ‘€︎ u/aart112
πŸ“…︎ Nov 15 2021
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UFC Ottawa Breakdown, UFC Fort Lauderdale Fallout, Debating MMA's Show-Win Pay Structure | A Few Good Fights #9 youtu.be/pbHaIvct06c?t=29
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πŸ‘€︎ u/EmbracetheMadn3ss
πŸ“…︎ Apr 30 2019
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Can someone please help me with the breakdown of the shareholder structure of AB inBev?

I know the company is a result of a couple of buy-outs and merges but I'm confused on how the shares are distributed. Did the buyouts and merges affect the companies? I'm supposed to present an economic analysis of the company in two days and the shareholder distribution is still foggy to me.

They have the full structure on their website.

Refer to the pic below as well. I have the information of the major shareholders but I'm confused on why there is a Stichting AB inBev and a AB inBev NV/SA. Is SAB inBev a result of the merge between Anhesuer Busch and SABMiller? Please help, thanks in advance!

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πŸ‘€︎ u/baseddemo
πŸ“…︎ Apr 10 2019
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Gods Will be Watching structures almost paralyzing levels of narrative intensity: Here's a breakdown... youtube.com/watch?v=CAlPB…
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πŸ‘€︎ u/LudicRyan
πŸ“…︎ Aug 22 2018
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