Accenture's IT Challenge

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Accenture's IT Challenge

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• Presented by TechVibe

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The World of Accenture

• Accenture
• Competitors Clients

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Introduction to Accenture

• A management consulting and technology services
  company
• Net revenues of 11.57 billion for 2002 fiscal
  year
• More than 80,000 employees
• More than 110 offices in 47 countries

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Competitors

• Tridion, a management support and content
  delivery specialist serving Europe and based in
  the Netherlands
• A.T. Kearney, another multinational firm with
  management expertise
• Teleca USA Incorporated, a multinational firm
  based in San Diego, California specializing in
  technical services

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Clients

• Dell, with a need to upgrade their manufacturing
  infrastructure and reduce inventory
• ATT, with a desire to learn the science of
  supply chain management
• KLM Royal Dutch Airlines which wanted a new IT
  system and online booking
• Fiat Auto which wanted to be the first European
  car manufacturer to embrace the web as a way to
  purchase cars

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The IT Project

• Why undertake the project?
• Upgrade or Rebuild entirely?
• Outsource relocation requirements
• 4 days of documentation, 2 days of relocation, 2
  weeks to setup overall

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Hierarchy of the IS Department

• Manager Designs the infrastructure. Known as
  The Boss.
• Supervisor Allocates tasks compliant with
  design specifications to liaisons
• Liaisons Actual implementers
• Associates Responsible for the infrastructure
  and troubleshooting

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IT Hierarchy Figure
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Technology

• Switches and Routers
• Domain Controller
• Lotus Notes
• SQL Structured Query Language
• Examples MS SQL Server, Oracle
• Active Directory
• FDDI
• Windows NT Server
• SAP Systems, Applications, and Products in Data
  Processing
• Example mySAP Business Suite

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The Reborn IT Structure

• 1 PDC server, 1 SQL server, 1 mail server, 1
  Lotus server, 1 print server, and 1 test server
• Remember the IS Hierarchy it applies here as
  well
• IS Department Manager The Dictator
• Has access to all domains
• Grants or restricts access

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Access Figure
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Connections Between Servers and Domains
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Benefits

• Adheres to accepted IS concepts of Automation,
  Security, and Compliance
• Automated
• Test server for testing new updates without
  affecting the real structure
• Strict Security Access is based on employee job
  description
• More Security - Only those that implemented the
  system are allowed to change it
• System monitors

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Drawbacks

• Dated
• Some upgrades must still be done manually
• Only prominent problems will trigger the system
  monitors
• Uses a RAID 1 system, versus the currently more
  popular RAID 5
• Based on the Windows 9x architecture and thus
  inherits every flaw and instability problem and
  so has a weak foundation

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Overall Impression

• Despite problems, the IS department is never
  overworked
• Most problems encountered are minor
• Even though the foundation may be weak, it was
  the best at the moment of implementation
• Still manages to meet the IS goals of Compliance,
  Security, and Automation
• Overall Grade A

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• All graphics were used without the expressed
  permission of the author(s).