HRIS System Analysis and Design
Riordan Manufacturing, an industry leader in plastic injection molding, is a global manufacturer of a variety of plastic products including bottles, fans, heart valves and stents. Riordan has annual earnings of $46 million, employs 550 people worldwide and is solely owned by Riordan Industries, a Fortune 1000 enterprise that has over $1 billion in revenue.
Hugh McCauley, the Chief Operations Officer (COO) of Riordan Manufacturing has requested implementation of a state-of-the-art information system to replace the existing Human Resources software. The current software was implemented 22 years ago in 1992. The system maintains the company’s personnel information, pay rate personal exemptions, date of hire and vacation hours.
Per service request SR-rm-022, the expected results must be completed within six months to ensure Riordan Manufacturing will be able to use the system in the second quarter of next year. To achieve this proposed deadline, extensive research needs to be completed to make sure the best product is implemented.
Key Stakeholders The key stakeholders will complete research and obtain information needed to implement the new human resource information services system. Research will include determination of the use of an existing system or creation of a new system to guarantee Riordan implements a system that meets or exceeds their current and future demands. The key stakeholders for this project have been identified as Hugh McCauley, the Chief Operations Officer, Yvonne McMillan, the Director of Human Resources, Andrea Gamby, the Employee Relations Manager, Terri Carranza, the Compensation and Benefits Manager and Bob Havinga, the Vice President of Product Support.
Information-Gathering Techniques and Systems Analysis Tools Interviews are an effective method of gathering the necessary information needed to make successful decisions. By interviewing many of the users of the current system, appropriate feedback can be obtained based on the user’s experiences, ideas and manipulation of the system. To be certain that no important questions are missed and to keep the interviews at a proper pace, the interview questions can be included in a guide providing the interviewer with time-frames for each question. To receive appropriate feedback from all departments that will be affected by the new system, it is advisable that employees from each of the departments are included in the interview process. The level of employee should include the standard user and departmental supervisors and managers. This will provide the necessary data to make an informed decision on the best system to improve productivity and decrease errors. Another method would be Joint Application Development (JAD), which allows the project team, users and management to identify the requirements for the system by working together to acquire the necessary information to make an informed decision (Dennis, Wixom, Roth, 2012). The JAD will improve the chance that the system requirements are appropriate and not unclear or detailed. Use Cases are another tool that can be used to obtain vital information. Use Cases can overlap with Joint Application Development (JAD) and are primarily used for redesigning current systems and process. The requirements obtained through the JAD can be refined when using Use Cases.
Successful Information Gathering A key to gathering pertinent information begins with the selection of the stakeholders. These stakeholders will be able to offer an understanding of the benefits and negatives of the current system and develop appropriate requirements for the new system. Detailed and
