...Final Project: System Upgrade Scenario Smith Systems Consulting has been providing Web and Business Application services since 1994. During nearly 20 years of business, Smith Systems Consulting’s systems have required several upgrades. This scenario is meant to detail their most recent upgrade and will assume that much of the infrastructure is in place (i.e. networking cable is either Cat5e or Cat6, networking devices such as hubs, switches, routers, and wireless access points are in place and firmware is current, hardware such as printers and scanners are capable of supporting current and future needs; monitors, input devices, and workstation PC’s are capable of supporting current software requirements) and will focus on new hardware such as servers as well as new or updated software. The desired result of this project is to maintain both client and internal data security and integrity and ensure there is as little interruption to Smith Systems Consulting and their clients’ workflow as possible. A project team has been selected from within and has been tasked with planning and implementing this project. Before the project can begin, time must be spent in the planning phase. By not planning how the project will advance, resources such as time, money, and man-hours will be wasted. The members of the team must research the business implications, perform a SWOT analysis, identify the stakeholders, prepare a scope statement and SOW, and provide specific details of what the...
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...Smith Systems Consulting – City of Kelsey Smith Systems Consulting – City of Kelsey Starting his small business in Kelsey, Blair Smith, founder of Smith Systems Consulting, Inc., has recruited several employees from the town to work as technology consultants for his thriving business. Smith Systems Consulting serves the City of Kelsey for the majority of its information technology needs. Transportation, manufacturing, retail, education, financial services, and healthcare are industries that are clients for technology services of Smith Systems Consulting. The company recognizes its strengths as including providing development solutions to business information processes; integrating business process technology services and support; strengthening existing business processes by the practical application of new technologies; and providing business relevant analysis, design, development, and implementation services in information technology areas of: networks and communication, database, and application programming. Community Involvement and Responsibility The community responsibility Smith Systems Consulting provides to the City of Kelsey is to maintain all the city’s information technology needs by establishes and supporting networks, databases, applications, and websites. All are imperative in today’s technologically advancing world for success of a corporation. Some of the companies that Smith System Consulting serves in the City of Kelsey include Riordan Manufacturing, Huffman...
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...software either by upgrading the current software or by implementing a completely new application. Boardman management Group has hired Smith Systems Consulting to help analyze whether to upgrade current software or to acquire new software and then to implement the chosen application. The analysis should include all aspects and considerations of what the resort needs from their word processing capabilities now and in the future. The analysis should also include what the changes the resort and the users of the word processing software will face before, during and after implementation. Utilizing Smith Systems Consulting Boardman Management Group has hired Smith Systems Consulting to help analysis and implement Baderman Island Resort’s processing software problem. Boardman Management Group will utilize the expertise of Smith Systems Consulting in many ways to ensure the resort successful implementation of upgraded or new word processing software. Smith Systems Consulting will analyze every aspect of the project including the problem with the current word processing software, the requirement for the new or upgraded software, the software implementation itself and the changes after the software implementation. To be more specific Smith Systems Consulting will follow a systems development life cycle (SDLC). For now Smith Systems Consulting will be focusing on the analysis...
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...the past 17 years, Smith Systems Consulting has been providing organizations, such as Boardman Management Group, with top notch Information Technology and software development solutions. Since Information Technology and software development projects are all that Smith Systems Consulting does, they have the experience to know how to design, implement, and maintain a new system with the most minimal impact to your business. Smith Systems Consulting’s experience also allows them to understand the potential needs outside of the original scope, such as necessary hardware upgrades needed to support a software upgrade. According to the information sent to Smith Systems Consulting by Boardman Management Group, the Baderman Island Resort currently has 26 Windows XP computers with Word XP installed, 38 Windows 2000 computers with Word 2000 installed, and six Windows 98 computers with Word 97 installed. No matter whether Boardman Management Group decides to upgrade to the new version of Microsoft Word or switch to a different word processor all together, other hardware and operating system upgrades will likely be necessary. Smith Systems Consulting will be able to help Boardman Management Group make that decision by weighing the costs of the different solutions. Costs that Smith Systems Consulting would typically consider in a similar scenario would be the price of the software upgrade, the price of potential hardware upgrades, the price any necessary operating system upgrades, the labor...
