Background information of the company

Project Plan Inception

nName

nInstitution

nCourse

nDate

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nBackground information of the company

nThe company focuses on data collection and analysis and has been operating for less than two years. It is looking for ways to leverage the collected data demands reliable information technology infrastructure that will support the expected growth of 60 percent over the next eighteen months. The paper will develop a project plan from the company.

nDetails regarding the type of business that the company is engaged in

nThe company has engaged in the business of data collection and analysis. The organization also gathers data using the Web analytics and links it to operational system data. The operations assist the company to initiate and monitor marketing plans.

nA description of current outsourcing and offshoring activities

nThe company uses Web analytics tools to conduct offshoring and outsourcing activities. The offshoring activities involve working in overseas countries where it engages with multinational companies in data collection and analysis (Laudon, Laudon, Brabston, Chaney, Hawkins & Gaskin, 2012). In this regard, it currently uses web analysis and measurement irrespective of whether the company maintains or owns a website. Moreover, the activities encompass the determination of the potential audience of the website (opportunity), comments (buzz), and visibility (segment of voice) that is occurring on the Internet (Wu, Cegielski, Hazen & Hall, 2013).

nThe company also engages in outsourcing activities where it acts as a third part in analysis of business activities. Precisely, it uses web analytics to determine the behaviours of the visitors on the companys websites. For instance, it applies its conversions and drivers to assess the magnitude of various landing pages related to online acquisition (Laudon, Laudon, Brabston, Chaney, Hawkins & Gaskin, 2012).

nIdentification of current skilled information systems personnel in position and responsibilities

nThe company will require a wide range of IS personnel such as chief information officer (CIO), system analyst, information security officer, database administrator and computer engineer (Laudon, Laudon, Brabston, Chaney, Hawkins & Gaskin, 2012). A system analyst will be responsible of identification of the needs of a business and redesign or establishing web-based systems that would assist in accomplishing those needs. Computer engineer will assist in software and hardware designs and establishment of new operating systems. The database administrator will assist in the management of organizations databases (Wu, Cegielski, Hazen & Hall, 2013). Finally, the CIO will be the leader of all information systems operations in the company while information security officer will help in policy formulation on data security in the firm

nThe specific types of data that the company collects

nThe company collects different kind of data including popularity trends of a business, and success of advertising campaigns, which are beneficial in marketing research process. It also gathers data on how website changes following the promotion of a new marketing strategy.

nInformation Systems that the company has to support

nOperational Systems and Databases

nAn organization needs to design and execute information systems (IS) infrastructure that meets the needs of the firm as actively as possible within technological and economic constraints. A well-planned information system is based on a rational establishment that reinforce the responsive transformation thus the agility of business, which enables new administrative or business initiatives to grow (Wu, Cegielski, Hazen & Hall, 2013). The infrastructure of information system will comprise of crucial businesses such as hardware, software, databases and operation systems, which are managed by different experts. More importantly, designing and sustaining information system infrastructure needs wide preparations and reliable execution (Goossenaerts, Wortmann & Kimura, (Eds.) 2013).

nThe project will encompass the installation of databases, software and hardware for data collection, analysis and storage. Many IS are mainly delivery means for storage of data. A database refers to an assortment of interconnected data structured so that group or personal records can be recovered to meet different criteria (Laudon, Laudon, Brabston, Chaney, Hawkins & Gaskin, 2012). Some of the common databases that the project will implement include product catalogues and employee records. The business will develop databases, which help in the management, and operations work of the business. Moreover, the organization requires data warehouses, which hold the archival data, gathered for a long period that can be extracted for the purposes of proper marketing (Mills & Kimura, (Eds.) 2013). Databases play an important in facilitating evidence-based decision-making. Furthermore, processing of opinions and reviews voiced through discussion boards, blogs and social networks helps in development of new product, competitive intelligence and marketing (Wu, Cegielski, Hazen & Hall, 2013).

nThe firm will require operation systems such as computer software and hardware. The operating system is the main system software in an organization. It assists in management of program files, data and hardware as well as different resource systems (Goossenaerts, Wortmann & Kimura, (Eds.) 2013). Moreover, they facilitate the user to regulate the computer through the graphical user interface (GUI). Therefore, the organization must employ efficient operating system for successful operations. Application software will also be used to deal with certain jobs for users. More importantly, the business will utilize applications provided as software-as-a-service (SaaS) (Wu, Cegielski, Hazen & Hall, 2013).

nSaaS eliminates the demand for the business to develop and operate applications on their data hubs or computers, which helps to remove the expenditure of purchasing hardware, maintenance, support, installation and software licensing (Laudon, Laudon, Brabston, Chaney, Hawkins & Gaskin, 2012). The business will embrace the use of SaaS because it offers flexible acquisition of software. For instance, a business can subscribe to its offering where it pays monthly charge rather than purchasing a particular software (Goossenaerts, Wortmann & Kimura, (Eds.) 2013). Additionally, it enables scalable utilizations, which helps the business to use fewer or more services depending on the demand. The SaaS application can be used for crucial firm technologies such as billing, HR management, financial management, customer relationship management and sales management (Wu, Cegielski, Hazen & Hall, 2013).

