You are on page 1of 4

Executive Summary 1

Bentley University is a prestigious higher education institution serving the needs of domestic and
international students. The University is properly accredited by the New England Association of
Schools, and Colleges and the International Association for Management Education. Harry C.
Bentley founded Bentley University in 1917 in Boston, Massachusetts. Later, the school moved
to its current location in Waltham, MA. Student enrollment has grown year after year.
Currently, Bentley is serving approximately 8,200 students (undergraduates, graduates,
continuing education, executives and professionals). Bentley is among the best universities in
Massachusetts and competes with institutions such as Babson College, Northeastern University,
and Bryant University among others.
Service is key to Bentley University. This is particularly true in the Student Financial Services
(SFS) Department. The SFS Department plays a critical financial and service role with its major
function being revenue collection in a timely, accurate and respectful manner through
Billing/Accounts Receivable/Cash Receipt activities. To fulfill this goal the Student Financial
Services Department utilizes skilled personnel and a compliant computer system. The system
currently in place uses BANNER software. This software runs with an Oracle database product
(v 7.3) running on an Alpha Server 8200, with Open VMS as the operating system. This is a
fully integrated, rule-based, administrative system.
Our report provides a detailed overview of business processes in direct relation to the computer
system in place. This system works efficiently with departments feeding information into the
system and is able to share that information with all other departments. This system also
provides the necessary reports critical to organizational decision-making.
We have included narratives, flowcharts and a control matrix diagram to illustrate the
chronological activities that take place at the Student Financial Service Department. As part of
our study we also discuss controls, both present and missing. In conclusion, we offer our
recommendations to the Student Financial Services Department. We have developed these
suggestions in order to make the Department run more efficiently and effectively.

-1
Comments:

-.5

+.5

+1

Executive Summary 2
Our team consisted of the following individuals: ______________, __________ and
____________. Our team was engaged to review the inventory management practices of the
_____________ Co. The company manufactures a variety of mechanical staging for the
semiconductor, lifesciences and photonics markets. Our review principally consisted of on site
discussions with the companys president M___ R____. M___ walked us through the inventory
management process from start to finish. The trigger to the process is customer demand for
product that culminates in a shipment. The group mapped the process by using the modeling
techniques acquired through classroom study. The project was a wonderful opportunity to apply
some textbook concepts to real world business issues.
The report that follows describes some of the challenges associated with the companys "as-is"
inventory system. We have provided a narrative, context diagram and a systems flowchart to
facilitate our understanding of the current process. In addition, we have carved out the control
goals of the system along with a control plan to ensure each operation and system goal is
accomplished. The control analysis is represented through use of the control matrix. The final
part of the report reviews the recommended improvements to transition the as is system into the
to be system.
Our team reviewed a process that lacked many of the tradition controls germane to inventory
management. However, we developed an appreciation for how one individual could keep an
entire bill of materials and balance of perpetual inventory in his head. This was impressive. It
also demonstrated to us that a company could be extremely profitable by having a very limited
amount of internal control.
We thought the systems strength lied in upper managements participation in the process. We
observed that change could be implemented very efficiently because of managements level of
familiarity with the systems ebbs and flows. The systems major weakness was the lack of
integration of the inventory management sub processes into a single vendor software package.
For example, the perpetual inventory was tracked using an Excel spreadsheet. The bill of
materials was also maintained using another software package. Both of these items could be
consolidated into Peachtree.
Our recommendation is to implement more of the functionality of Peachtree into the business.
We are suggesting integrating the front end (sales order entry) and the back end (accounting)
modules into the business. The roll out could be accomplished in a very cost-effective manner.
Our estimate of the implementation cost is $10K. This includes hardware. The pay back period
would be not more than a year based on the anticipated increase in efficiencies of the direct
labor, administrative and sales staff. Our group thinks that time is the enemy of this project...the
sooner the company gets started the better prepared they will be for the future.

