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Project #1-
*Note all projects must be in seperate microsoft word documents…
Consultant’s Analysis Report on Enterprise System
Throughout this course, you will be preparing a Consultant’s Analysis Report on Enterprise Systems for a project of your choosing that will culminate in the Final Key Assignment. You will not be developing any software or actually implementing a system, but you will work extensively with the concepts of good analysis of enterprise systems implementation. Additional information and the deliverables for each Individual Project will be provided in the assignment description for that project.
Project Selection:
The first step will be to select a project as the target for your analysis. This project will be used as the basis for each of the assignments throughout the course and should conform to the following guidelines:
- Nontrivial: The selected project should be large enough to allow reasonable exercise of the system analysis and design process.
- Domain Knowledge: You should be familiar enough with the organization or system category to allow focus on the planning tasks without significant time required for domain education.
- Accessibility: You should have good access to the people and other information related to the organization or system because this will be an important part of the process.
Select an enterprise system project that fits these requirements and submit your proposal to your instructor before proceeding further with the assignments in the course. Approval should be sought within the first several days of the course. Your instructor will tell you how to submit this proposal and what notification will be given for project approval.
Assignment:
For the assignments in this course you will be developing a comprehensive document entitled Consultant’s Analysis Report on Enterprise Systems. Your first task in this process will be to select a project to use as the basis of your plan. You will also create the shell document for the final project deliverable that you will be working on during each unit. As you proceed through each project week, you will add content to each section of the final document to gradually complete the final project delivery. Appropriate research should be conducted to support the analysis in your plan, and assumptions may be made when necessary.
The project deliverables are:
Use MS Word
Title page
Course number and name
Project name
Student name
Date
Table of contents
Use autogenerated TOC.
Separate page
Maximum of 3 levels deep
Be sure to update fields of TOC so it is up-to-date before submitting project
Section headings (create each heading on a new page with TBD as content except for sections listed under “New content” below)
Project Outline
System Requirements
Architecture Selection
Resources and Timeline
Security
Final Analysis and Recommendations
Project Outline
Give a brief description of the project.
Information from the assignment description may be used, but additional details should be provided based on assumptions about the company and project that you feel are appropriate.
System Requirements
This section should list the requirements of the system in sufficient detail to allow a design team to create the design document.
Describe the functions the system should perform.
Identify the method of delivery (Web, client software, etc.).
List the types of target users.
Provide any additional information you feel will affect the design of the system, such as projected load on the system, globalization, or regulatory issues regarding the information that will be handled in the system.
Name the document yourname_IT401_IP1
Part # 2
One of the first tasks in distributed systems development is the selection of the architecture. The architecture determines how the various parts of the distributed system will operate and communicate.
For this assignment, you will identify the architecture that will be used in your distributed system project and you will modify your consultant’s analysis report to address any new issues you discover.
The following are the project deliverables:
Architecture Selection
Compare and contrast at least 3 potential architectures for your system, and then select the one that applies the best to your project.
Describe the architecture that is appropriate for your distributed system based on the results of your analysis.
Justify your architecture selection with a summary of your analysis results and conclusions.
Name the document yourname_IT401_IP2 .
Part # 3
*Note Timeline must be in a chart
Developing a distributed system can be complex. There are usually many components that must be acquired or developed, and each area of the system must communicate with other parts of the system. It is important to understand the major tasks involved and create a plan for the development of the system.
For this assignment, you will identify the resources required for the development of the system and the timeline for the project. For this part of the project, it will be helpful to look at the development processes of industry standard distributed systems, such as the CORBA distributed object environment and the Java 2 Enterprise Architecture (J2EE). You will also modify your consultant’s analysis report to address any new issues you discover.
The following are the project deliverables:
Update the Consultant’s Analysis Report document title page with a new date and project name.
Update the previously completed sections based on your instructor’s feedback.
Resources
List the resources required for the project including personnel, hardware, software, and any other resources necessary to complete the development of the project.
