Comprehensive Strategic Information System Report for Bell Studio

This report provides a comprehensive analysis of the strategic information systems employed by Bell Studio, focusing on the purchase, cash disbursement, and payroll systems. The report begins with an executive summary and an introduction to the organization, which manufactures art supplies. It then details the functionality of each system, including data flow diagrams and state flow charts to illustrate the processes. The purchase system is examined for its role in order processing, from inventory checks to vendor selection and order fulfillment. The cash disbursement system handles financial transactions, and the payroll system manages employee payments. Furthermore, the report identifies internal control weaknesses and associated risks within each system, such as data collection issues, separation of duties, and security concerns, offering insights into potential vulnerabilities and areas for improvement. The report concludes with a summary of the findings and a list of references.

Running head: STRATEGIC INFORMATION SYSTEM FOR BELL STUDIO
STRATEGIC INFORMATION SYSTEM FOR BELL STUDIO
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

1Strategic information System for Bell Studio
Executive Summary
The main objective of this report is to describe the components associated with the Bell
Studio organization. The report will include describing the data flow diagram structures
for the main systems. The systems that are described within the report include purchase
system, cash disbursement system and payroll system. After this the last part of the
report has described the internal control weakness and risks associated with the each
system. The main aim is to analyze the working of every system within the Bell studio.
With the help of system flow chart it becomes easy to understand the activities that take
place within the system.

2Strategic information System for Bell Studio
Table of Contents
Introduction........................................................................................................................3
Performance of the systems associated with Bell studio organization.............................3
Purchase system............................................................................................................3
Cash disbursement system............................................................................................4
Data flow diagram for purchase system and cash disbursement system.........................4
State flow chart for purchase system................................................................................5
State flow chart for cash disbursement system.................................................................6
About the Payroll system...............................................................................................7
Data flow diagram for payroll system................................................................................7
State flow chart for payroll system.....................................................................................8
Description of Internal control weakness and risks associated with the systems.............9
Conclusion.......................................................................................................................11
References.......................................................................................................................12

3Strategic information System for Bell Studio
Introduction
The case study is related to Bell Studio organization. Bell studio organization
focuses on describing the art supplies that are provided towards the customers. The
organization has its main manufactures in Australia, China, New Zealand and Japan.
The main purpose behind developing this assignment is to address the functioning of
main systems that are associated with the organization. As the organization aims at
being the top supplier manufacturer thus it becomes essential to have proper purchase
system that will help in processing the orders that are made by the users. The second
most essential system for the organization is the cash disbursement system that
manages the cash transaction that takes place within the system. The last system that
is important for the system is the payroll system that focuses on processing the
payment towards the employees of the organization. The report will analyze the main
activities along with the internal weakness associated with each system.
Performance of the systems associated with Bell studio organization
Purchase system
The main aim of having a purchase system within the organization is that it helps in
making proper reports regarding the purchase order and dispatches it to cash
disbursement department. The purchasing clerk initiates the process by checking the
inventory subsidiary ledger so that it can alert the organization whenever an item is too
low within the stock. As soon as stock gets determined proper vendor is being selected
that develops the digital purchase order. After this regarding to the purchase made two
copies are generated. One copy is circulated towards the vendor and the other one gets
stored within the purchasing department. The goods gets processed and are checked
by receiving clerk so that it can ensure all products are being processed successfully
without any error. With time and end of process the clerk is responsible for updating the
digital accounts payable subsidiary ledger so that it can help the cash disbursement
department at the time of processing.
Cash disbursement system
The cash disbursement system starts the working once the documents are being
processed by purchase system. The clerk of cash disbursement system files all the
documents till the last date so that they can prepare proper invoice statement towards
the system. This are further sent to treasure who is responsible for sinning the cheque
and process it to vendor.

4Strategic information System for Bell Studio
Data flow diagram for purchase system and cash disbursement
system
The main aim behind developing a combined data flow diagram for the purchase
system and cash disbursement system is that all the activities are linked for both the
system. The main components that are associated with the transaction for this system
are purchase clerk, receiving clerk, clerk of cash disbursement, vendor and the
accountant. Accountant can request the system for signed cheque through emails and a
response the system process the cheque. The receiving clerk sends the goods to
warehouse, received the files, focuses on updating the subsidiary, files the invoice and
provides the system with inventory updates. The receiving clerks are further provided
with the goods details. The systems process the cheque towards the vendor once it is
being successfully signed by the higher authorities of the organization. The clerk of cash
disbursement section aims at preparing the check sends the request for cheque and
updates the registry. In response to this the system provides the order copy for
purchase towards the clerk.

