Finance
- Keep records of all financial transactions on the head office server, including the income from sales for each shop and mail order, payments for goods purchased, payments for engraving contractors and staff wages.
- Records are used to produce monthly and annual accounts for shareholders and Inland Revenue.
- Generate VAT (value added tax) returns once a quarter for customs and excise.
- Arrange for the amount due to be paid.
Human Resource (HR)
The functions of the HR Department are;
- Staff recruitment and training
- Place advertisements for staff
- Send out and receive application forms
- Organise interviews and provide contracts for successful applicants
- Keeping standard personnel records on a database along with records of training courses attended by members of staff and any qualifications they obtain.
- Determine what further training each staff member requires and how best to provide it
- Book the member of staff on an external training course/ if many members require training organise for a trainer to deliver the course ‘in house’.
Task1
Identify different types of supplier to the shops and warehouse and describe relationships between these suppliers and the departments/individuals within the company
Warehouse
Shops
Task 2
An analysis of the processes for recording sales in a shop and for mail order sales in Head Office.
Shop
Information Required
- Product bar code or numerical code if bar code unreadable
- Quantity bought
- If sale is to be paid by credit card
- If paying by cash the Amount to be tendered
From where this is obtained and how it is captured
- product code by barcode scanner
- numerical code keyed in using a keypad
- quantity keyed in by till operator
- credit card yes/no keyed in
The processing and calculations required
- look up item in computer
- display item name and price on screen
- multiply price by quantity
- if on sale, reduce total price by 50%
- display total on screen
- if credit card = yes, generate credit card receipt for signature
The form and content of any output
- on-screen / display message
- paper till receipt
- paper credit card receipt
- Contains prices. items, sales items highlighted with words "ON SALE", store address, time of sale, till operator name
Mail Order in Head Office
Information Required
- Team details e.g. team name, name and address of contact person, the sport, the colour(s) and design of shirt/vest, position of logo e.g. VTL(vest top left), picture of team logo and team number
- Product colour
- Product quantity required
- Product code
- Colour code/ X is entered If a non standard colour
- Size and number of colours in logo
- Amount of deposit paid
From where this is obtained and how it is captured
- Team details from completed order form from a mail order brochure entered onto data screen on computer using input devices such as keyboard and mouse
- Product colour from completed order form from a mail order brochure entered onto data screen on computer using input devices such as keyboard and mouse
- Product quantity required from completed order form from a mail order brochure entered onto data screen on computer using input devices such as keyboard and mouse
- Product code from completed order form from a mail order brochure entered onto data screen on computer using input devices such as keyboard and mouse
- Colour code/ X is entered If a non standard colour from completed order form from a mail order brochure entered onto data screen on computer using input devices such as keyboard and mouse
- Size and number of colours in logo from completed order form from a mail order brochure entered onto data screen on computer using input devices such as keyboard and mouse
- Amount of deposit paid from completed order form from a mail order brochure entered onto data screen on computer using input devices such as keyboard and mouse
- Team logo captured using a scanner and stand alone computer
The processing and calculations required
- look up item in computer
- display item name and price on screen
- Calculate price of embroidery by multiplying number of logos by price
- multiply price by quantity
- Calculate sub total if less than £100, £5 is added for postage and packaging
- Calculate and add VAT to give total price
The form and content of any output
- on-screen / display message
- Invoice
- Contains prices. items, store address, store phone and fax number, date of sale, invoice number, team contact person details, sub total, VAT, total, Less deposit, total due.
Task 3
Outlining the current ICT systems used by GO4IT Sports, in particular, Finance within Head Office and Administration within a Shop
Administration within a shop
- Each shop has a number of Electronic Point of Sales (EPOS) terminals with barcode readers and card readers.
- Telephone connection to banking system
- Small Local Area Network (LAN) of three computers
- Laser Printer
- Branch managers computer acts as a server
- Dial up modem
Software used includes
- Word processing
- Spreadsheet applications
Finance within Head Office
- Number of workstations
- Local are network (LAN)
- Single Server
- Fast laser printer
- Slower laser printer
- Bar code reader
- ISND line
Software used includes
- Word processing
- Spreadsheet applications
- Database management software
- Stock control software
Task 3
Analysing the purpose and operation of the main ICT systems used for sales in each shop and the ICT systems using within the warehouse
Shops
- Each shop has an EPOS terminal with barcode readers and card readers. Stock data is held on dedicated server connected to the EPOS terminals.
- There is also a telephone connection to the banking system for authorisation of the card payments.
- The barcode reader is used to scan the barcode of each item and the product code it contains is used to look the product description and price from stock database
- When items are scanned total price is calculated. This includes the VAT, the system calculates the net value of the items, and all of this is printed on the receipt.
