My report is 65% done according to my advisor. I got confused with his comments. I’m willing to forward the work so my assign writer can proceed on my existing write up.

LINCOLN UNIVERSITY

 

Cashflow Analysis of Preemptive Security Solutions Inc.

BA398 MBA Internship Report

by

Abdussalam, Arazeem Omotola (#13918)

MBA

Advisor: Alexander Anokhin

 

 

April 2020

 

Table of Contents

Executive Summary. iii

Introduction. 1

1.1        Company Name, Internship Position, and Job Description. 1

1.2        The purpose of the Report 1

1.3        Definition of Terms. 2

Company. 2

2.1        Industry Overview.. 2

2.2        Company Description. 3

2.3        Business Model 4

Company Analysis. 5

3.1        Company Market 5

3.1.1         Services Provided by PSS. 6

3.1.2         Key Markets Served. 6

3.1.3         Workforce. 7

3.2        Company Competition. 7

3.3        Company Estimated Financial Results. 8

3.4        SWOT Analysis. 10

3.4.1         Strengths. 10

3.4.2         Weaknesses. 10

3.4.3         Opportunities. 10

3.4.4         Threats. 11

Internship Analysis. 11

4.1        Internship Department 11

4.2        Internship activities analysis. 12

Learning Curve. 13

5.1        Knowledge Acquired at Lincoln. 13

5.2        Application of acquired Knowledge at PSS. 14

Recommendations and Conclusions. 14

6.1        Recommendations. 14

6.2        Conclusions. 15

Bibliography. 17

 

 

Executive Summary

This report details my internship experience as Operations Manager with Preemptive Security Solutions Inc. I have been engaged with the company and worked in manager’s capacity from January 2020 which has given me the privilege to exhibit the theoretical knowledge acquired during my coursework at Lincoln University as a graduate student.

This report detailed the company model, analyze company’s financial performance and human resources management practices. It also details the work done during the internship as an operations manager and how the job has helped me personally in capacity building and understanding business in the real world.

Finally, the report revealed the milestone reached with the company within the short period, my recommendations and achievements in the company, and general impacts on the company’s development.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

iii

 

Introduction

1.1       Company Name, Internship Position, and Job Description

Preemptive Security Solutions Inc. is a security service provider company established in year 2015 and have its headquarter in Los Angeles and extended its security services to Bay Area in year 2016 and since settled well in the region, competing nicely with other topflight security companies like; US Security, Allied University Security, Image Security company and Security System Solutions.

I was employed (on Internship bases) as Operations Manager with the following job responsibilities:   Coordinating the company’s activities in the Bay area, Supervising and reporting fairness and well-being of all the Employees in the Bay Area, Assessing and analyzing the Bay Area’s budgets, to prepare payroll, Inspiring and motivating employees to perform at their best through positive encouragement and welfarism, Identifying potential problems and points of friction and working to find solutions, Identifying and advising the President on opportunities and potentials in the Bay Area in order to expand and take advantage of any changes in the market and preparing a monthly activities report to the president.

1.2       The purpose of the Report

This report is significantly required to analyze the practical experience acquired during my internship as Operations Manager with PSS Inc. It detailed the work done, achievements and recommendations during the internship period.

1.3       Definition of Terms

The follow terms hereby defined as used in my report for clarity purpose.

1. Internship –           a work experience offered by an organization for a period.
2. PSS –           PSS as often used in the context implies Preemptive Security Solutions.
3. Preemptive –           serving or intended to forestall something, especially to prevent attack by enemy
4. Bay Area –           a region in the northern California, spanning the city of San Francisco and surrounding Counties.
5. LA –           LA is an acronym for Los Angeles which is a city in California where the company have it headquarter.
6. Workforce –           Total number of employees working for the company.
7. Organogram –           is a diagram representing the management structure of a company
8. Value-add –           additional value that company service has above the baseline.
9. Vandalism –           deliberate destruction or damage of public or private property.

