Section 1: Written Project Plan You are now in the final stage of the project plan development. All previous documentation should be combined into one (1) document that will serve as the statement of work for the project. Your goal is to have the project approved by the executive team. The project plan should be very detailed, which is appropriate to accomplish the monumental task of implementation; however, the executive team is only interested in a thirty (30) minute summation. Therefore, you also must create a compelling executive summary that is supported by your detail that convinces the executive team that it should move forward with your solution. Develop a thirty to forty (30-40) page project plan in which you:
- Write a five to ten (5-10) page executive summary in which you provide a high-level technical overview of your project where you address the following:
- Introduction for the paper
- Describe the scope of the project and control measures.
- Describe the goals and objectives of the project.
- Give a detailed, realistically estimated cost analysis of the entire project, including technical resources (human capital) that may be needed to complete the project.
- Relate the value of the project plan solution to the competitive advantage that information technology will afford the organization.
- Provide all aspects of the information technology implementation into the project plan.
- Recommend solution providers who can assist with development and implementation. Include a cost analysis of at least three (3) providers.
- Combine all previous documentation for Project Deliverables 1-5 in which you:
- Provide all aspects of the information technology implementation into the project plan.
- Revise the documentation based on feedback from the earlier evaluation of the deliverable.
- Use at least six (6) quality resources in this assignment. Note: Wikipedia and similar Websites do not qualify as quality resources.
Your assignment must follow these formatting requirements:
- Be typed, double spaced, using Times New Roman font (size 12), with one-inch margins on all sides; citations and references must follow APA or school-specific format. Check with your professor for any additional instructions.
- Include a cover page containing the title of the assignment, the student’s name, the professor’s name, the course title, and the date. The cover page and the reference page are not included in the required assignment page length.
- Include charts or diagrams created in MS Visio and MS Project as appendix of the Word document. Make reference of these files in the body of the Word document.
Section 2: Revised Business Requirements Document
- Document all revisions made to the written project plan in the Document Control section of the business requirements document from Project Deliverable 2: Business Requirements. Note: This documentation must outline the revisions made to the previous deliverables required in Section 1: Written Project Plan.
Section 3: Project Plan PowerPoint Presentation
- Additional to your detailed executive summary you must present your findings to the executive team and the venture capital group that along with the executive summary will convince the group that your solution is optimal.
- Create a ten to fifteen (10-15) slide PowerPoint presentation in which you:
- Illustrate the concepts from the executive summary in Section 1 of this assignment.
- Create bulleted speaking notes for your presentation to the executive board in the Notes section of the PowerPoint. Note: You may create or assume any fictitious names, data, or scenarios that have not been established in this assignment for a realistic flow of communication.
- Use a professional technically written style to graphically convey the information.
Section 4: Finalized Project Plan
- Use Microsoft project to:
- Finalize your project plan from Project Deliverable 5: Network Infrastructure and Security to include all necessary changes in assumptions, tasks, and / or subtasks.
computer scienceinformation system
Running head: BUSINESS REQUIREMENTS
1
BUSINESS REQUIREMENTS
9
Business Requirement
Thien Thai
CIS599
Professor Wade M. Poole
Strayer University
Jan 31, 2020
Business Requirement
In order to secure information and database framework and achieve operational target, network base computing included IT framework has been continuing to develop. This paper will describe, analyze, and speculate the scope of the project. Important information about risks, constraints, and assumptions will also be discussed in this paper. Then it will talk about needed integration with other systems and infrastructure. The human capital and possible outsourcing or offshoring will be addressed to accomplish project. Finally, this paper will provide terms in the project and include cost projections.
1
Document Control
Change Record
Date |
Author |
Version |
Change Reference |
|
01/31/2019 |
Thien Thai |
1.0 |
Review |
|
Reviewers
Name |
Position |
CIO |
|
1 Business Requirements
1.1 Project Overview
The project entails development of a mobile application that will help the customers, find company’s information pertaining products and services, contact the company for assistance and perform self-care requests through their account area without customer service intervention.
1.2 Background including current process
This project is intended to ease the company’s display of information as well as access to service. Customers prefer a common area where all their company products and service subscriptions can be accessed without experiencing the limitations of a common web browser.
The project goal is to make an application that will log the customers to company personal account.
The IT role for this project is to ensure that the information updates and the application development is correct and to the desired security standards, layout and adhering to international standards.
1.3 Scope
1.3.1 Scope of Project
According to Kerzner in 2017, before the establishment of every project, the scope must be developed. This will act sat the guide throughout project development. The scope for this project will include the following items and holding a meeting with sponsors of the project. The project manager and the key development team shall conduct a meeting to discuss project support and finances. For each following item, there should be a corresponding strategy for incorporating these areas into the overall project.
Applications –
we will use the mobile applications to meet the target production date.
Sites –
the Google play store and the Appstore.
Process Re-engineering – Re-engineering will ensure that the application is user friendly to all the stakeholders and it’s completed on set time.
Customization – Customizations will be limited to the customer/public user interface, the client area dashboard and the staff backend dashboard.
Interfaces – it included customer/public user, the client dashboard, and the staff backend dashboard
Architecture – IT department will provide Application and Technical Architecture.
Conversion – Only the following data and volume will be considered for conversion: the company’s public data.
Testing
– Testing will include only the compatibility of the application on various phone, tablets, and iPad models.
