An analysis of the options for new system architecture to fit organizational needs, including how the migration to the newly chosen architecture aligns with the mission, vision, and business strategy of the organization. In other words, how will this choice improve the organization’s competitive advantage and profitability?

Competency

In this project, you will demonstrate your mastery of the following competency:

• Design a strategic plan for implementing a new system architecture in an organization
• Determine what information technology policies, laws, regulations, standards, and contracts are applicable in a given situation

Scenario

Intelligent Computer Services (ICS) is a global technology innovator and implementer of artificial intelligence (AI) solutions, with specialization in the finance and retail industries. ICS employs more than 150,000 individuals and has offices in 120 countries around the world, with its global headquarters in Dublin, Ireland. Its U.S. headquarters are in Chicago, IL, and other U.S. office locations include New York City; Austin, TX; Minneapolis, MN; and Seattle, WA, to name a few.

To support its global footprint, ICS has built and managed five global data centers in Dublin, Chicago, Albuquerque, Singapore, and Tokyo. These data centers support ICS business objectives, as well as data center colocation space for its clients in the developing world.

Ten years ago, ICS initiated a global assessment of its information technology infrastructure, intending to start migrating its critical business solutions to cloud computing services. Unfortunately, as a result of a global economic recession, ICS had to put the initiative on hold to restructure its business operations to focus on growth and revenue improvements.

Recently, with a 30% ($43 billion) revenue increase from 10 years ago, double-digit profits, and cash on hand of about $7.5 billion, ICS’s board of directors approved an executive proposal to migrate 75% of its critical technology infrastructure services to the cloud in three years.

The proposal aims to leverage native cloud services, software as a service (SaaS) solutions, infrastructure as a service (IaaS) platforms, and security services, as well as being multi-cloud. This cloud migration journey will include large human capital, finance, and talent development initiatives to ensure continuous delivery of first-class client services. As the lead solution architect at ICS, you have been tasked with conducting a detailed assessment of the current system architecture and writing a strategic plan to migrate the organization’s on-premise Oracle PeopleSoft Human Capital Management (HCM) enterprise solution to an SaaS solution. The Cloud Journey team had proposed that ICS migrate to Oracle HCM Cloud or Workday HCM. Based on licensing benefits and other migration considerations, the CIO has approved migration to Oracle HCM Cloud.

Directions

Components of the strategic plan:

1. Client/Server Architecture and Organizational Fit
   Your plan should determine the components of your new client-server architecture and how these options for the new system architecture will fit the organization’s strengths, capabilities, and strategic business goals. This section might include:
   1. An analysis of the options for new system architecture to fit organizational needs, including how the migration to the newly chosen architecture aligns with the mission, vision, and business strategy of the organization. In other words, how will this choice improve the organization’s competitive advantage and profitability?
   2. Using the information systems strategy triangle, found in Chapter 1 of Managing and Using Information Systems: A Strategic Approach, to highlight the necessary relationship between decisions regarding business strategy, information systems, and organizational design
   3. A complete inventory list of the possible components to match the organization’s needs. You could also explain why some components are not necessary.
   4. A consideration of best practices within the industry, and an investigation into what competitors are using and how the new system will result in a competitive advantage
   5. How the new system will result in a lower total cost of ownership or a higher return on investment
   6. How the new system is to be scaled to accommodate the growth of the organization
2. Security Considerations and Needs
   The plan should consider and specify the security needs for the system architecture of an organization. This section of the plan might include:
   1. A recommendation of additional solutions that might be needed to ensure a stronger protection of the system
   2. Information about managing security deployments and streamlining policy updates
3. Business Impact
   The plan should determine the impact of the new system architecture on the organizational environment, and anticipate how the organization and its operations might be affected by the migration. This section of the plan might include:
   1. Specific steps to analyze the impact of negative events on the business, such as the cost of security hacks
   2. Contingency and business continuity considerations for an adverse event
4. Compliance
   The plan should determine what information technology policies, laws, regulations, and standards are applicable to the new project. This section of the plan might include:
   1. Comparison of common industry IT standards (e.g., NIST) for different industries and determination of which works best within the organization
   2. A plan to keep up with software updates and patching existing software when vulnerabilities are detected
5. Data Privacy
   The plan should include an explanation as to how personally identifiable information (PII) and data breach notification laws impact operations, plans, and policies. This may include determining the implications of where and how data is stored and systems are housed and maintained.