Before an IT professional or IT department recommends the use of a specific operating system and version, an assessment of the organization’s needs must be done. Every organizat

Before an IT professional or IT department recommends the use of a specific operating system and version, an assessment of the organization's needs must be done. Every organization, and even different departments within the same organization, will have different needs and requirements. Users within a department might need access to specific software that other users do not. The same might be true for hardware. Some users might need access to a specific server, fax machine, or printer.

For this week's discussion:

• Review the three scenarios from the perspective of a systems architect.
• Write your initial post about one of the scenarios.
• Respond to at least two of your peers.

Scenario 1: You work for a small software company with four different departments, including Marketing, IT and Business Operations, Product Development, and Customer Support. Marketing currently has its employees use iMovie and Keynote to create their marketing materials and external presentations; there is no intention to change products since they have built their departmental standards around using that software. The IT and Business Operations department needs to use MS Visio to create system diagrams and flowcharts. This department, as well as Product Development, needs access to project management software such as Jira or Asana. Lastly, Customer Support uses a customer relationship management (CRM) program that has been supported by Windows 7 in the past.

Scenario 2: You work for a large organization with 15 departments. A new leadership initiative to centralize systems includes requiring all employees to use the same OS and computers. Currently, some departments use Windows and others use macOS; some desktops within those departments have Linux-based systems. It has been discovered that some departments are still operating older OS versions, which has negatively impacted their productivity. For customer-facing departments, the SalesForce CRM is being implemented. Implementation of this CRM is what encouraged the leadership team to start a centralized initiative to have more systems connect to that CRM.

Scenario 3: You are working for a major publishing company in the U.S. that has recently merged with a smaller company in the U.K. You have uncovered information that the smaller company's desktop equipment and installed operating system have not been upgraded in a very long time. The editing department has 10 desktops that are still using Windows XP, and two desktops in the graphic design department are currently running the Mac OS X 10.8 Mountain Lion, released in 2012. Due to the nature of the organization, these software applications have been proficient in creating newsletters and e-books, and in designing print on demand for self-publishing. All desktop equipment and operating software will need to be audited and mitigated to reflect the system architecture and security model for the parent company.

In your initial post, address the following:

• Make an OS recommendation based on your chosen scenario and provide a strong rationale.
• Answer the following questions:
  • Given what is described in the scenario, what OS and version do you recommend be implemented?
  • Should more than one kind of OS be implemented? If so, which ones?
  • What are software and hardware requirements that support your decision?
  • What else helped you make the decision to recommend specific OSes?
• If you had some difficulty making a recommendation, discuss what additional information you would need to make a well-informed decision.
• If you make assumptions beyond the information in the scenario that you've chosen, make sure you state them in your initial post.

In response to two of your peers, address the following:

• Continue the discussion by adding to the conversation. Discuss whether you would have made the same OS decisions given the selected scenario. You can also add reasons to support your peers' decisions that were not discussed in the initial post.
• Then describe some scenarios where the newest version of an OS cannot be utilized in an environment. Why and how is that the case? How can this be mitigated?

RESPONSE 1

As a systems architect I would chose scenario 3 as it is the simplest out of the three. I would keep the same number of desktops because it seems like the quantity is sufficient enough to carry out business operations for now having acquired this smaller company. The 10 desktops in the editing department that are using Windows 7 should definitely be upgraded to Windows 11, the newest version improves security and performance. Graphic design department would benefit from newer Mac desktops like new Apple iMac 24" with a nice big screen for creating graphic assets, designing websites, and editing photos. You could also purchase Macbook Pros instead if the hardware is too expensive. I would upgrade the OS of the Macs to OS X El Capitan which is the newest and fastest version. 

Hardware requirements for Windows 11

Processor1 gigahertz (GHz) or faster with 2 or more cores on a compatible 64-bit processor or System on a Chip (SoC).RAM4 gigabyte (GB).Storage64 GB or larger storage device Note: See below under “More information on storage space to keep Windows 11 up-to-date” for more details.System firmwareUEFI, Secure Boot capable. Check here for information on how your PC might be able to meet this requirement.TPMTrusted Platform Module (TPM) version 2.0. Check here for instructions on how your PC might be enabled to meet this requirement.Graphics cardCompatible with DirectX 12 or later with WDDM 2.0 driver.Display

High definition (720p) display that is greater than 9” diagonally, 8 bits per color channel.

Hardware requirements for Mac OS X El Capitan

• OS X v10.6.8 or later
• 2GB of memory
• 8.8GB of available storage
• Some features require an Apple ID; terms apply.
• Some features require a compatible Internet service provider; fees may apply.

These seem to be the fastest and latest versions of Windows and Mac Oss. I'm not going to use Linux because its too uncommon and the other 2 OSs just offer more in applications and software that can be used for graphic design, e books, and printing. 

Daniel Meladoss

RESPONSE 2

“Scenario 2: You work for a large organization with 15 departments. A new leadership initiative to centralize systems includes requiring all employees to use the same OS and computers. Currently, some departments use Windows and others use macOS; some desktops within those departments have Linux-based systems. It has been discovered that some departments are still operating older OS versions, which has negatively impacted their productivity. For customer-facing departments, the SalesForce CRM is being implemented. Implementation of this CRM is what encouraged the leadership team to start a centralized initiative to have more systems connect to that CRM.”

For the second scenario, I recommend implementing Windows across the departments, specifically Windows 11 for workstations & the latest version Windows Server 2022 for servers. The widely used SalesForce CRM in place at this organization is compatible with the Windows platform & since leadership was moved to add more systems to connect to that CRM it makes sense to adopt Windows for that purpose. As this is a large organization with 15 departments & (we have to assume) several workstations within those departments, Windows is also a cost-effective option for this case particularly compared to Apple’s MacOS systems. Not to mention the minimal learning curve for most employees which will lead to less disruption caused by any necessary acclimation of a new OS platform such as Linux. In this way, the organization will be able to save money & time from its bottom line.

Other software & hardware requirements supporting my decision include security enhancements such as the encryption provided by BitLocker, & Windows Defender antivirus at no extra cost (an obvious bonus for such a large organization). Windows Group Policy allows for the standardization of settings & other configurations across entire departments or even the organization. This helps to enforce security, deploy updates & streamline management from a single device. This OS also provides adequate speeds, RAM, & storage for what this organization would need & will accommodate future growth the departments.

I’d like to acknowledge that this scenario does not offer more detailed information such as specific requirements of each of the 15 departments, potential budget for purchasing new hardware, training, etc. Nevertheless, I don’t see how that information would alter my recommendation in this case.