Funding
It is limited to:
Staffing- $ 60000
Hosting – $ 5000
Computers – $10000
Data center – $5000
Training – Training will be conducted by the IT department to the customer service department.
Education – Education will include:
· Development of cross-platform applications
· Skills on UI/UX
· Any three of programming languages like C# and Java, API (Apple iOS, android & Windows Mobile), web development (HTML5 & CSS)
· Cross-platform suites for mobile (Antenna and AMP)
1.3.2 Constraints and Assumptions
The following constraints have been identified:
· The size of the screen, the sensors, as well as the interactions
· The storage sizes and the cache sizes
· Latencies
· Issues with network
· Requirements for use of data
· The type of fonts, the language to be used and the tome of the voice
The following assumptions have been made in defining the scope, objectives, and approach:
· The technology, as well as the toolset available, will be able to create the application till completion
· Enough financial and human resources set aside will be able to cater to the application’s development.
· Every item included in the development process will go according to the plan.
1.3.3 Risks
According to Muriana and Vizzini in 2017, during the development and implementation of any project, it is likely to encounter several risks. The following risks have been identified as possibly affecting the project during its progression:
· Building an application that is not wanted by the users
· Unsustainable growth in the number of users
· Choosing wrong task management partners
· Breaches in the application’s security
· Risk of tying the development to one platform
1.3.4 Scope Control
Change requests will be used in controlling the scope. This method is the requested changes emanating from the scope analysis that business owner representative will make approval for any changes that affect cost or timeline for the project. According to Johansson and Persson in 2019, we give high priority to outsourcing because it seems to be cheaper than offshoring due to differences in the values of currency. Another way in which project scope will be controlled is through the use of updates from the project management plan – the main areas in which the updates will likely emanate from includes the following; updates from scope baseline, the cost baseline, performance control baseline, and project schedule baseline. Of all these, change requests and work performance information will be given the highest priority during the control of the project scope.
1.3.5 Relationship to Other Systems/Projects
It is the responsibility of the business unit to inform IT of other business initiatives that may impact the project. The following are known business initiatives: the application will have a shared database with the website of the company. This will ensure that data provided by the company, requested, and received by the customers whether on web or mobile app is same at any given instance. The most important integration that the system will need to have is database integration – a proper integration with data storage is important because the system will perform Read-Write functions for data and information it requires for an effective business transaction.
1.3.6 Definition of Terms (if applicable)
The terms that will be used thought the project include the following:
i. SA – System Analyst. These are the people who work on system analysis.
ii. SD – System Developers. These are the people who work on system development (coding and documentation).
iii. DBA – Database Administrator. These are the individuals who work on the design and development of data databases.
iv. NE – Network Engineers (NE). Part of the development team that develope a secure network infrastructure for the system.
v. Application programming interface (API) – specifications of how the app interacts with other components of the software.
vi. Business to customer – a mobile application that is built for an average customer
vii. Hybrid app- a mobo-app that has been coded in HTML, CSS, and JavaScript that makes use of the web to native abstraction layer.
Conclusion
Database is the the main key of an organization in order to meet business requirement. it keep organization protected. Itsfunction depends upon the safety specifications that are followed by the IT department and implemented inside the network of administration, further following the laid protocols.
References
Johansson, B., & Persson, R. (2019). Offshore Outsourcing: An IT-Manager Perspective on Cultural Differences. In 2019 Joint International Conference on Perspectives in Business Informatics Research Workshops and Doctoral Consortium, BIR-WS 2019 (Vol. 2443, pp. 140-152). CEUR.
Kerzner, H. (2017). Project management metrics, KPIs, and dashboards: a guide to measuring and monitoring project performance. John Wiley & Sons.
Muriana, C., & Vizzini, G. (2017). Project risk management: A deterministic quantitative technique for assessment and mitigation. International Journal of Project Management, 35(3), 320-340.
Running head: PROJECT INTRODUCTION
1
PROJECT INTRODUCTION
7
Project Introduction
Thien Thai
CIS599
Professor Wade M. Poole
Strayer University
Jan 15, 2020
Project Introduction
Philips Corporation is a multinational company headquartered in Amsterdam. The company is involved in such activities as producing electronic equipment such as electric bulbs. The company produces electric bulbs on a large scale basis and has been able to supply this product to many parts of the world markets. Phillips uses its several branches that it has set in various parts of the world to distribute the electric products. The company supplies its headquarters with electric bulbs and then leaves the responsibility of selling this product to the local managers (Newton, 2016). The revenue from the sales is then remitted to the producing company.
Again, the company is involved in the activity of producing medical equipment such as X-ray equipment. For countries that need so many medical equipment of this nature, a special order has to be made and the company allowed time to manufacture the equipment. Buyers making these kinds of orders are usually required to pay half of the cost of the equipment to be supplied. This initial cost is supposed to demonstrate that the buyer is committed to the agreement (Garwood, 2018). If the buyer is a private individual, payments are usually required to be made before the real supply of the equipment to be supplied.
The company’s outsourcing opportunity of marketing has great potential for improving the overall sales. In any case, the company will hire a third company to enable it to market its goods, it will be able to cut its sales. This is because another company will be doing marketing on its behalf. Typically, outsourced companies bear the cost of all the services that they have been hired to perform. The companies outsourced must quote an overall cost that is lower than that which the company is incurring on a regular basis (Newton, 2016). Outsourcing will enable the company to improve its efficiencies.
