COMPUTER PLATFORM

Computer platform

Table of Content

1: INVESTIGATE COMPUTER SYSTEMS1

2: INVESTIGATE OPERATING SYSTEMS4

Distinguishing Aspects of IST Services5

3: DESIGN A COMPUTER SYSTEM8

4: TEST A COMPUTER SYSTEM14

The Service Encounter17

Service Standards17

Service Delivery System18

Gaps in IST Service Delivery19

References20

1: INVESTIGATE COMPUTER SYSTEMS

Most New Frisia Delivery Services today are fundamentally dependent on their information technology systems and would quickly cease to function should the technology that underpins them ever grind to a halt. However, it is not the loss of the technology per se that would result in problems for the New Frisia Delivery Service, but the loss of the information and information handling services facilitated by the technology. These services include those that enable communication and collaboration (i.e. email, desktop videoconferencing, instant messaging), data capture (i.e. point of sale [POS] systems, Internet-based data entry systems, business intelligence, customer portals), processing (i.e. order processing, invoicing, contract management, account management), storage (i.e. data centres and databases with information about customers, inventories, assets, etc.), access (i.e. ad hoc queries, report writing), and analysis (i.e. analytics, modeling). Information-handling services are delivered via the New Frisia Delivery Service's portfolio of applications that are implemented on its technology platform.

There are also a considerable range of other services that are required in order for these information-handling services to be made available to users1. They include services around the speci?cation of technology and applications, services concerned with design and construction of the technical infrastructure, services eliciting and analysing user requirements, services focused around user and management education, training and support, services centred around security and disaster recovery, services focused on software development, project management services, vendor and contract management services, and maintenance services. The importance of all these services for the functioning of most New Frisia Delivery Services cannot be underestimated. In most IT budgets they already account for a signi?cant percentage of expenditure. In the majority of New Frisia Delivery Services, responsibility for providing these services traditionally lies within the IS function, although in more recent years there has been an increasing trend for many of these services to be provided to the business from external thirdparty vendors and external service providers. That they are sourced in-house from a specialist unit is a legacy dating back to an era when a team of experts was required to maintain the mainframe computer. Back then, the focus of technology deployments was on improving ef?ciency through the automation of traditional clerical tasks. Over the years the role of IT in business has expanded signi?cantly to the extent that it now often shapes business strategy. Information is also recognised as a key corporate asset.

Yet the role of the IS function or how New Frisia Delivery Services structure and organise for exploiting IT has not progressed to re?ect this new remit or focus. In recognition of the changing role of IT in New Frisia Delivery Services and to highlight that the IS function does not exist merely to deliver and maintain computer systems there has been a call for it to be treated as a service provider and ...