he issues are that could give them a technological advantage to increase profits and productivity. In the assignment we are told that TPG is in the high-tech industry, producing ôhigh-end routers and switches, servers, circuit boards, and gadgets such as DVDs, audio accessories, and storage arraysö. But the fact that these products are on the cutting edge of high technology is belied by the Stone Age nature of the existing company LANs (local area networks), using as they do obsolete technology such as Novell 3.5, Windows 98, and NT, not to mention the lack of connectivity between the companyÆs distant locations.
Any network design consultant must figure out who the ultimate decision makers are in a company, and for that an analysis of the corporate structure is necessary. In the case at hand the writer of the assignment is the decision maker, who is in turn responsible to the Board of Directors and the CEO. Each branch of the company has a Vice President responsible for the operation of each location.
Next I would prioritise the companyÆs business goals, focusing on what they regard as their primary business purpose for the network design project. For this I would interview the key decision makers. In this case I would assume that the main reason to modernize outdated technology is to increase revenues and profits, although it could also impact significantly on many other aspects of corporate well-being, including increasing market share and competitive advantage over other companies in the same market, reducing costs, increasing employee productivity, offering customers new support ands services, opening the network to key constituents, and making information more accessible, as well as minimizing the potential business disruption of security, software, or hardware failures and natural or man-made disasters.
The mission-critical operations which the new network design must succeed in serving well for TPG are to create ...