The personnel resources should be categorized by job function.
Costs should be assigned to all resources.
Timeline
Identify the major milestones for the project.
Determine the time required to complete the tasks necessary for each milestone.
Create a timeline for the project showing the milestone durations and completion dates.
Be sure to update your table of contents before submission.
Name the document yourname_IT401_IP3
Part # 4
Distributed systems are particularly vulnerable to security threats because they are exposed in many areas over networks. Also, distributed systems are often business-critical applications that must not be compromised.
For this assignment, you will identify the security risks that may be present for your distributed system project. You will also modify the consultant’s analysis report to address any new issues you discover.
The following are the project deliverables:
Update the previously completed sections based on your instructor’s feedback.
Security
Identify the primary security risks your distributed system might face.
Determine the threat level in terms of likelihood and impact on the business.
Based on the likelihood and impact of the security threats, determine the order in which threats should be addressed, and prepare an action plan to reduce the threat from each risk listed in priority order.
Be sure to update your table of contents before submission.
Name the document yourname_IT401_IP4 .
Part # 5
Individual Portion
The final step in developing the Consultant’s Analysis Report on Enterprise Systems is to provide an analysis of the costs and benefits of the system and offer your final conclusions and recommendations to the client. Sufficient information should be available in the report sections prepared in previous weeks to allow final review of the required resources and assign costs to the project. The benefits to the client can then be compared to the costs and your conclusions given. You will also further refine the plan to produce the final draft version for the project. Updates may be based on peer and instructor feedback.
The following are the project deliverables:
Update the previously completed sections based on your instructor’s feedback.
Final Analysis
Summarize the resource requirements for the system required for implementation. These resources should include development costs if the system is internally developed or acquisition costs if it is an externally developed system.
Assign costs to all resources.
Identify short- and long-term benefits to the organization in financial terms.
Compare and contrast the costs and benefits.
Provide conclusions and recommendations to the client.
Review the entire document for any changes and improvements that you would like to make.
Ensure this final version of the document is sufficiently detailed to meet the requirements of the assignment.
Any previous instructor feedback should be addressed with the appropriate changes.
Be sure to update your table of contents before submission.
Name the document yourname_IT401_IP5 .
I have attached an example of what the layout of the assignment is suppose to look like.
The second attachment is an example of what part 3 (Timeline) is suppose to look like.
Please let me know if you have any questions
ColoradoTechnical University
IT401-1603B-02: Information Technology Architectures
Consultant’s Analysis Report on Enterprise Systems
A Student
August 21, 2016
2
Table of Contents
Project Outline ……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………. 3
System Requirements …………………………………………………………………………………………………………………… 5
Architecture Selection ………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….. 6
Resources and Timeline ……………………………………………………………………………………………………………….. 7
Security ……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………… 8
Final Analysis and Recommendations ……………………………………………………………………………………………. 9
References ……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….. 10
Bob
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Page header missing.
Should be CONSULTANT’S ANALYSIS REPORT
3
Project Outline
Mistobycur
Mistobycur is an online equine equipment sales company located in Lansing, Michigan
employing five associates in one office location. Established in 2010 the company made a
determination to provide quality products only available through an online sales channel with
product from one supplier. Two associates receive customer orders from the third party hosted
web server and application. One associate maintains accounting and payroll using locally
installed software and in house server. The remaining two associates provide support to
customers regarding sales, returns, billing and general questions by way of telephone and web
hosted email. Shipping of product is performed by the supplying vendor.
Experiencing successful growth in six years, the company agreed to increase the number
of suppliers from which it sells equipment by two providing a wider selection of brand names
and types of merchandise. The additional vendors create an opportunity for increased use of
technology and improved efficiency in processing. The existing third party web site hosting and
ordering system, server running Microsoft Windows Server 2008, two laptops and three desktop
PCs running Microsoft Windows 10 will prove to be inadequate for the anticipated increase in
sales.
