System Planning, Analysis, and Networking
Your final assignment is to respond to questions related to three (3) different case scenarios. Your responses will be graded on content, grammar, and spelling. The approximate length is 3-5 pages, although content is more important than length. The answers for questions 2 and 3 should be 500 to 700 words each in order to completely answer the questions. Please submit your responses as one document. You must use the attached template [Document].
1. Forest Point Construction (System Planning)
At Forest Point Construction, your boss says that he can estimate total the project time based on his personal experience. You are trying to convince him that he should use project management techniques to handle a complex project. To prove your point, you decide to use a simple example of a commercial steel building construction project. You create a hypothetical work breakdown structure as follows:
- Prepare the site (three days) and then set the building footers (three days).
- Finish the foundation (five days) and then assemble the building (three days).
- When the building is assembled, start two tasks at once: finish the interior work (five days) and set up an appointment for the final building inspection (15 days).
- When the interior work is done, start two more tasks at once: landscaping (seven days) and driveway paving (three days).
- When the landscaping and driveway are done, do the painting (two days).
- Finally, when the painting is done and the final inspection has occurred, arrange the sale (two days).
Your Tasks:
- Calculate the correct total time for this project.
- Create a Gantt chart that shows the WBS.
- Identify the critical path.
2. Atrium Bio-Medical Supply, Inc. (System Analysis)
Atrium Bio-Medical Supply is a medium-sized regional supplier of medical and laboratory equipment. Since starting the company 12 years ago, Victoria Dawn has built Atrium into a competitive supply company across several metro areas, but her growth potential is limited because the firm does not have an integrated sales and logistics system. Victoria asked you to evaluate Atrium’s options for acquiring a new system.
Your Tasks:
- What options does Atrium have for acquiring a new system?
- What are the pros and cons of in-house development versus purchasing a system?
- If the decision is made to purchase a new system, what are three options for customizing the software?
- Based on Part C of the Systems Analyst’s Toolkit, what financial analysis tools should you use to evaluate the software acquisition options for Atrium? Explain how you would apply each of the tools.
3. Nothing But Net
Nothing But Net is an IT consulting firm that specializes in network architectural design. As a newly hired systems analyst, you have been asked to explain the advantages and disadvantages of a variety of networking concepts. Your answers will be incorporated into a FAQ section of the new marketing brochure.
Your Tasks:
- Should an organization choose a new system based on client/server architecture? Why or why not?
- Explain the pros and cons of thick or thin client characteristics.
- What is the difference between physical and logical topology? Provide examples.
- Will mobile devices replace desktop system units and traditional laptop computers? How would networks have to change if that were to happen?
Submission Instructions:
- Open the template document provided in the instructions above, read each scenario carefully, and provide your responses.
- Your submission must be one MS Word document uploaded as an attachment to this assignment no later than Sunday 11:59 PM EST on the last day of class. Late assignments will not be accepted after the semester ends.
- Assignments completed in a narrative or composition format must follow the citation style cited in the current Edition of the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association (APA).