5Strategic information System for Bell Studio
State flow chart for purchase system
The above diagram is being prepared for the purpose of understanding the flow of
process that takes place within the purchase system

6Strategic information System for Bell Studio
State flow chart for cash disbursement system

7Strategic information System for Bell Studio
The above diagram is being developed for the purpose of explaining the activities that
takes place within the cash disbursement system and the cash flow that takes place
within the system.
About the Payroll system
Payroll system mainly aims at processing the employee’s payments successfully
without any error. The employees associated with Bell studio maintains a time card that
is mainly used for the purpose of recording the working hours on daily basis. The
supervisors review the time card before submitting it to the payroll department. This
helps the system in processing the payments effectively without any errors. There are
several supervisors that review the employee cards of the respective departments. After
this it is the responsibility of payroll clerk to send the copies of the payroll register too
account payable and towards the file of payroll department. The data gets stored within
the payroll register and gets transmitted towards the general ledger clerk.
Data flow diagram for payroll system

8Strategic information System for Bell Studio
The main components that are associated with the payroll system of Bell studio are
payroll clerk, account payable clerk, employees, and ledger clerk. Employee focuses on
recording the working hours within the time cards and submits these updated data
towards the system so that they system can process the cheque as soon as possible.
The account payable clerk checks and updates the data regarding payroll register,
disbursement vouchers and sends voucher to account payable department. Ledger
clerk prepares the payroll register ad updates each data within the register. The system
sends the ledger clerk with the voucher of payroll registers. The payroll clerk is
responsible for updating time cards with proper working hour details so that employee
can have better control over the payments. The system processes all the data and
prepares the cheque accordingly based on the time cards.
State flow chart for payroll system

9Strategic information System for Bell Studio
The state flow chart for payroll system is being developed for understanding the main
activities that takes place within the system.
Description of Internal control weakness and risks associated with
the systems
Internal control weaknesses are referred to the drawbacks that are faced by a system
while processing the activities. There is a huge pressure that gets developed with
internal control weakness. This has the ability to impact the process of each system.
Thus it becomes essential to identify the internal control weakness associated with each
system so that it can ensure better working of the system. The internal control
weakness leads to development of several risks. The different types of internal control
weakness that are identified while processing the system are described below:
 Data collection: data collection plays a major role for every organization and
has the ability to impact the working. Thus before processing any payment within
the payroll system it becomes essential to generate the time cards effectively so
that it can help in producing proper outputs. The main issue that arises with this
part in payroll system is that weak verification procedure leads to impact on the
payments process that is being dispatched for every employee.
 Separated duty level: it is important for every employee within an organization
to work together for the purpose of achieving the goal. However it is observed
that all the charges related to entire payroll process is being provided to only one
member that leads to error generation. It is not possible for a single person to
take over the whole payroll processing system. Thus it becomes essential to
separate the responsibilities so that they can work together for achieving the
expected results.
 Internal audit process: while processing the payments towards the employees
it becomes difficult to minimize the errors. There are high chances of errors to
occur. One of the main reasons is that in order to conduct an internal audit there
are several staffs this leads to different opinions. This also increases the time
needed for processing the payment. With the increase in time it becomes difficult
to manage the employees. The dissatisfaction rate of employees also increasers
and this has the ability to impact the working of the system. Thus there is a need
to have a proper higher authority who will have the power to review all the
outputs so that a proper result can be developed for employees.
 Cash data security: while processing the cash flow within the cash
disbursement system it becomes essential to focus whether proper data security
is provided or not. It is observed that the copy regarding purchase order and
cash made towards the vendors. These details are shared with many people
associated with the organization. Hence there arises a chance of weak internal
control. This will eventually lead to ineffective working procedures. There is a
high need to have proper control over the data flow so that it can ensure better
security towards each data.
 Documentation requirement: whenever a document is being prepared for the
organization it needs to be assessed by every major people of the organization.

10Strategic information System for Bell Studio
However this becomes a lengthy process and further leads to impacting the
overall performance of the organization.
 Effective control: it is important to maintain proper check over the purchase
system so that it can maintain proper details regarding the stock and will provide
better details about the inventory management.
 Selection of vendors: while performing a transaction with any vendor it
becomes essential for the organization to opt for a vendor that will be trustworthy
so that each process can be performed effectively. The vendor selection should
be done based on the past reputations.
 Lengthy process: the system associated with the purchase department involves
several staffs and clerks to review the process. This leads to lengthy process and
further impacts the output of the system. This will eventually lead to hampering
the production rate of organization.
Risks associated with payroll system
The main risks that are associated with payroll system are as follows:
 Time records maintained are ineffective and incorrect and hence lead to errors in
calculating the payment for each employee.
 Lack of security with the process of payroll as the system can be accessed by
anyone. Hence there are high chances that the data stored gets tampered by
unauthorized persons.
 It becomes impossible to process the inappropriate procedures for performing
the payroll process. This will lead to impact the payment process and will
eventually end up impacting the payment structure.
Risk associated with purchase system
The major risks that are associated with purchase system are as follows:
 The lengthy process impacts the trust of employees and customers.
 Improper system will affect the cash that is being dispatched
 The customer satisfaction rate also gets hampered with improper working of
purchase system.
Risks associated with cash disbursement system
The main risks that are likely to come along with the cash disbursement system are as
follows:
 Ineffective procedures lead to impact the cash flow process and will eventually
lead to weak system.
 Data redundancies will impact the working process of the cash disbursement
system. This will further impact the output and will affect the payroll system.

11Strategic information System for Bell Studio
Conclusion
The report has described the main focus of the system so that it becomes easy to
understand the working of each system that takes place within the organization. Bell
studio organization focuses on wholesaler of art supplies. Bell studio has implemented a
centralized accounting system that helps in performing the activities within the
organization effectively. Thus from the above report it can be concluded that with proper
working and identification of internal weakness within the purchase system it becomes
easy to manage the system. The report has developed a dfd for purchase system,
payroll and cash disbursement system. This helps in analyzing the activities that takes
place within the system. The last part of the report has described the internal
weaknesses that are associated with each system along with the risks that are likely to
face with the working of these systems.