|
The head of engineering figured he could go ahead without consulting Roell because the system seemed to work well at a sister company. He didn't expect Roell to help much anyway. After all, Roell's predecessor had been more of a systems babysitter, the kind of guy who buries his nose in manuals but rarely offers solutions. So when a sweet-talking salesman pitching robotic parts sealed the deal, the head of engineering was off and running.
Roell makes rounds of the company but had somehow missed hearing about the warehouse problem. "Anytime a CIO encounters rogue IT, it should always come as a wake-up call," he says. "Did I miss something that they really needed and they couldn't get from me? Or was this something where they had a request and I told them they had to wait? In either case, I'm sort of disappointed that I wasn't involved. But now I want to understand the need."
Indeed, the robotic warehouse kept better track of inventory. But the system couldn't plug into the network, and it lacked security. Roell ended up ditching the software that came with the robot and writing his own. He secured the inventory by placing the three towers in a small room that requires a security badge for entry.
Then he set up the computer interface so that employees had to identify themselves with a passcode and a biometric hand scan before they could tell the robotic arm what to retrieve. If they requested parts they weren't allowed to have, the system would generate a permission slip for their supervisor to sign. For additional security, Roell installed a video camera in each tower and one for the entire room. By the time he was done, breaking into the system had become next to impossible.
Around the same time, Roell discovered a piece of machinery that didn't have an asset tag, an object he now calls "the $50,000 ruler." Again, engineering had installed a piece of equipment without permission. The head of engineering told Roell that he had to buy the device because a major customer had insisted they have it. Roell agreed on the necessity but wished he'd been informed. "I guess I could have told you," Roell says the head of engineering told him.
|
