This strategic analysis of options aims to highlight the systemic issues faced in sales reporting and their cascading effects on payroll, commission, compensation, and customer invoicing at Cox Communications. As one employee, I have experienced the reality of these errors firsthand during my initial months of sales production. Starting from my 16th day of selling, I encountered and reported these issues to the best of my ability. The challenges encountered with the STAR report—where discrepancies in data have impacted financial outcomes—underscore a broader pattern of operational inefficiencies and delays. These issues began with the persistent technical problems involving my work computer, which required intervention from eight different technicians and over 50 trouble tickets over a 90-day period. Promises to replace the malfunctioning computer were not fulfilled, and the recurring issues with slow and often inoperable internet service (the very product we were tasked to sell) reflect a troubling consistency in how operational challenges are managed.
This document will introduce and detail specific data discrepancies, their direct impact on performance metrics, and how they contribute to payroll inaccuracies. The introduction of HTML-based verification against database summaries has revealed substantial variances, providing clear evidence of the issues within the current reporting systems. The following table and subsequent analysis aim to bring these issues to the forefront for resolution.
| Attribute | Description | Relevance to Star Report Analysis |
|---|---|---|
| Accuracy | Ensures that all payroll, commission, compensation, and customer invoicing data are recorded correctly and reflect true values. | Verifying that all transactions and order amounts are accurately recorded in the Star report, ensuring correct payroll calculations, commission reporting, and customer billing. |
| Completeness | Confirms that all relevant payroll, commission, compensation, and customer invoicing transactions have been recorded. | Ensuring that no orders or transactions are omitted from the Star report, preventing understatements that could impact payroll, performance metrics, and customer invoices. |
| Existence/Occurrence | Verifies that recorded transactions and events have actually occurred and pertain to the entity. | Checking that all orders and transactions listed in the Star report actually occurred and are legitimate, preventing overstatements and fraudulent entries. |
| Valuation/Allocation | Confirms that all assets, liabilities, and equity interests are included in the payroll, commission, compensation, and customer invoicing at appropriate amounts. | Ensuring that all order values and related financial data in the Star report are correctly valued and allocated, aligning with proper accounting standards for payroll and customer billing. |
| Presentation and Disclosure | Ensures that all components of payroll, commission, compensation, and customer invoicing are properly classified, described, and disclosed. | Verifying that the Star report data is presented clearly and transparently, with all necessary details disclosed, to support accurate and understandable payroll calculations and customer billing. |
Type Mismatch: Data type inconsistency between columns and inserted values.
Null Value Error: Required field left empty, causing data integrity issues.
Lost Update: Two transactions overwrite each other's changes simultaneously.
Non-Repeatable Read (Fuzzy Read): Data changes between two reads in same transaction.
| Order ID | Customer ID | Product | Order Amount | Status |
|---|