Capacity Planning & Configuration Management for Under Milkwood IT

This report addresses the dilemma faced by Under Milkwood regarding the adoption of capacity planning and configuration management within its IT sector. It presents a detailed analysis, outlining the arguments for and against the implementation of these systems. The report explores the scope and ...Read More

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IT Operation Management
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Executive summary
The purpose of this proposal is to solve the dilemma in the Under Milkwood organization
as to whether the organization should adopt capacity planning and configuration management
departments in Under Milkwood IT sector. In this rationale, the report presents arguments for as
well as against the implementation of the two systems and further offer an opinion with regards
to whether the organization should proceed with the previously mentioned decisions or not. This
report is sectioned as follows: the next section after this section is scope and objectives, then
followed by proposal for capacity management and configuration management, then we look at
the details of the case, followed by BTOPP, then costs and risks, after which we look at benefits
then lastly recommendations.

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Table of Contents
Executive summary.......................................................................................................................2
Table of Contents...........................................................................................................................3
Scope and objective........................................................................................................................4
Proposal for CP and CM...............................................................................................................5
Configuration for Capacity Planning CP................................................................................5
Technical and implications for the capacity planning........................................................5
Configuration Management CM..............................................................................................6
Technical and Strategic implications of the configuration management..........................6
Factors to consider in configuration management and capacity planning..............................7
Economic cycle...........................................................................................................................7
Costs............................................................................................................................................7
Details..............................................................................................................................................8
BTOPP Analysis.............................................................................................................................9
Business.......................................................................................................................................9
Technology..................................................................................................................................9
Operation..................................................................................................................................10
Processes...................................................................................................................................10
People........................................................................................................................................11
Costs and risks.............................................................................................................................11
Costs..........................................................................................................................................11
Risks..........................................................................................................................................12
Benefits..........................................................................................................................................12
Recommendations........................................................................................................................13

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Scope and objective
As per the scenario script, the management stated to be Under Milkwood seems to be
expanding at a considerable rate. For the corporate to be functional and efficient in its
Information Technology IT sector, its internal IT structure has to be rearranged. In other words,
there will be necessity to introduce Capacity Planning CP and Configuration Management CM.
In the information technology sector, adopting the structures mentioned above is a must if the
organization requires a long term success. The organization seek to expand their operation in the
near future as they are cognizant of the expenses for implementing the system. The organization
can better assign some departments within its IT department which will enable it to correctly
figure out and manage its future capacity well.
In this discussion, arguments and the predictions of the resulting consequences
concerning configuration management and capacity planning are presented. The Under
Milkwood organization will be in a position to make an educated decision concerning the
subsequent initiative. Under Milkwood is targeting to expand its business activities with capacity
planning in its mind. On matters with extension of the corporate’s operations, the capacity
planning information will enable scalability for internal operations relative to the predefined
metrics. Additionally, the configuration management promise to certify processes that are within
the determined boundary and the metrics are of great significance. The corollary of any process
within the corporate fluctuating without control may in the end affect departments and even the
entire company. This is due to the reason that such kinds of configuration are there to steer from
this effect.

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Proposal for CP and CM
Configuration for Capacity Planning CP
Like every other department, this system is associated with its initial consequences and
its overall long term advantages. Besides, the Under Milkwood corporate’s long term
implications out match the initial and ongoing cost way far. The Capacity planning department
promise a long term cost by use of the available resources. This system is very helpful for
organizations especially when they seek to grow and expand their business (Carmen, Defraeye
and Van Nieuwenhuyse, 2015, pp.299-312). Given the fact that Under Milkwood Corporate is a
large business that is profitable, the business department would be equipped with highly skilled
professionals in trend analysis, the professionals with an understanding of information
technology, customer demands as well as business process.
Technical and implications for the capacity planning
An effective implementation of the CP will enable the organization to carefully monitor
its spending, resources as well as income especially during downturns and high growth periods.
By this, Milkwood corporate will be able to understand the business areas that are mostly
affected thus enabling better allocation of funds, this will reduce the impacts of unexpected
changes hence using financial resources where required. Additionally, the CP will enable the
organization to effectively allocate resources for high demand seasons in future where the use of
resources will increase due to the inclined demand of the organization’s products. The CP will
help Milkwood to cope with another added demand, for example when a next video game
generation is released, for instance every two to three years, Milkwood corporate can build extra
servers using the historical data before the date, they can as well employ additional information
technology support so as to cope with such drain in the resources.

