Design and implementation of computer systems in a company

I - Theoretical framework

1.1 SYSTEMS IN ORGANIZATIONS

Every organization is a social system, the structure of which reflects how it interacts with the environment. As a system, they restrict the subsystems that compose it and condition them, since it imposes its purpose on them. It is useful to recognize these subsystems and how they interact with each other, to be able to judge the coordination that is necessary between them and to be able to act opportunely and introduce the corresponding changes.

1.2 INFORMATION SYSTEMS

As a system, an organization transforms inputs of resources, goods, information and services to obtain a product. Three different groups are recognized in its structure:

• The systems that attend to the capture and evolution of the fundamental resources, in connection with the environment; The systems that allow the administration or government of the major system or organization; The systems that attend to the development of the tasks that are required by the activity of the organization.

The input is captured by the RESOURCE SYSTEMS, which are: Human Resources, Financial, Technological and Logistic Resources.

The processing of resources, intersecting personnel with operations (defined by procedures), and applying to other resources through technology, constitutes the function of the company grouped into OPERATIONAL SYSTEMS, the nature of which corresponds to the particular needs of each organization.

The entire set of resources and operations tends to dynamically form structures that are also dynamically adjusted by management decisions. This direction is not exercised spontaneously, but is in turn structured: The Administration system, or GOVERNMENT SYSTEM, which is made up of various corporate systems, so-called because they are systems that affect the entire organization. These are the Decision System, which establishes the mechanics through which decisions are made, the Information System, which explains the structure through which the data is captured and processed, the Planning and Control System, which anticipate what will happen with a certain probability, and evaluate what actually happened, and which constitute the complementary aspects of taking decisions.

Decisions are made by gathering data and reporting through the information system, and again through it they are translated into production orders or standards, which are then transformed into actions.

The government system is there, so that the PEOPLE who run an organization can do it systematically, that they have organized information to evaluate factors inside and outside it, and so that the control of what is done is as effective as possible.

Planning is an advance decision making, but in fact it implies a system to carry it out. Since everything cannot be foreseen in this system, control is necessary for corrective action. The information system works as a link between them, transforming decisions into actions and their results into control information.

The tasks of this cycle are the following: an external or internal EVENT (event) produces an excitation that gives rise to a RECORD of some of the variables affected: the DATA. This is integrated into a system that together with other data make up what we call DATABASE. By manual, mechanical or electronic means, the repository (the base) is used for PROCESSING, thus giving rise to INFORMATION.

1.3 INFORMATION AND DATA

All measurements made on observed variables constitute data. Clearly, these are worthless if there is no context against which to evaluate or contrast them. Adding the context gives semantic value to the data, that is, it is elaborated attaching it with other data, as a message. But the message does not interest either, that is to say "informs", if there is no reason to know it.

Information Cycle Scheme

1.4 DATA AS AN ASSET OF AN ORGANIZATION

Every organization collects and analyzes data. These data are from different sources and serve different purposes. For example, the accounting of a company usually summarizes the data referring to its operations measured in current money. Companies and organizations generally also store data about their products, services, customers, agents, contractors, suppliers or beneficiaries. Each of these categories means a different type of data.

Organizations, in so many systems, have a purpose, set by the determinative decisions of the highest level of leadership: The company directory. But organizations do not always structure efficiently to meet their objectives, and it is notorious that some even do it manifestly poorly. A good indication of the degree of maturity of an organization in its administrative management is the handling it performs with the data. In recent years, several organizations that implemented a restructuring of their administrative systems around their information objectives obtained benefits that placed them decisively before their competition, almost forcing it to leave the market. More than advocating monopoly,This argument tries to affirm the importance of the wise administration of the data of an organization, even in those cases where the objectives can only be measured in the economic field in a mediate way, as in the case of public health.

This implies the recognition, by the personnel of the organizations, that the data must belong to all the functions of an organization. The islands of information in which middle and even high managers usually take refuge, strictly impede the cooperation required to achieve this objective. For example, a factory plant's production manager may understand the company's success as full-capacity production, labor relations as conflict-free operation, the accountant as a positive fiscal balance, and the financier or treasurer as a lucky cash flow. Each one, then, has their own information needs and their own vision of the company or organization. Uniform those criteria is the task of Organizational Development,but the consequences on the data must be assumed by the + systems area long before an organizational development program can show progress in this regard.

Clearly, just as the organization recognizes that its human, technological or logistical resources require a level of specialization in its administration, even when its effect on the company is global, it must be recognized that the administration of an organization's data, given the value that they have for it, must be in the hands of a specialized function.

The usefulness of the data of a company or organization is materialized in correct and timely decision-making, based on the data it knows. If these are unsafe, imprecise, inopportune, or simply beyond the reach of the decision maker, the decision process becomes unreliable, and the organization loses confidence in the government system, becomes rigid and unwieldy, and ends becoming a bureaucracy.

The first step towards reengineering projects in organizations is to recognize the need for the existence of a data management function in each of them. From there, the Computer System is the application of techniques for the production of automated systems for the maintenance and exploitation of data as an asset of the Organization, that is, those that it has and generates.

1.5 THE SYSTEMS PROJECT

A Systems Project in an organization is a set of activities, either sequential or in parallel, whose objective is to produce a computer "product" that is incorporated into the structure of the processes of the organization that produces it. Anyway, a project is characterized by:

• It runs only once; it has a start and end date; it has an operating budget; it serves one or more processes in the organization.

In this context, an organization process is a set of activities of the organization whose objective is to produce defined results from defined income data. These activities can take place in parallel or be sequential. They may involve information management, or the actions of people. A characteristic of the processes is that they can be repeated, under normal conditions, continuously. It is also possible to generate alternative methods to achieve the same objectives.

The Systems Project of an organization transcends the Software Project, although it originates it. Generally, we refer to a Systems Project when it is intended to make alterations in the work structure of an area, but since it is deeply reflected in its Information System, it is this that is modified. The organization's Information System transforms real objects into information. Administrators then manipulate that data, or that information, as it were the real objects, for the benefit of the organization, taking into account the objectives formulated in its creation and for which the structure of the information system was formulated.