Besides, the company’s offshoring investment opportunity has great potential contributing to the expansion of the company. The increasing population across different parts of the world is increasingly creating new markets that the company needs to explore. In any case, the company will take advantage of the new market opportunities, it will be able to set up new branches enabling it to expand. The significance of expanding, in this case, is that it will enable it to build its reputation. Moreover, this will enable it to attract highly experienced staff to perform its activities (Garwood, 2018). It will enable the company to build high-quality products and services.
The company has an operations system that supports its business by enabling its access applications without having to write programs. Microsoft application, for example, enables the company to create queries so that it can be able to obtain particular information that it is looking for. In any case, the management want to know the employees that have reached the retirement age, for instance, they have to use this application to get the names of all of their employees that have reached the retirement age. The significance of the queries is that they lead to quick retrieval of information (Newton, 2016). This is especially in a case where a company has stored a lot of information.
Philips’ databases support its business by providing stored information whenever needed. Whenever the company is planning to review previous reports so that it can look at the challenges that were faced and plan effectively, data is retrieved and measures formulated to prevent the company from facing similar problems. In any case, the company, for example, faced the problem of hacking in the past according to the stored information, this can be used to provide more security measures to prevent the company’s systems from being hacked (Garwood, 2018). The company may, for instance, decide to create strong passwords that are changed on a regular basis.
The company’s data warehousing supports its business by streamlining the flow of information. The importance of streamlined information is that it makes it easier for administrators to retrieve any information that they want. The administrators save time when it comes to retrieving information from the database. The flow of information is also faster during transfer from one department to another. This faster communication between the companies’ is made possible by its high-speed network (Newton, 2016). Usually, the company has to access the internet for it to store its data in highly secure systems.
Philips’s cloud technology and virtualization support its business by enabling the company back its stored data. The cloud technology offers various storage spaces to companies based on the needs. Some companies need large storage spaces while others need small storage spaces. Philips is an example of a company that needs a large storage space for its data. The reason for this is that this company handles large sets of data (Garwood, 2018). The significance of storing data in the cloud system is that it enables the company to access it from any part of the world.
The cloud technology and virtualization technology support its business by providing the company with large storage space for its data. The significance of this is that it helps the company to ensure that all of its data is secured. In any case, the cloud system was offering only a small space to the company, some of its data would not be secure since it means that they will be stored in the computer system that are prone to damage (Newton, 2016). It is difficult for companies to lose their stored information from the cloud system.
The company’s network infrastructure and security support its business by enabling the company to send and receive files to its offshore branches. The ability to send files securely to branches located in other countries implies that there is no need for the company to send employees to physically deliver the files. It means that the network infrastructure is enabling the company to save its costs. This is for the reason that sending an employee to deliver a file will lead to increased operational expenses in a company (Garwood, 2018). The margin of increase will be big for the reason that the company would need to send so many employees to its many branches located in different parts of the world.
Additionally, the company’s network infrastructure and security support its business through enabling the company to update its operating system. The importance of updating an operating system is that it helps prevent the company’s system from being hacked (Newton, 2016). Typically, updating an operating system helps ensure that the new security features are being used to protect a database. Continuing to use an old operating system prevents a company from taking advantage of the newly developed features to guard a system from cybercriminal activity.
To conclude, Philips Corporation is mainly involved in such activities as producing electronic equipment such as electric bulbs and medical equipment such as X-ray equipment. The company’s outsourcing opportunity of marketing has great potential for improving the overall sales. Besides, the company’s offshoring investment opportunity has great potential contributing to the expansion of the company. The company has an operations system that supports its business by enabling its access applications without having to write programs. Philips’ databases support its business by providing stored information whenever needed. The cloud technology and virtualization technology support its business by providing the company with large storage space for its data.
References
Garwood, D. A., & Poole, A. H. (2018). Project management as information management in interdisciplinary research: “Lots of different pieces working together”. International Journal of Information Management, 41, 14-22.
Newton, R. (2016). Project management step by step: how to plan and manage a highly successful project. Pearson UK.
Running Head: INFRASTRUCTURE 1
INFRASTRUCTURE 9
Infrastructure
Thien Thai
CIS599
Professor Wade M. Poole
Strayer University
March 1, 2020
Infrastructure
Introduction
The network infrastructure contains the hardware and software parts; the two components will help have a complete resource for the network and help have the network connectivity, communication, operations, and management of the system to be more comfortable. The infrastructure provides the communication path and the services that are shared within the network so that there can be complete communication with the end-users, processes, applications, and services that will help have the best end to end communication (Nelson, at el 2019). The infrastructure contains vulnerabilities, network security issues that should be taken into account so that there could be proper evaluation and management of the network. Security measures are supposed to be implemented as per the type of infrastructure that is laid in the organization.
The paper will also cover the cloud technology that has been the most trending technology that has been helping many organizations in storing their data since it provides a large storage space that helps the organization cover up their data. The paper will also focus on how cloud technology has benefited firms in providing cheap storage, the type of challenges that they are facing on the cloud technology and the type of advances that have taken place over the years on making sure that the technology meets the needs of the users. The paper will also cover virtualization for the networks and how well it has facilitated the advancements of technology and having the best ways of having many users accessing one resource from different points or internet protocols (Wei at el 2017).
The paper will also cover diagrams on the logical and physical diagrams of the infrastructure, explaining the tools that are involved in the topology and how they benefit the transmission of the network. The diagram will also have a wide view of how planning is important due to the implementation of networks in an organization and have the best ways of handling situations that have made the network to be vulnerable. The paper will also involve tools like servers, bridges, and switches on their importance in the infrastructure.
