Cloud-Based Solution for Headspace: Implementing NewAccess Project

This report discusses a cloud-based solution for Headspace's NewAccess project, a mental health intervention targeting young people. It covers non-functional requirements like usability, reliability, performance, and security, emphasizing data integrity. The report reviews cloud-based solutions, highlighting strengths such as flexibility, cost reduction, and scalability, while also addressing weaknesses like security risks and regulatory compliance. It also discusses the Software Development Life Cycle (SDLC) approach, comparing adaptive and predictive methodologies, and recommends an adaptive approach for Headspace due to the project's complexity and the need for user involvement. The report concludes that cloud computing can significantly enhance service delivery and improve business processes at Headspace.

Running head: CLOUD-BASED SOLUTION FOR HEADSPACE 1
Cloud-Based Solution for Headspace
Student Name
Institutional Affiliation

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Executive Summary
The increasing rate of adoption of cloud computing by many institutions has enabled
them to take advantage of the advance technologies and gain competitive advantage by
responding quickly to changing customer preferences and market environment. To gain these
benefits it is necessary for the business to employ strong and relevant cloud strategies. Cloud
computing facilitates customers and enterprises to combine and integrate many services to
improve productivity and creativity. This report seeks to discuss the various aspects of cloud-
based solution such as non-functional requirements, strengths and weaknesses of cloud solutions,
security, and considering SDLC approach as an implementation methodology.

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Table of Contents
Executive Summary.........................................................................................................................2
Introduction......................................................................................................................................4
Non-Functional Requirements.........................................................................................................4
Review of Cloud-Based Solution....................................................................................................6
Strengths of Cloud-Based Solution..............................................................................................7
Weaknesses of Cloud Computing................................................................................................9
SDLC Approach..............................................................................................................................9
Advantages of Adaptive SDLC..................................................................................................10
Disadvantages of Adaptive SDLC.............................................................................................10
Advantages of Predictive SDLC................................................................................................11
Disadvantages of Predictive SDLC............................................................................................11
Recommended SDLC Approach for Headspace........................................................................12
Conclusion.....................................................................................................................................12
References......................................................................................................................................13

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CLOUD-BASED SOLUTIONS FOR HEADSPACE
Introduction
Technology evolution has given rise to cloud computing which is now becoming popular
technology in several businesses and organizations. Cloud computing has opened up several
opportunities for businesses to enhances their operations and efficiently utilize technology.
However, it is necessary for organization to have relevant and strong cloud-based strategies in
order to gain competitive advantage (Aggarwal, Tyagi, Dubey and Pilli, 2013). This report seeks
to discuss the various aspects of cloud-based solution such as non-functional requirements,
strengths and weaknesses of cloud solutions, security, and considering SDLC approach as an
implementation methodology that Headspace can adopt to implement the NewAccess project.
Non-Functional Requirements
Non-functional requirements in cloud computing describes the qualities that a solution
should possess and the constraints of operations. They include usability, reliability, performance,
and security which represents (FURPS+ acronym). However, there exist more non-functional
requirements such as availability, adaptability, scalability, integration, and maintainability but
more focus is on the former four requirements (Cripps, 2015). These requirements greatly affect
the overall acceptance of the system because for instance, a solution might have met all the
functional requirements specified but the system may not integrate with other systems, or
unavailable at certain times of the day, or may not support addition of other crucial requirements
making it useless even if the functional requirements are complete. The following are some of
the primary Non-functional requirements that must be considered by Headspace when choosing a
cloud-based solution:

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Usability- depending on the target users, usability requirements may differ. This refers to
how well the user interface has been designed, that is, is it easy to use? Do users require regular
assistance when using the system? The cloud-solution should allow the users at Headspace to
easily interact with the system with minimal support and should have an effective design that is
appealing.
Reliability- this entails factors such as accuracy, interoperability, recoverability, and
accuracy. The system should be able to process users request and provide desired output.
Additionally, the solution should be able to integrate with other system without making major
changes to it. Moreover, it should have the ability to recover from errors without affecting the
overall performance. A reliable system is a system that will be available every time when its
services are required.
Performance- performance refers to how fast does the system process the user’s requests,
that is, start up time, response time, and recovery time. The system should be able to quickly
start up and process request within the shortest time possible without keeping the user waiting
for long.
Security- security is a major requirement for any system. Headspace being a medical
institution, a lot of private and sensitive data will be process by the cloud-based solution and
thus, the solution should be able to assure data security and protect the data from threats and
unauthorized access. Data integrity is key to Headspace (Changming, 2017). Before choosing a
solution, it is important to check the security standards and levels available for both private and
public clouds. Additionally, it is necessary to consider the physical security of the network and
data centers of the cloud providers.

