Beauty Products Memo Essay, Research Paper

BABY ON BOARD BEAUTY PRODUCTS

Memorandum

To: Bob Stevens, CEO

From: John Writer, Finance Chairman

Date: May 22, 1998

Subject: Progress report on the project I was given to help Payroll keep more

specific hours for employees

I am writing this progress report on the project that I began on May 11th. To refresh your memory, the project is to help keep accurate records of employee hours and cut down on time in the Payroll office by computerizing the way the checks are calculated and printed. This report will cover the progress that we have made in the last eleven days as well as show you what is left to be done. As of now, the project is going as planned, but we will probably need two extra days for setting up the system in the building at the three entrances.

Past Eleven Days

The past eleven days have gone according to plan. The program has been written, we found the equipment, downloaded the program, and tested it in the Finance Department. The next few section will tell, in detail, what exactly has been done in the past eleven days.

Writing the Program

The program has been written in the two days allotted. It covered everything that was planned out for it, including date and time, and employee bar-codes were entered along with how much each employee makes per hour.

Finding and Purchasing the Equipment

A hard target search was done of the tri-state area to come up with the best company along the lines of prices, service, quality, courtesy, speed, and guarantees. We used a combination of phone books and the Internet to come up with Sanford Computer Company. Sanford has competitive prices, great service, high quality material, a guarantee on all their products, a five year warranty, and same day delivery. Sanford charged us $2500 per unit and, if you remember my original budget, this is $500 per unit less than was originally expected.

Downloading the Program

While I was writing the program, I kept in mind that this had to be easily downloaded. The program itself takes up to two and a half hours to download because of its length, but it only takes five minutes to set up the downloading process.

Testing the Program

After the program was successfully downloaded, a testing period was to begin. I figured that the system would take a couple of hours to set up in the Finance Department, but it ended up taking 7 hours to get it totally online including the connection with the Payroll office. Since there are only 15 employees in the Finance Department, we were able to get the identification cards out that day. We had the system run there for the whole week while we had the employees use the system and gave them a survey at the end of the week. A copy of the surveys can be found at the end of this memorandum. The surveys at the end of this memo were filled in as to what the average had to say and the most common answers about the system. As you can see, the system has made a hit with the employees and, once used throughout the company, will increase profits and make for a happier work place.

Next Ten Days

The next few sections will tell you what exactly there is left to be done on the project and the time that they should be done in. Two extra days will be needed for setting up the system in the building.

Setting Up the System

Since setting up the system in the finance office took most of the day, I figure that setting up the system in the three different entrances will take about three days, one day for each system. We have found areas around the three entrances that would be perfect for the system, but it will definitely take three days, one day for each system, to set up in those areas.

Writing the Owners Manual

The owners manual will take the two days that were originally thought. I will compile my notes and rewrite them so that they may be user friendly and could be used by just about any literate person.

Training

Charles Kimble, head of security at Baby on Board Beauty Products, helped with setting up the system in the Finance Department and has become familiar with the system. The training will consist of one, eight hour day with Mr. Kimble going over the owners manual and explaining exactly how the system works. He will then begin a two day session, in which all security guards are required to attend, where he will explain to the security personnel how the system works and how it is to be used.

Conclusion

In closing, I would just like to say that everything is proceeding according to plan and the system should be up and running within the next two weeks. I?m very excited about the outlook, especially with the survey results coming back as well as they did from both the Finance Department and the Payroll office. I think this much needed program is going to revolutionize the way finance and payroll are done in the future.