The Benefits of Computerizing Employees Records - Assignment Example

Report to the Directors Gallery Building Contractors Employees Records Having had an opportunity to review the systems operating within the business,I am of the opinion that there are areas of record keeping, which could be better served by being computerised. These computer systems would significantly reduce the amount of administration time required in the collection and storage of data, together with any calculations needed to be attached to those records. Such systems would also reduce the need for some of the repetitive work needed in the maintenance of weekly/monthly administration processes. As a starting point, I would suggest that we start with the recording of Employee information and to this end; I have designed the following two systems. Firstly, I have designed a database to maintain employee records. Secondly, I have attached a suggested spreadsheet solution for the calculation of the weekly and monthly payroll of the employees. In each case, I have produced the following information to enable the selected system programmer to design and build the appropriate system. 1) A system diagram 2) Data directory 3) Information to be input 4) Calculation requirements where necessary 5) Reports to be produced The data from the database and spreadsheet should be able to be linked to give the business the following information, with a minimal amount of operator input: - a) Employee records b) Pay records c) Department labour costs d) Project labour costs Employee Records - Database 1) A system diagram 2) Data directory The following is a brief description of the data information EMPLOYEES Employee – relates to anyone who works for the company whether that be full time, part time, temporary, or on contract. 1) Unique number – Each employee will be issued with a unique number on commencing working for the company 2) Title – Mr/Mrs/Ms 4) to 7) Are the employee contact details 8) Tax number – The unique number assigned to the employee it will need to be entered. 9) Tax code – If the tax calculation is worked on a code system that needs to be entered. 10) Job description – The specialist work the employee undertakes for example labourer, carpenter, electrician, administrator, and accountant. 11) Position – If the employer is engaged to full a particular job role this should be identified, i.e: supervisor, manager, or director. 12) and 13) Are the Start and end date of the employees contract with Gallery 14) Other – required for any other employee expense or cost incurred by an employee that may be relevant HOURS 1) Week date – This will usually be the date of the week ending 2) Project – Id number of project worked on 3) Hours worked – within that week. This will need to be broken down into basic, O/T 1 and O/T 2 4) Basic rate – rates of pay for the type of hours worked including basic, O/T 1 (Usually basic and a half) and O/T 2 (Usually double rate) 5) Supervisor allowance – If the employee is placed in a supervisor position, the cost of this will need to be indicated. 6) Mileage – Details of any travel expenses incurred. 7) Other expenses relating to the project that the employee is working on CUSTOMER 1) Unique number – Internal unique number allocated to each new client 2) to 5) Client name and contact details PROJECT 1) Project number – Internal unique number given to each new project 2) Project name – either clients name for the project of a name allocated internally, which will determine geographical location. 3) Description – A description of what the project involves 4) Units – The number of units (houses) to be completed within the project 5) & 6) - are the expected or actual start date of the project and the contracted or estimated end of the project 3) Information to be input Employee details will only require inputting into the system when the employee joins the company. After that, it only needs to be accessed when there are any changes of particulars. For the section of the database dealing with the hours, this information will be supplied be the submission of a timesheet from each employee as it is now. The information will then be inputted by going to the Hours menu. Client information will only need to be put into the system when they engage our service, and updated as and when client details change. Project details will be entered as we are awarded new contracts. 4) Reports to be produced The following reports will be able to be accessed and printed off from this database, although additional reports can be generated. 1) A list of employees with full contact details 2) A list of customers with full details 3) A list of projects From a financial and costing point of view, we have also included the following reports to be produced. 4) Employees’ costs per week. This is to be analysed by department and by project within client. 5) Cost analysis of project analysed by client and project. Such a report will give project managers the information to assist in the management of project sites. 5) Linkage and queries requirements where necessary Linkages The employee module will need to be linked with the timesheet and project module so that when employee ID is entered this will automatically produce the name in both cases. For a similar reason, the customer module will be linked with the project module. In addition, the timesheet needs to be linked to the project in so that costs can be analysed to project and customer. Queries There needs to be queries raised in order to do the calculations from hours to costs. In other words, if an employee does 20 hours on a particular project the query will multiply those hours by the hourly or overtime rate to give the costs for the week. In addition a weekly query will enable reports to be produced for the week, month or term of the project. Payroll - Spreadsheets 5) A system diagram 6) Data directory The information that will be unique to this spreadsheet is as follows: - Individual Employees All of the employee details in the detail section of this spreadsheet of the workbook will be retrievable automatically from the employee database. Pay data 1) Week/Month no. – Weeks 1 to 52 for the year or 1 to 12 for the months. 