IT190-Key Assignment
Clifton H
CTUO
IT190-08 Introduction to IT
Professor C V
September 4, 2015
Contents
Phase 1
Information Systems Overview 3
Information System Concepts 6
Business Information Systems 9
Systems Development 12
Information Systems and Society 16
Reference 18
Information Systems Overview
The organization described in this task will be the same company discussed in the discussion board named Link Technologies. Link Technologies is a small to medium size minority business (SMB) with 8A certification. The business functions as a High Tech System Integration Service company.
Their primary market is centered on providing information technology and network implementations for new technology innovation solutions designed to provide best practices by adopting the policies and procedures which have been internally implemented within their own infrastructure and passed on to its nation customer base.
After working with many diverse businesses it became evident there were several essential components missing from the initial business plan and required revisiting the information technology systems and business requirements to grow a successful technology firm.
The process started by researching and asking key question such as what would be the benefits to our business? This required some serious consideration because of the vast choices on the market it became feasible to allow management to discuss what is important to them. The data gathered from this informational exchange between upper management and Information Technology teams along with the sales teams input proved to be invaluable towards creating a list of key requirements.
The main points discussed were of course the cost which is always of most concern to any organization. Next was how to reach potential clients, creating a more effective business relationship with all of their current clients and any potential prospects.
Furthermore how do to reduce cost, streamline operations, increase efficiency, maximize profits and minimize non-productive processes. This brings up a very important question to management. What benefit are being receiving from implementing a new Information Technology System and what would be the Return on Investment (ROI).
The decision to use a professional research team who would be tasked to provide a definitive review of the industries who use various aspects o this technology to manage their business and identify the core information technology systems which provide the key answers to the unanswered questions from upper management.
The process was based on the current budget available to fund the projects. What changes to the current Network Infrastructure to provide adequate bandwidth requirements? * Security appliances * Hardware ,software and retraining of employees * Maintenance cost ,systems ,support ,hosting ,licenses and upgrades * Determining what their competitors are using * Life Cycle what is the system lifespan * Productivity and operation efficiency * Risk Management
As a consulting organization the most cost effective solution identified was inexpensive and robust “The Open Source Information Technology System” was selected as our core systems. The Linx Based operating system running Asterisk’s which is unified communication open systems platform built around an integration of Transaction Processing system (TPS) ,Business to Business or (B2B), Business to Commerce (B2C), Commerce to Commerce (C2C) applications providing client to access services through a user web based portal designed to support e-commerce, m-commerce functionality from a global perspective.
Link Technology cloud based solution provide Database Management Information Systems (DBMS) for data retrieve, manipulate, and store data from many central repositories. Its core services are distributed using thin clients running communication application designed to optimize the environment within a virtualized data center. The overall integration of the suite of free software has further reduced the cost of ownership and over head related to traditional off the shelf Information system. The most challenging process in implementing the fore mentioned information systems components are securing the known Security Vulnerabilities.
Link Technology uses their open systems ability to track a multitude of business processes and maintain reports covering everything from sales, service tickets, call center , inventory and revenue projections as a means to effectively manage the various facets of their information technology systems. Employee work from remote locations and are encouraged to telecommute cutting down daily travel to a bare minimum, also keeping office space usage to minimum allow for flexible virtual work place and enhanced productivity.
The available expansion modules to add additional functionality to the system gives it scalability and growth which can in many situations require a team to manage depending on how large the organization is and how many customers being supported.
There is MYSQL database has been customized to provide additional information from all of the other databases to determine the effectiveness and efficiency of the entire system and its many integrated modules.
Information System Concepts
Link Technologies has been given the task to define and manage the differences between a Local Area Network (LAN) and the Wide Area Network (WAN). Specifically, the purpose of this task is to redefine the network to handle the expected increase in traffic and capacity.
The process involves explaining to a non-technical executive the basic principles of what a LAN is and the major components that can be used to create a LAN. A Local Area Network or (LAN) is basically a network of connected devices which are geographically located in the same location or building. LAN’s can consist of two or more computers such as a small, peer to peer home workgroup. Although, many organizations have implemented LANs there are different infrastructures or Topology’s used which have its own issues.
