Flowcharting
Required: Based on the narrative below, prepare a flowchart that documents the flow of information and the procedures performed at O’Brien Corp. Use the flowcharting symbols in Figure 3-8 in Chapter 3 of your Revel textbook. (A neatly hand-drawn flowchart or printed copy of your flowchart prepared using Visio or Excel should be submitted in class on the due date).
O’Brien Corp. is a midsize, privately owned, industrial instrument manufacturer. The corporation uses a partially automated accounting information system. The following narrative describes the processes performed by the Sales Order Department, the Warehouse, the Shipping Department, and the Billing Department.
Sales Order Processing
When a sales order is phoned in by a customer, an O’Brien sales representative manually prepares a five-part, pre-numbered sales order. Copy 1 of the order is filed by customer name in the Sales Order File. Copy 2 of the sales order is sent to the warehouse. Copy 3 of the sales order is sent to the shipping department. Copy 4 of the sales order is sent to the billing department. Copy 5 of the sales order is mailed to the customer to confirm their order.
In addition to processing sales orders, the sales order department is also responsible for contacting customers about out-of-stock items. When an out-of-stock notification is received from the warehouse, a sales representative calls the customer regarding the out-of-stock items. Sales order representatives file Copy 1 of the out-of-stock notification with the original sales order by customer name. Copy 2 of out-of-stock notification is mailed to customer.
Warehouse
Upon receipt of a sales order from the sales order department, a warehouse employee picks the goods associated with each sales order. Using a terminal located in the warehouse, the employee enters the required inventory information which updates the inventory tracking system database. If any items ordered are out-of-stock, the employee manually prepares a five-part out-of-stock notification. Copies 1 and 2 of the out-of-stock notification are sent to the sales order department. Copy 3 of the out-of-stock notification is brought to the shipping department with the goods. Copy 4 of the out-of-stock notification is sent to the billing department. Copy 5 of the out-of-stock notification is attached to the warehouse copy of the sales order and filed by sales order number.
At the end of each month, the warehouse manager prints an inventory change report from the inventory tracking system. The warehouse manager checks the reasonableness of the inventory changes indicated in the report. The inventory change report is filed in the warehouse manager’s office by date.
Shipping
Sales orders received from the sales order department are filed by sales order number in the Open Shipments file. Upon receipt of goods for shipment from the warehouse, a shipping clerk agrees the goods received to their copy of the sales order and the out-of-stock notification (when present). The shipping clerk then prepares a three-part shipping document. Copy 1 of the shipping document is sent to the billing department. Copy 2 of the shipping document is packaged with the goods and delivered to the customer. Copy 3 of the shipping document is filed with the sales order and out-of-stock notification (when present) in the Shipped File by sales order number.
Accounting/Billing
Sales orders received from the sales order department and out-of-stock notifications received from the warehouse are filed by sales order number in the pending shipment file. Upon receipt of a shipping document, the billing clerk agrees the shipping document information to copies of the sales order and out-of-stock notification (when present) in the pending shipment file. After agreeing all documents, the clerk enters the billing information into the Billing system which automatically updates Accounts Receivable and generates a 2-part pre-numbered sales invoice. Copy 1 of the sales invoice is mailed to the customer. Copy 2 of the sales invoice is filed with the sales order, shipping document, and out-of-stock notification (when present) in the completed shipments file and filed by customer name.