IT Operations Management - Report Example

I.T. Operations Management: PROPOSAL Name Tutor Course Institution Date Table of Contents Table of Contents 2 Management Summary 2 Introduction 3 Capacity Planning and associated Benefits 5 Costs associated with Capacity Planning 7 Configuration Management 8 Benefits of Configuration Management 9 Costs associated with Configuration Management 10 Staff and Skills Department 10 All staff recruited staff members in configuration management will undergo the required training before starting working in this department. 12 BTOPP Analysis 12 B: Business 12 T: Technology 12 O: Organisation 12 P: People 13 Conclusion 14 Recommendations 15 Bibliography 16 Management Summary The focus on the report is on a detailed analysis of the proposed capacity planning and configuration management departments in the IT operations departments of MilkWood Company. Accordingly, the report will analyse capacity planning and configuration management and will analyse the costs and benefits regarding the implementation of these departments. In addition, the report will give recommendations about whether the Under MilkWood Company ought to go on with the implementation of these departments. Currently, Under MilkWood does not have Capacity Planning department or Configuration Management in its internal operations. Basically, implementation of these two departments for the company is relatively costly for the company. In addition, implementation of the departments for the company is likely to come up with some of uncertainties. However, in spite of the risks and instability of the situation, the implementation of the proposed departments (Capacity Planning department or Configuration Management) is deemed to be essential for internal operations of the Under MilkWood in the fast changing technological environment. Capacity planning refers to the process of estimating future capacity needs of an organisation basing on the present organisational use as well as the industry trends. After the analysis, it is obvious that it is essential for the Under MilkWood Company to consider introducing capacity planning and configuration management within the company. Accordingly, this proposal focuses on the analysis of the many implications that introduction of capacity planning and configuration management and this includes BTOPP analysis, costs and benefits analysis as well as further recommendations. At conclusion, the report will provide the upper management of Under MilkWood Company with adequate and detailed information to make an informed decision regarding its internal IT operations department as well as the implementation of the Capacity Planning and Configuration Management departments. Introduction Currently Milkwood does not capacity planning and configuration management departments and implementation of these two departments has been proposed by the company’s IT department. Capacity planning refers to the process of estimating future capacity needs of an organisation basing on the present organisational use as well as the industry trends (Dekkers & Kanagi, 2012). Capacity is the maximum possible data rate that the IT department receives through a communication channel under ideal conditions. Capacity also refers to the non-technical things and activities for example the maximum amount of work that Under Milkwood Company is capable of completing within a given time or the maximum number of individuals that can physically a room in the company. Inconsistencies in capacity and demand can lead to inefficiencies allied to under-utilised resources or unmet use demand within the company (Dekkers & Kanagi, 2012). Therefore, capacity planning in the Under Milkwood Company is likely to reduce such inconsistencies as well as offer satisfactory service levels cost-efficiently. Moreover, capacity planning will be important in supporting the optimum and cost effective and provision of services and thus it will help the Under Milkwood Company to match its resources to the business demands. On the other hand, configuration management refers to the process that establishes and achieves consistency of organisational products’ and facilitates performance and functionality of the processes (Carmel & Whyte, 2013). Configuration management will therefore ensure that products and services that Milkwood offers are configured and maintained and this will ensure their reliability and functionality as well (Carmel & Whyte, 2013). The focus of this report is to perform a comprehensive analysis of the proposed departments for the Milkwood Company. In addition, a BTOPP analysis will also be performed. Finally, the report will present some recommendations regarding the step that the company should take in regards to the proposed departments. Capacity Planning and associated Benefits According to Dekkers and Kanagi (2012) when capacity planning is performed affectively, this facilitates effective monitoring of income spent and resource usage, especially during times of high growths and downturns. As a result, introducing capacity building in MilkWood will enable the company to understand the business areas that are most affected and hence this will ensure that there is better allocation of funds and this can assist in reducing the impact of the unanticipated changes as well as usage of financial resources where necessary (Dekkers & Kanagi, 2012). Additionally, capacity planning will assist the Milkwood Company in allocating resources efficiently during future high seasons demand cycles where usage of resources is much higher due to elevated demand of the products from MilkWood. Furthermore, capacity planning will help MilkWood to cope with the increased demand, for example after the release of next generation video games which happens after each 5-8 years; the company can utilize historical data to develop additional serves just before this period or add additional support in order to efficiently handle the drain on resources (Garba et al, 2008). Capacity planning also has the advantage of facilitating more comprehensive and accurate budget. Comprehensive and accurate