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Another considerable benefit of the CP, particularly for future is the ability of having a
more accurate and detailed budget. This will enable easy decision making during the times
purchases are made. Through capacity planning, Milkwood will be able to develop better
financial objectives and satisfy its participants. Moreover, through capacity planning, the
organization will be able to predict where the demand will be among the corporate’s customers
and will be in a position to steer the business in a certain direction (Nweke, Leanez, Drayton and
Kolhe, 2012, pp. 1-6). When Milkwood plan for this through implementation of strategies,
partnership, departments, personnel, processes, software and hardware among others, the
organization will take a new task, partner with other organizations, expand their business and
dominate the market.
Configuration Management CM
Like we stated in the preceding sections, the configuration management infrastructure
will enable the sustaining consistency for products or services, functionality as well as effective
performance.
Technical and Strategic implications of the configuration management
The configuration management has multitudinous positive ramifications. Helping in
disclosure of any configuration issue is one of the underlying benefits of this system. The
configuration management also help in security related issues, control and stability, uncertainty
and lastly enabling faster problem solving as well as greater agility (Chen, 2015, pp.50-54). In
Milkwood’s case establishment of a robust security network is one of the important needs. In
reality, there is no any perfect technology, in this sense, configuration will ensure that on the off
chance that any system breach take place, its effects will be minimum.

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The configuration management is therefore referred to as a long term investment
although it may have instantaneous range of beneficial effects. A business that had formerly
plateaued and stagnated can improve on its current and future processes with the help of
configuration management since the system provides such a wide ranging effects. A business can
implement such system by developing a plan for its needed requirements first of all. This is to
ensure that the CM department is put in the skilled professional’s hands and remain functional.
An efficient approach that will be applicable to the system is a competency matrix which will
enable assessment of the individuals and processes’ competencies involved.
Factors to consider in configuration management and capacity planning
Economic cycle
Factors including change in interest rates, loss of confidence and natural disasters among
others can be responsible for downturns in the economic cycle which may consequently result to
depression or recession. In that sense, people may not spend, banks may also not give out loans
and stock markets may also crash thus people losing their money. These kinds of phenomenon
are unpredictable and they may lead to bankruptcy in the Under Milk organization. Disregarding
the funds spent in the capacity planning, these occurrences are unforeseeable and are likely to
cause profound impacts in the organization. In such cases, it will be not worthy for the
organization to focus on financing the department since this may be redundancy.
Costs
The organization may incur quite a lot of cost by setting up a new department. The costs
may result from a salaries, increased utilities and even wages among others. As such, if there is
no sufficient allocation of funds by the organization or the business does not optimize their
expenses, they could be overspending while receiving insufficient funds and make the role of the

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entire department laid off. The increased cost will further get emphasized by inertia to changing
of the organization’s employees as well as upper management. As a consequence, it adopting a
new department will take quite a longer process and it will be costly due to the reason that a lot
of money and time will be required to overcome the process.
Details
At a quick glance, the departments proposed at the Under Milkwood corporate include
the department for capacity planning and that of configuration management that are to get
embedded within the organization’s internal IT structure.
Most certainly, the capacity planning could be the long term investment on basis of
which projections for future and current capacity and requirement needs are provided. Through
this process, the organization will be able to cope with the ever changing technology demands in
the market. Therefore, it can easily adjust its operations in order to meet the demands. Moreover,
the upper management of the Under Milkwood organization must invest a considerable amount
of funds so as to customize the system in accordance with its demands and to maintain it’s the
ability to use it.
However, the configuration management is different from the above in the sense that it
may have both long term and instantaneous effects. Besides, the main concept in configuration
management is that it offers a system that provides consistency in the processes that are not yet
installed. In addition, configuration management will enable general functionality, sound
security, flexibility, and functionality among others. Once more, Milkwood’s upper management
for installation and maintenance of the infrastructure since it will also make the organization to
incur a considerable amount funds.

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In conjunction to this, it is also clear that the departments does not depend on one another
ensuring a fully functional and security free system will enable a more accurate predictions as far
as the present and future are concerned.
BTOPP Analysis
Business
The capacity planning department rollout in the organization would equip their business
in order to cope with the increased level of demand for its future operations through
implementation of the current technology as well as new computer hardware. For the business to
plan for the future, the organization need to meet certain metrics and expectations. The
expectations cannot be achieved through the current operations, as such, the organization must to
be engaged in more effective and efficient processes so as to meet the expectations. A staff
turnover provides a good example of this where a replacement can be found through a
competency matrix.
Same as the capacity planning, the configuration management likewise demands the same
requirements. As such, the business needs an easily adaptable, efficient and flexible in what it
can attain. For the business to expect both long term and short term beneficial effects, it has to
prepare in investing in both of the department.
Technology
The two departments have the same ambition to upgrade or replace their technology so as
to achieve given specifications and to prepare for requirements in future. The averages as well as
past trends for the business should get analyzed so as to find out the current technology abilities
like the size, speed among other characteristics of a database server. Additionally, the

