Recommended Computer System for Byrnes Motor Sales - Case Study Example

Information and Communications Technology Name: Roll No: Class: Teacher: Subject: February 11, 2008 University: Table of Contents Existing State of Company 3 Recommended Hardware options 4 Acer Veriton 5900 4 Acer Power FH 5 Acer Power FH 5 Recommended Software options 5 Reasons for the Above Recommendations 6 Operational Costs for new computer system for Byrnes Motor Sales 7 Security Systems 9 Security Recommendations 11 Conclusion 11 Report for the Recommended Computer System for Byrnes Motor Sales 1. Based on the information given, identify the essential hardware equipment that would need to be purchased in order to fulfil the design specification of the system you are recommending. In addition, recommend, with detailed specifications, the software that should be purchased to meet the company’s requirements. Outline clearly for Mr. Byrne a training plan you propose for the existing staff of the company. In all cases, give reasons for your choices. You must with a work within a budgetary constraint of €30,000. Existing State of Company Byrnes Motor Sales is a company which is in need of a better computerization system for the processing of its day to day activities. Currently, they are using only one computer which has Windows 98 and Office 95. They also have one inkjet printer for printing purposes. MS Word is used for typing letters and invoices. The promotion and advertising is handed over to another company on large costs. The company also requires bookkeeping which is not done by the company itself. The sales information is updated manually on day to day basis. Two sales representatives are good at usage of computer systems while the other two are not. Recommended Hardware options According to my recommendations, the Byrnes Motor Sales can get a new as well as used computer hardware system which will be suitable for all the software to run. First Option Acer Veriton 5900 Intel Core 2 Duo E4300 (1.8GHz 2M 800FSB) ,Q965 Chipset, 160 GB SATA, 512MB DDR2 Maximum supporting upto 2GB DDR II 667MHz RAM Dual Channels Supporting on Four DIMM, Embedded 10/100/1000 base TX Ethernet controller ,1 x Parallel, 1 x Serial , 8 x USB ports; 4 rear connectors and 4 front connectors , 1X VGA Port, PS/2Keyboard,PS/2 Mouse, DVD, Onboard VGA, Windows XP,3 years warranty. Second Option Acer Power FH Intel Dual Core 925 (3.0GHz 2X2MB 800FSB) ,Intel 946GZ / ICH7,80 GB SATA, 512MB DDR2 Maximum supporting upto 2GB DDR II 400/533/667MHz RAM Dual Channels Supporting on Four DIMM,, Intel Graphics Media Accelerator (GMA)3000 with Dynamic Video Memory Technology (DVMT) 3.0 PCI Express X 16 Graphic Card Support, 1 x Parallel, 1 x Serial , 8 x USB ports; 4 rear connectors and 4 front connectors , 1X VGA Port, PS/2Keyboard,PS/2 Mouse, COMBO, Onboard VGA, Windows Vista,1 years warranty. Third option Acer Power FH Intel Core 2 Duo (2.0GHz) ,Intel 946GZ / ICH7,160 GB SATA, 1GB DDR2 Maximum supporting upto 2GB DDR II 400/533/667MHz RAM Dual Channels Supporting on Four DIMM,, Intel Graphics Media Accelerator (GMA)3000 with Dynamic Video Memory Technology (DVMT) 3.0 PCI Express X 16 Graphic Card Support,, 1 x Parallel, 1 x Serial , 8 x USB ports; 4 rear connectors and 4 front connectors , 1X VGA Port, PS/2Keyboard,PS/2 Mouse, COMBO, Onboard VGA, Windows Vista,1 years warranty. Recommended Software options System software (Operating System) Windows Vista or Windows XP Utility Software MS Office 2007 including MS Word, MS Access and MS Excel Anti Virus (Norton anti virus) Scan Disk (for trouble shooting) Internet browser (Netscape Navigator) MS Outlook Reasons for the Above Recommendations The usage of above utilities will save time and cost because due to computerization in the whole company, people will work faster as before. Moreover, they can use the utilities to improve the performance of their company. According to my recommendations, the company should use MS Access for maintaining a database, for generating invoices and for bookkeeping. They should not pay other companies for these requirements. Due to computerization, they can do all their works efficiently. In place of MS Word, they should use MS Outlook for sending and receiving letters in form of emails. They should get access to internet to link with their customers and branches on online basis. They can also make a website on small scale that will be used for marketing purposes which will save their large amounts for the marketing and advertising programs. The sales department can make use of MS Access for the maintaining and updating of sales records on daily basis. This will be far more appropriate as compared to manual processing. For the system’s security, the company can make use of Scan disk and Anti Virus which need to be updated for working appropriately. The recommended hardware and software are the most up to date versions of their types and will support in fast service and saving of time. The operating system recommended is GUI (Graphic User Interface). Graphic user interface allows the user to work in a friendly environment due to which the user can easily access all the features provided by it. Operational Costs for new computer system for