Competency

In this project, you will demonstrate your mastery of the following competencies:

• Leverage components and features of common operating systems to meet organizational needs
• Recommend the selection, implementation, and maintenance of common  operating systems based on organizational needs and industry best  practices

Scenario

You are a systems architect at a medium-sized publishing company with  130 employees. The company primarily publishes books, both in print and  online. It also produces other kinds of content, such as audiobooks,  interactive reading material, and magazines. Your leadership has decided  that it is time to either upgrade or adopt a new OS (e.g., Windows,  Linux, macOS).

As the systems architect, you have the responsibility to determine  which OS the company should implement. There are many aspects to  consider when making this decision, including what existing applications  are used by employees on a frequent basis, cost, functionality  provided, performance, vendor support, etc. To determine which OS should  be implemented, you need to complete a site survey. After comparing the  different OS options in the site survey, you will develop a brief  proposal on what OS (or hybrid) the company should implement to meet its  organizational needs.

Directions

Review the Company’s Organizational Needs
To make  a well-informed decision, you should understand the company’s  organizational needs. Before completing your site survey and writing  your proposal, review the Organizational Needs document linked in the  Supporting Materials area below.

Complete a Site Survey
A site survey compares the  three different operating systems that the company is planning to  implement. To complete this task, use the Site Survey template linked in  the Supporting Materials area. Your site survey must have the following  sections completed:

• Operating Systems: Acknowledge what OSes are  already used on site in your site survey. The type of OS already used  and how many employees are using that OS can influence your decision  making.
• Server: Determine whether the desktops are on a hardware or cloud-based server. 
  • Although not required in this portion of the project, you may want  to think about whether or not the server should be changed. This change  could be recommended in your proposal.
• Standard Hardware for Operating System Types: Determine the minimum required hardware. This could include desktop and server.
• Network Connection: Determine whether the network is wired or wireless. 
  • Although not required in this portion of the project, you may want  to think about whether or not the network connection should be changed.  This change could be recommended in your proposal.
• Applications: Identify what software applications  need to be supported by the OS. Your survey of what applications desktop  users use most frequently will influence your decision making, as some  applications are not supported by certain OSes.

Write a Proposal
Your proposal will be used to  inform leadership as to which OSes the company should implement based on  the findings of your site survey. Your proposal needs to include the  following:

• Overview of Desktop Footprint: Identify desktop  systems that need to be upgraded and other OSes that need to be  considered in the environment. This includes the locations of the  desktop computers and any risks or vulnerabilities that need to be  addressed.
• Recommendation: Recommend which OS should be selected and implemented, as well as whether it should be on-premise or cloud-based.
• Justification: Justify your decision based on your  site survey findings and course concepts. You can also consider the  number of end users, cost, and hardware requirements as part of your  findings.
• Implementation Diagram: Create a diagram of what  the final roll-out of the OSes would be. Your diagram should show the  number of desktops and users, locations, and departments. It should be  an upgraded version of what you found in the Organizational Needs  document. 
  • Although you can create a diagram within the Word document, it is  recommended that you use a diagram application such as Visio,  Lucidchart, or draw.io. Information on how to use these services is in  the Supporting Materials section. Keep in mind that you have to create  only one diagram, so you do not have to use all applications. However,  be sure that you upload and paste your diagram into the Word document as  part of your proposal section. You should not upload it as a separate  file.

What to Submit

To complete this project, you must submit the following:

Site Survey and Proposal
Your submission should  be a Word document of the completed Site Survey template linked in the  Supporting Materials area. Your submission should also include your 1-  to 3-page proposal. Your proposal should be at the end of the Site  Survey area. Although not required, if you use any sources in your  recommendations, cite them according to APA style.