Assessment Scenario

“Door2Door” is a courier company established in England. Currently they are running their business in England and maintain all records in the London office. The company wants to expand their business throughout the UK. There will be regional offices in Edinburgh, Cardiff and Belfast. London will remain as the Head Office. Each regional office has 3 delivery offices or sub-offices. Since the company wants to have more offices around the UK, they want to have some centralized systems through which all shared documents and resources will be accessible to all members of staff. Stakeholders and higher business management is based in London and they want to keep track of all activities done at regional offices.

The owners of the company decided to employ you as a consultant on a short term basis to set-up appropriate systems in a network. They know about various technologies and the efficiency achieved by computer systems and would welcome advice on the acquisition of hardware, software and network items to augment her existing systems in order to meet the company’s growing needs. The company has a budget of £50,000 for this project. The owner of the company has requested:

• All employees to get fast and reliable 24/7 access to the Web.
• Each employee to have his/her email address (usually their full name followed by the company’s domain address).
• The owner of the company wants to minimize costs for calls.
• The network should have the ability to backup any important files (e.g., client invoices or fax) automatically.
• The company receives important documents via regular post that would like to archive in the network.
• There should be a central printer that is accessible by all employees.
• The internal network should be accessible from all around the world.
• The network must be easily expandable to accommodate users on an additional floor when the company expands.
• Security and confidentiality are of major importance to the company as it deals with multi-thousand dollar contracts.
• Design a computer network in order to connect all sub-offices with regional office
• All regional offices should be connected to Head Office in London
• All members of staff want to have an access of VOIP communication.
• All members of staff want internet access.

Task 1

1.1 Discuss the benefits and constraints of different networking systems types and topologies
1.2 Evaluate the impact of current network technology, communication, and standards
1.3 Discuss how protocols enable the effective utilization of different networking systems

Task 2

2.1 Discuss the role of software and hardware components
2.2 Discuss server types and selection requirement
2.3 Discuss the interdependence of workstation hardware with network components

Task 3

3.1 Design a networked system to meet a given specification
3.2 Evaluate the design and analyze user feedback

Task 4

4.1 Implement a networked system based on a prepared design
4.2 Test the network system to meet user requirements
4.3 Document and analyze test results against expected results
4.4 Recommend potential enhancements for the networked systems
4.5 Design a maintenance schedule to support the networked system