Network infrastructure project for Oak Creek Healthcare Corporation

It Infrastructure Project

Description

The project reveals the strategy the Oak Creek Healthcare Corporation (OCHC) implements the latest technology to enhance the quality of service (QoS) and achieving a leading position within the healthcare industry. The case provides the strategy to connect LANs (Local Area Networks) across a WAN (Wide Area Network) using the latest technology such as Cisco 7204 and Cisco 7200. The project demonstrates the analytical tools as well as using the critical thinking skill to provide technically feasible and reasonable business solution to the problem facing Oak Creek Healthcare within the technological realm.

The project deliverables include the following:

25-page report

Network design solution for Oak Creek Healthcare Corporation.

The study also demonstrates the extent the project has been able to achieve the following goals and objectives:

Competitive market advantages by increasing market shares by 34% for Oak Creek Healthcare Corporation.

Increasing the efficiency of Oak Greek employees.

Increase the company revenue by 45%.

Improvement of corporate outlook towards the stakeholders.

Provision of excellent service to patients

Achieving the latest network technological support.

Achieving the excellent corporate strategy with the integration of latest technology.

Achieving the state-of-the-art operations at Fairfax and Miami centers.

Achieving high-speed network connectivity between Fairfax ad Miami.

Achieving a real-time and online video-conferencing that enhances the communication speed.

Achieving a scalable LANs (Local Area Networks) solution

Achieving a flawless LAN across WAN interfaces.

Achieving high level of network reliability.

Provision of a secured network connectivity using IDS (Intrusion Detection System), IPS (Intrusion Prevention System), and firewalls.

Achieving a considerable bandwidth for the support of the future networking needs.

Provision of anti-Virus software at the server and desktop levels.

Provision of disaster recovery planning for all network components.

Discussion of actual development is critical to enhance greater understanding of what has been implemented within the project. Elucidation of the project development makes the stakeholders to understand whether the project has achieved its goals and objective.

1.1: Discussion of the Actual Development

Oak Creek is an attempting to implement the latest technology to enhance its position in the healthcare industry. The company has disbursed the total amount of $1.5 Million as the budget for the project. With the total budget disbursed, the company aims to deliver unparallel healthcare provision for the community at lower costs using the latest technology. The WAN technology is designed to connect Miami, FL and Fairfax, VA. The new technology also includes the database system to store patients' data and achieving business solution for the company. The project also upgrades the LAN (Local Area Network) of each center to enhance the quality of service (QoS) for the organization. The project has also implemented the network security for the two centers in order to enhance business confidentiality.

Hostlinks Telecommunication is a company that assists the Oak Creek Healthcare to develop the entire new WAN, LAN, the associated network, and the network security for the two centers. By utilizing Hotlinks private internet protocol (PIP), the project is able to transform Oak Creek Health Care into a leading healthcare provider in the country.

Actual project development is as follows:

Project network development connecting Miami, FL and Fairfax VA centers.

WAN (Wide Area Network) that connects the two sites.

Local Area Network (LAN) that facilitates connection within each center using Cisco 6509E Core Switch.

LAN Routing Protocols using EIGRP, OSPF

WAN Protocols using BGP, MPLS

WAN/LAN routing connectivity using 7200 WAN router

WAN Protocols for Oak Creek Healthcare using BGP, MPLS

Wireless LAN using wireless controller deployment

VoIP communication using Cisco 3845 Voice Gateways

Encryption of Wireless LAN using 802.1X authentication.

Network security using IDS, IPS and firewall.

Encryption protocols using WPA2/WEP

To enhance greater understanding on the extent the new technology provides benefits for Oak Creek Healthcare; the study reviews the previous work.

1.3: Project Rationale

The rationale behind the project is to enhance the quality of service delivered by the Oak Creek Healthcare. Based on the project implementation, the company also aims to implement the cost effective and error free healthcare service using the latest technology. The company also aims to achieve better accuracy and higher productivity as well as breaking the distance between patients and physicians using tale-consultancy. Typically, Oak Creek Healthcare attempts to improve its efficiency through the Electronic Health Record (EHR) to store patient information and automated medical records.