The objectives of the organization for which they work escape the government of the systems professionals as technicians, but, as administrators who participate in the decisions of that organization, collaborate in their formulation. However, in each area the specialized administrator is in charge of translating the information needs of the organization into information needs of the sector. It is your responsibility that the tool is appropriate.

The information system of a given area is made up of formal and informal data flows. Both are useful and necessary, as well as valuable. Formal flows are often supported (at least in part) by the set of database software programs and those that exploit or process the same data, but they are always more than the sum of these programs anyway, the rules that govern them, the people who use, feed and control them, are part of the system. In addition to the formal flows, the informal ones provide abundant information, even when the channels it travels are not structured. Informality should not be understood as an undesirable characteristic, but rather as a reality of life, or a physical constant. Even more,These informal flows provide the context without which our data would never become information.

1.6 THE ROLE OF THE COMPUTER

Computers are capable of tasks that are impossible for most human beings, one by one and much less all together. This means that many times, dazzled by its capacity, we ask ourselves what the computer can do instead of asking what a computer is used for in an area.

When a computer has been used successfully, it has been used for one or more of the following reasons:

• It has improved the performance of an area in relation to pre-existing routine tasks; It has facilitated the increase of the capacity of a saturated area, in relation to routine tasks; It has freed the personnel of the area to carry out creative, human contact or development tasks; replacing it in pre-existing routine tasks; It has improved decision making in areas where the large number of variables obscures human decision; It has contributed to decision making by providing information immediately and performing humanly impossible procedures; It has contributed to improvement of the services offered by the organization by performing humanly impossible procedures.

As seen, the computer has displaced people from those tasks for which human beings are not exactly well endowed. These "complementary skills" of humans and computers allow us to delegate monotonous or complex (but normative) tasks to the computer and leave humans free to develop their strengths: creating improvements, new opportunities and better relationships with customers or users of services.

A modern organization then has to delicately balance its human and computing resources: it needs to supervise those and control them. Obviously, it also performs its tasks through them.

Considering that the organization is a self-regulating system to act, we can classify the responses given to the feedback of information, both from the environment and from the subsystems, into two types, which we will call controls: the first type, routine, ensures that things are done according to plan, or require attention to be done, which we will call Reflex Control. The second, the control that measures the results of the organization's strategies and policies in the environment that we will call Discretionary Control.

Fundamentally, the computer contributes to the improvement of the system in the area of ​​reflex control, in a more decisive and important way than in the area of ​​discretionary control. However, current applications to organizations of Operational Research techniques, simulation models and expert systems allow to successfully exploit the virtues of the computer in areas of discretionary control.

The computer contributes to achieving objectives in the areas, but does not achieve them on its own. It is a tool designed to facilitate the performance of people in pursuit of goals. That is why the Systems Management provides SYSTEM SERVICES: It is based on the needs of the other areas.

COMPUTERS ARE SUCCESSFUL WHEN THE ORGANIZATION ACHIEVES WITH THEM SOMETHING THAT IT CANNOT ACHIEVE WITHOUT THEM.

But for this, the user must approach the systems project based on specific objectives in his area, in which eventually, the computer can be his most important ally.

1.7 THE SYSTEMS PROJECT AS AREA DEVELOPMENT

Summarizing what has been said so far, a computer system is successful if the organization obtains real benefits from its use, which otherwise could not be achieved. For a computer system to effectively achieve these benefits for the organization, it must be within another global system: computer systems are incapable of doing it on their own, it takes people. The global system is the one that yields the benefits, the computer system the tool within it so that they are achieved.

For a system to deliver benefits, a goal must be pursued, consciously or unconsciously. Obviously, for the purposes of monitoring the progress of the project, it is better that this objective be made explicit.

If the explicit goal can be met without the overall system undergoing modification, the installation of a computer system should not be "pushed." The goal may not be too ambitious, but there is no task for systems anyway. If instead the global system needs to be changed, it's time to ask yourself if a computer can help.

It is clear, then, that users are the ones who set, exclusively and conclusively, the conditions of success or failure of the computer system: a computer system with clear, precise and measurable objectives will be a success beyond the shortcomings in which it is incur its implementation, if those objectives are really beneficial for the user area, and are only achievable with the help of a computerized system.

THE OBJECTIVES THAT ARE DESIGNED WITH THE SYSTEM ARE STRATEGIC

The better defined those objectives are, even if that takes a long time, the greater the probability of project success.

To define their objectives, the user must be able to describe the operation of their area with precision, both current and desired. This is the conceptual design that allows you to pin down your goals for the computer application.

The project can fail if the system does not take into account the objectives, which is the consequence of a dissonant design, or if it does not perform the functions that the design specifies, is the result of poor development. In any case, the only one who can decide what information the computer system should provide him, and whether it does so or not, is the user of the system: he cannot, therefore, delegate the design to the analyst without critically exercising the supervision. Your goals depend on it. Nor can development be delegated blindly, it must participate and supervise where possible. In fact, the computer system is the tool that the specialized Department forges so that the user herself can achieve her goals.

IT IS THE RESPONSIBILITY OF THE USER TO CONTROL AND MONITOR THAT THE TOOL IS THE PROPER ONE

The user must be prepared to oversee the end-to-end development plan, closely assisted by the systems professional, who will take care of the technical details. Results, not activities, should be the measure of success.

In light of all the above, the life cycle of a Systems project belongs to the users' area. It is born within it as a need to achieve an objective, and it also culminates within it as the institutionalized tool of change that allows a new functioning of the area.

In general, the Systems Project and the Information System Project is manifested in the "translation" in the jargon of Software and Systems through a series of signals, as vague generated in a request as simple as "I want a system of Accounts Currents ", or I need " The Computer pay me commissions ".

