Riordan manufacturing, a plastic manufacturing company is currently seeking for an efficient state-of-the-art information system to run their human resource department. This document explores the business requirements in the development of the new system in order to support its design and implementation within six months. Among other things, the new system will have to consolidate all data related to human resource which is currently spread throughout the company’s departments. Consolidation of the data will enable it to be saved in a single location from where it can be assessed by the company’s senior and junior staff to help them make better decisions. The overall target of designing and implementing a new HRIS is to aid in the reduction of administration costs by cutting on processing costs and time.
The implementation to the new HR system will be gradual and will be preceded by a test run by a few end users. Thereafter, the tested and proven system will be implemented in full. Stair and Reynolds (2008) advises that companies should avoid consolidating data center operations quickly to avoid irreversible data losses and other costly mistakes.
All the data relating to the daily functionalities of the Human Resources Department will be input into the new information system. Some of these processes and data include personal and organizational data, training and development documents, pay rates, hire and seniority dates, personal exemptions and available vacation times (Riordan, 2012). In case any changes to these data are to be made, departmental managers will make the requests using the new Human Resource Information System (HRIS) system.
The new HRIS will make data available to the relevant company departments to enable them access specific data that they previously had responsibility over. Some of these data includes Family and Medieval Leave Act (FMLA) absences, job analysis data, salary surveys, Americans with Disabilities (ADA) accommodations, compensation data, grievances, complaints and harassments (Riordan, 2012). The authority to view, alter and input specific crucial and confidential data relating to employees or the HR department will be granted by the executive management of Riordan Manufacturing to departmental managers. The new HRIS system will maintain and avail comprehensive data regarding all employees to the required parties whenever need arises.
The success of the new HRIS system is anchored in bringing in key stakeholders in the decision making process (Stair & Reynolds, 2008). Most importantly, the executive management should incorporate the collective views of all employees in order to maintain cohesion and morale among the employees (Stair & Reynolds, 2008). Some of the key stakeholders include the CEO; Dr. Michel Riordan who is determines the overall business strategies and policies that Riordan Manufacturing pursues. The Chief Operating Officer (COO) Hugh McCauley who is administers, directs and coordinated activities within the organization will be instrumental in the implementation of the new HRIS. The directors of the Human Resource, Accounts and Finance will also be key contributors in the cost-effective implementation of the new system.
The implementation of a successful HRIS for Riordan Manufacturing is hinged on the successful execution of six major activities namely; coding, testing, installation, documentation, training and support. To begin with, the management of the company will gather a development team which will determine the exact needs of the company and evaluate the same against the available resources.
Coding: The coding of the HRIS could adopt the PHP/Oracle software as the choice programming language and database management. This is because the two are versatile and can migrate across platforms (Gogala, 2006). The coding selected to come up with the HRIS is compatible with the computers currently in use at Riordan manufacturing which have been maintained properly and are technologically up to date. An Oracle database will be created first and establish a single integrated application. PHP programming will create the interface the development team uses to create the HRIS. The application will present the following modules;
Personnel details such as personnel scheduling, performance appraisals and employment interviewing:
Position control
Affirmative action
Payroll and attendance system
Automated Increase processing
Audio-visual system-voice-recognition system and photo ID system
Compensation and Benefits administration
Online documents- Employee handbooks, job descriptions etc
HR regulations- company regulations and policies
Training and HR development (Gogala, 2006)
Testing: The new HRIS system will need to be tested prior to being implemented in full. The system will be tested for its support of massive data as the company grows and most importantly for the security of the stored data. This will be done on by inputting more data than actual as well as attempting to hack into the database. Testing will satisfy the stakeholders’ on the ability of the new HRIS in supporting of collecting, maintaining, storing, validating and retrieving of available data. The system will also be tested for its support of projects using sophisticated technology. The system will be tested for automation which aims at reducing administrative costs. Testing will entail revisions to guarantee the management the ne HRIS will be effective within the pre-instituted timeframe and in the constraints of the budget (Stair & Reynolds, 2008).
Installation: The system will be installed after being tested incorporating the changes that will have been made at the testing stage.
A typical user interface for the new HRIS after installation is complete
After installation the development team will control aspects of the HRIS expected to support projects on a weekly basis.
Documentation: Once the new HRIS has been tested and installed, the developers will create user documentation. The new HRIS will be equipped with links for the company’s mission, vision and policies, a listing of the various groups of staff, events, training schedules, and staff postings. The user interface will bear links to download documents relating to the Human Resource Department in various formats such as .pdf, .txt, .doc among other basic supported word and data processors (Gogala, 2006).
Training: Employees and the management will need to be trained on the usage of the new HRIS system. Once the project has been completed the developers will create user documentation and present it to key company trainers who will train the staff. Once staff training is over the project will be implemented in full. Each of the parties to the new HRIS will be trained on the general usage of the new system with emphasis on specific areas relevant to each department. The current HR director must be well versed with the new HRIS as she seeks to revamp training and hiring processes to increase the capacity of the HR department and consequently improve Riordan Manufacturing’s Return on Investment (ROI).
Support: The support for the new HRIS will call for the company’s Information Technology (IT) department to offer technical maintenance of the system to ensure maximum security and effectiveness of the system by being on the lookout for ways and means to advance the system using the latest technology. In addition, the support team will also help new employees adapt to the usage of the system.
Conclusion
Riordan manufacturing, a plastic manufacturing company is in the process of improving its Human Resource department by acquiring a new Human Resource Information System (HRIS). The new system is expected to reduce the company’s administration costs and thereby increase its Return on Investment (ROI). The key stakeholders in this project include the CEO, COO, HR Director and the development team. The successful implementation of the project will call for the development team to select an n effective coding system such as PHP/Oracle which is versatile and safe. The system will also be tested for effectiveness after which it will be installed and access granted to specific users depending on specific departmental needs. The developers will then create user documentation, present it to company trainers who will in turn train the rest of the staff. Riordan Manufacturing’s IT department is expected to support in the usage and maintenance of the new HRIS.
References
Gogala, M. (2006). Easy Oracle PHP: create dynamic Web pages with Oracle data. Kittrell,
NC: Rampant TechPress.
Riordan, M. (2012). Riordan Manufacturing. Employee Handbook.
Stair, R. M., & Reynolds, G. W. (2008). Principles of information systems: a managerial
approach (8th ed.). Boston, Mass.: Thomson/Course Technology.
