5 times a day x 5 minutes = 25 minutes
25 minutes per person x 6 HR Assistants = 2.5 hours
Therefore on average, HR employees are wasting 2.5 hours per day in retrieving employees’ files from the filing room, manually searching through the file and then taking it back to the filing room. This is a vast amount of time being wasted in collecting a file and returning this file. This time wasted is also a costly factor as the amount of time lost causes employees in wasting money spent in not doing proactive and business related work.
REGRESSION ANALYSIS
To further examine whether this information system will save time and money, the figure below shows how many times a HR employee collects a file against how long they take in retrieving this file.
Figure 1
Figure 1 shows a positive correlation between the time saved per day and how many times a HR Assistant collects a file per day. This is a significant amount of time saved if the scanning system was in place as the employee would only have to sit at their desk to retrieve the information they need and not have to leave their desk.
If a scanning system was in place, each employee in the HR department, on average, will save 25 minutes a day (as per the calculation of collecting a file 5 times per day).
OBJECTIVES
The key objectives for the implementation of an electronic document management system are:
- To be able to access employee data more easily as it will be stored in electronic format with sufficient indexing and search capabilities, making it more effective in both time and cost
- To safeguard data from loss due to fire, loss of building etc
- To save time wasted each day
- To allow HR data to be available electronically and securely backed up
The purpose of this report is to specify the system requirements that will be needed to implement and introduce a scanning system which will reduce paper and be a central document repository that can manage all incoming and outgoing documents along with the ability to index, view, retrieve, print and reissue stored content while providing secure access to a validated user. This will save money for Company and reduce wasting paper for the environment. All content will be searchable, by applied index information and in a logical storage structure and a full audit trail of all documents is an important feature of this requirement.
To recognise and understand the requirements for a scanning centric MIS system to address Company’s current and future business and procedural needs. The core solution products of this system are professional implementation and application support.
The documents e.g. Employment Contracts, Letters, Maternity Notification, Salary and Promotion Letters etc, will be scanned into this system and placed into the correct employee’s file. Therefore there will be on average 1,400 electronic files in this system storing electronic documents for all employees. Furthermore, if a new employee joins the firm, a new electronic folder can easily be created for an employee within this system and information regarding them will be freely available to the HR Department.
MANAGING INFORMATION SYSTEM
Information comes from two major sources, information collected by the company themselves and information collected by other people.
Moore (1985) put these into two forms of data:
- Primary Data: Statistical information collected by managers or their organisations
- Secondary Data: Statistical information collected by somebody else such as a government department, another company or a research organisation
When using data it is useful to know how the data has been collected and processed in order to appreciate their reliability and to understand the full meaning of the statistics. According to Bee (2005) the developments in computer technology, and the way this technology is used by organisations, have taken us from the twentieth century, where personal computers performing simple tasks on individuals’ desks have been used to improve local efficiency – into twenty-first-century, where managing information effectively will be a key contribution to the achievement of organisational objectives.
To ensure that Company’s scanning system is clearly and unambiguously defined, it will need to manage information that supports the core business activity and enhance the performance of staff. This should be shared in process-related terms that is needed for the monitoring and controlling systems that enable important performance related questions to be answered and suitable corrective actions be taken (See Appendix A).
The information and documents that will need to be inputted and electronically stored in the database, will be scanned into the system, then the employee will be able to use their computer to manually locate where this electronic document will need to be filed. There will be an electronic file, alphabetically maintained by surname, per employee. Therefore, all the information regarding an employee will be in their electronic file in the database, if a HR employee needs to refer to any particular documents.
INFORMATION SCANNING SYSTEM
HR currently generates circa 60,000 – 70,000 documents per annum. There are around 1400 employees’ files stored and each file has approximately 200 pages. One of the custom attributes of this system will be ‘category’, which will enable documents to be differentiated at a high level by both the system (i.e. for retention policies and filing) and users alike (i.e. for searching). This will save time in tracking the document that is needed for that employee. See Figure 2 for the categories.
Figure 2
As you can see the above figure shows the section of the employee structured file and the amount of documents stored within that file on average. Therefore if a HR employee needs to find an employee’s contract, they would look on the system under that employee’s surname, see the above structure and search under the category ‘employment’ as that is where their contract will be.
Bee (2005) stated the principle objective of any information system is to satisfy the demand for information needed by the organisation to achieve its objectives. Thus, the key issue for any information system is what information is actually needed, and the starting point for understanding what information is required and for the realisation that this is critically dependant on e.g. who requires the information and for what purpose. Therefore, the objectives set at the beginning of this report should be followed and referred to throughout the project.
When deciding on what system should be used for managing information, the following points should be considered:
- Content of Information Systems
- Presentation of Information
- Reporting Tools
- Impact of Organisational Factors on Information Systems
DESIGN METHODOLOGY
An input/output model was designed showing what information is needed to be put into the scanner and then what the outcome of the process and new system. See figure 3.
Figure 3
Figure 3 shows what requirements are needed to be processed into the MIS system to ensure that you have the carried out the evaluation outputs by investigating the value-added statistical process. Therefore, it shows what needs to be input through the scanning system to have the successful outputs.
BACK SCANNING EXISITING FILES
As Company currently store hard copy files, Company will need to back scan all the existing files into this system. If this scanning can be done onsite, the following benefits can be obtained:
- The security of documents is maintained
- The chance of loosing a document is considerably reduced
- There are no shipping costs
- Documents will be put directly into the system
- No requirement to write an import application
- Minimal time lapse from releasing the document for scanning to it being live in the repository
As this will require HR members to work on back scanning all existing employees’ files into the system, a suggestion would be to have consultants on site at Company’s offices, to scan the existing files. This would be a costly measure, however it will allow HR employees to continue to perform their required job role.