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...Smith Consulting Plan Joy Waters CMGT/445 October 10, 2011 Paul Stokes Smith Consulting Plan Boardman Management should hire Smith Systems Consulting for this project and give them complete control over the entire execution of the project, starting right from the analysis part to the final implementation of the project as Smith Systems Consulting is an expert in implementation of such software programs in organizations like Baderman Island Resort. To start the engagement with Smith Systems, Boardman Management should set up an initial meeting with the consulting team members and make them aware about their needs and requirements and expectations from the engagement, so that there is clarity on the expectations about the project as well as deliverable. This is important to ensure that there is clarity on expectations about the project between both parties and requirements of the project are well understood by Smith Systems Consulting. During this initial meeting, all queries and concerns can be resolved and agreement upon scope of the project can be finalized. After the engagement contract is signed, Boardman Management should assign a dedicated team to assist Smith's team in the implementation of the plan. This team will help consulting team members in securing cooperation from the employees, providing them necessary information and resources and will act as an interface between the organizational management and consulting team members. This is...
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...Database Environment Smith Consulting wants to be able to track their consulting staff, each staff members skill set, and what projects they are working on. In order for Smith Consulting to keep track of all theses sets of data, they are in need of a database. Smith Consulting is an organization which offers Information Technology services to its clients. The services which Smith Consulting offer are database services, application programming, and website services. Smith Consulting was founded in 1984 with the goal of providing information technology services to its clients which are located in the Western United States. Smith Consulting Database Environment The main reason to analyze Smith Consulting’s database environment is to see where the company stands and in what situation the company is in which will be based on the results of the initial study of their database. Analyzing a company’s database is to see if the current system will be in fact able to support the additional information they want to collect on their employees. Looking at Smith Consulting’s database, we can see their current database will be unable to support the additional information and data they would like to update in order to keep track of the staff as well as the other requirements of the project. These would include tracking each staff member and their skill set, and to also track which projects each staff member is working on. To successfully analyze the database environment, their needs to be communication...
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...Prepare response to Problems 1–4 (Ch. 22) of Financial management: Principles and applications . (22-1. What additional factors are encountered in international as compared with domesticfinancial management? Discuss each briefly.) See Above Questions... Select a Virtual Organization using the student website. Assume your organization is privately held, wants to expand operations, and is faced with three options for expansion: • Going public through an IPO • Acquiring another organization in the same industry • Merging with another organization Prepare a 1,050- to 1,400-word paper in which you compare and contrast options and make a recommendation about which strategy the organization must choose. Address: • Strengths of each approach- • Weaknesses of each approach - minimum of 350 words 22-1. What additional factors are encountered in international as compared with domestic financial management? Discuss each briefly.- 22-2. What different types of businesses operate in the international environment? Why are the techniques and strategies available to these firms different?- 22-3. What is meant by arbitrage profits?- 22-4. What are the markets and mechanics involved in generating (a) simple arbitrage profits, and (b) triangular arbitrage profits?- 22-1 When comparing the Domestic Financial Management with International Financial Management, the most important factor is Exchange Rate. Exchange rate arises between a domestic company (DC)...
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...Smith Systems Consulting Review Blake Edwards BSA 310 April 17, 2011 Susan Peterson Abstract Smith Systems Consulting provides services to a broad target area. The company’s description, primary business processes and target audiences were briefly documented. Points were made for how Microsoft Project could benefit each business unit uniquely and collectively. Smith Systems Consulting Review “Smith Systems Consulting was founded in 1984. From an initial group of five, the have grown to become a major regional consulting company with 350 employees generating in excess of $45 million in revenues” (Smith Systems Consulting, 2004). They provide a full gamut of services including: web design and hosting, network design and implementation, database design and implementation, and programming experience. They also provide 24/7 support for all their customers. Smith Systems Consulting can provide these customer services through integrated business processes. Primary Business Processes Smith Systems Consulting has four primary business processes. They are information systems, finance and accounting, human resources, and marketing. The information systems process is responsible for the general upkeep and management of the systems used throughout the company. Finance and accounting is responsible for handling the monetary transactions and ledgers of the company. Human resources has the task of personnel management, including any necessary training...
