Ha2042 Accounting Information Systems Management Assessment Answers

In groups of three or four, you are required to conduct desk research on AIS/ERP Systems for your above client. Prepare a Business Report for the client detailing the following processes of selecting an AIS/ERP:

1.Define business processes

2.Develop business requirements

3.Determine the systems requirements

4.Software selection

5.Vendor selection

Question 1

The bakery business consists of making flour based products by using different ingredients along with the same to make yummy products like cake, pastries, and cookies and using an oven for the same. Along with making these products apart from doing supplying goods to the consumers, they also provide goods to other multinational stores and shops to sell them in their outlets. There are many popular bakeries around the world that have been doing this business since ages. Nowadays these bakeries not only provide goods, but also provide various other services to the customer like café and fining dining areas. Where all with the basic bakery products, many new items are introduced. The B bakery is one of the biggest bakeries that have wide variety of products and have more than 70 employees. The company is doing phenomenally well with a turnover of more than 1.5 million. But in the recent times, the company has suffered a setback with the launch of many new bakeries and people now wanting products that provides them with better health benefits (Auken, 2016). The bakery products are sugar based and are not that good for the health, so people want such products that provide them with better health benefits and are also good in taste. So a lot of innovation has been done in the field in the recent years. Many new bakeries have cropped up that provide yummy products to the customers that are not good in taste only but are also healthier in terms of sugar and carbohydrate intake. Thus the B bakery is suffering from this shift in the customer choices and is trying to launch a new line that will help it in coping with the competition. The new technological innovations have led to development of many such software packages that can be very helpful to the company (Alexander, 2016).

The few of the major baking processes involve innovation in the already existing product so that healthier version of the same can be launched. That will help in getting more customers. For the same the company needs to do a lot of research and analysis, from the ingredients to the suppliers everything has to be sorted and proper database needs to be maintained. The cost of the same has to be calculated and a profitable plan is to be developed. The other important baking function includes marinating high sales volume. The bakery products are such that they can easily get perished if they are not consumed within a particular time frame. Hence it is important to decide how many products are to be developed and also how much sales the company can anticipate each day. This will help in reducing unwanted wastage and also reducing the total cost of the product. The third method that the bakery business needs to suffice with is generating proper awareness about the products and the new healthy treats that they will launch. Brand promotion is very important for the overall development of the business and will generate more customer revenue for the company. If the company don not indulge in the same than the overall business development might not take place and that might affect the overall market share and position. There are many technological advances in recent times, with wide spread growth of social media that can help the companies in improving brand image and accelerating brand promotion of the company. These are the few intricate methods that a bakery company must follow for the overall development of the company and also to have an edge over its competitors. It will be every helpful to the B bakery business in the long run (Abbott & Kantor, 2017).

Question 2a

The few processes that are indispensible for a baking company to perform are –

Procurement of raw material – The bakery business runs on an everyday basis where the company procures the raw material makes the final product and sells them to the customer on a daily basis. Procurement of the right materials from the right suppliers at the optimum cost possible is an indispensible function that forms the basis of the bakery business. Even if the company wants to make some innovation and launch a new product line that are healthy, then also the company will have to get the required raw materials that will suit the needs of the company (Bromwich & Scapens, 2016).

Logistics management- One of the most important process of any baking business is effective management of the logistic that refers to the management of the vendors who are providing the raw materials to the final delivery of the products to the customer. It is important to keep a trail of the same to avoid any kind of issue in the delivery of the products. It will also help in avoiding unnecessary wastage of the products during the time of transfer and keeping a trail of the overall business requirements of the bakery company (Belton, 2017).

Automation of major services – With large scale development in technology there has been a trend in the recent times that has led to automation of many major services that was previously done manually. Few of these services include management of the payroll, expense sheet, timesheets etc. Previously it took a lot of time in these works and it included a large amount of expense on part of the company to get the same done. But in the recent times we see that with automation, there are many accounting software packages in the market that can help in getting this work done easily in very less time, and free of errors. Automation removes human intervention in the accounts of the company and this helps in reducing a lot of errors that might occur when human did this work. The entire process makes the work of the management very easy (Charlton, Ilott, Borgeaud, & Drew, 2017).

