Chapter 8Managing Operations

Gloria BellJeremy Hood

Mary Beth Reid

Operations defined When defining operations we must first define

hardware. Hardware includes computers, disk drivers, tape drivers, printers, and PCs.

Operations also include communication lines and equipment, and software, such as operating systems, compliers, and networking software.

Solving operational problems System operations problems: slow response times,

networks are down, data is not available, or data is wrong.

What can be done to improve operations? Buy more equipment Continuously fight fires and rearrange priorities, getting

people to solve problem at hand Continually document and measure what you are doing, to

find out the real problems, not just the apparent ones.

Operational measures External measures

Are what customers see: system and network uptime ( downtime ), response time, turnaround time and program failures.

These aspects directly relate to customer satisfaction

Internal measures Are of interest to IS

people: computer usage as a percentage of capacity, availability of mainline systems, disk storage utilized, job queue length, number of jobs run, number of jobs rerun due to problems. Age of applications, and number of unresolved problems.

Why is system operations important? If they are not professionally run, a company

could suffer a computer or network crash that could shut down their business for some period of time.

Operations is also important because they involve more money than any other part of the department.

What’s new in operations Companies have “cleaned their operational

house” Operations managers are beginning to

manage outward Operations are being simplified Certain operations are being offloaded

Outsourcing information systems function Outsourcing means turning over a firm’s computer

operations, network operations, or other IT function to a vendor for a specified time-generally, at least a few years, although that time frame is changing.

Up until 1998 outsourcing was only used by companies that were poorly run.

Now it is expected for a CIO to investigate outsourcing.

Why Outsource? Outsourcing is part of the drive for focus and

value, and it is not solely an information systems issue, it is a business issue also. Because top management must stress value, they must consider outsourcing in all their non-strategic functions, in the age of e-business, they may even need to consider outsourcing their strategic functions to get a jump on the competition.

Outsourcing History IT Outsourcing. IT outsourcing essentially began

with "big bang" deals, or mega deals, which consisted of outsourcing all of a company's data center operations for up to ten years.

Transitional Outsourcing. In the early 1990s, a new type of computing arose: client/server computing.

Best-of-Breed Outsourcing. All through the 1990s, IT departments outsourced different pieces of their work; mainly infrastructure support.

Outsourcing History Shared Services. When IT outsourcing began to gain credibility,

executives wondered, "Can we get the same economies of scale by pulling disparate non-core functions together into one shared services group?"

Business Process Outsourcing. As the IT outsourcing field matured, data center outsourcing, desktop outsourcing, and other standard IT outsourcing areas became so well understood that they became like commodity services

E-Business Outsourcing. With the arrival of business use of the Internet, outsourcing has actually become the leading-edge way to run a company.

Outsourcing History Application Service Providers (ASPs). In

1999 a new term surfaced: application service provider. This is a company that rents software over the Internet.

Managing Outsourcing There are numerous aspects to managing

outsourcing that need to be taken into account to create a successful working relationship. Here are just four: Organizational Structure. Governance. Day-to-Day Working. Supplier Development.

Security In The Internet Age

Introduction The importance of having security Why e-business needs to be more secure than

brick and mortar CEO’s must be knowledgeable about internet

security

The Threats Internal vs. External Attacks Attacks and their relation to financial loss Information Crimes of the Rise The Good News Companies Unaware of Attacks

Nine Approaches Hackers Use

Cracking the Password Tricking Someone Network Sniffing Misusing Administrative Tools Playing Middle Man Denial of Service Trojan Horse Viruses Spoofing

Securities Five Pillars Authentication

Verifying the authenticity of users Identification

Identifying users to grant them appropriate access Privacy

Protecting information from being seen Integrity

Keeping information in it’s original form Nonrepudiation

Preventing parties from denying actions they have taken

Countermeasures Firewalls Public Key Encryption Virtual Private Networks (VPNs)

Remote Access VPNs Remote Office VPNs Extranet VPNs

Disaster Recovery for Distributed Systems Internal Resources

Multiple Data Centers Distributed Processing Backup Telecom

Facilities Local Area Network

External Resources Integrated Disaster

Recovery Services Specialized Disaster

Recovery Services Online and Off-line

Storage Facilities

Internal Resources Multiple Data Centers

“DASD farms” or direct access data storage Regularly updated to speed recovery at alternate sites House disk controllers & disk drives which can be

accessed online or in batch mode Distributed Processing

Critical processing performed locally, instead of at data centers

Utilizes standardized hardware & applications at remote locations – each local site provides backup for the other sites

Uses: Order entry & financial transaction systems

Internal Resources Backup Telecom Facilities

Build duplicate communications facilities Use alternate technologies that are redeployed

during emergencies Local Area Networks

Servers on 1 LAN backup servers on other networks

Data servers updated regularly via linking the networks with shared cabling.

External Resources Integrated Disaster Recovery Services

Multiple recovery sites interconnected by high-speed telecom lines

Fully operational processing facilities available on less-than-24-hours notice

Specialized Disaster Recovery Services Mainframe clients with backup midrange machines Midrange systems Trailers equipped with compatible hardware & software Telecommunications

External Resources Online & Off-line Data Storage

Alternate storage locations tapes & other records Fire-resistant vaults “Electronic vaulting” – Provides current data off-

site at the time of disasterTransmit data from computer to computer according

to a schedule Data is capture by equipment & stored at a remote

location as its is created on the client’s computer.

Household International Full-time staff to prepare, maintain, & test disaster

recovery plans Comdisco Disaster Recovery Services

Use of 1 or more recovery center in North America “Hot site” equipment & software Technical assistance

Disaster: Basement housing Household’s data center flooded.

Solution: Disaster recovery plan with Comdisco

Household International 6 Disaster Recovery Planning Tips:

Consider all possible natural disasters when choosing location of data center

Develop a plan for returning to primary site Do not expect all equipment, disks, and tapes to return to

original condition or be replaced. Test hot-site resources under full workload conditions. Plan for alternate telecommunications routing for multiple-

site operations during a disaster. Maintain critical data at the alternate site or at another

nearby location for fast system recovery.

The End