It would be naive for systems people to consider these requests as they come, since they hide deeper needs. The organization's planning mechanism does not always work so adequately as to detect information needs in advance, and shape them into a systems plan. The systems professional, therefore, must prepare for the following: in reality, the user who has come to express his request is looking to produce a change, since if he were satisfied with things as they are, he would not ask for anything. To change a system it is necessary to either change some of its components or reorganize them in a different way.

1.8 STRATEGIC PLANNING OF THE INFORMATION

In these times of new technologies and constant changes, the greater competition in any business makes companies rely more and more on computer solutions to carry out their actions, either to maintain their activity or to allow growth in their specific markets.. Given this situation, constant requests appear in the area of ​​systems, both in the figure of an internal department of the organization, as well as the requirement pointed to an external provider, for activities of development, implementation and maintenance of computer systems that provide solutions to the problems that the company or organization must face.

If this work of systems contribution, storage and data processing is not carried out within a pre-planned framework, you are taking a path with a single destination: chaos. The advent of personal computers brought the power of information management from the computer centers to the desk of every person in the organization.

This brings with it certain problems, such as duplication and disparity of data on each computer. The company's systems area loses control of what, how, where and when the data is stored. Although there will be a client file, it is not improbable to think that two product managers have a spreadsheet with their clients, whether they are the same or some potential ones, not included in the set of "official" clients that arise from the billing system..

Why plan

Planning is a task that is carried out in many activities: the construction of a highway, the development of a new commercial aircraft, the appearance of a medicine, etc. For a long time, organizations gave preference to the development of administrative systems that support the routine work of the company in areas such as accounting, salaries, invoicing and, lately, production administration. However, the data generated by and for these systems can be converted into information for certain positions, to support their decisions regarding the future of the business. In addition, once the administrative systems (which we can call basic) are working, resources can be allocated to particular developments,that they are becoming more and more important at this time and that they are related to the final customer: telephone assistance for inquiries, order taking and information by fax on request; telemarketing support and customer tracking; databases and queries for research and market segmentation, etc.

This avalanche of applications, if not integrated in an appropriate context, will lead to duplication of data storage, harmful redundancies, overlapping activities, misallocation and use of human and material resources, among other drawbacks.

To avoid such situations, the company is required to carry out strategic information planning. We call it strategic because it implies that you will be motivated by a strategy, understanding with this concept to determine the situations in which you will be in different stages of that plan. In addition, it is assumed that certain tactics will be used to develop the plan: how each of these stages will be addressed to achieve each intermediate goal. Regarding the development of software for an organization, it will be a document that establishes what will be done in the long term (say, 3 to 5 years): the computer systems necessary for the company to carry out its activity in a “normal” manner are defined. ”, That is, coordinated and fully.

Let's do it

In general, strategic information planning should matter to (and will be commissioned by) a company or organization. The idea is to study this company as a whole and understand the relationships between its parts, and then be in a position to prepare the document that will present the proposed information systems plan to be developed in the future.

We define below the concept of company (also applicable to an organization): a group of people who mobilize their resources for society, offering goods / services, having or not profit.

In general, every company (or organization) has an organization chart, in which we find relationships and hierarchies between people, and that allows us to know who is who within that group. In turn, that organization chart is completed with a functional decomposition. This document describes the roles that each person performs. It should be borne in mind that the organization chart presents the formal structure (the one that is written), but as the company is revealed and becomes known inside, an informal organization appears, representing the reality of who performs each task.. At all times, functional decomposition should be of interest, which normally does not coincide with the organization chart, since functions are inherent in the company and not in people; Furthermore, functions transcend people (for example,What happens with the task of paying wages when that person is in the company ?; of course, the task will be done one way or another.)

With the elements described above, we will be in a position to undertake the study, knowing who to ask and what we can obtain during the process. When starting, you must have the commitment of the support of the company's senior management, an essential condition for reaching a successful conclusion. The purpose of the various interviews that will be carried out with different members of the company must be to understand certain basic definitions.

These elements will be the basis of the analysis of the company and the basis of the decisions that will be made about the systems to be developed, their sequence, size and relationships. A widely used technique for such analysis is the study of critical success factors. Within the company there is a hierarchy of FCE. Some of these are keys to what the company is doing. However, the FCEs change over time and are punctual at a certain moment. The FCE of a level becomes the goal of the lower level, that is, the fulfillment of a goal in a level influences the FCE of a lower level.

With the data accumulated so far, we are in a position to begin the analysis of future requirements in terms of systems, entities and types of data involved. These decisions should also be subject to available technology and future capabilities in terms of new hardware and software available, and the global (or group) willingness of the company to adopt them.

Functions, people and problems

In the course of every day, the formal organization described by the organization chart is diluted and becomes a network of relationships between the functions necessary to carry out the business, the problems that arise continuously (which may be predictable or unforeseen) and people who perform those functions and solve those problems.

As a next step, we must look for the main activities and decisions for each of the products or services included in the life cycle of the functions, make a precedence diagram, detect similarities and differences, and relate the functions to the organizational structure.

From the point of view of the systems area it serves to know who to ask what things. However, it must be used with great care since it shows the reality of people's relationships with work. This is demonstrated because the organization chart often does not represent the real company well. The identification of functions and processes must be independent of the organization chart. People change, roles don't.

Entities, data classes and systems

From the life cycle of the functions expressed in the preceding paragraphs, the entities maintained by the company must be examined. Inventory data is the most predictable that appears and corresponds to the company's master files (typically customers, suppliers, products, employees, etc.). Then it is easier to deal with transactional data. Finally, there are planning / statistics. In this way, the data that is being managed at each stage is obtained.

By grouping the common data now, we managed to put together categories of data. At this point it is not necessary to know the particular entities without seeing the major groups, which we will call data classes. The systems available in the company can be classified into routine and non-routine. Within the latter, we can distinguish special systems (for operational research, for example), information, and support in decision-making. In the case of special systems, solutions to well-structured and closed problems are produced that can use files derived from other databases. They allow to experiment with new working methodologies. Regarding information systems, the responses are unstructured, with unpredictable queries and produce a large number of lists and reports.Its objective is to provide information for better decision making. They are based on friendly and powerful query languages. The data and queries are not structured or anticipated. They do not automate decisions, but rather help make them, using a simulation scheme. They can have a lot of processing and generally use their own database (with maintenance by the user).

