Sample CSC214 Computer and Network Security Assignment

CSC214 Computer and Network Security Assignment Sample

Case Study for Assignment Help

Figura Leisure Centre (FLC) was established in 1989 by converting an old hospital. FLC provides a room space for the community which is visited by nearly 100, 000 people every year. Centre contains a fitness gym, school nursery and several offices for local charities and is visited by several groups who runs their personal or activities for the community.

Centre is run by a small management committee which is formed of volunteer trustees of the association and works directly with the local city council. Management volunteers are drawn from the local community and are responsible for the development of the centre. FLC mission is to provide affordable high-quality comfort to the visitors and their customers are from the different sections of the society. The centre has been enjoying an enviable reputation for the quality and comfort of its rooms and customer service support due to the dedication of its staff. The FLC competitive strategy has been to ensure the utmost satisfaction of their customers from a policy of continuous monitoring by management staff. This has not gone unnoticed by customers wishing to have an excellent place to organise their activities i.e. birthday parties, wedding receptions, yoga and Pilates classes, karate, basketball and football games, etc, and there has been no problem in attracting customers.

The centre, having no website, promotes itself by way of flyers, local newspaper and magazine advertising, and ‘word-of-mouth’. Most of their work is still taken manually and the management committee have felt that most of their rooms and facilities were not in use throughout the day, thus, they are loosing revenue. Several people works in the centre on the rota basis and the staff don’t get to see each other unless there is a social gathering or a staff meeting. Due to the lack of communication between the staff several problems arises in the centre to deal with the customers queries. At the same time centre staff having a problem to chase the customers to make the payment.

Management committee have heard about new innovative technology ‘cloud’ which is helping the traditional business world. They have find out that cloud computing is the fastest growing form of computing and according to Gartner the worldwide public cloud service market will grow from $182 billion in 2018 to $331.2 billion in 2022.

Management has realised that with the cloud technology the centre can solve their problems and provide better service to their customers and improve the occupancy rate to increase the revenue.

Management have decided to use cloud-based SaaS (Software as a Service) based business information system, for example, management information system, customer management system, accounting information system, etc, which can be used to analyse their customers patterns to offer them better deals and attract more customers in the off peak time.

Management have approached a number of consultants, to find out the right SaaS system for the centre and identify the benefits, challenges for adopting the SaaS based system with the approaches to minimise the impact of challenges you have identified.

Solution

Introduction

SaaS (Software as a Service) is mainly considered as a software distribution model that is included with cloud providers and different hosts applications. This makes a more appropriate selection of end-users within the internet, and the SaaS application is used as a compatible device for the login of users. This study is mainly based on a case analysis of FLC ("Figura Leisure Centre"), provides an active room space community and contains a school nursery, gym, and several offices for particular local charities with more than 100,000 people per annum. Customer services and support of their room services are major priorities for FLC. The management of FLC has no proper website, and due to this, they decided to use a SaaS-based system for developing business and its information management. Several processes can be managed by the cloud-based SaaS, and these are customer management systems, management information systems, and accounting information systems. These all are useful to analyse the pattern of customer’s patterns and offer them an attractive deal at an off-peak time.

On the basis of cloud computing, the definition of SaaS ("Software as a Service") with appropriate research

As a software distribution model, SaaS is a cloud provider that hosts applications by making all of these available for end-users across the internet. Besides, an ISV ("independent software vendor") can contract with a third-party cloud provider for hosting the application. Additionally, in the case of large companies like Microsoft, cloud providers are sometimes referred to as software vendors, and SaaS is a major category within three activities of cloud computing. IaaS ("Infrastructure as a Service") and PaaS ("platform as a service") are also included within cloud computing, and a range of IT personnel, business, and professional users use SaaS applications in an active way (Huang & Li, 2020). Apart from that, FLC has a mission of providing affordable as well as high-quality visitors with comfort and customers who come from various sections of the society, along with a good reputation and effective dedication to this.