Most LANs typically are connected in an array of workstations, Servers, Printers and sometimes even modems, allowing the user community to access data from where ever they are located on a specific local area network. The three different topologies for a LAN are broken down into Bus, Star, and Ring Topologies.
Furthermore, additional characteristics define a LAN based on the protocols being used and the media which the packets that are transmitted. In earlier technology, there was a Bus topology called ARCNET, which slowly died with Novel Netware, but has reemerged in some industrial instances. They still use a token that passes through every workstation until each reaches the requested station which responds to the request. The disadvantage of this type of topology was not very attractive because one station would bring down the entire network so it lacked reliability. The media used for this network was a coaxial cable and eventually was adopted by most of the cable companies for high speed internet services.
With regards to this issue is the next topology, the Ring topology, which also uses a token. It was quite popular with IBM who used a Token Ring network that had similar issues, but worked for most of the proprietary systems.
Finally, the Star topology uses a slightly different strategy allowing all stations to access a central hub and controlling the access in a slightly different process, which developed a more stabilized topology called the Start Wired Ring.
The next stages of LANs were built around the Ethernet media using cooper wires and twisted pair wiring. Afterwards, fiber optics evolved allowing for greater distance using light beams to transmit data at very high speeds. LANs can transmit data packets at very high speeds over unshielded twisted pair for a short distance and provides a reasonable performance to its connected user community.
Additionally, Wireless LANs use Wi-Fi or WLAN with a high frequency local area network connecting groups of devices to form wireless workgroups all in close proximity of each other within the wireless range or zones configured. These networks can operate independently or expand their connectivity to a wider network access called a WAN. WLANs use radio waves signal or infrared signals for wireless network communication over a very short distance eliminating the need for conventional cabling which can reduce infrastructure cost in many situations. Taking in to consideration the distance and obstructions, which may sometimes cause the signal to degrade using Access points, (APs) and repeaters, a signal can be broadcast to cover a larger wireless area with in a building. Wide Area Network (WANs) are more designed to support a much larger geographical range extending itself to cities, states, and international boundaries spanning the entire globe including outer space where we have many satellites one thousand miles above the earth communicating and transmitting information back and forth to earth stations. These satellites are strategically placed to provide constant communication in case of a natural catastrophe or if one satellite stops to function the others will continue to provide connectivity.
Telecommunications is an essential part for a WAN because of the need to utilize the many rules or set of protocols required to establishing connectivity over vast amount of devices involved with sending information through various communications links all over the world.
The major difference between LANs, which operate at Layer two like switches, bridges, repeaters and hubs whereas WANs can operate at Layer three with devices like multi-layer switches and routers, these devices provide connectivity to a wide global intranet, extranet or internet community.
Telecommuting is becoming the wave of the future because it allows employees to access information and resources from anywhere and cuts down on travel cost. The remote users or telecommuters are connected to their respective organizations through a secure connection using virtual private networks and other secure communication pipelines which have added layers of security and encryption to protect the communication exchange prevent intrusion and intercepting of critical proprietary data from unauthorized individuals.
Link Technologies provides its users with additional protection using multiple layers of encryption and cipher keys to circumvent prohibited access to company information. Our users are setup with user profiles attached to corporate policies and procedures designed to provide specific levels of access based on individual group policies and job descriptions.
Our research has directed our decision for a combination of high speed fiber backbone for servers and host computers operating in a virtual datacenter environment and tightly integrated firewalls, VPN and gigabyte Ethernet switches connected to both wireless LANs for secure local connectivity within the building and high-speed pipeline to a cloud solution providing all the unified communication required to sustain and protect their investment in technology.
In conclusion, the information technology infrastructure is undoubtedly one of the most important components to an organizations network because it is the highway that all traffic must pass through and without proper bandwidth, security protocols and monitoring of the network resources you can reach the level of high availability, reliability and optimal security.
