Information Systems And Technology Paper

Information Systems and Technology

Student’s Name

Institution

Introduction

Riordan Manufacture is a global company with branches in different locations. It manufactures plastic and has earnings of more than 1billion a year. It has over 550 employees working for the company from all its branches. Riordan has a challenge with its Finance and Accounting departments. The branches have different finance and accounting department and this makes it hard to maintain the accounting system of the company. Riordan Manufacture plants in three locations have different finance and accounting system CITATION Bey14 \l 1033 (Beyer & Brummel, 2014). Due to different systems used by the company, it is hard to send and receive data without delay and this delay the entire operations of the company. Riordan also has a joint venture with a Chinese firm in Hangzhou China. The data does not capture the China data output on the intranet of the company. This therefore, looks out the entire data from China into the system. The accounting system in China is unknown to the system and this affects the operations of the company. The Company has a facility in China which manufactures plastic and it is not included in the system.

Information system problem identified

It is evident that there is disconnection among the plants in different locations and this makes the operations of the company to be very effective. For efficient operations, there should be data that comes from headquarters to all branches and global offices and without different systems, the connection is very impossible and the data transfer is ineffective exposing the company. The finance and accounting system, which is used in China is unknown and therefore cannot be connected with its headquarters system. Riordan did not put into consideration the Michigan information system when it was acquired. The system used at Michigan was developed a long time and therefore, its codes run on a very old legacy system. It is also established that the vendor which supplied the Michigan system has already out of business CITATION Hay18 \l 1033 (Evans, 22018). The application which is being used run on a pair of Digital Equipment Corporation Alpha of microprocessors, a company that does not operate anymore. Based on the company’s intranet site, the program is run with a VMS operating system, programmed in C and VAX400 workstations. The investigation also revealed that the Georgia Office also bought different software application source codes, which was developed by the vendor. The software purchased includes applications that support the financial and manufacturing process. The software purchased by the company runs on a pair of AS400’s, and the codes have been renamed twice CITATION Nat15 \l 1033 (Nathan & Givens, 2015). Based on the name of the processors, it seems they have been renamed and therefore, it affects the security and the operations of the system. The windows which are used on the workstation use the UNIX operating system and programmed in RPG400 as well.

Riordan Manufacturer information systems and their functionalities

Riordan has a variety of information systems, which it uses for its operations. The analysis of the information systems established that it has finance and accounting system, and Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP). Its operations or finance and accounting system which are used in its China plant are unknown and therefore, it has three different information systems which are for its operations. Riordan’s ERP is a fully integrated and Window-based system. It is used for the processing of plastic in all its plants for efficient production CITATION Hay18 \l 1033 (Evans, 22018). It is also used for assembly manufacturing The ERP used by the company has financial management application, distribution and manufacturing applications. It is also established that the license is being used at the San Jose site if obtained proprietary software. It means that the software does not have source codes, it is therefore, difficult to modify the software to be used by other regions, the customization of the software for other purposes is difficult and therefore, this has made the company to have a different system. The finance and accounting software is used for financial management and therefore, it is connected or linked to various departments of the organization.

Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP)

ERP is a major component of the operations of the company. It is used in all its plants for manufacturing, processing, distribution and financial management as well. It acts as a major logistic connected the company with its suppliers and customers as well. The failure of the ERP system could cause a major problem, which could disrupt the entire operation of the company. The data flow could be affected and therefore, the connection between branches and the headquarters and therefore, it is important to ensure that the system is protected. The ERP contains all the business transactions of the company and this makes it an important part of business, which requires maximum security CITATION Bus12 \l 1033 (Busch & Givens, 2012). The ERP connects all branches and the head office, manufacturing, processing and logistic. This makes it an important aspect of the operations of the company CITATION Has151 \l 1033 (Hassani, Ghodsi, & Howell, 2015). It is important to ensure that it remains secure or protected because any violation can lead to a lot of data lose and close of business as well.

However, in the case of security failure, the company could lose vital data related to manufacturing, customers’ confidential information, supplier and financial information as well. The protection of the ERP system is the core responsibility of the organization. It is therefore, important to ensure that the system security is improved CITATION Hay18 \l 1033 (Evans, 22018). First, the company needs to ensure that the same system is installed in the company. The financial and accounting in all its three branches must be the same. This could be achieved by replacing the system in China and all branches which are different to establish a connection between branches and the headquarters. Its global interconnection could be corrected to ensure that there is a constant link. The system used in China must also be included in the headquarters system. It is established that the system has been reflected in the headquarters and it is only recognized as unknown. This has made the connection between the headquarters and China to be very difficult. Establishing interlinks will make the transfer of data to the headquarters to be faster and faster.

Recommendation

It would be important to improve the security of the data. This could be achieved through hardware and software security installation to protect the system. It is recommended for the company to have a system security configuration at various levels and establish a strong system that cannot be easily accessed by any unauthorized person. Besides, it is recommended to have a policy that bars any person from misusing the system in order to protect the data. The data protection should be established at various points at the branches and the headquarters.

References

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Busch, N. E., & Givens, A. D. (2012). Hard National Security Choices SUPPORT.

https://www.hsaj.org/articles/233 , 2-15.Evans, H. (22018). Summary: The Department of Homeland Security’s Cybersecurity Strategy. Hard National Security Choices SUPPORT , 2-15.

Hassani, H., Ghodsi, M., & Howell, G. (2015). A note on standard deviation and standard error.

eaching Mathematics and Its Applications , 2-35.

Nathan, B., & Givens, A. (2015). Public-Private Partnerships in Homeland Security:

Opportunities and Challenges. Dudley Knox Library , 2-15.