Cloud Technology Project
Required Competencies for Project
1.8: Create clear oral messages.
5.1: Evaluate the Business IT needs of an organization. (students often miss this one)
5.2: Propose strategies the organization can employ using cloud solutions to enhance organizational effectiveness.
5.3: Evaluate cloud adoption as a viable solution based on cost benefits and desired outcomes .
5.4: Articulate insights to leadership on the appropriate course of direction on the identified IT business needs.
6.1: Articulate the systems architecture of the cloud - cloud infrastructure, cloud service, cloud platform, and cloud storage.
6.3: Assess and compare cloud services delivery models (XaaS) .
6.4: Evaluate deployment models - private, public, hybrid, etc.
6.5: Investigate the underlying technologies (virtualization, data center infrastructure, servers).
Note: If you see something underlined, then I will be specifically looking for it in the presentation. If it is not there, you will be graded “Does Not Meet”
To ensure that you submit a project that will properly demonstrate the competencies of Project 1, here are some pointers and things to consider.
· PowerPoint presentations to executives are best when the information is presented in bullet points, relevant graphics (Charts, tables, etc) and emphasized key takeaways. Use the same feedback that I have given you in the first two assignments. Get the main message out front early (ie. Savings opportunity), Keep the communication level at laymen’s terms, use analogies and examples to clarify, and don’t deep dive into any one subject.
· SWOT analysis. Make sure your presentation includes a SWOT analysis per step 5 of Project 1. Put this in the presentation, I don’t need to see it separately.
· Don’t Read Your Slides. Since you will be narrating the presentation, you can say a lot more than the bullet points on the slide, but don’t read them. Expound on points and keep the briefing up tempo and interesting. Try to draw the audiences into a story. Remember the three “Ts”. Tell them what you going to tell them, Tell them, Tell them what you told them. TIP: Write a script that emphasizes your bullet points and graphics and put the script in the speakers notes section. Then you can read the speaker notes as you are discussing the bullet points. That also provides the detail the audience needs, that they can reference on their own.
· Backup Material. You will have a lot of material that backs up your points, but not necessarily appropriate to brief. There are a couple of ways to handle this. You can have a “JIC” (Just in Case) section at the end of your presentation where you can place your backup material for review. You will not narrate this material, just make it available for those that want to get more detail. Another method is the use the speakers notes section and place your backup material there so that it can be viewed with the slide your briefing. Either way is fine with me as long as you don’t try to brief the backup material.
· Transitions and Animations. Use these tools to emphasize points and create smooth transitions between slides, but DON’T GET CUTE. The fastest way to annoy executives (and professors) is to have graphics bouncing around the screen or spinning around. If you want to use build slides (bullet points only appearing when you start to talk about them, you will have to time that with the narration. I am not requiring that for an MP grade but if you think it leads to a better presentation, then you are welcome to use the technique. Again, whatever you do with these tools, keep them professional and helpful to the audience.
· Good narration. Make sure your narration is clear and even. Practice reading your narration several times and take your time. Don’t speak too fast and don’t have a lot of unnecessary pauses or breaks. Stay away from “Uuhs” and “Aahs”. If necessary, re-do sections that need better narration.
Project 1: Overview of Cloud Technology Start Here
As an IT analyst for BallotOnline, a company providing voting solutions to a global client base, you are working to convince the organization to move its infrastructure to a public cloud. With the growth the company is experiencing and the internal data centers maxed out, you want to get the executives on board with moving to a public cloud rather than trying to expand the current infrastructure.
This project will be completed in a series of steps, in which you will explore cloud technologies and cloud architecture and how they can be used in the organization.
Your presentation with audio narration will educate the executives on cloud computing and its benefits (and drawbacks) to the company. To complete your analysis, you will need to cover the following:
· description of cloud computing
· basic capabilities of the cloud
· advantages and disadvantages of cloud computing
· analysis of economic implications
· IT business needs
· SWOT analysis
There are six steps in this project. In your final narrated PowerPoint presentation, you will be assessed on your ability to convey your understanding of cloud computing and how it can be used to benefit your organization, explaining the advantages and disadvantages of cloud computing and providing a detailed business analysis covering financial considerations, business requirements, and an analysis of threats and opportunities.