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performance metrics also help in making judgments. The organization has to consider that the
newly planned system will not work with the current IT infrastructure until upgrades are done
appropriately.
Operation
The CP department help the organization to realize its ability to expand in future. When
the capacity planning is implemented in the organization, it is likely that the staff size of the
organization will be affected thus imposing direct impact on wages, budgeting, resource use and
cost among others. Under Milkwood will be able to automate certain task thus reducing costs and
eliminating some staff members.
On its side, a configuration management department are also directly related to some of
the organizations operations since it may dictate the output level which consequently impose
some effects on the on the system (Cater-Steel, 2009, pp.69-77). Milkwood corporate will also
experience varying levels of demands as well as certain requirements thus it has to allocate some
funds and resources for it to operate.
Processes
The CP department will be capable of synthesizing the new as well as future operations
by the analysis of the old data along with the presently running statistics. The data can then be
used to effectively meet the demands of the organization’s upper management so as to make an
effective plan for change. With time, the CP department will be in a position to compile
information and give more accurate predictions leading to adoption of the current technological
innovation.

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The processes can as well be applied in the configuration management department which
is capable of using the older information so as to come up with best practices. This ensures that
there is consistency as well as reduced security risk regarding internal processes.
People
The organization staffs within the two departments must access training concerning the
system practices. They have to meet a given level of specialization in order to ensure that the
system risk of damage when the two systems are in practice are as minimal as possible. The
system operators and analysts must be capable of interpreting the old and new data and use both
software as well as hardware that are available.
Costs and risks
Costs
The implementation cost for the capacity planning department is the same as the cost for
establishment the organization IT departments, this however varies with the size of the business.
In the Under Milkwood case, the cost that will be incurred initially will be for establishment of
the organization IT infrastructure which may be approximated to be over eighty thousand dollars,
this also depend on the system complexity. Like in every department, the operating cost have
both diverse and substantial sides. Beside the fact that the CP department does not offer
monetary benefits nor short term benefits it can be hard to justify whether the department is
worthwhile or not.
On the side of the configuration management, the implementation cost requires a huge
capital investment. However, the lowest level of investment that is expected to be spent by an
organization implementing the system is two hundred thousand dollars. Besides, alterations and

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consideration has to be made. This type of investment is however does not only fit one size in all
situations, it likewise vary with the size of an organization.
Risks
 Changes in staff members: the likelihood of this risk is moderate but with high impact.
The risk can however be mitigated by replacing the staff members as soon as possible.
 Injury at workplace: this is another risk, however its likelihood of occurrence is low
with medium impacts. It can however be reduced through effective communication.
 Unforeseen changes is another critical risk which may impose a considerable impact on
the organization. This risk can be prevented through a proper capacity planning which is
enforced for unpredictable occurrences.
 Overspending: this is another risk, its likelihood is moderate however it has high
impacts on business. It can however be reduced by a more strict budget protocol.
 System failure risk also has possibility of occurrence. This risk may pose high impacts
on a business. The organization can minimize it by system backup.
Benefits
Considering all things, the capacity planning department promise a long term benefit to
the organization, these can structured into four main areas including a well-developed budget,
spending and use of resources, monitoring cost and effective allocation of resources. These
factors are enough to help business in making an educated decision during the fluctuating growth
period.
Configuration management department on other hand also have immense benefits.
Implementing this system promise both long term and short term benefits some of which include

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the following: reduced security risks, enhanced level of system efficiency, flexibility, visibility
as well as greater stability among others. In that sense, a generalization can be made that the
main task of this system is to guarantee consistency alongside the mentioned benefits.
Recommendations
In this proposal, many arguments as to whether implement the capacity planning and
configuration management departments are presented. Relevant information as well as analytical
data that enables the Under Milkwood organization to make an informed decision regarding the
two systems are also presented. I therefore recommend the following:
 The implementation of such departments has potential future benefits in future, thus
when the Under Milkwood fail to implement such system the organization will be at risk
and may not have future.

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Reference list
Carmen, R., Defraeye, M. and Van Nieuwenhuyse, I., 2015. A decision support system for
capacity planning in emergency departments. International Journal of Simulation
Modelling, 14(2), pp.299-312.
Cater-Steel, A., 2009. IT service departments struggle to adopt a service-oriented
philosophy. International Journal of Information Systems in the Service Sector (IJISSS), 1(2),
pp.69-77.
Chen, L., 2015. Continuous delivery: Huge benefits, but challenges too. IEEE Software, 32(2),
pp.50-54.
Nweke, C.I., Leanez, F., Drayton, G.R. and Kolhe, M., 2012, October. Benefits of chronological
optimization in capacity planning for electricity markets. In 2012 IEEE International Conference
on Power System Technology (POWERCON) (pp. 1-6). IEEE.