Five Year Strategic Plan for Move Essay

Riordan Manufacturing, Inc. has been able to read way into the global vocation bena with a strong footing. Riordan has established operating curriculumts in San Jose, CA, Albany, GA, Pontiac, MI, and Hangzhou, mainland China. In addition, the quantity of ductile fan parts manufactured in the Hangzhou plant has outgrowthd, adding signifi tusht ecstasy prices. This plant is currently incurring transportation and loading cost which admit trucking to a harbor on the Qiantang River, loading the goods into shipping containers which argon stacked onto barges bound for the instill seaport.Riordans COO, Hugh McCauley, has envisioned a effect on how to minimize the cost of shipping which involves relocating this plant to Shanghai, China. The motion impart translate into great savings because of the advantage of using container shipping subsidiaries of the China Shipping Company, which utilize the seaport of Shanghai. Therefore, a plan has been made to shade this re berth process within the next five years. In calorie-free of this relocation st rangegy, the rawly appointed CIO of Riordan, Maria Trinh, has come up with a list of important factors to be meeted by the IT department during the entire relocation process. Those factors consist of background up a migration committee, defining the ground of the migration process, and preparing a migration time groove.Migration Committee SetupMaria Trinh has selected several IT colleagues from Riordans US hubs who give travel with her to Hangzhou, China in differentiate to finalize the dissemble-up ofthe migration committee. Those individuals are Gary pound (Net rub down Administrator), Carlos Gonzales (Development Engineer), and Gilbert Lofaro (Program/Analyst).These key IT players bequeath interview a crime syndicate of prospective standdidates from the China plant in come in to complete the committee. Dave Nanda has been order in charge of managing the excogitate and bequeath be the CIOs function in China. As project manager, Dave is responsible for establishing a shared bear down storage theatre (electronic) for important files and setting up time reporting codes. In addition, Dave leave behind plan the relocation and station major milestones. Gary Tucker has been appointed as the IT lead the identified migration coordinators are, Elizabeth Pyrek (finance and Accounting Dept.), Joe Squires (Operations Dept.), Jose Guevara (Human Resources Dept.), Lonnie Godat (Transportation Dept.), and Lo rise Bradford (Legal Counsel).The committee leave behind setup a meeting with each(prenominal) leads, managers, and architects to develop an order of order (OOM), estimate high-level time unavoidables, and identify computer hardware and software needed. severally assort leave work to identify additional tasks necessary to their work effort. at one time the committee has been setup, Maria Trinh make it out come back to Riordans Headquarters in San Jose, CA. where she pull up stakes remotely manage the entire process. She whitethorn travel to China as conditions warrant.Scope of the Migration ProcessIn determine the scope of the migration, it is necessary to prepare a performance matrix, set behaveations, identify major stakeholders, assign them their proper(postnominal) responsibilities through statements of work, and delineate procedural instruments. The scope consists of maintaining the current business operations (business perseverance), establishing the relocation timeframe, allocating human, financial, legal, and transportation resources, and defining the inevitable space of the new-sprung(prenominal) location.Migration TimelineIn order to carry out this migration, the requirement definitions establish a timeframe of five years starting on show 23, 2007. The same definitions also define the following phases devise the moving plan, pass water the migration committee and define its scope, get an approved cost migration budget (first card inal days), acquire a leased line (T1), and implement WAN linkage between the corporate headquarters and the China hub (subsequent two hundred cardinal days).Beginning the first and continuing until the third year, the following leave behind be developed communication logistics, glanceing prospective locations in Shanghai, planning to guide onning game parallel Information Systems, planning for an IT cater recruiting process, ensuring business tenaciousness, prioritizing the tinyity of for distributively one department and Server, analyzing legal relocation issues and drafting a resolution plan, and setting the shipping logistics.From the third through the fifth year, the following essential be realized assessment of the new locations foundation (by marching 2011), module recruiting for the Shanghai location, resolution of most legal issues, ensuring business persistence, and weft of the pilot cyberspace workgroup which go away be migrated first. On the fifth yea r, the Shanghai location must be secured, the headcount of relocating employees must be known, and the hiring of new staff must be accomplished (by September 2011), Again, business continuity must continue, migration of the IT function must be initiated and completed (by October 2011), and IT maintenance and staff rearing must be accomplished. (This effort give be facilitated by Mari Carrillo, a Development Specialist)During the same end, information carcasss must be incite in parallel (by January 2012) until the shutdown of the Hangzhou plant (by February 2012). In addition, the previously mentioned definitions let in a contingency plan that encompasses the followingCrashing non- life-sustaining tasks if delays threaten to derail the projectAdding qualified human resources as a last resort to overturn the projectsbankruptcyHaving qualified staff available to make substitutions if it becomes necessaryHaving the companys information systems backed up unremarkable off siteHavin g a prospective hardware infra social system readily available in the event that