Major Projects
ICT Renewal
Funding required for this project £5,382
Report from Stuart McLelland our IT Advisor
Based on my analysis regarding the development of ICT at Cue and Review, I have identified a number of action areas that I would benefit from upgrading within the organisation:
Hardware
After assessing the current hardware I recommend that four of the desktops located within the Cue and Review office should be replaced, based on their age and lack of processing power. Additionally six other desktops are also at least four years old and therefore I would recommend replacing or upgrading these machines.
The number and quality of the printers in Cue and Review is not adequate for the organisation's needs, I would recommend purchasing an additional network printer so that all users would have access to them.
Network issues
The current network design of Cue and Review does not provide the organization with the appropriate functionality. There are times when the performance is severely degraded when information is being accessed from different PCs on the network and PCs are assessing the internet. This performance problem is based on the design of the current network.
The hub currently used to reroute network traffic broadcasts messages across the entire network instead of switching them directly to each machine. I would suggest the implementation of a server and network switch instead of the current hub and peer-to-peer network setup.
Client-server architecture would allow files to be stored and backed-up in a central location (through DVD-rewriter and tape deck), control the flow of traffic around the network and improve the security and management of the network.
The purchase of a server would improve security, performance by freeing up PC disk space and overcome the problem you currently experience of the ISP jumping due to changes in network traffic. The server would also allow users to create a dynamic index detailing the exact location and size of files without having to remember their location or writing them down on white boards.
Security and operating software
The firewall to safeguard the network has been disabled due to a conflict with the Internet radio station; this will have to be re-configured to ensure it is able to operate concurrently with the Internet radio station.
The PCs currently have a mixture of Windows XP and 98 installed on them; this is not a good practice. I recommend that all these be upgraded to Windows XP Professional, windows updates run and windows XP service pack 2 be installed on all machines.
Software and licenses
Licenses exist for upgrading the operating systems on the organisation's PCs to Microsoft Windows XP. However five licenses and a disk will have to be purchased to ensure that the newest version of Microsoft Office is installed on the new PCs
An analysis of the organization has highlighted that SAGE accounting software package should be purchased to allow the organization to do internal management accounts. The creation of internal management accounts would save the organization a significant amount of money in the long-term.
Email problems
Problems also exist regarding the fact that certain PCs can receive email but not send email, would lead me to believe that the SMTP property setup locally on the client??s machine is incorrect.
Based on our discussion it is my belief that IT could be more effectively utilized for external communication with tenants. Therefore it is necessary that all staff are comfortable in its usage and the processes are in place to deal with email enquires.
It was also highlighted that it would be beneficial that some form of shared calendar be implemented within the office to allow for staff to easily identify each other's whereabouts and improve planning of staff workloads. The management required to filter the email received into different mailboxes as well as that required for running shared calendars could be controlled with the implementation of the proposed server.
The figures on the following two pages; Figures A and B, highlight the existing ICT infrastructure at Cue and Review and the proposed infrastructure including hardware and network developments.
The major differences between Figure A and B are as follows:
Three desktop PCs are replaced
An additional Studio PC (4) is purchased
Laptop PC memory is upgraded
Remaining three studio PCs and two duplicator PCs memory are upgraded
New network printer implemented
New Server installed and configured
Operating system and office software upgraded to Windows XP/Office 2003
Network hub replaced with network switch
Firewall implemented to improve network security
Two monitors replaced with flat screens to save space
Sage software purchased for management accounts
