It is estimated that 70% of all computer systems in use today are not utilized properly. People tend to select functions that they are comfortable with, and not explore other alternatives available to them. As a company has a periodic review of the financial affairs of the business, so too should they have a periodic review of their operations.
We at SUREWARE recognize these issues and have introduced a new service as part of our on-going maintenance. We will periodically meet with your management and staff to review your information system operations and make recommendations for improvement by providing an ISR.
We will review your organizational, operational, sales and accounting functions - both manual and computerized. Our review will include discussions with management and key personnel to determine where new procedures or functions might be implemented or upgraded to increase efficiency and productivity, reduce manual processing requirements, reduce costs, improve profitability and provide better management information.
We will review existing security and control procedures to determine whether they provide adequate safeguard against malicious, fraudulent or inadvertent loss of cash, critical or negotiable documents, salable inventory and/or proprietary information. We will also review the adequacy of normal processing procedures to determine their ability to detect inadvertent errors and unprocessed transactions.
Based on our findings, we then prepare a report of our findings and recommendations called an ISR that will identify your present methods of operation, your needs, your alternatives and our ACTION RECOMMENDATIONS to help improve your bottom line.
We meet with management to understand their goals and objectives - both short- and long-term, their view of the organization, problem areas that they perceive, strengths and weaknesses of the company, how competitors and customers perceive the company and other such information.
We then meet with supervisors and key personnel throughout the organization to determine where improvements can be made to increase efficiency, reduce manual processing requirements, reduce costs and provide better management information. Key personnel are the people who perform the tasks in various departments, i.e., an accounts payable clerk, an order entry/customer service person. It is not necessary to interview everyone in the company.
Once we have finished interviewing management and staff, we work at our office analyzing our findings in order to prepare your ISR.
Have available an organization chart that defines functions and key people. We will review this chart and determine who must be interviewed. If you do not have an organization chart available, we will spend some time with you preparing one so that we can better understand your organization.
Alert your staff that we will be conducting an Information Systems Review, and that we need their time and cooperation. Have them prepare samples of all reports, forms and procedures that they use before we meet, so that we can make the most of everyone's time.
The tangible results of the ISR will be a written report of our findings and recommendations outlining your business operations, your needs and recommendations for improvement.
The intangible results of this engagement includes:
This review will be scheduled with you periodically on a mutually available time schedule. We will call to arrange for your scheduled tune-up.
Or just let us know any time you feel this is needed.
An ISR will provide you with knowledge, tools and improvements It will empower you to make better use of your information system and increase your productivity. And it will do all this while also adding better controls to ensure accuracy in processing.
Note: The SUREWARE ISR is not a total Operations Review, Organizational Review or Internal Controls Review, as may be provided by your outside auditors.