At one point during the life of a small business, the owners find themselves with the decision of whether or not to change from a manual system to a computerized system. There is an incentive for small business owners to automate the processes. Among other reasons, automation eliminates the mundane tasks that take up the time of the employees (Moore and Justin 536). For instance, the generation of reports by an accountant can be laborious when done manually. However, a computerized system will allow the accountant to generate reports quickly and allow more time for other tasks. Additionally, automation results in an increase in the productivity as fewer employees can perform more tasks compared to a manual system (Moore and Justin 536). The automation of the processes also reduces the amount of space required for storage as the information is stored in digital copies that can also be easily replicated for back up purposes. The following components are required for the automation of the process at Martinez Financial Services.
Computer and devices
The choice of computer and devices is dependent on the nature of responsibilities of one’s work. Besides the owner of the business, there are five other employees who need computer systems. One of the key characteristics of the responsibilities of the owner and one of the accountants is that their work requires mobility. This is because they have to offer small business financial services at the customer sites. To enable this function, the owner and the accountant would benefit from a laptop computer than a desktop computer. A laptop computer would enable them to perform the payroll services and books as well as offer the mobility required.
The specifications of the laptop that would suit the minimum requirements of the owner and the accountant include the following. The Random Access Memory of the laptop should be between 6 gigabytes and 8 gigabytes. It is also recommended that the laptop has a hybrid drive of at least one terabyte. The recommendation for a hybrid drive is because they contain a solid state drive that gives them the speed of solid state drives whole also benefiting from the storage capabilities of standard hard drives. The recommendation for the processing power of the laptop is Intel Core i3, i5, or Intel Core i7. The minimum recommended processing speed is 2.3 gHz with a turbo boost of up to 3.4 gHz. These capabilities will allow the owner to run applications that require a high processing power. The choice of the Intel series of processors for the laptop is based on their superior performance when used in laptop computers. The owner also needs a docking station, a monitor, and a keyboard to allow him to transform the laptop into the equivalent of a desktop computer when in the office.
Each of the two accountants, office manager and office assistant will need a desktop computer. The components required include a central processing unit, a monitor, a mouse, and a keyboard. The choice of the desktop computer for these workers is based on the fact that their capabilities can be expanded as the business grows, they are very durable, and the fact that their mobility is not required as part of their responsibilities. The desktop computers will have a Random Access Memory of between 4 gigabytes and 16 gigabytes. The computers for two accountants will require a Random Access Memory of 16 gigabytes while the computers for the office manager and the assistant will require 4 gigabytes. The other technical specifications will be similar to those of the laptop computers described above.
One printer will be situated in the printing office. The choice of one printer for all the employees rather than an individual printer for each of the employees is justified by the fact that with the automation of the processes in the office, there will be considerably less printing than before. This is also influenced by the fact that the files will be stored in digital copies. The recommended printer is the HP Officejet Pro 6830 e-All-in-One Printer (Stone). The choice of this printer is justified by the fact that it has multifunctional capabilities. This is because it can scan, make copies, as well as print in color (Stone). Additionally, the printer can also print wirelessly, which an advantage is given the fact that an internet connection will be installed in the office (Stone). Additionally, the printer can perform two-sided printing, can connect to the Ethernet, Wi-Fi, wireless direct, and can also perform printing through the cloud (Stone).
Software and Applications
All the computers for the office will use the Microsoft Windows operating system (Hachman). The choice of this operating system is justified by the fact that that it is very common and is compatible with many other applications that will be required for the nature of the work at Martinez Financial Services. The recommended operating system to be installed in the computers is Microsoft Windows 10 (Hachman). The operating system has cutting-edge capabilities and is compatible with many other applications. The computers will also be installed with Microsoft Office 2013. This enterprise contains processing packages such as Microsoft Word, Excel, Access, and PowerPoint among other processing applications that will be necessary for the responsibilities of the employees at Martinez Financial Services (Hachman).
