Information Systems

Sessions 6A -
Infrastructures: Sustainable
Technologies
A Crisis at Hafford Furniture:
Cloud Computing Case Study
Current Challenges/Problems Facing The Organization

Review of the Situation

• Hafford was in a desperate situation.
• Expectations for the cloud computing solution were not met,
mostly because the vendor’s cloud computing capabilities
were minimal.
• The cloud computing vendor was declaring a Chapter 7
bankruptcy, meaning that they were going to liquidate their
assets.
• Orders processed were down 26 percent primarily due to a
bottleneck in processing, not to a lack of orders.
• If the order entry system was not fixed quickly, they will lose
their customers, and the entire business.
 Technology Issues

• Hafford trusted putting their data and processing ‘in the

cloud’.
• Cloud computing has great advantages for cutting local IT
staff and reducing local infrastructure.
• Data and processing, in this case, would be done on computers
at a vendor, PFI.
• When customers placed an order electronically, that order was
sent electronically to the Hafford interface residing on the PFI
servers. Cloud computing has the conceptual basis of a utility.
The user only contracts for what is needed, and lets the
maintenance and infrastructure issues reside with the cloud
vendor (for a fee).
 Technology Issues
• Going into cloud computing was not as simple as contacting
your local electrical company and asking to be connected to
their power grid.
• The user needs to really determine their needs, and determine
if they are looking for software as a service (SaaS); cloud
platform as a service (PaaS); infrastructure as a service (IaaS);
or a combination of services.
• Hafford seemingly did not conduct the due diligence needed to
meet their IT needs. To continue functioning, they will need to
quickly assess their needs and quickly find an appropriate
vendor.
 Technology Issues
• A secondary issue for customers was the transition from the
existing VAN EDI system to the more open (and less secure)
web based EDI system.
• Norris and the remaining Hafford IT staff (especially Dan
Husk as Systems Analyst and Vendor Liasion) as well as
Danielle Porter,Vice President for Customer Relations and her
staff, needed to verify that users are not having difficulty with
the new interface.
• If they were unable to retrieve the orders from the order entry
system ‘in the cloud’ at PFI before PFI is liquidated, they will
have to idle their six manufacturing plants, and even the
potential of bankruptcy for Hafford Furniture looms in the
wings. Orders translate to production and income; and no
orders translates to no production, no income and dire
consequences.
 Management Issues

• The management of information technology seemed to be in

question. The Vice President of Information Technology, Paul
Norris had lost about half of his staff with the cloud computing
venture.
• The founder and CEO, Don Feckle, seemed to not understand
IT and yet got involved in IT decisions. While there was an
established management structure and process for reviewing
and making major changes to the company, Feckle had
blatantly ignored it.
• Dealing with the current problem also meant atoning for
previous mistakes in management and trying to reestablish
communication and trust.
 Management Issues

• While the direct problem was with IT, the management crisis
permeates the entire company.
• Hafford had a business information system, but there seemed
to be a lack of information (such as the bottle in order entry
and processing).
• Management should be making decisions based upon relevant,
accurate and complete information.
 Management Issues

• With six vice presidents – two of which are explicitly involved

in sales and customer relationships (Danielle Porter, Vice
President of Customer Relations; and Charlie Shelt, Vice
President of Sales); and Dan Husk from IT (as Vendor
Liasion) the company should have known of the difficulties
with PFI sooner.
MIS INFRASTRUCTURES
 The Business Benefits of a Solid MIS
Infrastructure 1 of 2

MIS infrastructure – Includes the plans for how a firm

will build, deploy, use, and share its data, processes, and
MIS assets
• Hardware
• Software
• Network
• Client
• Server
 The Business Benefits of a Solid MIS
Infrastructure 2 of 2
Supporting operations
• Information MIS infrastructure
Supporting change
• Agile MIS Infrastructure
Supporting the environment
• Sustainable MIS infrastructure
Supporting Operations: Information MIS
Infrastructure

Backup and recovery plan

Disaster recovery plan
Business continuity plan
 Backup and Recovery Plan 1 of 3
Backup – An exact copy of a system’s information
Recovery – The ability to get a system up and running
in the event of a system crash or failure
• Fault tolerance
• Failover
• Failback
 Backup and Recovery Plan 2 of 3
Disaster recovery plan – A detailed process for
recovering information or an IT system in the event of a
catastrophic disaster such as a fire or flood
Disaster recovery cost curve – Charts (1) the cost to
the organization of the unavailability of information and
technology and (2) the cost to the organization of
recovering from a disaster over time
Disaster Recovery Cost Curve

