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Unit 16: Cloud Storage and Collaboration Tools
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Mohammed Naaib ali isa Unit 16: Cloud storage and collaborationP1: How IT is currently deployed in the company and how it meets its
aims and needs.
Introduction
I have recently joined the IT department of a secondary school as an IT support technician. The
school has a wide range of computer applications, including stock control for the cafeteria,
administrative tasks in the office, order processing and personnel systems. Currently, all school
data and applications are held on servers in the School but the IT Director wants to see if cloud
technologies will be of benefit. I was asked to investigate this and draw up an analysis report by
my superior.
The Current IT infrastructure
The school's current IT setup relies predominantly on on-site LAN servers situated within the
school premises. A range of software applications is utilised across various operational domains,
including managing cafeteria inventory, administrative tasks, order processing, and staff
management. This needs to be specifically tailored to the school's objectives and requirements,
the on-premises infrastructure facilitates efficient management of daily operations such as
cafeteria management, administrative duties, order processing, and personnel management. The
servers are close together, so that a fast connection to data and applications can be made
for timely completion of urgent tasks. The school’s IT team is geared towards maintenance,
upgrading, and troubleshooting. These technological problems are to be dealt with swiftly and
effectively. There are many disadvantages with the current system that require optimisation
to meet the specific needs and requirements of the school.
How IT systems support its users
Staff
Currently, all employees are using one of these methods to store their files on the server. They're
saving it in a personal area that cannot be accessed by anyone or shared areas. The shared area
is a place where files can be shared between members of staff. The problem is that the file cannot
be edited by any other person once it has been opened. This prevents collaboration. To prevent
members from accessing folders and files that are not allowed to be accessed, the IT staff must
set up access rights for each member. MS Office is the software that the school uses. As it is
compatible and easy to use and does not require any training, it is the most popular Office
software for teachers and administrative staff. The problem is that by saving files to a shared area,
teachers can share them with one another. Just one person could change the file when it opened.
When a file is to be completed by more than one staff member, they need to hold off until the file
has closed so that they can modify it. This means that it is not possible to access these files
outside the school, which limits flexibility and productivity. Staff are unable to access their files
,Mohammed Naaib ali isa Unit 16: Cloud storage and collaboration
remotely, which means that they will not have the 24 hours it takes them to do so. Teachers have
to show up at school if they want access to these files. It also reduces your chances of working
from home because you don't have files that can be accessed, which makes it impossible to finish
the job. In addition, it prevents employees from leaving early and working at home if they are
able to view folders and files remotely.
Students
For various reasons, students have been using the system. I'll be able to go into any room and
log on and access my work in my personal area on the network that's set up for me. I've got all
my personal work, CVs, CW and other files stored here. We'll also be able to access the shared
drive of a student. It's an area where teachers upload their files, so we can go to it. We can only
have read-only access to the files, not editing. We need to save it to our own area if we're going
to edit it. The biggest problem is we're only allowed access to our files in school. As the USB
feature is now blocked because students are trying to install a virus on the system, we can only
email our work.
Students and staff
On the file server the students have their own file server and the shared file server where the
teachers can monitor and access. Within the educational framework, a pivotal element is the
student shared area, designed to promote collaboration. This designated online learning hub
serves as a conducive space for students to study, with a shared environment for academic files
and assignments. The resources available in these spaces are limited to books, study materials,
and similar educational content. This shared area, a component of the school's one drive, is
accessible only within the school's boundaries and requires school permission for access. Staff
currently use Microsoft Office to share files with each other and collaborate together. Students do
not have access to teachers files and folders because of security risks such as students will be
able to delete files off the teachers drive and corrupt it. Therefore, students do not have access
to teachers' files. Instead, the student's access level is set as read only. This means that they can
only view the documents and have no access to edit and change the files. The students and staff
also have remote access software to work from home which is slower and difficult to share files
and collaborate with. The school disabled USB access for students as it can potentially spread a
virus which could corrupt and delete files. Teachers have access to students' files and work, so
they can be accessible to edit and mark increasing productivity. Maintaining essential student
information in centralised student file storage is essential. Personal data, academic records, and
other relevant documents, which make up the student files, must be handled in a secure manner
with appropriate access granted to authorised personnel. However, the method of file transfers
using Microsoft Office tends to pose risks and may even go wrong. Access may be unauthorised
or confidentiality of sensitive information can leak through file transfer using Microsoft Office such
as Word, Excel, and PowerPoint. For instance, if a student file is transferred through an email
attachment, the recipient may not have the proper permissions to either view or edit the document.
The situation compromises the confidentiality of the student data, which might be against the
privacy regulations.
,Mohammed Naaib ali isa Unit 16: Cloud storage and collaboration
Meeting the requirements of the users
The current system in the school is operating well in a few areas and meets the needs of the
users.