Retained as a consultant, I am challenged to provide a comprehensive analysis of the
current configuration and provide a suggested technology plan aligned with the expected growth
of Mistobycur. The desire is to bring web hosting, ordering, and email communications in house
and provide a secure and redundant distributed system. In addition, the new configuration will
incorporate a single means of communication applying customer orders, returns and inventory of
4
three different vendor systems. It is expected that the company will increase head count by five
associates to assist with accounting, ordering and customer service tasks upon implementation of
the new plan which has a desired completion of December 2017.
5
System Requirements
6
Architecture Selection
7
Resources and Timeline
8
Security
9
Final Analysis and Recommendations
10
References
There are no sources in the current document.
This is Word’s Timeline Template
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Timeline Instructions
To delete these instructions, click the text box and press the DELETE key.
To replace text in a timeline event, click the arrow text object, select the existing text, and begin typing.
To move a timeline event, drag the arrow text object to the location you want.
To create additional timeline events, copy and paste the arrow text object you want, and then drag the object to the location you want.
To replace dates on the timeline, click the timeline text box and use the TAB key to select the dates you want to change. To add additional dates on the timeline, point to
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CONSULTANT’SANALYSIS REPORT
1
Colorado Technical University Online
IT401-1303A-1: Information Technology Architectures
Consultant’s Analysis Report on Enterprise Systems
Jeffrey Huffman
10 August 2013
Bob
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Correct page header
Bob
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Title page is correct format
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Correct format
CONSULTANT’S ANALYSIS REPORT 2
Table of Contents
Project Outline ………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….. 2
Organization Overview …………………………………………………………………………………………………………….. 2
Current Systems ………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………. 3
System Requirements ………………………………………………………………………………………………………………… 5
System Functions …………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….. 5
Method of Delivery ………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….. 6
Target Users ……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………. 6
Architecture Selection ……………………………………………………………………………………………………………….. 7
System Architectures ……………………………………………………………………………………………………………….. 7
Centralized Architecture ……………………………………………………………………………………………………….. 7
Cloud Computing …………………………………………………………………………………………………………………. 8
Hybrid Architecture ……………………………………………………………………………………………………………… 9
Selected Architecture ……………………………………………………………………………………………………………….. 9
Architecture Summary ……………………………………………………………………………………………………………. 10
Resources and Timelines ………………………………………………………………………………………………………….. 12
Resources Required ……………………………………………………………………………………………………………….. 12
Hardware …………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………… 12
Software ……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………. 14
Personnel …………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………… 15
Timelines ……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………… 16
References ……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….. 19
Project Outline
Organization Overview
Interconnect Raleigh Inc. is an internet service provider that currently offers basic email,
and website hosting services. This organization is not real, but there are many organizations that
are similar to this fictional organization. The organization is undergoing major changes to its
operations because of a recent increase in demand for its website hosting services. The demand
Bob
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Good idea to use sub-headers
Bob
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Should start on a separate page.
CONSULTANT’S ANALYSIS REPORT 3
is for ecommerce websites. Interconnect Raleigh would like to realign their strategic goals with
their current information technology systems to meet existing and future demands of its
customers, while simultaneously making the services more efficient and effective.
The organization is located centrally in the city of Raleigh, which is the capital of North
Carolina. There are currently 45 employees working at Interconnect Raleigh. All of the
organization’s equipment, departments, and employees are co-located in a small business
complex consisting of five buildings. The organization’s success comes mostly from hosting
websites on the internet. They also provide email services, manage customers’ registration of
domain names, and subcontract customers that need website development. The current systems
that Interconnect Raleigh uses to provide their services are not very flexible and not going to
meet future demands in ecommerce website hosting.
Current Systems
Interconnect Raleigh currently provides website hosting services on 50 internet servers.
They own 254 public IP addresses that contribute to their web and email hosting services. One
server is assigned to each customer and the customer can request more servers or they can have
multiple virtual sites on a single server. The customers upload their websites using FTP client
software to their server. This method is not very secure. The server can also host email services
for the customer. A typical customer has one physical server with multiple virtual websites and
email services running on it. This system needs to be upgraded to a more secure system that can
be managed more easily using newer technologies and a web application.
