In a business there are various types of employees with different assigned tasks. When analyzing a business system it is important to understand the details of the processes that go on within the organisation that involve the employees.

Storemen/women may be assigned to do the following:

• Loading / unloading
• Prepare packages
• Check incoming goods

• Drive to customer
• Unload van
• Check goods
• Collect signature from customer
• Drive back

There are flows between the business and its customers as well as the business and the factory. These flows are both physical goods as well as information (e.g. invoices, purchase orders [out], and sales orders [in]).

An Information System Description

When a sale order arrives, a dispatch note is sent to the Shipping department. The goods are then delivered to the customer and confirmation is returned to the Sales department. A copy of the order is given to the Finance department and Accounting. An invoice is then sent out to the customer and a payment is sent to the business by the customer. The Buying department sends out a purchase order after being informed about the recent sales that have caused a decrease in stock. The ordered goods are received most likely with an invoice at the same time. Payment is then made by the Finance department.

Computers could be implemented to automate some of the processes stated above. Processes that involve calculations such as the monitoring of the stock levels would be ideal for computerisation.

For more efficient transaction processing, a database of customers and stock items could be designed. This would enable the quick production of invoices without the need to enter customers' details or product details every time an invoice is produced.

The following list shows what a typical invoice may contain and from what source the information is gained from.

Customer Name (from customer initially, then from customer file)
Customer Number (from customer file)
Invoice address (from customer initially, then from customer file)

Order Number (assigned uniquely each time)
Reference (from customer each time)
Total VAT (calculated each time)
Total Amount Payable (calculated each time)

Item Number (from product file)
Description (from product file)
Price (from product file)
Quantity (from customer each time)

Given the Customer and Item Number for example, the VAT rate can be calculated automatically. This saves user time and also reduces the risk of errors. The ability to overide these types of automated calculations is still a necessity.

It is important to note that problems will always occur within a business and must be planned for. Communication problems can cause wrong items to be selected for customers or goods can be damaged for example. A business transaction processing system must be able to handle orders that go wrong. Splitting orders, cancelling / re-scheduling delivery must all be taken into consideration.

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