Competencies
Your work will be evaluated using the competencies listed below.
· 1.8: Create clear oral messages.
· 5.1: Evaluate the business IT needs of an organization.
· 5.2: Propose strategies the organization can employ using cloud solutions to enhance organizational effectiveness.
· 5.3: Evaluate cloud adoption as a viable solution based on cost benefits and desired outcomes.
· 5.4: Articulate insights to leadership on the appropriate course of direction on the identified IT business needs.
· 6.1: Articulate the systems architecture of the cloud - cloud infrastructure, cloud service, cloud platform, and cloud storage.
· 6.3: Assess and compare cloud services delivery models (XaaS).
· 6.4: Evaluate deployment models - private, public, hybrid, etc.
· 6.5: Investigate the underlying technologies (virtualization, data center infrastructure, servers).
Step 1: Describe Cloud Computing
Your supervisor, Sophia, BallotOnline's director of information technology, has tasked you with creating a presentation that will convince the executives that using cloud-based computing to accommodate BallotOnline's future growth rather than trying to expand the current infrastructure will help the company do business faster and at lower cost while conserving IT resources.
Key Points
What Is Cloud Computing?
Cloud computing refers to the creation and use of remote servers over the internet, instead of via local servers or devices. According to the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), cloud computing is a model for enabling "ubiquitous, convenient, on-demand network access to a shared pool of configurable computing resources (e.g., networks, servers, storage, applications, and services) that can be rapidly provisioned and released with minimal management effort or service provider interaction" (Mell & Grance, 2011).
Major cloud providers include
An important part of your presentation to the BallotOnline executives is to help the executive leadership understand cloud service models and cloud deployment models. It will also need to cover the two basic components of cloud infrastructure: cloud compute and cloud storage.
Review
In order to describe the capabilities of cloud computing, you must first have an understanding of network basics and computer networking technologies.
In this step, you will write a brief summary to your executive leadership describing what cloud computing is and the capabilities of the cloud. Post it in the Discussion: Brief Summary of Cloud Computing and engage with your colleagues. You may adapt this summary for your final presentation in the last step.
Step 2: Research Advantages and Disadvantages of Cloud Computing
Now that you have defined important terms and summarized the basic capabilities of the cloud, it is time to explore the advantages and disadvantages of cloud computing.
Currently, BallotOnline is running at full capacity and needs to expand its IT infrastructure to accommodate its growing needs. Instead of expanding current on-premise IT infrastructure by building or acquiring a new data center, Sophia has suggested that the cloud may be more efficient and cost-effective than adding more traditional physical data center space.
This information that you research will be useful in your final presentation in the last step.
When you have completed the research, move to the next step, where you will consider the budgetary aspects of a move to the cloud and the implications for the organization.
Step 3: Analyze Economic Implications
Now that you have weighed the benefits and drawbacks of cloud computing, it's time to take a close look at the economic implications of a move to the cloud. All organizations (for-profit, nonprofit, or government) have finite budgets. Management must allocate these financial assets appropriately so that the leaders can make sound business decisions and meet the objectives of the organization.
Information technology (IT) is a key strategic function to help support the objectives of an organization. Businesses first used information systems to replace paper-based methods of helping management perform these functions, and that use continues today. Managers must be able to understand different IT models to make the best financial investment decisions for the organization.
The financial requirements for the cloud computing model are different than the financial requirements for an on-premise model. Cloud computing shifts budgets to a pure operating expense model, whereas the traditional on-premise computing model requires both capital and operating expense allocations.
Several free calculators to help estimate the cost of cloud services exist on the web, including the AWS Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) Calculator and Azure TCO Calculator. Alternatively, you may find other calculators to estimate your cloud cost. Most cloud providers have their own cloud cost estimator tools. If the calculator that you selected does not show on-premise data, then you can recalculate using one of the other calculators that do provide this data.