Possible network infrastructure vulnerabilities
Network vulnerability is things that can pose potential attacks or security issues towards the network infrastructure that has been in the recent trend. This can be a virus, incorrect configurations of the system, passwords that are written on sticky pads. Network vulnerability is a network exposure that will lead to security issues that will have a large impact when its breeched and have a big transformative way of having the process of putting the measures in an appropriate manner (Jenelius at el 2015).
Through the years, passwords have been points of vulnerability; this has been happening in a way that people do not make good passwords that would not be guessed, and they get it correctly. The system administrators provide mechanisms that will support the passphrase of passwords and having a way of containing securities of the infrastructures. Policy-based administration is one of the ways they passwords vulnerability is being handled through following the formats that are provided by the administrator (Nazarnia at el 2018). The infrastructure sometimes suffers denial of service attack through this mechanism; the user will find difficulties in accessing his space and getting the concept of having the manner in which his passwords have being incubated. The complex passwords can be obtained by getting the concept of network security maintenance that will help keep the passwords .
Data backup issues and user tracking has been another issue that has been paramount in the infrastructure and vulnerability of information. The ability to restore important files and system failure to prior state is crucial for the infrastructure to continue functioning appropriately. Having full disaster recovery either when the data is lost, corrupted, or encrypted in most cases, it requires the ability to start its operations when the disaster has happened and recover up to the normal standards. Backups are required infrequent intervals and frequent system testing that will help have the ability to restore the system files and cases that will make the sudden loss of large data frames that will lead to making incidents that have to ensure normal enclosure of responses (Corley, at el 2015). When coupled with good audit mechanisms and best ways of having disaster management to complete, the sudden ways of source failures will help cover up the vulnerabilities that may happen, thus having a complete disaster accountability system breech.
The security mechanisms that should be impacted in the systems should be improvised in a manner they are helping reduce losses and recovering the data that will be lost. Also, improvising sensors will help have alerts of the security intrusions of the infrastructure. Implementation of authentications and authorization mechanisms will help have the best way of monitoring the vulnerability of the infrastructure and having account of the system (Seo at el 2017). Through accountability, it will help have the exact measure and knowhow of how has been in the system and what he was doing when he was in the system. This will help have the monitoring and checking of the infrastructure, thus ensuring that all mechanisms are working appropriately. Installation of firewalls will help have the best way of ensuring Durex malware and Trojans are not intruding into the system and having the control. The firewall will have full prevention of the servers and other infrastructures that are mainly for data stores and data transfers since the firewall helps to filter and send alerts of any malicious intrusions that may happen to enter into the system without the administrator’s settings.
DHCP core
Public recourses
Mail/HTTPS
Logical topology
The structure shows how communication takes place from the servers to the users in public and the website that is presented in HTTPS and the mail server that stores the mail communications. The DHCP helps the communications and addressing the emails to the core.
PC1 PC2
PC3
Physical topology
Illustration
Security policy
Protect the company infrastructure and assets by applying the principals if the CIA
The CIA consists of the confidentiality, integrity, and availability of data in the system.
Confidentiality is all about having the information private and encrypted from unauthorized people (Ogie at el 2017). This can be achieved through having the information encrypted that it is only the owner of the information can be able to access the information. The encryption keys are private, and they would help have the best ways of having the details. The operating machine can be put under a hidden Mac address that will help have the non-traceable tracking of the activities that are taking place by the user in the infrastructure. The authentication and authorized people only will be allowed to access the system.
The principle has the integrity of the information; thus, the data must be kept in a trustworthy manner so that they can have a way of having the best validations of the infrastructure. The data that is transmitted within the infrastructure has to come from trustworthy sources. The data has to be stored in a place that it will not get tampered with thus increasing the integrity of the information. Through integrity, there is the employment of information security that will also help in making decisions over the resources that are stored in the data sets.
The availability of the data flow is another principle that allows the data to be available on the authorized people. This framework is done through having the best way of having users access the resources, and they must be authorized and maintain the integrity of the data that is flowing through the infrastructure (Bao-yang, 2015). The three factors mainly affect each other once one is violated; the other is affected in the same measure. Therefore, the principle has to be followed thoroughly so that they can have the best way of having the mandates of having data integrity and securities that will help have the best infrastructure.
Ethical aspects of employee behavior, contractors, password usage and access into the networked resources and information
Employees should handle the network with a lot of care so that they can have a continuous flow of data in their workplace. They should respect the security policies that are set by the organization and the manner they should take their considerations when there is a problem. The employees should ensure that the network and their data have passwords that are strong or passwords that are related and in the format that the network administrator has provided to them. Passwords are sensitive, and they have the key root to the safety of the data that they should be having within the infrastructure (CHEN, at el 2015). The passwords should not be written and left on the working desks because they will lead to someone who is not authorized to access the data or sabotage the details without the knowledge of the owner.
In conclusion, network infrastructure is a sensitive tool that should be taken into considerations when they are implementing the network. Network vulnerability has been the most recent aspect that has been serious in the security and infrastructure. Additionally, organizations should keep awareness to employees on the importance of network securities since they many get involved in some vulnerability that may cost the infrastructure to lose of data and other resources that will put the organization into risks. Confidentiality, availability, and integrity should be upheld in all costs so that there would be a good way of handling security vulnerabilities that may face the infrastructure.
