The Purpose of This Report Is to Document Our Assumptions and Recount Steps Taken to Obtain

Samantha DelveauxPharmafin report

The purpose of this report is to document our assumptions and recount steps taken to obtain approval for all personal computer equipment and software purchases that Pharmafin’s Hospital Sales and Marketing department needs to be successful.

Recently we have restructured our organization by combining our sales and marketing groups into one new department. To save on information technology (IT) costs we need to standardize our equipment and secure discounts for making volume deals with preferred vendors.

Working closely with the IT department, Purchasing has obtained technical information and advice to guide our buying decisions and develop maintenance and upgrade schedules.

Specifically, Purchasing has met with IT to determine:

the current status of all the personal computers (PCs) and software that are now being used by the newly combined department

whether the new department's PCs and software are suitable and for each employee's individual tasks

As you may recall, based on our inventory and our meeting with IT, our early analysis showed that we would need to purchase new computers and possibly software.

Research

Upon further research, Purchasing identified and compared several laptop and desktop models that would best meet our needs. My search focused on the following features: processor, processor speed, memory, RAM and ROM drive.

Also, product reviews further informed my research.

Dell has an excellent national reputation, it is a well known brand, they meet Pharmafin’s specs with a better than average review and by purchasing all dell computers it will allow our company buying leverage with discounts, tech support, and a piece of mind that our company is comprised of all the same brand name systems keeping our tracking and maintenance of our systems easy. The Dell Dimension E520 and the Dell Inspirion E1505 both have enough power to make them both the perfect PC’s for a great balance of price and performance.

Based on this information I recommended the following:

The Dell Dimension E520 is an excellent computer with a user rating of 9 out of 10 and a steal at $869.00. This system offers an Intel Pentium D processor 820 with Dual Core technology, 2.8Ghz of processor speed, 80 GB Seriel ATA Hard Drive, 1GB RAM, 16x CD/DVD burner, monitor, standard mouse, speakers, Microsoft Windows Vista, Adobe Acrobat Reader, Microsoft Outlook, Microsoft Express, Integrated 10/100 Ethernet, 56K PCI Data Fax modem, 7 ports(2 front, 5 back), Integrated 7.1 channel sound network, and the Dell wireless 1390 802.11b/g Mini Card. Dell offers a 1 year warranty support, Dell hardware warranty Plus onsite Service, 24X7 technical Support. Extended warranties are available.

Report and Evaluate

My initial research resulted in some interesting conclusions:

Laptops are more expensive but may provide the necessary flexibility for the sales people who travel.

Desktops are cheaper but the software, in some cases, must be purchased separately.

Depicted below are slides that summarize the findings above.

Narrowing the results, I identified one laptop model and one desktop model for consideration.

Analysis

Before making any purchasing decisions a number of questions need to be addressed. Specifically:

How many computers are needed in total?
How many of each model is needed?
How many computers does each department need?
How many people in each department will receive one?

The following spreadsheets detail the actual costs and IT equipment/software feature comparisons. *

*Note: As an input, I have used the results of an equipment needs assessment that details the type and quantity of computers to be purchased for the sales and marketing departments.

Additionally, another worksheet compares vendor discounts based on the number and type of PCs ordered. I have repeated this price comparison for two alternate scenarios in which fewer or more PCs are required and created a set of graphs to represent each of these comparisons.

(Insert your Excel spreadsheets from Assignment 4b here.)

Tracking

Based on our findings our proposal for purchasing PCs and software was approved.

The equipment was ordered and distributed to the members of the newly combined department.

To track equipment and software we established a maintenance schedule for anticipated upgrades. Using an Access database we are able to pull together equipment and department records to determine which computer has been assigned to which employee. This gives us the ability to easily generate reports for the organization as we provide a complete accounting of the computer assigned to each employee and the software installed on it.

In particular, we are able to coordinate our department's equipment/software needs with IT's technical support efforts, and quickly and easily inform management about possible changes to our PC equipment budget. Most importantly, we are able to meet the needs of our new department efficiently and regularly.

For instance, the Table below depicts such a report from our database:

Samantha DelveauxPharmafin report

Equipment by Department

DepartmentLast NameFirst NameOffice LocationAsset IDAsset DescriptionMakeModelAcquired

Hospital Sales & Marketing

Ansari HermanAlexandria10021Laptop PCDeglow8300LT-M5 /1 /2003

Arzate JeniferAsbury Park10018Laptop PCDeglow8300LT-M5 /1 /2003

Baldwin MarvinAlexandria10026Laptop PCDeglow9300LT-S5 /1 /2003

Brust JanetteAsbury Park10020Laptop PCDeglow8300LT-M5 /1 /2003

Clinard TimAsbury Park10016Laptop PCDeglow8300LT-M5 /1 /2003

Dombrosky GordonAsbury Park10017Laptop PCDeglow9300LT-S5 /1 /2003

Gorby ThereseAsbury Park10010Laptop PCDeglow8300LT-M5 /1 /2003

Herrick VickyAsbury Park10027Laptop PCDeglow8300LT-M5 /1 /2003

Kelty SusanaAsbury Park10022Laptop PCDeglow9300LT-S5 /1 /2003

Lemmons SallyNorthbend10024Laptop PCDeglow8300LT-M5 /1 /2003

Mader JoseWest Pleasant10029Desktop PCDeglow5600DT-W5 /1 /2003

Mears TinaAsbury Park10025Laptop PCDeglow8300LT-M5 /1 /2003

Medders LesterAlexandria10014Laptop PCDeglow8300LT-M5 /1 /2003

Rudolph ElsieAsbury Park10028Laptop PCDeglow8300LT-M5 /1 /2003

Rupe HaroldAsbury Park10023Desktop PCDeglow5600DT-W5 /1 /2003

Ungar VernonO'Dell Park10019Desktop PCDeglow5600DT-W5 /1 /2003

Weingartner MauriceNorthbend10015Laptop PCDeglow8300LT-M5 /1 /2003

Tuesday, May 22, 2007Page 1 of 1

Samantha DelveauxPharmafin report

Summary

I believe that we have been able to provide the organization significant savings and benefits and have worked diligently to standardize the PC equipment and software for the department.

Our proposal and approval process has helped me gain valuable skills and confidence needed to gather research for purchasing equipment, as well as for organizing and managing data on PCs and software.