Assessment Task: Case Study

Student Instructions

Andrew West started SurfZone in Bondi with the goal of providing good quality surfing equipment to his customers. To ensure year round business, Andrew sells both Surfing and Snow Ski products and he also has a lucrative snow ski hire department that is strongly patronized by school groups and families. Business has been brisk and he has established a sizeable client base over the last five years.  Andrew thinks that it could be the time to spend in Computers to record details about the sales, payroll process and offer more details about the inventory. Andrew thinks with the implementation of the Computer in each store would help the store in capturing of the sales information & managing of the hiring details, capturing the details of the customer would help the store manager in forming a targeted marketing campaign in the future, the computer would help the store to capture the details about the stock sold so that exact stock levels could be known, the Computer offers the way to calculate the wages & to electronically pay staff and the implementation of the Computer provides useful & relevant data for sales forecasting. Lastly, some recommendations have been given in order to improve the resolve the problems for the accounting & payroll problems (Collier, P &Venables, 2007).

Description of the Problem

Andrew believes that it will be possible to modernize some of the business process for reducing the amount of time, which it is taking for data processing. Andrew believes that it can be time to spend in Computers to record more details about payroll process, sales and the details about the inventory. It has been analysed that the Andrew wants to open up six further stores throughout the next three years & any systems used should be capable of supporting these developments (Bigsten, 2004)

It has been analysed that no details are captured about the customer only provide details about the purchased goods, the method of payment, member of the staff, purchased quantity, price & totals.

It has been analysed that levels of stock are recorded by using the stock card. It can be seen that the details of the new inventory are entered into the cards when the new stock and details of sold units are changed at the termination of each trading day. It is very clear that when things become hectic, marketing off stock sheets can be forgotten and hence they are not very exact. To know the level of the stock item, the physical check is needed. It has been observed that the stock take is conducted at random times when Andrew thinks it may be better to know what is in each of the stores. It has been analysed that when the user return the hired items, the member of the staff retrieves the duplicate from the file comprising both the details of the docket & the information of the credit card. This can be viewed as the process of time consuming as sometimes dockets are misfiled & users become worried for the delay. It is very clear that no of complaints have been made by the user on the number of occasions. At the end of each & every week, the spreadsheet was sent to Andrew who used it for forecasting of sales & also offers the information to various accountants for completing the statements of the Business Activity.

Solution Objective

The objective of the solution is to provide assistance to Andrew in solving of various issues like maintenance of customer details, maintenance of marketing off stock sheets, collection of useful data for sales forecasting and accurate calculation of wages & to electronically pay staff. It has been analyzed that the implementation of the Computer in each of the three stores helps in capturing of sales information, customer details, maintenance of marketing off stock sheets, collection of the data for sales forecasting and helps in calculation of the wages for employees. It is very clear that in recent times, Computers help the Company in operations & controlling function (Greenwood &Jovanovic, 1990). Computer helps the Company in maintaining of operations like calculation of wages, maintenance of ledger and invoicing etc. Another important feature of the Computer helps in analysis of the sales, credit control & budgetary control. The Solution is provided to the Andrew to implement those changes in existing three stores and open further six stores in the next three years with those changes & developments. For e.g. In this case each of the three stores, captures sales at the point of purchase by the cash register machine. There are two machines in each store operated by the sales counter. The implementation of the Computer in each store helps in capturing of sales information without the cash register machine which would help the Ski Zone & Andrew in minimizing of the cost.

Constraints

It has been analyzed that there is a computer for the assistant and Andrew has a laptop computer that he uses to prepare details for the accountant to complete the Business Activity Statement. He also carries out some analysis on spreadsheets for sales forecasting. It can be seen that the accountant of the each store was maintaining details about the sales, purchase and inventory manually not on the Computer. The Andrew had decided to implement the Computer in each store which became difficult for accountants to make reports on Computer as they were in the habit of making reports manually. It can be said that change in technology may also be the factor which made the accountant & employee of the Company resistant to change. In general, it is very clear when the company goes for any kind of changes then employees show reluctance to change (Cooley & Smith, 1998)

Developmental Plans

The first & foremost development plan is implementation of the Computer in each of the three stores.

For Capturing of the sales information It can be seen that analysis of the forecasting indulges the usage of the Computer Software. It has been analyzed that the software of sales forecasting would have a format of dashboard in which statistics & charts are clearly visible on the single page.

For Maintenance of sheets of marketing off stock The system may be designed which it activate orders when level of stock arrives point of order for distinct items of the material and test items that are moving slow and provides record of various stock items.

For Computation of wages It is very clear that in recent time, Computers help in operations of the Company like computation of wages, ledger maintenance and invoicing etc. With the implementation of the Computer in each of the three stores it enables the accountant of the store to calculate accurate wages by using excel feature and spreadsheets

Required:

Write a report to evaluate the proposed information system and provide your recommendations (Word Limit: 1000 words).

Performance & Knowledge Evidence -

Identify and document record and systems requirements

Evaluate alternative systems and acceptance test systems

Prepare systems documentation and implement reporting systems and records that comply with:

• statutory requirements
• organisational policy and procedures Knowledge Evidence

Outline the key features of statutory requirements, codes of practice and organisational policy and procedures relating to accounting systems

Discuss ethical considerations for the handling of financial reconstruction

Explain the key features of financial legislation relating to taxable transactions and reporting requirements

Outline a range of considerations for developing accounting system specifications

Compare and contrast methods of data protection

Explain the key principles and practices of budgetary control and implications for accounting systems

Explain the process and procedures for recording and storing financial data.