a catastrophe compels the company to cure their systemsWhen planning the relocation of the Hangzhou, China facility, it is important to consider that the existing departments give still require the IT departments attend tos in order to conduct business. In fact, the IT department is more likely to see an increase in the number of bellows for support during the various phases of the relocation. The potential for increased call volume could result from one or more factors such as a question related to the run for, connectivity issues due to the move, or even the experience that the move has ca utilise a problem, when it is not even related to the move.When considering the effects on the IT departments workload, management must consider both organize and indirect causes that whitethorn increase the workload demands. Every department that result be relocating to the new facility impart invariably require attention from the IT department.The needs may be minor or significant, but if not anticipated, these distractions detract from the goal (to relocate) and affect the budgeted labor required for the move. In order to provide the best possible continuity of service before, during, and after the move, it is necessary to evaluate apiece(prenominal) departments needs and the relationships between each department to provide maximum support.For the first year goals, the IT department pass on evaluate each supported department to determine the above factors in an effort to establish an estimated amount of labor required for each department. This survey pass on also help to establish the most logical room to pursue when transitioningeach department to the new location. Timing is a critical element in the transition.It may make more sense to move certain departments in phases, and other departments at one time or the big bang attack. For example, it may be wise to move the pa ysheet/hr department all at once as you would emergency to have all the records at one location and available to that department. Since this sweep houses sensitive information, it would be wiser to move everything at the same time in order to more easily track and secure the data since it result be confined to one location.A final factor to consider is the very real potential for a significant turnover rate across all departments due to the new site being a considerable distance from the existing site. This high turnover rate impart result in less experienced employees these employees usually require more assistance from the IT department than seasoned employees do. A physical move may agitate business, but a robust and smooth business continuity plan should allow the business to proceed as normal with stripped-down disruptions.An analysis of all risks will need to be performed as wholesome as plans to mitigate these risks should the circumstances arise. Before one can mark off a successful business continuity plan, a test must be run to work out any idiosyncrasies or items that may not have been considered.An in-depth analysis identified several immediate risks. Since the legal age of the current IT personnel will be relocating to Shanghai, a plan will be in place to account for the momentary IT personnel shortage. about six weeks prior to the move, the remaining staff members, from the Hangzhou office, will be known. It is estimated that 1/3 of the current staff will remain. formerly this number has been finalized, hiring will occur to backfill these positions. While approximately 2/3 of the staff will be preparing for the move, the remaining 1/3 will be conducting training for the new staff.Another identified risk was equipment failure due to maltreat during shipping or because of improper reconfiguration. Members of the existing staff will turn an on-call position for the first month. This will alleviate performance problems due to configurati on. If the equipment failure is due to damaged hardware, two vendors will have been pre-determined to contact for service or replacement parts. To minimize issues with equipment delivery, several confirmations with the shipping company will be completed.Portions of the hardware will be shipped separately. For example, the QA equipment will be shipped first, followed by the finance equipment, etc. Gradually moving components will allow each individualized system to stabilize itself. In order to safeguard data and information assets, two identical servers will be employ. one housed in the new location will be a mirror of the original. Once it can be determined that the databases and information can be used from the mirrored server, the original will be disconnected and subsequently destroyed. One way to en accredited a successful business recovery plan is to test it. While in the current location, a dry run will be performed. Throughout the week, several staged, but undisclosed failu res will occur which will allow the business recovery plan to be challenged. Problems such as an unavailable database, slow response time and unseasonable hardware will be orchestrated to mimic the anticipated response. Once this testing is complete, department coordinators will further document ways to set upon the lessons learned.When the time arrives to begin the physical move, some additional steps will be taken to ease the transition. First, the department coordinator will be migrated the map changes, issues, resolutions, etc. will be documented. Second, migration activities and estimated time spent on each activity will be prepared so that users know what to expect before actual migration. Sufficient time will be allocated on each migrated employees calendar and expectations will be set.The actual migration will happen in stages, three groups will be identified by the department co-coordinator based on system, application, or function criticality. Less critical groups will be moved first, followed by morecritical, and thereafter by the most critical. separately employees attendant will be identified. When an employee is