Company

2.1       Industry Overview

PSS understands that every organization faces unique security challenges including Government parastatals, private properties, retail stores, homeowners, and agencies, which is why the company devoted extensive time and resources toward understanding each customer’s specific needs. PSS conduct a comprehensive assessment of the organization’s security protocols, with the result being a customized security program that is effective, adaptable, and a “value-add” solution. Upon thoroughly understanding a customer’s needs, challenges, current security, goals, and budget, PSS usually customize a strategic security plans for its clients. These strategic plans detail proposed solutions including staffing needs and equipment recommendations. Upon approval of the security solution, a management team is hand-picked from managers with extensive backgrounds in high-level security positions. They bring established relationships with the local law enforcement community and adjust priorities to specific and evolving customer needs. The management team then selects a staff of security officers and operational personnel that meet our rigorous employment requirements. Preemptive Security Solutions recognizes that security plans must be dependable and flexible, which is why feedback and ongoing communication with customers is so crucial.

2.2       Company Description

Preemptive Security Solutions’ mission is to serve the nation and customers by securing what is important, which enables the safe conduct of commerce and public life. To achieve this mission, we are committed to delivering:

• Secure, safe, and efficient operations
• Highly responsive, customer-friendly services and facilities
• Motivated, diverse, and trained workforce
• Strong and reliable financial performance
• Open public communications and community relations
• Environmentally responsible policies

Preemptive Security Solutions provides both armed and unarmed security patrol services to various industries and customers, which acts as a visible deterrent helping to reduce theft, vandalism, and ensuring customer safety and peace of mind. Our security patrol officers, whether on foot, bicycle, or roving vehicle, are trained to spot ‘out of the ordinary’ disturbances, which in many cases will proactively prevent problems before they occur.

The management structure of the company in the bay area is shown in below organogram

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Figure 1 shows the management of the company’s resources and operations is centered on the Operations Manager as the Operations Manager plays the coordinating role between the HR, Accounts and Supervisors and report directly to the General Manager. This gives chances for quick decision-making process which leads to speedy growth of the company in the bay area.

2.3       Business Model

PSS is security service provider company. Just like other security companies, PSS work with local enforcement agencies aimed to ensuring safety of life and properties with a great deal of profit-making business strategies. An increasing crime rate, theft, properties damage etc. in the nation especially here in California is a great opportunity for the company to continue exceling in the business. Almost every store, government parastatals, private properties, homeowners, events, and functions in the province required a service of private security company which PSS is benefitting from and form part of customer base of the company.

Company Analysis

3.1       Company Market

Preemptive Security Solutions provides security patrol services to various industries and customers, which acts as a visible deterrent helping to reduce theft, vandalism, and ensuring customer safety and peace of mind. PSS’s security patrol officers, whether on foot, bicycle, or roving vehicle, are trained to spot ‘out of the ordinary’ disturbances, which in many cases will proactively prevent problems before they occur.

 

3.1.1    Services Provided by PSS

• Foot Patrol
• Bicycle Patrol
• Vehicle Patrol
• Emergency Response Situations
• Coordination-Interface with Local Law Enforcement
• Parking Lot Inspection
• Fire and Safety Watch Services
• First Aid – CPR Services
• Alarm Response
• Facility Inspection: Access, Gates, Offices, Pools, Fitness, Laundry Room
• GPS Tour System, Incident Reporting, Tour Reports, Invoice Backup
• Patrol and visit verification through GPS Guard Tour system
• Real Time Reporting and Site Photo capability

3.1.2    Key Markets Served

3.1.3    Workforce

The company currently has a total of 90 employees including armed / unarmed guards and administration staff across the company head office and the branches within the state of California. The pay rate is varied ranging between $17-25/hour depending on the nature of the contract, regional minimum wage required and employees’ qualifications. It is important to mention for the purpose of this report that the Bay area have 33 employees out of the total of 90 working for the company.

3.2       Company Competition

There are numerous security companies in California State, I am going to limit my comparison to the Bay Area for the purpose of this report. Although, PSS is a top rating security company in LA where the company had its dominancy, but this is not same in the

3.3       Company Estimated Financial Results

Currently, the company has about 1,090 hours contracts in the bay area realizing approximately, an average of $86,000 from the total hours monthly, spending an average of $75,000 on 33 employees’ wages and overhead monthly.

