Strategic Information Systems

This report discusses strategic information systems for business and enterprise, including data flow diagrams, system flowcharts, and internal control weaknesses and risks. The report focuses on the Purchases System, Cash Disbursements System, and Payroll System. It identifies weaknesses in each system and the associated risks. The report concludes with recommendations for improving the systems.

1Running head: STRATEGIC INFORMATION SYSTEMS
Strategic Information Systems
Strategic Information Systems for Business and Enterprise
[Student Name]
[Student ID]
[University Name]

2STRATEGIC INFORMATION SYSTEMS
Table of Contents
Executive summary.....................................................................................................................................2
1 Introduction.........................................................................................................................................3
2 Data flow diagram of purchases systems and disbursements systems...............................................4
3 Data flow diagram of payroll system...................................................................................................5
4 System flowchart of purchases system................................................................................................5
5 System flowchart of cash disbursements system................................................................................5
6 System flowchart of payroll system.....................................................................................................5
7 Systems Internal control weakness and associated risks.....................................................................5
7.1 Purchases System........................................................................................................................5
7.1.1 Internal control weakness....................................................................................................5
7.1.2 Risks associated with the identified weakness.....................................................................5
7.2 Cash Disbursements System........................................................................................................5
7.2.1 Internal control weakness....................................................................................................5
7.2.2 Risks associated with the identified weakness.....................................................................5
7.3 Payroll System.............................................................................................................................5
7.3.1 Internal control weakness....................................................................................................5
7.3.2 Risks associated with the identified weakness.....................................................................5
8 Conclusion...........................................................................................................................................6
Reference....................................................................................................................................................7

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Executive summary
This is a report about the bell studio company that deals with supplying the whole sale arts
products. These products are mainly sourced from various countries including Australia, China,
Japan and New Zealand.
This company is currently being run through a centralized accounting information management
system that links various company branches.
The proposed system has the various sub systems which includes the Purchases System, Cash
Disbursements System, and the Payroll System.
In this report the various aspects covered are the drawing if the Data flow diagram of purchases
systems, cash disbursements systems, and payroll system, the System flowchart of purchases
system, cash disbursements system, and payroll system.
However the various systems weaknesses of the various systems and the associated weakness
risks are also identified.

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1 Introduction
This report is about the bell studio company that deals with the supplying of the art products
which they are sourced from various countries like Australia, China, Japan and New Zealand
(Elmasri, 2013).
Currently the company is linked to various locations through the centralized information system
and this system has various sub systems including the Purchases System, Cash Disbursements
System, and the Payroll System (Dick, 2018).
Therefore this report is aiming at identifying and drawing the various systems data flow
diagrams, control information system and also identification of the sub systems weaknesses and
risks associated with the various systems weaknesses (Ramez, 2015).
.

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2 Data flow diagram of purchases systems and disbursements systems
(Shamkant, 2015).
The above is the data flow diagram for the payroll system it has the various processes, the data
stores and the entities, in this the various processes are indicated and shown how the data is
stored and the various entities that are involved in the completing the processes (Thomas, 2013).

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This DFD diagram is used to show how the employees working hours are recorded and the
preparation of the payroll for the various employees (Stephen, 2014)
3 Data flow diagram of payroll system
(Paige,2015).
The above is the data flow diagram for the purchase and disbursement systems and it has the
various processes, data stores and entities (Specialist, 2018).

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In this DFD various processes are indicated and shown how the data is stored and the various
entities that are involved in the completing the processes (Michael, 2017).
This DFD diagram is used to show how the inventory record is checked for the remaining stock
and the preparation of the purchase orders and ledgers for the various ordered items.

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4 System flowchart of purchases system

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The above is the system flowchart diagram of the purchase system, this indicates the various
entities, data and also the processes, and in this the processes start by searching of the inventory
and end in the preparation and sending of the purchase orders to the vendors (Dick, 2018).
5 System flowchart of cash disbursements system
The above is the system flow chart diagram for the disbursement system, this shows the various
entities, records and processes and how they interact with each other from the reception of the

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documents from the purchase department to the preparation of the invoice payment cheques
(Tycho, 2014).
6 System flowchart of payroll system
The above is the system flow chart diagram of the payroll system where the various entities,
records and the processes are indicated showing how the payroll is prepare and the final payment
cheque is released to pay the employees.
7 Systems Internal control weakness and associated risks
7.1 Purchases System
7.1.1 Internal control weakness
Below are the various weaknesses that had been identified in the distribution system and they
require to be fixed in order to improve the entire system functionality.

