You have recently been hired as a business analyst for the chief financial officer (CFO) of a small direct-to-consumer organization. The company is growing and is looking for ways to gain efficiency by automating some processes.

Jamez

21 Mar 2026 • 6 min read

3/20/26, 5:08 PM Assignment Information

ACC 315 Project One Guidelines and Rubric

Competency

In this project, you will demonstrate your mastery of the following competencies:

Analyze the benefits and drawbacks of accounting information systems to an organization

Explain how business processes function within an accounting information system

Overview

For this project, you will focus on analyzing a payroll onboarding process. By using your knowledge of general accounting principles, you will determine what information you will need to perform the analysis. Consider how you review the onboarding documentation to verify it for payroll and determine what information must be input into the accounting information system (AIS) related to the payroll onboarding process.

Scenario

You have recently been hired as a business analyst for the chief financial officer (CFO) of a small direct-to-consumer organization. The company is growing and is looking for ways to gain efficiency by automating some processes. The CFO has asked you to perform an analysis of the current payroll onboarding function within the organization. Through this analysis of the current onboarding functions, you will determine the benefits and drawbacks of how employee information flows through an AIS and how using an AIS will improve the payroll onboarding process.

Using what you have learned from your Milestone One assignment (flowchart) and with your knowledge of inputting data into an AIS, you will analyze the current new-hire procedures to identify areas for improvement and present this to the CFO.

Directions

After reviewing the Scenario and Supporting Materials sections, complete your analysis. Begin by reviewing the current new-hire procedures manual specific to the payroll onboarding process. Using Microsoft PowerPoint, create a presentation including speaker notes, and incorporate the illustration completed in Milestone One (flowchart). This is your opportunity to incorporate feedback you received from your instructor into your flowchart before adding it to your PowerPoint presentation. Remember, the goal of the PowerPoint presentation is to present any findings to the CFO.

You will need to include a dialog of your findings (script) within the Speaker Notes section in your presentation. You will then need to download the Speaker Notes in the form of a PDF file to upload for your submission with the completed PowerPoint presentation. You will have two submissions for Project One: your presentation and your script. Review the PowerPoint Speaker Notes Tutorial in the Supporting Materials section for assistance.

Specifically, you must address the following rubric criteria:

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3/20/26, 5:08 PM Assignment Information

1. Provide a high-level overview of the payroll onboarding process.

2. Illustrate the payroll onboarding process in the form of a flowchart. Include the following details in your response:

A. Post your flowchart within the presentation after incorporating feedback from your instructor on Milestone One.

B. Describe which job function is responsible for performing each task.

3. Explain how the payroll onboarding processes function within accounting information systems.

4. Identify inputs and outputs of the payroll onboarding processes within an accounting information system.

5. Identify how key transaction cycles are automated. Include the following details in your response:

A. Identify steps in the payroll process from paper approval (timesheet) to automated employee paychecks.

6. Identify at least two benefits of automating the payroll onboarding system.

7. Explain your rationale why the identified benefits support automating the payroll onboarding system.

8. Identify at least two drawbacks of automating the payroll onboarding system.

9. Explain your rationale why the identified drawbacks do not support automating the payroll onboarding process.

10. Summarize your findings of the payroll onboarding process. Include the following details in your response:

A. Tasks within a payroll onboarding process

B. Inputs and outputs in the payroll onboarding process

C. Appropriate personnel performing tasks (role)

D. Employee onboarding process documents

E. Approval protocol

F. Benefits and drawbacks of the payroll onboarding process

G. Security protocol

H. Appropriate computerized output with corresponding due dates

What to Submit

To complete this project, you must submit the following:

Payroll Onboarding Presentation

Submit your completed 12–14 slide presentation using the Project One Template and Microsoft PowerPoint. Sources should be cited in APA style.

Speaker Notes

Include speaker notes with your presentation in the form of a PDF file. Sources should be cited in APA style.

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3/20/26, 5:08 PM Assignment Information

Supporting Materials

The following resources support your work on the project:

Project One New Hire Procedures

PowerPoint Speaker Notes Tutorial

AI Usage

If you use gen AI tools to support your work on this assignment, be sure to follow these AI usage guidelines. You must acknowledge your use of these tools in your work. Guidelines on how to cite AI tools can be found in this Shapiro Library guide.