budget facilitates easier decision making when buying or reducing financial spending in some departments. Capacity planning will also enable MilkWood Company to come up with better financial estimations and satisfy stakeholders better. More importantly, capacity planning will allow the company to plan for growth and expansion (Garba et al, 2012). This is because capacity planning will enable MilkWood Company to project and forecast the demand and estimate the preferences of customers and hence the company will be able to steer its business in specific direction that satisfies customers best. Accordingly, the company can plan for this through implementation of strategies, tactics, departments, procedures, hardware, software, staff members etc and this will enable MilkWood to take on new tasks and projects, establish partnerships with other businesses, expand and grow their products, be the leader in the industry and also attain market dominance (Dekkers & Kanagi, 2012). Milkwood will need capacity planning to make capacity decisions which will be very important for the management at the company. Actually, capacity planning decisions are extremely important for the company. First, capacity planning enables an organisation to meet future demands for products and services for the customers and hence capacity planning will enable Milkwood to meet the demands much better because capacity planning basically restricts the output rate possible. Having the ability to satisfy demand also allows organisations to take advantage of incredible benefits (Dekkers & Kanagi, 2012). Capacity planning also conveys capacity decisions affecting operation costs. In capacity planning, there is matching of capacity and demand requirements and this has the ability to minimise operations costs. Therefore, capacity planning will help Milkwood in balancing the costs of over-and-under capacity. In addition, capacity is normally a key determinant of the preliminary cost. Normally, the higher the capacity of a productive unit, the higher the cost; however, bigger units normally cost lesser than smaller unit. Therefore, capacity planning will be beneficial to Milkwood by not only in minimising operating costs but also in determining initial costs for production of games at the company and hence balance the costs of over-and-under capacity. Capacity decisions also normally include lasting commitment of resources and after implementation of resources it might not be possible to amend the resource usage without sustaining high costs (Garba et al, 2012). Capacity planning ensures that there is suitable capacity and makes it easy for the management of the resources. Capacity decisions are also likely to impact competitiveness. For instance, in case a company has excess capacity or has the ability to add capacity fast, this may act as an obstacle to entry by other companies. Therefore, capacity planning can facilitates speed delivery and this will be a competitive advantage for Milkwood Company, among its rivals (Dekkers & Kanagi, 2012). The analysis indicates that the long-term benefits of Milkwood implementing capacity planning outweighs the primary and ongoing costs involved in capacity planning. This is because a capacity planning department will lower long term costs and ensure effective use of available resources. Capacity planning will be particularly important when Milkwood Company has projections to grow and expand its operations ((Garba et al, 2012). Since Milkwood is a relatively big and profitable business, the capacity planning department will be established with experienced personnel who are highly experienced and skilled in analysis of market trends, understands the business processes well and also understands and well-versed with the customers’ preferences, needs and wants (Garba et al., 2008). Costs associated with Capacity Planning Implementing capacity planning will involve significant finances and other resources as well. Therefore, this might cost Milkwood Company a significant amount of money and hence it will be necessary to plan for this department in advance and commit a larger amount of money for this department. In addition, it might take a long time for the department to be implemented and become operational. Therefore, this increases the risk that the designated amount of capacity might not match with the actual demand when the capacity eventually is availed. Moreover, external factors such as product and performance standard can limit the company’s management’s options for growing and utilising capacity (Garba et al, 2012). Configuration Management Configuration Management is the process of setting up and implementing the reliability of a product of processes performance, along with functionality. Products and services ought to be configured and maintained throughout the product’s lifespan in order to ensure reliability and functionality of the products and processes (Kienle et al, 2008). Configuration management is extremely vital in change management to functionality as well as performance setting of deployable elements. Configuration management is the binding factor in the entire process from the introduction of changes, to development and change implementation and hence it is a fundamental aspect to avoid cost and cataclysm for the business (Carmel & Whyte, 2013). Configuration management system at Milkwood Company should be determined by the following criteria: Naming convention: naming convention of specific property files, universal variables as well as directory systems were it is possible to extract file from, is fundamental in developing solid source managements, as well as in implementing artefacts configurations. This is the most essential component in configuration management and therefore it will be an obligatory criterion. Version management: A typical practice of versioning release packages, along with implementation of artefacts goes hand in hand with suitable naming convection. Configuration management database: This refers to the database that contains all pertinent information regarding the elements and the relationship between