The Triple Nickle
The 555 Housing Coop (popularly referred to as the Triple Nickle) is a 140 unit housing coop on Roosevelt Ave in Queens NY. All residents are shareholders who have equal rights in the coop. The Board of Directors (BOD) of 555 has a two year term and is in overall charge of the buildings affairs. The BOD has hired a Management Company to run the work of the building on a daily basis. The current Management Company is Burnham Management Group (BM) and their current contract extends to June 2023. BM manages all aspects of 555 through a series of stable systems. All residents of 555 pay a monthly maintenance fee (MMF) by electronic transfer or check to an account in the name of 555 Trust Operations that is managed by BM. The MMF is proportional to the square footage of each apartment but on the average it's just above $1000/unit and so BM manages a monthly intake of about $140,000 through which it pays for all expenses of 555. At the beginning of each month BM pays the five staff of 555 (3 maintenance staff, 1 administrator and a supervisor). In addition it verifies inventory each week (cleaning supplies, heating oil etc.) and orders all daily use materials for the building from a group of suppliers. Also, BM verifies the time sheets for the 555s night security staff who are subcontracted from a Security firm (Synoptic Security) each week and pays Synoptic the appropriate amount based on a $19/hour rate. If the 555 maintenance staff have any requirements outside of the regular inventory (such as an out of the ordinary need to purchase filters for the heating system or new fans for the laundry dryers) they raise a "Materials Request Note" (MRN) and send the same to BM, who verifies the requirement and places necessary orders with their suppliers. On the second Monday of each month, BM generates three reports – The Monthly Income/Expense Statement, a Cash Flow Projection for the next six months and a Budget to Actuals Comparison Report. The last of these, the Budget to Actuals Comparison Report is based on an Annual Budget that the 555 BOD approves each June for the next financial year (July-June) and any Budget Modification Memos issued by the BOD during the course of the year. BM records and maintains the latest budget figures for the 555 BOD. At the end of each quarter the BOD also issues a Surplus Cash Memo to BM that instructs the latter as to how much of the surplus monies from 555s Operations Account should be moved into 555s Capital Account (or occasionally from the Capital Account to Operations Account) and BM executes this transaction as per memo instructions. Finally BM submits an annual report to the BOD on any unusual trends around building maintenance and projections for any upcoming big ticket Capital expenses (Annual Projection Report) for the following year.
1. Read the above description a few times so that you understand all parts of it.
2. Making inventory of the external entities and processes identifiable in the above description.
3. Draw a top level DFD.