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 Backup and Recovery Plan 3 of 3
Hot site – A separate and fully equipped facility where
the company can move immediately after a disaster and
resume business
Cold site – A separate facility that does not have any
computer equipment, but is a place where employees
can move after a disaster
Warm site – A separate facility with computer
equipment that requires installation and configuration
 Business Continuity Plan 1 of 3
Business continuity planning (BCP) – A plan for how
an organization will recover and restore partially or
completely interrupted critical function(s) within a
predetermined time after a disaster or extended
disruption
 Business Continuity Plan 2 of 3
Emergency – a sudden unexpected event requiring
immediate action
Emergency preparedness – ensures a company is
ready to respond to an emergency in an organized,
timely, and effective manner
Key Areas of Technology Recovery Strategies

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 Business Continuity Plan 3 of 3
Business impact analysis – Identifies all critical
business functions and the effect that a specific disaster
may have upon them
Technology failure – occurs when the ability of a
company to operate is impaired because of a hardware,
software, or data outage
Incident – Unplanned interruption of a service
Incident management – the process responsible for
managing how incidents are identified and corrected
 Supporting Change: Agile MIS
Infrastructure
Characteristics of an agile MIS infrastructure
• Accessibility
• Availability
• Maintainability
• Portability
• Reliability
• Scalability
• Usability
 Accessibility
Accessibility – Refers to the varying levels that define
what a user can access, view, or perform when
operating a system
Web accessibility – Allows people with disabilities to
use the Web
Administrator access – Unrestricted access to the
entire system
 Availability
Availability – Time frames when the system is
operational
Unavailable – Time frames when a system is not
operating and cannot be used
High availability – System is continuously operational
at all times
An Example of a WAN
 Servers in a Possible E-
commerce Configuration
A Modern Data Center
Five Components in Series
(Each 98 percent available)
Combining Components in
Series Decreases Overall
Availability
Five Components in Parallel
(Each 98 percent available)
Redundancy Increase Overall
Availability
A Representative E-Commerce
Infrastructure
 Maintainability
Maintainability – How quickly a system can transform
to support environmental changes
Organizations must watch today’s business, as well as
tomorrow’s, when designing and building systems
Systems must be flexible enough to meet all types of
business changes
 Portability
Portability – The ability of an application to operate on
different devices or software platforms
 Reliability
Reliability – Ensures a system is functioning correctly
and providing accurate information
Reliability is another term for accuracy when discussing
the correctness of systems within the context of
efficiency IT metrics
Vulnerability – a system weakness that can be
exploited by a threat
 Scalability
Scalability – How well a system can scale up, or adapt
to the increased demands of growth
Performance – Measures how quickly a system
performs a process or transaction
Capacity planning – Determines future environmental
infrastructure requirements to ensure high-quality
system performance
 Usability
Usability – The degree to which a system is easy to
learn and efficient and satisfying to use
Serviceability – How quickly a third-party can change
a system to ensure it meets user needs and the terms of
any contracts, including agreed levels of reliability,
maintainability, or availability
BUILDING SUSTAINABLE
MIS INFRASTRUCTURES
 MIS and the Environment
Moore’s Law – Refers to the computer chip
performance per dollar doubles every 18-24 months
Sustainable, or “green,” MIS – Describes the
production, management, use, and disposal of
technology in a way that minimizes damage to the
environment
Corporate social responsibility – Companies’
acknowledged responsibility to society
Three Pressures Driving Sustainable MIS
Infrastructures

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A Graphical Representation of
Moore‘s Law
E-Waste
 Increase Electronic Waste
Ewaste – Refers to discarded, obsolete or broken
electronic devices
Sustainable MIS disposal – Refers to the safe disposal
of MIS assets at the end of their life cycle
 Increased Energy Consumption
Energy consumption – The amount of energy
consumed by business processes and systems
Huge increases in technology use have greatly amplified
energy consumption
The energy consumed by a computer is estimated to
produce as much as 10 percent of the amount of carbon
dioxide produced by an automobile
 Increased Carbon Emissions
Carbon emissions – Carbon dioxide and carbon
monoxide produced by business processes and systems
When left on continuously, a single desktop computer
and monitor can consume at least 100 watts of power
per hour
Sustainable MIS Infrastructure Components

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 Grid Computing
Grid computing – A collection of computers, often
geographically dispersed, that are coordinated to solve a
common problem
 Virtualization Allows an Apple Macintosh
Computer to Run OS X and Windows 7
Virtualization - Creates multiple “virtual” machines on a single
computing device
 Virtualized Computing
Data center – A facility used to house management
information systems and associated components, such
as telecommunications and storage systems
Sustainable data center
• Reduces carbon emissions
• Reduces required floor space
• Chooses geographic location
Cloud Computing Example

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 Cloud Computing
Multi-tenancy – The cloud means that a single instance
of a system serves multiple customers
Single-tenancy – Each customer or tenant must
purchase and maintain an individual system
Cloud fabric – The software that makes possible the
benefits of cloud computing, such as multi-tenancy
Characteristics of Cloud Computing

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Cloud Computing Environments

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Cloud Service Delivery Models

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Thank You