In-Basket Exercise - CBHRM
In-Basket Exercise - CBHRM
In-Basket Exercise - CBHRM
Organisation & Planning: Develops short, medium and long-range plans that are comprehensive, realistic and effective in meeting task, service or project goals. Ensures planning activities are aligned to the needs of the group/department. Defines and allocates appropriate resources and/or tools to achieve desired outcome. Monitors own or teams activity against performance objectives to ensure remain on target, re-aligning where necessary. Has a comprehensive knowledge of task priorities and is able to determine those it is possible to delay with least impact.
Among the solutions Alcoa markets are flat-rolled products, hard alloy extrusions, and forgings, as well as Alcoa wheels, fastening systems, precision and investment castings, and building systems in addition to its expertise in other light metals such as titanium and nickel-based super alloys. Sustainability is an integral part of Alcoas operating practices and the product design and engineering it provides to customers. Alcoa has been a member of the Dow Jones Sustainability Index since 2001. Alcoa employs approximately 61,000 people in 200+ locations in 31 countries across the world.
Alcoa, the worlds second largest Aluminum manufacturing company, is spread over 31 countries across the globe having regional headquarters at North-America, South-America, Australia & Europe. The companys Global corporate headquarter is situated at Pittsburg, North-America.
Previous ERP Framework of HRIS (As-Is) Need behind the Global HR Structure
During the great recession in 2008 Alcoa, the second largest aluminum manufacturing company of the world was one of those companies heat most badly. It observed the lowest ever price of finished aluminum, worst sales in past 100 years and more than 73% downfall in its share value. The company had to shut down a number of its plants like Davenport, Indiana etc. to survive. Alcoa mgmt. realized the fact of the cost associated with HR operations at regional ends & different vendor management. Also, the HR DSS was to be re-engineered as per the changed business & socioeconomic conditions in the post-recession era. HR Operational costs Deployment of a separate HR team. Planning & Execution Vendor mgmt. costs Deploying technical & functional developers
Deployment of Database Administrator (DBA) team Regional server establishment cost Regional server maintenance cost.
Above is the project mgmt. structure for execution of the Global HRIS Project in Alcoa. The project was headed by Dr. Ben Hernton and to be executed from Pittsburgh, North America. Other regional project managers were reporting to Ben and were responsible for the compliance of regional components
(Technical & Functional). Deana Rugh from North America had the additional responsibility to ensure the compliance of the Global components like PMS, CWB, Merit Pay Plan etc. once all the Global & Regional Functionalities/Components are integrated at the Global Level. The project was about to start and the steering committee has been formed. The next step was to conduct meetings with main vendors like TCS and Oracle. The first meeting with vendors has been conducted but the decision regarding the technology to be used, mode of billing (whether Fixed Cost or TNM), developers cost in case of Time & Money (TNM) mode of billing for the Global HRIS implementation project was yet to be decided. Alcoa mgmt. wants to go-live with the latest version of Oracle Application Releases, as Alcoa is already having an existing Oracle system with Release 11i, so that maximum technological enhancement can be achieved within lowest possible cost. Ben was supposed to take the decision on which version to be implemented, billing mode & cost per resource after an internal team meeting with other regional heads & Alcoa Top mgmt. But unfortunately Ben got a cardiac arrest and has been hospitalized last night. The project kick-off was very important from Alcoa point of view because Alcoa Top mgmt. wanted to conduct their next year Performance Mgmt. Appraisal & Compensation to run on the new centralized system in the month of January 2011. Deana Rugh has been brought to the position of Ben as acting Global HRIS project Leader as well as she will be taking care of the regional components of North America. The decision to honor Deana with the temporary project in charge role is basically due to her presence from the same location (Pittsburgh) and for easy access to Alcoa Top mgmt. within the same building. In absence of Ben, his personal assistance Mr. Padman Pai would be assisting Deana to understand pending appointments and decisions to be taken. The outlook calendar of Ben has already been shared by Padman to Deana, so that she can have some quick insight of Bens important meetings scheduled in next couple of weeks. Below is the snippet of current & the next weeks calendar of Ben.
