Assignment case study: HandMade Furniture Ltd.

Background information for assignment 1 and assignment 2.

An initial analysis has found the following:

1. It is a single site company with a factory and office on site.

a. There are 80 employees in total, 60 in the factory and 20 in the office.

b. Each office worker has their own PC. There is a mixture of Windows 7,
Windows 8 and Windows 10 computers installed, together with various
versions of Microsoft Office.

c. There are 8 PCs in the factory, all running Windows 7 and Microsoft Office
2010.

d. There is no central subscription to anti-virus software. Staff are left to do

this themselves.

2. The network is completely wired and they have not yet started to explore the use of
WiFi. If staff bring their own devices to work, they need to make their own provision
for Internet access (3G/ 4G etc.)

3. The network runs on a single Windows Server 2012 server. There is an additional
NAS (Network Attached Storage) storage device that will store up 10TB of data.
There is no formal backup plan; again staff (and individual teams) are expected to
manage their own data. Some do this better than others. For example, the design
team have their own NAS storage and additionally copy designs to backup DVD on
a weekly basis.

4. Internet access is provided through an ADSL account with a local Internet provider.
This gives a maximum of 10 Mbit/s of bandwidth. They have found that this is not
sufficient for their needs.

a. The company does not have a Web site.

b. There is a single email address for the company that the MD (Managing
Director) and her PA (Personal Assistant) have access to.

c. Other staff have set up ‘unofficial’ company emails for their requirements, for
example, the finance team have a shared email address with a Gmail
account that they use for ordering.

5. No single person has responsibility for managing the network. A previous office
manager (who has now left) had some IT experience and supported the network as
part of his job. There have been some serious incidents recently, most notably a
serious virus infection that was dealt with by bringing in a local IT technician to clean
a number of PCs.

6. The arrangements for printing are as follows:

a. There is a single inkjet printer in the factory shared between the factory
PCs. This printer is networked.
b. In the office, there is a high volume laser printer connected directly to one of
the admin support team’s PCs. This is connected via Windows printer
sharing to the other PCs in the admin team but no-one else has access (in
the past, if anyone else needed a large number of documents printing they
had to email it to a member of the support team).

c. The remainder of the office use 22 inkjet printers, from a variety of

manufacturers. Some of these are connected to individual PCs and some
are shared between workgroups.
Coursework 1

Assessment description:

Assessment Assessment Assessment limits: Assesses module

Component: weighting learning outcome/s:
1500-2500 words, excluding
1 ‘table of contents’ and
references.

Title: Network Management Justification

You are a self-employed Network Consultant and you have been approached by a small furniture
manufacturer (Handmade Furniture Ltd.) to examine their network.

Your initial findings have determined that the network is currently working within acceptable parameters,
but you can see that there will be problems in the future unless they implement some additional
infrastructure and a management plan in the very near future.

Based on their past experiences, your client has also determined that the current arrangements for
supporting their IT systems are not suitable. They have asked you to additionally consider how they
can best support their IT function moving into the future. They understand that there are two basic
approaches:

• Completely outsource all IT support.

• Employ their own IT support staff and completely manage and maintain IT support in-house.

They are unsure which approach is most suitable (or whether there are alternatives) and are asking
for your advice. Part of this report will ask you to suggest and evaluate appropriate IT support options.

The Managing Director has asked you to produce a briefing paper to be presented to the Board.

This should be written as a fully referenced formal report, written in academic style. The purpose of
this paper is to:

• Justify why the company should implement a network management plan.

• Describe and explain elements of a network management plan suitable for this organisation.

• Explain and justify options for improving IT support.

Your report MUST include the following sections:

• Introduction and terms of reference.

• Justification of network management plan.

• Suggested elements of network management plan and a detailed description of why these are
appropriate.

• Options for IT support (minimum of two options, maximum of three).

• Conclusion and recommendations.

NOTE: For this assignment, you are being asked to justify, then describe and explain, the network
management plan. Note also, that for the next assignment, you are required to expand on this, and (in
Assignment 2) actually produce the plan. Hence, it may be beneficial to read Assignment Part 2 NOW!

