Bsa 375 Sr-Rm-022 Part 1

Myrna Bravo Riordan Manufacturing is in need of updating their decrepit HRIS system to stay profitable. This system will move from the legacy system, integrated with the financial system, into a new standalone system used to integrate all of the HR tools within the system presently. In 1992 Riordan Manufacturing opened its doors to the Human Resources Department. At that time the system, HRIS, was integrated to be cohesive with the financial system.

Now, 20 years later, the system has seen better days as it continues to utilize both outdated hardware to run the system and processing methods for the current data associated with the system. Riordan Chief Operations Officer, Hugh McCauley, has reached out to find a single standalone solution to their need for an updated HRIS. This solution is aimed at becoming more sophisticated, state of the art information system in the Human Resources Department. Initial Evaluation Riordan Manufacturing currently operates one system for seven different facets of the Human Resources Department.

This system is responsible for the following information: employee information, training and development records, open positions and applications, performance and attendance, compensation, employee relations, and the original financial suite as well. Each individual facet has its own key personnel that use the systems respectively to the other systems. Some aspects of the system are still in hard copy forms kept in locked cabinets in the offices of the personnel responsible for them. Worker’s compensation is maintained by a third-party organization that maintains their own records.

Key Stakeholders Key stakeholders will include the end users of each system that is in use at this time. This can be organized into a JAD session for each area to acquire the information in a brain storming environment instead of the feeling of an interrogation. The culture of the organization will lend invaluable information to developing the system. In addition to the end users that work with the software daily both Yvonne McMillan, Director of HR, and Maria Trinh, Chief Information Officer, will be conferenced with the stakeholders to provide their perspectives of the requirements.

Maria will be brought in to the requirements solicitation to provide information and resources of the physical requirements while agreeing upon acceptable and favorable terms for the system as a whole. Yvonne will be brought in as an overall eye of the system. Her point of view will be more thorough about the system than the end users. Her sight is of an overall understanding whereas the end users only see their portion. Other key stakeholders will be advised of the information and updated to the progress as the information becomes available.

The other key stakeholders will include the other executives of Riordan Manufacturing. Information Gathering and Analysis Tools It is important to have information gathering techniques so that no information can be overlooked. The information system that we are looking for must meet the requirements of the organization and the employees that will be using the system. The first part of information gathering should consist of identifying information sources.

The main sources of information in the company should be employees who use the system and will be using the new one because they can tell you what works and what does not work or basically what’s good about this system so that we can implement it in the new system. Another source is forms and documents that have been used in the past for example accreditation paperwork or system requirement paperwork. There are also procedure manuals, rule books and reports that can be used to gather information as well.

Once the analyst have identified proper sources they will then view the current system and determine the system’s problem areas as seen by the people who currently use the system and from that develop the SRS (Systems Requirements Specification) which is a tool that analyst use to specify what information requirements will be provided and also can be used for detailed design of the system. The SRS should be complete, specify operational, tactical, and strategic information requirements, it should eliminate possible arguments between users and analysts and it should use graphical aids easily understood by users who are not computer savvy.

“Information Gathering”, n. d). Techniques to Gather Requirements Several techniques are available to gather requirements information about the system. These can include interviews, documentation, and sequestered input through surveys or other mediums. Ideally one of the most effective means of gathering this information is through interviews of the people that use the system most often. While dealing with interviews we need to make the most of the time available and as such one of the best means is by utilizing a Joint Application Development session.

This will provide the interviewees the ability to freely share ideas of what is wrong with the system, what is right with the system, and what is neutral. JAD will provide more information than individual interviews. The use cases ability will provide us access to the system to walk step by step through the system processes to discover how the system is for untrained personnel, resource management, and reliability. This will provide us with information that is not obtained by any other means in certain terms.

The information gathering process will continue to the end of the project by the stakeholders providing feedback based on results. As we proceed through the design and development of the system we will have the ability to test each phase. This testing will provide the stakeholders with an opportunity to provide information based on the results. Information gathering will be continuous for Maria Trinh and her department as we will require their input about system longevity and down time allotted for the new system. This information will be obtained at the inception of the project and built into the application.

If the time frame provided from Maria Trinh in regards to down time is not obtainable, negotiations will commence to find a favorable median up time to maintenance time. I propose categorizing the requirements into functional requirements, operational requirements, technical requirements, and transitional requirements. The functional requirements define how the user thinks the system is functioning overall, the operational requirements define what background processes need to be executed in order for the system to work optimally over a period of time, the technical requirements define what echnical issues that must be addressed in order to successfully implement the system, and the transitional requirements define the processes or steps needed to implement the system smoothly and successfully. Project Scope “Project scope is the part of project planning that involves determining and documenting a list of specific project goals, deliverables, tasks, costs and deadlines” (Rouse of TechTarget. com).

This scope should include the following (“Dummies. om”, 2012):

• Justification: How and why your project came to be, the business need(s) it addresses, the scope of work to be performed, and how it will affect and be affected by other related activities.
• Objectives: The products, services, and/or results your project will produce (also referred to as deliverables).
• Product scope description: The features and functions of the products, services, and/or results your project will produce.
• Product acceptance criteria: The process and criteria for accepting completed products, services, or results.
• Constraints: Restrictions that limit what you can achieve, how and when you can achieve it, and how much achieving it can cost.
• Assumptions: Statements about how you will address uncertain information as you conceive, plan, and perform your project.

Conclusion

All of the information gathered through JAD Sessions; interviews; and hands on experiences will be set into current attribute categories. Each of these categories will be divided to show the good aspects and the bad aspects of the application. All of this will be agreed upon unanimously in a last JAD session to determine what the actual requirements are that need to be placed into the requirements list. The requirements list will then be compiled to form the foundation of the scope and feasibility of the project. After the scope and feasibility have been accepted by the organization we will begin the development process.