From: Ben Hernton, Alcoa Inc. Sent: Thursday, August 06, 2010 10:00 AM To: [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected] Subject: Final Call Over budget Discussion for Global HRIS Project & Primary Approval Dear All, As per the mail below, I have fixed a meeting on 9-Aug-2010 from 10.30 am (EST) 11.30 am to discuss over the budget for the Global HRIS Project and to obtain primary approval from Linda & Afif. We have to freeze the total amount of Capital Expenditure & Expense budget for the Development & support activities. Also, at the organization level we need to get the approval from Linda and Afif for the budget distribution. Thanks, Ben. From: Carl Muraswki, Alcoa Inc. Sent: Wednesday, August 04, 2010 11:30 AM To: [email protected] Subject: Final Call Over budget Discussion - Urgent Ben, Please fix up a meeting with Linda & Afif to take a final call over the budget amount & pattern for the HRIS project earlier next week. Thanks, Carl. CEO, Alcoa Inc. MS Outlook Meeting Request
From: Ben Hernton, Alcoa Inc. Sent: Saturday, August 07, 2010 16:30 PM To: [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]; Subject: Meeting with Legacy Vendors for Gap-Analysis. Dear All, As per our previous discussion, let us meet over a Tele-Conference with the regional vendors to discuss over the identification & Documentation of the regional components. Challenges & gaps to Integrate regional interfaces with the Global Common Interface framework would be discussed with priority during the meeting. Please intimate the SPOCs of the regional Legacy vendors accordingly to come prepared with their analysis and challenges. Thanks, Ben. Global HR Head, Alcoa Inc.
Subject: To identify the regional components (RICEW components) & Gap analysis before integration in Global
HRIS system. Documentation, generation of test scripts & finalizing the security integration with Common Interface Framework architecture.
Agenda:
Identify regional components (RICEW components) Analyze the Gap & Challenges to integrate the components with the new version of Oracle HRIS Package Understanding the Common Interface Framework & Technical challenges during Integration To complete the Documentation of the regional Processes, Generation of test scripts & Finalizing the security integration Whether FTP (File Transfer protocol) / SFTP (Secured File Transfer protocol) to be used?
Dear Deana, Waiting for your approval on hiring of Mr. John White who has been selected for the position of Regional Manager, Sales- North America by Mr. Allen Smith. Had already send mail to you on this as Mr. White is looking forward for our consent on the offer which we had already discussed and he needs time since he needs to relocate from Mexico. Attaching the offer structure for your perusal. We are under constant pressure from the Group Head, Sales- Mr. Smith on this.
Thanks, Elizabeth
From: Ben Hernton, Alcoa Inc. Sent: Saturday, August 07, 2010 10:30 AM To: [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]; Subject: Steering committee meeting over instruction from Top mgmt. & budget distribution. Dear All, As per my meeting with top mgmt., I would like to convey the mgmt. decision over the budget calculation & distribution strategy to you. There are certain guidelines have been mentioned specially by Carl to be followed during the project execution. Also, we need to finalize the decision over feasibility of separation of Development & Support activities. I have setup a meeting request (VC) on 9-Aug-2012 from 2.30 4.00 PM EST to discuss the guidelines in detail & to get your concerns over that. Mark would take a late night call. Thanks, Ben. Global HR Head, Alcoa Inc.
Subject: To convey the high level decision regarding the budget allocation and distribution. Also, to discuss about
separation of the Development & Support activities and allocate budget accordingly.
