Bell Studio Case Study: Strategic Management System Analysis Report

This report presents a comprehensive analysis of Bell Studio's strategic management system, focusing on transaction cycles, financial reporting, and risk assessment. It examines the company's purchasing, payroll, and cash disbursement systems, utilizing data flow diagrams and system flowcharts to illustrate processes. The report identifies internal weaknesses within these systems, highlighting potential risks associated with outdated technology, human error, and security vulnerabilities. It delves into the importance of internal controls to mitigate these risks, offering insights into how Bell Studio can improve its security measures and overall operational efficiency. The analysis includes a discussion of the challenges posed by outdated systems, potential data breaches, and the need for robust security policies. The report concludes by emphasizing the importance of continuous improvement and adaptation to maintain a strong and secure strategic management system.

Running head: STRATEGIC MANAGEMENT SYSTEM
Bells Studio
[Student Name]
[University Name]
[Author Note]

1
STRATEGIC MANAGEMENT SYSTEM
Executive Summary:
Bells Studio is one of the largest wholesalers of the art materials which are mainly seen to
be Adelaide based. The organization is having different source of investment from different
countries which is mainly associated with including the countries such as Australia, Chine, New
Zealand and Japan. The accounting system which Bells Studio is having is seen to be of
centralized in nature which is consisting of the networked terminals situated at different
locations.
The report is also associated with providing an elaborate description of the different kind
of flaws existing in the internal systems. This report has also been associated with presenting the
various processes by usage of the Data Flow Diagram or the DFD and the processes mainly
includes the reporting of the finance, the transactions, and many more. Along with the DFD the
flow chart diagram has also been used for the purpose of presenting the data flow through the
main systems as well as through the subsystems of the Bell Studio.

2
STRATEGIC MANAGEMENT SYSTEM
Table of Contents
Introduction:....................................................................................................................................3
Discussion........................................................................................................................................5
Data flow diagram of purchases and cash disbursements systems..............................................5
Data flow diagram of payroll system...........................................................................................6
System flowchart of payroll system............................................................................................7
System flowchart of cash disbursements system.........................................................................8
System flowchart of purchases system........................................................................................9
Internal control and Associated risk:...............................................................................................9
Conclusion:....................................................................................................................................16

3
STRATEGIC MANAGEMENT SYSTEM
Introduction:
Bells Studio is one of the largest wholesalers of the art materials which are mainly seen to
be Adelaide based. The organization is having different source of investment from different
countries which is mainly associated with including the countries such as Australia, Chine, New
Zealand and Japan. The accounting system which Bells Studio is having is seen to be of
centralized in nature which is consisting of the networked terminals situated at different
locations. The report is mainly based upon the analysis of the case study of Bell Studio so as to
put forward the various kind of systems which are being used by the organization and the entire
report would be discussing about three main systems which includes the Payroll system, payment
system and lastly the cash disbursement system. The usage of the centralized accounting system
for the different process of the organization is mainly associated with indicating the fact that the
system would be associated with making use of the systems which are based upon the usage of
computer. Besides this the centralized approach of Bells Studio is also associated with including
some of the other approaches which are used by the system that has been discussed in this report.
These approaches are mainly including the usage of the ledger which is done manually as well as
the reporting systems which are seen to be associated with storing the data related to the different
processes of the organization Bell Studio.
From the case study analysis, it has been identified that there are several internal
weaknesses which exists in the processes of the business along with certain faults and it is
possible for the organization to conduct its business efficiently only if they are associated with
adaptation of certain processes after understanding the faults and the internal weaknesses. The
internal weaknesses are associated with bringing a lot of risks along with them. One of the major
purposes of this of this report is identify the internal weaknesses of the organization along with

4
STRATEGIC MANAGEMENT SYSTEM
identifying the different kind of risks which are put forward by the internal weaknesses. One of
the major reasons lying behind putting forward of the risks is the fact that the organization is
highly dependent upon the usage of the human resources. The usage of the human resources is
one of the major risk because it might be associated with leading to errors because of the errors
made by humans while using the different process of Bell Studio. The report is also associated
with providing an elaborate description of the different kind of flaws existing in the internal
systems.
This report has also been associated with presenting the various processes by usage of the
Data Flow Diagram or the DFD and the processes mainly includes the reporting of the finance,
the transactions, and many more. Along with the DFD the flow chart diagram has also been used
for the purpose of presenting the data flow through the main systems as well as through the
subsystems of the Bell Studio.