Reference
Bao-yang, A. (2015). The governance of network ethics in Big Data Times. Studies in Science of Science, 33(05), 641-646.Retrieved from:
http://en.cnki.com.cn/Article_en/CJFDTotal-KXYJ201505001.htm
CHEN, M. N., & ZHANG, L. (2015). Institutional Ethics Analysis of Mobile Ad hoc Network. Journal of Inner Mongolia University of Finance and Economics, (5), 14.Retrieved from:
http://en.cnki.com.cn/Article_en/CJFDTotal-NMCJ201505014.htm
Corley, D. A., Feigelson, H. S., Lieu, T. A., & McGlynn, E. A. (2015). Building data infrastructure to evaluate and improve quality: PCORnet. Journal of oncology practice, 11(3), 204-206.Retrieved from:
https://ascopubs.org/doi/abs/10.1200/JOP.2014.003194
Jenelius, E., & Mattsson, L. G. (2015). Road network vulnerability analysis: Conceptualization, implementation, and application. Computers, Environment and Urban Systems, 49, 136-147.Retrieved from:
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0198971514000192
López, F. A., Páez, A., Carrasco, J. A., & Ruminot, N. A. (2017). The vulnerability of nodes under controlled network topology and flow autocorrelation conditions. Journal of Transport Geography, 59, 77-87.Retrieved from:
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2212420915000126
Tanzania, H., & Sarmasti, H. (2018). Characterizing infrastructure resilience in disasters using dynamic network analysis of consumers’ service disruption patterns. Civil Engineering Journal, 4(10), 2356-2372.Retrieved from:
https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Hadi_Sarmasti/publication/328611578_Characterizing_Infrastructure_Resilience_in_Disasters_Using_Dynamic_Network_Analysis_of_Consumers’_Service_Disruption_Patterns/links/5be9ab0592851c6b27ba2f5c/Characterizing-Infrastructure-Resilience-in-Disasters-Using-Dynamic-Network-Analysis-of-Consumers-Service-Disruption-Patterns
Nelson, A., Lindbergh, S., Stephenson, L., Halpern, J., Arroyo, F. A., Espinet, X., & González, M. C. (2019). Coupling natural hazard estimates with road network analysis to assess vulnerability and risk: a case study of Freetown (Sierra Leone). Transportation research record, 2673(8), 11-24.Retrieved from:
https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/0361198118822272
Ogie, R., Holderness, T., Dunbar, M., & Turpin, E. (2017). Spatio-topological network analysis of hydrological infrastructure as a decision support tool for flood mitigation in coastal mega-cities. Environment and Planning B: Urban Analytics and City Science, 44(4), 718-739.Retrieved from:
https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/0265813516637608
Seo, J., Jin, J., Kim, J. Y., & Lee, J. J. (2016). Automated residential demand response based on advanced metering infrastructure network. International Journal of Distributed Sensor Networks, 12(2), 4234806.Retrieved from:
https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1155/2016/4234806
Wei, X., Liu, X., Cheng, L., Sun, L., Pan, Y., & Zong, W. (2017). Evaluating medical convenience in ethnic minority areas of Southwest China via road network vulnerability: a case study for Dehong autonomous prefecture. International journal for equity in health, 16(1), 206.Retrieved from:
https://equityhealthj.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12939-017-0702-z
Cloud server
Running head: CLOUD TECHNOLOGY AND VIRTUALIZATION 1
CLOUD TECHNOLOGY AND VIRTUALIZATION 9
Cloud Technology and Virtualization
Thien Thai
CIS599
Professor Wade M. Poole
Strayer University
Feb 25, 2020
Cloud Technology and Virtualization
Introduction
Virtualization in cloud computing is where a user of cloud technology is able to share the data in the cloud such as application software. It provides a virtual environment in the cloud. In virtualization, the software application and server needed by the providers of cloud technology are maintained by third parties. This allows reductions in costs in introducing new versions of an application and its release to customers. This paper looks into cloud technology and virtualization, the need for the two, expected cost savings, possible reductions of human capital, and competitive advantage.
Support the need for the use of cloud technology and virtualization within the company.
Cloud computing and virtualization entails making a virtual platform made up of server storage devices and operating systems. This assists the user through the provision of multiple machines concurrently and in a way that allows the sharing of instances of applications or resources to multiple users. Virtualization helps manage workloads by making computing increasingly efficient, economical and scalable (Marappan, 2017). One of the key features of virtualization in cloud computing is that it allows applications to be shared with multiple companies and customers.
Cloud computing can be envisaged as platform as a service, software as a service and infrastructure as a service. Infrastructure as a service is computing, networking and storage infrastructure i.e. a virtualized environment being offered on the internet. Platform as a service is where implementation, testing, and creation of a computing platform is facilitated without the need for maintenance and purchase of needed infrastructure and additional software. Lastly, software as a service is where applications, management, and an interface are provided i.e. a complete operating environment is provided. Cloud computing is where applications and services are delivered to help a virtualized environment that can either be private or public (Hawilo, 2019). Users are able to reduce the needed physical systems and maximize resources with the help of virtualization.
Virtualization can be in one of the following types. Storage virtualization where physical storage from numerous storage devices is grouped in a way that it looks like only one storage device. Hardware virtualization where virtual machine software is installed in the hardware system. Server virtualization where software is directly installed on the server system. The utilization of a single physical server can be divided into numerous servers balancing the load and is accessible on demand. Lastly, operating system virtualization where virtual machine software is installed in the host’s operating system and not on the hardware system. Virtualization can be beneficial as follows.
