Feasibility Study On Moving To Cloud Based Network Using TELOS Framework (Essay).

Business Analysis student is required to complete a feasibility study, using a TELOS framework, For most project managers, the business case for a proposed project is provided for them. For example, the Project Steering Committee, Chief Projects Officer or a Program Manager has analysed the current situation and determined that the project should in fact go ahead.

However, the decision to go ahead with a project is often based on the results of a feasibility study, and therefore it is not unrealistic to expect that, in your role as an IT Manager or Business Analyst, you may someday be required to conduct a feasibility study.

The PMBoK does not provide sufficient guidance or help regarding how to conduct a feasibility study, therefore we need to look for frameworks beyond PMBoK in order to do this.

A very useful framework is TELOS, which stands for:

Technical / Technological: Can it be achieved? Are we in a position to do it?

Economical: Can the project be afforded? Will it increase profit?

Legal: Is the project legal? Will this project fit in with the vision of the organisation? Operational / Organizational: How will the current operations support the change?

Schedule: Can it be completed in time? Below are some links you may find useful in further understanding the TELOS framework.

Globex organization is looking forward to upgrade their network by cloud based network. Sharing of files, services of directory, running of desktop application, and others are possible through the common platform of cloud computing architecture which helps in speeding up the business operational working (Alonso, & et.al., 2013). Project steering committee has identified complexities associated with the current working architecture and because of which company has to suffer. Chief project officer has proposed for implementing feasibility study on analysing the complexities associated with the current working architecture and how it can be resolved through cloud based network by using TELOS framework. The purpose of this study is to develop a feasibility study on cloud based network and its positive and negative facts which can have direct impact on the operational working on the enterprise. It will help to upgrade the network to make it more reliable and secure by managing centralized control over the business offices located at different location. TELOS framework is used for managing the feasibility study because PMBOK research provides insufficient guidelines to propose an effective feasibility program.

Current working structure of Globex organization is operating their work flow through peer to peer integration of employees and resources. It affects the working capabilities of staff members due to unavailability of resources and required information. It creates the chaotic environment at work place. There is no proper database system which can store large amount of data generated by the organization. Allocation of resources to each employee increases overall cost of the enterprise. Top management has decided to replace current working structure of the company by moving on the cloud based network so that incompatibility of the current system can be optimized by cloud system. Feasibility analysis reports helps in evaluating efficiency and effectiveness of cloud environment by diagnosing their positive and negative impact on the operational working of the enterprise.  

Feasibility analysis is conducted through using TELOS framework. TELOS framework is used for collecting information on diversified platform such as technical, economical, legal, operational, and schedule. It will help to evaluate that moving all the services and facilities provided by the Globex organization on the cloud platform is beneficial for the enterprise by increasing its reliability and security features.

Upgrading of current network of Globex organization with the cloud based network involves some infrastructural changes. Centralization control over the application and information can be managed by developing server and client relationship (Bogason, & Dahl, 2015).

Technical Feasibility

Types of services required are file server, print server, proxy server, web server, mail server, and database server.

• File server is responsible for managing flow  of files and data across the client with respect to request posted by them (Bugatha, 2015)
• Print Server is responsible for managing the operations related to printer
• Proxy server is used for filtering request of client to manage connections and improves coordination and performances of the client
• Web server is responsible for hosting of internet services on the internal corporate network
• Mail server is responsible for circulating of mail on company network only
• Database server is used for storing data in sequential format

Flexibility is provided to fetch the relevant information or resources required from the geographically dispersed location by using virtual private network of the company. It is helpful in bringing automation in business services (Chaterjee, 2016).

From the investigation of server providers, research was conducted on three server providers to evaluate their subscription fees and charges (Colman, 2013). The table below gives the detail of cost of cloud network installation provided by three providers.

Bandwidth increases the frequency of data traversal rate. It is required to deploy an effective bandwidth which has a frequency rate (Devi, and Ganesan, 2015). The table below shows the comparison o cost incurred by the bandwidth providers:

Software licensing is required to be evaluated:

Final minimum Cost of taking server installation from the companies is shown in table below:

In comparison to above cost, if we take cloud computing service provider from the same company than the estimated cost will be:

From the analysis of cost feasibility, it can be concluded that cloud computing environment is the cost effective architecture which minimizes cost of the organization.

There are some legal issues existed when changing current working structure with cloud environment. Some of the legal issues which existed with the migration to cloud environment are stated below:

• Security is the major issue which exist with the cloud environment. Security framework of cloud model involves security provided at multiple levels so that transfer of information from one device to another can systematically protected (Dillon, 2010).
• Unauthorised accessing of information: Third parties are involved for getting unauthorised accessing of user account which can affect security and privacy of the information. It can directly affect the reliability of organization business model.
• Loss of intellectual property right: Intellectual property laws are imposed on deploying cloud computing platform. It provides right to the country for storing their intellectual work.
• Cyber-attack: Cloud computing environment is the open invitation to cyber-attack. Security protocols are required to be implemented within working culture of the environment so that security of user accounts can be enhanced. Service level agreement is required to be signed between cloud providers so that need and expectation of the organization can be fulfilled at top priority (Ghazaleh, & Ahmad,2017).
• Confidentiality loss: Reliability of information can be increased by preserving confidentiality of the data with the application of security protocol on the cloud architecture.