The computers will also be fitted with several Google Chrome and Mozilla Firefox to complement the Edge browser that is fitted into the Microsoft Windows 10. The recommended accounting software to be installed into the computers of the owner and the three accountants is Sage One (Angeles). This choice is justified by the fact that the accounting software has two plans. One of the plans is dedicated to invoicing services which the other plan is a fill service accounting software. Additionally, it offers point-of-sale services, credit card processing, inventory tracking, e-commerce, and document management (Angeles).
Network/Communication Components
The automation of the office requires the components highlighted and discussed above. In addition, a network connection is required to completely automate most of the processes at Martinez Financial Services. The components required include network adapters for the conversion of the computer data to form electronic signals. Ethernet cables are also required to connect the various computers and printers to the corporate network. The other component require is the cable connector, particularly the RJ45 connector for the Ethernet cables. A power supply is also required for both the wireless and cabled network. The office will also require a router and a hub. The hub is required for the cabled network to connect to each of the desktop computers in the office.
Protection/Security
The automation and networking of the computers in the office also places a requirement on Martinez Financial Services to protect its data, network and the computers in the network. All the computers will be installed with Kaspersky antivirus. The employees will also be issued with user accounts on the corporate network. The user accounts will be configured with a password which will then be hashed before it is stored in the server. The typology of the corporate network will also include border core routers and a virtual private network to offer protection between the internet and the corporate network. The machine-to-machine and human-to-machine interactions in the corporate network with require an authentication before authorization. The passwords in the authentication protocol will be hashed. Firewalls will also be used to enhance the perimeter protection of the corporate network. In addition, the Martinez Financial Services will also invest in intrusion detection systems and intrusion detection systems.
Requested Functions
Martinez Financial Services will network all the computers in the office. This means that computers will be visible to other computers within the office. This allows the electronic sharing of the files over the corporate network. The users can also send the files from one computer to another over the corporate network.
The printing in the office will be done from a central printer that will be situated in the printing room. The printer will be accessible to all the employees in the office through a both a wireless and Ethernet connection. The employees will send the file to be printed electronically through the corporate network as they would if the printer was situated on their desk. The employees will then pick the printed copies from the printing office.
The sharing of calendars is one of the functions required to ease the work of the office assistant and to enable the scheduling of appointments. The sharing of calendars will be achieved using an online calendar sharing application. The recommended application is VueMinder Pro (Chartrand). This application will be installed in all the computers. The computers will then be configured to enable their users to access the folder for shared data. The users can then use the application to share their calendars to the local network (Chartrand).
The internet connection in the office will be shared. All the computers will be connected to the internet using Ethernet cables. This will allow all the users in the office to share the common internet connection. The computers will be networked so that they are visible to each other over the corporate network. This will enable further communication between the users over the internet.
Each of the employees at Martinez Financial Services requires an email account to enable further communication and sharing of files. Rather than the use of personal emails or the free email addresses, the business will use the domain name to create email accounts that are customized to include the name of the small business into the domain name. The accounts of different employees will be assigned by including their job title. This is to avoid personalizing a user account considering employee turnover and attrition.
Works Cited
Moore, Carlos and Justin, Longenecker. Managing Small Business: An Entrepreneurial Emphasis. Australia: South-Western/Cengage Learning, 2008. Print.
Angeles, Sara. Best accounting software for small business. Business News Daily. 4 Jan. 2016. Web. 10 Jul. 2016.
Hachman, Mark. Windows 10 review: It's familiar, it's powerful, but the Edge browser falls short. 24 Jul. 2015. Web. 10 Jul. 2016.
Stone, David. HP Officejet Pro 6830 e-All-in-One Printer. 24 Sep. 2014. Web. 10 Jul. 2016.
Chartrand, Dan. A Step-By-Step Guide to Sharing Calendars over Your Local Network. 19 Apr. 2010. Web. 10 Jul. 2016.