Agenda:
Ben to convey the Top mgmt. decision with the regional project managers Discussion on the budget allocation and distribution process Feasibility analysis of separation of the Development & Support activities To analyze the possibility to operate the development activities in TNM mode & Support activities in Fixed Cost mode
Persons to attend the Meeting: Deana Rugh (Project Manager North America) Presence Mandatory Mark Brook (Project Manager Australia) Presence Mandatory Lara Franklin (Project Manager Europe) Presence Mandatory Sabrina Fernandez (Project Manager South America (Brazil)) Presence Mandatory Ben Hernton (Project Manager Global Lead) Presence Mandatory Subject: To freeze the decision of process activity (Support & Development) separation & ask quotations from the vendors accordingly. Agenda: To flag issues, if any & finalize the budget allocation & distribution process To freeze the call on process activity separation Ask the vendors for quotations as per the decision
From: Ben Hernton, Alcoa Inc. Sent: Wednesday, August 04, 2010 16:30 PM To: [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]; Subject: Global Conference among all major stake holders of the Global HRIS Project. Dear All, As per our strategic planning, let us meet over a Global-Conference with the regional vendors & major stakeholders like TCS, Oracle etc. to discuss over the identification & Documentation of the regional components. Challenges & gaps to Integrate regional interfaces with the newer version of application would be discussed with priority during the meeting. TCS & Oracle Onsite members to be attending the meeting to analyze the issues found & conduct a Gap Analysis. This needs to be repeated five days to freeze the decision. Please intimate the SPOCs of the regional Legacy vendors & TCS onsite members accordingly. Thanks, Ben. Global HR Head, Alcoa Inc.
Subject: To identify the regional components (RICEW components) & Gap analysis before integration in Global
HRIS system. Thorough analysis of the challenges in the newer versions to integrate the existing regional components.
Agenda:
Identify regional components (RICEW components) Analyze the Gap & Challenges to integrate the components with the new version of Oracle HRIS Package Understanding the Common Interface Framework & Technical challenges during Integration To find out the fix of the Gaps analyzed To complete the Documentation of the regional Processes, Generation of test scripts & Finalizing the security integration Whether FTP (File Transfer protocol) / SFTP (Secured File Transfer protocol) to be used? To be repeated for five days & more unless all the issues/gaps are identified & high level solution has been identified
From: Shasti Halder Sent: Friday, August 08, 2010 06:00 PM To: [email protected]; Cc: [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected] Subject: Re: To freeze the call on Billing Mode & Billing Rates Dear Ben, Thanks for providing us the opportunity to provide you prolonged service. We are ready to discuss over the billing items and the billing rates as requested by you. The time frame of the project is too less to go-live with a Global HRIS implementation. However we have an integrated workforce planning that best suits the time frame and we need to discuss the same with you. Thanks, Shasti. From: Ben Hernton, Alcoa Inc. Sent: Friday, August 06, 2010 10:00 AM To: [email protected]; [email protected] Cc: [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected] Subject: To freeze the call on Billing Mode & Billing Rates Dear Shasti/Sujit, Lets have a conference call on 11-Aug-2010 (Wednesday) at 2 pm. EST to freeze the open items on the billing mode. Also, request you to provide your quotation for TNM rates per resources beforehand so that we can finalize the rates by that time.
Thanks, Ben. Global HR Head, Alcoa Inc.
From: Louis Parker, Hewitt Inc. Sent: Friday, August 06, 2010 12:00 PM To: [email protected] Cc: [email protected] Subject: Re-Schedule of conference call for the Payroll Issue Dear Deana, As discussed earlier, request you to reschedule the conference call on 13-August-2010 instead of 11-Aug2010 at 1:00 PM for the issues arise in the Payroll system as our Project Head would not be available. Warm Regards Louis.
From: Deana Rugh, Alcoa Inc. Sent: Friday, August 03, 2010 06:00 PM To: [email protected]; Subject: Hewitt wants to meet to settle issues regarding Alcoa specific customization. Dear Ben, As you know that our Payroll system has been outsourced to Hewitt and at the Application level Hewitt has some typical Alcoa specific customization. And as we are going for a system upgrade, Hewitt Australia and North America may need to re-deploy the customizations as Oracle Framework has been changed a lot in the future releases. Hewitt mgmt. wants to setup a meeting to fix the issues related to the enhancements they may need to perform at their end. Please setup a meeting as per your suitable time to close the call.
