IT 340 Milestone Two Guidelines and Rubric
The final project for this course is the creation of network recommendations for a potential new office of the Newton Ad Agency. To help you succeed in this
project, you will complete two final project milestones that provide the opportunity to draft key sections of the project. In Milestone One, you composed the
first and second sections of the project, the introduction and the section on local area network (LAN) topology. Now, in Milestone Two, you will continue your
work toward the final project by composing the next two sections of the final project. Section III focuses on the selection of an internet service provider, and
section four focuses on hardware and software recommendations, printer configurations, and bandwidth.
In this guide to Milestone Two, you will review the final project scenario involving Newton Ad Agency, review the prompt, consider the critical elements that
your work should include, and study the rubric that will be used to assess your work.
Final Project Scenario: The Newton Ad Agency is an advertising firm with offices in Austin, Texas; Minneapolis, Minnesota; and New York City, New
York. The offices in Austin include a headquarters and a satellite office located two miles away in a rural area.
The Austin headquarters is home to the executive team and 750 employees. The headquarters also stores the corporate data and is the corporate
internet backbone. It hosts the IT department that centrally manages all LAN services, including the wireless LAN. The IT department also manages
the wide area network (WAN) that connects all of the offices via site-to-site virtual private network (VPN) tunnels.
The Minneapolis and New York offices host about 200 employees each. Approximately 50% of these employees are mobile (i.e., travelling more
than 80% of the time). The New York office focuses on producing and disseminating large advertising media content to clients. For this reason, the
New York office hosts the corporate media and web servers. The rural satellite office in Austin focuses on billboard ad designs and is connected to
the corporate WAN with a wireless point-to-point bridge to the Austin headquarters data center. The rural office is home to 100 employees.
To hire and retain the best talents, Newton Ad Agency allows employees to work from home. This removes the constraint that employees have to
live within commuting distance from the firm’s offices. Remote and mobile employees are provided access to the corporate network via a VPN
client. The VPN client requires employees to have access to reliable internet services to allow for effective collaboration across teams, and for
access to media content. The company provides all employees with a laptop with full disk encryption, data loss prevention (DLP), and antivirus
software. The IT department manages all corporate laptops and has the ability to log into all systems for support. This means that all laptops are
centrally managed by the one IT department.
Due to an increase in opportunities for expansion to new markets, Newton has embarked on an initiative to hire and train new college graduates to
support the company’s Vision 2020 program. Vision 2020 focuses on global expansion. The initiative is to hire graduates into the marketing,
finance, and IT departments.
You were hired as part of the Vision 2020 program and have been working at Newton for some time now. You have spent a considerable portion of your time
troubleshooting and analyzing the organization’s computer network to keep it running smoothly. Your direct supervisor and lead network administrator have
been very impressed with your skills and fast learning abilities. In order to determine if you are ready to take on more responsibility, you have been asked for
your input in regard to the new office location setup project.
Newton is considering adding a new office and is exploring potential locations in Tacoma, Washington; Rochester, New York; or Fayetteville, North
Carolina. Your task is to choose one of the possible locations and deliver a report to the team with key considerations and recommendations for the
setup of the network infrastructure at the new office. This office will be home to 50 employees, including the new executive vice president of sales
and marketing. All the possible sites have offices located on the third floor of an office building with access to fiber, cable, and T1 internet service
providers. In addition to the standard network, the site must support live video teleconferencing calls with employees based at the other sites, as
well as reliably send print jobs to billboard printers located in the satellite office in Austin.
Prompt: Here is the prompt for the final project as a whole:
How would you approach setting up the network at the location you have selected? What considerations are key in informing the systems and resources
necessary to meet the organization’s needs and support the business goals and objectives?
Keep in mind, however, that your work in Milestone Two involves only Sections III and IV of the final project. Therefore, for Milestone Two, the modified prompt is
as follows: Explain key considerations for identifying an internet service provider for the new location and recommend the appropriate provider to match the
business case. Then, address considerations and make recommendations regarding hardware and software selection, printer configurations, and bandwidth that
address business needs.