Better data transfer. Data can be retrieved or transferred to the virtual server at any time. This means that there is no need to use hard drives to look for data. Data can be easily allocated and transferred where it is needed in a way that is not curtailed by any size limits (Zhang et al., 2017). This is provided in virtualization after paying minimum fees and additional storage can also be provided.
Reduced risk of system failure. Virtualization helps users perform similar tasks in multiple devices concurrently. Data can be stored in the cloud and can be retrieved from any device and at any time. There are two servers that work together to ensure the accessibility of data and if one crashes, the data is still accessible through the other one.
Flexibility. Business operations can become more agile and efficient with the help of a virtual network. This means that technical issues in physical systems can be resolved eliminating the need for recovering data from corrupted devices (Ren et al., 2017). This is time-saving and implements such as the network switch allow for increased flexibility.
Security
. Security can be facilitated using firewalls that would ensure confidentiality and prevent unauthorized access. This means that data can be protected from cyber threats including malware and viruses. Encryption happens in a way that there are protocols that help secure the data. This means that users can securely virtualize data stores and creates backups on the server.
Assess expected cost savings in hardware infrastructure.
Costs savings of virtualization and cloud computing for hardware infrastructure are as follows.
Better backups. Virtualizations means that businesses can back up their entire data centers in a way that is less demanding. This is due to the fact that virtual machines take server snapshots that are updated and redeploys them to another device seamlessly (Pandey et al., 2017). Virtual backups reduce the time needed for server reboots, unlike physical servers that require the creation of backups of current and server data.
Less hardware. Virtualization eliminates the need to purchase more hardware in order to supplement company requirements. There is no need to update and maintain unnecessary hardware which translates to less money and time spent on running and maintaining servers and also undertaking support activities.
Lower costs of electricity. Data centers, personal computers, and servers require huge amounts of electricity to cool the environment the machines operate and to power the machines themselves (Liu et al., 2017). The consolidation of hardware and software operations on lesser servers means that the business can reduce its carbon footprint and energy demand by using less electricity.
Savings through the consolidation of hardware. Instead of running numerous servers with minimal energy efficiency, virtualization allows the user to consolidate workloads into a few servers or even none at all.
Determine the possible reductions of human capital that can be realized from implementing cloud and virtualization technologies.
Successful implementation of virtualization and cloud technology means that reduced human capital is required. This can be seen in virtualized servers that run numerous computing environments reducing the number of server administrators needed to only one or two. Virtualization not only enables the concurrent running of computing environments but also ensures the support of different applications. The management and configuration of resources are done using a simple interface that enables access to programs and data (Gowri, 2019). This means that less human capital is needed for these roles and also in terms of support for and maintenance of data centers as the number of servers needed will be reduced in virtualization.
Figure 1: Cloud and Virtualization Technology Alignment with Business Processes
Provide a compelling recommendation for solution providers and partners that could help the company secure a firm competitive advantage by using cloud and virtualization technologies.
The ability to undertake analysis of big data in cloud computing systems using virtualization creates a competitive advantage through affordability and access to complex software for organizations. Traditionally, analysis of big data required the acquisition of expensive hardware, licensing and software platforms on the cloud. This meant that businesses could hardly have any competitive advantage by using cloud systems due to the huge costs involved (Li et al., 2019). Current big data analytics on the cloud do not need sophisticated technical expertise to compute.
The improvements of competitive advantage drawn from collaboration systems using cloud computing are a result of the rapid exchange of decision capable information to the consumers of decision information. The sharing of decision information in cloud platforms from any type and format of information enables higher levels of value and business collaboration through decision analysis, speed, and accuracy.
Conclusion
Cloud computing and virtualization are crucial to how businesses can effectively and efficiently conduct business in the future. These systems allow for cost reductions and competitive advantage by ensuring that the computing environment of the business is accessible from any location at any given time. Businesses no longer need to invest heavily in hardware infrastructure as the development of virtualization and cloud computing means that businesses can have computing facilitation online and in a way that is remotely accessible. These systems are secure and enable backups that are virtual. They also do not break down easily and ensure that if a single server fails, another server can provide the needed information or resources. This paper looks into cloud technology and virtualization, the need for the two, expected cost savings, possible reductions of human capital, and competitive advantage.