Question 2b

From all these processes the outcomes that the management requires that will help in developing the business is to manage it resources and to avoid wastage of the same. If the resources are managed well and proper tracking of the products is done, it will help in solving a lot of issues that are related to the business and will also help in improving the total amount of profit. Other outcomes are required that through the automation process, the total time would be saved, there would be less errors in the accounts as there will be less human intervention. Hence total cost of the business will reduce, and there will be better management and better product development and marketing. With the help of brand promotion, the overall sale of the business will improve, more and more people will op for products that are not only tasty but are also good for their health. Hence this will help in saving a lot of cost, maintain the sales cost volume, will help the company in producing the goods that are not wasted and there is more sales (Dichev, 2017).  So the most important objectives that the company wants to achieve form this business processes is better management of resources, better development of products, reduction in the overall wastage and making the overall process of baking error free. Automation will help the company have an edge over its competitors, and using better and good quality accounting software will help in solving large number of issues that might not be solved so easily. So it is important that the companies invest in better quality accounting software packages that will help them in solving a large number of issues at a very low cost. Using the best accounting software keeping in mind all the demands of the company and to make sure to see such packages that the overall need of the business is sufficed is very important for the development of the company. These are the few outcomes that the company wants from its provided methods above (Kew & Stredwick, 2017).

Question no 3

It is very important to consider all the relevant factors that might affect the business and that might have an effect on the functioning of the management. Choosing the right ERP package is an indispensable part of any business. The companies invest a lot of money in such software packages and hence they must keep these relevant points in mind before choosing the ERP package that will suit their bakery business (Hall & Rapanotti, 2017). The B bakery company should also do their part of research before selecting that ERP package that is best suited for their business. The following features are listed below-

Adaptability – For any business kind it is important to such software that can easily adapt to their business needs and can be easily customized as per the preference of the management. It is important to make  a thorough Research beforehand on the various type of software that are available in the market as per the budget of the company and then choosing the one that can easily be customized and can adapt to their environment and is as per their business needs. Like big multinational companies in which the work is more, they can go for high end ERP software packages like SAP, and midsized companies in which the operations are less and the volume of work is not that high can go for medium packages like MYOB that can provide them with all round development (Werner, 2017).

Security – The companies should always go for such software packages that can provide them with proper security of data. As we know that the companies will use these software packages to store all kinds of data that are very crucial for the company, proper security should be maintained. It should be seen to it that proper measures are taken to make sure no leakage of data takes place. The company can also take certain security updates from the vendor and ask him to make the necessary changes as and when required with regard to updating the as per the needs of the management of the company (Visinescu, Jones, & Sidorova, 2017).

Interoperability- It is very important for companies to use such software packages that provide them all round services. That means that all the relevant functions related to any business from management of the accounts, vendors, HR management etc. can be done with the help of a single software that is very well suited to the management of the company and its various departments. Hence interoperability is an important aspect of the accounting software. It helps the company in maintaining one software for the all over development of the company and maintaining its various departments (Venezia, 2017).

Automation – It is one of the most important feature of all the high end brands that are present in the market and that provides accounting based functions to these companies. It is important that automation of important and tedious work that involves a lot of manual labor must be done. It will be very helpful as it will help in reducing a lot of cost and will also in making the accounts free of errors and reduce a lot of manual work that might be associated with it. It will also help in saving a lot of time and make the entire system easy. Thus companies should always go for such ERP software that can be easily automated and have such features. And if any update is required in the future, then they should be easily updated too. These are few of the most important features that any accounting software must have. And the companies must do proper research analysis and can also take expert help before selecting the appropriate software for their business and its development (Guragai, Hunt, Neri, & Taylor, 2017).

Question no 4

The three business accounting software packages that are very popular in today’s time and that are used by large number of businesses are SAP, MYOB and XERO.

SAP is a high end ERP package that is used mostly by large multinational companies. It provides a large number of functions and is mostly suited to manage large amount of data. It is one of the most expensive software packages that can be found in the market. . It helps in providing variety of services to the consumer that includes supply chain management, logistics management, financial management, human capital management etc.

MYOB is an accounting based ERP package that is used to provide services to medium sized firms and companies. Its key features include that it can provide all round development to the company, by providing solution to all kinds of business problems at all levels (Visinescu, Jones, & Sidorova, 2017).

Question 4b

After considering all the software packages that are available in the market and taking into consideration the needs of the management of the company, it can be said that MYOB is the best accounting software that is suited to the company. It is a medium range accounting software that provides all round functions to the company. Since the company is not that huge, it is midsized bakery firm that has around 70 employees, use of a mid ranged ERP package will be best for the company initially. The company after expanding and developing its business can switch to high end ERP packages like SAP. Thus at present after considering the present state of the business it can be said that the company should invest in the MYOB software which is medium ranged ERP package (Linden & Freeman, 2017).

