Financial Systems Offshore Outsourcing Project Plan for Riordan Manufacturing, Inc.

Hugh McCaughley, Chief Operations Officer of Riordan Manufacturing has requested a new system for the Human Resources department of their company which would be implemented and utilized at three plant locations and the company headquarters. To build the new human resources system properly, information must be collected from various areas of Riordan Manufacturing, and the information will be collected in a variety of ways. This information must then be used to determine such items as scope of the project which can allow for feasibility studies to ensure the system should be implemented,

In the case of Providian Trust, the organization attempts to outsource the implementation of a major software system aimed at updating its internal business processes and outdated information system to be more cost efficient and provide more timely services to its customers. However, there are certain activities and processes that are needed to ensure that the procurement process is effective and the appropriate goods and/or services are acquired. For example, a needs analysis or feasibility study will need to be conducted prior to sending out the request for proposal (RFP). Specifically, for IT projects, such as the software development for Providian, this will pay off despite the chosen vendor as well as help avoid falling in love with a pretty interface and not what’s under the hood. In addition, the focus will be on solving business problems and seeing and understanding vendor capabilities and tool demos in relation to the project goals and objectives for the future. Additionally, there are some key criteria that should be followed to help ensure the success of a vendor selection and the procurement planning

The CanGo organization is lacking a Project Budget. The group is disorganized and unsure if the project can afford necessary equipment and resources required to complete the project. CanGo’s project team or the project manager needs to develop a project budget, including the goal of the project budget. The project manager will use this budget to help determine if the project is on track and the budget will be used by a number of personal as a guideline to fulfill project milestones. Aspects that need to be considered and included in the project budget are employee compensation, contract services such as hardware and software, equipment and supplies, and the budget should include overhead expenses. Overhead and indirect costs allow the project to absorb part of the administrative costs of the organizations daily operations. Many software options are available on the market today, such as

Many people in today's society are not happy with the outsourcing that is happening in our country. Many people believe that the outsourcing is taking millions of jobs from our economy. Industries are given tax breaks when they move to an area and the government thinks and knows that they will bring in thousands or millions of dollars in revenue. Outsourcing also hurts our economy because it is putting us farther into our deficit. Outsourcing is not a good thing because they move to new countries so they do not have to pay American taxes, it hurts our economy, and one of the only ways that they will stay in our country is to take tax breaks.

In our quest to ever better ourselves the IT department, of Riordan Manufacturing, is submitting this Request for Proposal to integrate a more sophisticated, state-of-the art, information systems technology in our Human Resources department. Riordan Manufacturing has always strived to better ourselves by keeping up with technology in all of our operating systems and our manufacturing systems. Our goal is to remain at the forefront of the manufacturing community as we keep leading the way in all of our business systems and, at the same time, keeping the feel of a customer friendly company. We want to make

There are several stakeholders at Riordan Manufacturing to gather requirements from to provide a clear picture of the final project. The first stakeholder to gain input would come from the Chief Operations Officer, he was the requestor of the system upgrade, is responsible for the budget, which includes payroll. The Chief Legal Officer oversees the legal aspects of the human resources programs. The individual human resources managers within the individual facilities are the stakeholders who recruit and handle benefits for employees. Each facility has an accountant that oversees payroll and bonuses as well as the payroll specialist (Apollo, 2011).

Resources used will be primarily the project team members. To reduce risk all members need to be aware of the project schedule so that the right team members are available at the right times. Adequate computer resources, physical space and other support staff need to be ensured so that the project does not fall behind schedule.

Fiscal and IT staff will need to have an understanding of how to answer potential questions from staff or at the very least who the contact person would be to address the concerns. The outsourcing company will also need to provide the available training options that can be utilized during each phase of the transition.

The initial cost of the project will be the sum of the development, project administration, implementation, and financing functions. Development cost include IT system design, process planning, and feasibility analysis. Hardware upgrades, software development, infrastructure improvements are included in the implementation costs. Administration expenditures cover other costs such as training, furniture, network infrastructure, utilities, and insurance. Kudler expects to use this system for a prolonged period of time; therefore, the cost of the life cycle will need to be calculated also. Furthermore, the benefits of worker productivity gain, expenditure decrease, and employee utilization gains will also be calculated in the economic feasibility analysis. Once the initial cost of the project is determined, feasibility can be determined on the economic level. According to article, “Implementation: The operational feasibility perspective”, operational feasibility will be achieved if the following steps are followed. Step 1, managers and employee negative perceptions of change must be addressed openly. Step 2, positive factors for change must be reinforced. Step 3, the highest stress should be dealt with first. Step 4, change must start at the top of the organization. Step 5, informal and formal lines of communication should be used. All managers and workers should be involved or represented in the design.

well as the amount of financial resources Riordan is willing to give to the project.

It is recommended that Richter’s outsource the more routine IT functions. The current governance model should be changed for decisions that relate to IT architecture, infrastructure and business application needs while the model for IT principles and investment should remain as is.

The American Outsourcing Case is a compilation of factual information for the purpose of provoking debates. The authors present both the pros and cons of outsourcing, and avoid inserting their personal bias. The case clearly defines outsourcing and then focuses on outlining its existence in China, Mexico, and India. The evolution and U.S. involvement in the Maquiladoras of Mexico is described first. The implementation of NAFTA and the creation of Maquiladoras were major catalysts in the growth of free trade between the U.S. and Mexico. China, in an attempt to attract foreign investors, created Special Economic Areas, which designated geographic zones that were enabled to operate under their own laws. With great tax benefits

4- When conducting an insourcing/outsourcing analysis such as the FlexCon’s one, we will need a crossfunctional team. We will need:

While it lessens the burden on organizations, reducing and shifting the cost and risk of its IT operation, security and management issues to an external service provider or vendor, outsourcing any portions of an organization's Information System has significant risks that can sometimes become detrimental to the outsourced organization. According to the Commission on Government Outsourcing, "when outsourcing an organization exposes itself to significant risks in terms of security, accuracy, and completeness of information (Holroyd City Council, 2008)". Comprised in the rest of this document is an

Because of the important relationship between insourcing/outsourcing and competitiveness, organizations must consider many variables when considering an insourcing/outsourcing decision. This may include a detailed examination of a firm’s competency and costs, along with quality, delivery, technology, responsiveness, and continuous improvement requirements. Because of