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
• Threat Analysis
• Infrastructure Design
• Component Selection
• Vendor Selection
• Integration
• Operations and Maintenance

Requirements Analysis

When performing a Requirements Analysis we focus on two key deliverables:

1. 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.
2. A clear understanding of your organization’s business requirements and growth projections as applicable to your Information Infrastructure. Many times, by properly grasping your organization’s 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:

1. Identifying as many potential data threats as possible.
2. Analyzing the potential impact each threat might have on your data.
3. Exploring possible approaches to eliminate or minimize each threat.
4. Assessing the cost benefit of the suggested approach to each threat.
5. Selecting the approaches with the highest cost benefit, and that will fit into your overall budget.
6. 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:

1. A detailed architectural and functional description of the intended target Infrastructure.
2. 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:

1. Does the cost of the product fall within the allocated budget?
2. Is the required skill and experience readily available in order to fully utilize the capabilities of the product?
3. Will the product successfully integrate with the other products selected as component building blocks?
4. Does the product enjoy favorable published evaluations and reviews?
5. Does the product fall in the “best-of-breed” category?
6. 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:

1. What is the nature of the vendor’s relationship with the Component / Service provider? Is there a formal relationship in place?
2. 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?
3. Does the vendor have a proven track record representing this product? Are there any references available?
4. Does the vendor have qualified and experienced staff?
5. Can the vendor provide ongoing maintenance and support?
6. Will the vendor be able to assist in future growth planning and implementation?
7. Does the vendor focus on selling a specific product, or is the vendor more focused on selling solutions?
8. 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:

1. Extremely detailed hardware and software component configuration.
2. Extensive research into potential integration and compatibility issues.
3. Extensive research into the configuration changes required in order to ensure maximum performance from all components.
4. 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 Infrastructure’s design, component details, etc.
• Backup Procedures.
• Disaster Recovery Procedures.