Hitachi Consulting

CSR Information System

(Strongly abbreviated/excerpted version)

BA370/371 Class project

3/17/2006

Abstract

Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) is a business strategy that shapes the values supporting a company’s mission and the choices made each day by its executives, managers and employees as they connect with society. With growth in code compliance standards, companies must work to remain competitive while adapting to meet these complex standards (Hitachi Consulting). It is increasingly important for companies to monitor the processes of their subsidiaries and suppliers. By doing so, companies can avoid the possibility of being associated with the unethical practices of others. Social responsibility audits provide information on the social responsibility level of these companies. Violations and procedures for correcting them must be documented and made available and searchable. If a company changes its name oris taken over by another company, its corporate social responsibility record must be retained. This prevents companies from erasing a bad record by simply changing their name, or moving to a new facility.

Table of Contents

1. Problem Statement
2. Needs Analysis
3. Workflow Diagram
4. Long-Term Evaluation
5. Entity Relationship Diagram Design
6. Architecture Design
7. User Interface Design
8. UML Design
9. Conclusion
10. Sources / Page(s)
1-2
3-5
6-7
8-10
11-15
16
17-18
19-21
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23

Needs Analysis

Worker and Action / Tool / Required Data
The head agent receives factory information from Operations Department. / Pre-Audit Information Report / All necessary and applicable information for the factory to be audited
Head agent assigns factory to applicable regional manager. / Email / All factory and contact information forwarded to applicable regional manager
Regional manager checks if supplieris in the system already. If not in the system, creates new factory entity in database. / Factory Information Management System
(FIMS) / All information passed on by the head agent
Regional manager selects audit type from pre-defined list. If no applicable audit type is found: create a new one / FIMS, Audit Type Criteria Manager / Audit types, names, and criteria
Regional manager sets the factory to an initial audit and sets a completion date for the audit. / FIMS / Factory information, audit type criteria
Regional manager assigns field agency. / Email / Field agency contact information
Field agency assigns auditor / Email / Auditor contact information and availabilities
Field agency updates audit information to reflect the new auditor’s information / FIMS / Applicable auditor info
Auditor schedules initial audit and enters the date into the system / Field Audit Management System
(FAMS) / Company contact information, scheduled date
Auditor gets factory
information from the system / FAMS / Factory information
Worker and Action / Tool / Required Data
Auditor visits factory tocheck for correctness of company information in the database. / Offline audit form / Factory information, Offline audit form
If factory information is slightly dissimilar to reported information, auditor can change the contact information / Offline audit form
If major discrepancies in information arise, field agent must contact regional manager to determine following actions / Offline audit form / Regional manager contact information
Auditor performs initial audit / Offline audit form / Offline form, initial audit criteria
Auditor physically documents any violations / Offline audit form, documentation tools (camera, etc) / CSR violation criteria
Auditor works with factory manager to create a corrective action plan and a compliance date(s) / Offline audit form / CSR violation criteria
Auditor shows supplier his findings (including violations) and gives them a corrective action plan (on paper). Also records factory management cooperation level / Offline audit form / The list of would-be violations to check. Auditor needs corrective action plan process
Auditor enters audit data into database and confirmation is automatically sent to regional manager / FAMS / Information from audit report

Long-Term Evaluation

  • “Balanced Scorecard”

The “balanced scorecard” is an approach to measure investments based on four perspectives:

Financial: Measurements such as cost per audit, increase/decrease in overhead, etc.

Customer: Differentiating an organization from competitors to retain customers and gain new customers.

Internal: Improve processes to minimize time needed to accomplish tasks and duties and to provide enhanced support.

Innovation and Learning: Ensure program supports a climate for organizational change, innovation, and the growth of individuals.

The “balanced scorecard” is one way we can measure any possible benefit or cost associated to implementation of the CSR information system. Traditional financial measures are preserved, with the addition of three other measures that provide feedback for internal business processes. By converting a company’s values into metrics, success and achievement of goals can be measured.

(Kaplan & Norton, 2001)

  • Use Tracker

To avoid selection threats and bias in the above survey, a use tracker could be included in the software. This tracker could record items such as; number of clients, hours of usage, number of entries, time per audit entry, etc. By recording these data, we can observe the use of our software and the efficiency at which data are entered, modified, and accessed. An added benefit of a use tracker would be the ability to monitor any errors that occur with the system. The use of the help function could be tracked as well to determine the most common problems users run into. Error and help tracking could aid in development of future releases, increasing the ease of use and stability of the system.

  • Client Records

Another simple measurement we could conduct is to record the number of Hitachi Consulting’s clients. An interrupted time series with observations both before and after implementation would be required to avoid a history threat. It could be noted that, if Hitachi’s clients increased after the implementation the IS was a success.

  • Surveys/Questionnaires

The users of the CSR software (regional managers, auditors) will be asked to record their experience with the software. This survey will contain questions to measure the use of our software, as well as the differences experienced when comparing the software, to audits prior to CSR implementation. From the data gathered, we can determine an average amount of time saved by conducting audits with the CSR software. This survey will show how the users value the software, and give an example for the impact the system has on the end user. To obtain a valid measurement from the survey, it is desired that users surveyed worked both before and after the implementation of the IS, so as to guarantee selection validity for our survey.

Entity-Relationship Diagram Design


User Interface Design


UML Diagrams

1