Assignment
Assume that GBI is currently working with a manual system. The company uses the following 26 steps when they sell standard goods to the customers:
1. A customer sends a purchase order for off-road bicycles to a GBI employee.
2. A GBI employee compares the customer's purchase order to determine if the customer's master data is in the system and is correct.
3. If the customer master data is not in the system or is incorrect, then the master sales and distribution data (such as company address, contact person, phone numbers, etc.) for the customer is entered by a GBI employee.
4. If the customer master data is not in the system or is incorrect, then the financial data (such as banking information and GBI reconciliation account number) for the customer is entered by a GBI employee.
5. If the customer master data is not in the system or if the customer would like to change credit terms or limits, then a GBI employee checks the credit rating of the customer and assigns a credit limit and credit terms.
6. A GBI employee checks inventory availability.
7. If the customer can be extended credit and inventory is available, a GBI employee creates a sales order.
8. A GBI employee creates an order acknowledgement and sends it to the customer.
9. A GBI employee records the sales order.
10. A GBI employee creates a picking ticket to fill the customer'sorder.
11. A GBI employee picks the goods (the bicycles) from the picking ticket.
12. A GBI employee creates a packing slip and a mailing label.
13. A GBI employee puts the packing slip into a reinforced packing container with the goods, seals the container and adheres the mailing label to the container.
14. A GBI employee moves the goods from the inventory control area to the shipping dock.
15. A GBI employee creates a shipping manifest.
16. A GBI employee places the goods to be shipped on the truck.
17. A GBI employee gives the shipping manifest to the truck driver.
18. A GBI employee creates a shipping document to show that the goods have been shipped.
19. A GBI employee records that the goods have been shipped.
20. A GBI employee creates an invoice with a remittance advice and sends it to the customer.
21. A GBI employee receives the payment from the customer with the returned remittance advice.
22. A GBI employee records the payment from the customer.
23. A GBI employee takes all of the payments for that day and makes up a deposit slip for the bank.
24. A GBI employee deposits the cash in the bank.
25. A GBI employee records the bank deposit.
26. A GBI employee reconciles bank deposits with the cash receipts on a daily basis.
The following Task Assignment Matrix shows how tasks in the 26 step sales-to-cash business process are currently assigned to the following roles:
Sales Representative needs to have personal contact and form a relationship with the customer. That means that tasks 1, 2, 5, 7, 9, 23 and 24 need to be done by the sales representative.
Accounts Receivable handles technical tasks. Hence, accounts receivable has task 8.
Sales Support Staff has the primary job of making the sales representatives more productive. They are tasked with doing the routine jobs that could be done by the sales representatives, but can be more efficiently done by support staff at a lower cost. With this in mind, the sale support staff is responsible for tasks 3, 4 and 10.
Inventory Clerk needs to anticipate what orders are coming in from the customers and also needs to pick and pack the goods and then get them ready for shipping. So the inventory clerk does tasks 11through 16.
Shipping Clerk takes care of loading the truck with the goods and the related paper work. That means that the shipping clerk does tasks 6 and 17 through 21.
Billing Clerk processes the documentation dealing with the customer. The billing clerk does tasks 22, 25 and 26.
For example, even though the first two tasks are stated as if they are done by two different people, they could be done by only one employee without violating SOD. So with respect to these tasks, the present GBI assignment of duties is not a problem and doesn't need to be changed. However, if these tasks were in conflict, then you must reassign the conflicting tasks and fully explain why there was a conflict and how your reassignment resolves the problem. This should be done for each of the above 26 tasks with the consideration that the company wants good control procedures, but also wants the minimum number of employees involved so that the cost of operations can be minimized. You must also take into consideration operating efficiencies; that is, will the document and order processing disrupt business activities or make job completion particularly onerous or cumbersome? Also, GBI is large enough that one employee would not have to do incompatible or illogical tasks. For example, a warehouse employee handling goods would not also handle cash even though these are both custody of asset functions. The background and training for a single employee to do both of these tasks would have to be too broad. Put in different terms, the question you need to ask is if your task assignments also make good business sense.
Required
Re-assign tasks, where appropriate, to each of the employees listed in the original matrix or assign tasks to other GBI employees not currently involved in the sales-to-cash process (the new roles such as add any of the following roles to your new matrix that you feel are necessary to accomplish appropriate segregation of duties controls: Receptionist, Secretary, Mailroom Clerk, Warehouse Assistant, Treasury Clerk, Treasurer, Accounting Manager, Controller, Office Manager, Maintenance Supervisor, and others)
Fully explain why there was a conflict and how your reassignment resolves the problem. Please explain in detail why do you assign this duties to each role and how solve the problem.