Interconnect Raleigh is responsible for maintaining the servers’ hardware, availability of
services, and configuring and managing the services that its customers pay for. The customers
are responsible for the development of their websites. The current system has a high risk of
CONSULTANT’S ANALYSIS REPORT 4
server downtime, little room for flexibility or growth, no fail-over systems, and no secure
ecommerce website hosting capabilities. Interconnect Raleigh would like to bring in more
customers that require database integration with their website services providing secure
ecommerce website hosting services using a centralized web interface.
This consultant’s report was requested by Interconnect Raleigh to meet new customers’
demands, increase capacity and capabilities, minimize costs, and increase efficiencies in their
current system. The organization is pursuing a web application that its customers can use to
manage their services securely. There are five main categories that will be concentrated in the
report. The system requirements for the proposed system that will be implemented will be
provided first. Next, the type of architecture that will be utilized to make the system most
efficient and effective will be recommended. The third category involves the resources that will
be needed along with the proposed timeline. Securing the system will be fourth category. The
last category covers the final analysis and any recommendations that remain.
CONSULTANT’S ANALYSIS REPORT 5
System Requirements
Specific requirements need to be defined for the system to operate as Interconnect
Raleigh intends. The requirements will assist in the design of the system. Three sections are
listed to describe the system requirements; system functions, method of delivery, and target
users. The proposed functions of the system are listed first and clarify what the system will
require to operate.
System Functions
Interconnect Raleigh requires a web application that allows its customers to login into
their account to manage ecommerce website hosting and database storage capabilities.
The web application must have continuously secure communications and the ability to
transfer files securely.
The web application will have several layers of transparency built into it.
o Location transparency; the user will not know exactly where the files are located
on a webserver, what physical server it is on, or what partition. The user will be
able to see the files that they have uploaded on the web application
o Migration transparency; the user will not know if there files have been moved to
another server. The web application only displays the files and folders that the
user owns, no matter what physical server or partition the information is on. This
will allow Interconnect Raleigh the ability to perform routine maintenance on
server hardware without website downtime, increasing reliability.
o Relocation transparency; a live backup of users files will assist with failure
transparency and prevent data loss.
CONSULTANT’S ANALYSIS REPORT 6
o Failure transparency; in the event of a server crash or failure, a seamless transition
will be un-noticed by users.
o Concurrency transparency; multiple customers can share a single physical
resource without knowing that they are. This will allow the organization to use its
servers more efficiently.
Interconnect Raleigh requires the system to be scalable. Allowing the system to be easily
altered to satisfy a rapid increase in users and resources. The web server application must
be easily scaled across several servers to manage an increase in load (Tanenbaum & Van
Steen, 2007, pp. 4-7).
Method of Delivery
The website hosting and database storage services will be delivered through a web
application. The user will login to their account, manage the services that they purchased,
purchase new or additional services, and transfer files to and from their data storage securely.
The biggest change will be the utilization of virtual servers. With virtualization, the organization
can divide up the resources of one physical server to multiple customers, increasing efficiency.
Virtualization will also create redundancy. In the case of a virtual server failing, a backup virtual
server can immediately start hosting the same services without the user noticing a problem
(Strickland, 2008).
Target Users
The users that will be accessing the web hosting application are familiar with computers
and websites. The target customer is one that is publishing and maintaining ecommerce websites
available on the internet to sell products or services. These users are also well versed in internet
technologies and how website hosting operates.
CONSULTANT’S ANALYSIS REPORT 7
Architecture Selection
There are many different types of distributed system architectures. Interconnect Raleigh
requires an architecture that fits their strategy to host several secure ecommerce services to its
customers. The architecture needs to be flexible, scalable, reliable and competitive. During this
architecture selection, three suitable architectures will be considered, compared, and analyzed.