Table 1 – Cash flow analysis

Receipts	January $	February $	March $	April $
Loan c/f	3,000	1,000	–	–
Vouchers Received	84,300	71,800	98,400	98,400
Investment Income	–	–	–	–
Total Received	87,300	72,800	98,400	98,400
Payments
Wages	60,950	49,150	70,900	70,900
Rent	2,400	2,400	2,400	2,400
Utilities	1,500	1,500	1,500	1,500
Maintenance	1,300	1,100	1,500	1,500
Insurance	1,440	1,440	1,440	1,440
Taxes	1,330	1,160	1,550	1,550
Loan Dues	2,000	1,000	–	–
Purchases (Asset)	–	7,200	11,000	–
Total Spent	70,920	64,950	90,290	90,290
Cash Flow	16,380	7,850	8,110	8,110
Cash Balance	16,380	24,230	32,340	40,450

Table above represent PSS monthly cashflow for the months of January, February, March, and April 2020 in the bay area. What we can understand from this cash flow is; the operations during the reported period was good enough to have set off $3,000 inherited from year 2019. Two patrol vehicles were also secured each in the months of February and March at a cost of $6,000 and $8,000 respectively to enhance operations in the bay area and various units of security outfits was purchased for use at a total cost of $4,200. All other overheads settled to date and the flow reflected a cash balance of $40,450 for the month ending 30^th April 2020.

Figure 2 Financial Analysis Chat

The information in the table one above is represented in the figure 1, which indicate a steady increment in the company’s income from the month of February to April in the bay area.

3.4       SWOT Analysis

3.4.1    Strengths

• Price: The company realized most clients want quality service with low cost, so we try to adopt Low-Cost Strategy in the bay area to penetrate the industry and compete well with the top companies in the industry. This make sense because we were able to secure more long-time contract within a space of 4 Months.
• Quality Service: The company is rated high for quality service. This ratings and recommendations by existing clients win more contract for the company. PSS never lost a contract because of poor quality service.
• Quick Response: PSS is always in the front line to provide emergency security service whenever clients calls for it. The company response and estimated time of arrival is always accurate, and this gives our clients confidence in us. This is possible because we have our standby team for this purpose as part of strategic plan for sustainability.

3.4.2    Weaknesses

• Funding: the company face a lot of challenges due to lack of enough funding. PSS try everything possible to avoid any potential security breach to client and this requires a lot of funding. Installation of advance intelligence security system to encrypt operations also required a lot of funding.

3.4.3    Opportunities

• Covid-19: it is regrettable to state that the corona virus pandemic created more market for security companies because many clients switched to 24 hours surveillance to secure their property in this period because the miscreants exploit this situation to rip off a lot of stores and damage properties. PSS also is currently banking on this opportunity to penetrate the security market in the bay area.
• Increase Crime Rate: the increasing crimes, theft, properties damage and vandalism in the bay area make demands for security service high in the area. This make it possible for new entrants like PSS to have grand in the industry.

3.4.4    Threats

• Competitors: the existence of the top security companies like US Security, Allied Universal Security, Guardian, ADT, Advance Security, and Security System Management in the bay area remain the biggest threat for PSS.
• Corona Virus: the pandemic is also a threat because the company need to deploy everything possible to ensure clients interests are protected as well as ensuring guards, supervisors and other employees are safe from the ramping virus.
• State Law: some provisions in the California state laws has always been a threat to security industries as it literarily gives protections to the bad guys and allow them to misbehave and commit crimes. For example, as a security guard, you do not have right to touch or stop anyone you see obviously attempting to steal at your place of work. The bad guys are aware of these laws and they capitalize on it to commit their crimes, they do this so smartly and leave successfully before the arrival of the police.

Internship Analysis

4.1       Internship Department

Understanding the business model in 2.3 above, the organization employed me as an assistant operations manager basically to oversees the aggregate operations of the company in the bay area as noted in the overview. This report focuses on the Operating Cashflow, Operations and Human Resources Department of the PSS business structure in the bay area as the other part of the company structures remain with the corporate headquarter.

4.2       Internship activities analysis

It is a great deal to say I had a total support of my supervisor from the beginning of work which enhanced my operations positively. Firstly, I had a company’s complementary card which I gave out to some of retail stores, house managers, schools, and hospitals in the bay area. I thought the corona virus outbreak was going to affect the business but surprisingly, existing contracts were retained and many clients from different sectors contacted us via e-mail to request for our service and so far, I was able to negotiate and secure three long term contracts (Uhaul Oakland and two residentials houses in Alameda) for the company in the month of March and each of these contracts is 12 hours coverage, 7 days a week, on-going contract. It is important to note that the contracts are finalized with the corporate because of the documentations and legal aspects of the contract.

