Riordan Manufacturing It System Analysis

Riordan Manufacturing IT System Analysis

Introduction

Riordan Manufacturing has offices and plants in several locations: Albany, Georgia, Pontiac, Michigan, Hangzhou, China, and headquarters in San Jose, California. Each site employs procedures and methods to run each respective office and integrate the information internally at each site. Riordan, as a global company, does not currently possess a system that integrates information from each site together into one system. Team A reviewed the website pages and systems used independently to determine a suggested plan of action to merge every office into one integrated system used companywide by Riordan.

The Home page

When we looked at Riordan Manufacturing business strategy located on the home page, we were under the impression that we were off to a good start because Riordan clearly identified the business strategy. However, we failed to align the business strategy and the IT strategy together. There was not a knowledge management system in place because if it were we would have known the application that we need to develop or purchase and how it was to benefit us. Second, we would have had a plan to confirm the future effectiveness of the people who worked in the IT division; this plan includes the types of human resources needed, if it is IT professional, managers, and developers that include their skills and salary offered. Third, we failed to describe how to organize and control the IT side of business operations. We did not communicate to Georgia or Michigan how we will manage data, install application, design, and maintain our networks. Neither did we communicate how our IT services will be provided whether internally, or outsourced. Finally, the most important element we eliminated the need to meet to discuss with them the future technical infrastructure. We never discussed what hardware, software, and network configuration Riordan would use, decide how these components were going to interact with one another, or determine how to implement security measures (Skillsoft Corporation, 2012).

Finance and Accounting

The Finance and Accounting Departments of Riordan's offices currently use different systems. San Jose uses a Windows-based ERP system for financial management. Michigan uses a software application from a vendor who is no longer in business. Georgia purchased a software application from a different vendor. Each office has an independent system for accounting that does not share data easily between the offices, nor are the applications and licenses compatible between plants.

The current finance and accounting system encompasses:

* Accounts Payable

* Accounts Receivable

* EDI

* EDSS (Executive Decision Support System)

* Financial reporting

* General Ledger

* Invoicing and Shipping

* Order Entry

* Payroll

Riordan plants in San Jose, Michigan,