Networking the Small Office - Case Study Example

Section The case study is on Leviathan, a construction management firm which acquired a long term with a small firm Wyvern (Campbell, 1996). The combination of the companies requires a data communication consultant to assist in the communication solutions for the companies who has three offices, two in Charlotte and one in Columbia. The offices in Charlotte has CEO, COO, CFO, director HR, IT manager, Director Project Management Office, Office Manager, two Administrative Assistants, seventeen Project Managers, seven Quality Control Field Engineers, seven Safety Engineers, five Environmental Engineers and five Project Administration Specialists (Harrington, 2006). The communication set up to be installed should be able to connect to all the offices. The offices in Wyvern has an office manager, one Administrative Assistant, five Project Managers, two Quality Control Field Engineers, one Safety Engineer and a Modell Engineer. The departments in the offices also need to have a communication network (Flynn, 2004). Communication between the managers should be available when they are in the field. The communication should be able to cover the nation since the construction projects are nationwide and when the project managers are on the move, they need to view, receive and send the documents on their planning, projects, schedules and status reports as if they were right there in the offices (Uhlig and David, 1979). The managers need to have access to the staff working in the construction sites and also the documentaries from them (Campbell, 1996). Some of the team are to develop, update and combine databases that are outsourced (Harrington, 2006). The network to be installed should be able to comply with the 29th Code of Federal Regulation. Through comply, the network designed must be able to address the relevant security requirements. Section 2 The information that is to be protected are those that provide the users of the organization with guidelines to the use on the processing, storage and transmission of the sensitive and important information. The security requirement on the protection is to ensure that the information is appropriately protected from the disclosure or from irrelevant modification of the original context. A security requirement would include new employees to the partnership sign a policy as part of their orientation. The requirement should include the people who have access the information. A securement will define how the information is to be stored and transmitted to the different sectors and departments, whether encoded, encrypted or in archive forms. The system in which the information is stored should also be defined by the security requirement (Campbell, 1996). The system should define the levels in which sensitive information can be printed on physically unsecured printers (Harrington, 2006). A security requirement is definition of how sensitive information is removed from system and the devices where they are stored. Discussion of any default file and also directory permissions should be defined in a system broad configuration files. Section 3 The offices needs several networks to facilitate well function of the offices. The networks should include basic remote and telephone support. This enables communication within the offices and also with the managers in the field. The networking of the offices should provide onsite support (Crawford, 2002). The support enables coordination of activities and projects by the managers. Stationary offices uses planning and implementation services network (Smith, 1993). This prevents duplication of projects and repetition of ideas. System upgrade networks and equipment are needed this makes the offices to be up to date and enables making of decisions on project considering the current issues and trends (Kliem, 2008). Offsite data backup networks are also necessary for the stationary offices. This ensures that data is not lost about the projects (Smith, 1993). The devices that are used in the office include digital dictators, photocopiers, presentation software, stationary, typewriters, personal computers, computer, printers, computers, adding machines, address book, automatic document feeder, brass fastener, cartridge paper, cold roll laminator, copyholder, Dictaphone, duplication machines, fax, franklin planner, overhead projector, multifunction printer, local area network, laser printer, laser pointer, inkjet printing and photocopier (Kliem, 2008). The devices helps in the office and staff work through production of documents and the storage of data. Section 4 Section 5 The network selected brings a lot of efficiency in the operation of the stationary office. It enables file sharing between the managers (Uhlig and David, 1979). The managers are able to share files directly through the network rather than carrying it in discs from locations to locations. This allows the maintenance of records more accurately and simple (Kliem, 2008). . The networking brings management and also the software is cost effective (Crawford, 2002). The software products become available to the office and brings saving instead of individual purchase of the software. The management will be easy as compared to tracking of information from personal computers (Flynn, 2004). Upgrades are easy to be done as they are not costly and are done in the office server instead of individual workstations (Smith, 1993). Security of documents and data in the network is boosted (Uhlig and David, 1979). There can be passwords created to inhibit the access of the information by unauthorized persons (Shipley, 2004). Files and programs on the network can be protected such that there is no worry on the illegal duplication of programs and files (Flynn, 2004). The security in the network also reduce data loss (Uhlig and David, 1979). The programs of the office are not able to be misidentified. The network allows sharing of resources (Uhlig and David, 1979). Resources including printers, scanners, fax machines and also modems can be shared through the connection of the computers in the network (Pritchard, 2004). Communication is simple through the network connection (Kliem, 2008). Staff and managers are able to communicate through electronic mail over the network system (Crawford, 2002). When the connection is done to the internet, there is possibility of communication to anyone at any place in the world over the network (Pritchard, 2004). The network allows flexible access to information (Uhlig and David, 1979). The connection allows access to information to information and data from all the computers and one is able to start a project in one of the computers and come to finish the project on another (Shipley, 2004). The multi user network also allows collaboration on the same project by the different manager (Chopra, 2009).Creation of teamwork has also come up through the network (Pritchard, 2004. The network is able to have workgroup software that allows many users of the network at the same time to contribute to a documentary (Crawford, 2002). This creates teamwork (Shipley, 2004). References Campbell, Patrick T. Networking the Small Office. San Francisco: Network, 1996. Print. Crawford, J. Kent. Project Management Maturity Model: Providing a Proven Path to Project Management Exellence. New York: Marcel Dekker, 2002. Print. Flynn, Nancy. Instant Messaging Rules a Business Guide to Managing Policies, Security, and Legal Issues for Safe IM Communication. New York: American Management Association, 2004. Print. Harrington, Jan L. Ethernet Networking for the Small Office and Professional Home Office Amsterdam: Morgan Kaufmann/Elsevier, 2006. Print. Kliem, Ralph L. Effective Communications for Project Management. Boca Raton: Auerbach Publications, 2008. Print. National Audit Office. Report by the Comptroller and Auditor General. Ministry of Defence: Maintenance of Major RAF Equipments. Cambridge [eng.: Proquest LLC, 2007. Print. Pritchard, Carl L. The Project Management Communications Toolkit. Norwood, MA: Artech House, 2004. Print. Shipley, David, and Will Schwalbe. Send: The Essential Guide to Email for Office and Home. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2007. Print. Smith, John W. T. Networking and the Future of Libraries: Proceedings of the UK Office for Library Networking Conference, April 2-5, 1992. Westport, CT: Meckler, 1993. Print. Uhlig, Ronald P., and David J. Farber. The Office of the Future: Communication and Computers. Amsterdam: North-Holland Pub. ;, 1979. Print. Chopra, R. K., and Ankita Bhatia. Office Management. Rev. ed. Mumbai: Himalaya Pub. House, 2009. Print. Read More