Design of a Network System -

Aims:

 To apply modern Web-based techniques for management of information systems used in the design and manufacturing processes;

 To apply the principles of computer networking and intercommunication and protocols for inter-process communication in loosely and tightly coupled systems;

 To design and analyse information systems within the context of a business as a whole.

Learning outcomes:

 Specify and critically analyse a computer network design and requirements for a range of applications.

Coursework specification:

A DIY tools manufacturer specialising the design and manufacture of various tools such as drills, screw drivers, etc. has just completed the construction of a new site which consists of three main buildings, namely an administrative building, a Research and Development (R&D) building, and a workshop. Specifically, the administrative building is the working place for senior management (Level 1), human resource department (Level 1), financial department (Level 1), IT department (Level 0) and sales & service department (Level 0). The R&D building involves design engineers who mainly work on chassis design using specialised CAD/CAM/CAE/CAPP applications (6 rooms in each level).

The company aims to construct the network system for these new buildings, which must support the network connection and the application of a range of information systems (e.g. its official website, customer relationship management system, and manufacturing resource planning systems) within the company. Figure 1 shows the locations of the buildings together with the number of computers to be used in each of them. Additionally, the company has a plan to construct a data centre in the R&D building. This data centre is used to manage all the data in the design, manufacturing, sales and management processes. Also this centre will be used to support the development and deployment of a website which supports interaction with customers with an expected 10000 visit a day.

You work for an IT consultancy and have just recently been approached by this company to produce a plan on the construction of the network system and the deployment of relevant information systems for the effective operation of this company. You are supposed to critically analyse the requirements of the company and write a report for the management board of the company to describe your plan. Your report must:

1. describe the details of design of the network system which is sufficient for the operation of this company using innovative technologies;

2. include a plan to suggest the information systems that should be deployed together with their objectives; on this basis, explain the hardware/software systems to be deployed and create an itemised equipment specifications and costs of your proposed plan;

3. describe the design for the website which is used to support interaction with customers;

4. detail the design of the data centre in particular the servers that will selected and how the requirements are addressed using the data centre;

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Submission requirements and marking criteria:

The report (with maximum 1500 words excluding appendices and words in figures/tables). The report will preferably start with an executive summary prior to the main body of the report and contain as appendices your summaries of charts and diagrams which are relevant to your recommendations. Please use the Harvard APA 6th edition as your reference format.

Administrative building (two levels, about 50 computers) 50 meters 120 meters Workshop (one level, less than 5 workstations) R&D building (three levels, about 80 computers) Figure 1: The locations of the buildings and the computers used in site 120 meters