Question 5a

After analyzing all the accounting software and visiting their sites and taking into note the important attributes of each, it can be said that SAP and MYOB are best suited for the account maintenance of the business. All the important features of both the accounting packages is taken into consideration and following differences between the two can be ascertained.

Question 5b

After all the analysis that has been done and taken into consideration, it can be said that MYOB would be the best choice for the present company. On the basis of its needs and the present situation of the company it can be said that the company will suffice with a medium ranged ERP package that is within its budget and that will help in its overall development. In case the business expands the company can switch to high end ERP packages like SAP. In the given case we see that the main objectives of the bakery company is –

• To improve the overall sales of the company by maintenance of high end sales volume, and that will also help in reduction of wastage of goods and services.
• To help in development of better brand promotions so that the business of the company will improve.
• To get an advantage over their competitors so that the new business has better products and an edge in the market.

The company can achieve all the above objectives with the help of the MYOB software as it is a comprehensive accounting software that provides all round development to the company by effectively managing all the specific departments. The company has an employee base of 70 employees and the total turnover of 1.5 million, so it can be said that the company is a growing and expanding company. In the future when the overall turnover will improve and the company will help more volume of data to be managed than it can shift from medium accounting software packages to high end accounting software packages. MYOB is also very cost effective and can be used effectively as per the needs and demands of the management of the company. The main key features of the software include that it can be easily customized as per the needs of the management of the company. It has a feature by which the people who are using this software in the company can easily access the data from wherever they want, on any device with the approval of the management. It is linked to a large number of Australian Banks and other firms, thus provides services from the same. It also helps in providing better security to the company and has an all time back up facility. In case the company is not happy with the software than they can easily cancel the contract of the vendor. The cost is not that high, hence a large number of companies can afford such type of software packages. It relies on full support with compliance with the relevant Australian laws and tax laws. Thus all these will be helpful enough for the B bakery in case they are launching a new healthy treat line that will help them attract more customers and keep them in sync with the new business line (Ruggiero & Lehkonen, 2017).

 In case of SAP, it is very expensive and it won’t be possible for the company to spend so much on accounting software in its developing stage. Also the application is required to manage high end data of very big companies. Hence keeping all those points in mind it can be said that MYOB will be the best software accounting package that will be thoroughly suited to the needs of the company and will help in its growth and development.

References

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Alexander, F. (2016). The Changing Face of Accountability. The Journal of Higher Education, 71(4), 411-431.

Arnott, D., Lizama, F., & Song, Y. (2017). Patterns of business intelligence systems use in organizations. Decision Support Systems, 97, 58-68.

Auken, S. (2016). Assessing the role of business faculty values and background in the recognition of an ethical dilemma. Journal of Education for Business, 91(4), 211-218.

Belton, P. (2017). Competitive Strategy: Creating and Sustaining Superior Performance. London: Macat International ltd.

Bromwich, M., & Scapens, R. (2016). Management Accounting Research: 25 years on. Management Accounting Research, 31, 1-9.

Charlton, P., Ilott, D., Borgeaud, R., & Drew, M. (2017). Risky business: An example of what training load data can add to shared decision making in determining ‘acceptable risk’. Journal of Science and Medicine in Sport, 20(6), 526-527.

Dichev, I. (2017). On the conceptual foundations of financial reporting. Accounting and Business Research, 47(6), 617-632.

Guragai, B., Hunt, N., Neri, M., & Taylor, E. (2017). Accounting Information Systems and Ethics Research: Review, Synthesis, and the Future. Journal of Information Systems: Summer 2017, 31(2), 65-81.

Hall, J., & Rapanotti, L. (2017). A design theory for software engineering. Information and Software Technology, 87, 46-61.

Kew, J., & Stredwick, J. (2017). Business Environment: Managing in a Strategic Context (second ed.). London: Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development.

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Ruggiero, S., & Lehkonen, H. (2017). Renewable energy growth and the financial performance of electric utilities: A panel data study. Journal of Cleaner Production, 142(4), 3676-3688.

Trieu, V. (2017). Getting value from Business Intelligence systems: A review and research agenda. Decision Support Systems, 93, 111-124.

Venezia, I. (2017). Behavioral Finance: 'Where Do Investors'' Biases Come From?'. Singapore: WORLD SCIENTIFIC.

Visinescu, L., Jones, M., & Sidorova, A. (2017). Improving Decision Quality: The Role of Business Intelligence. Journal of Computer Information Systems, 57(1), 58-66.

Werner, M. (2017). Financial process mining - Accounting data structure dependent control flow inference. International Journal of Accounting Information Systems, 25, 57-80.