Thanks, Deana Rugh. HR Manager, Alcoa Inc. North America.
From: Babu Venkatesh, Oracle Sent: Friday, August 05, 2010 02:00 PM To: [email protected]; Subject: Special Offer for Oracle Apps Rel-12. Attached: Oracle Offer Document Oracle Rel -12.pdf Dear Ben, Its my immense pleasure to offer you a special rate for the full version of Oracle Apps Rel-12 software package at a very special rate discounted for Alcoa. The discount is for a limited period (1 month for new & existing customers) & would be available only if Alcoa offers Oracle the development part of the implementation. Also, it has been observed that Future versions run 10 times faster on new IBM-ITX 64 Bit Blade servers. You may consider the statistics as because, that will make the Global Instance performance really faster w.r.t. IBM- 32 bit servers. We have a special tie-up with IBM regarding the hardware setup which may offer you a special discounted rate on Blade servers. A detailed level workforce planning with resource rates would be provided soon. Our concerned departments will send you the entire offer details as soon as possible. Will look forward to your reply as the time frame for the project is too less and the Software installation may take 3-4 days to setup the basic platform. P.S. the generic offer document has been attached with this mail for your reference. Thanks, Deana Rugh. HR Manager, Alcoa Inc. North America.
From: Allen Smith, Alcoa Inc. Sent: Friday, August 09, 2010 10:00 AM To: [email protected]; Subject: Hiring Issue-John White
Dear Deana, This is for your kind attention that the hiring process of Mr. John White started much before and lying with you as the final call is pending from your end so we are completely unaware of the present situation. We are not in position to withdraw offer or look for any other candidate after proceeding such a long way he is a good candidate and I would not like to lose him. Please do the needful on priority basis. P.S. Sorry to rush you on this, but have already wasted lots of valuable project time in coordinating to and fro on the same issue with HR but things have not moved in last 15 days. Thanks, Allen Smith. Group Sales Head, Alcoa Inc.
Dear Sir, As per the instruction from Babu Venkatesh, Oracle Inc. & IBM offers you a special rate on IBMATX 64 bit Blade servers. Please follow the details below for your reference.
A 2 Node RAC cluster consisting of 4 CPUs (ignoring multi cores) per node plus the following options: Real Application Clusters ($20,000 per processor) Active Data Guard ($5,000 per Processor) Partitioning ($10,000 per Processor) Real Application Testing($10,000 per Processor) Advanced Compression ($10,000 per Processor) Total Recall ($5,000 per Processor) Advanced Security ($10,000 per Processor)
Taking the options into account, the software cost per CPU would be US $110,000.For the2 Node RAC, that would come to be (2 nodes) x (4 CPU) x US$110,000=US$880,000. The secondary site where your Active Data Guard is being replicated is missing. That would be double your cost to US$1,760,000 (list). Likewise, adding support of 22 percent brings the figure to US$2,147,200 (list). You would not pay this price, as special partnership discounting has been applied. Using figures form Oracles Store; we get a discounted figure of US$1,610,400. Thanks, Bob Balmer, Hardware Sales Senior Manager - Oracle Inc., California. Date: 10.08.2010.
Dear Sir, Oracle Inc. hereby offers you a special discounted rate on its most recent upgraded version of ERP package (Oracle Apps Release-12) on Oracle Fusion architecture based on cloud computing. Please note that the specially discounted rate would be applicable as per the norms set by Oracle mgmt. Oracle E-Business Suite Applications Component Global Price List Enterprise Visualization Application Module Human Resources Human Resources Self-Service Human Resources Advanced Benefits Compensation Workbench IRecruitment Payroll Performance Management 110 Time and Labor 225 Workforce Scheduling 70 Succession Planning 350 Business Approvals Connector for Managers 77.00 Application User 25 15.40 Employee 100 49.50 Employee 1,000 24.20 Employee 100 License Price 185 40 SW Update & License support 40.70 8.80 Metric Minimum
Employee Employee
100 100
85 70 75 225 105
50 105 52
Thanks, Steve Jones, Software & services vertical Head - Oracle Inc., Redwood City, California. Date: 12.08.2010.
