The processes of selecting an AIS Case Assignment (Case Study Sample)

The processes of selecting an AIS/ERP to make informed decision for investment in an accounting software
Contents TOC \o "1-3" \h \z \u 1.Introduction PAGEREF _Toc483142903 \h 32. Define business processes PAGEREF _Toc483142904 \h 33. Develop business requirements PAGEREF _Toc483142905 \h 43.1 indispensable business processes PAGEREF _Toc483142906 \h 43.2 required business process PAGEREF _Toc483142907 \h 44.Systems requirements PAGEREF _Toc483142908 \h 5Classification PAGEREF _Toc483142909 \h 65. Software selection PAGEREF _Toc483142910 \h 75.1 Entry level solutions PAGEREF _Toc483142911 \h 85.2 Small to Medium level Business Solutions PAGEREF _Toc483142912 \h 85.3 Enterprise Accounting Software PAGEREF _Toc483142913 \h 86. Selection of Vendor PAGEREF _Toc483142914 \h 86.1 SAGE 100 ERP PAGEREF _Toc483142916 \h 86.2 Microsoft Dynamics PAGEREF _Toc483142917 \h 96.3 SAP Business ByDesign PAGEREF _Toc483142918 \h 97. Recommendation PAGEREF _Toc483142919 \h 108. Conclusion PAGEREF _Toc483142920 \h 129. References PAGEREF _Toc483142921 \h 12
Executive Summary
Present report is case of B bakery. It is small bakery firm, which have strength of more than 75 employees.
B bakery is doing well in business. However, the firm is required to reduce price to maintain its clientele. Therefore, company is analysing its business processed and realized the need of accounting software to make informed decision
Present report is analysis of suitable accounting information system for B bakery.
1.Introduction
B Bakery is a firm owned by family. There are 70 employees in the firm. sales revenue has been enhanced $ 13.5 million. Firm is performing really well. But, has lost some key client due to inability to sell at low price. To analyse the accounts of company thoroughly, company is planning to install accounting software.
2. Define business processes
Products of bakery company B Bakery are sold to different supermarket and pub chains. Their customer base includes some prominent businesses also (Fritz & Schiefer, 2009). They work as wholesalers and supply their products to another confectionary shops and businesses.
Getting supplies is their priority. Their need of raw materials includes agricultural products, imported goods and other commodities. Every raw material undergoes through a quality inspection procedure. Only after the quality approval, the material is stored in raw material warehouses. Breads, buns etc. are the finished goods produced with this material (Mondal & Datta, 2008).
SKUs (finished goods) are first packaged properly and then transported to the regional depots after loading into the vehicles. Products are further distributed to the retail outlets, hotels, independent stores, restaurants, supermarkets and shops from the regional centres (Paton, et. al., 2013). The products are then sold to the end consumers by these retail outlets.
All this process depends upon the use of technology, freshness of end products and observance of the directions of Trade and Food Regulatory (Dietz, 2006).
There are several needs of a bakery business such as marketing, accounting, finance and HR management, production unit, sales and supply chain management. The process of purchasing raw material is supervised and managed by the supply chain management. The management buys the raw material from poultry farm, fruit shop, flour supplier etc. Production is done by production unit and the inventory and logistics management store the products and deliver them according to the orders (Cauvain, 2012). Accounts management does all accounting activities such as payment to suppliers, payroll management and collecting payment from customers. The HR management does hiring of the staff and decides their payroll. Sales management then takes orders from customers and sells and delivers products to different markets (Humphreys, et. Al., 1993). It also explores the potential markets to increase the sales. Business is promoted by Marketing. All of these business processes depends on each other and the whole business processes shakes if one unit is affected. For instance, if supply is not done well the consequent reduced production will hamper sales and then accounts. If some accounts are lost then the sales and HR management will be affected. Therefore, every individual unit must be taken care of in Bakery be it, chefs, bakers or baking equipments. The aim of B Bakery is the same.
3. Develop business requirements
3.1 indispensable business processes
Although now we know from the previous section that every production and business unit is vital we have to accept that SCM, Production, HRM and accounts are the core of any business out of which accounts is of most importance (Dietz, 2006). In spite of having significant growth in last few years B Bakery is doing with some difficulties in accounts at present. The accounts team of B Bakery has accounting experts for bookkeeping etc. which is not sufficient in taking competitive decisions. Company has not been able to offer its products at reasonable competitive prices resulting loss of some accounts. It is realized that the company needs market research for more information to prepare strategies that can help the business develop further (Haag, Cummings, & Dawkins, 1998).
3.2 required business process
The organization is looking forward to have an accounting information system and so, they are ready to invest in accounting software. Therefore, B Bakery has some requirements:
* B Bakery needs to enhance its accounts.
* Integration of all processes of business and accounts leads to sooner and better decisions.
* Available accounting software need to be investigated to customize it accordingly.
* ERP and AIS must be implemented as ERP helps in integration of business processes. ERP provides a good platform for AIS.
* Different types of outputs are required from the core business processes to perform much better in the market. One of them is all kinds of information transactional and operational. Its helps in processing and decision making. As accounts in connected to all other business processes the information from all these are required to get more information from accounts. To set a competitive price of the products information like the amount payable to suppliers, inventory stock, sales amount, possible margins, cost of raw materials, pricing and labor charges, payrolls of the staff etc. is always needed (Romney et. Al., 2006).
* All these information can be obtained only by integration of business processes and the systems. The better the integration the quicker and more compatibility will be the business process gaining more revenue ultimately. The integrated implementation of ERP or the implementation on AIS over ERP provides a strong structure to the business. It helps in colleting, processing, managing, storing and retrieving the information from finance and accounts (Gordon & Miller, 1976). This information is obtained from business analysts, managers, tax consultants, auditors, accountants etc.
* Functions are integrated by ERP and the integration of ERP and AIS choose further useful information from different business processes or units. AIS analyze history and provide the information which can forecast the future of business.
4.Systems requirements
ESP and AIS implementation is necessary for the business to reach to the goals of the company. With the help of ERP the database can be shared and centreline for all the processes of business (Bae & Ashcroft, 2004). The AIS process will also be able to use the central database and have an access to the entire business process with more accurate processing.
Speed
The information systems are best at speeding the processing of the tasks. The data once entered can be used any time repeatedly very easily. Any correction in the transaction can be done with quickly generated reports and records which were before impossible manually.
Software should accommodates growth: this is related to the business which starts with very few employees and this company winds up with the dozens of people who are working in several facilities (Jones, 2002). In software, there is several numbers of users, which are expanding, and it respond to the needs related to the development.
Easily customizable- When there is change to the software in company’s needs and there is no requirement of coding with the experts (Salehi, Rostami & Mogadam, 2010). When the user interferes and they would be able to work without any interference.
Centralization and coordination- With this kind of software, with the data set there are different area types. These users have access to the information that is updated to the mark. It also ensures that all of them are on the same page. With this process, there might be confusion, errors and there are time wasted that might be due to calls or emails.
Useful data-The data needs to be driven perfectly so that the business can thrive. Data is basically the foundation for the insights of extensive range that might increase the growth as well as it boosts the profits. But this data does not bring any use when it is not meaningful. With the software, data can be gathered, summarized and the most importantly it also includes the indicators related to key performance. (KPI). It is always indispensable to the get the charts, intelligible reports when the data is required to access. This software is very much responsive, which shows that the latest data is not according to the outdated figures.
Automation and organization- Accounting software system is used to save time as well as money by web of business processes are organized and this way the data can be rendered through automation efficiently (Lambert, Leuz & Verrecchia, 2007).
Classification
It is always necessary to classify the data which is entered in the a...