- If customer pays by cash, member of staff enters the amount tendered; the EPOS terminal calculates the change due. This is printed on receipt and given to customer
- If customer wishes to pay by credit or debit card the member of staff swipes the card through the card reader. The card details are checked by the banking system and if the transaction is approved an authorisation code is transmitted to the EPOS terminal.
- The authorisation Code and card details and amount debited are printed on receipt which is handed to customer to sign with card and items purchased.
Warehouse
- Stand alone computer
- Scanner
- Computer controlled embroidery machine
- Workstation
- Laser printer
- Stock control software has separate screens for incoming and outgoing goods.
- All goods have a product code which is contained in a barcode. When goods arrive in the warehouse the barcode of each product is read and the quantity entered via the keyboard.
- This data is used to update stock database.
- For every order picked up the staff use the barcode reader to input the product code and the keyboard to enter the quantity removed from stock. These items are deducted from stock database.
Task 3
Recommending and explaining improvements/ extensions to shop systems
Methods for improving stock control and the re-ordering of stock, as well as integration of systems within GO4IT sports.
- A dedicated server could be used instead of the branch manager’s computer acting as a server, if the branch manager’s computer crashes then that would leave the other computers stranded without a printer and no access to the internet.
- ISDN connection would improve communication giving workers a faster connection to send e-mails internally. Dial up connections are not as reliable and are slower so information being sent will be limited due to connection speed of dial up.
- There should be a centralised database put into place. This is where all the company’s data is held in one place and the computers in the company are networked. This central database can be used by anyone within the company provided they have been given access through a password. This will be a very resourceful way of storing company data, as it will prevent the problem of data duplication.
- Sales based ordering where automatic re-ordering takes place of goods from the warehouse using the sales information from the checkouts.
- To increase the efficiency of communication between the supplier and GO4IT sports I would recommend the introduction of EDI (electronic data interchange); the system is similar to email and allows users to exchange invoices, delivery notes, orders and receipts over the telephone network.
Security
- Log in pages requiring a specific unique user name requiring a private password to track who logs on and off to restrict users
Possible problems for suggested improvements
- One of the problems that may arise is the finance to cover the costs for the installation of the systems in place.
- Also addition of new feature will mean that staff are not familiar with it and training for staff will be required.
Benefits of using new technology
EDI
Advantages
- It is much faster, as work does not have to be printed, it is on the screen
- The EDI system is easy to use and work can be sent off very easily
- Information can be sent to other companies, in less then a few minutes instead of days.
- The company can be linked up with their bank, suppliers and customers.
- Will minimize the amount of paperwork and business can be transacted much faster and more efficiently then is possible through the normal post.
Disadvantages
- For EDI, computers are relied on, therefore if the systems go down; it will have a huge of affect on the company.
- It is very costly for the installation of EDI
- The organization has to research into which system would be best for the company
Ecommerce
Advantages
- Majority of the work of GO4IT sports can be done just through the internet, making it much easier.
- This would means a lot less people will have to be employed this will result in huge savings for the company as most transaction will be electronic.
- Currently GO4IT sports uses a lot of time to get into contact with suppliers by using the telephone, which can be tedious due to the telephone being engaged; by using e-commerce orders could be automatically electronically sent straight to the suppliers.
- Team contacts currently have to post the payment to the company, which is very time consuming and not very secure and with using ecommerce an electronic funds transfer could be made.
- Promotion of the company can be improved as it is all online presentation of online advertising can be enhanced.
- This will also enable the company to advertise their products online and also allow customers to purchase the products directly from the site using their debit/credit card. They can place the desired items in the virtual shopping trolley. The company can be fully based on the internet, making it easier for the company and also for customers.
Disadvantages
- A close relationship between the retailer and supplier is required in order for the system to work
- Returning products online will prove to be difficult. The customer may be put off when these areas are taken into account. As the customer will question how to send the goods back to their source? Who pays for the return postage? Will the refund be paid? Will I be left with nothing? How long will it take? Compared to offline experience of returning goods to a shop and it is frustrating for the customer.
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Privacy, security, payment, identity, contract. Many issues arise - privacy of information, security of that information and payment details, whether or not payment details (eg credit card details) will be misused, identity theft, contract, and, whether we have one or not, what laws and legal jurisdiction apply.
MIS(management information systems)
For the Buying Manager I would recommend the following improvements:
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MIS could produce an analysis of patterns of sales in the company
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MIS would be able to identify peak production needs
- What if type questions could be applied to different patterns of sales
The features of the MIS system that could be used by the branch manager are:
- Production costs can be based on raw material costs
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MIS could be used to carry out analysis automatically
- Results could be displayed in graphs which are easy to understand
- Monthly graphs could be produced of price comparison with competitor’s goods or services resulting from regular market research.
- Planning, directing, controlling and forecasting decisions.
Both managers would benefit from the following points of the MIS system:
- Warnings could be set if production costs exceed budget.
- Warnings could be set if stocks fall below fixed level.