The most appropriate architecture will be selected out of the three. The analysis results from the
selected architecture will be justified and summarized. The three architectures that will be
considered for Interconnect Raleigh are centralized architecture, cloud computing architecture
and hybrid architecture.
System Architectures
The first architecture considered for Interconnect Raleigh is the centralized architecture.
Centralized architecture utilizes simple client-to-server connections to provide network services.
In this architecture a client requests services utilizing a reliable transfer control protocol (TCP)
from a server and the server responds with the data that the client requested. This architecture
can also contain multiple levels to provide services. A client that is requesting data about a
product that an ecommerce web site is selling has to go through multiple levels to receive the
information. A client will request data for a product to the web server. The web server will then
request data from an internal database server that stores the information about the products. The
internal database server will return the data to the web server and the web server will give the
results to the client (Tanenbaum & Van Steen, 2007, pp. 36-42).
Centralized Architecture
Centralized architecture has some disadvantages that can be detrimental to Interconnect
Raleigh’s system. The first disadvantage is reliability. In a centralized system, the server that is
providing the service to the client cannot stop running. Any stop in the server will result in a
CONSULTANT’S ANALYSIS REPORT 8
total loss of the services. Also, a centralized server must handle all of the connection requests
from the clients. Too many connections can cause a failure in the server providing services. An
advantage of a client-server centralized architecture is its simplicity and easy of management
(D., 2013). The next type of architecture that Interconnect Raleigh is considering is cloud
computing architecture.
Cloud Computing
Cloud computing architecture allows clients to utilize services and/or applications that
reside on a cloud system, instead of running the application on the clients’ computer. There are
several advantages to this architecture. The client will have access to the cloud application on
any computer that is on the internet, eliminating the installation of an application on any
computer. This architecture also reduces cost to the customer by eliminating software licenses,
reducing hardware costs, and the customer only pays for the resources that it uses. This makes
cloud computing a valuable service. There are also some disadvantages to cloud computing
(Strickland, 2013).
Breach of security and privacy are the major reasons why customers are apprehensive to
moving their services to the cloud. In this architecture, the customers will be giving Interconnect
Raleigh databases of all of their customers and products. The customers must be reassured that
there will be tight security on the system and that their data will not be compromised by its
competitors or other malicious ways. The flexibility, availability, and scalability of a cloud
computing system has tremendous advantages. This architecture is an ideal platform for Raleigh
Interconnect to provide its customers with an application that can access their data storage and
ecommerce website management (Strickland, 2013). The last architecture that Interconnect
Raleigh is considering is the hybrid architecture.
CONSULTANT’S ANALYSIS REPORT 9
Hybrid Architecture
A hybrid architecture is simply combining architectures to create a unique system that is
designed to meet the goals of an organization. Interconnect Raleigh would like to have a client-
server architecture and a cloud computing architecture. Combining these two architecture
creates a unique hybrid architecture. This type of architecture can utilize the advantages of each
type of architecture to meet the demands of its customers. Interconnect Raleigh will be choosing
this architecture as its means to providing services to its customers (Tanenbaum & Van Steen,
2007, pp. 52-54).
Selected Architecture
Interconnect Raleigh has chosen the hybrid architecture by combining the client-server
architecture and the cloud computing architecture. The client-server architecture will be
specifically for authentication of its customers. The cloud computing architecture will be used to
provide an application services, database storage and web services. Figure 1 illustrates how this
architecture will be applied.
Figure 1 – Proposed Interconnect Hybrid Architecture
CONSULTANT’S ANALYSIS REPORT 10
All connections to the servers will be secure, reliable protocol sockets. The client-server
connection will be to an authentication server that has a database containing customers profile
information. The web servers will host ecommerce websites that web users can access securely
to purchase products from Interconnect Raleigh’s customers. The application servers will host
an application that the customers can utilize to maintain the databases of data and their
ecommerce websites. This hybrid architecture will create a reliable, secure, scalable, and
flexible distributed system that will meet the demands of the customers.