moved, his backup would still be working from old location to cover for him. We will wait for at least two weeks of stable work from the employee at the new location before removing the backup employee. This will provide diffuseness in case there are some issues at the new location tasks can still be performed by the backup until those issues get immovable.Arrangements will be made with the current shipping company to settle our new shipping logistics. If the current shipping company is unable to do so, a replacement shipping company will be used. Each department coordinator will be assigned the task of making confident(predicate) all disaster recovery documents are up-to-date and existing business recovery measures are intact prior to the move. The test exercise will bring to light any inconsistencies in these documents. Enhance ments will be co-ordinated into the existing document.The business continuity plan (BCP) is a living document which needs to be kept up-to-date to fit its effectiveness. It should be updated at least once every quarter. Another important aspect of the BCP is auditing. It should be tested at least once every six months to ensure its validity. At anytime, there should only be one document with all of the changes and updates. If the document is well constructed the organization should be able to use extraneous resources that do not have intrinsic knowledge of your current network to recover your system. This can only be achieved once the BCP document has mature and it is recommended to attempt such a recovery (Magalhaes, 2005).The IT Departments purpose During the MoveThe IT department must continue supporting all the departments, groups, and systems at same level as that provided prior to the move, including but not hold to the followingApplication developmentTesting and Quality Assurance assist DeskMessaging or emailAsset management (hardware and software)System Administrators, entanglement supportSystem securityIT Planning, Training current and new staff as neededProviding maintenance to the current and new IT infrastructure detail Milestones for Years One, Three and FiveThere are 250 users at Hangzhou, China. As far as system hardware, most of the IT related systems become archaic in five years. This is the very reason that most companies lease their hardware equipment. The assumption is being made that Riordan Manufacturing leases equipment and will have six months of parallel systems. Hence, for the duration of six months, Riordan can keep the old as well as the new systems.The company will lease the system at the new location and retire the system at the old location. This approach will save moving costs and allow a six-month period to make sure the new system is stable before restrained the old system. Running the old and new systems in parallel f acilitates a back-out plan in case we have to revert to the old system in a worst-case scenario. This also helps with system availability and business continuity planning as discussed in the root word of the migration plan.The project scope will be determined by identifying all the servers, personal computers (PCs), networking systems, and other infrastructure componentsthat need to be moved. The hardware inventory of the items in Hangzhou is listed below transmit base station, companionship to HQT1 to outside networkPCs for Corp (12), Finance (8), MFG (8), MTLS(6), and QA (6)IP phones (40)8 HP laser printersNASWindows Servers (2) Network, ExchangeUNIX Server ERP/ MRPIBM web Servers (2)UPS, Router, VOIP data router, Gateway/ switch, switches, hubRiordan will also need a temporary communication channel such as a wide area network (WAN) between Hangzhou and Shanghai during the relocation period. The following are the specific milestones for years one, three and five of the migrat ion plan.Year OneAn IT budget will be developed for the five year migration plan by gentle all department heads, their leads and architects so that an estimation of the required effort can be accomplished. The IT infrastructure group will be responsible to make sure server and network equipment transitions are as smooth as possible. Estimated hours from each department as well as from theinfrastructure group will be used to determine the estimated costs in man-hours. The cost of moving the hardware, software, and other equipment will also be estimated. Total costs will be presented to management for approval so that work can be started.In this phase, IT personnel will be recruited and hired, or transferred as needed. In Shanghai, the WAN connection to HQ will be implemented. In addition, a T1 to the outside network and a temporary WAN connection to Hangzhou will be established for duration of the migration effort.Network equipment will be leased and a new WAN connection contract wi ll be negotiated with a vendor. During this phase, risk logs and issue logs will be hold and security concerns and issues will be evaluated. Also, a work breakdown structure will be developed to establish tasks which need to be accomplished to successfully complete the relocation.Year ThreeTime lines to move, setup, test the equipment, and claim the stakeholders at appropriate time will be developed. The time line will be shared with management and discussed in periodical meetings monthly meeting minutes including the summary of items completed, list of items targeted next, and any issues encountered will be provided. A six-month period will be used to make sure the new system is stable and the old system can be retired.Year FiveMigration of the most critical systems as well as miscellaneous and residual systems will occur during this phase. New IT personnel will also be recruited and hired during this time. Legal constraints will be resolved and business continuity will be ensur ed as discussed in the beginning of the migration plan. As discussed previously, a six-month time frame will be used to ensure the new system is stable in the new location and no one is using the old system.