Team Authoritative Paper
Robert A Pesicka, Valerie Johnson, Eric Crivello, Suzanne Roman
June 12, 2011
City University of Seattle, WA
Professor Jean Geer MBA505 Business Communications Course
Abstract
This authoritative paper presents a broken billing process for the SeaCube Container Leasing Company and presents a solution to fix and improve the process. It has been written in order so the management of SeaCube Container Leasing Company can support and implement the proposed improvement to the billing process. This paper will cite references in adherence to the APA writing format for clarity.
Team Authorative Paper Introduction Sending an invoice in today’s world can be costly when you consider the expense of paper,
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Keeping all customers satisfied, although is the ultimate goal is not always easily attained. Currently the methods of electronic invoicing used at SeaCube include only direct emails but vary in the forms of files sent dependent upon each customer preference. In Some situations PDF copies of invoices are created and emailed so that customer can print and review their bills on their own terms. Other customers prefer excel formats of invoices tailored to their specific requests which although time consuming, is still preferred to paper bills. Electronic formats available in the company’s billing module, Mistral include CSV exports, text files and XLS files. The system can automatically take the monthly invoice and generate it into the preferred file form which can set up by customer in the system as a preference for that particular customer. Once these files are generated they can be opened, checked for error and saved on the network drive for future reference. Although the process is already in effect for over 50% of SeaCube 's customers, the goal is to get all customers on board and cut Fed Ex shipping, printing costs and the cost of paper drastically by year end. “In our time of slow economic growth, reducing expenses is essential. Printing, paper, and postage are much easier to cut than people. EIPP, Electronic Invoice Presentment and Payment, give your company the advantage of trimming operational expenses rather than losing its most
Sales invoices are prepared in batches on a daily basis using numbered sales invoices. Sales invoice numbers are automatically generated by the company’s computer system. The accounts receivable clerk does not have appropriate computer rights to override the computer-generated invoice number. Upon preparing sales invoices, the accounts receivable clerk verifies that the first invoice number of the batch is consistent with the last invoice number of the previous batch. Inconsistencies or skipped sales invoice numbers are investigated and resolved before new sales invoices are prepared. The items shipped are compared to the items billed for proper quantity, price, and other sales order terms.
Consequently, the potential increased volume of transactions and vendors would require an increase in the number of employees to perform the activities if the existing process were to be maintained. The increase in transaction and vendor volumes would be relative to the amount of time it takes to manage the invoicing of vendor payments. Of the six days per month taken to manage the processes, four days are for invoicing, which would now need to be multiplied by four, resulting in 16 days per month, more than half of the month being spent processing invoices by one of The Store’s admin team. This is valuable time taken away from more productive activities.
I am attaching both the current and the previous invoices for your reference. Let me know if you have any questions.
Lighthouse provides a ship tracking service for shipping companies to locate their ships at sea, as well as knowing their speed and the weather they are facing. Lighthouse does a contract for the delivery and installation of the physical device that is capable of achieving this through a tracking service that calls for a second contract. The price for the dedicated hardware (exclusive to Lighthouse services) and installation is a single nonrefundable amount of $10,000 payable at completion of installation and acceptance by client. When this is done, the location service can be provided. The service contract which is generally for one year is paid monthly at $300 per month. Customers may cancel the service contract at anytime.
Baldwin's purchasing, inventorying, and production costs over and above the added costs that would be
Team 5 also recommends implementing an automated process system that automatically scans and enters invoices into the payment processing software. With the implementation of this software, Pay Later Invoices and Pay Now Invoices can be eliminated from the process. Additionally, Team 5 suggests moving the two employees from Pay Now and Pay Later Invoices to the Final Check activity. This will eliminate the bottleneck of over utilization at the Final Check because the number of employees increases to three. Although the utilization decreases by over 30%, it leaves room for variability and decreases the stress put
I would greatly appreciate it if you would support this by submitting these invoices for
Mary Linn of Ocean Carriers is evaluating the purchase of a new capesize carrier for a 3-year lease proposed by a motivated customer. The leasing contract offers very attractive terms, but no ship in Ocean Carrier’s current fleet meets the customer’s needs. In addition, the proposed contract with the customer is only for three years. Therefore, after three years, the
We have carefully reviewed and analyzed the proposal for Ocean Carriers to lease a ship for a three-year period, beginning in early 2003. Our extensive analysis included considering the cash flows over the lifetime of this investment. We concluded that based on the expected future cash flows of this project the opportunity to take on the contract would not be advantageous for Ocean Carriers.
Ocean Carriers Inc. was approached in January of 2001 with a contract proposal for the leasing of one of their ships for a term of 3 years beginning in 2003. Ocean Carriers currently has no ship to accommodate the customer. To commission the construction of a new vessel would take 2 years from start to completion. The average rate in the spot market is $22,000 per day. Ocean Carriers deployed a younger fleet than average carriers and generally earned a 15% premium over the average daily rate placing them in position to capitalize in strong economies. However, the industry is volatile and suseptable to extremes both low and high. Many ship owners sought to sign contracts with time charters in order to shield themselves from the swings
Incoterms are an important aspect in this research. When a freight forwarder is being asked from a shipper for a sea freight quote, there must an indication of the incoterms (such as ‘’Quote request FOB Brazil-Rotterdam). The incoterm provides the freight forwarder with an understanding of who will pay the invoice and for which part of forwarding services in the supply chain process.
A proper billing system such as thermal receipt printer connected to a computer can be able to give any customer a precise bill that is clean, clear & completely
The Navy is evolving its surface ship modernization, maintenance and repair contracting strategy to implement a “family” of contract approaches that will maximize optimize competition and the use of fixed price type contracts across the spectrum of surface ship availabilities.
Another factor Service refers to fast processing of documents, bill of lading and prompt loading and movement of containers etc. It is rather difficult for customers to get better quality of service than getting competitive freight rates. In this world of technology every company is trying to adapt to new technology in their day to day businesses like e-processing of documents and fastest data entry to name a few. Maersk is so technologically advanced in this field that all its data processing is being done electronically by back office and customers are able to access all information relevant to shipment though dedicated space available on company website. Examples electronic processes are shipping bills, vessel certificates, freight invoices and bill of lading in encrypted format once the payment is done by customer either electronically or at Maersk local office. Companies like APL and MSC do have electronic processing systems but are not fully fledged and as a result much of the work is still being done manually.
Growing number of businesses and practices such as those in the legal profession are investing in legal billing software to streamline service delivery. These tools have become critical even as many businesses are focused on reducing cost and ensuring they operated optimally. An