Figure 1: Effective framework for SaaS provisioning and selection

A better framework is figured out in this section, and the selection manager helps to implement SP management operations by managing various policies with suitable SaaS providers. This is mainly based on the QoS consumer's requirements and QoS offerings SaaS providers (Badidi, 2013). SLA manager implements SLAM operations by carrying out the negotiation process between SaaS providers and consumers. After that, CSV selects different SaaS providers and looks into the negotiation process. In addition, in managing IAM operations, a Profile manager is used by including different preferences on the basis of required QoS as well as personalised services. As depicted by Hadi et al., (2021), another feature is policy manager for managing PM management and is responsible for meeting QoS aware selection as well as authorisation policies on the basis of service providers. This entire working principle and architecture are really effective to manage better services to FLC in order to develop the better activity of customer support and their services.

Discussion of two to four benefits for Figura Leisure Centre to adopt cloud-based SaaS model in managing Information systems such as accounting information system, CRM, and management information systems

Cloud-based SaaS models are too effective in order to manage different kinds of information systems such as accounting information systems, CRM and Management Information systems. Along with that accounting information system is mainly a system structure, which is generally utilised for the business for storing, managing, processing, retrieving and reporting several financial data. Furthermore, for accountants, business analysts, managers, consultants, financial officers, regulators, auditors and several tax agencies, this accounting information system plays an important role (Al-Somali & Baghabra, 2019). Through SaaS accounting, accounting software is provided, which is generally hosted by the service provider. On the other hand, SaaS software can be securely accessed through mobile or computer. In such correspondence, this kind of software is called cloud accounting software. Along with that, for the data centres of the organisations, this software's are installed by the companies. Hence, for Figura Leisure Centre (FLC), this cloud accounting software is too significant for managing several activities regarding accounting (Malik et al., 2018). On the other hand, for accessing various services and features, the SaaS accounting information system is too efficient. Along with that, automatic updates are also processed in the case of SaaS. In such correspondence, management is patched and updated.

In addition, SaaS CRM is mainly Cloud-based software by which permanent access is given to the CRM functionality. Furthermore, any kind of investing is not required for the installation and maintenance. On the other hand, transparency corresponding to the relationships among the customers is brought by the SaaS-based CRM. Besides, business automation is helped where marketing, sales and customer service are personalised through this process (Nayar & Kumar, 2018). Moreover, for operating the Figura Leisure Centre (FLC), a CRM is required in order to manage the customers of this company. Along with that, different kinds of data and information corresponding to the customers are maintained through this CRM software where several kinds of features such as attendance, payments, different rules and regulations of the company and other features are provided. Through the Cloud, all the information is stored in the database, which is too significant for the business. Along with that, business data and services are provided through the CRM system. As opined by Saa et al., (2017), service providers can host the SaaS CRM, which is available to all the customers of the company. In such circumstances, SAAS has great importance for managing the CRM in order to operate the company. As per the case study for Figura Leisure Centre (FLC), SaaS is too effective for operating the CRM information system of this company.

For management information systems, SaaS is a significant distribution model by which multiple applications can be hosted by the cloud provider, and these applications are available to the users online over the internet. On the other hand, the portfolio regarding the technology of the company is provided through the SaaS management system. Besides, the cost of the SaaS applications is contained in the SaaS management system (Jayasimha & Nargundkar, 2020). In addition, vendors and the contracts are managed through the SaaS management system, whereas several SaaS applications are secured through this management system. For Customer service support of FLC, this SaaS management system is too effective for the visitors and the customers. In such accordance, the collaboration of the information technology is developed through the SaaS management system, whereas the shadow IT is reduced and prevented (Rath et al., 2019). As per the case study writing, this FLC organisation has no website for managing its customers and visitors. In such correspondence, a SaaS management system is required for the development of the organisation in a digital way.

Identification of two challenges associated with introducing cloud-based information system in regard to a business information system that has been identified in the previous section

In order to introduce cloud-based information systems in regard to business information systems, various challenges are involved in this. These are such as reliability and high availability, hybrid cloud complexity, portability and interoperability, migration, creating of private Cloud, migration, compliance, control of governance, internet connectivity, lack of expertise, and password security as well as cost management. These all are involved with managing various business information systems like CRM, accounting, and management information systems (Al Hadwer et al., 2021). As per the case study, it is seen that management has realised and approached a number of consultants for better identification of SaaS systems within the centre. Additionally, the management of FLC has also identified that cloud technology is the key success of their business information system that solves problems and provides better customer services on the occupancy rate of increasing the annual revenue of FLC.