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Review of Cloud-Based Solution
Before choosing a deployment model it is important to consider the security requirements
such as data ownership, integrity, confidentiality, availability, and recovery (Gartner, 2016).
Moving enterprise services and data to the cloud raises other concerns such as data backups, data
transfer, and privacy. Headspace should further consider critical aspect such as ‘who own the
data’ despite the numerous benefits that cloud computing can offer.
Data ownership is a very critical aspects when shifting to cloud-based solution. Data that
is created and uploaded to the cloud can be copyrighted to and governed by appropriate
copyright laws (Chima, 2016). However, data created by in the cloud by the users give rise to a
new data ownership dimension because there are no specific standards that states the owner of
the data created in such manner (Gilmer, 2012). Therefore, it is necessary for Headspace to
layout ownership standards with the cloud provider to clearly state data ownership either created
in the cloud or not.
Strengths of Cloud-Based Solution
Cloud computing plays a crucial role in many organizations. It has technology to support
innovativeness which will enable the enterprises to remain competitive. The following are some
of the strengths (benefits) that cloud computing will bring to Headspace:
Flexibility- one of the reasons why Headspace is considering a cloud-based solution is to
increase flexibility in its operations. It will allow Headspace workers to be flexible enough and
work from anywhere as long as they are connected to the internet. Additionally, the different
departments at Headspace will be able to easily share documents and medical record
simultaneously thus enhancing and improving service delivery (Gnanavelu & Gunasekaran,

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2014). Headspace workers working outside the facility can be able to access real time, up-to-date
medical record of the patients they are attending to.
Cost reduction- Headspace has considered cloud-based solution because it is cheap
compared to setting up an in-house infrastructure. Moreover, the organization will only pay for
what they have accessed and used. In addition, all the maintenance is done by the cloud provider
as such, Headspace won’t have to pay maintenance fee saving more money and capital
(Weinman, 2015).
Scalability- a cloud-based solution enables customers to adjust and modify cloud services
and resources depending on their needs. User friendly cloud computing interfaces allows
computing infrastructure to be expanded easily. Scalability increases customer satisfaction and
help in resolving emerging issues and problems. The need for capacity planning is removed
because resources are made available quickly in the cloud environment. Furthermore, users can
be able to analyze and examine large amount of data within a short period of time because of the
high processing power of the cloud infrastructure.
Weaknesses of Cloud Computing
Although there exist numerous benefits associated with cloud computing, there are some
weaknesses that the decision makers at Headspace should consider before considering a cloud-
base solution. Cloud performance is negatively affected by the heavy traffic in the cloud
environment. When several computers are accessing a single server simultaneously, if the server
is not reliable enough, the chances of it crashing are high rendering service unavailability to the
customers. Since cloud-based solution depends on the internet, hackers who can steal or destroy
the data store in the cloud. Other cloud attacks like SQL injections, wrapping attacks, denial of

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service attacks, and malware injections makes the data store in the cloud unsafe (Xue & Xin,
2016). In addition, data is accessed in unencrypted format in cloud computing making the data
more vulnerable. Insufficient and ineffective regulatory compliance and user controls poses risks
to data privacy.
Cloud providers are responsible for making sure that the cloud environment is secured in
order to provide better service quality and bring conveniences to the organizations and
enterprises. The only way that cloud providers can earn the trust of their customers is by
improving their security features and standards.
SDLC Approach
SDLC is an acronym for Software development life cycle, which is a methodology used
in the software development sector to design, develop, and test software solutions for quality,
effectiveness, efficiency, and usability (Beyer, 2010). The objective of SDLC approach is to
provide high quality solution within estimated timeline and budget. In SDLC tasks and activities
that are carried at every stage are predefined from when the project is started to its completion.
There exists to types of SDLC approaches, they include adaptive and predictive
approaches. In adaptive methodology the outcome or end product of the software development is
unknown and thus the development project is broken done into various components to facilitate
flexibility in determining project course (Wear, 2013). However, in predictive methodology, the
end product or result of the software development life cycle is known and are well specified. The
development process is structured and planned linearly with the objective of a achieving a
specific objective within a given timeline. And example of predictive approach is waterfall
methodology while an example of adaptive approach is the agile methodology.

