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Corporate Communication Systems Management - History on Demand - Management Assessment Answer
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Management Assessment Answer
TASK: Scenario You are a Computer Network & Telecommunications Consultant, contracted to work for the following organization. Your job is to advise the company on how best to design, install and operate state-of-the-art networking and communications system that supports the organization and all the following locations, services and requirements. This system must support voice, data, images, video and audio streaming and associated computing platforms. “History on Demand” are a specialized and niche company, yet one with a global footprint and a large and rapidly growing client base. All around the world, people are fascinated by history and while there are plenty of historical documentaries on TV (free or subscription) and DVD, plus huge amounts of web-based images and videos, they cater for the average member of the general public. Many are good quality but alone they are not enough for professional historians and documentary makers who cannot afford to have inaccurate, weak or superficial knowledge. There is a highly profitable and lucrative space for ‘curated digital history’ – historical material in a digital format - such as original images, videos, documents and audio clips – that is supplemented by additional resources provided by a world authority on that specific historical period or topic. It is this ‘curated’ and quality-checked aspect that sets this service apart. For example, a documentary film maker is working on a project about the Third Reich and the rise of Hitler’s Nazi party, with a special angle focussing on hidden cooperation and collaboration from supporters outside the recognized Nazi structure who to-date have remained out of public view. It would be very easy to get on Google and YouTube and find images, the odd video and some documents about the Nazi period in general – but the need here is for in-depth, niche and hard-to-find information. This is where History on Demand comes in. By taking out an annual subscription (currently £5,000), a client - normally professional historians and documentary film makers – can submit an unlimited number of customized searches and requests such as “Polish collaboration within the Warsaw Ghetto” or “Hitler’s secret industrialist supporters” and be provided with a rich, curated, quality-controlled package of resources which would normally include the following elements: o A briefing document, written in this case by a world authority on Nazi occupation and the Warsaw Ghetto or German industrialist sympathy for the Nazi Party, which not only sets the general scene but then goes into great detail about this particular topic. This could easily run to 100-200+ pages. It will be in PDF format. o A large set of high-definition digitized original photographs - each with a caption and description stating date taken and location. Typically, there will be 200-500 images, each in JPEG and PNG format. o A set of video clips of varying lengths, based on period film but now digitized. Typically, there will be 20-100 clips, and each will be in MPEG format. o A large set of digitized original documents, anywhere from 100-1000 or more. These are all in PDF format and have been quality-checked by a world authority – maybe the one who wrote the briefing paper or another leading historian. o Any available interview or other audio clips (historical or modern) from people around and involved in the original event or period. Here that may be German soldiers, Polish and Jewish Ghetto inmates, Nazi Party officials, independent journalists, modern historians etc. These will be in MPEG format. Assignment Tasks- The above scenario is what the managing director has told you over the phone in the initial discussion, but some aspects may not have been mentioned at all or may need further clarification. This is what reality is like – grey, not black and white. To provide a solution to a problem you must first fully understand the problem. Consequently, your first task is resolve this ambiguity by:
- Drawing a schematic (not a networking) diagram of your understanding of the physical layout of the company, focussing on the number of staff, current IT resources and business functions at each site, using arrows to indicate the type (basic data, voice, multi-media data, video etc), volume (call duration, file sizes etc) and direction (source and destination) of traffic flow for each site. You will undoubtedly have to make assumptions regarding the volume criteria so be sure to fully document these. HINT: Research real-world data traffic statistics.
- Draw up a list of additional products, features and services that could be added to those above that will enable the company to function more efficiently. Provide a business rationale for each suggestion. Decide who needs access to these additional features and where they should be physically placed. Add them to your existing diagram but denote them by drawing them in red.
- Now that you have full understanding of the business, its operations and the traffic flows around it, you should draw up a detailed network design for the whole enterprise. This may seem a daunting task so, like any complex task, break it down into the following steps:
- For each of the various sites, research, document and discuss the various technical options available for local (on-site) communication, taking into account the number of users, the type and volume of data and any physical restrictions dictated by that location. Support your narrative with suitable diagrams.
- Investigate and explain the various technical options available to link the different sites (inter-site) together, taking into account any physical restrictions dictated by the distances between sites. Support your narrative with suitable diagrams.
- Research the technical options available to support easy communication between the company and the remote researchers while out working in archives around the world. Again, support your discussion with suitable diagrams.
- Having drawn up a set of possible technical solutions, you must now recommend a single, unified networking architecture for the company, based on the technical and business criteria outlined in task 2. Draw a single network diagram showing this recommended solution, including all hardware. Then provide a detailed breakdown of all costs to implement and operate that solution. Again, provide fully referenced evidence that you have researched current commercial options. You should aim to provide at least two TCO figures (Total Cost of Ownership). HINT: Present your two budgets in a table for easy comparison.
- Your final task is to advise the company on both the benefits and the risks that your proposed solution may bring. On the positive side, you should aim to ‘sell’ your solution by emphasizing the ROI (Return on Investment) angle. Research this concept if needed. Likewise, on the negative side, you have a duty to inform the company of potential threats and problems that may occur going forward – technical or otherwise.
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