We are getting closer to the design stage of future warehouses that will be the basis of the systems to be proposed in the company's information plan. Within this stage, different types of storage, files or databases must be distinguished:

• Files: independent for each application. They arise from doing structured analysis. With more than one system, many separate files appear. It is an easy scheme to implement, but with a high maintenance cost. A change in the applications propagates changes in the files. It is simple but dangerous. Databases Applications: for each system we create tables. There are separate databases. We promote the above, being more expensive to implement than it, but simpler than the next point. Classes Database:the tables are created independent of the application and the physical place of use. A large repertoire of data is considered, which requires more time to assemble and debug the data model, but entails a lower maintenance cost. It leads to rapid developments because the warehouses are already implemented. It involves the role of a database administrator and is intended for high volumes of data. Information Database: Access to data and facilities for queries by end users should be prioritized. They are easy to implement, being more flexible and changing than traditional databases. They can coexist with the previous scheme.

Final score

The survey, analysis and design work proposed so far in this note, aims to present a master report describing the information systems plan. This report will detail the stages that the plan will go through, and what systems the company will have within the stipulated period. It will be necessary to justify the choices about the systems to be developed at all times, the resources available and necessary to undertake the work and the results and benefits that the company will be able to obtain if said plan is carried out.

Unfortunately, strategic planning of information is a task that very few organizations carry out with conscience. In certain cases, the plan helped managers of some companies understand how the firm was being managed so far, and allowed businesses to be conducted in a much more orderly and coordinated environment from the completion of the plan. In this way, systems management was an important ally as a service sector for business support.

1.- Case Study: HORMIGÓN MERCEDES SA

2.- Work Objectives:

• Know the Company and its characteristics; Observe the information needs; Detect the key areas and sectors; Study the current dynamics of the key sectors; Determine if its current development is in accordance with the pace and the true information needs that the company requires.

3.- Sectors and circuits to be surveyed

• Administrative Sector Purchasing and Suppliers Circuit Billing and Sales Circuit Finance and Cash-Flow Circuit

Methodology used:

• Physical visits to the Company; Personal interview with the staff and staff in charge of important administrative circuits; Preparation of reports on surveys carried out; study on important administrative circuits; current diagnosis in the field of hardware, software and systems; analysis of requirements in the field of Systems and Organization; Project Development and Optimization Solution Proposals.

Physical visits to the place:

• Friday 9/20/2002: 6:00 p.m. - 9:00 p.m. Saturday 9/28/2002: 10:00 a.m. - 1:00 p.m. Saturday 5/10/2002: 9:00 a.m. - 12:00 p.m. Saturday 10/19 / 2002: 10:00 am - 1:00 pm Net hours in the Company: 12 (twelve) hours.

Company Glossary

• Business Name: Homigón Mercedes SADomile: Administration - Workshops and Offices: Guayaquil 251 - CiudadCantera: ExRuta 7 - Km 0, 703 - Frente Automóvil Club. Managing Partners: 2 (two) - Messrs. José Marchissio and Mario DemarchiStaff: 2 (two) Professionals: Contadora Cristina Bintana Engineer Salvador Constanzo Company Area: Construction and Construction Services Main Activity: Manufacture and Sale of Fresh Concrete Grinding, Classification and Sale of aggregates (gravel, sand, earth, ball stone, pellets and derivatives).: Rental and Repair of Machines (Compactors, Trucks, Cranes, etc.) Civil Constructions; Transport and Earth Movements. Company Category: Small - Building Infrastructure and Machinery Park: Own. Company Age: 22 (twenty-two) years. Origin of capital:100% local capital Amount of Employees: 25 people Location of Survey: Company Offices, located at Calle Guayaquil 251 - V. Mercedes (San Luis) Interviewed: Accountant Cristina Bintana - Staff - Tax Consultant Engineer Sorberto Rubino - Staff - Technical Advisor sr. Gustavo Altamirano - Administrative Manager

II - Reason for Analysis and Study

Concern on the part of the owners and staff, for the rigidity of some administrative systems, regarding the mechanism, and slow procedures, lack of management information, statistics and projections, to facilitate the management and conduct of the company. Adjust some control mechanisms, and establish more flexible policies regarding the management of clients and Suppliers.

III - Analysis of Administrative Circuits

3.1 PURCHASING AND SUPPLIERS SYSTEM AND CIRCUIT

3.1.1. DESCRIPTION

Currently, the purchasing circuit is in charge of the corresponding administrative sector, through its manager, who is the one who has a direct relationship with the Suppliers. The Suppliers that the Company has can be classified into two categories, according to the size of the purchasing volume, taking into account on the one hand:

• Minor Purchases: They have to do with the acquisition of supplies in general such as: cleaning supplies, stationery supplies, supermarket purchases such as coffee, tea, sugar, and also includes general expenses, such as remises, photocopies, tolls and others of the same nature. Major Purchases: As capital goods, spare parts in general, for maintenance of machinery, transportation fuels, which obviously consume a higher monthly purchase volume.

Minor purchases are paid in cash, with the Company's petty cash, and large purchases are made through bank drafts, checks, which depending on the purchase, whether it is ordinary or extraordinary, is through an account. current with a stable supplier, with whom there is a long-term relationship, or in the second case according to the purchase conditions that have been previously agreed, but in both cases through a bank, which is normally how to work in these circumstances.

Minor purchases are decided internally through the purchasing department, and larger purchases are decided at the managerial level, together with the advice of the staff, but the management and development of the details of the operation is implemented, and monitoring (payments, deliveries, transportation, etc.) of the purchasing department.

In all cases, the registration of purchases and payments to suppliers is carried out manually in the usual file of Suppliers' current accounts, in which strict control is kept of vouchers and values ​​that are delivered as payments, by from the purchasing manager.

