Author: chris

Ethical behavior is an important part of a companys culture. Can you enhance it by using IT? Discuss

Project Deliverable 4: Infrastructure and Security

Due Week 8 and worth 150 points

This assignment consists of two (2) sections: an infrastructure document and a revised Gantt chart or project plan. You must submit both sections as separate files for the completion of this assignment. Label each file name according to the section of the assignment for which it is written. Additionally, you may create and / or assume all necessary assumptions needed for the completion of this assignment.

The last section of the project plan will present the infrastructure in accordance with the parameters set forth at the outset of the project. The network solution that is chosen should support the conceived information system and allow for scalability. The network infrastructure will support organizational operations; therefore, a pictorial view of workstations, servers, routers, bridges, gateways, and access points should be used. In addition, access paths for Internet access should be depicted. A narrative should be included to explain all the nodes of the network and the rationale for the design. Lastly, using the Confidentiality, Integrity and Availability (CIA) Triangle, define the organizational security policy. CIA is a widely used benchmark for evaluation of information systems security.

Section 1: Infrastructure Document

1. Write a five to ten (5-10) page infrastructure document in which you:

a. Design a logical and physical topographical layout of the planned network through the use of graphical tools in Microsoft Word or Visio, or an open source alternative such as Dia. Note: The graphically depicted solution is not included in the required page length.

b. Illustrate the possible placement of servers including access paths to the Internet and firewalls. Note: Facility limitations, workstations, printers, routers, switches, bridges and access points should be considered in the illustration.

c. Explain the rationale for the logical and physical topographical layout of the planned network.

d. Create a comprehensive security policy for the company that will:

i. Protect the company infrastructure and assets by applying the principals of CIA. Note: CIA is a widely used benchmark for evaluation of information systems security, focusing on the three core goals of confidentiality, integrity and availability of information.

ii. Address ethical aspects related to employee behavior, contractors, password usage, and access to networked resources and information.

Your assignment must follow these formatting requirements:

Be typed, double spaced, using Times New Roman font (size 12), with one-inch margins on all sides; citations and references must follow APA or school-specific format. Check with your professor for any additional instructions.
Include a cover page containing the title of the assignment, the students name, the professors name, the course title, and the date. The cover page and the reference page are not included in the required assignment page length.
Include charts or diagrams created in MS Visio or Dia as an appendix of the infrastructure document. All references to these diagrams must be included in the body of the infrastructure document.

Section 2: Revised Gantt Chart / Project Plan

Use Microsoft Project or an open source alternative, such as Open Project, to:

2. Update the Gantt chart or project plan (summary and detail) template, from Project Deliverable 3: Database and Programming Design, with all the project tasks.

The specific course learning outcomes associated with this assignment are:

Demonstrate an understanding of existing and emerging information technologies and strategic impact on organizational operations.
Evaluate the issues and challenges associated with information technology integration.
Evaluate the ethical concerns that information technology solve or present in a global context.
Use technology and information resources to research issues in information technology.
Write clearly and concisely about strategic issues and practices in the information technology domain using proper writing mechanics and technical style conventions.

Project description
Biometric authentication standards – do they exist or not?… are they enforced …are they strong enough to instil confidence in Biometric Authentication mechanisms? Discuss and articulate your opinion backed up by research. Ensure you scrutinize literature and internet to identify what NIST and ISO are doing in this respect.

Some links that may be of interest:
http://www.nist.gov/itl/iad/ig/biometric_standards.cfm

http://www.nist.gov/itl/iad/ig/ansi_standard.cfm

The project concept is to establish innovative vertical residential housing development in the Bahrain kingdom and to serve as examples of housing units,through three main objectives, namely: vertical housing, sustainable architecture and attractive facilities affordable cost. The project is a milestone which highlights the importance to transfer the housing projects from horizontal houses-to vertical apartments-,and in the same time, acts as a possible example of how fascinated and attracted apartment compound can be.The two housing units, 2 BDR and 3 BDR apartments, would be designed into a residential compound to host a combination of:-Two types of apartments (120-130 m2 and 160-180 m2) with a minimum number of 381 units.Each apartment is within a capital cost of 60000 Bahraini Dinar. -Sustainable principle sand Green building rules-i.e. passive and active solutions-,and-Facilities and attractions to encourage inhabitants to move into this residential compound.