More rational behind the project is as follows:

Use of Clinical Decision Support System (CDSS) to provide physician and nurses real time support for diagnosis of patients and treatment.

Electronic materials management (EMM) to track and manage the company inventory medical supply similar to the enterprises resources planning.

Reducing medication errors, which may lead to adverse drug events.

Assist the company to decrease dosage errors

Prescription of drugs more precisely with improved accuracy

Promoting patient safety and reducing medical errors

Implementing wireless systems to improve the communication system within the organization. (Medipac, 2004).

More rationale behind the project is as follows:

Enhancement of competitive market advantages for Oak Creek Healthcare.

A State-of-the-art operating centers at Fairfax and Miami and Fairfax.

Best and latest network support within the organization.

Database system to store company records and patient information.

High speed network connectivity across Fairfax and Miami.

VoIP at Fairfax and Miami sites for unparallel communication.

Scalable Local Area Network at Fairfax and Miami center.

Flawless WAN interfaces to connect Fairfax and Miami center

Secured internet and extranet connections for the two centers.

1.4: Systems Analysis

The major objective that makes Oak Creek Healthcare to implement the new project is that the previous network system could not satisfy the company growth. Hostlinks telecommunication provides system design for Oak Creek Healthcare in accordance with the design methodology, and the Hostlink makes use of Private IP to sustain WAN connectivity for the company. The WAN makes use of provisioned router and a Cisco 7204 to support multimedia as well as maintaining future system development. The Cisco 7204 consists of 4-slot that allows Oak Creek to support multiple protocol as well as connecting LAN across WAN interface.

The WAN design consists of 155 Mbit/s OC-3 circuit being provisioned by the Hostlinks telecommunication to enhance network connection of:

Fairfax Virginia Data Center

Miami Florida Data Center

The Ethernet Gigabit is used to establish LAN connection because of its superior scalability, manageability, its affordability and its ability to provide high quality of service. The WAN and LAN routing protocols consists of Enhanced Interior Gateway Routing Protocol (EIGRP) to allow summarization on interface basis. The EIGRP is also implemented to provide support for the network connection for Oak Creek Healthcare. The LAN architecture of each center consists of Cisco 6509E. For the secured access, the WLAN (Wireless local Area Network) is connected to WLC (Wireless LAN Controller), and there is an implementation of UPS to maintain constant power supply.

IDS (Intrusion Detection System), IPS (Intrusion Prevention System) and firewall are integrated in the network system to enhance the network security. The system also incorporates anti-virus in all the company computers to achieve secured communication and system security. The Cisco router is used for the WAN connection, and the Cisco 7200 is used to connect the 6509E through dual copper Gigabit in order to establish the Ethernet connection. The Gigabit Ethernet of Cisco 7200 is connected to port 5/2 core switch to establish network connection.

B. Project Goals and Objectives

Based on the project development, Oaks Greek Healthcare has attempted to achieve its goals and objectives. However, there are still listed goals and objectives that the organization has not been able to achieve. Some of the listed goals that the Oaks Creek Healthcare has been able to achieve are as follows:

1. Assisting the Oak Creek Healthcare to achieve competitive market advantages with the increase of market shares by 34%:

In the contemporary healthcare sector, the integration of it has proven to be an effective tool to enhance market advantages. While it has been an effective tool to enhance market shares within a healthcare sector, there are still small percentages of healthcare providers embracing network technology to achieve market advantages. Based on the gap identified within the healthcare sector, Oak Creek Healthcare will take the advantages of new technology to increase the market shares by 34%. Through the implementation of new technology, the organization will be able to improve the quality and safety of patients. The report provided by the Medipac (2004) shows that the huge costs of design and implementation of latest network technology has been the major setback that makes many healthcare providers to be unable to integrate the latest network technology to enhance the quality of the service. Thus, the implementation of the latest technology will make Oak Creek Healthcare to enjoy following benefits, which makes the organization to achieve increase in the market shares.

Infrastructure: The company has been able to make use of wireless network to enhance communication. The company has also been able to employ the new technology for the drug transcription using voice recognition system. The new infrastructure has also enhanced the service of physicians as well as overall organization because Oak Creek has been able to employ new inventory control to increase the company market shares.