3.1.2 CIRCUIT ANALYSIS

• We believe that it is not currently properly organized, notion and traces of minor payments are lost, and sometimes also of the larger ones, despite the fact that the registry and its documentation files and vouchers are strictly controlled. It is difficult to know the volume of actual expenses, which is often only approximately rounded, although it is known that the incidence of minor purchases does not have a significant impact on the total volume of operating expenses, but we consider that it is still useful information when evaluating spending cuts. Although there is an administrative procedure, it uses a logbook, but in many cases, there is no formal documentation, especially for minor expenses, which makes accounting audits difficult. Nor is there a defined payment policy,Instead, everything is agreed with each supplier, and as the supplier passes the invoice, once the obligation is registered, the company, if it has funds, pays, according to the purchase, by check, or cash. It is not possible to know in advance, the amount of the obligations to be covered in a certain period, say a week, to make the pertinent forecasts to cover them conveniently, either by negotiating in advance, or to select the priorities in terms of payments. of periodic reports and summaries (weekly, monthly), in which the statement of accounts in terms of payments and situation with suppliers is disclosed in detail; There are no detailed reports on the volume of global, sectorized expenses, as well as statistics in general,This makes it difficult to analyze the real costs that are obviously so necessary when making decisions regarding cost reduction.

3.2 BILLING AND SALES SYSTEM AND CIRCUIT

3.2.1 DESCRIPTION

In this sense, the Company has segmented its sales activities into two UENS (Strategic Business Units).

On the one hand, all the activities that concern the sale of fresh, processed concrete and the classification of aggregates such as fine sand, coarse sand, ball stone, gravel, and other aggregates used in construction are routed.

The other UEN is made up of all activities aimed at the sale and rental of Construction Services such as: Rental of road machines such as: compactors, backhoes, graders, among others. Civil Constructions and Transportation are also part of this UEN.

In this same perspective, they have also segmented billing for each UEN. On one hand, the one dedicated to the Sale and Classification of Aggregates, and on the other, to the one dedicated to Construction Services, Public Works and Civil Constructions.

UEN: Sale and Classification of Aggregates: In this segment, the delivery of fresh and processed concrete, such as the supply of aggregates, is carried out directly from the quarry, through its own transport. There also the corresponding consignments are made that accompany the load, and that will be signed by the reception of the clients, to certify the delivery.

To organize the treatment and care of this segment, clients have been divided into two categories, for reasons of volume and operational dynamics in the provision of aggregates and calcareous. On the one hand, smaller clients, which are generally the final consumers, who are isolated clients, who request material for eventual spare parts of their properties, or in the best of cases, those who have the possibility of contracting larger orders to a particular construction.

The other portion of clients is made up of, in particular, companies, which build or increase their physical infrastructures, industrial warehouses, and who contract and demand not only a greater volume of material, but also greater dynamism in the operation of provision, so Mercedes Concrete implements in this sense a more dynamic and more control operating mechanism than in the first case.

In addition, it has been implemented to attend and control the delivery and sale more thoroughly, a different billing for each sector of customers in this UEN. In general, for smaller clients, billing is cash, and for older clients, a checking account is automatically opened, in which all the shipments that accompany the material request are registered. In this case, all remittances are registered in a system, and the invoicing is carried out as agreed on a biweekly or monthly basis. It consists of gathering the consignments issued in the period considered, the quantities of material delivered are totaled, and multiplied by the stipulated unit price per unit of measurement, generally cubic meter, that is, per unit of volume.The invoice must include, for strict reasons of control by the company and the client, the detail of ready-made shipments, sorted by date.

UEN: Construction Services and rental of Road Machines. In this segment, billing is easier, since it is formed monthly based on monthly certifications according to the percentage of work progress, if it is public and private work, or according to the number of machine hours, for that matter. of rent of the same, or per km. Tours if it is transportation. In any case, the amounts are liable to be more global, since they can be agreed under these conditions in advance. This is the UEN, dedicated to the production of services, and therefore has higher logistics costs, and activities aimed at producing services. The workshops are already aimed at clearly serving this UEN, and therefore concentrates the highest operating costs.

In this sense, the main clients that the Company has are government agencies such as the municipal and provincial state, such as dependencies or agencies dependent on the municipality or the provincial state such as ministries and secretariats of public works and transportation.

In general, billing is monthly, with contracts for certain periods, say one year, and constitutes the largest portion of the Company's income of the total turnover of both UENs. Furthermore, in periods of recession, such as the current one, the UEN for the sale of concrete and the classification of aggregates remains operational with part of the income from this segment.

3.2.2 CIRCUIT ANALYSIS

• The making of remittances is done manually in duplicate as an order for materials is required. All the signed receipts are sent daily to the Billing sector towards the end of the day, to be registered by the system. We consider that the task could be made more dynamic by automating the making of the same, in the same quarry, and then submitting on a floppy disk, or via the internet, a file with all the remittances generated on the day, which would be imported directly by the sales system Currently in use. Avoid duplication of data as much as possible, so as not to have duplicate procedures, which avoids errors, redundant controls, and, above all, processing time. In this way the processes are energized, making them simpler and more efficient.Currently, the sale of Fresh and Processed Concrete and the sale of aggregates to the same client are made on the same invoice. We believe that it would be clearer and more useful for the purposes of analysis, study of projections, sales and customer rankings, cost analysis, and everything related to specific analyzes, to separate the invoicing of concrete, with the invoicing of aggregates, still in sales. made to the same client, given that the operating costs for both lines are different because they are different manufacturing processes. In one we have primary processes, and in the other there are processes with industrial characteristics; current systems do not provide statistical information, or detailed lists of customer rankings, sales volumes and amounts, which does not allow for any type of analysis.,except for the ojimeter, to carry out deferential deals with important clients; Nor can analysis or comparative studies be made between sales made between different periods, which would help to correct certain deviations if any, or to optimize any operating circuit within this line, if It was necessary, precisely with the aim of not losing land or market shares, that they were once conquered, since although it is not a highly profitable UEN, the company has long known how to maintain itself in an important sector of the market. it lacks periodic reports and summaries (weekly, monthly), in which the statement of accounts regarding collections and situation with clients is disclosed in detail; which would help promote effective advance efforts in matters of pending collections,without reaching unnecessary litigation situations, which all they do is incur unnecessary expenses, and lose clients, just by knowing data in a more timely manner.

