Assignment 1: Preparing for a Company-Wide Migration to Windows 8

Assignment 1: Preparing for a Company-Wide Migration to Windows8Due Week 10 and worth 160 pointsCrescent Manufacturing Inc. (CMI) is a luxury leader in crafted andcustomized home furnishings. The corporate headquarters and a productionfacility are located in Texas, with additional manufacturing facilities locatedin Nebraska and Maryland.There are 250 employees in the Texas location, 175 in Maryland, and 25 inNebraska. All locations use Windows 7 as the primary client operating system.The systems at the Maryland location are over five (5) years old. CMIsInformation Technology (IT) department upgraded the computer systems with newhardware within the past year at all other company locations. These upgradedcomputer systems are capable of running Windows 8. CMI recently upgraded all ofits servers to run Windows Server 2012 in an Active-Directory-basedenvironment.The Operations, Marketing, Administration, IT Support, and Financedepartments are located in the Texas location. Nebraska is primarily amanufacturing location that is staffed by production line employees, a linesupervisor, and a plant manager. The Maryland office also includes an operationscomponent (i.e., production line employees, line supervisor, and plant manager),a small IT department, and the companys human resources department.The current IT support staff comprises a seasoned group of individuals thatcollectively have over ten (10) years of experience in network administrationand working with Microsoft operating systems. Many of the IT staff have recentlycompleted training on the Windows 8 operating system and are well-versed insupporting Windows Server 2008 and 2012. The remainder of the companysemployees has only a basic knowledge of Windows 7 and relies on the companyshelp desk to solve a majority of its computer problems. CMI has a team of 50salespeople who use laptops and tablets while working from their home offices.These employees, who travel extensively with their laptops, must have theirsystems secured in case of loss or theft. The laptops, purchased over five (5)years ago, run the Windows 7 operating system. The tablets, used only by asubset of the sales staff, are iPads running iOS 7.The Chief Information Officer (CIO) is concerned about employees installingnon-standard company applications downloaded from the Windows Store both whileat work and when they have their devices at home. The CIO also wants to ensurethat those persons on the IT staff are the only individuals authorized to updateWindows Store apps. The CIO has an IT support staff of ten (10) employees anddoes not want to increase the number of applications that need to be supportedvia the companys help desk. The help desk is currently staffed by three (3)employees from 8:00 a.m.  5:00 p.m. (CST).Hardware and software compatibility issues experienced during the upgrade toWindows 7 several years earlier resulted in the company going over budget byseveral thousands of dollars. The CFO stated that the reason for going overbudget was directly related to problems with their business criticalapplications not being fully compatible with Windows 7. The applications areused by the Operations department to track inventory, schedule production runs,handle purchase orders, and track product shipments. Senior management wants toaddress software compatibility testing prior to moving the entire company toWindows 8. They are also concerned about the time it might take to migrate usersettings and applications over to the new Windows 8 operating system, the timeto train employees on using the new interface, the overall impact on thecompanys help desk, and day-to-day operations.The CIO and Chief Financial Officer (CFO) want more information before makingthe decision to upgrade to Windows 8 and have asked you to write a report thataddresses their concerns and also includes your recommendations on how best toproceed, should the project be approved.Write an eight to ten (8-10) page paper in which you:1. Develop a SWOTanalysis on the viability of upgrading to Windows 8 for the organization as awhole.2. Provide a detailedupgrade plan for the organization, including the sales staff. At a minimum:a. Identify the numberof systems, by location and / or departments that IT must replace with new orcompatible hardware.b. Recommend whether theorganization should use a phased-in approach (i.e., upgrades are sequenced bydepartments and / or locations) or a flash-cut approach (i.e., all at once) inorder to upgrade to Windows 8. If a phased-in approach is recommended, identifythe departments and / or locations you would upgrade, and describe the preferredupgrade sequence. Support your recommendations.c. Address the length oftime in which the upgrade should occur, and identify the main issues which couldimpact the specified time frame.d. Describe one (1)approach that IT could use in order to ensure that they thoroughly test businesscritical applications.3. Describe three (3)best practices for securing the laptops and tablets for the sales staff afterthe upgrade is complete.4. Examine the pros andcons of configuring AppLocker to standardize the software used by employeesacross the organization.5. Explain the processand options available for managing application installations and updates via theWindows Store, and thus addressing the concerns voiced by the CIO.6. Use at least three(3) quality resources in this assignment. Note: Wikipedia and similar Websitesdo not qualify as quality resources.Your assignment must follow these formatting requirements:Be typed, double spaced, using Times New Roman font (size 12), with one-inchmargins on all sides; citations and references must follow APA orschool-specific format. Check with your professor for any additionalinstructions.Include a cover page containing the title of the assignment, the studentsname, the professors name, the course title, and the date. The cover page andthe reference page are not included in the required assignment pagelength.The specific course learning outcomes associated with this assignmentare:Demonstrate the ability to install and configure a client operating system,applications, and associated updates as well as designing a client operatingsystem installation strategy.Validate and successfully install a computer client operating system.Demonstrate the ability to discuss the migration phases and considerationsin a client operating system installation to include virtual machines and thecloud infrastructure.Demonstrate the ability to apply technology tools to monitor and configureapplications and network performance.Use technology and information resources to research issues in operatingsystem environments.Write clearly and concisely about desktop administration and operatingsystem topics using proper writing mechanics and technical styleconventions.Grading for this assignment will be based on answer quality, logic /organization of the paper, and language and writing skills, using the followingrubric.