Under Milkwood: IT Operations Management - Capacity & Config Report

This report analyzes the need for capacity planning and configuration management within the IT Operations Department of Under Milkwood, a gaming company. The report presents a proposal to senior management, arguing the benefits and costs of establishing these departments. It explores the "For" case, detailing the strategic and tactical implications, setup, and benefits of capacity planning and configuration management, including improved change and availability management, and demand forecasting. It also presents the "Against" case, discussing reasons why these departments might not be necessary. The analysis includes a BTOPP (Business, Technology, Organization, Process, People) analysis for both departments, assessing costs, risks, and benefits. The report concludes with the student's opinion on the necessity of these departments within Under Milkwood, providing recommendations based on the findings.

IT Operations Management 1
IT Operations Management
Assignment 2
PROPOSAL - CAPACITY PLANNING &
CONFIGURATION MANAGEMENT
By (Name)
(Course)
(Professor’s Name)
(University)
(City)
(Country/State)
(Date)

IT Operations Management 2
Management Summary
Under Milkwood is a large company that comprises of approximately 400 employees. This
company entails many departments. Capacity Planning department is required to help Under
Milkwood gaming company to meet its goals. To achieve this, this department will play vital
roles in forecasting demand. Hence, enabling the management to employ sufficient staff
personnel who will be able to carry out the given tasks. However, the initial and ongoing costs
are too high. A lot of money will be used for purchasing necessary hardware and software which
are very expensive. On the other hand, establishing configuration management department will
ensure that the new systems have been configured properly. Other than technologies deployment,
this department will also enhance documentation of games software. Hence, enabling developers
to fix errors very easily. The benefits of these two departments will be long term.

IT Operations Management 3
Table of Contents
Contents
Management Summary.............................................................................................................................2
Table of Contents.......................................................................................................................................3
Introduction...............................................................................................................................................5
Scope...........................................................................................................................................................5
Objectives...................................................................................................................................................5
Proposal......................................................................................................................................................6
Division Section..........................................................................................................................................7
Games Development...............................................................................................................................7
Games Production Support......................................................................................................................7
BTOPP Analysis – Capacity Planning.....................................................................................................8
Business...................................................................................................................................................8
Technology..............................................................................................................................................8
Organization............................................................................................................................................8
Process.....................................................................................................................................................8
People......................................................................................................................................................9
BTOPP Analysis – Configuration Management.....................................................................................9
Business...................................................................................................................................................9
Technology............................................................................................................................................10
Organization..........................................................................................................................................10
Process...................................................................................................................................................10
People....................................................................................................................................................11
Costs of capacity planning and configuration management.................................................................11
The Benefits of Capacity Planning Department....................................................................................12
Business.................................................................................................................................................12
Technology............................................................................................................................................12
Organization..........................................................................................................................................13
Process...................................................................................................................................................13
People....................................................................................................................................................13
The Benefits of Configuration Management Department....................................................................14
Business.................................................................................................................................................14
Technology............................................................................................................................................14

IT Operations Management 4
Organization..........................................................................................................................................15
Process...................................................................................................................................................15
People....................................................................................................................................................15
Capacity Planning Risks.........................................................................................................................15
Configuration Management Risks..........................................................................................................16
Steps of Implementing Capacity Planning and Configuration management departments................17
Recommendations...................................................................................................................................19
References.................................................................................................................................................20

IT Operations Management 5
Introduction
Under Milkwood Pty Ltd is a company that writes games which can run on all major platforms.
Currently, the company has several divisions such as administration, marketing and sales.
However, the company does not have capacity planning and configuration management
departments. The main aim of this report is to discuss benefits and costs of these two
departments and recommend company’s management on whether to establish these departments
or not.
Scope
The scope of this report entails the following:
 To discuss pros and cons of establishing Capacity Planning and Configuration
Management departments.
 To advise management on the way forward that is whether to establish these two
departments or not.
Objectives
The objectives of this report comprises of the following:
To determine the benefits of establishing the following departments; Capacity Planning
and Configuration Management.
To determine costs associated with capacity planning and configuration management
departments.
To determine the impacts of establishing capacity planning and configuration
management departments to business operations in Under Milkwood company.