Architecture Summary
In conclusion, the proposed hybrid architecture gets the most out of the centralized and
cloud computing architecture while simultaneously minimizing the weaknesses. The client-
server architecture will be used for customer authentication. As stated before, this design is
prone to failure if the server unexpectedly stops functioning. Virtual servers will build
redundancy in the system and they will be utilized to prevent the failure of authentication
services by having multiple spare servers online. This setup will allow Interconnect Raleigh to
easily manage its customers’ accounts in a centralized fashion (Strickland, 2008). The
organization will also take advantage of the cloud computing architecture to efficiently and
effectively service their customers and the customers’ users.
The cloud computing is broken up into four parts; the load balancer, web services,
database services and application server. The load balancer will be utilized to handle incoming
requests to the web servers and application servers. It will have multiple computers available to
take requests from users and it will seem to the user as one system. This will create a higher
availability of network services, decrease the time it takes to process a client’s request and it will
also increase the ability to scale up the network as customer demands increase (Microsoft, 2013).
CONSULTANT’S ANALYSIS REPORT 11
The web servers will be configured in a virtual environment to allow efficient use of server
hardware and resources.
Interconnect Raleigh customers will be paying only for the resources that they need to
operate their ecommerce websites. This is accomplished with virtualization technology. Not
only can virtual servers be used for redundancy, the resources of the physical server can be easily
managed. When creating a virtual server, the resources on the physical server can be divided up
into multiple virtual servers. For example if a physical server has 8 processors, each processor
can be assigned to 8 different virtual machines or a virtual machine can have two processors
dedicated to it. This is true for the RAM, storage and other resources on the physical machine.
The customers will be paying only for the resources that they need to run their web services and
database storage. This will allow efficient use of the servers; reducing cost, physical space, and
power requirements (Strickland, 2008). The last part of the cloud computing architecture is the
application server.
The application server will also be tied to the load balancer and virtualization technology
to ensure availability, scalability, and redundancy of application services. This type of
technology is known as Software as a Service (SaaS). Interconnect Raleigh will be providing
SaaS to its customers by hosting an application accessible on the internet. The application will
allow the customers access to their databases that contain the information for their ecommerce
websites. The application will also allow the customers access to their web hosting servers to
publish their websites. SaaS will allow Interconnect Raleigh’s customers an easy way to manage
the services that they pay for while simultaneously allowing access to it from anywhere there is
an internet connection (Rouse, 2012).
CONSULTANT’S ANALYSIS REPORT 12
Resources and
Timelines
Interconnect Raleigh Inc. has outlined their current system along with the requirements,
functionality, and proposed architecture for a new system that will meet the growing demands
for its services more efficiently and effectively. The next step for the organization is to identify
the resources that are needed to develop the new system. The resources will include the
personnel, hardware, and software required to develop the system. The estimated cost of the
resources will also be included in the resource list. A realistic timeline will then be constructed
to identify the tasks and milestones of the project. The timeline will identify the time it takes to
complete each specific task, and the tasks that are required to reach each milestone. Before any
of this happens, the resources required for the project must be identified.
Resources Required
In order to develop the new system, specific hardware, software and personnel resources
must be acquired. The costs associated with each resource will be estimated to provide a
complete cost estimation of the development of the new system. The first resources that
Interconnect Raleigh must acquire are hardware. The software will be tested and validated on
the new hardware resources.
Hardware
The organization has chosen the Dell PowerEdge Server Family as its choice for server
hardware. Dell has a great reputation in customer service, offers the hardware needed to fulfill
the requirements and it has competitive pricing (Dell, 2013).
Other hardware that is required to complete the new system is the cabling infrastructure
to interconnect the servers. The cabling that will be used in the server room will mostly be
Category 6 Augmented. This cabling will last ten to fifteen years before it will need upgrading.