Administrative Billing and financial: The new technology has been able to improve the billing system within the organization. The waiting time before a patient will see a physician has been greatly reduced since a patient could rapidly pay online, and the system has increased the total number of customers patronizing the organization daily. The new technology has also facilitated patients' registration, and personnel payroll. With the introduction of these new devices, the organization has been able to enjoy increase in the market shares.

Clinical: Within the clinical settings, the computerized order entry for drugs and electronic health record offer improvement on the method the company implements test because the new system has integrated error-alert transcription that is used to reduce and eliminate errors in the clinical settings. With the Clinical Decision Support Systems, the organization has been able to monitor patients electronically. With the implementation of the new system, the company has been able to increase the market shares by 34%.

2. Enhancement of the efficiency of Oak Creek employees

The new project has been able to enhance the efficiency of employee through the creation of electronic health record (EHR). The EHR is the electronic file that integrates text, image, voice and handwritten notes in the electronic file for the creation of patient data. The EHR is also being viewed as a patient tracking system and automated order entry, which enhance the real-time access to data. The new technology enhances the efficiency of employee by several methods:

First, the new technology with the integration of EHR has enhanced the systematic collection of patients' health information thereby reducing the incident of medical errors. Since patient data is now in form of digital format, it would be easy to access patient information in all the clinical setting. Thus, the system has been able to reduce the time taken to access patients' data and the time taken to implement patient care.

Additionally, the new technology enhances the accuracy and clarity of the medical records thereby reduces the incidence of medical errors. The new system also facilitates the method employees carry out their work because the technology has reduced the duplication of tests as well as reducing the delay in carrying out the treatment. Despite the benefits derived from the EHR, there is still a debate on the overall benefits derived from the EHR. There is no doubt that the new system enhances efficiency of employee, however, there is still a debate among the stakeholders whether the new system has actually increased the revenue of the organization to the maximum level because of the inability to carry out the duplicated tests. Before the integration of the new technology, Oak Creek Healthcare had been able to increase the revenue by implementing the duplicated tests. Despite the debate, the organization is still being able to derive overall benefits from the systems.

3. Assisting Oak Creek Healthcare to increase revenue by 45%.

There are several methods by which Oak Creek Healthcare employ to increase the revenue by 45%. First, the electronic billing that the organization has adopted generates additional saving for the organization by decreasing the costs of creating bill thereby speeding reimbursement. Additionally, the decline in the waiting time of patients also enhances the patients' patronage to the organization. Typically, the organization has been able to generate additional revenue from the voice recognition software because the system has been able to lower the transcription costs.

4. Improvement of corporate outlook towards the stakeholders.

The new technology has been able to improve the corporate outlook towards the stakeholders because the company has been able to increase the quality of service as well enhancing the safety of people life. Typically, the new system has offered a significant improvement in the quality of care because patients' information could be accessible to all health providers. One of the major issues that annoy patients within the healthcare sector is to wait for a long time before they receive the Medicare. Since the waiting time has been greatly reduced, the issue has improved the corporate outlook towards the stakeholders. Additionally, the new system has improved the efficiency of employee. With the new technology, employee could now use lesser time to locate the patient data. With traditional filing system, an employee always used longer time to locate employee data, however, with the integration of new technology, the time taken to locate the patient's data has significantly decreased, and the new system has enhanced the efficiency of employees and satisfaction towards their job.

5. Provision of excellent service to patients

The project has enhanced the ability of healthcare providers to provide excellent service to patients because of the decline in the medical error and drug error. In the United States, between 44,000 and 98,000 people die yearly due to the medical errors, and it is one of the critical forces to eliminate medical errors and enhance quality of health and safety. Thus, "linking it to improved quality and patient safety has contributed to a widespread belief that adoption of it in health care will improve quality and safety." (Medpac, 2004 P. 161). Thus, integration of it has enhanced the ability of physicians, clinical technician, and nurses to have ready access to the right information in order to improve the patient's care. Additionally, the new technology has assisted patients to have access to the right information to better manage their conditions as well as communicating with healthcare providers in order to efficiently provide them with high quality of care.