Two major challenges are discussed on the basis of the previous discussion of the benefits of using Cloud-based SaaS for small to medium-sized companies like FLC.

Password security:

Using cloud accounts by various users can be harmful to getting network threatening and vulnerable threats. The specific password is known by all, and anyone can change the password at any time. This indicates a big issue for managing the password and can be hacked with cloud access with confidential information. In order to manage the financial information system, business information, as well as management systems, can also be secured by using an effective one known password within the organisation (Ferreira et al., 2017). After that, a big initiative can be measured through organisations like FLC for protecting their password to get secure and safe access to cloud computing and SaaS operations. After that, the password must be modified on a daily basis to access passwords and usernames in a judicial manner.

Cost management:

Cloud computing is able to access fast software internet connection, and that requires high valued software, hardware, maintenance, and management. Besides, high and affordable prices can make it more difficult to achieve a better business information system in medium-sized organisations (Malik et al., 2018). Another issue is transferring of data and its cost within a small business project in a public cloud.
Developing of supporting evidence for identified key challenges in the previous section and analysis of three major approaches that help to minimise the impact of these challenges that have been identified

As per several key challenges corresponding to the previous point, password security and cost management are big factors. In such circumstances, Cloud-based security, network protection, identity security and visibility have to be improved. In such correspondence, cloud cyber security has to be increased for preventing different types of attacks (Nayar & Kumar, 2018). Besides, the growth of agile development has to be increased, and scalability has to be improved. Along with that, firewall, tokenisation VPN, penetration testing should be utilised where the public internet connection should have to be avoided.

Figure 2: Worldwide public cloud service revenue forecast, 2018-2022
(Source: Gartner, 2019)

According to the Gartner report of 2019, the worldwide public cloud services market has been projected to grow 17.5%, and that is $214.3 billion in 2019 (Gartner, 2019). Apart from that, Cloud system infrastructure services have grown 27.5% by 2019, and these large evaluations in cloud computing indicate big cost management in organisations like FLC.

Many companies trying to adopt cloud computing activities must have a firm that understands the major three deployment models such as private, public, and hybrid (Saa et al., 2017). In this regard, the case of personal entertainment and managing advanced IT tools, Netflix is a great example of this activity, and for B2B and B2C users, IaaS (“Infrastructure as a Service”), SaaS (“Software as a service”), and PaaS (“Platform as a Service”) are three approaches frequently used in the market. Furthermore, all the SaaS tools should be discovered for prioritising the application at a low cost. In such correspondence, Platform as a service and infrastructure as a service can be utilised in order to minimise the challenges as it is low costing and it is provided by the third party provided, where the software is utilised over the internet. Moreover, IaaS is owned by the service provider where the security is too strong.

Conclusion

From the above discussion of the entire Cloud-based SaaS for business information management, it can be concluded that the SaaS management information system is mainly the business practice. This includes several factors like purchasing, different licensing; on boarding, renewals and multiple off boarding are managed and monitored through the SaaS management. Besides, cloud system infrastructure services have grown 27.5% by 2019, and this indicates a large evaluation in cloud computing along with big cost management in the organisations like FLC. Therefore, CRM, accounting information systems, and management information systems can be managed effectively by using Cloud-based SaaS in FLC.

Reference:

Al Hadwer, A., Tavana, M., Gillis, D., & Rezania, D. (2021). A systematic review organisational factors impacting cloud-based technology adoption using Technology-organisation-environment framework. Internet of Things, 15, 100407. https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Madjid-Tavana/publication/351443429_A_Systematic_Review_of_Organizational_Factors_Impacting_Cloud-based_Technology_Adoption_Using_Technology-Organization-Environment_Framework/links/60983b51a6fdccaebd1d6091/A-Systematic-Review-of-Organizational-Factors-Impacting-Cloud-based-Technology-Adoption-Using-Technology-Organization-Environment-Framework.pdf

Al-Somali, S. A., & Baghabra, H. (2019). Investigating the determinants of it professionals' intention to use cloud-based applications and solutions: an extension of the technology acceptance. In Cloud Security: Concepts, Methodologies, Tools, and Applications (pp. 2039-2058). IGI Global. https://scholar.archive.org/work/cfnbn4purfbjrhk75mockd6lyy/access/wayback/http://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/

