Provide a definition of the business organization that includes a discussion of the business environment, industry classification, and relative position of the organization's primary competitors. The size of the firm should be discussed as reflected by gross sales and number of employees (the organization must have at least 100 employees). The organization's past and current profitability should also be discussed.
You should describe the products sold and specify whether they are manufactured or purchased. Provide in your scenario a general profile of the organization's customers and terms of trade. The types and numbers of suppliers along with their required terms of trade should be included. Also, any problems encountered in the past with suppliers, the necessary ordering lead times, inventory levels, and any problems with stock-outs or excess inventory should be discussed.
TRANSACTION PROCESSING PROCEDURES
Provide a detailed description of the transaction processing procedures, including tasks performed and documents used. The case should describe the revenue cycle and the purchases system of the expenditure cycle. Design an environment that lacks appropriate controls and procedures that, if properly implemented, would prevent or detect material errors and/or fraud. The procedures that you describe should be seeded with errors, but the scenario must be plausible. In other words, the controls should not be so weak as to prevent the organization from conducting business. Finally, the case must describe a company that currently employs both low-level computer technology and manual procedures. For example, it may use stand-alone microcomputers for certain accounting functions. Alternatively the company may currently be using a legacy (flat file) system that needs to be replaced with modern technology such as EDI. The flowcharts of the existing must accurately reflect the technology in place. In other words, if computers are used in part of the processing then the flowchart should show computers not manual procedures.
SOLUTION REQUIREMENTS
1. Prepare data flow diagrams and system flowcharts of the current transaction processing system.
2. Identify the control weakness in the current system using the COSO format.
3. Redesign the business processes to correct the problems seeded into the case. The redesigned system should employ the appropriate level of computer technology to achieve the organization's objectives. Prepare only flowcharts (no data flow diagrams) of the revised system.
4. Using Visio, prepare a data model (an entity relationship (ER) diagram) for the redesigned system.
5. Using Microsoft's Access, create the relational tables (including test data) specified in the data model. Design four (4) user view derived from these relational tables.