Section A

Problem Identification and Background Analysis

The Standard Expectations: FS Edition

Approximately 500m before the Christmas Pass Highway lies the Zuva filling station, just
after the Mutare General Hospital. Started as a profit making business by the Hundermark
family in December of 2006 and earned a high class reputation on the market. Presided over
by the family who work hand-in-hand with the government to produce quality results. It
provides a facility for car servicing, gas refill, sale of petrol and diesel including blend and
paraffin. Extensive use is made of an available kiosk as a part of the marketing strategy by
the business. There is an available car wash for customers which are free of charge. It
employs well over 40 workers varying from fuel attendants, accountants, security guards and
others.

The kiosk is a well-managed fast food and grocery selling facility. It employs about 15% of
the maximum workforce in different areas of specialisation. It includes 2 till attendants who
operate simultaneously on the counter. They are responsible for the initial recording of
receipts which is done manually and the calculation of inventory. The kiosk workers include
those who work rotation shifts to clean and keep the shop in order. The workers are 2 and
work hand-in-hand with the maintenance board to give the shop primary order. The supply of
fresh products comes from the Hundermarks who buy goods from shops like N Richards
Wholesale, TM Supermarket and others. The kiosk also has a second-to-none chef operating
in the cooking area with assistance from a fine waitress. Together they produce sumptuous
meals which satisfy customers’ hunger in a flash. The shop uses the traditional method of
book-keeping, manually recording their receipts in books of accounts. Once the books are
recorded they are later passed to office who tackles the task of further recording and
balancing the books. The balances are later compared in relation to the journals recorded by
the shop and corresponding results are given to office. The workers are responsible for safe
keeping of the receipt until any further alterations need to be carried out.

Three well-experienced bio-chemical engineering specialist are hired to handle the gas sales
section. Deliveries or gas supplies come on every Thursday and the responsibility lies upon
the Delivery Company by the name Go Sam and also government security to eradicate theft
issues. It encompasses of about 72 gas tanks of which only half are used at a time to cater for

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the amount of space available, which forms part of inventory recoding. Not only are they
experts at gas refill processes but they go further to repair and fix gas tanks they also offer a
service of replacing very old gas tanks for new ones at a certain price. However, they have a
single receipt book in which all transactions are manually recorded by the attendant at every
sale. The attendant keeps a copy and also gives the original receipt to the customer. The copy
made in the receipt book is used to write up journals which are taken to the office for further
recording and corresponding analysis. The attendant later balances the daily sales and
submits the totals to the office for balancing and safe-keeping.

Amid the kiosk and gas filling station is a car servicing booth where they are lubricants, spare
parts, shampoos and other car accessories. These products are provided by the owner with
supplies from Engen and other particular donations from other service suppliers. It employs
about 5 in the overall workforce who are specially trained personnel in car mechanics. They
do not record their daily sales and earnings in any book of accounts, but instead they simply
submit their cash to the main office which like in all other areas they record the totals and
balance the book.

It also consists of a car wash which is free to customers and also encompasses of all passer-
byes who pay a small ransom for service provided. Money made from this service is neither
recorded nor receipted but instead is donated to charity like children’s home. The workers of
the car wash are also recognised under Zuva and work hand-in-hand with the filling station,
maintenance board to produce this service for customers. It is also funded by different well-
wishers who lend a helping hand.

Then comes the main workers, the fore court attendants who are responsible for the selling of
petrol, diesel and also paraffin. The supply of the products comes from outside the country,
likely from South Africa and Mozambique in Feruka. The government also has its own
supplies from different but rather confidential sources for petrol, diesel and paraffin also.
This also employs about 15 workers who work on rotation weekly shifts of 2. The shifts are
divided into night and day shifts lasting from 0700hours to 1800hours, and then the night
shift is from 1830hours till next morning. They accept any form of payment ranging from
cash, swipe and other monetary means, at which after payment is recorded in the receipt book
to which a copy is given to the customer and the attendant keeps a receipt also. The attendant
keeps the copy and writes a circular journal. And writes up petrol and diesel sales separately

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and submit to office for analysing. The workers also calculate inventory separately after
every shift.

Also a part of the intensive working system office workers do all the overall receipt
recording, income statement and statement of financial position preparation. They also make
sure all receipts are recorded, that is, they take care of the accounting part of the system and
other accounting necessities. They check on whether the corresponding receipts are
equivalent to the journals which is in particular a long process. The number of litres left is
also checked in correspondence to with inventory left. With approval from the manager
workers also look into payment of workers, who are paid half in hard cash and half in RTGS.
Another responsibility of office is to take interns and assist them to become professional
workers and teach them to tackle Zuva responsibilities.

Above all of this, there is a 24hour security team that takes responsibility in the protection of
all the other parts of the system. Zuva has approximately 8 guards who work hand in hand
with other works to improve safety to employees and customers especially during the night
shift. The guards patrol back and forth checking the area with four working in and around the
perimeter. A panic button is also available in case of emergencies the workers might
encounter. Together these forms the Zuva Filling Station to the greater extend.

