In Mexico, SMEs represent more than 50% of the generation of jobs and the economic force that GDP produces, the effort of the federal government so that this niche of the Mexican economy grows in number and quality is reflected in the aid instruments that has generated in the last example of this is the page dedicated to these companies within www.economia.gob.mx in it we find links that try to bring them closer to the era of digitized information and computerized systems.
But what keeps these companies away from information technology? In my experience as a technology advisor for small businesses and industries, resistance to change is one of the biggest impediments to the implementation of information systems that allow streamlining basic administrative procedures such as billing, accounts receivable, banks and payroll, but also We must add that there are almost never well-defined processes, even less policies that allow a frame of reference to operate without depending on their managers to grant a discount or fill an order outside of normal, I know that some will wonder if this happens in full XXI century in the era of digital information, a time where you can communicate anywhere in the world over the Internet and buy on the other side of the world, well yes,In Mexico, many of our small industries still do not have access to the purchase of a computer if I help them to understand how to make the most of this technology, how to classify their information, order it and make it serve to make decisions.
This is precisely the objective of this article to guide students and IT professionals to understand the problems of these companies `to be their guide a successful end of the implementation of perhaps a simple but ultimately useful decision support system for what which we must follow these simple steps.
1.- Listen, we must learn to listen to the real needs of our users, fix our attention on what they want to achieve above all, the manager or director of the company.
2.- Immerse yourself in the processes that will lead us to have the database to generate the SSD, building an SSD without a solid database is not possible.
Remember that the points that we must define to implement an SSD are:
- Database (we must structure our databases) Define the variables that will be used to carry out the sensitivity analysis. What if? and “Goal Seek” Determine the output screens that is to say that the results are easy to interpret, determine the reports that will be generated. Define the software with which the SSD will be made. Definition of the hardware and software requirements. Benefits to be achieved with the implementation in the organization.
3.- Before implementing an SSD we will surely have to define the processes to generate the data, for example:
Billing process:
We must first find out if the customer has bought a new one or has already bought us before.
If it is new.- you will be assigned a customer number and your tax data will be recorded
If your customer number and sales policies cannot be found.
Customer data is captured.
The customer's purchase is captured with prices before VAT and its discounts authorized by the sales manager are determined.
The invoice is generated with the amount printed in 3 times, Original from the client, copy to accounts receivable and copy to accounting.
The information of this invoice will be registered in the same sales database that will allow us, for example, to determine the total amounts for discounts to our clients, the most important client by amount and the growth of our market, among others.
4.- We must remember that the most expensive and sophisticated is not always the best, an SSD can be implemented by specialized and highly sophisticated tools but this is not always what our users need, in addition to speaking of SMEs they are not always in the possibilities of make a large investment and for this reason your decision-making need does not exist or cannot be covered.
If we have well determined the previous points, the decision support system can even be done with spreadsheets linked to each other; Finally, the objective of its implementation is to support with real facts, statistics and probability the decisions of the managers regarding a particular situation.
If we do not lose sight of this objective, we will be able to implement simple but reliable SSDs in more SMEs helping their growth, which as a consequence will allow greater profits to invest more and more in complete information technology solutions that bring them closer to being competitive in a global market where only the most prepared survive