The cost for each port on a server is around $300, this cost includes the equipment and physical
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CONSULTANT’S ANALYSIS REPORT 13
cabling to connect the server to the network. There are 57 servers, with a cost of $300 per server
is an estimated infrastructure cost of $17,100 (Higbie, 2013). Table 1 identifies the hardware
resources required for the new system along with their associated costs.
Table 1 – Hardware Resources
Servers Type
Qty
Price
Each
Total
Price
Authentication Servers Dell PowerEdge R320 Enhanced 4 $1,159 $4,636
Web Servers Dell PowerEdge R720 Enhanced 40 $1,929 $77,160
Application Servers Dell PowerEdge R720 Enhanced 5 $1,929 $9,645
Data Servers
Dell PowerVault MD3600f – with 48 TB
of storage per server 5 $13,340 $66,700
Load Balancer
Kemp Technologies LoadMaster LM-
R320 3 $16,617 $49,851
Infrastructure
Qty
Price
Each
Total
Price
Fibre Channel Cable 10 $97.90 $979
Infrastructure $17,100 $17,100
Total Estimated Cost
for Hardware
$226,071
The hardware listed in Table 1 will satisfy the requirements for the new system and allow
for flexibility and growth.
CONSULTANT’S ANALYSIS REPORT 14
Software
The next resource that will be required is software. Interconnect Raleigh will be using
the Red Hat operating system on all of its servers. They will be outsourcing a software
development company to assist in the development of the software application that Interconnect
Raleigh’s customers will use to access their services. It is very difficult to estimate the cost of
developing software. The outsourced company’s cost is associated with how many effective
lines of code it takes to develop the software (Nevzorov,
2011).
There are a few factors that must be considered when developing new software; size and
complexity. These two factors are important when estimating the cost and time it takes to
develop a software application. The size is referencing the number of lines of code that must be
developed. The estimated number of source lines of code (SLOC) that will be required to
complete this project is approximately 10,000. The application will be developed using the J2EE
environment with an estimate of about $50 per source line of code. This cost per SLOC is based
on the complexity level not being very high compared to developing more complex software
(Nevzorov, 2011). Table 2 illustrates the software resources needed to complete the
development of the system.
Table 2 – Software Resources
Operating Systems Qty Price Total
Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server – 2 socket
unlimited virtual guests with premium
Subscription 57 $3,249.00 $185,193.00
Application Software SLOC
Cost per
SLOC Total
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It implies accuracy.
CONSULTANT’S ANALYSIS REPORT 15
Web Application Software 10,000 $50.00 $500,000.00
Total Estimated Cost for Software
$685,193.00
Personnel
The last resource is the personnel required to oversee the project throughout its
development and implementation. Interconnect Raleigh is outsourcing its software development
and server room cabling infrastructure to outside organizations. Four Interconnect Raleigh
employees will be managing and leading the tasks associated with developing the system are; the
Information Systems Manager, Computer Systems Analyst, Information Security Analyst, and
Computer Network Architect. The Information Systems Manager will ultimately be responsible
for the success of the new system. This individual will keep the project on schedule, organize all
activities with the outsourced organizations and lead the 3 other employees (United States
Department of Labor, 2013).
A Computer Systems Analyst will ensure the new computer system will meet the
requirements, have the capabilities to handle the processing and storage, and project the amount
of data that will accessed. The Information Security Analysts will address all security processes,
make certain proper security methods are being used to protect data, servers, virtual servers, etc.
and create security policies and procedures. The Computer Network Architect will configure the
enterprise network to handle the network traffic. This individual will also configure, test and
analyze the network, implement security devices, and document the network design. These
individuals are permanent employees of Interconnect Raleigh. Table 3 displays their project
starting annual salaries (United States Department of Labor, 2013).
Table 3 – Personnel Resources
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Bob
Typewriter
Do not specify cents.
It implies accuracy.
