IT Organization

Harris Kern is an IT consultant who specializes in working with Fortune 1000 firms to establish cost-effective, highly-available infrastructures; and the co-author of four Sun Microsystems Press books, including Building the New Enterprise. He resides in Woodland Hills, CA. Stuart D. Galup is Assistant Professor of Computer Information Systems at Florida Atlantic University and a Certified Computing Professional. He resides in Ft. Lauderdale, FL.

1. Introduction.


IT Infrastructure Assessment. What Is the Infrastructure?



2. What We Found in Our Travels.


What's Wrong with Client/Server? The Problems. The Excuses. Applications Development Is Not an Issue. The Impact. Processes Are Not First.



3. The CIO's Role.


Executives Out of Touch with Their Infrastructure. How Can the Infrastructure Catch Up Quickly? Lack of Time and Resource. Assure That Your IT Budget Provides for RAS. Marketing and Selling IT Services. Duplication of Efforts.



4. Case Studies.


The Problems Short-Listed. Current Organizational Structures.



5. The Problems Short-Listed.


The Top Three Missing or Broken Processes. The Other Issues. Internal Support Agreement.



6. Learn from the Past to Build the Future.


The Organization. Processes.



7. Building a World-Class Infrastructure.


Start Simple. Designing and Adhering to Your Key Methodologies. Know That Success Equals the Change You Manage.



8. The New Order.


Splitting the Technologies. Who's in Charge?



9. The Organization for the Twenty-First Century.


Enterprise Services. Mission-Critical vs Non-Mission-Critical. Structuring Technical Staff. Functional Responsibilities. Epilogue The “World-Class” Infrastructure.



Appendix A: Frequently-Asked Questions.


General. People. Process. Technology.



Appendix B: Infrastructure Assessment Program.


The Industry Problem. People Issues. Process Issues. Technology Issues. The Program. Customer Requirements. The Deliverable. The Cost.



Appendix C: Service Level Agreements.


Information Systems Services Cost Options Definitions.



Appendix D: Internal Support Agreement.


Root Authority. Server Availability Hours. Backups. Support Responsibility.



Appendix E: Marketing Materials for an Internal Audience.


Enterprise Center. Systems Management. Quality Assurance. Customized reports. Data storage. Mission. Enterprise Center Tours. High-Tech Equipment. Information Technology Survey. Consulting Services. Bibliography.



Index.