the elements. This will also involve shifting information on all assets into more sophisticated database locations in order to ensure improved and better management (Thorp, 2007). Benefits of Configuration Management The benefits of configuration management are many. Some of these benefits encompass that of helping in revealing any configuration issues as well as system issues. The system will also help with risks allied to security and uncertainties. Configuration management will also increase effectiveness and stability and also enable increased agility and speedy problem solving for the company (Short, Payne & Ketchen, 2008). Configuration management for Milkwood will assist the company in accelerating returns on the investments as well as in down streaming risks and mitigating costs. In addition, configuration management will not only enhance security and mitigate security risks (Kienle et al, 2008). For the Milkwood Company, the most utmost necessity for functionality is to establish sound security network. Generally, technology is not always perfect and therefore the management should make sure that in case of a security breach or any security risk, the problem resolution period is short and this means that such security risks are handled as soon as possible. Configuration management is perceived as a long term investment even though some of its benefits can be instant. For instance, there is a likelihood of an organization improving its existing and future processes after implementation of configuration management since it is such a wide range (Short, Payne & Ketchen, 2008). Establishing such an infrastructure for the company can be achieved by first creating a plan for the needed requirements to make sure that the configuration management department stays functional and is handled by skilled and well-informed specialists. Configuration management will therefore ensure that effective techniques are applied to evaluate the competencies of the processes, along with people and staff involved (Kienle et al, 2008). In addition, implementation of configuration management will allow sustaining consistency of product or processes and also enable functionality and effective performance for the company (Short, Payne & Ketchen, 2008). Costs associated with Configuration Management Implementation of Configuration will involve significant finances and other resources. Just like in capacity planning, this will cost Milkwood Company a significant amount of money and hence it will be necessary to commit large amount of money for this department. Additionally, it might take a long time for the department to be implemented and become operational. Apart from high costs associated with implementing configuration management department, this department might come up with some uncertainties which pose a risk to the department implementation (Carmel & Whyte, 2013). Staff and Skills Department Milkwood Company will require a specialized department that will be tasked with the responsibility of ensuring that the right human resource is acquired to help in the implementation of the various configurations that are required within the company. The applicants will be interviewed and verified accordingly. This department will have specialized task force made up of different experienced personalities in various fields. New staff members with previous experience will be recruited for both Capacity Planning and Configuration Management Departments. For the capacity planning department, there will be manager who will be expected to develop and maintain accurate supply and demand forecasts, conduct comprehensive forecast variance analysis and provide proposals for supporting the operational teams in using the available resources optimally. The capacity planning manager will also be responsible for developing capacity plan tool and process for embedding the capacity planning in the business plan. A team of 4 staff members will be expected to work under the capacity planning manager. All team members including the manager will undergo coaching and development in capacity planning before starting to work (Lam, 2007). The required skills for the team members include: Strong IT systems knowledge as well as advanced Excel skills Microsoft Office Suite High level of building capacity forecasting models and plans Experience of working in a project environment Analytical, numerical and logic skills Good communication skills For the configuration management, the candidates will be required to have associates degree or equivalent education and experience in configuration management. The required skills for the staff will include: Knowledge in essentials of configuration management Familiarity in drafting using computer drawing software Good communication skills Excellent organizational skills Ability to review organizational procedures Skilled in Microsoft office Familiarity in electronic record requirements Excellent system integration skills Good in project management (Moreira, 2004) All staff recruited staff members in configuration management will undergo the required training before starting working in this department. BTOPP Analysis B: Business Information technologies should match with and support market needs and opportunities. The information technologies ought to meet internal needs for information and hence reinforce the value chain the leads eventually to the customer. Any planned IT implementation should be firmly connected to organisational business strategy (Ted, 2010). Therefore, in case Milkwood decides to implement the two departments, it will be necessary to ensure the market needs and opportunities are taken into consideration and also the departments have firm connection with the organisational strategies. T: Technology Hardware and software collectively is functional within a technical setting. It is essential to ensure that there is configuration and networking of the system with other business systems to make sure that the correct information gets to the right individuals at the appropriate time. In this case, it is important to configure and network capacity