5
STRATEGIC MANAGEMENT SYSTEM
Discussion
Data flow diagram of purchases and cash disbursements systems
Fig 1: Data flow diagram of purchases and cash disbursements systems
Source: Created by Author

6
STRATEGIC MANAGEMENT SYSTEM
Data flow diagram of payroll system
Fig 3: Data flow diagram of payroll system
Source: Created by Author

7
STRATEGIC MANAGEMENT SYSTEM
System flowchart of payroll system
Fig 4: System flowchart of payroll system
Source: Created by Author

8
STRATEGIC MANAGEMENT SYSTEM
System flowchart of cash disbursements system
Fig 5: System flowchart of cash disbursements system
Source: Created by Author

9
STRATEGIC MANAGEMENT SYSTEM
System flowchart of purchases system
Fig 6: System flowchart of purchases system
Source: Created by Author
Internal control and Associated risk:
From the analysis of the case study provided above different kind of weaknesses have
been determined which are not only faced by the purchasing system but is also faced by the
payroll system as well as the cash disbursement system. All these internal weaknesses cannot be
ignored at all because these weaknesses are responsible for the putting forward of the different
type of risks which can be encountered by the entire organization, Bells Studio. The risks which
are put forward need to be understood and analyzed elaborately so as to determine certain
strategies or procedures which can be implemented so as to mitigate the risks or reduce the
impact of the risks. This strategy implementation would also be helping in improving the

10
STRATEGIC MANAGEMENT SYSTEM
organization performance as well or might be only associated with allowing to function in a
proper way. Some of the major weaknesses have been discussed in the later section.
The level of criticalness and the complexity which the systems are having (mainly the
Purchasing system and the cash disbursement system) is associated with indicating the fact that
any kind of alterations in the system cannot be ignored and along with this there also exists an
essential need of having proper risk assessment. Besides this it can also be stated that any kind of
alterations is associated with bringing disruptions in the operations of the organization and this is
also seen to be dependent upon the way by which the implementation of the system has been
done along with being deployed. Besides all this there also exists few administrators who are
seen to be associated with the choosing of the segmentation along with delayed updates while
preventing the process shutdown or the downtime of the system. Bells Studio is seen to be
associated with the usage of those systems which are already outdated and is already seen to be
lagging behind in terms of the patches and this in turn has been associated making the
organization face a significant amount or risk. In addition to the outdated system, the gaps which
have been identified in the system of Bells Studio as well as in the software may be seen to be
prevailing for a number or couple of years which is also seen to be deprived from any of the
indications related to the existence or delaying of the security software patches. All this are seen
to be solely responsible for the extension of the major dangers.
The internal weaknesses of the process of eth Bells Studio is associated with making the
systems along with the software which are being used by the organization to face external risks
as well. The external risks generally refer to the various kind of risks which are coming from the
external sources. In addition to this the manual process of handling the hardcopies of documents
might lead to significant errors caused by humans or might also lead to loss of important data

11
STRATEGIC MANAGEMENT SYSTEM
due to theft and many other reasons. Another risk which might be faced is due to the data breach
of the computers which are used for the purpose of storing vital invoices of the Bell Studio along
with all the other critical data as well. The reason behind this type of risk is that hackers are
always associated with assigning themselves with the task of finding loopholes so as to enter the
system and extract all the vital information which they need or might be associated with lead to
compromising of all the data of the organization. The database of the organization is used for the
purpose of storing of the financial reports as well as the professional reports where the reports
are also managed and it has been seen that the database which the organization is having is seen
to missing appropriate and strong security measures. The lack of appropriate security measures is
associated with putting the system face a lot of treats from the cybercriminals as well as from the
internal employees. From here it can be stated that one of the possible measures by which the
organization would be capable of eliminating all this risk is by the implementation of proper
security measures along security policies and regulations which would be helping the
organization Bells Studio to strengthen their security. Along with this the security measures
would also be helping in the immense strengthening of the capabilities of Bells Studio so as to
reduce or eliminate the risks and perform in an efficient way by means of reduction of the
breaches.
The weaknesses which are seen in the systems can be exploited by the cybercriminals and
this in turn has been associated leading to an essential need of extensively focusing upon the
security so as to protect the vital assets and data of the Bells Studio. Another major drawback of
the organization which includes the usage of the traditional outdated systems and software has
been associated with making the organization subjected to numerous and various kind of threats
which are imposed upon the organization by the cybercriminals. The cybercriminals are mainly