Project One — Diagram & Purchase Orders for a Business LAN

This project is to diagram & make a ‘Bill of Details’ for a LAN with internet access:

Requirements:

• Briefly describe the business, the application software, and operating systems used.
• Be realistic in describing what it costs to get the LAN in place and in use.
  Include installation of the wiring & all system components in the ‘up front’, purchase price (or value) of the LAN.
  A LAN of any size at all will benefit from a ‘structured cabling’ installation where each drop
  terminates at a ‘patch panel’ (or ‘jack field’) in the computer room and
  at a jack near the location of the remote equipment in the LAN.
  These systems are typically priced at $55 to $75 per ‘drop’.
  They may cost more in existing construction or installation in a campus-style environment, but we can assume an easy
  installation in our new office.

• Diagram the office or branch floorplan & include premesis wiring and its patch panel, drops, phones,
  computers, switch, WAP, firewall/router, printers, modems,
  and etc attached to the network.
  Make sure that your diagram of the wiring clearly reflects the topology of the wiring in the LAN.
  If using ‘bundles of CAT5 cabling’ identify them clearly as such.

• Consider the location the backup device (Tape, CD, on-line data vault, etc) for the network.
  If a SCSI tape is used make sure the server that uses it has a SCSI controller.
  The best strategy is to have a tape drive that can hold all the LAN’s data and purchase 60 tapes to be taken
  off-site daily and ‘rotated’ back after a week or two. Make sure to buy tapes that are compatible with the 4MM DAT that is required.

• Prepare a Purchase Order for each hardware & software vendor involved in your solution.
  Show the quantity and cost/price of each hardware & software component.
  Don’t go into any great detail about the PC’s or server in the network,
  just show: processor, ram, hdd, size monitor, NIC, any ‘special features’.
  Do not include the telephone equipment in the bill of details, but please show the PBX and its connections to the patch panel.

• The Purchase Orders must be formatted in the ‘customary’ columns to show
  Description, Quantity, Price Each, and Extended Price for each detail line.
  Each purchase order should reference an actual supplier and detail lines should show actual part #s, descriptions, and prices.

• Make sure to include a section for on-going, annual costs for maintaining hardware and software components
  and purchase of supplies.
  Do not include these recurring costs in with the purchase prices — show them in a separate section placed after a total for the purchased items.

• ‘Rule of thumb’ budgets for annual hardware and software support are 12% – 15% of the purchase price.
• Please don’t consider software to be free unless it really is!
  Don’t buy a single copy of ‘licensed software’ and share it among an office.
  It’s not lawful to buy a single copy of Microsoft Office and deploy it all over the LAN, investigate site-license discounts.

• Consider a ‘site license’ for more than five users.
  For example, Egghead lists MicroSoft Office97 Pro for $499.
  For a ‘site license’ I’d estimate the # of users X $499, less 20%.
  If anybody has access to commercial, or State Agency, site license prices, update us please.

• The purchase price for customized, well-integrated, vertical market software,
  maybe for an application like Dispatching, Cashiering, or Not-For-Profit Organizations,
  might be in the range of $3,500 – $7,500+ per system user.
  The software house will probably get an annual support fee of 12% – 15% of the purchase price.

Put all this together into a single Word document, PowerPoint presentation, Website, or other format I can access at my desktop
and send it to me via the upload link provided before the deadline for submission.
Do not submit your proposal in more than one file or there will be a deduction of 1 letter grade.
Also, print the document
on paper and bring it to class on the due date.