The system provides a backup of files in house, which is stored at the central location. It's just a
matter of losing some data if the fire breaks out. The good thing is that you can use your user
name and password to access files from all devices in the building. Each staff member and
students have their access shared area and personal area of storage. It allows employees to
share files, but it's not very effective because of the lack of real time cooperation. If the USB drive
is lost, employees may have files stored on their USB to use remotely, but this could be a Data
Protection Agreement. If students do not send the work to themselves, they will only be able to
access the files at school and not remotely. It costs a great deal to maintain and upgrade the
system. We're going to have to hire IT staff and take care of the network. However, remote access
is a major problem in the existing system.
Conclusion
Finally, there can be both a positive and negative impact for schools using the LAN. This could
improve the efficiency of communication and cooperation among teachers and students, allowing
them to exchange information and documents. However, there may be drawbacks such as the
cost of setting it up or some safety issues. If schools want to exchange resources like printers,
LANs are good for them. They could be saving money by doing this. However, the uptake of cloud
storage and cloud computing which costs less and is more accessible is recommended today.
Networking is one of the ways in which a LAN can meet schools' requirements. For example, a
LAN allows students and staff to use the Internet, access educational resources, while providing
a robust and reliable network infrastructure. This connectivity is needed to carry out research,
communication and access to open learning platforms. The fact that they have access to learning
software online is another benefit for schools. Many educational institutions use specialised
software for the purpose of teaching and learning. The LAN enables these software applications
to be centrally deployed and operated in order to ensure that students and staff have access to
the tools necessary for their learning or teaching activities. I'd say security risks and technological
issues are the two negative factors. For security reasons, the network may be at risk of security
breaches if it is not adequately protected. In order to disseminate malicious software and carry
out unlawful activities which compromise the integrity of networks, as well as put at risk
confidential data, unauthorised content may be accessible by students or employees without their
knowledge. Regular maintenance and troubleshooting are needed for technical problems to
ensure that these networks operate smoothly. Students and staff may be frustrated by the
disruption of teaching and learning due to technical problems such as network interruptions, slow
connections or hardware failures.
SIMS
, Mohammed Naaib ali isa Unit 16: Cloud storage and collaboration
The school currently uses SIMS for registration, marking if students are in or absent, attendance,
and overall managing students information. All teachers can log into SIMS using any client in the
network whereas the students' computers do not have the software which is a safety risk. A
drawback of SIMS is once the register is saved and sent, the staff will not be able to change it.
Also another drawback is if the system goes down, there isn’t any way of doing the register until
the system is back online, which could also take a long time for the system to come back online.
Admin office software
The school has Microsoft Office downloaded onto the server. For administrative tasks, databases
likely store information about teachers and students, with servers scattered throughout the school
holding the institution's data and applications. Computer applications like Excel spreadsheets are
widely used for various tasks, supported by a local area network (LAN), though cloud technology
offers a more cost-effective and efficient alternative. Admins currently have Microsoft Office
downloaded on the server. It is difficult to share files and collaborate with others. The school is
deciding to change to Microsoft 365 for optimisation which I strongly suggest and sort out the
problems they have with the current server. However this is slower and takes time. Students are
currently using Microsoft Office to transfer files in their shared area. The students will not be able
to be productive as they can only access their work through the shared area from the server.
There is no USB access as it could spread a virus through the system.
Admin staff will be frustrated because they can't work remotely since they require office-based
software. Working remotely or with flexible schedules is taking off. The growth has become
imperative that workers at any given point in time and place should have access to their tools and
resources. This is particularly critical for schools dealing with sensitive or confidential information,
given the serious consequences of a breach. Software needs to involve class schedules, teacher
assignments, room allocations, and many other administrative functions of the timetabling. The
communication tools, such as email, text messages, or notification systems, make it very simple
for administrators, teachers, students, and parents to communicate with one another. Effective
administration requires the inclusion of those features that permit one to manage the school
finances. This involves incorporating the ability to involve budgeting, expense tracking, and payroll
processing.
One more drawback of spreadsheets is the lack of automation that becomes difficult to handle
repetitive and time-consuming tasks, like updating the inventory, generating shipping labels,
sending order confirmations to customers, etc., which is done manually with spreadsheets, which
proves exhaustive and prone to errors as well. Spreadsheets are not even designed for
collaborative work. The processing of orders is usually a task where more than one member of
the team has to take simultaneous access and update his/her order information. Spreadsheets
do not like this sort of task, which creates confusion and makes it probable to generate errors.
Collaboration is essential for order processing to keep all stakeholders aligned and work towards
common goals. A lack of centralization somehow makes it impossible for any business to maintain
the accuracy and efficiency of orders.
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