Riordan Manufacturing Proposal
University Of Phoenix
CIS/319
Cornell Perry
September 26, 2005
Introduction
There are many compelling reasons to pursue deployment of an IT infrastructure in the business world today. Most enterprises already have a IT infrastructure in place, and are now taking the lessons they've learned from previous efforts to remedy problematic areas like data quality and infrastructure standardization. At the same time, many enterprises are also moving toward the next steps in the evolution of IT infrastructure and are adopting new technologies and approaches such as data management and computerized controls. Riordan Manufacturing would benefit ...view middle of the document...
A 50 million dollar sales revenue figure is an approachable goal. However, the company needs to streamline processes, as short and long-term goals will be increasingly difficult to achieve using current standards. The problem analysis will focus on streamlining finance and accounting departments, employing sales and marketing upgrades, and overall, information technology implementation in all departments.
Finance and Accounting documentation errors lead to inaccurate data and costly retroactive audits. Major compatibility issues exist as each major division of the company uses a different system. The Georgia and Michigan plants use different accounting systems and the corporate center in San Jose uses a different system as well. Delays in financial reporting are common which lead to decreased investor confidence and lack of future capital investment. Homogeneous finance and accounting software must be implemented in all divisions with timely and accurate information reported to corporate headquarters in San Jose.
Finance and accounting purposes need to be broken up, identified, and then maintained by various software and hardware packages. Accounts payable, accounts receivable, order entry will be maintained by one system, and a suitable software package will be found to meet all the above options. A single server, with mirroring will suffice for the above needs, and of course; a proper backup solution will be needed for safekeeping of this data. Various software packages are out there that could handle the above needs. Microsoft has a few that could be explored. These include Solomon and Great Plains. Others may also be explored, with one being settled on by price, and functionality. All this data needs to be made available to the headquarters in California at a moments notice. The software will need to be able to be run across WAN’s, so people in California can bring up any reports they desire to see at a moments notice.
Financial reporting is the next package to look at. The Finance and Accounting department will be responsible to keep this software up to date. The software itself needs the ability to tie into the above software for tracking purposes, and report building. It would run off the same server, or another could be purchased to run this piece. The data needs to be up to date, to the second for reporting purposes to gain investor confidence. The software will need to be able to produce reports showing financial trends, which could be reported to California as needed, or requested. The profit and loss statement part to financial reporting will need to work in unison with the Sales and Marketing department to be able to share valuable financial information, such as trends, so the sales and marketing department can adjust their consumer strategy on the fly. This can be accomplished with electronic meeting software available on Windows based PC’s, or by telephony-over-IP systems.
The Sales and...
