IT Operations PLAN C927 WGU- Mark NCP2
TASK 1.
IT Operations Plan TreasureChest
A. Current Environment Analysis
SaaS Operation:
TreasureChest is a SaaS Treasury Company with offices across multiple cities. TreasureChest has over
3000 customers divided into 70% small, 25% medium, and 5% large. TreasureChest finance is based on
the subscriptions and the provision of ProServices. TreasureChest hosts its systems in 4 locations Paris,
London, San Diego, and New York. TreasureChest operates a hybrid environment of co-located data
centers and web services. With the current SaaS infrastructure, it's becoming difficult to expand and
grow in the number of clients that can be onboarded to the organization.
Hardware:
TreasureChest is 15 years old organization and based on the case study has not had a hardware
refresh in a long time. The hardware is hosted in Equinix Systems data center not owned by
TreasureChest.
TreasureChest owns all the hardware that's been used by the organization from the datacenter.
Besides the shared data center, TreasureChest has mini data centers in the various offices with Paris
mini data center hosting the ERP, email, and messaging system. The outdated hardware needs to be
upgraded alternative needed to be established to accommodate the current company growth.
Operating Systems:
Based on the study document TreasureChest is primary a windows-based platform running Windows
XP and Server 2003 on user computers and Servers. Though the current operating system for the
user’s systems and servers are operationally acceptable it does not help in the growth and
development of the organization.
Networks:
TreasureChest has multiple network architecture as it's hosts mini data centers in various office
locations as well as the data center been managed by Equinix Systems. Looking at the age of
TreasureChest, the network is also outdated with Cat5 wiring and between 10 - 100MB data speed. The
sustainability and network monitoring are been managed by OnOnes Limited which is a direct
competition to TreasureChest. With TreasureChest based in France because there are multiple
restrictions on labor, it's difficult to maintain the 99.99% uptime.
Software:
The case study for TreasureChest shows that the first software was developed and launched in 2007
and had not received any major facelift or upgrade. The makes it difficult to handle the current
company development strategy and competition. Each department is functioning as a silo with
different software been used. Sales and marketing choosing salesforce with different instances of
HTML5 and force.com which makes it difficult for both applications to be merged or cross data sharing.
NCP2
, Database:
TreasureChest database is run on a Microsoft SQL which runs on a Microsoft Server. Based on
TreasureChest case study, the database is duplicated in the various sites of the company which opens
the way for duplicate data, multiple data versions, and inconsistent customer data entry. Which the key
role the database plays in the SaaS environment, it's important to have consistency across the
organization.
B. Strategic Goal: Enhance product for larger customers
IT Operations Goals: (Write three IT operational goals that you will develop to support the chosen
strategic goal)
1) Have a simplified automated process of onboarding customers. This will reduce the overall
involvement of staff and improve the onboarding time, in turn, increasing customer satisfaction.
2) To sustain the availability, reliability, and elasticity of our product to accommodate the current growth
pattern of TreasureChest, all systems and applications need to be hosted on the cloud with multiple
redundancies. With the systems been on the cloud, TreasureChest will have the ability to scale up as
demand increases and maintain an uptime of %99.9999
3) Implement a company structure that will include sales representatives, coordinators, and
implementation teams. The implementation team will be responsible for deploying the various
modules presented by the development team. With the help of the development team, TreasureChest
can easily fix identified bugs and the implementation team will equally be on hand to implement the
new fixes provided.
C. Strategic Goal: Improve and upgrade the business system software
IT Operations Goals: (Write three IT operational goals that you will develop to support the chosen
strategic goal)
1) Migrate the organization from the current ERP system to a more enterprise one like the Oracle
OWS which will integrate all departments Sales and Marketing, Customer Relations Department, I.T,
Human Resource Department, and all other departments of the organization. This will provide one
source of information and prevent the departmental silo.
2) Onboard a new CRM system that will integrate with the TreasureChest database and ERP system. The
new CRM system should come with a customer ticketing system to manage the external and internal
incidents and requests.
3) Migrating the email systems, messaging system and ERP and other systems managed by the
organization to the cloud will be the best option if this removes the multiple data centers in the various
TASK 1.
