IT642 Unit 3 – Discussion Board (75 points)

Primary Discussion Response is due by Thursday (11:59:59pm Central), Peer Responses are due by Saturday (11:59:59pm Central).

Primary Task Response: Within the Discussion Board area, write 400–600 words that respond to the following questions with your thoughts, ideas, and comments. This will be the foundation for future discussions by your classmates. Be substantive and clear, and use examples to reinforce your ideas.

Story

Education Community Services Group (ECSG) is a company well-known for providing educational services. It has been in the business for over a decade. Lately, it has been having problems keeping up with the demand for more educational offerings.

A consultant has been assigned by the chief executive officer (CEO) and chief information officer (CIO) to handle the dilemma. In need of more facts, the consultant contacted the chief knowledge officer (CKO) and chief financial officer (CFO). It was decided to revamp both the current network systems used to process orders and to automate the old, ineffective network administration infrastructure. The consultant hired a team that was very instrumental in achieving the goal of the company to revitalize its network administration architecture (NAA) and long-term objectives. She did so by applying the latest state-of-the-art technology that included network administration software and using new network switches and routers. She really hit the target, implemented the upgrade, and took the company back into being a true A+ company.

Moral of the Story

Spending money on outsourcing and hiring the right staff to handle your information technology (IT) and business problems may not be a bad idea; although, most CEOs and CIOs seem to avoid doing so. Using the latest technology is a good indication that the company is willing to invest in the advancement of the company, and it shows a willingness to achieve its goals.

The example companies, organizations, products, people, and events depicted herein are fictitious. No association with any real company, organization, product, person, or event is intended or should be inferred.

Assignment Details

The story that you just read shows how difficult it can be to keep up with automating business demands. For this discussion, focus on network administration planning by using architectural best practices, and then respond to the questions. Consider the difficulties faced in the story and how some of these difficulties were overcome.

Investigate the library and Internet for information about network administration architectures. From your research, select an enterprise network administration architectural model, and complete the following:

· Discuss how you can automate an existing company’s method of payment in its IT infrastructure.

· Identify positive and negative aspects of the selected model in relation to the operational health of an organization

Responses to Other Students: Respond to at least 2 of your fellow classmates with a reply of 100–200 words about their Primary Task Response regarding items you found to be compelling and enlightening. To help you with your discussion, please consider the following questions:

· What did you learn from your classmate’s posting?

· What additional questions do you have after reading the posting?

· What clarification do you need regarding the posting?

· What differences or similarities do you see between your posting and other classmates’ postings?

For assistance with your assignment, please use your text, Web resources, and all course materials.