Business Information Systems
Link Technologies will has been asked to define four information technology (IS) models (Management Information system (MIS), Transaction processing system (TPS), Decision support system (DSS) and Artificial Intelligent (AI) these (IS) models will be briefly described while we elaborate on each systems functionality for Link Technology’s implementation of these principles and their transformation from data to information into knowledge used to make organizational decisions.
There are many way to define (MIS), the most common definitions promotes management information system (MIS) as "a entity’s organizational method of supplying past information, present information and projected information connected to a business’s internal operations and external knowledge base. It helps them with the planning, control aspects and their operation processes in an organization by providing synergy and uniformity of the information in the correct timely manner to assist upper management in the decision making process.
The database contains the data provided by customers, engineers, administrative personal and executives which participate in adding data and information that is entered from the network environment. The data content is manipulated by special software which provides periodic and custom reports, as well as mathematical calculations which imitate various aspects of the organizations day to day operations. The software results are used by executives who are delegated to resolving the company’s problems.
The next model defined is transaction process system (TPS) this information processing system used by many types of business who rely on instant transactions which involve the collection, modification and retrieval of real time transaction data within their organization. TPS systems require a user’s interaction and have very little delay the results of each transaction are usually posted immediately making the funds available very quickly.
Link Technology uses transaction processing system (TPS) by allowing the client to activate the process once the work orders have been approves and confirmation of a specific project is completed in accordance with their agreement or contract. The client also has the option of initiating a batch process which slightly differs from an individual transaction allowing for multiple transactions to be processed simultaneously to multiple receivers. Information gathered through the (TPS) system is calculated and formatted into individual payment reports which are manipulated to display graphs, charts and weekly, monthly and annual totals which are presented to the receivers for personal records or tax information and shows the level of participation depending on the accumulation of work performed during a certain period.
Furthermore as historical information is obtained the performance and identification of what projects tend to yield the most revenue for both the engineers and the clients will increases the awareness and benefits on which activities or tasks tend to show up on a more frequently bases than others. Our organization now has a solid knowledge base and the decision makers can clearly define the direction of the company’s efforts towards the future.
Decision support system or (DSS) is a computer based application system primarily used by specific executives or managers who are considered as the decision makers for their organization at various levels in the process of solving organizations business problems.
DSS is used to collect, organizes and analyzes a large variety of business data which may involve compiling data from many sources to assist in identifying and resolving problems which were previously difficult to sort-out. Moreover a decision support system is specifically designed to facilitate in the process of business decision-making for upper management, executives, operations and development or logistical planning teams.
Link Technology uses their (DSS) to gather as much data as possible through our daily interaction with customers, engineers, vendors and executives who all play a very strategic role in providing important data which is converted into information that the DSS analyzes in order to provide the level of detail required.
This helps to facilitate in capturing the various aspects of the business processes and internal operation throughout our entire infrastructure. The value of the knowledge gained through this analytical process will continue to provide an intelligent information technology solution for our organization and all its participating vendor and partnership alliances.
Link Technology brings a very specialized system to its collection of technology models which is based on artificial intelligence (AI) this particular type of system suggest the ability to use computer applications that function with human like responses emulating adaptive reasoning through intelligent agents or models. For example visual perception based on specific images received, voice recognition from audible phases programmed into the system to respond when triggered ,decision-making based on predetermined user responses, and translation between multiple languages auto sense or selectable when prompted by the system.
Our (AI) agent was implemented in the form of and automatic voice recording (IVR) the building of this interface allowed us to structure a set of questions to the listener as they dialed into the business and route their call through the system based on their audible responses. Furthermore there are options built into the system allowing one to selecting specific keys functions which navigated through multiple menus depending on how each department needed their call routed. There are options allowing transferring calls, directly connecting to the recipients or department they were seeking. Furthermore this system could locate a person no matter where they physically are (in or out of the office) by using an intelligent feature “call find me follow me” the sales person or technical support representative can be reached. However if for any reason he or she is not available and not reachable, then the calls would be routed automatically to a virtual call center placing them in a call queue for a predetermined time until the next dispatcher or call center person to respond. This process is designed to provide a customer representative trained to answer any questions or get the caller to an alternate resource within the organizations.