I also hired 10 new employees to the company’s workforce which make total employees working for PSS in the bay area currently seat at 33. I keep records of the employees, the form w-4 and other paper works, I conduct their interview, select suitable and most qualified candidates, train and place them accordingly. Most of the training were on the job training because the selected candidates were experienced, and this has helped in reducing costs. I prepare their payroll and forward to the central payroll system every Sundays. I also keep records of the equipment and assets of the company in the bay area, finally, I prepare and forward an estimate of logistics and overhead to the corporate monthly for release of funds for smooth operations. I must say this exposure to the real-world business experience is a great accomplishment for me.

Learning Curve

5.1       Knowledge Acquired at Lincoln

I think this internship is never going to be possible without my coursework. It is important to note that every part of my coursework both core and concentration courses are all an integral part of the success of my internship. The Knowledge acquired from Human Resources Management as a course for instance helped me a lot in recruitment, selection, training and placement of employees. I had I clear idea of what I wanted in the candidates in relation with the kind of service the company offers and I have the right approach to selections based on the knowledge I had previously in human resource management. I was able to manage the employees effectively, motivate them and make them give their best to the organization productivity. This helped in keeping the cost of recruitment relatively low.

Operations Management is another course work that played a significant role in my internship especially as an operations manager. I was able to annex and coordinate the business operations smoothly. I was able to make decisions for the organization and ensure quality services to the clients.

With experience acquired from organization behavior and administration, I was able to relate well with and maintain good productive communication between the cooperate management, clients, and employees as operations manager of the company in the bay area.

Finance management, Principles of management, Business Strategy and Decision Making, Managerial Accounting and Financial Control and other coursework also helped in one way or the other to make my internship work successful.

5.2       Application of acquired Knowledge at PSS

• Business Strategy: I adopted Low-Cost Strategy in the bay area to penetrate the industry and compete well with the top companies in the industry. This make sense because we were able to secure 3 long contracts in March and 4^th contract in late April.
• Motivation: The employees are well motivated through weekly wage payment policy, direct deposit, Overtime payment, flexible time shift and paid leave.
• Subordination: The organizational goals and objectives of the company in the bay area as formulated by the president are notably achieved base on the fact that there is cooperation and subordination between my supervisor who is the General Manager of the company and I. we are always on the same page, interpreting the policies and strategies of the company so well which is of course beneficial to the company.

Recommendations and Conclusions

6.1       Recommendations

I recorded a couple of achievements during this internship vis-à-vis.

1. Firstly, I requested for two patrol vehicles to be used by the supervisors for inspections in San Francisco and West Oakland where the company have its most contracts. We have one delivered in February and the second one in March.
2. Second recommendation made was that the company should pay wages weekly. The idea came to me because most of the employees complain their previous employers pay them lately most time and that is the main reason, they quit their jobs during interviews. So, I thought we can do something different to make them comfortable with us. I was able to convince the cooperate on this proposal and it was accepted. The employees in the bay area have been receiving their pay checks weekly as from beginning of March 2020 and no employee has ever quit since then and many of them request for more hours with us which is a sign they are happy working with PSS.
3. My third recommendation which is under review with the cooperate now is that, PSS should go in to retail sales of security supplies like uniforms, flashlight, defense spray, locker safes, bags and organizers, body armor and ballistic protection, badges and customization, Holsters and duty gear, apparel accessories, footwears, communications radios and GPS, Restraints and so on. This I belief will give the company more money. I highlighted a detailed finance options for the cooperate to be able to finance the business if considered.

6.2       Conclusions

I believe my last recommendation will be considered by the corporate because I was able to defend the proposal with a great sign of interests by the management through a teleconference we had late March, 2020 and of course the business idea will definitely strengthen the company financially. Although, the current scenario might slow down the decision or perhaps accessibility to finance as most of finance houses are currently being careful with issuing loan to especially small businesses.

It is so interesting to conclude this report by pointing directly to the success recorded during my ongoing internship with PSS within a short period as evidenced in the financial analysis and reported achievements. The exercise is purposeful, I was able to help the organization as much as it is more beneficial to my carrier and capacity building. However, I need to know more of required documents like Insurance certificate and other legal documents the company usually submit to clients during the final stage of the contracts. This I belief will give me a full management experience and will enable me to set up a business like this later in future if I so desires. I understand this part of a business is very confidential and belong to the top management of an organization and I believe I will have the information in due course. The whole internship experience with PSS was great and worthwhile.

 

 

Bibliography

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