3.3 FINANCE AND CASH-FLOW SYSTEM AND CIRCUIT

3.3.1 DESCRIPTION

This circuit is implemented through the Treasury department, which has a manager, and is in charge of everything related to the receipt of collections, through the management of the Sales, Payments department, through the management of the Purchasing Department, as well as everything related to the handling of cash, bank accounts and portfolio checks.

This department is not computerized, and everything that is done at the level of registrations, cash settlements, reconciliations, portfolio check control, transfers, deposits and follow-ups is done manually, through specific forms or forms.

For the daily cash management, the department manages and controls a petty cash box, through which solutions are given to different requirements in terms of supplies, per diem, tolls, remises, photocopies, according to the requirements that are pose between the different departments, and the Company for its daily operation. In short, it is the internal financing unit.

For larger-scale payments, the Treasury manages banking operations, through several of its own current accounts that the company has distributed among various banks in the area. This requires the issuance of own checks. In addition, the company negotiates with third-party checks that it has in its portfolio with deferred maturities, according to the conditions agreed with the suppliers, and that it uses to cancel obligations, sometimes together with its own checks.

In the first case, the treasury receives authorization to issue the check from the board, which is ultimately who decides the payments, based on what you buy informs you, and who signs the checks. The treasurer is simply the one who prepares the check, according to the indications received, and once the internal circuit is complete, proceeds to the payment and keeps the receipt signed by the provider.

In the second case, it proceeds in a similar way, except that in eventual cases the issuance of a check is authorized to generally evacuate a difference in balances, which is not enough to be covered with the checks in the portfolio. For checks in portfolio, the treasurer manually keeps a record of entry and exit of them, detailing the origin and then the destination, together with the dates of issue, delivery, amounts, numbers and identification data, through which can be traced, in the event of a contingency that may occur.

The treasurer, is also the one who makes the deposits, controls the state of the accounts, and the reconciliations through the meticulous check of the bank statements, and ultimately everything related to the ordinary relations, procedures and operations with the banks. Except in extraordinary cases, such as account openings and closings, savings banks for example where the characteristic of the operation requires the intervention of the holders, the treasurer does not participate, but is obviously aware of the financial and administrative status of the firm.

3.3.2 CIRCUIT ANALYSIS

The company does not have a computerization, through a management system in this sense, for the activities of this department. For the registration, administration, and operation of this circuit, they are carried out through utilities or auxiliary programs such as Word, Exell, which ultimately replace manual registration, but we are not talking about a dynamics required in this regard to speed up data collection. as intended, that only a specific system can give.

It is necessary to maintain with great effort, the corresponding updates especially to the banking system, and third party checks, given that this information, especially regarding account balances, must be available online, and when required, for to be able to operate with little risk, in the sense that the information does not deviate too much from that processed by the bank, given that the company permanently deals with banks, for example to write a check against one of the accounts, to know in advance that the funds needed are actually available.

The most critical point is based on the fact that the operation becomes cumbersome in this line for the company, since it depends on a single person, and the methodology used is not adequate, for the times that the company manages, because the system It is not even specific to registration, it is subject to the possibilities that a utility can give.

It is not possible to know advance information, for example projecting within twenty days, the balance that a particular account may have, if the checks that were already issued against that account are credited. This information is very important, because the company is taking the necessary precautions in due time to cover these obligations.

The bank book cannot be obtained automatically, through automatic reconciliations, because the bank statement cannot be registered either. Ultimately it can be achieved with a utility, with a little effort, but it does not make sense when talking about management systems.

The same applies to cash flows, daily cash summaries, cash closings with updates and balance transport, since all this is also done with a spreadsheet.

IV - DIAGNOSIS OF THE CURRENT SITUATION

4.1 STATUS OF SITUATION IN THE FIELD OF HARDWARE

Currently the company has 3 (three) computer equipment according to the following detail:

• 1 unit PC AT 80286 Olivetti. 1 unit PC 80386 Olivetti 1 unit Pentium II Multimedia 1 CANON inkjet printer 2 Epson printers wide dot matrix carriage.

Opinion:

We consider the computer park to be small, with respect to the true needs of the company;

The 286 and 386 equipment are very old and very slow, but given that they are robust, as they are brand-name, they could continue to be amortized, if they are located as work stations for appropriate tasks on a local network (see specific project);

Currently, all the equipment works in isolation or independently, in single-user mode, with different application programs, which reduces its dynamism and duplicates processes and controls, although the manual procedures may be adapted to the rhythm of operation of the company.

4.2 STATUS OF SITUATION IN SOFTWARE

The company has application software for various purposes. The software has different origins and it is developed in different languages;

In general, we can say that the current software is aimed at handling the following items:

• Salaries and wages Management of certifications for road works Billing System VAT-Purchases and Sales System; Integrated System of AFIP Presentations General-purpose utilities: Spreadsheets, Word Processors, Charters Operating environments, DOS, Windows 3.1. Windows 95 Internet and Email Browsers;

Opinion:

The installed software does not respond to a general project, but consists of "patches" that have been added over time, according to the needs of the company.

In some cases, the existing software operates in high risk conditions, given that only the compiled versions are available, there are no source programs, essential to carry out the modifications, updates and maintenance that reality requires.

The quality of the systems is low, either because the original project was not completed, if it existed or for other reasons. Reprocessing of some operations is required. There is little control over the registered elements.

The general feeling is that the system is being used as a registration tool and not as a management tool. This feeling is common to almost all systems in use in the company.