-1
Comments:

-.5

+.5

+1

Executive Summary 3
On September 29, 2000 the Bentley University consultants met with Mr. D____ K____, Director
of Financial Services for the ______________ Public Schools and agreed that the Bentley team would
observe, document, and evaluate the important Purchasing/Receiving process. The consultants performed
a series of interviews and direct observations of the system at work. The interviewees were Mr. D____
K___, Ms. A___ W____, and Ms. J___ C____. Also, the consultants performed a literature review that
included relevant articles from journals, magazines, and Web sites.
The main purpose of this project is to give managers a clear picture of how the process works
now and how could it be improved. In this report the reader will first find detailed system documentation
which includes a very descriptive narrative of the workflow, tables that organize the key players with
their roles and activities, and the systems flowchart. The consultants include a through analysis of the
systems controls and a set of recommendations that are aimed to improve the Purchasing/Receiving
system functioning.
The consultants found that in most parts the system is working in accordance with the users
expectations. During our observation of the system at work, the computerized part of it, PeopleSoft,
seems to be user-friendly. The Purchasing/Receiving process steps are quite structured and users are
acquainted with them. However, users expressed some concerns with the vendor selection screen on
PeopleSoft and the preparation of manual documents. Right now it takes four to six weeks to finish the
purchasing process. As management expressed, one of the goals of the system is to provide the necessary
goods on time and it would be good to reduce process time.
The system has a very strong set of controls somewhat because of the need to comply with
regulations like Chapter 30B and statutory audits. The controls seem to be adequate for the systems
goals. They are aimed primarily to prevent errors and fraud. The technology that supports the system,
PeopleSoft and computer hardware, goes with the latest trends in Purchasing systems in other
organizations. The technology allows more integration among all the entities that interact with the system
and simplifies some tasks. It complies with what the City of ________________ and the State of
Massachusetts are implementing for their other departments. On the other hand, the system is very
constrained by the regulations and governments decisions. One of the main issues discovered is that the
PeopleSoft capabilities are underutilized. The report presents detailed recommendations on how to use the
system at its capacity.
The preparation of requisitions online is one of these capabilities. School principals could fill
their requisitions through the system, thus reducing paperwork, process time and increasing general
efficiency. Management should try to involve principals in the upgrading and process design. Training on
PeopleSoft should be provided to school principals in order to obtain the most benefit from the new use of
online requisition step. Again, the online capabilities of PeopleSoft should be used at its maximum.
Online bidding and approvals through the addition of the Workflow module of PeopleSoft would
substitute actual manual processing. This will help to reduce process time and increase system efficiency.

-1
Comments:

-.5

+.5

+1

Executive Summary 4
We are Team 2, composed of ____________, ____________, and ____________. Our
assignment was to analyze the Accounts Payable system of _______________, Inc. For the
assignment, our team conducted a visit to the office located in ____________, MA. We were
given a tour of the company and S__________ M__________ also showed us how the A/P
system works. After learning about the system, our team asked numerous questions that we had
regarding how the system worked, what were the goals of the system, and what were the controls
of the system.
This report describes our findings and recommendations in order to help our team gain an
understanding of a corporations A/P system, and more importantly, to give the company an
analysis of what was the overall effectiveness and efficiency of their system. Our team made
recommendations based on what we feel would best help the company reach their system goals,
and what we found to be the strengths and weaknesses of the system.
The results of our work are explained in our analysis of the systems controls. We found
some present controls that helped achieve the systems goals, and we also found some
recommended (missing) controls. We also developed a flow chart, showing the steps of the
activities of the system. From the flow chart, we entered where the present and recommended
controls would be, and from this we produced a control matrix. The control matrix is set up in a
way to show which goals each present control would help to achieve. The recommended
controls are also included in the control matrix, which show what goals they would help to
achieve. From the control matrix, our team analyzed the controls overall adequacy and from
this analysis, we made recommendations.
Our overall impression of the system is that it is effective and accomplishes the goals of
the system. The system is simple and designed for a small business. The company has only 3
employees in the accounting department, which means that a simpler system is preferred. The
main weakness we found with the system is that the technology could be upgraded, with more
online prompting. The strengths are that the main goals are accomplished and that there have
been no major problems since they have used this system.
We have made some recommendations about the A/P process, but these are mostly for
the actual processing of invoices and communication with vendors. We believe that the system
is adequate for their system goals. We do not believe they need a new system, but in the near
future it would be wise to begin the process of looking for newer accounting software.

-1
Comments:

-.5

+.5

+1

You might also like