Project One Rubric

Criteria	Exceeds Expectations	Meets Expectations	Partially Meets Expectations	Does Not Meet Expectations	Value
Overview	N/A	Provides a high-level overview of the payroll onboarding process (100%)	Shows progress toward meeting expectations, but with errors or omissions (55%)	Does not attempt criterion (0%)	5
Illustrate	Exceeds expectations in an exceptionally clear and insightful manner (100%)	Illustrates the payroll onboarding process in the form of a flowchart (85%)	Shows progress toward meeting expectations, but with errors or omissions; areas for improvement may include consistencies in the process, clear descriptions of which job function is responsible for performing the task (55%)	Does not attempt criterion (0%)	5
Processes	Exceeds expectations in an exceptionally clear and insightful manner (100%)	Explains how the payroll onboarding processes function within accounting information systems (85%)	Shows progress toward meeting expectations, but with errors or omissions; areas for improvement may include clear process functions without gaps (55%)	Does not attempt criterion (0%)	10

https://learn.snhu.edu/d2l/le/content/2198906/viewContent/48324616/View 3/5

3/20/26, 5:08 PM Assignment Information

Criteria	Exceeds Expectations	Meets Expectations	Partially Meets Expectations	Does Not Meet Expectations	Value
Inputs and Outputs	Exceeds expectations in an exceptionally clear and insightful manner (100%)	Identifies inputs and outputs of the payroll onboarding processes within an accounting information system (85%)	Shows progress toward meeting expectations, but with errors or omissions; areas for improvement may include additional inputs and outputs (55%)	Does not attempt criterion (0%)	10
Key Transaction Cycles	Exceeds expectations in an exceptionally clear and insightful manner (100%)	Identifies how key transaction cycles are automated (85%)	Shows progress toward meeting expectations, but with errors or omissions; areas for improvement may include additional key transaction cycles in payroll onboarding (55%)	Does not attempt criterion (0%)	5
Benefits	Exceeds expectations in an exceptionally clear and insightful manner (100%)	Identifies benefits of automating the payroll onboarding system (85%)	Shows progress toward meeting expectations, but with errors or omissions; areas for improvement may include sufficient benefit identification (55%)	Does not attempt criterion (0%)	10
Rationale Benefits	Exceeds expectations in an exceptionally clear and insightful manner (100%)	Explains why the identified benefits support automating the payroll onboarding system (85%)	Shows progress toward meeting expectations, but with errors or omissions; areas for improvement may include articulation of benefits (55%)	Does not attempt criterion (0%)	10
Drawbacks	Exceeds expectations in an exceptionally clear and insightful manner (100%)	Identifies drawbacks of automating the payroll onboarding system (85%)	Shows progress toward meeting expectations, but with errors or omissions; areas for improvement may include sufficient drawback identification (55%)	Does not attempt criterion (0%)	10

https://learn.snhu.edu/d2l/le/content/2198906/viewContent/48324616/View 4/5

3/20/26, 5:08 PM Assignment Information

Criteria	Exceeds Expectations	Meets Expectations	Partially Meets Expectations	Does Not Meet Expectations	Value
Rationale Drawbacks	Exceeds expectations in an exceptionally clear and insightful manner (100%)	Explains why the identified drawbacks do not support automating the payroll onboarding process (85%)	Shows progress toward meeting expectations, but with errors or omissions; areas for improvement may include articulation of drawbacks (55%)	Does not attempt criterion (0%)	10
Summarize	Exceeds expectations in an exceptionally clear and insightful manner (100%)	Summarizes findings on the payroll onboarding process (85%)	Shows progress toward meeting expectations, but with errors or omissions; areas for improvement may include additional steps within the payroll onboarding process (55%)	Does not attempt criterion (0%)	15
Clear Communication	Exceeds expectations with an intentional use of language that promotes a thorough understanding (100%)	Consistently and effectively communicates in an organized way to a specific audience (85%)	Shows progress toward meeting expectations, but communication is inconsistent or ineffective in a way that negatively impacts understanding (55%)	Shows no evidence of consistent, effective, or organized communication (0%)	5
Citations and Attributions	Uses citations for ideas requiring attribution, with few or no minor errors (100%)	Uses citations for ideas requiring attribution, with consistent minor errors (85%)	Uses citations for ideas requiring attribution, with major errors (55%)	Does not use citations for ideas requiring attribution (0%)	5
Total:					100%

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