Hillside School Case Study - Essay Example

Hillside school case study Task Introduction Billing system is fundamental in enhancing process re-engineering and management of operations in institutions. It aids accountability, effective administration of resources and provision of value to customers. It is an IT driven system that institutions with strong growth orientation for example; Hillside school should adopt to leverage performance and accountability in diverse areas of operation. The school is in the verge of expansion and seeks to improve its operating system as a requisite measure of securing financial transactions.

Thus, this paper analyses the school’s billing system-giving details on how the process can be integrated to match the present aspirations. The old system description and opinion The current “[As-Is]” billing system has facilitated operations at Hillside school by enabling collection of tuition and after care service charges. The system was designed to provide requisite guidelines that ensure superior management of resources at the disposal of the school administration. The system enabled execution of payment processes and identification of student details.

It also provided distinct tuition and after care fees collection centers. In particular, collection of tuition fees was under a fixed system while after care charges were coordinated through fixed and variable systems (Borysowi, 2007). The designing of the systems were in cognizance to lump sum and installments payments programs to serve the interests of parents. It is imperative to note that, the system enhanced maintenance of students records, tuition and after care information including management of payroll for the after care teachers.

Diagram of “As-Is” system showing the movement of fee collection Despite its nobleness, the billing program was designed using Ms Word and excel software’s that provided complexity in maintaining diverse records. The deputy principal asserts that, preparation of payroll, production of financial reports and maintenance of student particulars results into immense duplication. The duplication of effort is evident, as users have to copy frequently from various worksheets (Borysowi, 2007). Consequently, the system exposes the institution’s financial information to various individuals.

It does not provide adequate security incentives that ensure that only pertinent individuals get access to the schools crucial information. These elements discredit the systems ability to steer the school to greater heights as it seeks to grow and expand its operations. This instigates the need for the development of new and vibrant billing system. To be system and opinion “To-Be” process is the new IT billing system that is to facilitate absolute accountability and administration of resources in the school.

The billing system is set with adequate controls and clear lines of resource collection including administration. The key aim of the system is to boost the schools resource management as it seeks to expand (Borysowi, 2007). This is to; enhance accuracy and accountability in cash administration that requires superior coordination. Consequently, the billing system seeks to ensure preparation of one fee schedule where parents with more children would receive an integrated schedule listing and diverse student particulars jointly unlike the initial billing system where distinct schedules are used.

It is set to facilitate the generation of receipts automatically at the time of payment to reduce confusion. Indeed, the new billing system will streamline fee collection and administration of finance in all functional levels to advance efficiency in service delivery. It also aims to ease recording and coordination of diverse activities to ensure transparency. These elements are crucial in enhancing performance in the school that has expanded its programs to meet level four to six student needs (Borysowi, 2007).

The school has also improved its enrolment capacity that requires effective coordination. The system will meet the needs of the school, as it will enhance administration of financial records, admission and allocation of classrooms to learners. The diagram of “To-Be” system Functional Decomposition Diagram (FDD) Functional decomposition diagrams (FDD) identify crucial processes in the operating systems and decompose activities from the “functional” point down to the “event” level. FDD is a hierarchical chart that defines the three functional levels of Hillside school system administration.

The first level contains the name of the organization and its principal functions. The top-level function defines core activities and departments in institutions for example, finance, accounting and personnel units. The units contribute to the general production and performance of the school as aspired (Borysowi, 2007). The second level identifies key activities in relation to planning; execution and control that is essential in ensuring that Hillside school operate its resources appropriately.

Third level identifies the billing process within the scope of operation. These levels are shown below in the subsequent diagrams followed by the checklist information. First level: Enterprise level functional chart Second level: Conceptual level functional chart Third level: Logical level functional chart The checklist System requirements checklist entail the entire processes within the billing structure that defines the scope of the program that is designed. The system ensures that all pertinent elements that guide input, processes, and output of relevant information are integrated.

Particularly, it advances integration of data gathering and storage capacity that form crucial aspects that drive IT processes. The discussion on the checklist elements are as follows. Process Processing of information encoded within the billing system is crucial in aiding realization of accurate results for Hillside school. The new billing system is integrated with advanced processors and operating software’s that hold requisite capacity of producing intended outcome (Borysowi, 2007). This is to, aid production of a single bill listing of the children particulars.

That is, the processors are designed to generate integrated fee schedules that embrace inclusivity with distinct children particulars. This is relevant especially in situations where more than one child’s bill from a family is processed. Processing also facilitates issuance of automatic receipts to customers since it aid processing of students data and give relevant figures for receipting. Output Output is the product of system operations that define its performance capacity. The new billing process is designed to provide superior output as a major deliverable.

The output should conform to expected standards and processing ideals (Borysowi, 2007). It will foster accurate maintenance of student’s admission records, fees payment, and payroll information. Consequently, it will facilitate production of timely and several copies of student’s information pertaining to financial matters and general operations. Input Input involves receiving a request from the users of the system that is to be processed. Input procedure requires superior coordination and management of data to guarantee the accuracy in the process of encoding.

This checklist system will enable the school to feed in relevant and accurate data for processing. The billing system is to be installed with relevant software’s with the potential of rejecting unwanted information (Borysowi, 2007). Its design is to accept credible data and accessed by authorized individuals. It seeks to provide adequate control measures to the institution since only authentic data will be fed. This will enhance security measures that form one of the major reasons for the systems integration.

Performance Performance is a checklist indicator that system users employ to ascertain the effectiveness of integrated machines. Hillside school officials will observe the quality of output from the system as a requisite benchmark of establishing its relevance in advancing performance. Control Control appertains to safety standards of the billing system with limited compromise. The system is designed with sufficient controls measures to facilitate superior processing and realization of intended output.

The controls would ensure encoding of relevant information in to the system, aid coordination of processing and delivery of the output. Conclusion Indeed, the new billing system is set to streamline fee collection and management of finance in all functional levels to improve efficiency in service delivery. Its main aim is to enhance the schools resource management as it seeks to expand. This is to; facilitate accuracy and accountability in cash administration that requires superior coordination.

References Borysowi, C. (2007). Levels of Detail for Functional Decomposition Retrieved from