3bf2/dbe862f0eb240800297d5f350f578a43c32e.pdf

Badidi, E. (2013). A framework for software-as-a-service selection and provisioning. arXiv preprint arXiv:1306.1888. https://arxiv.org/pdf/1306.1888

Ferreira, L., Putnik, G., Cunha, M. M. C., Putnik, Z., Castro, H., Alves, C., ... & Varela, L. (2017). A cloud-based architecture with embedded pragmatics renderer for ubiquitous and Cloud manufacturing. International Journal of Computer Integrated Manufacturing, 30(4-5), 483-500. https://repositorium.sdum.uminho.pt/bitstream/1822/51375/1/0951192X.2017.pdf

Gartner, (2019). Gartner Forecasts Worldwide Public Cloud Revenue to Grow 17.5 Percent in 2019. Retrieved from https://www.gartner.com/en/newsroom/press-releases/2019-04-02-gartner-forecasts-worldwide-public-cloud-revenue-to-g. [Retrieved on 16 March 2022]

Hadi, H. J., Omar, M. A., & Osman, W. R. S. (2021). Investigating the determinants of CC-SaaS adoption in Iraqi’s public organisations from the perspective of IT professionals. International Journal of Engineering Research and Technology, 14(2), 130-143. https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Hiba-Hadi/publication/351093867_Investigating_the_Determinants_of_CC-
SaaS_Adoption_in_Iraqi's_Public_Organisations_From_the_Perspective_of_IT_Professionals/links/6085b409

881fa114b42b0966/Investigating-the-Determinants-of-CC-SaaS-Adoption-in-Iraqis-Public-Organisations-From-the-Perspective-of-IT-Professionals.pdf

Huang, W., & Li, J. (2020, August). Using agent solutions and visualisation techniques to manage the cloud-based education system. In 2020 IEEE Intl Conf on Dependable, Autonomic and Secure Computing, Intl Conf on Pervasive Intelligence and Computing, Intl Conf on Cloud and Big Data Computing, Intl Conf on Cyber Science and Technology Congress (DASC/PiCom/CBDCom/CyberSciTech) (pp. 375-379). IEEE. https://westminsterresearch.westminster.ac.uk/download/4e28ebe530f0e91acd90292bd000cbec0926b0def48b

eca232b64f4c4e2063c7/1779663/ICETA%202016.pdf

Jayasimha, K. R., & Nargundkar, R. V. (2020). Impact of software as a service (SaaS) on software acquisition process. Journal of Business & Industrial Marketing. https://www.iimidr.ac.in/wp-content/uploads/Impact-of-software-as-a-service-SaaS-on-software-acquisition-process-FPMI-Theses.pdf

Malik, M. I., Wani, S. H., & Rashid, A. (2018). Cloud computing-technologies. International Journal of Advanced Research in Computer Science, 9(2). https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Mohammad-Ilyas-Malik/publication/324863629_CLOUD_COMPUTING-TECHNOLOGIES/links/5af45452aca2720af9c57086/CLOUD-COMPUTING-TECHNOLOGIES.pdf

Nayar, K. B., & Kumar, V. (2018). Cost benefit analysis of cloud computing in education. International Journal of Business Information Systems, 27(2), 205-221. https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Vikas-Kumar-122/publication/321753986_Cost_benefit_analysis_of_cloud_computing_in_education/links/5af94354a6fdcc0

c033450cb/Cost-benefit-analysis-of-cloud-computing-in-education.pdf

Rath, A., Spasic, B., Boucart, N., & Thiran, P. (2019). Security Pattern for Cloud SaaS: From System and Data Security to Privacy Case Study in AWS and Azure. Computers, 8(2), 34. https://www.mdpi.com/2073-431X/8/2/34/pdf

Saa, P., Cueva Costales, A., Moscoso-Zea, O., & Luján-Mora, S. (2017). Moving ERP systems to the cloud-data security issues. http://rua.ua.es/dspace/bitstream/10045/69990/1/2017_Saa_etal_JISEM.pdf