Based on that, I need to have:

1- Zoning for the facilities and their places, such as parks and building and other facilities
2- Master Plan for one of the flats.
3- concept for the project, reasons why i built it that way, or an idea for the whole project.
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** you should use autocad ***

The main point of the project is exporting the Canadian Maple Syrup from the Canadian local market to Saudi Arabia market considering the following instructions :

The group project is expected to be written in a style that is appropriate for a university essay assignment, not more than 10 pages (excluding references, relevant tabulations, appendices etc.), single spaced, font Times New Roman size 12 and it must not consist bullet-point lists. The written report of group project should include five main parts:

(1) Introduction,

(2) Business opportunities of chosen product in the selected market

(3) Challenges to reap advantages from the above mentioned opportunities

(4) Strategies to overcome the above mentioned challenges to reap business opportunities

(5) Conclusion.

In the Introduction section you are expected to explain the purpose and objectives as well as the roadmap (i.e. what are the main points) of the paper. If a position is expected to be taken that should also be included in the introduction section. In the body of the written report you are expected to cover the main points of your discussions (opportunities, challenges and strategies of management process ) in a logical, concise and comprehensive way. In the conclusion section you are expected to summarize the key findings of your analysis. It is expected that you use proper format for quotations and referencing. In addition the written report should be free of errors in spelling and punctuation.
As regards to the referencing and bibliography are concerned Harvard or APA referencing systems are the preferred. The written report should include a concise executive summary and table of contents. Please include reasonable amount of diagrams, and tables (which may also be included in an Appendix

Note: the references (sources) you will be using for this project has to be new and accurate.

Where have all the good people gone?

Gayle, the Human Resources Manager, was ecstatic. She had just joined CALLUS as the HR Manager for their large call centre in Vancouver, British Columbia. The call centre had 1000 employees. As soon as she arrived her new team was eager to meet with her. But Gayle soon realized there was a problem. The turnover in the call centre, that being the number of people who were quitting their jobs, was 15%. This meant that 150 positions needed to be hired each year just to fill the position vacated by resignations. In addition, the CALLUS executive had plans to increase the size of the call centre by 200 people this year. This meant that call centre HR team Gayle was leading would have to hire approximately 30 people per month, every month, for the next year.
When Gayle met with Sandra and Dave, the two call-centre recruiters on the team, they quickly announced that the big challenge faced by the team was that they had exhausted the pool of good available call centre staff. The call centre was located in Burnaby, BC, just outside of Vancouver. Call centre staff typically came from Burnaby or Vancouver, and some came from Surrey. When Gayle asked for further explanation of the challenge, staff outlined that as a result of continually hiring call centre staff over the last number of years, they had exhausted the available applicants and this was affecting the quality of hires.
Most recently they hired a class of 30 employees to start together and participate in the rigorous 3-week training that all new hires underwent. Of this class of 30 hires, 2 did not show up on their 1st day of training, 5 had quit after 2 days, and 5 more had quit by the end of the training, leaving 18 of 30 workers. Furthermore, managers who had led the training provided feedback that they had concerns about the potential for success of many of these 18 remaining hires.
Gayle resolved that they needed to figure out and resolve this problem quickly or else they would fall far behind on their staffing plan. Recognizing that Vancouver, Burnaby, and Surrey have a combined population of 1.5 million people, it seemed odd to Gayle that they could not hire 30 good people each month. When she asked Sandra what the problem was, her assessment was that call centre jobs were not considered good jobs, so good people were not applying. Sandra thought the problem was poor salary and working conditions, so the jobs were only attractive to a small portion of the population. Sandra suggested we increase the wages paid to call centre workers and make the environment more inviting. Then, they could market these benefits and get more and better applicants.
When Gayle asked Dave, Dave thought the issue at hand was that they were not marketing the positions to the right people. Dave thought that they needed to analyze which on-line job sites the positions should be advertised on in order to get the right applicants for the jobs. Dave also suggested that there still was much uncertainty with regards to the profile of the ideal candidate. In the past, the assumption was always that call centre workers would be young people using this position as an entry into CALLUS. However, more and more the call centre was hiring older workers including single parents or retirees, and the company’s recruitment messaging and strategy was still focussed on young workers.
Something was still missing for Gayle, so she asked Sandra to run a recruitment pipeline report for the entry-level call centre position. This report summarized the number of applicants, those interviewed, and those offered for the most recent group of hires. The data was as follows:
Applicants: 1,067
Candidates interviewed: 45
Offers: 32
Accepts: 30

Something was not right. Surely out of the 1067 applicants there had to be more than just 45 people worthy of being interviewed. When Gayle asked Sandra about this, she responded that the 1067 applicants were not just for this group of hires, but was the pool of all applicants for this position over the last 2 years. For the most part, the pool of applicants was exhausted. Of these applicants, only 100 had applied within the last month. Gayle could see that she had a real problem on her hands. Why were so few applicants applying to this position?

