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Products, services, and technical capabilities
are worthless without the means to successfully integrate them into
a stable, cohesive, and complete solution.
The application of a detailed and formal
set of logistical processes and procedures provides the means to
integrate all the components of an Information Infrastructure solution.
These steps and processes are also referred to as a Methodology.
dataLogistics has the necessary experience,
knowledge, skills, and understanding required to address the logistical
challenges involved in Information Infrastructure implementations.
The core methodology we follow consists
of the following steps:
Requirements Analysis
When performing a Requirements Analysis
we focus on two key deliverables:
- A detailed picture of the current Information Infrastructure.
Without detailed knowledge of the existing Infrastructure, future
design decisions will be based on incomplete information, assumptions,
and conjecture.
- A clear understanding of your organizations business
requirements and growth projections as applicable to your Information
Infrastructure. Many times, by properly grasping your organizations
business processes and Information processing requirements, fundamental
changes can be made to the processes themselves, resulting in
significant productivity gains and savings.

Threat Analysis
Threat analysis involves the following:
- Identifying as many potential data threats as possible.
- Analyzing the potential impact each threat might have on your
data.
- Exploring possible approaches to eliminate or minimize each
threat.
- Assessing the cost benefit of the suggested approach to each
threat.
- Selecting the approaches with the highest cost benefit, and
that will fit into your overall budget.
- Documenting the selected threat approaches, the technologies
and services required for implementation, and the implementation
strategy for each approach.

Infrastructure Design
Once the Infrastructure team has completed
a requirements and threat analysis, the next step is to design the
actual Information Infrastructure.
The Infrastructure design consists of two
deliverables:
- A detailed architectural and functional description of the
intended target Infrastructure.
- A project plan providing the roadmap the Infrastructure
team will follow in order to deliver the target Information Infrastructure.
This could either involve a new implementation, or the controlled
and gradual transition of an existing Infrastructure to the planned
Infrastructure.

Component Selection
Once the targeted Information Infrastructure
has been designed, and a project plan is in place providing the
roadmap to the targeted Infrastructure, the actual building
blocks for the Infrastructure are specified and selected.
Products are evaluated and selected with
care, and the selection criteria address at least the following
questions:
- Does the cost of the product fall within the allocated budget?
- Is the required skill and experience readily available in order
to fully utilize the capabilities of the product?
- Will the product successfully integrate with the other products
selected as component building blocks?
- Does the product enjoy favorable published evaluations and
reviews?
- Does the product fall in the best-of-breed category?
- Is the product backed and supported by a skilled, professional,
and competent organization?

Vendor Selection
Once the building blocks of a proposed
solution have been selected, the vendor(s) for these building blocks
are researched and selected.
Some of the key selection criteria include:
- What is the nature of the vendors relationship with the
Component / Service provider? Is there a formal relationship in
place?
- Is the vendor qualified to specify a solution to fit a specific
need, generate the necessary quotes, supply the product, and install
and configure it?
- Does the vendor have a proven track record representing this
product? Are there any references available?
- Does the vendor have qualified and experienced staff?
- Can the vendor provide ongoing maintenance and support?
- Will the vendor be able to assist in future growth planning
and implementation?
- Does the vendor focus on selling a specific product, or is
the vendor more focused on selling solutions?
- Does the vendor pursue long-term relationships with clients?

Integration
Any Information Infrastructure is only
as good as the sum of all its constituent components. This statement
is only true to the extent of how successfully the components products
that make up the target Infrastructure are integrated with each
other.
When performing integration, details that
are focused on include:
- Extremely detailed hardware and software component configuration.
- Extensive research into potential integration and compatibility
issues.
- Extensive research into the configuration changes required
in order to ensure maximum performance from all components.
- Detailed standards and implementation procedures.

Operations and Maintenance
The final deliverables of an Information
Infrastructure implementation are the tools that will be required
for the successful operations, maintenance, and support of the Infrastructure.
During this final phase, the following
documentation is prepared:
- Hardware and software standards.
- General standards, including naming conventions.
- Procedures for infrastructure configuration, modification,
and expansion.
- Change management process.
- Details of the Infrastructures design, component details,
etc.
- Backup Procedures.
- Disaster Recovery Procedures.

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