Question

CASE STUDY SCENARIO 1

GEOLEN VENTURES

GEOLEN VENTURES, a local administrative authority, provides a range of services to individuals, including the provision of welfare. GEOLEN has a total workforce of 1,900.

In the welfare department, GEOLEN employs 30 staff who visits individuals to assess their welfare needs. This job means visiting individuals, who are normally poorly-paid or facing difficult family circumstances, to find out whether they should receive financial assistance (sometimes termed ‘benefits’) from GEOLEN.  

The area covered by GEOLEN has a very low population density. Staff may have to travel many kilometres between each appointment and may not return to their central office for days at a time.

Rules which determine whether people are entitled to financial assistance are complicated, with over 6,500 separate rules and 170 different forms to complete. These rules change frequently, usually three per week. Consistent application of rules is difficult because of benefit fraud, human error, constant changing of rules and time delays inherent in the system itself. Staff retention is low because of poor morale.

The existing IT system is a minicomputer which consists of a central processor supported by a number of peripherals located at the headquarters of GEOLEN. The minicomputer contains a database and other related software showing which benefits are due to which individuals. A list of the benefits due is printed out weekly; and benefits are paid out according to the information on this list. The database is accessed and updated from ten terminals located in the computer room itself. Staff normally updates the database when they return from their visits to individuals requiring benefits.

GEOLEN has decided to establish a decision support system to assist its staff in the application of benefit rules to the situations of individuals. GEOLEN requires that staff have access to the decision support system at any time during their working day.

QUESTIONS 1 RELATES TO  THE CASE STUDY SCENARIO 1 ABOVE.

QUESTIONS 1

1. Identify and describe the existing system of GEOLEN which is a minicomputer which consists of a central processor supported by a number of peripherals located at the headquarters. [10 marks]

2. Discuss the merits and demerits of such a system. [4 marks]

3 . A consultant of GEOLEN to the company that the organization can be more efficient in terms of information delivery if a Client/Server system is used instead of the current minicomputer. Discuss the suggestions of the consultant.   

  [6 marks]

The consultant is requesting the IT manager of GEOLEN to consider using some current Networking Operating Systems (NOS) for the Client/Server system.

4. Suggest with reasons two (2) current NOS that the IT manager of GEOLEN could deploy to support its operations.

[10 marks]

b. Discuss the main features of such two (2) Network Operating Systems. [10 marks]

5. Suggest with a diagram and reasons the type of topology that will be suitable for Client/Server system for GEOLEN.

[10 marks]

b. Discuss the merits and demerits of such a topology. [10 marks]

Answer 1

[1] The mini computer system was relatively small as compared to the presently available system some of the application of the mini computers includes timesharing, terminal, process control and peripheral communication control .These mini computer were used as a single user mode in order to conduct human research. These mini computers are capable of performing under normal environmental condition and it doesnt require extensive power. its peripherals includes minidisk, cassette , tape, cartridge etc these computer were designed to balance the input/output and storage in a cost friendly way. The software consist of assembler, complier, editor and utlility program

[2] The following are some of the merits and demerits of the mini computers

MERITS

• Efficient for productive people- By using mini computers you can perform several task that includes checking mails, working on excel, word document, browsing on internet etc and can be best utlized by a tech person .
• Easily portable- As it is light in weight so considered as one of the easily portable computer even you can carry these mini computer while you are travelling which also helps in doing with the common task
• Cost efficient- When you compare the mini computer price with that of a laptop it price is relatively lower as compared to other available system as due to its small size and light weight.
• Longer battery life- The battery life of a mini computer is relatively longer when compared with laptops and that suit best when you want to use it for a longer period.

DEMERITS-

• Small screen - As due to its small size the size of its screen is small as compared with the other system
• No DVD/CD player-  These mini computers are not consist of DVD and CD players which serves as a disadvantage when one want to store data through CDs or DVDs.
• Low Storage- As due to its low RAM capacity it is not possible to store large amount of data in these mini computers because of their low storage capacity.
• Cannot use larger software- It is not possible to use large software as it doesn't support them like video-editing, photoshop, high resolution game are all not supported by such mini computer system.

[3] As one of the companys consultant suggest the use of client/server system in place of these mini computers as the discussion related to this includes-

a- It serves a rapid application development along with supporting new technology like object oriented technology.

b- It can easily add hardware like document imaging and video teleconferencing in order to support new system.

c- It can also implement multiple vendor software tool for each of its application.

d- It serves as a long term cost benefit for development and support.

e- Instead of changing the legacy application it is much easier to implement client server system.

[4] The following are the two reason that current NOS that the IT manager could deploy in order to support its operations-

a- As security is the main concern prevailing now a days which can be handled through servers under the network operating system.

b- New technologies and hardware up-gradation are easily integrated to the system