Riordan Manufacturing Hr Systems Upgrade

Riordan Manufacturing HR Systems Upgrade

James V Lewis Jr.

University of Phoenix

Riordan Manufacturing HR Systems Upgrade

Introduction

High quality information technology systems and human resources management systems are how systems at the human resource level and information technology merges to create clear and precise processes and procedures which will produce a top of the line integrated application for Riordan Manufacturing's human resources department. An upgrade of the human resources management system (HRMS) and HRs information system will coincide with other service request made by Riordan's management, in particular SR-rm-002, 003, 004, 012, and 014, all of which have everything to do with a total overhaul of Riordan's ERP and MRP systems. Presently the company's HR information system, installed in the early 1990s as a module of Riordan's financial systems, is operated primarily in manual mode with paper forms, physical file cabinets, and employee information stored in several locations, with everything controlled by individual managers. Properly to assess the requirement needs of a new and automated HR system one should gather information from stakeholders within the company first (Apollo Group, Inc. 2012).

Stakeholders

Among the stakeholders with information about requirements needed to analyze a successful HRMS, those at the top of the list are

1. Riordan's CEO Dr. Michael Riordan, a top corporate strategist who is personal involved with the level of company performance and customer service.

2. Hugh McCauley, COO of Riordan, responsible for Riordan's daily operation and operates at the behest of the CEO.

3. Human resources Director, Yvonne McMillan, Mrs. McMillan is the policy maker and coordinates the HR department functions which include, a. Hiring, b. Training c. Payroll, d. Benefits, e. Labor Relations, f. Employee Relations and Services

4. Donald Bryson, accounts, and finance director, directs financial business for Riordan Manufacturing.

5. CFO Dale Edgel, financial officer, looks after the money and other HR functions.

6. Maria Trinh, CIO and IS/IT officer, heads the information systems department, and will play a major role in the development of the new HR system.

7. Legal Counsel, Lowell Bradford corporates legal advisor (Apollo Group, Inc. 2012).

Information-gathering Techniques/Gathered successfully

Information gathering is the most important part in the first phase of creating or upgrading an information system, therefore the technique used in gathering information should itself be detailed. Identification of information sources is the number one information gathering technique and is best accomplished by creating a list of said sources, starting with.

1. Interviews, one-on-one interviews with the client to determine what requirements are needed. Ask questions that are open-ended first to put the client at ease, next pry deeper with more probing questions.

2. Discussion groups, some-what like client interviews, only several interviewees. This situation works best when participants are focus and on the level.

3. Questionnaires, a good technique when collecting information from a multitude of individuals. In the case of Riordan Manufacturing with international as well as domestic operations the questionnaire is a very helpful tool.

4. Prototyping, building a simple model of the project so the client can test how it may work or express other ideas of what the finish product should do.

5. Use cases, analyst experiencing the system firsthand to determine how well the system works, or does not work.

6. Watching people at work, it may be necessary to observe how employees work as some people find it difficult to explain a process that has become second nature.

Joint application development (JAD), Request for proposals (RFPs), Creative brainstorming are also part of the list used in identifying information sources, along with using system information forms, and documents, procedure manuals, certification paperwork, and any old system requirement paperwork (Mochal, 2008).

Project scope

An essential part of project planning is to ascertain, document, the specific attributes of a project. The documentation of these attributes, goals, priorities, tasks, costs, deliverables, and deadlines, are defined as project scope. Scope statements assign responsibilities and indicate the bounds or limits of a project while establishing the system for accomplishing how to handle verification and approval of the finished work. Project scope or statement of work, as it is sometimes called, defines the protocols dealing with change requests within the limits of a project. Effectively scoping a project in the beginning phases will help avoid scope creep. Change is sometimes unavoidable in larger project, but early management of stakeholders specifics will eliminate down time, cost overruns, or increased requirements. Solid planning, good communications, and everyone involved with the assignment understanding fully the project scope should provide for a smooth transition from one project to another (Lebeaux, 2012).

Conclusion

Presently Riordan Manufacturing's information systems throughout the company are inadequate to handle the organizations growing needs. The company has assignment its project management team to gather and analyze information for an upgrade to the Human Resources Management System. The team has employed the standard Information-gathering Techniques to understand what the requirements of the project will be and how to effectively build the system around those requirements. A major part of the teams concern is project scope. Riordan's project management team has also defined and described how it will establish its scope for this project.

Describe the application architecture and process design

The organizational design of a company's software application, which would include any interchanges between external applications and any subcomponents of the software are what is considered application architecture. An enterprise has three main classes of architectures, system architecture,