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...Environmental Proposal Paper Smith Systems Consulting provides web and business application services to a variety of clients including small and medium-sized business organizations, large domestic, multinational, and global corporations, government, and non-profit organizations (UOP, 2010). Learning Team B’ will recommend strategies to create alliances between Smith Systems Consulting and its networked internal and external customers, explain how the differences between leadership and management affect networking, and propose an environment that is supportive of team functioning and learning, and fosters sustainable innovation and creativity. Strategies to Create Alliances with Internal and External Stakeholders Stakeholders of Smith Systems Consulting, internal and external, may include company employees, consumers, investors, suppliers, government agencies, and non-government organizations. All stakeholders are assets to Smith Systems Consulting and are essential for business development. Engaging with the company stakeholders can prove to be a good business strategy. Smith Systems Consulting should develop high-quality, and open communication with the company stakeholders. Stakeholders should be able to suggest improvements, critique company policies or practices, and bring up any issues they believe important. Most people want to do business with a ‘good’ company and stakeholders can help put a personal brand on Smith Systems Consulting so the world view’s the company...
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...The paper is about the Smith Consulting and staff. The Smith Consulting needs a database design that can keep up with their staff members and their skills, projects that they are assigned to. Also needs a database that need their environment analyzed. Also would need to know where their problems and constraints come from. Next, what are their objectives of their scope and boundaries. Last, but not least, what will be the entities and attributes that they should use in their database system? These are all the things that we are going to find out and more. This company was founded in 1984 by Blair Smith and three associates from his firm in order to provide his accounting clients services in technology consulting. This was the beginning of Smith Consulting where Blair Smith launched a business doing this type of work. Analyzing the database environment is our first steps. This is the purpose of analyzing the database environment is to make an initial study of where the company stands and in what situation the company is in based on the results of the initial study. It is extremely important to determine if the current system is failing and the reasons why is because it is actually failing now at this moment in time. In the case of Smith Consulting, their current database system is unable to support the addition of new information and needs to be updated in order to keep track of the staff as well as the other requirements of the project. These will include tracking staff...
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...selection of specialty foods and wine. Kudler Fine Foods is interested in developing a system to track customer purchases through a Frequent Shopper Program to award loyalty points for redemption. The customer purchase behavior patterns will help Kudler refine its processes and offerings to best satisfy their valued customers. Smith Systems Consulting is the firm that has been contracted by Kudler Fine Foods to go about the development of the Frequent Shopper Program (FSP). Smith Systems Consulting is proposing alternative methods for consideration to complete the Frequent Shopper Program. These alternative methods are addressed along with the advantages and disadvantages for each method relative to the Frequent Shopper Program project. Kudler Fine Foods will conduct market research in the form of testing and development to make an appropriate decision as to which program proposed by Smith Systems Consulting shall be incorporated into their business. Alternative Methods for Frequent Shopper Program The Waterfall Process Model is one of the oldest models known. This process has many weakness factors and disadvantages because it requires the requirements to be known upfront, difficulty of reliability estimations, no feedback from stakeholders until after testing phase, major issues are discovered late, lack of parallelism, and inefficient use of resources. For these reasons, Smith Systems Consulting is considering a few alternative methods to the waterfall process model for the...