nAnalytics and interfaces

nThe obligation of business management is to make strategic decisions with the capacity to status of the business and recognize issues that require change. In contemporary corporate environment, the management require efficient data analytics and visualization tools (Goossenaerts, Wortmann & Kimura, (Eds.) 2013). Therefore, the business design and utilize analytical interfaces, which are incorporated in the systems in order to get clear representation and status of the organization. It also assists to leverage information from abstraction-brand interfaces (Laudon, Laudon, Brabston, Chaney, Hawkins & Gaskin, 2012). Furthermore, the design of the analytics would play an important part to acquire key business data that reinforce functionally oriented verdicts utilizing fixed analytics. In particularly, the business will optimally use cloud services, which assist to get more information on the Web services. Some of the analytics tools, which will be leveraged, include the application programming interfaces (APIs). Furthermore, big data sets are being used in the cloud-based services to help in the process of decision making in the company (Wu, Cegielski, Hazen & Hall, 2013). For this reason, the business will establish a platform of data services that offer access to fundamental analytical data that may be acquired from the user interface, integration engine, an application, Web services, and machine interface. Some of the analytical tools that will be implemented include financial risk analytics, supplier rankings, and diagnostic analytics (Laudon, Laudon, Brabston, Chaney, Hawkins & Gaskin, 2012).

nOn the other hand, the business will implement Graphical user interface (GUI) which assist an individual to express him/herself via pointing devices, visual metaphors and symbols through the computer (Goossenaerts, Wortmann & Kimura, (Eds.) 2013). The interface is very important in business because it is easier to use, natural and more pleasant. It also offers special features such as speech recognition (Mills & Kimura, (Eds.) 2013).

nInfrastructure and Security

nInformation system security is very important in a business as it assist in safeguarding safety and integrity of system activities and resources. Businesses need secure function of their information systems because they are susceptible to various threats hence needs stringent controls such as installing countermeasures and consistent audits to maintain its security (Goossenaerts, Wortmann & Kimura, (Eds.) 2013). The security details of information systems infrastructure will protect against computer abuse and crime as well as human error, which can cause massive fata loss (Wu, Cegielski, Hazen & Hall, 2013). Furthermore, the security measures will protect against disasters such as fires, floods, earthquakes. Similarly, the business will execute a contingency scheme, which helps to deal with all failures of software, telecommunications networks and servers (Mills & Kimura, (Eds.) 2013).

nThe information system security will be able to offer protection against computer crime such as cyber war, sabotage, and commercial espionage, robbery of consumer information and vandalism of information system. In addition, the security will be able to control against logic bombs, Trojan horses, computer worms and viruses, malware and phishing (Laudon, Laudon, Brabston, Chaney, Hawkins & Gaskin, 2012).

nA business will put in place information systems controls to ensure that the information systems infrastructure is efficient and secure. The IS are protected by using application and general controls (Goossenaerts, Wortmann & Kimura, (Eds.) 2013). General controls encompasses the IS operations across the business. The most crucial general controls are procedures that control computer access as well as any kind of data stored in those computers or conveyed through those networks (Wu, Cegielski, Hazen & Hall, 2013). Therefore, the business must institute administrative measures that regulate workers access to unauthorized data. Consequently, these controls restrict the loss of information to impersonators or unauthorized information. For this reason, the business will establish fault-tolerant computer systems, which has the capacity to isolate and control problems in order to sustain the operations (Mills & Kimura, (Eds.) 2013). Moreover, there will be backup plan, which is triggered in case of problems.

nSecondly, the project plan will install application controls, which are specific to a particular application. Precisely, the business will design various measures to protect information system such as introduction of logs details, authenticating input data and consistent archiving different database copies (Goossenaerts, Wortmann & Kimura, (Eds.) 2013). Finally, a system will be in place that guarantees distribution of data to only authorized users.

nSecurity of information is also important in business particularly due to the rise of wide area networks (WANs) especially the interlopers, Users and the Internet hence data may be accessed from unused computer within a firm (Goossenaerts, Wortmann & Kimura, (Eds.) 2013). Therefore, security measures call for users of computer to have special name and a constantly altered password. In addition, the company will also employ some kind of physical authentication such as use of smart card, signature, hand geometry, retinal pattern and fingerprint. It can combine some of these measures in order to guarantee high level of security. The firm will also use firewalls, which are a system installed between the Internet and the internal networks of the firm.it helps to filter the outgoing and incoming traffic of data (Wu, Cegielski, Hazen & Hall, 2013). Finally, the company must apply data encryption. For instance, the public key encryption will be employed in this instance to guarantee confidentiality. In this case, only authorized people has personal key required to decrypt information that have been encrypted with the public key of the addressee (Laudon, Laudon, Brabston, Chaney, Hawkins & Gaskin, 2012).

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nReferences

nGoossenaerts, J., Wortmann, J. C., & Kimura, F. (Eds.). (2013). Information Infrastructure Systems for Manufacturing: Proceedings of the IFIP TC5/WG5. 3/WG5. 7 international conference on the Design of Information Infrastructure Systems for Manufacturing, DIISM96 Eindhoven, the Netherlands, 15–18 September 1996. Springer.

nLaudon, K. C., Laudon, J. P., Brabston, M. E., Chaney, M., Hawkins, L., & Gaskin, S. (2012). Management Information Systems: Managing the Digital Firm, Seventh Canadian Edition (7th. Pearson.

nMills, J. J., & Kimura, F. (Eds.). (2013). Information Infrastructure Systems for Manufacturing II: IFIP TC5 WG5. 3/5.7 Third International Working Conference on the Design of Information Infrastructure Systems for Manufacturing (DIISM98) May 18–20, 1998, Fort Worth, Texas (Vol. 16). Springer.

nWu, Y., Cegielski, C. G., Hazen, B. T., & Hall, D. J. (2013). Cloud computing in support of supply chain information system infrastructure: understanding when to go to the cloud. Journal of Supply Chain Management, 49(3), 25-41.