Mr. Rains also has the challenge of standardizing how accounting expenses are reported and standardized across the four, non-integrated systems the Navigators use for managing their financial reporting and strategies. Third, Mr. Rains has the alterative of allowing smaller workgroups to form and eventually create systems integration across each one. Using a small group-based strategy would create a star networking topology that would force even greater emphasis on system and process integration. Select an alternative and propose an implementation plan.

As the strategic plan for the Navigators is concentrating on how to integrate processes, systems and strategies at the local level, Mr. Rains needs to first create a collaborative platform or it framework to unify the entire organization. This could be an Intranet portal based on Microsoft SharePoint for example. Next, the processes that unify the local offices and headquarters need to be streamlined using the business...

Third, the Navigators need to centralize on a common operating system to support their SharePoint-based strategy to unify the company. Following these initiatives, Mr. Rains needs to concentrate on transforming the lack of system and process integration within accounting into a cohesive, auditable and transparent series of systems and processes. He specifically needs to do this by concentrating on making sure the underlying accounting processes are consistent with each other and reflect the specific needs of the Navigators. After these critical areas are used to form the foundation of the implementation plan, Mr. Rains needs to define commons standards for external Intranet access, which is included in the basic foundation of the SharePoint platform. Lastly the use of purchasing standards needs to be defined within the Navigators so there is a consistent strategic direction in terms of technology investment.