optimizing computing infrastructure: weighing factors and identifying solutions (166287230)

7/29/2019 Optimizing Computing Infrastructure: Weighing Factors and Identifying Solutions (166287230)

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Optimizing Computing Infrastructure:

Weighing Factors and Identifying Solutions

ACTI-OCI Working Group

Stephen Glowacki (Oakland University) • [email protected]

Robin Ying (Tidewater Community College) • [email protected] April 16, 2013 • St. Louis, MO

mailto:[email protected]






ACTI-OCI Working Group Mission

The ACTI-OCI group was created in recognition of the increasing demand for centralized efficiency

and economy in higher education, and the

growing consolidation of IT infrastructure and

services as a means of achieving that goal. The group looks to develop methodologies,

recommendations, best practices, and other

materials intended to guide campuses looking to

consolidate their IT infrastructure.



ACTI-OCI Working Group: Goals

Develop an optimization tool to help IT projects intheir early planning stages.

Provide a framework so one can ultimately select

a solution that best meets the project needs.

Achieve optimization by balancing a set of

architectural factors among competing

constraints.



12 Architectural Factors



12 Architectural Factors: Affordable

Value: Affordable The Affordable value addresses resource

expenditure of a project—financial,

operational, or support—collectively

referred to as ―cost.‖ Overall cost of

technology to an institution often grows

over time, but strategic decisions can

reduce the rate of growth of that cost.

Affordability can be affected by

operational or capital expense, time,

psychological drain, or other resources;

it is an account ing value.

Factors

Long-Term Savings

Short-Term Savings

Cost Growth Reduction



12 Architectural Factors: Appropriate

Value: AppropriateThe Appropr ia te value concerns

suitability to purpose and the degree of

respect or interoperability with other

systems. It gauges the aptitude of a

solution to the problem it is intended to

solve, with respect to the context or

environment that it operates in.

Appropriateness can be measured by

how well a proposed solution matches

with organizational needs; it is an

external al ignment value.

Factors

Data Security

Usability

Integration



12 Architectural Factors: Effective

Value: EffectiveThe Effect ive value measures how

completely a solution addresses its

problem and/or use cases. It is an

in ternal al ignm ent value.

Factors

Extensibility

Performance

Features



12 Architectural Factors

In addition to those clustered factors,

three further factors fall between the

three value triangle points and therefore

can be affected by multiple values:

Factors

Disaster Recoverability

Project Schedule

Limitation of Liability



Using the Optimization Tool

The Optimization Tool can be used in twodifferent ways:

1. To weight th e var ious factors and their impact on

the project to help ident i fy top project pr ior i t ies.

2. To gauge how well the potent ial solu t ions f i t the requirements, if adju stm ents need to be made,

and com pare the potent ial solu t ions to each

other.



Rating the Factors Table

Value Factor Score Rationale

Affordable

Data Security

Usability

Integration

Limitation of Liability

Appropriate Data Security

Usability

Integration

Disaster Recoverability

Effective Features

Performance

Extensibility

Project Schedule



Rating the Factors – An Example


Affordable

Long-term Savings

1

The current environment would require

significant capital investment to bring it up to

appropriate levels, both in the short term and the

long term. Licensing costs would also increase

dramatically. The current vendor has long-term

growth capability but only with additional

funding.

Short-term Savings

Cost Growth Reduction

Limitation of LiabilityLimitation of liability does not necessarily

change or play a role in this review.

Appropriate

Data Security

The security of the system is such that no

encryption exists, but e-mail is secured based on

login, which meets most user requirements.

Usability 2

Most users find the existing system a bit aged

and not very adaptive. The largest number andvolume of complaints exist around the extremely

limited amount of available space within the

system.

IntegrationThe existing system integrates well with existing

authentication mechanisms.



Rating the Factors (continued)


Disaster Recoverability 3

The system would require vendor replacement

parts and a restoration process, which could be

significant in duration to meet data recoverability

needs. This feature needs improvement in the

next iteration.

Effective

Features

Performance 3

The existing product functions but is slow to add

features and is currently suffering from

performance issues multiple times per week. The

product has significant issues when

synchronizing with different types of phones and

other mobile devices.

Extensibility

Project Schedule 2

The project schedule is being driven by both the

requests for massive increases in space and that

the existing system has reached is capacity (and

showing signs of being overburdened).



ACTI-OCI Working Group Report



Questions ?

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