IT Operations Management 6
Proposal
The following are some of the operations that are carried out in Under Milkwood Gaming Pty
Ltd; writing and selling games, website for upgrading games and keeping in touch with
customers. It is very difficult to manage all these processes without a well-designed
organizational structure which incorporates capacity planning and configuration management
(Lawlor, 2010, p.76). Also, it is very difficult for management to determine the number of games
that should be produced at a given time. Moreover, it is also hard to keep track of any changes
that are made to the computer systems, thus leading to insecurity issues. Therefore, it becomes
important to establish these two departments. The following are some of the business values that
can be created by these two departments:
 Change management: The configuration management department will facilitate change in
Under Milkwood. This can be achieved by ensuring that the new technology is
compatible with the old technology. Hence, the new technology will be integrated
properly to ensure that existing processes are running well (Nenonen and Storbacka,
2010, p.44).
 Availability management: The configuration management will ensure that the systems are
not prone to malfunctions since they will be updated regularly as well as problems fixed.
Similarly, the capacity planning department will ensure that the information that is
required by different departments is available anytime when the need arises. It is
concerned mostly with production, hence it will facilitate completion of projects in a
specified time and also within estimated costs. Thus, enhancing smooth running of
business operations (Lopes, Brasileiro and Maciel, 2010, p.7).

IT Operations Management 7
 Forecasting demand: The capacity planning department will be responsible for
estimating the number of customers who require games in a given season or time period.
Other than requiring games, it will also be responsible for estimating the number of
games that will require upgrades in a given time. Hence, enabling the management of
Under Milkwood to employ sufficient staff personnel who will be able to carry out the
given tasks appropriately. Forecasting demand will play some important roles such as
resource allocation. This will enable Under Milkwood to generate a lot of profits as
resources will be managed effectively (Luan, Sharp and Lancashire, 2010, p.2).
Division Section
Games Development
The games development division is very important in Under Milkwood as it will be responsible
for designing games. Through this division, the roles of designers, artists, programmers, testers
among others will be explained explicitly to reduce misunderstanding. It will enhance effective
communication among game developers, thus ensuring that different processes are running
smoothly (Watts, 2011).
Games Production Support
This division is equally important as it will ensure that systems that are used by different users
are running efficiently. Other than systems, it will also ensure that applications are updated
regularly to improve running of operations within Under Milkwood. Other responsibilities
include the following; maintaining stability and daily routines (Watts, 2011).

IT Operations Management 8
BTOPP Analysis – Capacity Planning
Business
The new technologies that will be incorporated into capacity planning in Under Milkwood will
focus on the available market opportunities. Capacity Planning department is required to help
Under Milkwood gaming company to meet its goals. To achieve this, this department will play
vital roles in forecasting demand. Hence, enabling the management to employ sufficient staff
personnel who will be able to carry out the given tasks appropriately. However, the initial and
ongoing costs are too high. A lot of money will be used for purchasing necessary hardware and
software which are very expensive (Hvolby and Steger-Jensen, 2010, p.847).
Technology
Technology entails operations of the software that has been deployed in Under Milkwood Pty
Ltd departments. Other than software, the hardware must be installed properly. Hence, the
capacity planning department will ensure that operations are running efficiently by deploying
better technologies basing on performance analyses. This will help the company to gain
competitive advantage over its competitors (Zhang et al., 2012, p.249).
Organization
The Under Milkwood Pty Ltd comprises of many departments. Hence, the capacity planning
department will ensure that these departments are coordinating well. To achieve this, it will
enhance centralization of information. Hence, each department will be able to access information
very easily. Effective communication will also be achieved in Under Milkwood (Mestry,
Damodaran and Chen, 2011, p.481).
Process

IT Operations Management 9
Different processes that take place in Under Milkwood will be dynamic rather than static. This is
because business conditions keep on changing day in day out. Therefore, capacity planning
department will aid systems’ capacity planning. For instance, the number of system’s users is
expected to increase as the number of customers increase. Hence, these systems will be able to
function properly as the load increases. However, capacity planning involves analysis of
historical information to predict trends and patterns. Hence, a lot of time is wasted that would
have been used to perform some important tasks (Gerstel et al., 2014, p.45).
People
People consists of customers, employees as well as business partners. The new information
systems will enable employees to carry out their activities very comfortable without straining.
The employees will be able to understand their roles and responsibilities within Milkwood, hence
reducing misunderstanding. However, the new department will lead to reassignment of duties.
Hence, time consuming as employees will be required to undergo further training (Jiang et al.,
2012, p.74).
BTOPP Analysis – Configuration Management
Business
Under Milkwood is a large company that comprises of approximately 400 employees. This
company entails many departments. There are many computer software that have been deployed
to facilitate smooth running of operations within Under Milkwood Pty Ltd. Thus, establishing
configuration management department will ensure that the new systems have been configured
properly. Also, it will ensure that the new systems have been incorporated well with existing
systems, hence ensuring that business operations are running smoothly. Other than technologies

