Quality Coatings LLC is a small metal undercoating and finishing business located in the Midwest. The company receives p

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Quality Coatings LLC is a small metal undercoating and
finishing business located in the Midwest. The company receives
parts and finished goods from a variety of manufacturers around the
Midwest, “paints” them, and ships them back to the organization for
further construction, etc. QC has nine different potential
processes that can be applied to a customer’s product. However, no
individual process includes more than five different steps. The
steps required are determined based on the corrosion resistance
needs of the item. When QC’s sales people secure a contract the
required stages are defined in the purchase order. This means that
the sales people must be well versed in the different sets of
processes required to achieve the level of resistance required by
the customer. This requires a significant amount of information and
many of the sales people have stated that they would like a
resource that they can access while on a sales call to help them
secure and price a contract.
Quality Coatings has been in business just over 10 years
and has been grown slowly but steadily during those years. The
organization has two buildings, one for management functions
(sales, accounting, etc.) and one for production. They are a
relatively low tech company with no IT personnel on staff. They
utilize an older order entry system purchased from a “now defunct”
company. The system allows them to enter order data, print order
data, record payments, etc. but does little more than that. They
connect to the internet for e-mail and web through a cable modem
with a business service package. There is one Intel Windows Server
on the premises.
QC’s process is relatively low tech also. When a
shipment of parts arrives from the customer, one of the order entry
clerks prints copies of the purchase order with the required stops
on it out and tapes it to each of the pallets of parts that arrive.
The purchase order circulates with the pallet and each step is
checked off as it is completed. When the pallet of completed parts
arrives at the shipping dock, a clerk removes the PO, schedules a
pick up, and marks the order as complete. Marking the
order as complete allows accounting to bill the
customer.
QC’s current campus includes two buildings. A small
headquarters (HQ) that houses the office staff: President, Sales,
Accounting/Billing, R&D, production management. Currently there
are 15 people working there. The production building is
approximately 65,000 square feet. A portion of the building serves
as shipping/receiving and houses the three order entry personnel
that are present for 1st and 2nd shifts.
QC recently secured two relatively large long-term
contracts. They will need to expand to provide sufficient service
to these customers. Management has secured TIF funding for a plant
expansion about five miles from the current location. They plan to
keep management at the current headquarters, keep some production
(smaller jobs) at the current facility, and move most of the bigger
work to the new, larger production plant. Management has realized
that with a larger production facility and bigger orders, they
needed to upgrade their technology. In particular, they want to be
able to track orders through each of the steps the parts go through
so that they can collect better pricing information, data on any
rework required, and provide up-to-the-minute order
status.
You are consultants bidding a network design and
installation job for a complete upgrade to their technology
infrastructure. This includes replacing all current
infrastructure.
Network Requirements:
Each building must be able to communicate with the
others.
Each unit in the organization has their own data needs
and must have their own file server to access/share programs and
data.
The network must be reliable. Down-time of more than a
few hours a week is unacceptable.
The network must be maintainable with a minimum of
cost.
The network must be secure. There are files on the
system that should not be accessible by anyone outside the
organization and restricted from some people within the
organization.
The network must be expandable.
Must specify network protocol(s) and IP address ranges
for networks in the organization
(Figure out correct /number and make up an IP Address that fits it.
Use that for ranges.)
Must specify all hardware required (Workstations,
Server, Hubs/Router, NIC, etc.)
Include estimated costs for hardware and
software.
Must minimize cost to win job and meet needs of
users.
Prepare a report in standard business form with an
executive summary and appendices if needed. The report should
include:
A written description of how your proposed configuration
meets the above criteria and alternative configurations
considered.
Hardware required.
Hardware cost estimations.