References
Gowri, A. S. (2019). Impact of Virtualization Technologies in the Development and Management of Cloud Applications. International Journal of Intelligent Systems and Applications in Engineering, 7(2), 104-110. Retrieved from
https://www.ijisae.org/IJISAE/article/download/891/588
Hawilo, H., Jammal, M., & Shami, A. (2019). Network function virtualization-aware orchestrator for service function chaining placement in the cloud. IEEE Journal on Selected Areas in Communications, 37(3), 643-655. Retrieved from
https://www.eng.uwo.ca/oc2/publications/thepublicationpdfs/2019NFVOrchestrator
Li, X., Chen, R., Zhang, B., & Li, C. (2019, February). A Dynamic Memory Allocation Approach Based on Balloon Technology on Virtualization Platform. In Journal of Physics: Conference Series (Vol. 1169, No. 1, p. 012038). IOP Publishing. Retrieved from
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Liu, X. F., Shahriar, M. R., Al Sunny, S. N., Leu, M. C., & Hu, L. (2017). Cyber-physical manufacturing cloud: Architecture, virtualization, communication, and testbed. Journal of Manufacturing Systems, 43, 352-364. Retrieved from
https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Md_Rakib_Shahriar/publication/316548500_Cyber-physical_manufacturing_cloud_Architecture_virtualization_communication_and_testbed/links/5beb25f992851c6b27bd01bf/Cyber-physical-manufacturing-cloud-Architecture-virtualization-communication-and-testbed
Marappan, S., & Dhandapani, S. (2017). Efficient Virtualization Technique for Cloud to Achieve Optimal Resource Allocation. Journal of Information Science & Engineering, 33(3). Retrieved from
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Pandey, D. R., Mishra, B., & Tripathi, S. K. (2017). Operating System Based Virtualization Models in Cloud Computing. International Journal of Computer, Electrical, Automation, Control and Information Engineering, 11(3), 284-287. Retrieved from
https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/46c9/d9d971f1a0e8f658e3fd6293c1061e5209b3
Ren, J., Qi, Y., Dai, Y., Xuan, Y., & Shi, Y. (2017). Nosv: A lightweight nested-virtualization VMM for hosting high performance computing on cloud. Journal of Systems and Software, 124, 137-152. Retrieved from
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0164121216302151
Zhang, Y., Zhang, G., Liu, Y., & Hu, D. (2017). Research on services encapsulation and virtualization access model of machine for cloud manufacturing. Journal of Intelligent Manufacturing, 28(5), 1109-1123. Retrieved from
https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Yang_Liu57/publication/273742084_Research_on_services_encapsulation_and_virtualization_access_model_of_machine_for_cloud_manufacturing/links/555f472208ae8c0cab30aeaf/Research-on-services-encapsulation-and-virtualization-access-model-of-machine-for-cloud-manufacturing
Security
Flexible Data Transfer
Competitive Advantage
Economical
Flexible Operations
Less Risk of System Failure
Running head: Database and Data Warehousing design 1
Database and Data Warehousing Design
3
Database and Data Warehousing Design
Thien Thai
CIS599
Professor Wade M. Poole
Strayer University
Feb 20, 2020
Database and Data Warehousing Design
Introduction
Technology has highly revolutionized the world of business –hence presenting more challenges and opportunities for businesses. Companies which fail to embrace and incorporate technology in their operations risks being edged out of the market due to stiff competition witnessed in the market today. On the flipside, cloud-based technology allows businesses to “easily retrieve and store valuable data about their customers, products, and employees.” Data is an important component that help to support core business decisions. In today’s highly competitive and constantly evolving business world, embracing cloud-based technology business managers an opportunity to make informed and result-oriented decisions regarding day-to-day organizational operations (Dimitriu & Matei, 2015).
Notably, business growth and competitiveness depends on its ability to transform data into information. Data warehousing and adoption of relational databases are some of cloud-based technologies which have positively impacted on businesses. The two technologies have had a strategic value to companies –helping them to have the extra edge over their competitors. Both data warehousing and relational databases help businesses to “take smart decisions in a smarter manner.” However, failure to adopt these cloud-based technologies has hindered business executives’ ability to make experienced-based and fact-based decisions which are vital to business survival. Both “databases and data warehouses are relational data systems” which serve different and equally crucial roles within an organization. For instance, data warehousing helps to support management decisions while relational databases help to perform ongoing business transactions in real-time. Basically, embracing cloud-based technologies within the organization will help to give the company a competitive advantage in the market. However, the adoption and maintenance of such technologies require full support and endorsement of the business management. Organizational management must understand the feasibility, functionality, and the importance of embracing such technologies. Movement towards relational databases and data warehousing requires a lot of funding –hence the need to convince the management to support and fund them. This paper seeks to explore the concepts of data warehousing, relational databases, their importance to the business, as whey as their design.
“Importance of Data Warehousing and Relational Databases”
Today, technology has changed the market landscape. Business are striving to adopt cloud-based technology in order to improve efficiency in business functions –among them analytical queries as well as transactional operations. Both relational databases and data warehousing are two indispensable cloud-based technologies which can offer unparalleled benefits to the organization as far as data manipulation, management, and analysis is concerned.
Relational databases use OLTP to allow businesses “store current transactions and enable fast access to specific transactions for ongoing business processes” (Letkowski, 2015). Conversely, data warehouse uses OLAP to “store large quantities of historical data and enable fast, complex queries across all data” (Sohrabi et al., 2016). Generally, the two technologies are both relational data software though they serve different purposes. However, both relational databases and data warehouses can be used to improve internal organizational functions for the purpose of enhancing efficiency and competitiveness.
Relational databases offer the following benefits:
· Accuracy: Data stored in relational databases is reliable and accurate since the issue of data redundancy is eliminated.
· Flexibility: Relational databases are very flexible and they allow users to conduct multiple complex queries in an easily and timely manner.
· Trustworthy: The model used in relational databases is quite simple and reliable. The issue of data integrity is well catered for.
· Collaboration: It allows all the team members in an organization to access the same database with minimal strain.
· Security: The organizational management can instruct database managers to allow only a few selected members of the team to access specific data from the database. Basically, only authorized users can be allowed to access the data stored in relational databases –hence ensuring data security (Munir & Anjum, 2018). Thus, this data cannot be manipulated quite easily.
· Real-time data update: Relational databases are quite fast and effective –hence allowing real-time data manipulation and updates.
