Table of Contents:

 

Executive Summary:                                                                             1

 

Questions & Answers (Purchasing):                                                       2-3

 

Questions & Answers (Sales Order):                                                      4-5

 

Problems with current exercises                                                             6

 

Suggestions, Ideas and Fixes:                                                                7       

 

Purchasing Exercise A Printout:                                                             8

 

Purchasing Exercise B Printouts:                                                            9-13

 

Sales Order Processing Printout:                                                            14

 

References:                                                                                         15

 

Self- Evaluations:                                                                                 16

Executive Summary

 

 

BUS 2700 is a class to educate its students about information and communication infrastructure. Today’s business world is booming with technology, with trillions of dollars invested into software programs. The purpose of this project was to investigate and become more familiar with a software program that is frequently used by many businesses. Great Plains software is a program written to assist businesses in the organization of their purchases and sales orders. The first part of the project focused on a purchasing exercise. It walked you through a mock purchase order and all of the details that go along with it. You chose a supplier, supplies, cost, shipping and receiving dates, all characteristics that make up a real purchase order that a business would have to fill out. The second part of the project focused on completing a mock sales order. This once again took you through all of the steps in completing a for real sales order. It was very interesting and enlightening to complete this project. It allowed us to have a better understanding of a couple of everyday tasks that a service business would perform.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Purchasing Questions & Answers

 

Q. How much inventory do we have?

A.      Quantity on hand- 920

          Quantity Available- 516

 

Q. Does the company use standard cost for this item

A.      Yes, $55.50

 

Q. Why might there be a difference between Standard Cost and Current Cost?

A.      The current cost is what they are charging right now, and standard cost is           like the average cost or the usual cost of the item.

 

Q. Are there enough phones to fill the expected sales order or will you have to

    order more?

A.      Yes, there are enough phones to fill the order.

 

Q. What are the quantities and storage locations for the 100XLG?

A.      North-0                  WC1-0

          South-415              WC2-0

          Warehouse-30        WC3-0

 

Q. If we want a vendor we trust with the lowest cost and best service, which

    vendor should we choose?

A.      ADVANCFD001- Advanced Office Systems

 

Q. PO number?

A.      PO 2112

 

Q. Receipt number?

A.      RCT1197

 

Q. Which location has the highest quantity available?

A.      The south location

 

Q. What is the receipt number for the invoice entry?

A.      RCT1198

 

Q. What do you think would happen if you clicked the blue underlined Vendor

     Item after choosing 100XLG?

A.      You would be able to view the Vendor Items Maintenance Window.

 

Q. What is the total amount of the invoice?

A.      $1473.00                                                                                       2

 

Q. What has changed about the Purchasing Series Posting window after the

     posting process has completed?

A.      The status of the batch is now “posting”.

 

Q. Do you notice anything different about the positioning of the Vendor ID field?

A.      Yes, it is now under the ‘Date’ field.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Problems with Current Exercises

 

Purchasing Order Exercise:

The problems that arose when completing the Purchasing Order exercise were inputting the batch ID, specifically when and exactly what to enter for it, as well as the entering information for the FABRI-XXX entry, both of these instructions were in step 7.2 of the exercise.  Another problem with the purchasing exercise was in step 5, when we were supposed to re-check inventory after receiving goods. The instructions were very vague and incomplete, to the point where this step could not be completed.  

Sales Order Exercise:

          As I navigated through Great Plains with the Sales Order Exercise, I ran into a few problems that I felt must be addressed. The first big problem was that in the posting of the sale, I would click the post button and the only option that would be made available to me was to print the post instead of having it go to the screen. This led to other problems in the next step. In the next step where I had to check my posted sale, I was unable to find my invoice number in the record because I was not allowed to post the sale to the screen. So in the following step I had to just type in the amount and create a payment for an invoice that had not been posted. His was a major problem and I have no reason why the software would not let me post the entry. Hopefully in future classes this problem can be resolved. Although I was not pleased with this portion of the exercise, this was the only glitch in an otherwise great experience with Great Plains.

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Suggestions and Ideas

 

Purchasing Order Exercise:

         

To better improve this exercise as a whole and the project in general. I think the teacher either needs to go some general aspects of the project or to include better detailed instructions of the project to the student. I understand the students needs to explore on their own to a point, but they need to all be pointed in direction.

 

Sales Order Exercise:

         

Throughout doing this project, I really did not have many problems or really many things that I would personally change. There were a few instances where I found myself feeling like I was doing steps over again for no reason. One thing I would change is to not get so wordy in the description of what to do in each step. I found that the more words or explanation there was the harder it was to navigate through the step. In addition, the constant use of the search tool and explanation of how to use it got very old. It should be more direct and less repetitive. Other than those two gripes, I thought the project was well mapped and well written and did a great job explaining each process.

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Self-Evaluations

 

          I think the project as a whole went very well for me. There were a few bumps in the road with my partner Sean, but they all got worked out at the end. I thoroughly enjoyed completing this project. I found it very interesting to be able to work with a software program that a lot big companies actually use to better organize their purchases and sales.

                             By: Sara Fetke

 

My evaluation of myself on these combined projects would have to be considered quite critical. I realized I must communicate much better with my team member/members much better. We had some miscommunications but everything worked out well. I also need to not procrastinate so much on the projects and make a better effort to fulfill my obligations to the group. The project was not bad to get through with only a few difficult parts. My part was the sales order process which I thought was quite interesting and very unique in its integrated quote to order process of a sale. I worked well with the software and overall had a great experience with the software.

                   By: Sean Baltazar

 

 

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