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 Suppliers file Master/Main File

Procurement
Business Liability Management
board

Goods bought
Assets acquired Uniform bought

Delivery of goods or services

Uniform file

Questions
Inventory recording
Personnel file

Gas file Fuel file Grocery file

Selling of goods
Maintenance Car wash
board

Donations
Closing inventory

Office File

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Investigation of the current system
As a method of fact finding for the existing system, l turned to the reliable efficiency of
interviews and questionnaires.

Interviews
It refers to face-to-face communication between two people or more in order to collect more
information.

Advantages of interviews

 First-hand information is collected

 Researcher can ask for clarification on certain parts that were unclear
 Non-verbal gestures like facial expressions can help the researcher to determine if the
representation was genuine
 Information can be collected even from the illiterate since the respondent language
can be used

Disadvantages of Interviews
 Language, the use of different languages between individuals
 Due to the researcher’s need to travel it can be costly
 Time consuming in the sense that time is spent travelling and carrying out
interviews
 Biased information can be given since the respondent may not tell the truth

Questionnaire
It is a document with carefully crafted questions given to the respondent to fill in the
questions and answer.

Advantages of questionnaires

 It saves time as questionnaires can be distributed and collected later.

 Cheap to use when collecting data from very large sample.
 Gives guarantee of confidentiality to respondent thereby encouraging accurate
responses.
 Less time consuming and cheaper to interviews.

Disadvantages of Questionnaires
 Some questions may be left blank.
 Some questionnaires may not be returned at all.
 Difficult to prepare good questionnaires.
 Difficult to analyse information collected using questionnaires.

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  Biased information can also be given

QUESTIONNAIRE TO THE GAS AND FUEL ATTENDANT

1. How do you categorize the current system?

2. Does current system efficiency cope with job pressures?

3. What are your overall duties as a gas/fuel attendant?

4. Are there any hiccups in duty performance?
5. Where are records kept?
6. Is there any form of journal/book for recording information?
7. Are recorded books protected from fire, theft, and any other form of particular harm
and how it is done?
8. Is there any other source of information used by the attendants besides receipt book?
9. In your own view briefly describe the level of customer reviews and workers
complaints on the current system?
10. Are the any communication strains between management and subordinates?
11. If so what could be possible reasons?
12. What are the worker’s views on the possibility of computerisation?
13. Does gas/fuel attendant need a computerized system?

INTERVIEW FOR GAS/FUEL ATTENDANT

1. Is there any specific need to computerise system?

2. On average, how many deliveries are received a month. Do you think it’s too little or
too much?
3. Are there any other products offered by the company
4. On a scale of one to ten, How much paper work is involved in the system
5. Does current system fit to workers’ schedule?
6. How are worker leave days handle as per current system?
7. Is there any form of motivational support provided for to boost employee commitment
e.g. coupons
8. If system was to be computerised, will it improve as per your view?
9. Does attendant feel the need for computer introduction in current system?
10. Any other hindrances in system?

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QUESTIONNAIRE TO SECURITY GUARD
1. Do you face any implications in the current system?
2. If so specify problem?
3. Does system have any form of video assistance, security wise?
4. On a scale from 1 to 10 how much paperwork is involved in current system?
5. Do you think system is efficient enough to carry out all security tasks?
6. If not explain why?
7. Any improvements you can sight on current systems which are needed?
8. How do you react in terms of emergency situations, theft, burglary etc.?
9. What other security precautions do you perceive?
10. How are recorded and employees protected?

Interview for guards

1. When did you start running the system?

2. What led to the initial system?

3. How security Verification done?

4. Are there any other notable hiccups in information communication between employees?

5. Where are the details of entrants and excitants kept?

6. Are they any processing improvement made that must be kept?

7. Are there any necessary improvements needed by system?

8. WHY OR WHY NOT?

9. Do you want a computerised system?

10. Any other problems to be stated below?

QUESTIONNAIRE TO THE MANAGER

1. In current system how are employee complaints received?

2. As manager what changes are you eyeing on the system?

3. Is there ample time for workers to refrain in the current system?

4. Any two employee benefits offered by the company?

5. How are paper work and other necessary recording carried out in current system?

6. Which system do you think will do the job efficiently?

7. Does company have any organised files for information storage?

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8. How is system computerized and will company be able to meet the costs?

9. Explain further information analysis?

MANAGER INTERVIEW
1. Other than fuels and gases are there any other variations of Zuva products?

2. On a percentage scale how are business profits annually?

3. Are they any other specific problems you tend to point out?

4. Do you work well with subordinates (workers of a lower range?)

5. How does relationship affect system efficiency (negatively or positively?)

6. How many years do you have under your belt with the business?

7. Which system do you find better suited for company?

8. Are workers happy with annually salary as per your view?

9.List any other system problems you sight as managers?

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BROAD DESCRIPTION OF EXISTING SYSTEM
INPUT FOR THE EXISTING SYSTEM

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