While she appreciated what Sandra and Dave had identified as the key issues, neither raising wages and nor changing working conditions was going to be possible in the near-future. The issue of marketing the positions needed further investigation. What Gayle realized was that the jobs were being posted automatically on the CALLUS website, as well as Workopolis and Monster, two large general-purpose job boards. Something was not right. Why weren’t people applying? Gayle then went onto these job boards to see the CALLUS job postings. While they could be refreshed, the content should attract candidates. She then clicked on the “apply here” button, and realized the problem. The “apply here” button was not linked to the CALLUS application system. Applications were going somewhere else. As such, the only applications being received were from candidates who on their own went to the CALLUS website and applied. When Gayle asked Sandra about this, Sandra said she thought the applications went directly into the CALLUS system. Gayle asked Sandra to contact Monster and Workopolis to fix the link. That was on Friday Morning.
On Monday morning Gayle and the recruitment team had a new problem. On Friday the applicant pool was 1067. On Monday the applicant pool was 1389. 322 applications had come in over the week-end. Gayle called an emergency meeting to discuss the matter. She outlined that this was going to be a working session, and asked Sandra and Dave to print and bring the resumes for all of the applications received over the week-end. It was time to see if they were back in the recruiting business.
They went through the resumes one by one. What became apparent was that many of the candidates were not eligible to work in Canada. Additionally, based on the experience outlined on people’s application, it would appear that applicants were still almost entirely young adults, and that an older demographic was not applying to the posting. However, the first screening of applications revealed that at least 100 applicant were suitable candidates. If this pattern continued, they would have to refine the application process to get the best people applying, and find a way to reduce the number of unqualified resumes being looked at by recruiters.
It was also apparent that changes may be needed in interviewing and selecting candidates. In the previous recruitment cycle, only 45 people were interviewed, largely based on those being the only suitable candidates. If the call centre now has far more suitable candidates, they may need to increase the number of telephone interviews done to help pre-select only the ideal candidates for in-person interviews. Alternately, there might be a need for more in-person interviews, and so additional managers may be needed to conduct interview.
Also, if there are more people being interviewed, they may need to put a more rigorous interview process in place to help compare candidates in order to hire the best applicants. The interview process up to this point was essentially an informal unstructured interview, where managers were selection candidates on “gut feel” as to whether they could do the job and would “fit in”. Gayle had come from an organization that employed a Behavioural-Based Structured Interview, which was far more rigorous. But could all these managers and recruiters be trained? Gayle and her team were going to be busy.

Questions
Based on the challenges CALLUS is having in getting a demographic mix of young people and older workers to apply, what recommendations would you make to improve the attraction and selection of a more diverse talent pool?
Assuming that CALLUS has the challenge of identifying quality candidates from a large pool of applicants, how do you recommend that CALLUS adjust their selection practices?
As Sandra and Dave’s manager, do you foresee any need for them to adjust their work to reflect the new reality of a larger applicant pool? What will you suggest?
If CALLUS wants to move away from selecting candidates based on “gut feel” to selecting best candidates for the job, what would you suggest as a way to (a) identify the ideal candidate profile, and (b) most effectively identify and select top candidates?

Ben Davis had just completed an intensive course in Statistical Thinking for Business Improvement, which was offered to all employees of a large health maintenance organization. There was no time to celebrate, however, because he was already under a lot of pressure. Ben works as a pharmacist’s assistant in the HMO’s pharmacy, and his manager, Juan de Pacotilla, was about to be fired. Juan’s dismissal appeared to be imminent due to numerous complaints and even a few lawsuits over inaccurate prescriptions. Juan now was asking Ben for his assistance in trying to resolve the problem, preferably yesterday!

“Ben, I really need your help! If I can’t show some major improvement or at least a solid plan by next month, I’m history.”

“I’ll be glad to help, Juan, but what can I do? I’m just a pharmacist’s assistant.”

“I don’t care what your job title is; I think you’re just the person who can get this done. I realize I’ve been too far removed from day-to-day operations in the pharmacy, but you work there every day. You’re in a much better position to find out how to fix the problem. Just tell me what to do, and I’ll do it.”

“But what about the statistical consultant you hired to analyze the data on inaccurate prescriptions?”