From: Albarto Couto, Alcoa Inc. Sent: Wednesday, August 04, 2010 03:00 PM To: [email protected]; Cc: [email protected]; Subject: Global Security Compliance High Important Status RED Attached: Alcoa Information Security.pdf Dear Ben, The global integration of regional components may cause severe threat to the existing Alcoa Information Security system. Hence we may need to flag the concern to the Top mgmt. to take prompt action on the same. If we fail to respond on this item now, we may face massive Internal Audit failure in future. I have already shared a document containing a detailed analysis of the pain points that may arise due to the integration at the global level. Please have a look on the same and provide your feedback regarding the same. Thanks, Albarto Couto. HOD - Information Security, Alcoa Inc. North America.
Inter Office Note From: Finance Department Type of Note: Budget Approval
Please find enclosed revised budget for Open House and press conference for our New Product Launch to be held on 29th of August, 2010. Request you to approve the same.
Item - 16
FAX Message To: Ms. Deana Rugh Subject: Union Issue on Davenport Plant Dear Mam, This is with reference to our discussion that the union issue has reached at serious stage. They are at the verge for strike as we are unable to solve the issue. As discussed earlier, your intervention is urgently required for the same as they are asking for their salary revision which decision can be taken by the senior management. As you know our previous meeting was not successful where you committed to rethink their demand so now they all are asking for you and has given the next 15 days time. In this situation we would like to request you to visit the plant and manage the circumstances. Thanks, Brian Taylor, Plant Manager IR, Davenport.
Item - 17
From: Arnold David, Ministry of Human Resource Sent: Wednesday, August 11, 2010 02:00 PM To: [email protected]; Subject: Letter of Invitation Attached: Programme schedule.pdf Dear Deana Rugh, Like every year we are organizing the North-East America investors meet on 17-August-12 at Vatican City Hall. We are glad to announce that you will be our CHIEF GUEST for the programme. The ministry of Human Resource has come out with a four pillar approach, i.e. People, Project, Policy and Promotion. We would like to hear you views and also if there is any issue related to infrastructure, land or security where you feel Government can extend their cooperation. Regards, Arnold David. Ministry Of Human Resource.
Item 18
From: Michelle Nachrelly, Alcoa Inc. Sent: Wednesday, August 04, 2010 03:00 PM To: [email protected]; Subject: NA HRMS Strategic Planning for iRecruitment Integration. Attached: Alcoa Information Security.pdf Dear Deana, As you already know that we have decided to Go-live with Global iRecruitment and to discontinue with our recruitment outsource partner Morningstar. However, we need to prepare a firm strategic planning to migrate Morning Star data to the Global HRIS system and it should be synchronized with the new hires in the new system. We have to document the roadmap for the same and prepare test scripts accordingly. Please arrange a meeting with ben to take a final call on this issue. Thanks, Michelle Nachrelly. Associate Manager HR, Alcoa Inc. North America.
Item No. 1
Expected Responses
Items 1, 4, 7, 15 all are related to finalize the budget & its distribution. All these items are inter-linked and should be dealt in congruence. However this is the meeting with Top mgmt. and cant be ignored. Deana may take information as much as possible from Padman about Bens progress on this meeting and can prepare herself quickly. This particular item is very crucial from project mgmt. perspective because other items totally depend on the decision made over this meeting. The outcome of this meeting also needs to be shared with regional HR heads and their responses are to be collected. This item is interlinked with item 5 & 6 and talks about the foundation of strategic planning among all the stake holders of the project. Ask Michelle to follow-up with the regional project managers regarding their progress. Michelle to intimate Legacy vendors should come prepared with proper documentation of the regional processes & finalized security integration method.
Rationale
This is the budget meeting for the project with Alcoa top mgmt. and cant be ignored at any cost. Deana has very less amount of time to prepare for this meeting as she came to know about this meeting on that very morning.