Operational and organizational feasibility of cloud network is measured on the basis of people, security, privacy, risk, and disaster recovery.

• People: It is required to evaluate acceptance level of employees to move working structure of the enterprise on cloud computing architecture. It focuses on filling gaps which exist between employee capability and skills and demand of organization cloud architecture.
• Security: It is required to evaluate the impact of cloud architecture on the digital assets of the enterprise (Givehchi, & et.al., 2013). Security protocols and infrastructure is developed for promoting level of security provided to the organization.
• Privacy: Security protocols are implemented for managing digital privacy of user information and other confidential data and documents (Gupta, 2019).
• Risk: Risk management processes are used for taking proactive action plan so that efficiency of transforming the working architecture to cloud network migration can be improved relatively.
• Disaster recovery: Information presented on cloud will remain secured in case of disaster occurrence (Hamid, & et.al., 2013).

Project management plan is prepared for evaluating the effectiveness and efficiency of migrating current infrastructure to cloud computing architecture. Verification and validation of the project is done on the basis of timeframe. It is require completing the given activities within the allocated time so that operational feasibility of underlying project can be achieved. The chart below shows the time required to complete the activities for conversion of current network with the cloud based network.

From the investigation, it is found that migration to the cloud based network is feasible on the basis of technical, economic, operational, legal, and schedule. Centralization control over the application and information can be managed by developing server and client relationship. From the analysis of cost feasibility, it can be concluded that cloud computing environment is the cost effective architecture which minimizes cost of the organization. Intellectual property laws are imposed on deploying cloud computing platform. It provides right to the country for storing their intellectual work. Performance of the enterprise get enhanced because cloud architecture is a cost saving model, security architecture, flexibility in information traversal, increasing collaboration with different units of the enterprise, provides mobility to information, increasing quality of information, managing disaster, preventing loss of information, automating updating of software, and increasing sustainability of enterprise by getting competitive advantage (Kuyoro, & et.al., 2011).

Conclusion

Conclusion of the feasibility report is that cloud based network is suitable for the Globex organization because it is cost effective software which is reliable on the basis of technical requirement and focuses on controlling the information flow by implying legal laws. Operational working of the enterprise gets enhanced by migrating to cloud based architecture because it manages coordination and collaboration between different departments of the enterprise.

References:

Alonso, J., Arrieta, L., Escalante, M., and Gorronogoitia, J. (2013). Cloud modernization assessment framework: Analysing the impact of a potential migration to cloud. Retrieved from https://www.researchgate.net/publication/261039448_Cloud_modernization_assessment_framework_Analyzing_the_impact_of_a_potential_migration_to_Cloud

Bogason, A., Dahl, J. (2015). Operation management made simple. 1^st ed. Retrieved from: https://implementconsultinggroup.com/operations-management-made-simple/ 

Bugatha, R. (2015). Cloud computing and its technical feasibility. Journal of multidisciplinary engineering services and technology, 2(4). Retrieved from https://www.jmest.org/wp-content/uploads/JMESTN42350567.pdf

Chaterjee, S. (2016). Theme clouds: A tailored approach to cloud computing. Retrieved from https://sites.tcs.com/blogs/enterpriseinsights/theme-clouds-a-tailored-approach-to-cloud-computing/

Colman, E. (2013). When to use SaaS, PaaS, and IaaS. Retrievedfrom https://www.computenext.com/blog/when-to-use-saas-paas-and-iaas/

Devi, T and Ganesan, R. (2015). Platform as a service model and security issues. Retrieved from https://arxiv.org/ftp/arxiv/papers/1609/1609.01107.pdf

Dillon, T. (2010). Cloud computing Issues and challenges. Retrieved from https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/3d2f/ca1fe368696d2a433786d927a710ab2812a4.pdf

Ghazaleh, W., & Ahmad, W (2017). A technical feasibility for adoption of cloud computing in KA university, Saudi Arabia. International journal of science and research, 6(11). Retrieved from https://www.researchgate.net/publication/321627807_A_Technical_Feasibility_for_Adoption_of_Cloud_Computing_in_King_Abdulaziz_University_Saudi_Arabia

Givehchi, O., Tresk, H., and Jasperneite, J. (2013). Cloud computing for industrial automation systems: A comprehensive overview. Retrieved from  https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/ae69/8f30f8e9007408cfb27208a5138f3dfab0fa.pdf

Gupta, N. (2019). Operations as a final destination to successful project delivery. 1^st ed. Retrieved from: https://www.projectmanagement.com/articles/563019/Operations-as-a-Final-Destination-to-Successful-Project-Delivery 

Hamid, R., Raza, M., and Naqvi, R. (2013). Impact of system engineering practices on the performance of R&D projects-Initial results. International journal of computer theory and engineering, 5(1). Retrieved from https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/c6cb/428a5e4f7c32e8f544b357acaeef1c612d06.pdf 

Kuyoro, S., Ibikunle, & Oludele, A. (2011). Cloud computing security issues and challenges. Retrieved from https://www.researchgate.net/publication/285011991_Cloud_Computing_Security_Issues_and_Challenges