IT Operations Plan TreasureChest
A. Current Environment Analysis
SaaS Operation:
TreasureChest is a SaaS Treasury Company with offices across multiple cities. TreasureChest has over
3000 customers divided into 70% small, 25% medium, and 5% large. TreasureChest finance is based on
the subscriptions and the provision of ProServices. TreasureChest hosts its systems in 4 locations Paris,
London, San Diego, and New York. TreasureChest operates a hybrid environment of co-located data
centers and web services. With the current SaaS infrastructure, it's becoming difficult to expand and
grow in the number of clients that can be onboarded to the organization.
Hardware:
TreasureChest is 15 years old organization and based on the case study has not had a hardware
refresh in a long time. The hardware is hosted in Equinix Systems data center not owned by
TreasureChest.
TreasureChest owns all the hardware that's been used by the organization from the datacenter.
Besides the shared data center, TreasureChest has mini data centers in the various offices with Paris
mini data center hosting the ERP, email, and messaging system. The outdated hardware needs to be
upgraded alternative needed to be established to accommodate the current company growth.
Operating Systems:
Based on the study document TreasureChest is primary a windows-based platform running Windows
XP and Server 2003 on user computers and Servers. Though the current operating system for the
user’s systems and servers are operationally acceptable it does not help in the growth and
development of the organization.
Networks:
TreasureChest has multiple network architecture as it's hosts mini data centers in various office
locations as well as the data center been managed by Equinix Systems. Looking at the age of
TreasureChest, the network is also outdated with Cat5 wiring and between 10 - 100MB data speed. The
sustainability and network monitoring are been managed by OnOnes Limited which is a direct
competition to TreasureChest. With TreasureChest based in France because there are multiple
restrictions on labor, it's difficult to maintain the 99.99% uptime.
Software:
The case study for TreasureChest shows that the first software was developed and launched in 2007
and had not received any major facelift or upgrade. The makes it difficult to handle the current
company development strategy and competition. Each department is functioning as a silo with
different software been used. Sales and marketing choosing salesforce with different instances of
HTML5 and force.com which makes it difficult for both applications to be merged or cross data sharing.
NCP2
, Database:
TreasureChest database is run on a Microsoft SQL which runs on a Microsoft Server. Based on
TreasureChest case study, the database is duplicated in the various sites of the company which opens
the way for duplicate data, multiple data versions, and inconsistent customer data entry. Which the key
role the database plays in the SaaS environment, it's important to have consistency across the
organization.
B. Strategic Goal: Enhance product for larger customers
IT Operations Goals: (Write three IT operational goals that you will develop to support the chosen
strategic goal)
1) Have a simplified automated process of onboarding customers. This will reduce the overall
involvement of staff and improve the onboarding time, in turn, increasing customer satisfaction.
2) To sustain the availability, reliability, and elasticity of our product to accommodate the current growth
pattern of TreasureChest, all systems and applications need to be hosted on the cloud with multiple
redundancies. With the systems been on the cloud, TreasureChest will have the ability to scale up as
demand increases and maintain an uptime of %99.9999
3) Implement a company structure that will include sales representatives, coordinators, and
implementation teams. The implementation team will be responsible for deploying the various
modules presented by the development team. With the help of the development team, TreasureChest
can easily fix identified bugs and the implementation team will equally be on hand to implement the
new fixes provided.
C. Strategic Goal: Improve and upgrade the business system software
IT Operations Goals: (Write three IT operational goals that you will develop to support the chosen
strategic goal)
1) Migrate the organization from the current ERP system to a more enterprise one like the Oracle
OWS which will integrate all departments Sales and Marketing, Customer Relations Department, I.T,
Human Resource Department, and all other departments of the organization. This will provide one
source of information and prevent the departmental silo.
2) Onboard a new CRM system that will integrate with the TreasureChest database and ERP system. The
new CRM system should come with a customer ticketing system to manage the external and internal
incidents and requests.
3) Migrating the email systems, messaging system and ERP and other systems managed by the
organization to the cloud will be the best option if this removes the multiple data centers in the various