4.3 STATUS OF SITUATION IN ORGANIZATION

The following conclusions emerge from the circuits surveyed:

Although there is a general approach to administrative procedures, there is no general approach to management and reporting for the different sectors, which give concrete guidelines on the current state of variables, especially in key areas of the company;

We consider that the current procedures have become merely routine that are carried out by custom and oral tradition;

This gives us the guideline that the general image of certain obsolescence in some points, as well as the “black box” operational situation in others, that is, the intermediate states and results are unknown, which make management difficult, except for reports punctual of the managers of the same. This does not allow us to appreciate a joint projection in the internal information circuits;

The physical and functional distribution of the current computer equipment, apart from being deficient in quantity, does not seem entirely adequate to us, given that slow equipment is applied for registration and billing tasks, and fast equipment is applied to support and application tasks. from inspection agencies such as AFIP and Gross Income, but not for specific administrative process tasks of any internal circuit of the sector;

There is no systems department, or similar, within the organization, nor do they currently have external advisory services in this regard, which reduces the methodology or computer planning in this regard for equipment purchases, custom developments, or orientation with a joint projection, which at the moment we consider of great importance, and with more reason, if it were to integrate the advisory staff, forming an interdisciplinary professional group;

Probably the current organization would be acceptable in companies of much smaller economic size than Hormigón Mercedes SA

The human factor is of high quality. Demonstrates being reliable, dedicated, and willing to change and improve;

The external advisors transmitted to us an image of dedication, reliability and high technical quality. The application of the knowledge of both suggests to us the idea that they are very important for the company, and that the managers support a large part of their decisions in the expertise and trade of the staff;

For our part, we were left with the impression of a great desire for change both in the hierarchical staff, staff and line staff with whom we had contact; and a great openness, to receive new suggestions and ideas that may be useful and drinkable to elaborate and implement, which reveals an avant-garde mind, and above all if they come through lines outside the company.

V - Reorganization Project

In general lines, the basic structure is as follows:

• To carry out the transformation project, a small work team, or ad-hoc group, consisting of the directors, the accountant, the company's engineer, and the consulting group, is designed for the duration of this transition, determining the owner of The Company as the project manager. From this sphere, the programs to be carried out in each of the areas involved will be drafted, with the pertinent planning in time and resources, and will be implemented under the supervision and control of the corresponding specialists with the collaboration and support of the owner, who will become the figure of Company Manager.

• Diagramming and installation of a local network made up of existing equipment and others to be acquired (see hardware recommendations); Opting for the hiring of a comprehensive computer service provider with solid experience and presence in the medium that is responsible for the provision of hardware, software, alternatively can be recognized and adaptable or custom canning, and installation and configuration of a local network; This will allow the immediate use of the systems to be acquired and will also serve as a practice for users to make quick contact with the new computer platform; eventual programming tailored to the systems as required; modification of some tasks, circuits and administrative routines, in conjunction with the systems to be implemented; gradual installation, but from the first day,of the systems and eventual developments; Take into account a future expansion and extension of the project to incorporate other areas not contemplated in this first stage, such as workshops and repair, costs.

5.1. General technical recommendations on software

• The specific software to be acquired for this project must be based on a local network platform, with a dedicated server, either a standard or custom application; Based on the previous premise, all application systems for the management of the Company must be multi-user, that is, accept simultaneous access from all workstations simultaneously, with the automatic locks and protections at the file or registry level, as the case may be; all individual or exhaustive queries can be carried out on the screen or printer; The system must be able to support printers of different brands and models, and said management must be transparent to the user; All screens and listings must follow a standard pattern, to start printing certain homogeneity in the forms of work and common codes;The routines must be protected with access codes open to different user levels and according to their specific function, to know from the administrative point of view of the system, those responsible for the different functions in each sector, and respect their role, which it must also be respected and contemplated at the system level; each system must have audit routines, with selection of information by sampling or by importance in order to allow subsequent procedures, as well as its own maintenance routines; each system must have queries and management reports, accessible from any workstation, but restricted to its natural users; The objective of each system will be the management of all operations and sectors, providing its registration as a by-product of the system,and not constituting the end in itself; This network operating scheme will allow for an absolute change in internal procedures in the immediate future, by allowing full communication and integration between the different sectors involved.

5.1.1. Technical Specifications Purchasing and Suppliers System

• Administration of the Supplier File Database; Registration of all types of purchase vouchers, with the expiration date of the voucher, especially if it is an Invoice, or a Debit Note; All vouchers must be able to be registered with tax discrimination, performing the automatic recalculation of the totals of the same; Possibility of keeping a permanent current account statement, with historical records, to know the states of debt formation, last movements, cancellation of vouchers, and previous balances; Issuance of lists of Pre -Liquidation of payments, to a determined date; Lists of balances of Ctas.Ctes. of Suppliers; Lists of Account Statements and composition of balances; Issuance of payment orders with automatic generation of movements in the Accounting Account. from the provider;Registration of partial, total payments already has, with details of cancellation of vouchers Issuance of certificates or proofs of VAT withholding, Gross Profits and Income; Issuance of Sub-Journal of Purchases and Sub-Journal of Payments broken down by UEN; Issuance of VAT Book - Purchases also broken down by UEN; Ranking of Suppliers, by Purchase volumes; Integration with the Banking System and Daily Cash. Maintenance of a file of pending orders to suppliers with the possibility of partial reception, modification and cancellation and follow-up of an operation.Ranking of Suppliers, by Purchase volumes; Integration with the Banking System and Daily Cash. Maintaining a file of pending orders to suppliers with the possibility of partial reception, modification and cancellation and follow-up of an operation.Ranking of Suppliers, by Purchase volumes; Integration with the Banking System and Daily Cash. Maintaining a file of pending orders to suppliers with the possibility of partial reception, modification and cancellation and follow-up of an operation.