For your economic analysis, enter the information from BallotOnline's IT Budget and Infrastructure Summary into your chosen calculator to estimate TCO for the current physical IT infrastructure configuration. Then estimate TCO for a comparable configuration in the cloud to estimate the potential cost savings.
Write the summary of the economic implications, showing the savings and how you arrived at them, and upload it to the dropbox below.
Step 4: Define the IT Business Requirements
After considering the economic aspects of the cloud, the next logical step is to narrow the particular requirements of cloud computing for the organization. It is important that your presentation works toward building a business case for cloud computing.
Your presentation must address BallotOnline's business requirements and critical IT requirements related to data storage. Make sure you classify the requirements into functional (behavior) and nonfunctional, as per the requirements definition link.
Step 5: Prepare a SWOT Analysis
In this step, you will apply the information gathered in the business analysis to assess the benefits and possible drawbacks of adopting cloud infrastructure for BallotOnline.
Take Note
What Is a SWOT Analysis?
Iamnee/Essentials Collection/iStock
Iamnee/Essentials Collection/iStock
Your supervisor, Sophia, recommends that you include a SWOT analysis in your presentation, since the BallotOnline company executives will want you to go over both the advantages and disadvantages of cloud adoption and any important internal and external factors that may influence the success of the project.
Take Action
Demonstrate your critical-thinking abilities by identifying the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats of adopting cloud computing.
First, articulate each of these areas for the SWOT analysis:
1. Identify the key strengths (advantages) of adopting cloud computing.
2. Identify the major weaknesses (disadvantages) of adopting cloud computing.
3. Are there any opportunities that cloud computing enables the organization to take advantage of?
4. What are the threats that an organization considering adopting cloud computing needs to consider?
Next, evaluate how to achieve the following outcomes to add to the SWOT analysis:
1. How can you use strengths to take advantage of opportunities?
2. How can you overcome weaknesses to take advantage of opportunities?
3. How can you use strengths to avoid threats?
4. How can you minimize weaknesses and avoid threats?
Step 6: Prepare a Presentation on Benefits and Possible Drawbacks of Adopting Cloud Infrastructure
In this step, you will prepare your presentation for the BallotOnline executives. This presentation should present them with a compelling business case and cover the benefits and possible drawbacks of adopting cloud infrastructure, data on cloud economics, and a demo of some basic cloud capabilities.
Take Note
These asynchronous presentations must include an audio narrative.
Your presentation will include an executive summary along with the following from previous steps:
· Overview of cloud computing
· summary of service and deployment models
· summary of cloud compute and storage infrastructure components
· advantages and disadvantages
· economic analysis
· IT business requirements (provide a concise description of what each bullet should ensure)
· SWOT analysis
When you are ready to submit the assignment for grading, upload your narrated presentation to the dropbox below.
Check Your Evaluation Criteria
Before you submit your assignment, review the competencies below, which your instructor will use to evaluate your work. A good practice would be to use each competency as a self-check to confirm you have incorporated all of them. To view the complete grading rubric, click My Tools, select Assignments from the drop-down menu, and then click the project title.
· 1.8: Create clear oral messages.
· 5.1: Evaluate the business IT needs of an organization.
· 5.2: Propose strategies the organization can employ using cloud solutions to enhance organizational effectiveness.
· 5.3: Evaluate cloud adoption as a viable solution based on cost benefits and desired outcomes.
· 5.4: Articulate insights to leadership on the appropriate course of direction on the identified IT business needs.
· 6.1: Articulate the systems architecture of the cloud - cloud infrastructure, cloud service, cloud platform, and cloud storage.
· 6.3: Assess and compare cloud services delivery models (XaaS).
· 6.4: Evaluate deployment models - private, public, hybrid, etc.
· 6.5: Investigate the underlying technologies (virtualization, data center infrastructure, servers).