Leading up to the collapse of the Caregroup, a researcher on the CareGroup network started an experiment with a knowledge management system application. The software was designed to locate and automatically copy information across the network. The researcher left the software up and running in its initial configuration. The software hadn’t been tested for the environment and began copying data in large volumes from other computers. By the afternoon of November 13, 2002 (the day of the collapse) the software was moving large terabytes of data across the network.
Although the large data transfers monopolized the services on the local network, the main network components still functioned properly.
The impact of the knowledge management system
They began to duplicate each other’s functionality. The messages began repeating each other in an endless loop until the network totally disabled.
The lessons learned from the CareGroup network collapse:
1. Don’t hesitate to bring in experts to make sure your network is configured properly. Correct assessment, however the lesson doesn’t factor in when to bring in an expert. Despite an over-reliance on technology, there needs to be a timeframe for this expert and how their analysis will support overall technological requirements.
2. Do not let any one individual in your IT group become the sole point of failure. Correct assessment; ironically it was a knowledge management system that led to the crash of the network. Succession planning is key ingredient to success for businesses.
3. Keep your working knowledge current. Correct evaluation. Technology changes rapidly and it’s important to understand industry standards, methodologies, and best
Beware of users armed with just enough knowledge to be dangerous. This is half-way correct. While the user’s experimentation led to the failure, the article doesn’t shed light on the policy for exploratory testing etc. While the user is culpable, a deeper dive into the culture may yield additional lessons learned for Caregroup. Some questions may involve include? 1) what are the corporate standards for testing? 2) how are test environments configured? 3) Who approves test scenarios 3) Should we use mock data when simulating test cases etc?
5. Institute rigorous network change control. Correct assessment and probably the most important lesson. Caregroup can review ITIL methodology for best practices around incident end event management.
6. Adapt to externalities. Correct evaluation, however additional analysis is required. The IT department needs to collaborate with the business to better understand how organization changes impact applications and systems. Moreover, IT needs to strengthen the IT-business alignment to stay abreast of future changes. One methodology that may assist here is business architecture, a blueprint of the business that supports aligning strategic objectives and tactical demands.
7. There are limits to customer-centric responsiveness. Correct assessment however it may be tricky to implement. This is where business-IT alignment becomes critical. While IT may not always meet customer objective, it’s important to build the relationships and not alienate
National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST): Risk Management Guide for Information Technology Systems. Special Publication 800-30, 2002.
IBM System Journal. "Strategic Alignment: Leveraging Information Technology for Transforming Organizations." Last accessed April 14, 2007. http://researchweb.watson.ibm.com/journal/sj/382/henderson.pdf
The organization continued to grow through mergers and acquisitions, and soon realized there was a need for data integration and access among its growing network. Unfortunately, by the year 2002, CareGroup was a $2 billion enterprise, but as a result of its operating losses only had a network budget of $50,000. This limited resource hindered the organization’s ability to invest in its information system’s infrastructure and although was vital to the information health of the organization, according to Chief Information Officer of Beth Israel Medical Center
(Advisera) It is the different kinds of threats that the CISO and staff could face on a daily basis. With the IT Service needs to remedy the situation and reduce the impact. Also the data can be recorded and studied to determine plans to reduce future risks from happening. With the recovery aspect, there needs to be different actions that should be available when a potential risk could occur. A common practice is to have a backup of the important data in case when it is needed to be restored. After the company and CISO comes to an agreement on what is essential and what is required, that is when plans are developed and implemented. These plans should be in the daily plans and should be tested to know what went right and what went wrong. This would be a trial and error process to get it better and better and to have it tested before a real disaster, the better. So they can know the process and know what to do when it happens in real life and not a simulation.
Another aspect that Cheryl discovered was that was that half of the structure and organization of systems and procedures of the company met the industry standards. The company’s IT department had designed its operations based on the firm’s needs. The IT organization was structured according to internal
The patient may need assistance caring for himself following discharge from the hospital. The daughter lives too far to assist her father on a daily basis. The case worker needs to determine how much the daughter is willing to assist her father during the transition. The daughter may be willing to become her father’s caregiver during the initial recovery period. She would also be a good support system by providing medication reminders, encouraging medication compliance, dietary restriction compliance and promoting positive health behaviors.
What is the worst that could happen to a large insurance and financial corporation with facilities in several states? Exploring the seven domains of a typical IT infrastructure leads to several possibilities. One possible scenario for each of the seven domains, user, workstation, LAN, LAN-to-WAN, remote access, WAN, and system/application will be explored in depth and taken to the furthest worst-case scenario.
SC received phone call from Pa’s nephew Ron who stated that the family is looking into senior community living and wanted to know if the Waiver program will pay for it as they do long term care in the Pa community. The SC explained to the Pa that the Waiver Programs does not pay for any type of Community Residential Care as it is not the same as community long tern living. The informed about Ron the differences between the two type living agreements. Ron was informed that Community-residential care (CRC) covers a wide range of congregate living arrangements from room and board housing to adult foster care, assisted living and numerous variations on each of these models based on such variables as facility size, and as do the Waiver program
A high-volume network is typically a network in an enterprise corporation with thousands of computers. High volume networks can obtain adequate Internet access using multiple proxy servers in a combined array and chain combination connected to a T1 line or greater. Microsoft recommends that the computer hosting Proxy Server meet the following minimum requirements:
This strategy assumes that an articulated business strategy is the driver of both organizational design choices and the design of IT infrastructure. The alignment is said to be the most common and widely understood perspective, as it corresponds to the classic, hierarchical view of strategic management.
The objective of this research is to help a company or an entrepreneur understand the business environment better as well as customers’ needs and, therefore, make better business decisions.
2. Propose method by which IS/IT strategies may be implemented in an organization to overcome challenges as were found from the analysis above.
For my independent study, I have created a network in my house. A network by definition are more than one computer that are linked together electronically via a protocol (common language) so the computers can communicate and share resources. This network improves the day-to-day life by adding value and usefulness to the computers. The processes and ideas that I have learned thru this experience can be applied directly into today’s rich electronic business environment.
In this part, I would analyze the process of aligning IT infrastructure and operations with business goal in details. By looking through the caselets and power points that have been given, my opinion is that IT governance plays the most important role to ensure that IT is aligned with the business goals, by implementing effective IT governance, the organizations can gain the maximum value from IT, so that the business goal on IT would be achieved. I would define the background of IT governance and the process of building effective IT governance.
Organizational change is a process of developing a strategic plan for modifying an enterprise’s business processes through the modification of policies, procedures and processes to move the organization from an “as is” state to a “to be” state.