Specifically, the following critical elements must be addressed:
I. Internet Service Provider (Note: This section is based on research into actual providers at the office location that you select)
A. Explain key considerations for identifying an internet service provider for the new location.
B. Compare at least two internet providers available in the location you have chosen in regard to speed, security, and reliability. Be sure to address
how these specifics would impact business goals and objectives.
C. Based on your analysis, determine the appropriate internet provider for this location to meet the business goals and objectives. Be sure to explain
your reasoning.
II. Additional Configurations: In this section, you will address the accompanying considerations for the network based on the needs of the new office location.
A. Make appropriate hardware and software recommendations to meet the needs of the new office location. Be sure to explain your reasoning.
B. Make appropriate printer configuration recommendations to meet the distance printing needs of the new office location. Be sure to explain your
reasoning.
In Milestone One, you selected an office location. Now, in Milestone Two, you will need to research internet service providers at that location. This will
involve internet research. Be sure to cite your research in APA style.
C. Make appropriate bandwidth and device recommendations to meet the teleconferencing needs of the new office location. Be sure to explain your
reasoning.
Rubric
Guidelines for Submission: Your work must be submitted as a 1- to 2-page Microsoft Word document with double spacing, 12-point Times New Roman font,
one-inch margins, and APA formatting.
Instructor Feedback: This activity uses an integrated rubric in Blackboard. Students can view instructor feedback in the Grade Center. For more information,
review these instructions.
Critical Elements Attempted With Minimal or No
Functional Issue (100%)
Attempted With Significant Functional
Issues (75%) Was Not Evident in Submission (0%) Value
Internet Service Provider:
Key Considerations
Explains key considerations for
identifying an internet service provider
for the new location
Explains considerations for identifying an
internet service provider for the new
location, but explanation is cursory,
illogical, or contains inaccuracies
Does not explain key considerations for
identifying an internet service provider
for the new location
15
Internet Service Provider:
Speed, Security, and
Reliability
Compares at least two internet providers
available in the location chosen in regard
to speed, security, and reliability,
addressing the impact on business goals
and objectives
Compares at least two internet
providers, but comparison is cursory,
illogical, or contains inaccuracies
Does not compare at least two internet
providers
15
Internet Service Provider:
Business Goals and
Objectives
Determines appropriate internet
provider for the location to meet the
business goals and objectives, explaining
reasoning
Determines internet provider for the
location, but provider is not appropriate
or explanation contains gaps in logic or
accuracy
Does not determine internet provider for
the location
15
Additional Considerations:
Hardware and Software
Makes appropriate hardware and
software recommendations to meet the
needs of the new office location,
explaining reasoning
Makes hardware and software
recommendations, but hardware and
software is not appropriate or
explanation contains gaps in logic or
accuracy
Does not make hardware and software
recommendations
15
Additional Considerations:
Printer Configuration
Makes appropriate printer configuration
recommendations to meet the distance
printing needs of the new office location,
explaining reasoning
Makes a printer configuration
recommendations, but printer
configuration is not appropriate or
explanation contains gaps in logic or
accuracy
Does not make a printer configuration
recommendations
15
Additional Considerations:
Bandwidth
Makes appropriate bandwidth and
device recommendations to meet the
teleconferencing needs of the new office
location, explaining reasoning
Makes bandwidth and device
recommendations, but bandwidth or
devices are not appropriate or
explanation contains gaps in logic or
accuracy
Does not make bandwidth and device
recommendations
15
Articulation of Response Submission has no major errors related
to grammar, citations, spelling, syntax, or
organization
Submission has major errors related to
grammar, citations, spelling, syntax, or
organization that negatively impact
readability and articulation of main ideas
Submission has critical errors related to
grammar, citations, spelling, syntax, or
organization that prevent understanding
of ideas
10
Total 100%
"Looking for a Similar Assignment? Order now and Get 10% Discount! Use Code "Newclient"