After investigating how much two scanning operatives on site with one supervising and one Assistant, the costs have been worked out using the following criteria:
- Daily cost of a member of staff (x2) £110
- Total number of project days to scan existing files in is 30 days
Figure 4
This totals £3,300 for all existing files to be back scanned into the system (See figure 4 for details).
THE NATURE OF STATISTICS
According to Bee (2005) statistics is the classification, tabulation and study of numerical data. It is concerned with scientific methods for collecting, organising, summarising, presenting and analysing data as well as drawing valid conclusions and making reasonable decisions on the basis of analysis.
As well as narrowing the area of disagreement, statistics can be a stabling force, dispelling rumour and uncertainty, helping solve arguments arising from individual cases or circumstances, by providing a factual foundation to debates and decisions, which may otherwise be dominated by subjectively based theories and opinions. In the scanning system, all figures and calculations are approximate as they may vary if this project takes place.
According to Hannagan (1999), statistical decision making is not a process for a arriving at a foolproof answer. Managers should be aware that such a process does not exist. However, it could be argued that statistical decision making does involve methods and techniques which can help in decision making, planning and control. Therefore, Company will need to ensure this planning and management happens if Company are to proceed with the scanning system.
BREAKDOWN OF SERVICE COSTS FOR MIS SYSTEM
After researching the prices of this system, the prices below are one off costs that Company will need to purchase. The two scanning systems are separate, and will connect to the scanning system via the LAN (See Appendix B).
Figure 5
I have expanded each item to further explain the efforts surrounding each action, see figure 6 for details.
Figure 6
As you can see from the above figure 6, the document scanning system in total is going to cost Company £29,550.00 to implement. The average rate of return is a measure of an investment's profitability. Therefore, if Company paid back the scanning system over, say 5 years it would cost them £5,910.00 per year, within this time the amount of time lost per employee collecting a file 5 times a day would be:
5 files per day x 5 minutes to collect the file = 25 minutes x 260 working days per year = 6,500 x 5 pay back period = 32,500
The above calculation shows that over a pay back period of 5 years, 32,500 hours would be lost per employee. This incredible sum is astonishing and such a system in operation would save a massive amount of wasted time and energy within the HR department and would therefore focus on HR employees concentrating in delivering work and their job requirements instead of wasting time in collecting a file that they require. A simple managing information system would have all the information the HR employee needs from their computer system.
Furthermore, it could be argued that not all statistics are reliable (Bee 2005). Statistics are often manipulated to support an argument and figures can be manipulated in order to enhance opinions. In the case of the scanning system, these figures are estimated figures as no such system is in operation that has realistic and true figures. Although based on the figures throughout this report, it shows that Company would benefit from this investment and having such a system, will provide a faster access mechanism and store employees’ files electronically which will save valuable and important time.
CONCLUSION
In conclusion, through analysis of cost and time saved, it would greatly benefit Company having such a system. In the initial beginning it is an expensive system to input and have in place, however considering the rate of return it would be a massive improvement for Company as more time will be spent in actual productive work rather than having to do the menial task of collecting an employee’s file from another location which takes unnecessary time.
In terms of competitive advantage and the development of organisational performance, by implementing such a system would reduce time wasted and can increase the production of workloads, hopefully setting a target nearer 80,000 documents per year instead of 60,000 to 70,000 which it is at present, with an improvement of at least 10%. Throughout this report it shows the costs saved per day, over the amount of implementing such a system. Initially, the cost of instigating this type of system is expensive, however after the amount of time wasted per day is incredibly high, the system will be cost effective in the pay back period of 5 years. This type of system will have all the information from the employee’s computer screen. It is essential that a well designed managing information system is implemented so that accurate and thorough data can be collected and maintained, quickly and efficiently.
According to Bee (2005) managing information is so important as to justify the cost and attention for the purpose of:
- In the commercial sector, to survive and grow, thus providing good returns to investors over time
- In the not-for-profit sector, to provide the highest quality services in the most cost-effective way
Therefore, for Company to implement this managing information system, they will gain and maintain strategic and competitive advantage and the key role that information plays in achieving this. This new managing information system would function at what Bee (2005) would term operational, tactical and strategic levels. Operational, for time and money saving, tactical, for having all the information from the computer and strategic, level so everyone in the HR department work in a more accurate and consistent way. The input data will be more precise and the output data will be more reliable and save a considerable amount of time.
As stated by Bee (2005), a successful information system is one that provides the right information in the correct format at the appropriate time to enable the users effectively and efficiently to perform their tasks. Therefore, as there will be many users of this information system, it is important to identify and analyse the systems needs for information. Managing information, such as a system like the above scanning system, Company will need a well designed database that is implemented dependable so that it will be used to a competitive advantage and thereby help to improve organisational performance.
REFERENCES
Bee, R. Bee, F. (2005) Managing Information and Statistics. London, Second Edition, CIPD
Davis, D. (2005) Managing Financial Information. London, Second Edition, CIPD,
Graham et al. (1997) Understanding Statistics
Hanngan, T. (1999) The Effective Use of Statistics, London
Moore, D. (1985) Statistics: Concepts and Controversies
APPENDIX A
MANAGEMENT CONTROL
Figure: The Five Essential Stages of Management Control
APPENDIX B
HR SCANNING SCHEMATIC