planning and configuration management departments with other business systems at Milkwood Company. This will ensure that there is efficient information flow from these departments to the appropriate targets (Al-Hatmi, 2012). O: Organisation In order to get most from the IT bases, structuring and restructuring of companies should be done regularly. Organisational structuring affects all location of team works, offices as well as customer service facilities. However, adopting new technologies can take time. Therefore, introduction of capacity planning and configuration management is important because it is a part of organisational restructuring. Even though implementing these two departments will not only be costly for Milkwood but will time, these two departments will bring so many benefits for the company (Ted, 2010). P: Process It is important to engineer business process in order to focus on continuous service delivery, recognise and integrate the new potentials of IT. Re-engineering of the integrated processes should be continuous in order to reflect the changing industry and market conditions (Al-Hatmi, 2012). Additionally, diverse management practices and work processes should be modified and changed to mesh with the key engineered business procedures, for instance product design and order processing. Accordingly, capacity planning and configuration management processes should be implemented as per the industry’s changing conditions. Additionally, it would be important to modify these procedures with the major engineered business processes (Al-Hatmi, 2012). P: People Staff members, customers as well as business partners ought to be trained on how to utilise the information system. These people should be comfortable with the technology and they should also have the knowledge, skills, authorisation and motivation to utilise the technology, for example the information they access to have their tasks done. This also includes improving on how their tasks and duties are performed, knowing what their roles are and how technology changes their jobs. In this regard, it would be important to ensure that all stakeholders are involved and trained regarding the implementation of these two departments (Capacity planning and configuration management) (Ted, 2010). Conclusion The report provides the overview of capacity planning and configuration management in regard to Milkwood Company. Capacity Planning integrates fulfilling the organisational demand, demands of individuals, as well as meeting the demands of other homogenous processes in regard to the workload and capacity over a given period of time. In addition, evidence shows that capacity building is important in sustaining the present baseline at Under MilkWood Company and also capacity planning will facilitate planning and sustaining of the company’s future requirements. On the other hand, configuration management is the process of setting up and affecting the reliability of a product of processes performance, along with functionality. Products and services ought to be configured and maintained throughout the product’s lifespan in order to ensure reliability and functionality of the products and processes. After the analysis, it is obvious that it is essential for the MilkWood Company to consider introducing capacity planning and configuration management within the company. This is because configuration management will enable the company to lower risks, increase cost savings by decreasing the costs of errors as well as by increasing the accuracy and efficiency of change implementation. Recommendations Milkwood Company should go ahead and implement the capacity planning department. This is because as the analysis shows, demand volatility is a serious problem for planners and hence implanting capacity department will enable the company to make efficient demand forecast. In addition, capacity planning will enable adequate allocation of resources. Milkwood Company should also implement the configuration management department because this department will establish and perpetuate the consistence of the company’s products and also enhance the performance and functionality of the company’s processes The company should configure and maintain these two departments throughout the company’s lifespan in order to ensure the company gets the benefits associated with these two departments The management at Milkwood should plan ahead for the funds and resources required for the implementation of these two departments. This is because these two departments will cost the company large sums of money Bibliography Al-Hatmi A, 2012, Analysis of ICT Strategic Alignment In a Public Organisation, Robina: Bond University. Carmel L & Whyte J, 2013, Configuration Management in Complex Engineering Projects, Procedia CIRP, 11(1), pp: 173-176. Dekkers R & Kanagi K, 2012, Practices for Strategic Capacity Management in Malaysian Manufacturing Firms, Procedia - Social and Behavioral Sciences, 57(1), pp: 466-476. Garba S, Ebenehi E & Ademola G, 2012, Capacity Planning and Its Implications on the Infrastructural Development Needs of Some Selected Higher Institutions in the Eastern Senatorial District of Kogi State, Global Journal of Management and Business Research, 12(23). Kienle, Steven C., & William A, 2008, Problem Report Forms: A System for Software Configuration Management.. ACM SIGSOFT, Software Engineering Notes, 13(4), pp: 79-84. Lam S, 2007, Organizational Factors Affecting Capacity Planning Practices, Journal of Information Systems Management, 4(4), pp: 42-48.  McGregor J, 2007, Configuration Change Management, Journal of Object Technology, 6(1), pp: 6-15. Short J, Payne T & Ketchen D, 2008, Research on Organizational Configurations: Past Accomplishments and Future Challenges, Journal of Management, 34(6). Thorp J, 2007, T h e Information Paradox Realizing the Business Benefits of information technology, Canada: Fujitsu Consulting. Ted K, 2010, Preparing the organizational ‘soil’ for measurable and sustainable change: business value management and project governance, Journal of Change Management, 4(1), pp: 45-62. Read More