Systems Development
Link Technologies has been asked to build a new Web-based customer tracking system to be developed. There are various standards and methods which describe and define the Software Development Life Cycle (SDLC). The first question one might have is what is SDLC?
SDLC has been defined as a process used in the development of a software project within a certain company. The requirements are mostly defined as very detailed and specific set of plans focused on explaining how to create, enhance, adjust, develop and maintain a specific application within your organization.
The life cycle has a set of rules designed to implement a process which its objective is to improve the effectiveness, reliability and functionality of the software development procedures. There are six basic stages related to process which will be broken down for a better understanding of the components required within this process.
The simplified SDLC is made up of the following stages. * Planning and Requirements Analysis * Defining Requirements * Designing product architecture * Creating or Developing Product * Testing Product * Deployment within a specific Market and Maintenance SDLC has various methodologies or specific models used to define at the building blocks for the software development process. These models are called “Software Development Process Models”. There function is to provide guidelines for each step in the Software development procedure depending on the specific model or methodology implemented.
Moreover each rule is unique in its own way providing certain steps or marching order to ensure proper completion in the process of software development. The list of methodologies available for development purpose is listed below. Although these models identified as the most widely used, our focus will be on two specific models which are (Waterfall Model & Prototyping Models).
Following are the most widely used models currently applied by most SDLC implementations. * Waterfall Model * Iterative Model * Spiral Model * V-Model * Big Bang Model * Agile Model, RAD Model * Rapid Application Development * Prototyping Models Our first model discussed is the Waterfall model which is a traditional software development life cycle, many times referred to as a more stringent process based on a linear-sequential life cycle model. In the waterfall model, phases must be completed prior to continuing to the next phase. There is no combining or overlapping of phases. The design of waterfall model which was one of the beginning models widely implemented for the SDLC process this approach to software development separated or divided the process up into specific phases in a sequential or linear process flow. The results of this method created an incremental path towards completion and success at each stage. Waterfall model sequential phases are listed below and will be briefly defined for clarification of their function.
Requirement and analysis
The first step is to compile all the informational system requirements from internal and external company resources affected which will be participating and interacting with the new software development project.
System Design
The system design specifications retrieved from phase one is reviewed in this phase two and a design is put in place for initial preparation. Furthermore the system hardware requirements will also assist in defining overall platform architecture.
Implementation
Information gathered from systems input are created into small programs which are called units, these units are integrated directly into the next process. Every unit is verified and tested for its proper functionality. Moreover this process or stage is referred to as Unit Testing.
Integration and Testing
The units developed in the implementation stage are carefully integrated into a system design once testing of each unit has been successfully completed. Post integration techniques are done throughout the whole system so any faults and failures can be addressed.
Deployment of tested system
When all of the functional and non functional testing procedures are completed, the product is released into a production business environment or customer’s site.
Maintenance
There are many issues which may arise in the client environment after deployment. Furthermore it is foreseeable that fixing those issues may require patches to be released as required. Also continued enhancements to the product will provide better versions through each new released. Maintenance is performed to install these changes and upgrades to the customer environment.
Our second model discussed is the Prototyping model which has been used mostly in development of systems that require a high level of user interactions, similar to many internet systems. These systems need users to participate by filling out forms or navigate through various user interfaces (UI) screens prior to data being processed. When the prototyping model is implemented it can be very effective while displaying the exact look and feel desired before the actual application is developed.
There are many software applications which involve too much data processing and the primary functionality is more internal while requiring very little user interface which does not benefit from using the prototyping model. Prototype model can create a lot of additional overhead in these types of projects with additional cost and efforts.
Although there are differences between the two type of SDLC models previously discussed it is feasible to point out what their differences are and what choice Link Technology has made and why.
