Management information systems review and assessment

Every business needs timely, accurate and relevant information to manage its operations. To provide this, businesses need effective and cost efficient systems. Yet, one of the most frequent complaints that we hear about a company’s information (IT) systems is “we can’t get the information we really need, when we need it”. Variations on this theme include “the reports take too long because we have to rework the data manually” or “none of the weekly reports ever reconcile with my month-end financials”.

One contributor to these issues, especially in the area of payroll and job costs, can be inefficient data collection processes – often paper-based – with too many manual steps, redundancies and bottlenecks. There are a number of data collection systems that can significantly improvement the speed and accuracy of your data collection process, and reduce your processing costs. BW&A can review your requirements and recommend the solutions best suited to your business.
  
The other frequent causes for the complaints about information systems tend to fall into one of four categories:

1. Insufficient detail is being captured when transactions are entered into the system
An example is item level data not being recorded when sales or purchase invoices are entered, requiring time-consuming manual look up when analysis of these transactions is needed.

2. The system is not set-up correctly to facilitate the reporting needs of the business
Often the accounts (data) structure is too limited, forcing grouping of transactions that subsequently require manual analysis to provide needed reports. For example, all sales being recorded in one account, requiring manual analysis to prepare sales reports by product line. This situation often co-exists with #1 above.

3. Systems are not integrated; data must be separately entered in each system
Inventory is frequently an issue in this regard, where the purchasing/inventory management system is separate from the accounting system and there is no efficient way to ensure that the systems agree. This situation – “islands of information” – can lead to inaccurate data and costly duplication of effort.

4. Inherent limitations of the existing systems
All too often this is the blanket reason cited for the problem, when in fact, the real cause is one or more of the three previous reasons. However, with older systems, the reporting capabilities may be so limited that an upgrade or replacement is the only real solution. Even with relatively new systems, it may be that the system is simply unsuited to the specific requirements of the business.

BW&A can undertake a review of your business systems to determine the most effective way to improve their capabilities. We have had extensive experience in this area, both in restructuring or upgrading existing systems and in recommending new systems. We will assess whether it is feasible and cost-effective to make changes or upgrades to your current systems, or if replacement is the only or better solution.

Our review always begins with establishing the requirements of your business; we do this through discussions with management and key users, and by getting a good understanding of your business operations and objectives. Only then can we make a proper assessment of whether the systems are capable of meeting your particular business requirements.

Our focus is on information delivery and operations support, rather than on the IT systems infrastructure and hardware, but we frequently work with systems integration and technical support specialists when that is needed. The key questions that we address are:

• Do the existing systems deliver the timely, accurate and relevant management information needed to manage the business effectively?

• Do the systems adequately support the key processes of the business?

• Do the systems impose any constraints on day-to-day business operations?

• What manual processes can be automated to improve productivity and reduce costs?

• Are the systems well understood by the users so that they are able to make the most productive use of them?

• Are the systems’ operating and maintenance costs at an acceptable level?

• Are the systems capable of supporting management’s future plans for the business?

We can undertake a business-wide review or focus on specific systems. It is often best to conduct a review in stages – we will discuss the best course of action and agree the exact scope of our review with you prior to the start of the assignment. In all cases, we will provide you with an assessment that includes both short-term and longer-term recommendations.

Call us today for a free, no-obligation consultation to discuss your systems issues.