ICT IGCSE

1. ICT IGCSE ICT in Finance, Payroll & Billing

2. Objectives • Understand the applications of ICT in finance departments, including • Payroll • Billing Systems • Stock control

3. Payroll Processing What is 'Payroll'? • At the end of each pay period (usually weekly or monthly), a company needs to pay its employees. • Payroll systems are used to calculate wages and print out wage slips/salary slips.

4. The traditional way • Workers would clock in and out, writing their arrival/departure times on a card • Sometimes they forgot • Sometimes their writing was hard to read • Sometimes they were wrong

5. Modern methods • Most places of work automatically record hours worked by the employees using systems such as swipe-cards or fingerprint readers. • When an employee arrives at work, they swipe their ID card, and then do the same when they leave. • Hours worked = Time out - Time in

6. How salaries are calculated • Sometimes money may be added on to a person's pay (e.g. for working extra 'overtime') • Sometimes pay is taken away (e.g. as tax, or health insurance payments)

7. IPSO Model

8. Inputs Employee details from the company database: • Employee number (used to lookup the employee's other details, e.g. name, bank account, etc.) • Rate of pay (eg $25/hour) • Number of hours worked (obtained from timesheet) • Any overtime worked (number)

9. Processes Calculation of : • Gross pay (hours worked x rate of pay) • Overtime bonuses due • Deductions (tax, health insurance etc) • Net pay (Gross – deductions)

10. Outputs • A printed payslip (given to the employee to show how his/her pay was calculated) • A cheque, or an EFT payment directly into the employee's bank account • Updated Employee file, showing total pay this year

12. How is a Payroll Processed? • The payroll is usually processed once a week or once a month (depending upon how often the business pays its employees). • This means that batch-processing is ideal for payroll processing.

13. What happens? • All the time sheets are gathered together • All payroll calculations are done in one go • The same calculations will be performed on all the data • Usually overnight when the computer system is not being used for other things • There is no need for any user input • Output is not urgent (eg in a booking system)

14. The stages in batch processing Information from Employees file New information from timesheets Make backup copy of files Output reports & error reports Update Employee file Output payslips Batch Processing

15. Billing Systems • Because most companies send out their bills/invoices on a pre-determined date, all the information is gathered together and processed in one go. • Once again, this means that batch processing is the most appropriate choice.

16. An electricity billing system The electricity company has a database holding details of all its customers: • Account number • Name • Address • Charge per kW unit of power • Previous meter reading • Bank account details (for payment)

17. IPSO Model

18. Inputs Customer details: • Account number • Charge per kW • Previous reading • New reading

19. Processes Calculation of : • Number of units of electricity used (new reading minus old reading) • Customer’s bill (Number of units x charge per kW) • Outstanding amount owed • Any credits due

20. Outputs • A printed bill showing all the details • Updated customer file • Request for payment

21. The stages in batch processing Information from Customers file New meter reading Make backup copy of files Output reports & error reports Update Customer file Output bill Batch Processing

22. Stock control What is Stock Control? • Every business needs to keep track of the items that it manufactures or sells (the stock). The system that monitors the items in stock is called the stock control system. • In a store, the stock includes all of the items on the shelves and out the back in the storeroom.

23. Why is stock control important? • Too much stock costs money as you have to store it all somewhere • Too much perishable stock (e.g. food) means that it may go bad before it is sold • Too little stock means that you might run out of stock before the next delivery arrives

24. Data in a Stock Control System • A stock control system is basically a database. • Each record (row) of the database is identified by an itemcode (the primary key).

25. Other fields in each record would include: • Description • Itemprice • Stock level (the number of items held in stock) • Minimum stock level (when stock falls below this, it needs to be reordered) • Reorder quantity (how many items we should order each time)

26. Receiving New Stock • When items are added in to stock (because a delivery has arrived) this is recorded in the stock control system. • The code of the new items is input to the system (usually using a barcode scanner, or similar technology). The record for the item is found in the stock database, or a new record is created, and the stock level is increased.

27. Selling / Delivering Stock • In many stores, the POS system is directly linked to the stock control system, so that stock levels are adjusted as soon as an item is sold. • When items are taken from stock (because they have been sold, or delivered somewhere) this is recorded in the stock control system.

28. Automatic Re-Ordering of Stock • Stock control systems make it very easy for stock levels to be monitored, and for stock to be reordered when it is running low. • The stock control system regularly goes through all the records in the stock database and checks if the stock level is less than the minimum stock level.

29. Homework • Complete the Payroll homework at Edmodo. You will need to use the link on the wiki page to read the required material first.