Byrnes Motor Sales     Project: Recommendations for new Hardware, Software and Operational Costs Date: 15-Jan-08     Current state: One PC with Windows 98 and office 95 and an inkjet printer             Required Recommended costs Hardware Yes 2500   Rental or Purchase Purchase   Maintenance Yes 500   Network No 0   Software Yes 1000   Rental or Purchase Purchase   Maintenance Yes 500   Manpower Yes 5000   User departments Yes 10,000   IT Department Yes 500   Operations 1500   Other No   Administration Yes 3000   Overheads 500   Materials Yes   Stationary Yes 1000   Consumables Yes 500   Training Yes 3,000   Web costing Yes 500                             Total Operating Cost   30000             All the above recommendations come within the range of 30,000 along with the training costs and others shown in the operational costs. The company of Byrnes Motor Sales is in need of more than one computer systems. The staff is also in need of training programs which should be commenced for the guidance of staff members. The training should be given for the usage of computer systems. They should hire someone who is skilled at using computer. Training sessions should be conducted for the betterment of staff members. Training can be provided by the help of lectures and practical usage of computers. Training sessions should be there for at least two hours daily for a month. Training will include the usage of Windows vista environment, MS word, MS Access, MS Outlook and internet explorer. 2. Mr. Byrne is concerned about system security. Recommend ways in which computer equipment, software and data may remain secure. Security Systems DBMS (Database Management Systems) like MS Access supports two broad approaches to data security. The approaches are: Discretionary Control Mandatory Control In case of Discretionary Control, a given user will have different access rights which are also known as privileges or authorities on different objects. Further, different users will typically have different rights on the same objects. Discretionary schemes are thus very flexible. In the case of Mandatory Control, by contrast, each data object is tagged or tabled with a certain classification level, and each user is given a certain clearance level. A given data object can then be accessed only by users with the appropriate clearance. Mandatory schemes are comparatively rigid. The DBMS enforces the decisions made by the schemes. It follows that: a. The results of those policy decisions must be made known to the system and must be remembered by the system with the help of security rules. b. There must be means of checking a given access request against the applicable security rules. The checking is done by the DBMS’s security subsystem also known as authorization subsystem. c. In order to that it may be able to decide which security rules are applicable to a given access request, the system must be able to recognize the source of that request that is it must be able to recognize the requesting user. For that reason, when users sign on the system, they are required to supply not only their user id but also a password. The password is known only to the system and to legitimate users of the user concerned. Categories of Users Each database user is allocated a user id and there are DBA (Database Access) rights/ privileges given to users. There are two types of users: Users who can create tables. Users who can have selection privileges. Security Recommendations The recommended security system for the security of data and other information related to the company, they should use MS Access as a database which will allow them to create user identities and user passwords due to which only authorized people or staff members can access the significant data. For computer equipment, the security can be provided by taking proper casings for each and every accessory related to computer. Moreover, for the software security the company should keep a backup of the overall database as an aspect of risk management. On all the computer systems, anti virus and scan disks should be used to keeping the computer systems in correct order. Proper maintenance should be provided in case of software and hardware. For software maintenance, updating the software is an essentiality. Hardware maintenance can be done keeping in consideration all the computer accessories that are attached with the computer systems. Proper cleanliness measures should be taken to get things saved from over dustiness and jamming. Conclusion So, the recommendations given above can be summarised as that the company of Byrnes Motor Sales is lacking the expertise required for processing and they are paying more than required costs due to lack of technology in their company. For this state of affairs, they are in need of fully computerization of their company which can be obtained by providing computer systems to their employees along with a proper training that will result in the fast processing of company’s current functions. In case of following the recommendations given above, the Byrnes Motor Sales can improve the working performance of their employees and can cut short their current costs which are not needed by the company to pay. Read More