Organizational Process Analysis
Background
You are a senior member of the IT Management Team for SAI Toys, one of the leading manufacturers of products for Gifted Electrical Engineering Kids (GEEKs). The toys that the company sells are manufactured in-house and shipped to brick-and-mortar retailers, such as Best Buy and Target, as well as e-Commerce-only sites, such as ThinkGeek.com and Buy.com. The company has no direct interaction with the final purchasers (individuals) of their products other than through warranty service.
The company has four distinct IT systems:
• Public Website-provides information about each of the products, locations where someone can purchase them, and information about how to get warranty support. Details of warranty support and defect rates are not tracked, but the staff has anecdotal stories.
• Manufacturing Support System (MSS)-maintains the supply chain information necessary for manufacturing the company's products, such as raw materials, vendors, and prices.
• Human Resources System (HRS)-maintains and tracks personnel and benefits information.
• Sales and Marketing System (SMS)-tracks the sales and marketing efforts of the company's sales force. Orders from this system are printed and sent daily to the MSS to be filled.
The current IT staff consists of 25 individuals.Five are assigned to maintain and operate each of the current IT systems, (except the HRS-only four work on that system). There are four support staff members that manage the internal help desk and provide network and workstation support for the internal company staff. The department is headed by the vice president of IT and her Deputy
Department Manager.
Physically, the company has two buildings. The manufacturing building and warehouse are located on the east side of the city near the docks and the expressway. The executive and business offices, as well as the IT staff, are located in a separate building on the west side of the city.
Situation
The board of directors and the CEO have decided that they want to stay on the forefront of geekness, and therefore, the company should integrate all of their IT systems. In addition, they want to develop a more robust web presence and sell their products directly to individual customers in addition to selling through traditional retailers as they currently are doing.
Assignment
You are to write a report of about 9 single spaced pages that outlines the situation, weighs various alternatives, and presents a final recommendation as to how the company should go about implementing this executive directive.