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Advantages of Adaptive SDLC
 The following are some of the advantages of adaptive SDLC:
 Software solutions are delivered faster and quickly
 Transparency is exercised in this approach because of the continuous engagement
between the development team and the client.
 The focus is on the users/client which increases user satisfaction and creates value
addition in the software solutions
 High quality software solution will be developed because extensive testing is carried out
on every component of the software (Ed, 2013).
Disadvantages of Adaptive SDLC
The following are some of the shortcomings associated with adaptive SDLC:
 Many additional requirements emerge during software development which makes the
project to take longer time than expected (Holcombe, 2010).
 This methodology is more expensive because it requires testing at every stage and may
also result in failure of the project (Vohra & Krishnamurthi, 2012)
 Since the end result is not predetermines, the project may end up coming up with a
product that will not serve the intended purpose.
Advantages of Predictive SDLC
The following are some of the benefits of using SDLC methodology in software development:
 It is easy and simple to follow and understand (Srivyshnavi, 2013).

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 It is easy to predict how long the project will take and the overall cost of meeting the
project objectives. (Lewis, 2010).
 Managing predictive SDLC software projects is easy because every stage has a
predefined deliverable.
 Developers find it easy to follow and understand the stages of predictive SDLC allowing
them to deliver desired product. (Janka, 2012).
Disadvantages of Predictive SDLC
 A working solution will only be available in the later stages of the software development
cycle which may be costly if some requirement has to be added since the entire process
will have to be repeated again.
 Complex projects such as object-oriented solutions cannot adopt this methodology
because it only meant for smaller and simple projects (Mohammed, et al., 2017).

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Recommended SDLC Approach for Headspace
Since the system required by Headspace is bigger and more complex, the best
methodology to use is adaptive. This is because there will be different level of users accessing
the system and predictive SDLC will not facilitate such complexities. Also, because there are
several system users, it is important to regularly engage them to check and test if the
requirements pertaining their departments have been captured (Ed, 2013). The ideal
methodology is adaptive because it allows extensive user involvement.
Conclusion
Cloud computing has since become a very crucial technology in enhancing service
deliver and improving business processes. As discussed in this report, cloud computing brings
tremendous benefits to an organization including reduction in operational cost, scalability,
agility, automation of software and hardware upgrade, and business flexibility. However, just
like any other information technology solution, cloud-based solution has some issues like data
security (stealing of data, data integrity, data confidentiality, and availability of data) which can
be compromised due to insufficient and ineffective security measures. However, such
weaknesses can be countered by providing regulatory compliances and policies concerning risk
management, access control, system backup, and disaster recovery.

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References
Aggarwal, N., Tyagi, P., P. Dubey, B., & S. Pilli, E. (2013). Cloud Computing: Data Storage
Security Analysis and its Challenges. International Journal Of Computer
Applications, 70(24), 33-37. doi: 10.5120/12216-8359
Beyer, H. (2010). User-centered agile methods. [San Rafael, Calif.]: Morgan & Claypool
Publishers.
Changming, C. (2017). Research on the Application of Cloud Computing in Medical Field. Big
Data And Cloud Innovation, 1(1). doi: 10.18063/bdci.v1i1.511
Chima, R. (2016). Cloud Security | Who Owns The Data?. Retrieved from
https://www.bbconsult.co.uk/blog/cloud-security-who-owns-the-data
Cripps, P. (2015). Non-Functional Requirements and the Cloud. Retrieved from
https://softwarearchitecturezen.wordpress.com/2015/04/24/non-functional-requirements-
and-the-cloud/
Ed, K. (2013). Agile methodology for developing & measuring learning. [Bloomington, Indiana]:
Authorhouse.
Gartner, F. (2016). Data ownership in the cloud - How does it affect you? - FileCloud blog.
Retrieved from https://www.getfilecloud.com/blog/2016/11/data-ownership-in-the-cloud-
how-does-it-affect-you/#.W7NAg2gzbIU
Gilmer, E. (2012). Privacy and security of patient data in the cloud. Retrieved from
https://www.ibm.com/developerworks/cloud/library/cl-hipaa/index.html