IT Operations Management 10
deployment, this department will also enhance documentation of games software. Hence,
enabling developers to fix errors very easily (Schonwalder, Bjorklund and Shafer, 2010, p.168).
Technology
Under Milkwood company has many systems, which require to be integrated rather than working
independently, hence indispensable. Proper integration ensures that Under Milkwood employees
have accessed the right information. Other than the right information, it also ensures that the
information has reached concerned parties at the appropriate time. Moreover, it will ensure that
problems have been fixed easily. This will be achieved by proper documentation, hence keeping
track of any changes (Schroeter et al., 2012, p.172).
Organization
The configuration department will improve organization generally. Although, it has little effects
on physical structures. However, the most important thing is to have skilled personnel for
managing documentation effectively. Under Milkwood will require to set up several offices that
will facilitate meetings related to configuration management. However, implementation of
configuration management requires restructuring of organizational structure. Hence, it will
interfere smooth running of operations in Under Milkwood. The systems of other departments
also require to be integrated with these new department (Bovell et al., 2012, p.180).
Process
Configuration Management department will impact positively on different processes that take
place within Under Milkwood Pty Ltd. To maintain customers, consistency is a very important
aspect. This department will facilitate proper re-configuration of components. Therefore, the
company will be able to mitigate risks that it has encountered before. Moreover, it will help in

IT Operations Management 11
monitoring server configuration details. It will provide a procedure that needs to be followed to
restore faulty components within Under Milkwood Pty Ltd. To achieve this, documentation will
be updated regularly (Voutilainen et al., 2010, p.644).
People
Establishment of configuration management department will enhance workflow. This is because
the technical writer will provide documentation that will be easily understood by employees.
This well-organized information will enable network administrator to detect any intrusion into
the system, thus improving security. Moreover, he will also be able to understand configuration
issues with existing systems. Also, employees will be able to apply effective corrective
mechanisms to restore systems once an error has been encountered. However, Under Milkwood
can find some difficulties to finding a technical writer. The configuration management tools
require trained personnel. Hence, it will become difficult to meet Under Milkwood needs.
Inflexible operational personnel may halt processes in Under Milkwood (Watts, 2011).
Costs of capacity planning and configuration management.
 The initial cost for purchasing the capacity planning and configuration management
software is required. Other than software, necessary hardware alongside other materials
are also required. Therefore, Under Milkwood Pty Ltd will incur these costs (Lin, Chen
and Chu, 2014, p.22).
 Regarding ongoing costs, regular upgrading of the software is necessary. Also, a lot of
money is paid to the system operators and overall maintenance of these systems.
 The process of setting up configuration management system requires skilled IT
personnel. Therefore, a lot of money is spent to hire the skilled staff or outsourcing
services (Zanjani, Nourelfath and Ait-Kadi, 2010, p.4701).

IT Operations Management 12
The Benefits of Capacity Planning Department
Business
 Reliability. The configuration management department will ensure that the problems
associated with the system are solved on a real-time basis, hence limiting unnecessary
malfunctions. Unreliable systems can halt daily operations. Hence, this department will
also enable other departments to carry out their activities properly.
 Help Under Milkwood to achieve its objectives. Centralization enables different units
within the organization to work towards achieving a common goal, hence maximizing its
progress towards achieving its goals.
 Monitor costs. The capacity planning enables the management to keep truck of
production. The company can be able to determine the amount of money that was
allocated on a given project. Also, the company can be able to determine the amount of
money that has been used up. In addition, the capacity planning also plays some
important roles in future budgets. Hence, enabling the company to plan for the upcoming
changes (Gmach et al., 2010, p.96).
Technology
 Effective control of technologies efficiency. The capacity planning department can
enable the management of Under Milkwood Gaming Pty Ltd to maintain the production
level. This can be achieved by taking historical records into consideration. For example,
the number of customers who require games in a specific season or month can be higher
as compared to other months. Therefore, the management will be able to estimate the
number of games that should be produced at the given time. Subsequently, incorporating