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i. System lacks the login part
ii. System has no back up option
iii. System do not have the vendors table but use vendor file
iv. System does not have the purchase order table but use the purchase order file.
v. System do not support saving of receiving reports but use receiving reports file.
vi. System do not allow reception of suppliers invoice in computerized form
vii. System does not allow reconciliation of the documents but it is only done in a manual
form.
7.1.2 Risks associated with the identified weakness
Due the above weakness in the purchase system there b are various risks that are associated with
those weaknesses and they include the following:
i. There is risk of the unauthorized access of the data by unauthorized users due to the
system login and authentication functionalities.
ii. There is risk of the loss of the purchase records in case the system fails or get corrupted
due to the lack of the system backup systems.
iii. There is risk of compromise of the purchase records due unauthorized access that can
make the alteration of the purchase data.
iv. There is risk of losing the vendors records in case the vendor file get lost or damaged.
v. There is risk of losing the purchase order records due to file loss or damage as the records
are only stored in the physical file.
vi. There is risk of losing the record of the items received as the records are recorded in the
receiving reports files.
vii. There is risk of losing the supplier’s invoice details due to the loss of destruction of the
supplier invoice files.
viii. There is risk of errors while reconciling the records to get the received and the ordered
items since the reconciliation is done manually.
7.2 Cash Disbursements System
7.2.1 Internal control weakness
Below are the various weaknesses that had been identified in the cash distribution system and
they require to be fixed in order to improve the entire system functionality.
i. System lacks the login part.

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ii. System has no back up option.
iii. System does not support computerized sharing of files from other departments.
iv. System does not allow computerized preparation of cheques.
v. System do not have the purchase invoice table but use purchase invoice file
vi. System does not allow the saving of the purchase orders but records are stored on
purchase order copy file.
vii. System does not allow the saving of the cheque details but are stored on cheque copy file.
7.2.2 Risks associated with the identified weakness
Due the above weakness in the cash disbursement system there b are various risks that are
associated with those weaknesses and they include the following:
i. There is risk of unauthorized access to the system due to lack of the login function.
ii. There is risk of loss of data in case of the system failure of break down due to lack of
backup facilities.
iii. There is risk of compromise of data by the malicious people.
iv. There could be risk of time wastage while sending the documents form one department to
the other.
v. There could be risk of loss of finances since the cheques are prepared manually which
could lead computing errors.
vi. There could be loss of the purchase invoice records as the invoice records are kept in the
manual files.
vii. There could be risk of loss of the paid cheques details as the check details are stored in
the files as hand copy documents which can be misplaced.
7.3 Payroll System
7.3.1 Internal control weakness
i. system lacks the login part
ii. system has no back up option
iii. System does not allow the worker to save worked hours but save them manually on a
time card.
iv. System only allows manual review of the employees worked hours by supervisor.
v. System does now allow digital sharing of the payroll and cheques between departments.
vi. System does not allow reviewing of the payroll by account payable clerk.

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vii. System does not support computerized preparation of disbursement voucher.
7.3.2 Risks associated with the identified weakness
i. There is risk of the unauthorized access of the payroll data by unauthorized users due to
the system login and authentication functionalities.
ii. There is risk of the loss of the payroll records in case the system fails or get corrupted due
to the lack of the system backup systems.
iii. There is risk of compromise of the payroll records due unauthorized access that can make
the alteration of the purchase data.
iv. There is a risk of recording the wrong hours by the employees which could lead to
overpayment or underpayment of the employees.
v. There is risk of not identifying errors while reviewing the employee’s hours on the time
card since review is done manually.
vi. There is risk of losing the cheques while transferring between the departments since the
sharing is manual.
vii. There is risk of errors and figures while preparing the disbursement voucher since the
process is done manually.
8 Conclusion
The above system is very essential to the organization as it is able to improve the service
delivery to the employees and suppliers, however it make it possible to save on time while
performing some operations.
This system could be improved to avoid some risks and to ensure full computerized operations,
this is by adding the login and authentication functions, setting up backup facilities and also by
elimination the file record keeping in the various departments.

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Reference
Dick,B.(2018). IT Project Management Essentials: Information Systems Project Methodology
Kindle Edition.New York:Amazon Digital Services LLC.
Elmasri,E.(2013). Database Systems: Models, Languages, Design and Application
Programming.India: PEARSON EDUCATION.
Ramez,E.(2015) . Database Systems: Models, Languages, Design and Application Programming
- International Edition Paperback. India:PEARSON EDUCATION.
Shamkant, B.(2015). Fundamentals of Database Systems (7th Edition).India:pearson.
Thomas,C.(2013). Database Systems: A Practical Approach to Design, Implementation and
Management: WITH Success in Your Project. USA:Addison Wesley.
Stephen,H.(2014). Management Information Systems with student CD and MISource. New
York:McGraw-Hill.
Paige,B.(2015) Business Driven Information Systems with MISource 2007 and Student CD. New
York: McGraw-Hill.
Specialist,I.(2018). CISSP Certified Information Systems Security Professional Study Guide
2018.New York:Independently published
Michael,J.(2017). Human Resource Information Systems: Basics, Applications, and Future
Directions.New York :SAGE Publications, Inc.
Dick,B.(2018). IT Project Management Essentials: Information Systems Project Methodology
Kindle Edition.New York:Amazon Digital Services LLC.
Tycho,p.(2014). Personal Finance Simplified: The Step-By-Step Guide for Smart Money
Management Paperback.New York:Tycho Press.