Assignment Task
Learning Outcomes
The Subject Learning Outcomes demonstrated by successful completion of the task below include:
a) Describe and analyses the architecture and distribution of data.
b) Compare and review communication protocol stacks and generate recommendations.
Task Summary
Data has become an important asset for companies and the way how they operate. Moreover, data transmission and networks have enabled enterprises to improve their businesses, foster collaboration, increase their efficiency, enhance customer engagement and so on.
Based on the knowledge gained in the first five weeks in this subject, as well as your own research, you need to come up with a report describing the network in the chosen company, and its main characteristics, as required in the brief.
Select an Australian company that you have recently interacted with, which is basing some of its operations on network and data. You need to be familiar with some of their activities in the digital space, based on your own experience and/or your own research. The company can be a medical center, the public transport company you are using every week, your insurance company, etc.
Context
This assessment gives you the opportunity to apply the knowledge and theories you’ve learnt in this subject. In doing so, you are required to analyze the chosen company’s data distribution. Provide reviews and recommendations of the data flows and network communication protocols.
Task Instructions
1. Once you have chosen your company, create a Network Diagram representing its network, and describe it briefly.
- What are the main devices for the network? Consider networking devices, internet access, connections, data storage, data access devices, etc.
- The diagram has to be your authentic work and you need to create it using tools such as MS Visio/Lucidchart/etc. Please save your draft in the application you have used. Diagrams from the web, won’t be accepted.
- The diagram has to reflect the chosen company. For instance, if the company has different branches, departments or warehouses, you should include those characteristics there. Or, if the company is using specific devices (e.g. selfcheckout machines, IoT devices, sensors, scanning devices, etc.), you should include them.
- You may make reasonable assumptions for the inclusion of certain devices in the network.
- This is not a business diagram, logical diagram, or flowchart. Instead this is a Network Diagram
2. Choose one specific interaction between you and the company, or between you and an employee, or between the employee of the company and its system, where data is transmitted over the network. Think about the flow of data (data trail).
- What are the devices involved from the data creation, transmission and storage?
- What type of media communications are utilized throughout the end to end data transmission? Please list a couple.
- What are some of the protocols used in various steps? Why are they used? Provide at least 3 relevant protocols. Please support your discussion with external references.
3. Provide 3 recommendations to the company, in relation to data distribution and data safety, that you as an IS professional think (from your research) that the company should action.The recommendations should be around the network technology used, protocols, network architecture, etc. The recommendations should be short, sharp and actionable. Please support your discussion with external references.