Aria's Gamble Ch. 03

"Thank you for stopping by!" a woman gushed, pushing in with a small team following her. "We know you guys have a busy schedule and hope this doesn't take too long," she insisted and I tried not to scoff. These meetings always took too long. And it was usually because fuckers like her and her team would ramble on about useless, unimportant shit.

"Not a problem," Lucas smiled, gesturing to the cables for her to hook her computer up to the projector so we could discuss the requirements. I adjusted my glasses and grabbed my notebook, biting on my pen to hold it in my mouth as I adjusted in the chair. I sat up on my legs, leaning on one as I shoved my laptop back.

"We ready?" she asked politely and I simply nodded, trying to not look as bored as I felt. I leaned on my hand, watching the screen as she slowly navigated her laptop. It irked me watching her struggle to open applications. This woman did this every month, how was it this hard for her to navigate the fucking computer?! I started doodling, trying to distract myself so I didn't glare at her.

"So what exactly do we need to figure out?" Lucas started and I glanced at him, pursing my lips as he glanced at my notebook. He was looking at everyone in the room, who were all looking at me.

"So our payroll system stores the salaries, benefit payouts, medical care stuff," a guy started, glancing at me warily as I glared at him.

"Yes, I've worked with the system for the bot I made for you guys to generate payroll audits on request," I breathed and they flinched. "The question we have is what exactly do you need from the system, and what is it supposed to look like," I muttered, Lucas glaring at me. "Am I wrong?!" I demanded from him and he sighed, pinching his nose.

"Right, I was just pulling it up," the woman mumbled, looking uneasy as she finished pulling the reports up.

"So what's on the report?" I gestured to it, pressing my pen into the notepad.

"We organize it by department cost center," she started. "So employee IDs, pay grades, wage type, wage rate or salary, the monthly and annual costs, and then any benefits per person," she gestured to each column and I simply nodded.

"And what's the output?" I breathed and she looked confused. "Pulling this is just the first step. You run some pivot tables, or create charts based on specific data sets right?" I pressed and she nodded quickly, blushing as she turned to her computer.

"So we have to report annual spending by cost center. We usually show the breakdown of cost per paygrade, with annotation of how many people make up those totals," she gestured to the chart and I nodded, taking notes.

"And the tables, what about the report tables?" I breathed and she nodded again, pulling up another spreadsheet.

"Finance requires a cost center breakdown of expenses so they can corroborate their books," she mumbled and I sighed.

"Why aren't they just pushing the verification through the same automation channel? Why do you have to prepare all of these data tables? Finance asked me to do something similar on their end," I grumbled and Lucas sighed.

"Aria, there are checks in place," Lucas started and I glared at him.

"I'm not saying forego the verification process. But I'm building the same reports from two different directions. What's the damn point? Why would I waste my time creating these reports for two different departments with the same information?" I pressed and he hesitated. The room was silent. "Finance is tired of auditing payroll's reports, because they have to make their own to do the verification. Payroll is tired of making these reports because finance has to audit them. Why not create one report after running an automation that verifies the datasets from both ends. We have access to Finance's general ledger that tracks payroll's activities! And we have the access to payroll's TPS database," I grumbled and Lucas smirked.

"Well, that was kind of the reason we wanted to meet," the woman started then, sounding nervous and uncertain. "Of course we have to confirm with risk and compliance. And we'd have to inform finance we aren't going to make the report anymore," she started and I sighed.

"No you don't. The same report is getting generated in two different departments. That's process redundancy. Removing the redundancy and still making the report is not a compliance or risk concern. And finance doesn't give a rat's ass if you make the report or not. They make the same one. As long as their audit can be performed they don't care what you do," I asserted and she shut up.

"Attitude," Lucas grumbled and I sighed, grabbing my soda and taking a long sip before looking around at the table.

"Are there any components of the monthly reports that you guys need for your own processes?" I demanded and she nodded slowly.

"We use the reports in the event a dispute is made against a pay period reporting," she started and I nodded, taking some more notes.

"So I guess the responsibility of archiving the reports belongs to payroll, since finance only needs them for auditing purposes," I muttered and Lucas sighed.

"You can't just decide that for them Aria," he asserted and I sighed.

"Just talking out loud boss man," I grumbled. "It just makes the most sense, does it not?" I glanced at him and he shrugged.

"Not really our place to decide that," he breathed and I rolled my eyes. It was never our place to recommend practical business decisions. Even though our job required us to make processes more efficient by any means necessary, even if we couldn't help out directly.

"I do need to know where the reports should be archived though, for access controls," I reminded him and he nodded, crossing his arms as he studied me curiously. "Look, I already have the report requirements from finance. Had I known it was the same one we could have skipped all of this," I gestured to her computer. She looked like a child being scorned by her parents.

"I think this meeting is valuable," Lucas countered and I glanced at him. "It helped us identify a process redundancy. That is always beneficial," he shrugged and I sighed heavily. What a fucking prick.

"All I need are examples of the charts and data tables you create, so I can see what is and isn't covered by finance's requirements they submitted for their project. I'm fairly certain almost all of them overlap," I muttered and the woman nodded. "Just send me everything you have for this process. The procedures, systems accessed, archiving requirements," I listed off and she nodded eagerly, trying to take it down.