“Ben, to be honest, I’m really disappointed with that guy. He has spent two weeks trying to come up with a new modeling approach to predict weekly inaccurate prescriptions. I tried to explain to him that I don’t want to predict the mistakes, I want to eliminate them! I don’t think I got through, however, because he said we need a month of additional data to verify the model, and then he can apply a new method he just read about in a journal to identify ‘change points in the time series,’ whatever that means. But get this, he will only identify the change points and send me a list; he says it’s my job to figure out what they mean and how to respond. I don’t know much about statistics — the only thing I remember from my course in college is that it was the worst course I ever took– but I’m becoming convinced that it actually doesn’t have much to offer in solving real problems. You’ve just gone through this statistical thinking course, though, so maybe you can see something I can’t. To me, statistical thinking sounds like an oxymoron. I realize it’s a long shot, but I was hoping you could use this as the project you need to officially complete the course.”

“I see your point, Juan. I felt the same way, too. This course was interesting, though, because it didn’t focus on crunching numbers. I have some ideas about how we can approach making improvements in prescription accuracy, and I think this would be a great project. We may not be able to solve it ourselves, however. As you know, there is a lot of finger-pointing going on; the pharmacists blame sloppy handwriting and incomplete instructions from doctors for the problem; doctors blame pharmacy assistants like me who actually do most of the computer entry of the prescriptions, claiming that we are incompetent; and the assistants tend to blame the pharmacists for assuming too much about our knowledge of medical terminology, brand names, known drug interactions, and so on.”

“It sounds like there’s no hope, Ben!”

“I wouldn’t say that at all, Juan. It’s just that there may be no quick fix we can do by ourselves in the pharmacy. Let me explain how I’m thinking about this and how I would propose attacking the problem using what I just learned in the statistical thinking course.”

Source: G. C. Britz, D. W. Emerling, L. B. Hare, R. W. Hoerl, & J. E. Shade. “How to Teach Others to Apply Statistical Thinking.” Quality Progress (June 1997): 67–80.

Assuming the role of Ben Davis, write a three to four (3-4) page paper in which you apply the approach discussed in the textbook to this problem. You’ll have to make some assumptions about the processes used by the HMO pharmacy. Also, please use the Internet and / or Strayer LRC to research articles on common problems or errors that pharmacies face. Your paper should address the following points:

1. Develop a process map about the prescription filling process for HMO’s pharmacy, in which you specify the key problems that the HMO’s pharmacy might be experiencing. Next, use the supplier, input, process steps, output, and customer (SIPOC) model to analyze the HMO pharmacy’s business process.
2. Analyze the process map and SIPOC model to identify possible main root causes of the problems. Next, categorize whether the main root causes of the problem are special causes or common causes. Provide a rationale for your response.
3. Suggest the main tools that you would use and the data that you would collect in order to analyze the business process and correct the problem. Justify your response.
4. Propose one (1) solution to the HMO pharmacy’s on-going problem(s) and propose one (1) strategy to measure the aforementioned solution. Provide a rationale for your response.
5. Use at least two (2) quality references. Note: Wikipedia and other Websites do not qualify as academic resources.

Your assignment must follow these formatting requirements:

• Be typed, double spaced, using Times New Roman font (size 12), with one-inch margins on all sides; citations and references must follow APA format. Check with your professor for any additional instructions.
• Include a cover page containing the title of the assignment, the student’s name, the professor’s name, the course title, and the date. The cover page and the reference page are not included in the required assignment page length.

The specific course learning outcomes associated with this assignment are:

• Describe how organizations use statistical thinking to be more competitive.
• Apply the basic principles of statistical thinking to business processes.
• Apply the SIPOC model to identify OFIs in business processes.
• Use technology and information resources to research issues in business process improvement.
• Write clearly and concisely about business process improvement using proper writing mechanics.

Team research project:
All students will participate in a research project and electronic presentation of a topic related to the course. There are three main purposes of the student research project:
To have each student investigate in some depth an area of the telecommunications field that is not covered or is only lightly in the course.
To develop communication, collaboration and presentation skills in an electronic setting.
Follow the steps given below:

Each student will select a different topic to investigate which deals with some aspect of telecommunications. Avoid selecting a topic that is too broad in scope.

Identify creditable research sources for your topic.  These may include trade journals, professional journals, textbooks other than the course text, trade shows, Web sites, interviews (by phone or in person) with experts, and field trips.  Remember, Wikipedia or similar sources should not be used in a research project.

Do your research and organize your findings to focus on the main points and trends concerning your research area.  Create an outline of the key areas that will be included in the presentation.