On the other hand, data warehousing is perceived as the most advanced business intelligence tool which has “gained a lot of popularity in recent times.” Data warehouse has increasingly become vital to business since they help to:
· Support business decisions: Currently, successful businesses rely on informed decision making in regard to various issues affecting the organization. Data warehousing offers decision makers with data-driven facts that facilitate the decision-making process. Through queries and analysis of the data that exists in data warehouses, business managers gain key insights which guide the process of making fact-based decisions which help the business to stay ahead of the competitors (Shahid et al., 2016).
· Ensure consistency: Notably, data warehouses consist of data collected from various sources using a uniform format. Thus, data in warehouses in standardized –something that helps “to reduce the risk of error in interpretation and improves overall accuracy.” This helps to provide reliable and unbiased data that can be used to facilitate informed decisions.
· Enhance efficiency: Data warehouses carry the organization’s history can be accessed quite easily by clicking a few buttons. This helps to make comparisons which ensures that improved decisions are made in future.
· Generate High ROI: Data warehouses help to save the company from unnecessary costs hence improving the overall return on investment.
Database Schema
Effective data management requires proper designing of a data schema. Poorly designed schemas are hard to maintain and administer. Basically, the following will help to design a relational database schema:
· Focus on Business Requirements: All parts of businesses processes must be captured in a database schema. The business useful information must be captured in the design
· Security Definition: The security of the schema must be given a top priority in order to protect the data in the database. Defining the security level will help to clear give or deny users access to the tables.
· Physical layout: This helps to clearly define the data environment and attributes. All the objects must be mapped before engaging in actual creation of the schema.
· Naming conventions: It is equally vital to define and name the attributes surrounding each element. Data types also must be named correctly in order to support “successful development and query performance.”
Figure 1: Database Schema
Database Tables
Product
Product ID
Description
1
Diet Coke #1
2
Diet Coke #2
3
Diet Coke #3
Flavor
Flavor ID
Description
1
Lemon
2
Vanilla
3
Cherry
4
Splenda
Primary key is used to identify each unique row in a database table. In the product table for instance, Product ID is the primary key that identified each unique coke diet product.
A foreign key can be used to bring out the relationship between the above two tables hence allowing the user to navigate between “two instances of an entity” (Cleve et al., 2015). For instance, the two tables can be combined to establish the flavor of each product.
For instance:
Product ID
Flavor
Product Description
1
3
Diet Coke #1
2
1
Diet Coke #2
3
2
Diet Coke #3
Notably, foreign key is used to maintain the integrity of data in the tables through a concept known as “Referential Integrity.”
Normalization of the two tables:
Product ID
Product Flavor
1
3
2
1
2
1
3
2
Entity-Relationship (ER)
This shows the relationship between two entities –customer and order. Customer ID and Order Id are two unique attributes linking the two.
Figure 2: Entity Relationship
Data Flow Diagram
Figure 3:DFD
Warehouse Data Flow
This involves the flow of data in and out of the company data warehouse. This helps to support various organizational decisions.
Figure 4: Data flow in and out of the data warehouse
Conclusion
Today, cloud-based technologies have transformed the world of business –presenting both opportunities to businesses. Relational databases and data warehousing are two major cloud-based technologies that have increasingly played a significant role in enhancing business performance and efficiency. The stiff competition in contemporary business world requires businesses to embrace technology in order to support day-to-day operations. Failure to keep up with this paradigm shift puts businesses at a risk of being edged out of the market. Thus, this paper presents a comprehensive examination of cloud-based technologies –majorly relational databases and data warehousing –their importance, design, and why businesses should invest in them.
References
Cleve, A., Gobert, M., Meurice, L., Maes, J., & Weber, J. (2015). Understanding database schema evolution: A case study. Science of Computer Programming, 97, 113-121. Retrieved from: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0167642313003092.
Dimitriu, O., & Matei, M. (2015). Cloud accounting: a new business model in a challenging context. Procedia Economics and Finance, 32, 665-671. Retrieved from: https://s3.amazonaws.com/academia.edu uments/48569163/Cloud_Accounting_-_A_New_Business_Model_in_a_Challenging_Context_EMQFB_2014 ?response-content-disposition=inline%3B%20filename%3DCloud_Accounting_a_new_business_model_in .
Letkowski, J. (2015). Doing database design with MySQL. Journal of Technology Research, 6, 1. Retrieved from: https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/110a/fc7772105887b41f21ebf6d647f5481b5b48 ?_ga=2.155871288.202724250.1582330552-685443616.1564043645.
Munir, K., & Anjum, M. S. (2018). The use of ontologies for effective knowledge modelling and information retrieval. Applied Computing and Informatics, 14(2), 116-126. Retrieved from: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2210832717300649.
Shahid, M. B., Sheikh, U., Raza, B., Shah, M. A., Kamran, A., Anjum, A., & Javaid, Q. (2016). Application of data warehouse in real life: State-of-the-art survey from user preferences’ perspective. International Journal of Advanced Computer Science and Applications, 7(4), 415-426. Retrieved from: https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Munam_Shah/publication/301770422_Application_of_Data_Warehouse_in_Real_Life_State-of-_the-art_Survey_from_User_Preferences’_Perspective/links/5726f9c608ae262228b21772 .
Sohrabi, M. K., & Ghods, V. (2016). Materialized View Selection for a Data Warehouse Using Frequent Itemset Mining. Jcp, 11(2), 140-148. Retrieved from: http://www.jcomputers.us/vol11/jcp1102-07 .