"Look I'll just send you over what I have from finance, list out all the things I need verified, and you can all work out the details," I gestured to her team and she sighed, seeming relieved.

"Sure, sounds like a plan," she breathed and I nodded. "There is also the matter of benefits reporting to HR," she continued and I glanced at her curiously.

"You send reports to HR?" I breathed and she nodded.

"They take the data and create statistically driven reports. Like how many employees use what benefits," she muttered. "How many women and men are employed in each department," she continued and I snickered.

"Is that a report they laminate and hang up if the percentages are politically acceptable?" I laughed and she gasped. "What's the point of that?" I demanded and Lucas sighed.

"Again, not our place to ask that question Aria," he scolded me and I glanced at him.

"Well it is kind of important, because if the reports are designed in a way that require another person to manipulate them for another output," I started and he sighed, trying not to smile again.

"What do you mean?" the woman asked, seeming curious.

"If HR uses the analysis to drive specific benefit programs, create surveys, or dump into their own analytics software to churn out whatever it is they do," I breathed and she nodded slowly. "I would much rather get their input on how to properly design those data tables," I shrugged and she sighed.

"I never really asked," she admitted and I smiled.

"Right, because you were just handed a damn procedure and told that this is how we do things," I breathed and she blushed, hanging her head.

"No shame in that, that's why we exist!" Lucas put his hand on my shoulder and I glared at him. "Right Aria?" he gripped it firmly, smiling in a way that screamed murderous rage.

"Sure, whatever. Can we end this meeting early, and regroup tomorrow with the HR and finance teams to run over this process end to end? I think we're missing a bigger picture," I breathed, shutting my laptop and standing up as I collected my things.

"Oh, uh, ok sure," she nodded, her team looking unnerved as they all studied me. "But could we actually use the rest of the time to go over the requirements?" she asked then with some conviction. "I want to make sure we don't miss anything else," she insisted and I hesitated before simply nodding and sitting back down.

"I have another meeting, but Aria can stay," Lucas got up to leave, hesitating at the door before glaring at me. "I hope my presence isn't needed for this to be productive," he muttered and I smirked.

"Go away," I waved my hand at him and he sighed heavily, yanking the door open and disappearing. I gestured for the cables, the woman handing them over as I plugged them in. I started showing them everything I would need to know for my development. I also showed them what finance gave me, discussing the different requirements from an automation perspective.

They seemed intrigued as they all took notes furiously. As we discussed I prepared a document that had everything we went over, including what I had and what remained to be gathered. We even established a list of "To Dos" before pulling another meeting together with HR and finance.

"This has been so helpful," the woman gushed, her team agreeing happily. "We never really know what to do for these types of projects," she admitted and I shrugged. "And no one has ever taken the time to sit us down and work through the end-to-end process. I think mapping it out like this," she gestured to the whiteboard and giggled. "This really shows us where our gaps are," she mused. "This isn't a standard for your dev team?" she continued and I shook my head.

"No, this is just my methodology when tackling a project. I kind of see things as like interactive cogs, or a massive web. You can't touch one area as if it's an independent silo. Nothing in any business operates like that. Pulling back even just a bit gives a better concept of scope. Sure it might mean more work, but the results are better and there are more efficiencies to be gained this way too," I mused. She nodded happily, admiring me.

"You're Aria Clemens right?" she asked and I simply nodded. "You have quite the reputation," she chuckled, her team snickering too.

"I'm sure it's something along the lines of unpleasant to put up with, but incredibly thorough and effective with a work ethic that makes her borderline certifiable!" I offered cheerily and she laughed, nodding. "I like to think my blunt, get to the point demeanor is part of my charm. It's also how I can get so many projects done in a quarter. So as uncomfortable as it may seem, it is effective and far more efficient. The semantics of office politics and etiquette just take too much damn time," I grumbled and she laughed.

"Well, I was pretty uncertain about working on a project with you. I've heard horror stories," she continued and I smiled, trying not to show how irked I was by that.

"Working with me isn't a problem. Unless you take things personally," I shrugged and she nodded. "But to Lucas' point earlier, most of the problems that are coming our way are procedures that have become outdated and inefficient. It's no one's fault. Just have to improve them," I offered as I packed up my things. "I really don't want to stick around to make more small talk. I think we've accomplished enough. I sent the doc with everything we discussed. Let's not waste each other's time and just get as much done as you can before scheduling another meeting," I breathed, walking toward the door.

"Alright, have a great day!" she waved me off and I nodded, waving to her as well. The door shut behind me and I sighed, walking back to my desk. I needed to blow off some steam after that. I glanced back toward Lace's desk as I set my laptop down. He was working on something, Donny leaning over his shoulder and studying it curiously.

They both were talking and pointing at the screen. I glanced at the time and sighed heavily. I could hold out for a few more hours, no need to pull Lace away from his work to help me relieve some of this stress. Besides, it would be dangerous to latch onto Lace to work through my problems. Better not make a habit out of using him to feel better.

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Let me know if you really want a chapter 4!!