In the choice of a gaming company as a Case Study where its business is developing and running games, students should realise that IT Operations does not refer to the gaming part of the company. Just like if the company made and sold wooden furniture, the construction of the furniture would be OUTSIDE the scope of IT Operations for that company.

You should create a folder for Under Milkwood, which will be added to each week. You should update this folder with summary lists produced in the class. The material in the folder will be used in subsequent tuts, please bring it to all tutorials. You will have to take notes through the tutorial group work, basically copying for yourself what the group does.

Introduction

Under Milkwood Pty Ltd is a large computer gaming company with approximately $100$ computer games either on the market or being maintained. It also supports $30$ online games. Under Milkwood currently has $15$ games under development directly, as well as $10$ it has outsourced. The company employs approximately $400$ people. Nancy Thomas is the current CEO.

Products

The company writes games compatible with all major platforms. The games range from action games for pre$-$teens to First Person Shooters and a range of Real Time Strategy games. Ten of the games online are persistent role playing games and Under Milkwood hosts a $$BattleNet$$ type service. Games are sold directly, through distributors and over the Internet. Under Milkwood also provides a Website for upgrades, patches etc. for their customers. Under Milkwood tries to stay close to its customer base, one of the reasons for its success.

Divisions

Below is a non$-$exhaustive list of some of the core business divisions of Under Milkwood for a first overview. Some sections are missing at this stage.

Administration $($inc Finance, Purchasing, HR$,$ etc$)$

Marketing

Sales $($Direct and Indirect, Web Sales$)$

IT Operations

Production

Company Website

Software UpLoads

Individual Games Sites

Delivery channels

$........$

HR

$.......$

Hardware Research & Development

Graphics

Platforms

$........$

Software Research & Development

Operating Systems

Game Engines

$..........$

Game Development

$..........$

Games Production Support

$..........$

$($Note: $......$ indicates missing sections$)$

Selected key company data

Operating Systems

tbd in tutorial

Desktops $/$ Mobile devices

tbd in tutorial

Servers

tbd in tutorial

Networks

tbd in tutorial

$($Note: There is no predefined production baseline$)$

Online Gaming Customers

$15,000$

Total Products Sold last year

$5$ million

Staff

IT R & D $/$ Development: $150$

IT Operations: $50$

Administration: $40$

Marketing: $70($includes CSR$)$

Sales: $50$

$.........$

Finance $($last financial year$)$

Turnover: $$275$ million

Profit: $$55$ million

Debt: $$150$ million

Share Price: $$3$:$50$

Define acceptance criteria, and storage management, requirements, accountability and skills. This must be consistent with your org chart, baseline and competency matrix