create the Block Diagram of the Information Technology solution

The Employee Information Sheet (EIS)

As the organization has grown, their current paper-based Human Resource system has become

cumbersome, inefficient and, some would suggest, ineffective.

The system was based on a fairly simple form – the Employee Information Sheet or EIS. When a new

employee is hired, the hiring manager records important data items on the sheet. This would include

information such as the employee’s name, address, phone number and other contact information.

Other identifying descriptions such as department number and name would also be added. The sheet

would then be delivered or sent to an HR specialist (in the corporate headquarters) who would contact

the new hire and add additional, sensitive data to the form such as social security number, date of birth,

employee number, job classification, salary, health care and other benefits, etc.

The sheet would then be forwarded to an HR Training officer who would determine (by contacting the

new hire) levels of education, certifications, and training and record this information on the sheet. The

training officer would then determine (with consult of the hiring manager) what additional training was

required and note the set of training courses/workshops required.

The original copy of the EIS would be physically stored in an HR file cabinet within the corporate

headquarters.

Uses of the EIS

Over time, many different departments and individuals require information from the EIS. This includes:

Payroll: Required for creating pay checks, bonus pay, and tax forms.

Human Resources: Update changes in personal information, job classification or other job related data.

Benefits: To pay healthcare claims, vacation or sick days, and education benefits.

Training: To record coursework taken or additional needed.

Department Manager: To record performance review, corrective action or other performance related

data.

Employee: To view all employee related data including payroll, benefits and performance data.

The Problem

When a department requires employee information, a department employee requests, of the Human

Resource Manager, a copy of the EIS. Due to federal, state and corporate privacy rights, parts of the

form had to be “blacked out” or concealed so employee rights were not violated. When data is

updated, changed or deleted, the updated form is sent back to the Human Resources department so HR

specialists can make the necessary changes (to the original form). Depending on the extent of the

changes, a new form is often created and the previous forms are stapled to the new form as a way of

keeping historic updates. An EIS Update Log sheet is also included with the EIS so the HR Specialist can

record when the EIS is changed, the extent of the change, who made the change, and who requested

the change.

As one might imagine, often mistakes occur. Sometimes a requesting department is sent information

that should have been concealed or employees without proper access view the data. Often, a

requesting department will forget to make the necessary changes to the copy or may not send the

changes back to HR. Occasionally, two departments will request the same copy of an EIS and make

changes without knowledge of the other department. These actions create inaccurate, missing, and

duplicated data.

The Human Resource manager estimates that over 60 hours a week are required by HR technicians to

identify and correct erroneous data. Even with this additional time, the HR manager concedes that not

all corrupt data is being identified.

Your Task

The organization can no longer trust the integrity of the EIS system. A new electronic system needs to

be procured to help the company continue to grow and serve its external and internal (employee)

customers.

The Human Resources and Information Technology departments must work together to find a new

system that will support the growing company’s needs. The new system must allow department

managers, from any location, to update the EIS as required. However, due to the sensitive nature of the

data, security and privacy concerns must be included. The new system should be accessible from any

company location at any time of the day or night.

An individual employee should be able to access his/her own data in order to review for accuracy and

display salary, benefit and training information. There should be a way in which any employee or

manager can notify Human Resources in the event of inaccurate data.

Constraints

The company President realizes that a new electronic system does not come without cost. Although he

hasn’t specified a limit to the price of the system, he has provided a goal that a return on investment be

made within two calendar years. The Quality Control manager would like to see the inspection,

detection and correction time reduced to fewer than 10 hours per week.

The Information Technology manager is concerned if much additional hardware costs are incurred. The

physical space required for current networking and server equipment is straining the corporate

headquarters facilities, and the cost to run new cabling, increase HVAC capabilities, and overall

hardware maintenance needs is concerning. A solution with limited hardware needs would be

preferred.