Advanced Network Topics, Management & Security ATMC Task
Background
STP limited have traditionally been cabinet makers in Wollongong from a factory that they own and Wollongong remains the head office. Sales have been going well and STP have recently bought competitors operations and premises in Bathurst and Lithgow. They have also opened a store in Sydney and in future they plan to open more. In Sydney, they have built a state of the art computerised manufacturing facility to produce cupboard and drawer fronts. The cupboard and drawer fronts are produced in three styles and come in an enormous range of colours which are produced to order. The new equipment means that they can produce the new fronts in less than a week and appreciable cheaper than other products on the market (around $1000 for a standard kitchen). STP has begun to sell a lot of cupboard and drawer fronts to people who want to update their kitchen without spending a lot of money. The cupboard and drawer fronts come complete with fixings and handles so that a home handyman could install them. However, not everyone can install the fronts themselves and STP is currently considering having vans carrying samples of their product and staffed by people who can install the products. These vans could act as salespoints as well as installers for the product. STP is not sure if they will run these vans themselves or offer than as a franchise opportunity for someone or a mix of these business models. The cost advantage as well as a high interest in home renovation has driven a lot of sales with a lot of enquiry from areas outside of the current STP locations. The owner Joe Smith, wants to take advantage of the capacity of the new machinery and pay for the machinery as quickly as possible.
As STP Limited have bought two existing stores and opened a new branch, there is a feeling that they have outgrown their current office arrangements. Currently, they do not run a lot of customer accounts rather the people ordering the cupboard and drawer fronts pay cash on ordering. However, as they are currently receiving a lot of enquiry from builders and developers they have had to implement customer accounts. STP Limited have also started a web site to showcase their products and publicise their range of products. Traditionally they have had a very rudimentary stock control system only carrying a small range of wood material, hinges and handles, however with the increase in sales they are now buying cupboard/ drawer material, hinges and handles in bulk and the stock system is not working particularly between branches. They are currently using on standard office software on standalone machines in each location.
The staff in the Bathurst and Lithgow offices have transferred from working with the previous owners and are used to working in small standalone locations with a limited range of products. They are therefore used to working with simple casual processes where they would mostly deal with builders and they would personally know a substantial proportion of customers. There are therefore no formal processes in place at these locations and limited processes in place in Wollongong and Sydney. Now they have retail people coming into the store wanting to talk about colours and styles of the cupboard and drawer fronts.
STP Limited had been running into problems where customers are ringing to check on the delivery of their order, which maybe as small as a replacement handle and the staff have to ring around all locations to see if one of the other locations have the parts in stock. There was also a problem where the system they have is showing the parts in stock and this is communicated to the customer but when the customer arrives at the store to pick up the items they find they are actually not in stock because they have been transferred to another location. There was also no means for the management to receive a report showing expenditure per location. In fact, there was limited ability to produce any reports.
They have upgraded their information systems, with a new stock control system, website and customer management system and accounting system. They have distributed databases in each location.
Stock control system - Currently trialling TradeGecko
Customer management system - SalesForce
Accounting system - MYOB (web-based)
Microsoft Office
They are also considering hiring salespeople at all the offices. Although Wollongong, has traditionally been the head office, Sydney sales are more than the other stores combined and continue to increase.
Each location has
- 2 to 4 counter staff handling sales and stock.
- A store manager.
- 2 to 4 desktop systems to handle point of sale transactions and an office machine.
Sydney office also contains:
- The owner (who travels regularly to the other stores)
- Accounts clerk
- Part time IT technician, who also has responsibility for the website.
- Part time accountant who works on special projects for the owner
- These people also have a machine, the owner, technician and accountant laptops, the accounts clerk a desktop.
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Office
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Machine
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Age
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Wollongong
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2 warehouse machines
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1 year old
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2 warehouse machines
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2 years old
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2 laptops
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3 years old
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Accounts machine
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1 years old
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Sydney
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4 warehouseand 1 management desktop
The new machinery for manufacturing comes with its own system and is all new.
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6 months old
new
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Bathurst
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2 warehouse machines
(Desktops with POS software installed)
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3 years old
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1 office machine
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6 months old
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Lithgow
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2 counter machines
(Desktops with POS software installed)
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5 years old
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1 office machine
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6 months old
|
|
All networking equipment is newly purchased.
STP is not sure what equipment the van drivers will need.
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The Internet connection is via ADSL and each office has a modem and switch. Wireless is also made available at each office and the staff are free to BYOD and connect to the network.
You are a new information systems manager hired by STP to help them achieve their strategic goals, their first project is that they are concerned about the business continuity of their network and their ability to keep client and organisational information secure. Most people in the organisation have very limited technical skills, however supporting the growth of their business and empowering their employees to exceed sales goals is a strategic goal of STP. It is important to the owner of STP that their information systems become more integrated to facilitate real time reporting. The owner of STP feels he has invested a great deal of money in the new equipment and systems and is anxious to protect his investment.
You have been requested to prepare a report by the owner, although he has limited technical knowledge he is extremely anxious to understand how his new systems will work together and that the system will comply with regulations, including privacy.
It is important to achieve well in this assignment that you discuss this networking project in particular and not network management and security in general.
This report should address the following issues and include the following sections in the main body of the report. Please note standard report structure must be adhered to.
1. Project Background which includes the following sub-sections
i. How is this project going to support the future growth of STP.
HOW BIG IS THE PROJECT
- Project goal
- Strategic alignment of project.
2. Network Security
- Securing data
- Mobile device security
3. Plan for hardware purchases.
4. Business continuity
5. Risk management
6. Conclusions
7. Recommendations
Assignment Requirements and Deliverables -
The body of the report should be no less than two thousand (2000) words and it would be best to be no longer than four thousand (3000) words long.
- Appropriate referencing is required (both in-text and a bibliography). The textbook,
- Ciampa, M (2012), Security + Guide to Network Security Fundamentals , 5thedn, Cengage, Boston is a valid resource, however at least five (5) other good quality resources must also be used.
The report is to be prepared as a single Microsoft Word document adhering to all conventions detailed in Chapter 3 of:
Summers, J. and Smith, B., 2014, Communication Skills Handbook: How to succeed in written and oral communication, 4th, Wiley, Singapore.
Attachment:- Assignment File.rar