Peak Lan Case

Peak systems being a small organization needs to make use of every available resources in order to carry out projects. However, it seems to us that this particular project might be a bit more cumbersome than the project manager might have at first realized. During our risk assessment of this project we have found a significant list of potential risks that could be counter-indicative of completing this project on time and on budget. Those risks include:

* Lack of expertise (interns)

* Overly optimistic timeline

* Lack of scope

* Server functionality

* Wireless Coverage

* Security of remote access

* LAN equipment

* No mention of site walk

* Lack of disaster recovery (DR) strategy

* Profitability risk (lack of proper budget)

The concern of this consulting agency is that without clear definition of these items and whose responsibility they will ultimately fall to in order to complete the project, that the timeline and budget will not only fail to be met, PEAK systems will most likely end up with little to no profit in this project. In the following paragraphs we will attempt to define the scope of the missing pieces and what we would recommend be done to mitigate or avoid the risk on these issues.

Figure 1: Diagram of Possible Network

Figure 1: Diagram of Possible Network

Perhaps the most disturbing of the risks listed above is the lack of scope. This obviously points to an inexperienced sales person, and would be an opportunity to train that person. It is not sufficient to just say “a fully functional LAN”, and expect that this definition means the same things to all people. A Local Area Network consists of many disparate pieces that have to all fit together to allow the users to interface seamlessly with the overall network. These pieces commonly include (but are in no way limited to):

* Firewall

* Routers

* Servers

* Switches

* Cabling

* User stations (desktops, laptops,...