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...Policies Because Riordan’s facilities include three locations in the United States and one in China Smith Systems Consulting views Riordan Manufacturing as an enterprise business. However, an unfortunate reality exists because Riordan’s existing security policies are either nonexistent or inadequate at best for an organization of this size. Consequently, Riordan should seriously consider implementing better security throughout the entire enterprise by defining and creating a Separation of Duties (SoD). In fact, many organizations including the Department of Defense use SoD to decrease security vulnerabilities and discourage collusion by employees for a number of reasons (Gligor, 1998). Therefore, Smith Systems Consulting provides the recommendations and reasoning herein to encourage Riordan to adopt the concepts of Role-Based Access Control (RBAC) to create a SoD throughout the enterprise to reduce risk exposure and enhance Riordan’s enterprise security. Role-Based Access Control Since 2010, research by the National Institute of Standards (NIST) provides indisputable evidence that RBAC has become an increasingly common choice of enterprises with 500 or more employees (National Institute of Standards and Technology, n.d.). As a result, even though Riordan’s users do not total 500 at this time, Smith Systems Consulting recognizes Riordan’s rapid growth justifies changes before attempts to establish adequate enterprise security becomes...
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...Smith Consulting Database Environment Student Name DBM/380 Date: Instructor name: Smith Consulting Database Environment Smith Consulting’s current employee management system is inefficient involving a one table database, which produces duplication of many attributes throughout the system. The first iteration of database design provided a new version consisting of various one-to-many relationships to link its various modules. There are currently four modules that consist of an employees, jobs, skills, and projects tables. Smith Consulting has many employees filling many jobs descriptions. Furthermore, each job position may encompass many skills. Finally, many employees may be working on many projects. This first iteration of database design provided a database model that is inadequate and requires a return to the database development life cycle (DDLC) to incorporate the needed many-to-many relationships among tables for efficient allocation of human resources in order to better meet company customer needs. An analysis of the database environment has surfaced the various problems and constraints with the current system. This in turn has determined the scope and boundaries for the new system version. An overall objective and supporting objectives provided the needed data specifications, which is depicted in a logical model table and database schema. Database Environment Analysis The current database environment involves a one table database. This current system has various...
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...Program: Part I The Frequent Shopper Program identifies, determines, and tracks customers' purchasing behavior. The program is applied by retailers to attract long-term customers that demonstrate a loyal relationship between both parties (Iterative and Incremental Development Testing, 2008).This paper discusses the methods that can be used in the development of the Frequent Shopper Program by Smith Systems Consulting. Waterfall model Waterfall Model operates in a waterfall process tree. It has various phases such as requirement, design, implementation, verification, and maintenance that provide a successful execution to any system development. This model can be used in the development of frequent shopper program (Nicholls, 2005). The waterfall model's requirement phase will help Smith Systems Consulting to develop a program according to the need of Kudler Fine Foods. This model's other phases facilitate deep analysis of every aspect that provides appropriate development of the program. Each phase can be proceeded after the proper completion of the previous phase. This model facilitates Smith Systems Consultant’s advance knowledge about success or failure of the program, which helps to reduce failure risk. On the other hand, the waterfall model cannot facilitate the ability to update. In this model, information can be gathered after the process rather than during the process. This reduces flexibility to change pertaining to change in requirements. This aspect can make a faulty development...
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...[pic] Business Case Template This Business Case Template is free for you to copy and use on your project and within your organization. We hope that you find this template useful and welcome your comments. Public distribution of this document is only permitted from the Project Management Docs official website at: www.ProjectManagementDocs.com Business Case Company Name Street Address City, State Zip Code Date Table of Contents 1. Executive Summary 2 1.1. Issue 2 1.2. Anticipated Outcomes 2 1.3. Recommendation 3 1.4. Justification 3 2. Business Case Analysis Team 4 3. Problem Definition 4 3.1. Problem Statement 4 3.2. Organizational Impact 5 3.3. Technology Migration 5 4. Project Overview 6 4.1. Project Description 6 4.2. Goals and Objectives 7 4.3. Project Performance 7 4.4. Project Assumptions 8 4.5. Project Constraints 8 4.6. Major Project Milestones 8 5. Strategic Alignment 9 6. Cost Benefit Analysis 10 7. Alternatives Analysis 11 8. Approvals 11 Executive Summary This section should provide general information on the issues surrounding the business problem and the proposed project or initiative created to address it. Usually, this section is completed last after all other sections of the business case have been written. This is because the executive summary is exactly that, a summary of the detail that is provided in subsequent sections of the document...
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