Create a PowerPoint presentation of between 15-25 slides using APA style formatting.
TASK 1:
Select a topic to investigate which deals with some aspect of telecommunications. Avoid selecting a topic that is too broad in scope. Submit a one page description of the chosen topic, the focus of the topic and the reason why this particular telecommunications topic was chosen.
Your submission should be a Word document, double spaced, and in 12-point Times New Roman font.
Task 2:
Identify creditable research sources for your topic. These may include trade journals, professional journals, textbooks other than the course text, trade shows, Web sites, interviews (by phone or in person) with experts, and field trips. Remember, Wikipedia or similar sources should not be used in a research project.
Do your research and organize your findings to focus on the main points and trends concerning your research area. Create a two page outline of the key areas that will be included in the presentation. The outline should also include a list of preliminary references, APA formatted, which will be used in researching the topic. Submit the project outline.
Your submission should be in a Word document, double spaced, and in 12-point Times New Roman font.

Task 3:
Create a PowerPoint presentation with a minimum of 15 slides using APA style formatting and submit the final product.

:: Reflective journal.
the individual student will reflect back on the activities conducted in class as follows:
*try to mention at least 2 of the following:*
Kims game
Marshmallow challenge
Belbin teams role ( linked this to your role within the groups formed for the various exercises)
Personality assessment
Strengths and weakness
Work turn on and offs
*you can say that I’m the one who gave the idea for the marshmallow challenge and I convinced the group to do it and we were the 1st group to finish with one of the highest marshmallow*

A little about me that should help you with this:
I’m a Student from Kuwait who came to study in Ireland. I was studying electrical engineering but I didn’t like it so I changed my major to study film as photography was my hobby. I like it in Ireland but I miss my home and my family.

Some points you may want to consider whilst writing your reflection (these points are guidelines only)

What was the exercise brief (did I understand the instructions if not, why didn’t I?) what did you think the purpose of the exercise was?
How did I preform in the team, was my Belbin assessment correct (what do you mean here – do you mean does the student agree with the assessment? )Am I actually a team player, am I a leader or follower, did I sit back and let others do the work
What did I learn about myself during this exercise? What do I need to change and what’s my plan to do so
How will what I learnt change
the individual student will reflect back on the activities conducted in class as follows:
*try to mention at least 2 of the following:*
Kims game
Marshmallow challenge
Belbin teams role ( linked this to your role within the groups formed for the various exercises)
Personality assessment
Strengths and weakness
Work turn on and offs
*you can say that I’m the one who gave the idea for the marshmallow challenge and I convinced the group to do it and we were the 1st group to finish with one of the highest marshmallow*

A little about me that should help you with this:
I’m a Student from Kuwait who came to study in Ireland. I was studying electrical engineering but I didn’t like it so I changed my major to study film as photography was my hobby. I like it in Ireland but I miss my home and my family.

Some points you may want to consider whilst writing your reflection (these points are guidelines only)

What was the exercise brief (did I understand the instructions if not, why didn’t I?) what did you think the purpose of the exercise was?
How did I preform in the team, was my Belbin assessment correct (what do you mean here – do you mean does the student agree with the assessment? )Am I actually a team player, am I a leader or follower, did I sit back and let others do the work
What did I learn about myself during this exercise? What do I need to change and what’s my plan to do so
How will what I learnt change

One-Way Analysis of Variance with SPSS
As you work through this SPSS exercise, consider the application of the one-way ANOVA test to your research topic. Is it an appropriate test for your research?
To prepare for this Application:
Review Lessons 25 and 27 in the course text Using SPSS for Windows and Macintosh: Analyzing and Understanding Data.
Read the ANOVA/MANOVA section of the StatSoft Electronic Textbook at http://www.statsoft.com/textbook/.
Access the gss04student_corrected dataset in the Course Information area of the classroom to use for this Application
The assignment:
My Research project is: The impact of Abdominoplasty Psychosocially on female obese patients age 35-50.
Craft up to a one page double-spaced write up of the statistical results (include any additional pages needed for any APA tables or graphs and the SPSS syntax and output) in which you do the following:
State the statistical assumptions of this test.
Select an independent variable with three or more levels and a dependent variable.
Develop the null hypothesis and the alternative hypothesis for main effects.
Using SPSS, calculate an ANOVA. Include a post hoc test.
Report on the p value and the confidence interval.
Interpret the confidence interval.
Decide whether to reject or retain the null hypothesis based on main effects and/or post-hoc statistical tests.
Generate syntax and output files in SPSS. You will need to copy and paste these into your Application document.
Based on your SPSS analysis, report the results using correct APA format. Include results for post hoc tests where appropriate. Your report should include the following:
SPSS syntax and output files
ANOVA table