Competency Exhibited
Here the behaviour exhibits how a person should react in a critical situation about which he/she has very less information. Competency exhibited Planning & Organizing.
Deanas presence in this meeting is optional so she can skip this meeting on demand basis to meet other important appointments. But she has to follow-up with other regional counterparts about their progress; hence she outsourced the responsibility to her subordinate Michelle. Alcoa mgmt. is showing rigidness in maintaining the timeline for the project execution; hence she should finalize the call on budget & its distribution. Also, the same needs to be communicated to other regional HR heads well before. As the meetings have been scheduled at non-overlapping pattern; hence there is no harm to take this up on priority. The meeting is very important to setup and finalize the call on the process separation (process reengineering) & As there is some bandwidth to shift the meeting timing a little forward, Deana is okay to go for her Doctors appointment. Deanas presence is optional; hence she can discontinue with the meeting and meet other high priority works. The meeting is repetitive in nature. She can take it up on the next occurrence. Her next important agenda is to meet with TCS mgmt. regarding the budget & billing discussion; hence she may skip the meeting. Deana should attend the meeting as there is already a request from Hewitt side to reschedule the meeting due to
Here Deana has shown an excellent example of responding to the changing needs & comfortably adjusting with the changes. Competency exhibited Change Orientation.
3 4
This item is interlinked with Item 1, 7 & 15 and need to be dealt with in sync with each other. However the meeting time is not overlapping with any other priority works hence, Deana should attend the meeting on time.
This is a critical item from project mgmt. perspective. Deana had to speculate accurately the timeline on priority basis & to set up strategies accordingly. Competency exhibited Planning & Organizing.
This item is linked with previous item # 2 & # 6, but the meeting timing is overlapping with Deanas appointment with doctor at 4 pm. (Item # 19) Deana may prepone the meeting by half an hour, if feasible, and can instruct Michelle accordingly to reschedule the meeting. Deana should attend the meeting because they are going to take a crucial decision over their change mgmt. This item is the immediate effect of Item # 5 & the first strategic step of the project mgmt. Deanas presence is optional here. She may skip the meeting and instruct Michelle to take the charge of the meeting or Deana may initiate the meeting to convey the aim of the meeting clearly to every stakeholder and delegate the responsibility to Michelle and may discontinue in the meeting.
It was an attempt to adapt sudden changes and adapt personal approaches to adjust changing needs. Competency exhibited Change Orientation
Deana changed her overall scheduled plan to fit into the situation Shows her ability to adjust to the changing needs Ability to plan controllability in future. Competency exhibited Change Orientation
This is the final call on budget mode & billing rates & to be dealt with priority in a row with item 1, 4,& later with item 15. Deana should attend this meeting at any cost though
Deana was able to define her objectives anticipated the needs & priorities.
she has a pre-scheduled meeting with Hewitt personnel regarding payroll planning.
Also, she had to define the goal, develop plans & estimate time frames in the meeting. Competency exhibited Planning & Organizing.
8 9 10
This item is inter-related with item 12 & 13 and the decisions taken should complement each other. This is an excellent opportunity to reduce operational cost for Deana & she should respond to the mail ASAP. Michele to make the necessary arrangements & arrange a meeting on a suitable time very soon. Deana may also need to gather some information regarding the hardware performance beforehand to discuss over the same.
There is a good discounted price offer from Oracle for a short period of time. Oracle & IBM collaboration also offers a handy discount on high performance hardware setup; hence Deana should take the matter up to priority.
Deana had to organize & plan her works according to the organizational needs by anticipating needs & priorities. She also effectively handled multiple demands & competing details. Competency exhibited Planning & Organizing Here Deana set her objective properly, made proper adjustment of time and shown excellent anticipation to the changing needs
11 12
Deana to intimate Michelle to pass the Fax message to Alcoa In-house IT department for thorough analysis of the offer & ask for their suggestion on the offer.
It is quite obvious that Deana should not be having sufficient knowledge to judge the offer & hence it was better to pass it to the SMEs who have firm knowledge of the same.
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