E-Mail from Hugh McBride

Smith Systems Consulting Executive summary

Riordan Manufacturing, Inc. service request SR-rm-004, to analyze the HR System, has been submitted by Mr. Hugh McCauley, the COO of Riordan Manufacturing, Inc. This request is to analyze the HR system, to integrate the existing variety of tools used today, into a single integrated application. Mr. McCauley would like to take advantage of a more sophisticated, state of the art, information technology system for the Human Resources department. The basis for this system improvement for Riordan Manufacturing Inc is to effectively manage the Human Resource department. The business requirements are to create a project plan that will describe the information-gathering techniques and design methods. This project will list all the resources and schedule and budget requirements to finish this Service Request. From start to finish, this project is expected to take approximately six months.

Company Background

Dr. Riordan, a professor of chemistry, founded Riordan Manufacturing, Inc. in 1991. He obtained a lot of patents for processing polymers into high tensile strength plastics (Riordan, 2006). This company became an industrial leader in the field of plastic injection molding. It has the state-of-the art design capabilities; it creates innovative plastic designs that have earned international acclaim. The attention to detail, extreme precision and enthusiastic quality control are the hallmarks of Riordan Manufacturing Inc. There are four different facilities located in San Jose, California, Albany, Georgia, Pontiac, Michigan and Hangzhou, China. The company has the capacity to fulfill the unique needs of its consumers. Riordan Manufacturing is entirely owned by Riordan Industries, a Fortune 1000 enterprise with revenues in surplus of $1 billion. The Albany plant produces plastic beverage containers; custom carton plastic parts are produced in the Pontiac plant; the Hangzhou, China plant manufactures plastic fan parts; and the research and development is done at corporate headquarters in San Jose.

Information-gathering techniques and design methods

This next section will present various methods of information gathering. The most widely used methods are as follows: review existing reports, forms, and procedure descriptions; conduct interviews and discussions with the users; observe and document business processes; build prototypes; distribute and collect questionnaires; conduct joint application design (JAD) sessions; and research vender solutions.

In the analyses phase for the HR business function, a complete, clear understanding is needed. The beginning foundations are the reports, forms, and procedures for the existing business, such as documents and procedure descriptions within the organization. This will be conducted as one of the fact finding action. This process will be observed by the all Program Managers and IT members to get a better understanding of the business procedure.

According to Satzinger, Jackson, Burd and Johnson Interviewing stakeholders is by far the most effective way to understand business functions and business rules” ( Year, Pg 129). The results will be documented by activity diagrams and workflow diagrams. These diagrams will allow an effective way to capture the information needed.

Scope

This project is to integrate the existing variety of tools in use today at Riordan into a sole integrated application