2) to 5) These items will also be retrievable from the employee database 6) Taxable additions – any amount that needs to be added onto the gross pay, which is taxable, for example bonuses. 7) Taxable deductions – Any financial item that can be deducted before the pay being taxed, for example union dues. 8) The gross amount, before tax, of wages payable arrived at by the following formula - 2) + 3) + 4) +5) + 6) – 7 9) Accumulative b/f is the total pay that the employee that the employee has earned in the tax year to date. 10) Accumulative c/f is based on the following formula – 8) + 9) Tax Data 1) This information will be supplied annually by the tax office. The free pay allowance per annum should be divided by the week or month depending on the employees payment type. 2) The gross amount less the free pay for the week/month = the net taxable amount (formula (9 of pay data – 1 of tax data = Net taxable pay) 3) From this we can then work out the amount of tax to pay for week/month based on the percentage of the tax rate. Note if there are different tax rate bands, these will need to be divided into weeks to calculate at what amount the increased rate will attract to the weekly /monthly pay. 4) The employee contribution then needs to be calculated. This is a percentage of wages over and above a social security lower limit. Thus the formula will be ((Gross wage – Lower limit) x %). 5) And 6) are deduction and additions that do not affect the taxable amount. 7) To calculate net amount payable the formula is (gross pay – tax – social security – non-tax deductions + non-taxable additions. 9) We also need to have a record of the employers social security contribution which will be recorded at 9. 7) Information to be input The information in this spreadsheet should, in the main be able to be accessed from the database of employee records. The only addition inputted information would be as follows:- Weekly/monthly Loans or wages subs given to the employee. Other unusual items to be added to wages (bonuses etc) Additional employees (details collected from database) Additional employees wages details from previous employment (where applicable) Expenses paid to employee Loan or sub repayments Other unusual items to be deducted from employees (government fines etc) Annually (or as required) Changes in rates of tax and / or social security rates levied Other government additions or deductions, such as family benefits and sick pay. 8) Reports to be produced Employees Weekly payslip – Personal details and weekly pay information, together with gross figures to date should be able to be exported into a word file configured to make a payslip that can be given to the employee. Annual statement – The annual pay information will need to be able to be exported, either into a pre-designed word file that presents this in a format acceptable to the Tax authorities, or a template form provided by them. Two copies will need to be printed, one for the employee and one for the tax authorities. Tax Authorities A monthly statement will need to be produced to provide employer details, tax and social security payments for the total employees to be made to the Tax office. This may need to be entered onto a template form provided by the tax office. An annual statement will need to be produced to present to the Tax office. This will include employer details, list of individual employees together with the individual tax and social security contributions, together with the employers social security contribution. There should be totals for each of these three columns and the information may again need to be entered onto a template form provided by the Tax office. Conclusion It is my opinion that the introduction of these computerised systems will make the company more efficient and effective and save administrative time. Both systems, by their computerisation, will reduce administrative time because of the automation of information analysis and data access. They will provide for quick access to management information and reduce retrieval time. In addition, on a historical basis, they will provide a valuable source of reference data for future projects by providing hours and cost analysis on various departments of the work carried out. The database will enable efficient tracking of customers and their individual projects. In addition, it will provide an analysis of employee’s time costs, enabling an accurate and quicker method for use to maintain cost control and to ease invoicing. The spreadsheet system, part of which as outlined, will be automatically linked to from the database, will enable the business to run an effective payroll system, collating all employees from the various departments. It will be designed to automatically supply weekly and annual information in respect of the employees and monthly and annual information for the Tax authorities. In the future, as the business grows, these two business solutions could be used as integral part of the overall management control and accounting systems, which will form the administrative core of the business operations. Read More