Basic objectives of project TOP SERVIS

The goal of the project is to create 10 jobs which we intend to integrate in the certified continuous education program as part of company training. The result of the two-year process will be a top team whose individual members will possess certificates of accounting assistants, chartered accountants, or an accounting expert.

We have found a partner for our TOP SERVICE programme in the Institute of the Union of Accountants a.s. in Prague. We chose this partner due to the top quality of the members of its teaching staff and also for the broad recognition of the quality of the certification system for accounting education, and its full comparability and compatibility with educational systems abroad.

Once the project is completed, our entire team will be able to demonstrate a unique qualification in the industry, which will be a substantial competitive advantage both in the Czech Republic and abroad. This will lay the necessary basis for successful activities of the team abroad.

TOP SERVICE received a grant from the Czech government and the European Social Fund in 2006. The project includes Trade Wind s.r.o. as project partner, as well as A.D.P. net, s.r.o. and Vladimír Pavlíček as subcontractors.

Principles of TOP SERVICE 2

environment is going to drive narrow specialization in each area of business. In turn, specialization will drive the demand for specialized and guaranteed financial services, and the tendency will be to outsource those. We have successfully developed a data centre and we have hands-on experience with a live operation. As early as 2007, the original capacity was sold out due to immense interest and we purchased another terminal server. The data centre we operate it nowadays fully meets the definition of what is called a "shared data centre" within the "ICT and Strategic Services" operating programme, which invited applications for the 2007-2013 financial period. Together with Grantika, we submitted this project for approval of EU structural funds once the call for submissions was published.

We are experienced in operating hardware and software within a data centre, and we have won tenders for grant financing out of EU structural funds. We possess all the professional certificates, an auditor license, and a chartered accountant certification. We are a member of the Chamber of Auditors as well as the Chamber of Certified Accountants of the Czech Republic. We are also certified for ISO 9001:2001. For more information, go to: Certificates.

On the basis of our technical know-how and our financial qualifications over the years, we have designed TOP SERVIS® with the following principles:

1. We registered "TOP SERVICE" as a trademark with the Industrial Property Office of the Czech Republic. Within this trademark, we have also registered the method of service provision in the shared services centre by a certified team, deploying the data centre technology.
2. Building a large-scale option of the shared services centre on the platform of a data centre, using the above technologies, located in a property we own. The new server, whose configuration is attached, allows access to up to 240 external clients at a given time. The new data centre [was] set up in Vídeňská Street in Brno. This location will include a parking lot for 20 vehicles on-site reserved for our clients and ourselves.
3. The economics of the project: This project foresees the creation of 20 jobs (accountants, accounting assistants) to serve 80 new clients (once the data centre is fully up and running), each of whom would possess three secured electronic keys on average (secured remote access). Through its structure, service provision, and break-down of investments, the project qualified for EU funds within the "ICT and Strategic Services" operating programme, which was published in 2007. In cooperation with Grantika a.s., we applied for the grant once the call for applications was made. Within this operating programme, up to 60% of the investments was expected to be recovered from a non-refundable subsidy from the EU structural funds. If this project is financed through a loan, the EU funds will be a considerable source of covering its cost. The attachments include the economics of the whole project and a break-down of the investment expenditures (technology, real property, office furnishing) and the forecast also includes revenues and expenses month by month. The project is profitable even if the loan is repaid in full by instalments, with no subsidy as an extraordinary loan repayment.
4. This is a detailed description of what the shared services centre did: Creating 20 jobs and leveraging their potential to provide a broad range of shared services: the services of an accounting department, financial reporting, filings with the revenue service, reports to outside users (statistical office, investors, banks, etc.), hardware and software maintenance, management of client data on the Helios Orange platform, implemented on the data centre servers which provides client staff with on-line access through secured electronic keys. This whole bundle of services will be provided in line with elaborate processes and with the use of technologies which are already registered under the TOP SERVICE [SERVIS??] trademark.
5. To expand through a franchise, we intend to develop a technical manual describing in detail the data centre technology we have developed, as well as the IT requirements, including the hardware, specific software installations, and IT and software admin qualifications. The manual will also contain detailed descriptions of add-on services, especially book-keeping and payroll accounting and -if the client so requests- outsourcing the accounting department running on the basis of on-line client data processing and sharing within our data centre. This technical manual will also serve as basis for controlling in the data centres we operate. At the same time, the manual will form the basis for expansion through a franchise and the provision of these technologies to more users under the Top Servis ® trademark.
6. The social dimension of the project: As the technologies allow work from home, the project will make it possible to also employ a desirable number of disabled people. This creates the desired social emphasis, thereby increasing its chances to receive the grant and perhaps qualifying for a tax break. It also includes a substantial stabilisation of workforce. Most of the staff is female. Technologies allowing work from home help stabilize this staff during maternal leaves, including a close contact with this quickly evolving profession during that time. Coming back to work after the maternal leave is very difficult if the accountant has lost touch with her profession.
7. Consequently, it will be possible to link the new jobs to educational projects supported by EU funds, at least in the area of accountant certifications and intensive language training. The effects of these associated projects were originally not considered within the financials of the TOP SERVIS project due to our conservative approach (there was no suitable grant programme for this between 2007 and 2013).

Our application for EU funds submitted with the help of Grantika a.s. in 2007 was supported through a regional TV campaign targeting mid-level clientele. Fatem TV became the media partner of TOP SERVIS, an association of regional TV channels. SM-DATA is the founder and manager of the programme, and went through a development and restructuring project in the same year with the following scenario: – We incorporated SM-DATA a.s., which acquired the real property. – The data centre was built within this new entity. – Once TOP SERVIS 2.0 was completed by Karel Smetana within his sole proprietorship, his assets were appraised and invested into SM-DATA a.s. – The activity has continued and developed under SM-DATA a.s., leveraging Mr. Smetana's entire experience, trademarks and personal network. The services are being physically provided in Brno and Prague, as the country's main business locations. Our data centres have expanded throughout the Czech Republic ] and even abroad through partnerships and franchising].

We work with the Institute of the Union of Accountants as our educational partner developing and promoting our data centres. Partners manage the certification of accountants and helps participants start their careers and achieve their life-time goals. The Institute was already our partner in TOP SERVIS 2.0.

Grantika a.s. www.grantika.cz, a subsidiary of Česká spořitelna based in Brno, became our partner in designing suitable projects and applying for EU funds. Grantika is a highly successful specialist in obtaining subsidies, raising over [CZK 2.5 billion over the last two years].

Fatem TV became the media partner for our project and ran a three-month campaign to promote it in 2007.

Other entities involved in the project include CEBRE (representing Czech business in the EU) and the Association of Small and Medium Enterprises and Crafts of the Czech Republic

Having successfully built a data centre on a small scale, we invested a great deal of our own resources in obtaining funds for a larger-scale project. Our [banners] are featured on all leading Internet portals [?] in the Czech Republic as well as partner websites such as the Institute of the Union of Accountants and the European Social Fund. We also ran a full-page presentation in the weekend supplement to Mladá fronta (leading Czech newspaper) co-sponsored by Trade Wind s.r.o.

If you feel addressed by our vision, we are ready to welcome you in our office to show you the results of our work so far.

We look forward to meeting you and working with you!