The most obvious differences between the Waterfall model which is a more traditional approach to SDLC which uses a clearly defined process in every stage. The system requirements must be very well documented, which provides a clear and fixed product definition allowing for a more stable development and deployment that is not dynamic. This type model work well for projects which require very defined and stringent rules for development with little or no flexibility.
The prototyping model is a much better choice for a Web-based customer tracking system because of its dynamic nature and constant changes which may periodically occur during the development process. Also because of the increased user intervention with the product prior to implementation can reduce time and cost as the failures can be detected much earlier.
Information Systems and Society
Link Technologies information technology team was given the task to increase the organizations security against internal and external hacking attacks thus protecting their organizations valuable data stored in the data ware house and its accessed by many users and vendors.
Our review of this process will explain four of the most common ways hackers attempt to gain unauthorized access to computers, users, networks and any vulnerable resources connected to your organization.
Our discussion start with Insiders, who are individuals within your own network who maliciously or accidentally provided various security breaches, which can be exploited by hackers or anyone with ill intent. The opening can happen with just a simple workstation being logged on to the network without password protection from a simple screen saver activated after a default time of in activity.
There are many ways to protect against these types of careless acts from users by forcing network policies through user profiles stipulating default screen locking after a predetermined period of inactivity.
Normally it has been determined that a very low percentage of network users actually fall into this category, but they are not the most frequent causes of hacker attacks. But because of their access to your internal network resources it can cause irrefutable damage to the security of our network and its resources.
The other very common threat to the organization are the Phishers, who use very elaborate emails and frequently used websites to entice and unsuspecting employee to reveal some personal information like passwords, bank account information, social security numbers and a list of other very personal information.
One method of discouraging these type of attacks are to protect users email account by scanning the incoming email and providing rules and phases which can identify unwanted emails and force them into the spam or trash can prior to being sent directly to the end user.
The users can also be vigilant and not open or participate with emails from unknown individuals or organizations, while there are always some very interesting email sent and received one must trust the source if not it should be deleted as a safety precaution.
Other security attacks can be launched using the Eavesdropping this can be very disruptive to many networks today because of the wide usage of mobile phones and m-commerce being performed coffee shops ,hotels and even while driving or setting in a parking lot. Hackers have gotten extremely savvy and as consumes and participants in multitasking society.
Which has opened up a series of attacks which are constantly being performed even without our knowledge that these events are going on in the background of our computers ,I-Pads Apple I-phone, androids and just about everything used to access information is fair game for hackers.
The key is to become more failure with services which can be disabled if not used frequently change passwords and use much long pass-codes at least thirteen characters or more to increase the complexity for the hackers and tricksters.
Furthermore there has been a huge amount of programs downloaded everyday from the internet call Spyware. These specific little creatures infest our computers as simple honest looking applications. The trick is to get you to download something you think you’re looking for and then bombard your system once the download starts with ten or fifteen unwanted programs.
The hackers draw in unsuspected users with the word free “something” and once you have committed yourself you have just unleashed a monster your computer has become a zombie and has no mind of its own.
Most of the problem comes from trusting websites which you know nothing about and accepting free stuff which ultimately can bring down a single computer or an entire network.
In conclusion securing a personal computer or large enterprise network requires proper planning and researching the known issues usually published some ware on the internet. Providing important tips about the devices which we use every day and realize that the advancements in technology can operate like a two edge sword, it becomes our responsibility to stay aware and alert constantly as we traverse the web using what every device we choose.
Reference
References
Stair, R. and Reynolds, G. (2012). Principles of Information System. Retrieved April 7, 2015 from Colorado Technical University Online, Virtual Campus, IT190-1502A-08, Introduction to IT: http://campus.ctuonline.edu
Online Browsing Platform (OBP) ISO/IEC 12207:2008(en) Retrieved May 4, 2015 Systems and software engineering — Software life cycle processes https://www.iso.org/obp/ui/#iso:std:iso-iec:12207:ed-2:v1:en 