The NDAS network system is finally in place and op... Bookmarked The NDAS network system is finally in place and operating. President Coone has assigned operational control of the network to the Information Services/Data Processing Division. He believes this is reasonable and justified because of the divisions data processing responsibilities and experience in operating data communications equipment. In addition, his nephew, Les Coone, is running that department and has expressed considerable interest in data communications. The Human Resources Division originally set up the telephone system, because- at the time- no one else was interested doing it. As a result, Human Resources, headed by Karen Lott, controls the voice and facsimile communication system for the company. One recurring problem is that two division heads disagree on which department should be responsible for dealing with common carriers. Each division believes it should be contact for dealing with the common carriers, and each thinks the other is stopping it from assuming its rightful place within the organization. Because of your excellent past performance, President Coone has asked you to study certain organizational issues pertaining to the control and operation of both voice and data communications. He wants you to analyze the operations of both division and propose a method for streamlining the organization and fixing the problem. This analysis should address the possibility of combining the voice and data communication responsibilities under a single manager. You may propose any reorganization that seems appropriate. Be sure to consider economies of scale when submitting any recommendations. President Coone reminds you that you were a staunch advocate of video conferencing. He wants you to include video and image transmission considerations in your analysis. You should also consider the type of individual that should manage this reorganization. Some of the factors to evaluate are the traits and characteristics needed for successful leadership, the ability to understand current systems, the ability to handle both data and voice networks, and the ability to analyze and manage future growth. The results of this evaluation will help determine whether such an individual exists within NDAS or whether the firm needs to hire someone from outside the organization. Another little problem occurred last week when NDAS experienced its first network line failure. President Coone had to ask Karen Lott to determine what failed on the circuit. After fiddling with the problem for an hour and a half, she finally called the server vendor, who then took 3 hours to get to the Tampa headquarters building. The good news is that the vendors maintenance employee swapped a new network card into the server and had it fixed in 15 minutes. Needless to say, President Coone was not happy! Exercises

1.If the responsibilities for managing communications were to be consolidated into a division, which one would you choose, and why? Base your answer on your knowledge of the communication management responsibilities exercised by both the Human Resources and Information Services Divisions.

2. Sketch out a simple network management system for NDAS. What software and hardware support would you recommend? Be sure you can justify the information items collected and reported for this system, as well as your software and hardware recommendations.