Report Structure
Subject Element Weighting

Introduction and terms of reference 10%

Network management plan justification 30%

described in detail

Elements of a network management plan 30%

described in detail

IT Support options 20%

Conclusion and recommendations 10%

Marking scheme
This report will be marked against four distinct criteria:

1. Subject Matter Knowledge: This aspect covers the depth, clarity and quality of your technical
explanations – which can be drawn from the material in this unit but should be expressed in your own
words and using your own examples. Only students showing clear and strong evidence of going beyond
the unit materials will get very high marks (see next criterion). The inclusion of good-quality, well-
annotated diagrams to support your technical narrative will gain bonus marks. (25 Marks)

2. Critical Analysis: This aspect covers the level to which you go beyond simple explanation (‘what it
does’ issues) and move into evaluation and analysis (‘why/why not and when to use’ issues). Higher
marks will be awarded for detailed insights into the strengths and weaknesses of each technique, plus
comments upon the most suitable situations in which to apply these techniques (and conversely
situations in which particular techniques should not be used). (30 Marks)

3. Evidence of wider reading/Research: This aspect covers the amount, range and quality of wider
reading - as evidenced by the citations and references - plus your summary and evaluation of how that
new-found knowledge aligns with (or maybe contradicts) the ideas presented in this unit. The quality of
Harvard referencing will also be a factor. In order to gain a good mark, try and go beyond simple web
searches. It is fine to use (good-quality) websites but also incorporate high-quality textbooks and more
academic sources such as journal articles and conference papers. Seek advice from the library if
needed. Also obtain a guide to Harvard referencing. (25 Marks)

4. Coherence: This means that the ideas presented in the reports are smoothly joined together
and the whole report looks like a one coherent document. (10 Marks)

5. Presentation and Writing: This aspect covers issues such as the general quality of writing and
spelling, good presentation, neat layout, inclusion of quality diagrams, tables and other non-text
items plus evidence of a logical flow and overall coherence. (10 Marks)
Coursework 2

Assessment Undertake research into selected topic

description
:
Assessment Assessment Assessment Assesses module
Componen weighting: limits: learning
t: outcome/s:
2 70% 3000- 3500 words, 2&3
excluding ‘table of
contents’ and
references.

Last submission Date/Time: Provisional feedback released:

time

Please note the above word count limit only applies to Part 1.

Coursework 2: Component-1
Weighting: 80% of the available marks for coursework 2.

Title: Devising a Network Management Plan and Security Plan for HandMade Furniture Ltd.

Assignment

This assignment requires you to create a network management plan and a security plan for
HandMade Furniture Ltd. that will include both local and cloud-based services.

This is based on the same company case study that you used for assignment 1, but with the following
additional information:

• A decision has been made to upgrade the company Internet connection. Your advice will be
appreciated on how this should be done.

• The company have decided to upgrade all PCs to the latest versions of Microsoft Office and
Windows.

• Email addresses will be provided for all staff via a cloud provider (such as Google Apps for
Business or Microsoft Office 365).

• WiFi will be added to the network and team leaders in the factory will be issued with a WiFi
enabled laptop.

• Staff will be able to bring their own devices to work and connect to the work WiFi network.
Advice on how to do this will be appreciated.
• The company are considering moving away from individual printers to networked ‘pull’ printing.
They would appreciate your advice on the implications of this.

• The company has decided to move their accounting and stock control systems to a cloud based
service, managed and maintained by another company. The provider has a good international
reputation, however the board would appreciate your advice on this.
Again, the managing director has asked you to produce a briefing paper for the board that
addresses the following issues:

The purpose of this paper is to:

• Produce a detailed, company-specific network management plan based on your

advice in the earlier paper.

• Produce and justify a detailed, company-specific network security plan for the
organisation. This should address threats to network security, indicate how these can
be mitigated and what steps can be taken to recover from serious incidents.

• Discuss a range of different approaches to IT support,

Your report MUST include the following sections:

• Introduction and terms of reference.

• A detailed, company-specific network management plan.

• A detailed, company-specific network security plan, with costing implications.

• Conclusions, recommendations and further advice.

This should be written as a fully referenced formal report.

University of Derby Online Learning

Report Guidance

Your work should focus specifically on the assignment question and not divert from that question
/ case study.

The report should be well structured (see section titles above). It should be professionally presented,
and the use of fonts must be consistent and professional. The report should have a table of contents,
page numbers, and be properly structured.

All diagrams, figures and tables must be labelled (e.g. Figure 1, Table 1, etc.). If not self-
produced, these must have an appropriate citation to the source.

No hand-drawn diagrams or tables.

Accuracy in spelling, punctuation and grammar are very important. Errors in these areas make it
more difficult to convey your ideas. You will lose marks for mistakes.
The use of direct quotes is very strongly discouraged; it is always better to write in your own
words, citing the source in the normal way.
Provide evidence of good background research. You can demonstrate (if appropriate to the
assignment) that you have found adequate sources of material.
Where you have found relevant and
suitable sources, you should reference them properly and consistently using a recognised
referencing system, such as the Harvard system.

Cutting and pasting of text from any other source (with or without citation) will generally lead to
very low marks, and may constitute an academic offence.
Repeating back only what has been provided in the course materials will lead to lower marks.
A significant amount of reading / research is expected at this level.

Marking Scheme
Subject Element Weighting

Introduction and terms of reference 10%

Network management plan 35%

Network security plan 35%

Costing implications 10%

Conclusion and recommendations 10%