5.1.2. Technical Specifications Banking and Cash Flow System - Finance Module

• Registration of Income and Expenses, attributable by Sector and UEN; Detailed issuance of Summaries of Income and Expenses discriminated by sector and UEN; Automatic registration of collections and Payments; Administration of own and third-party checks - checks in portfolio; Control of checks, received, deposited and delivered with indication of amounts, maturities, origin, recipient, in order to be able to carry out the corresponding follow-up, in case of eventualities arising for its accreditation; Registration of Bank statements for different accounts; Automatic Bank Reconciliation Automatic generation of Bank Books and Daily Cash; Adjustments and Projections of Balances at different dates; Petty Cash Management; Details and determination of bank account statements; Issuance of summaries of movements between two dates; Issuance and generation of accounting minutes;Imputation of Administrative expenses in the Bank Accounts Totalized summaries broken down by Deposits, bank debits and Checks issued; Daily and Monthly closings and tonnage, with and without carryover of balances; Integration with the Purchase and Sales System in the Payment and Collection modules;

5.1.3. Technical specifications Billing and Sales System

• Administration of Database of Client Files, with Client Categorization - Normal - Delinquent - Uncollectible Online Registration of Shipments, discriminated by customer and by product: Fresh and Processed Concrete and Sale of Aggregates; Issuance of Shipment Control Lists by Customer, Item, and product; Control of duplication of movements; Database Administration of goods and services, with prices per unit - hour value - units of volumes or global in the case of services; Automatic invoicing from or from the remittances, by customer and by item, with issuance of receipt and detailed annex of the remittances involved, detailed and ordered by date and number, totaled by item and Tax discrimination according to type of invoice; Automatic issuance of VAT-Sales and Major books Sales;Registration and Issuance of Debit and Credit Notes, according to type and category of the client; Administration of Current Accounts of clients; Issuance of Statements of Account and Composition of Balances; Issuance of Summaries of balances and Movements of Accounts. expiration date; Issuance of Receipts, and imputations of total and partial collections, already account to different vouchers; Issuance of the branch and Collection List; Administration and Control of orders, pending orders and deliveries; Integration with the Bank System and Daily Cashand imputations of total, partial collections already account to different vouchers; Issuance of sub-list and Collection List; Administration and Control of orders, pending orders and deliveries; Integration with Bank System and Daily Cashand imputations of total, partial collections already account to different vouchers; Issuance of sub-list and Collection List; Administration and Control of orders, pending orders and deliveries; Integration with Bank System and Daily Cash

5.2. Recommendations on Hardware and Platforms

According to the project, the hardware to be purchased for this stage is as follows:

• One computer destined to serve as a dedicated server on the local network; Three computers destined for workstations on the LAN, to be distributed according to diagram Two printers with narrow carriage, and wide carriage with dot matrix, to print B invoices, for the workstation of Billing, and another for listings and general summaries to be located in another workstation; An inkjet printer for auxiliary jobs, arranged at one of the network's workstations; A backup device, destined for a workstation fast, to periodically maintain the backup of the entire system; UTP cabling, communication cards, HUB and terminals; Auxiliary power unit, with sufficient autonomy, to finish pending and ongoing tasks, in the event of an eventual power outage.

Note: We do not elaborate on details and technical characteristics of the specified hardware, as we understand that given a dizzying technological evolution in this regard, the detail may become obsolete, at the time of approving and carrying out the project, which we believe is the right time to evaluate the different offers, technical characteristics, budget assigned for the project.

5.3. Platform or Base Software

Local network administrator software NOVELL, or Windows NT, preferably in its latest versions licensed for 25 users;

Windows-98 or Windows XP platforms, for the different workstations, with utilities and applications inherent to each position, in each of the workstations;

Some Office system, which includes internal messaging and mail, appointment schedules, to diagram communication via the network.

5.4. Proposed Equipment Distribution Diagram

VI - Final Recommendations for its Implementation

According to everything examined, strengths and weaknesses of each area, opportunities and threats of the Company, and above all what we suppose should be the organization of the company, a reorganization project has been drawn up which, if undertaken, we believe It must be perfectly clear that it starts from the following fundamental premises:

• The proposed approach is the first step of a long road; The project does not intend to transfer to computation the tasks that are done by hand, but to transfer to computation the rethinking of the tasks of the surveyed sectors; The project tries to change work methods to improve them, simplify them and ensure that from the managerial level to the last line employee, they have better elements, more and better information, and fundamentally, more time to enhance their management; This first step is not the last, it is not the definitive and It is optimal; this is a living project and therefore it should grow over time. Its static development and use over time is not conceived, but rather its progressive expansion and updating; The project tries to be totally conservative in terms of investment in it and, for this reason, it adopts solutions that,Being good, acceptable and economical, they are not the best; The results will not be appreciated instantly, it requires a development time, an implementation time, a tuning time and a refinement time; By the time it is perfected, it will surely be small, obsolete and insufficient, and it must continue to grow if it is to maintain adequate performance; The project is only viable if it is fully developed and applied. Partial applications are meaningless, because the project works as a system, that is, all its parts complement and interrelate, achieving a synergistic effect that benefits the whole; The project requires management's full confidence in it, your personal support in a concrete and determined way and your desire to improve the current situation,demand the immediate use of the modules that are acquired as they are installed and a position of permanent constructive criticism; It is vitally important, not only the immediate installation and use of the routines as they are installed, but also the non-installation and eradication of the other external softwares not contemplated in the project, because this attitude disperses objectives and does not allow adequate control, and is a way of continuing to be linked to the old guidelines and standards; The project also requires that when a task is carried out manually it is replaced by a computer module, stop being made by hand from the first day, and is done with the new working parameters, assuming that there may be some inconvenience, but that this position accelerates installation times, improves processes,It adapts more quickly to the personnel and allows the growth of the systems. Failure to comply with this basic premise is the origin of most failures in the systems area.

Bibliographic references:

• Software Engineering: Jorge Boria - Editorial Kapelusz - 1987 Edition. Management Software Engineering: Analysis and Design of Applications - A. de Amescua Seco, L. García Sanchez, P. Martínez -–Fernandez, P.Díaz Pérez - Editorial Paraninfo - 1995. Software Engineering: A Practical Approach: Roger Pressman - 3rd. Edition - 1993 - Ed.Mc.Graw Hill.Magazines Compumagazine - Editorial MP Ediciones.Magazines Information Technology - Recoletos Argentina SA

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