Developing a Questionnaire to Gather User Requirements
With the current advanced technology, information networks and computer networking has become a critical aspect for the success of any business whether small or large. The setup networks support services and applications, they connect people and allow them to access and share resources within the company. This helps the business to continue running effectively. As operations are carried out within the company, the networks are expected to adjust automatically to the varying traffic bandwidth to maintain consistency in the response times. To design and build a good network, the network requirements must be identified from the company personnel so as to come up with the best solutions that meets the need of their business. The chosen method in my network design is using a questionnaire to gather the requirements from the users, the sports complex management and the staff.
Questionnaires and the purpose of each question.
A questionnaire designed for the staff.
1.What tasks would you like to automate or make more efficient? – Based on the staff response, the designer now knows what applications are to be improved and automated to make the staff members work more efficient
2.What business applications do you use that would need to be supported by the network? -The applications that the network will be configured to work within a sports environment.
3.Do you want to have a shared access to files or multi-user support databases? – this enables the designer to choose between a server-based network and multi-server network.
4.How many staff members are present in the company that needs network support? -The number of staff members will dictate the type of connections to be used, the type of infrastructure and the best topology to be used in such an environment.
A questionnaire designed for the Users.
1.What characteristics do you expect the network to meet terms of load balancing, load sharing, capabilities, manageability, simplicity, performance, cost application, security, and speed? – Assists the designer to understand what resources to use in order to ensure simplicity, offer better performance and maintain the security expected
2.What resource-intensive services will you use in the network? For example, videos streaming services etc.- This is important in letting the designer know what type of equipment to use. In our case, more routers and access points will be required in the sports complex to service the users and the company staff.
3.What connection speed would you prefer? – Based on the user’s response, the network designer is now able to choose the right equipment and calculate the correct budget needed to make the improvements if any.
Categorizing Applications and Devising an Assessment Plan for Network Performance
4.Is internet access necessary? – Since it’s a sports complex network, services such as video streaming may be expected meaning high bandwidth connections are most suitable for optimum performance.
A questionnaire designed for the management.
1.Who are the key end users, sponsors, and stakeholders? – What the network is expected to achieve and the expected time range for completing the network design and its implementation.
2.What are the business outcomes that you aim to achieve? The question allows the network designer to understand better what fundamentals are required so that the network can contribute towards the achievement of the company’s goals.
3.Are there any specified protocols to observe or any specific vendors and equipment? – In planning for what type of equipment to use and the protocols to implements, the company should provide any protocols that they want to be incorporated and the specific vendors outlined if any.
4.What are the network implementation milestones and timelines? – This information helps the network designer to know what security measure to assign the end users, the sports complex sponsors and the stakeholders in the sports complex company.
Validation and Verification
Verification.
After the design is reviewed, the verification procedure is now undertaken where formal verification work reviews are given throughout the design. This is necessary to confirm that that design suits all the company’s functionalities [1].
Suggested applications for the sports complex company.
1.Team rosters. Used to store biographic information such as contract information, name, sex, age, and team uniforms size
2.Databases. Useful for keeping the company’s business and accounting records, maintenance records, equipment inventories, and employee files.
For a successful verification the following actions are carried out;
- Conducting demonstrations and lab tests.
- Comparing the newly implemented design with already proven solutions [2].
- Considering and implementing alternative calculations.
Validation.
During delivery of the network, validation has to be done. Some of the activities carried out during this process include;
- An audit of the network delivered to make sure that it delivered the expected results based on all the requirements outlined by the management, staff and the users.
- A confirmation is done to ensure that all the customer requirements are met by performing an agreed program acceptance test [3].
Network design
The network was designed and implemented using Boson netsim 10 software. The terminals were all configured with their respective bandwidth capacity, reliability and delay values as specified in table 1.
Application Set 1 on LAN A
Attached is a screenshot showing the configuration of LAN A with application set 1. In this application set the file transfer protocols were implemented to allow communication between the end user devices through their respective switches [4]. Routing information protocols enabled configuration of the specific bandwidth capacity for each interface connected to the switches.
Application Set 2 on LAN B
The screenshot below shows the configuration of LAN B. The bandwidth capacity, delay and reliability values have also been assigned using the configure terminal commands. During the implementation of this application set, Enhanced Interior Gateway Routing protocols (EIGRP) were necessary in order to set the delay and reliability values [5].
Validation and Verification
This was achieved by changing the default metric K-values to the specified values. Each terminal connected to the end user devices was assigned its bandwidth capacity, a reliability of 99.999% assigned to both B1 and server 3, and finally server 2 was assigned a delay value of 80ms [6].
Application set 3 on LAN C
The screenshot below shows the configuration of LAN C. Since LAN B is also connected to router B, Enhanced interior Gateway Routing protocols (EIGRP) were also used to assign application set values to the interfaces. The respective bandwidth capacity, reliability and delay values were implemented by changing the default metric K-values [7]. This enabled the automation of the routing configurations and decisions.
The network topology
Attached is a screenshot of the whole network topology after the design and all the application sets were implemented. This allowed the use of 3-layer routing information protocols (RIP) which allows communication between the different layer devices. The RIP protocols also enable Inter-Vlan communication between the networks [8].
Conclusion.
The main objective of the network is to keep sports complex customers satisfied by making sure that their requirements are fully met. In some occasions, the network design and implementation can be time consuming and expensive based on the extensibility and size of the company. As identified, involving the end users, staff members, and the management during this process is essential so as to better understand their requirements and avoid any misunderstanding of the requirements. A problem is easily fixed if its identified earlier and helps avoid unwanted expenses in the end. The sports complex network can now be comfortably implemented without any delays since all the requirements are given in the questionnaires. A successful network implementation can be expected.
References
[1] T. J. Rosandich, “Information Technology for Sports Management,” The Sport Journal, vol. 1, no. 2, pp. 1-6, 2008.
[2] S. Pretty and M. Norris, “A quality approach to network design,” Designing the Total Area Network: Intranets, VPNs and Enterprise Networks Explained, pp. 301-312.
[3] A. T, “Telecommunications Network Engineering,” Quality Management and Quality Assuarance Standards, vol. 3, 1994.
[4] M. H. D. T. M. M. a. M. M. A. Kulkarni, “An Implementation of Network Coding with Association Policies in Heterogeneous Networks,” in NETWORKING Workshops, 2011.
[5] Mirzahossein, K, Analysis of RIP, OSPF, and EIGRP Routing Protocols using OPNET., Simon Fraser University, School of Engineering Science, 2013.
[6] Farhangi S, “Performance Comparison of Mixed Protocols Based on EIGRP, IS-IS and OSPF for Real-time Applications.,” Middle Eastern Journal of Scientific Research , vol. 12, no. 11, 2012.
[7] B. A. Patrick K, “IS-IS Routing Protocol,” 19 11 2013. [Online]. [Accessed https://www.interlab.ait.ac.th/tein2/Presentations/Basic%20Routing/IS-IS%20-%20Routing%20Protocol.pdf].
[8] M. T. a. K. M. Amrah Baba-Ali, “Performance Analysis of Interior Gateway Routing Protocols across different AS.,” in The Fourth International Conference on Computer Science & Computational Mathematics (ICCSCM 2015), Langkawi, Malaysia, 2015.
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