CONSULTANT’S ANALYSIS REPORT 16
Job Salary
Computer Systems Analyst $120,000.00
Information Security Analyst $120,000.00
Computer Network Architect $120,000.00
Information System Manager $170,000.00
Totals $530,000
Timelines
The development of the new system at Interconnect Raleigh will have specific tasks and
milestones. The tasks and milestones must be met within the timeframes to keep the costs of the
project aligned. There are thirteen tasks and three milestones, Table 4 is a Gantt chart that
illustrates the tasks and milestones for the entire development of the system. The goal for
designing, developing, testing and validating the system is nine months. The first month is the
busiest. The equipment and cabling will be installed, tested and certified by an outsourced
organization. The equipment and cabling will be validated by the Computer Network Architect
and Computer Systems Analyst. The Information System Manager will be coordinating all the
initial efforts with the organization outsourced to develop the software. The requirements for the
new system and the requirements for the software will be provided to the software development
organization. The next two months will finalize the design milestone (University of Washington,
2011).
The organization outsourced to design the software will provide its initial software design
for validation. The initial software design will be the proposed design of the user interface and
how the software application will operate. The initial software design will be validated and
Bob
Strikeout
Bob
Strikeout
Bob
Strikeout
Bob
Strikeout
Bob
Typewriter
These are annual salaries.
The cost allocated to the project should reflect the time spent.
Bob
Callout
Do not specify cents.
Bob
Typewriter
He should have provided a total of the three costs.
Bob
Typewriter
Note that tasks and milestones are discussed.
CONSULTANT’S ANALYSIS REPORT 17
accepted by Interconnect Raleigh no later than the end of month two. The third month is a more
comprehensive design of how the software application will look, feel, and operate. The
validation and acceptance of the comprehensive software design is scheduled for the end of the
third month and marks the end of the first milestone (University of Washington, 2011). The
development phase is now underway.
The next two months will be the software development. All of the four employees will
be working side-by-side with the software development organization to ensure all requirements
are being met. The sixth month is for software debugging. Any last minute bugs or errors in the
software will be addressed and de-conflicted. The end of the sixth month is the culmination of
the development milestone. The last phase of testing is started once development is finished.
There are three tasks in the testing portion; software testing, final software validation and final
system validation.
In the seventh and eighth month, software testing will be conducted on the Interconnect
Raleigh system. The software will be tested on the hardware at the Interconnect Raleigh facility.
The last month is the validation system test. This is the final test of the system as a whole. Once
this test has been completed and validated by Interconnect Raleigh, customers can start to use the
new system for their eCommerce websites.
Table 4 – Project Timeline
Design Development Testing
Equip & Cabling Installation
Equip & Cabling Validation
System Requirements
Software Requirements
Bob
Typewriter
It would be effective to have this all on the same page.
Bob
Typewriter
Word has a Timeline
template.
You could use a Gantt
chart from MS Project.
Or create a Gantt using
a MS Word table.
CONSULTANT’S ANALYSIS REPORT 18
Initial Software Design
Intial Software Validation
Comprehensive Software Design
Comprehensive Design Validation
Software Development
Software Debug
Software Testing
Final Software Validation
Final System Validation
Month 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
CONSULTANT’S ANALYSIS REPORT 19
References
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centers&ei=wVoGUq7zFMXYyQHY-IBI
Bob
Callout
proper title capitalization
Bob
Callout
Correct – abbreviations are capitalized.
CONSULTANT’S ANALYSIS REPORT 20
Microsoft. (2003, June). Chapter 4 design guidelines for secure web applications. Retrieved
August 4, 2013, from Developer Network: http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-
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computing1.htm
Bob
Callout
This letter should be capitalized.
Bob
Callout
This letter should be capitalized.
Bob
Callout
This letter should not be capitalized.
CONSULTANT’S ANALYSIS REPORT 21
Tanenbaum, A. S., & Van Steen, M. (2007). Distributed systems: principles and paradigms (2nd
ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Custom Publishing.
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Bob
Callout
Capitalize
Bob
Strikeout
Bob
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United States Department of Labor Bureau of Labor Statistics