6. Achieving the latest technology for network support

The new system makes use of latest technology such as Cisco 7200 router for the LAN-WAN connectivity. The Cisco 7200 is connected with Gigabit in order to establish the Ethernet connection. The LAN connection also makes use of Cisco 7204 to connect Miami site and Fairfax site, and through WAN technology, Oak Creek Healthcare has been able to connect the two sites together. Additionally, VoIP integrated into the new system has assisted the company to achieve effective communication without interruption. Within the healthcare setting, effective communication is very critical to achieve quality healthcare delivery. Integration of VoIP into the new system has enhanced organizational ability to deliver quality healthcare.

7. Achieving excellent corporate strategy through integration of latest technology

Integration of the latest technology has improved the strategy by which Oak Creek Healthcare manages their business. For example, it is now possible to monitor the performances of employee remotely, and management could now monitor patients online. The new system has also changed the pattern of work because it is now possible for management to implement the e-procurement of medical supply. With e-procurement, it is now possible for management to locate wide number of qualified suppliers, making Oak Creek Healthcare to have power over suppliers.

8. Achieving a state-of-the-art operations at Miami and Fairfax centers

The new technology has made Oak Creek Healthcare to connect Fairfax site and Miami site using WAN technology. While each site possesses the latest technology such as Cisco 7204 to establish LAN, the new technology also makes use of Cisco 7204 for the WAN technology. VoIP technology has also been installed in each site to facilitate easy communication.

9. High-speed network connectivity between Miami and Fairfax.

WAN technology has been integrated to establish high-speed network connection between the two sites. "End site WAN connectivity is sustained over the Hostlink Private IP (PIP) network through the carrier provisioned routers; a Cisco 7204 is provisioned for the primary (OC3) circuit. Each end site is equipped with a Cisco 6509 Multi-layer Catalyst Switch at the core MDF." (Rough Draft, P 3).

10. Achieving a real-time and online videoconferencing that would take place smoothly and transparently

As being discussed previously, the installation of video conferencing is established using Cisco 3845 Voice Gateway to achieve effective communication between the two sites. Typically, communication is very critical to enhance smooth running of organization. Despite the effort of management to integrate the VoIP communication, the VoIP traffic has not yet been configured, and the VoIP Gate way has been configured at minimal level to support management. It is hoped that the design of VoIP will be detailed in the future.

11. Achieving a scalable (LAN) Local Area Networks

The project has implemented a scalable LAN for each site. At Miami and Fairfax site, there is installation of LAN that consists of Cisco 6509E with Core Switch, multiple Cisco 3750E/3560E switches, and MDF (multiple Cisco 3750E/3560E switches) distributed at the end site. The new technology has also facilitated the integration of WLAN (Wireless Local Area Network). A secured WLAN is achieved through WLC (Wireless LAN Controller).

However, the project has difficulties in achieving the following objectives based on the increase in the budget.

Achieving a considerable bandwidth that would support the future networking needs.

Achieving high-level network reliability.

Achieving a flawless LAN to WAN interfaces.

Achieving a secure network with IDS, IPS and firewalls at extranet and internet levels.

Provision of anti-Virus software at the server and desktop levels.

Provision of disaster recovery planning for all serve and network components.

The project manager faces difficulties in achieving the above-named goal and objectives because of the shortage of materials. To overcome the problem, the budget needs to be increased from $1.5 Million to $1.8 Million before the above named goals and objective could be achieved.

C. Project Timeline

Below is the project milestone and based on the stated milestone, the Oak Creek Healthcare ha been able to meet stated timeline for the project:

Preliminary Activities: The project has been able to meet the timeline for the preliminary activity because the company has set aside the budget of $1.5 Million, which is the crucial aspect of the project. Analysis of the whole project reveals that the company will need to $1.5 Million to complete the project. Thus, the management has already engaged for the service of Hostlinks for the implementation of network configuration. Essentially, the Hostlink has large number of it experts who have been assisting Oak Creek in the implementation of the project and this has been achieved within 4 weeks.

Assessment of information security risks is critical to analyze the strategy to protect the new technology against unauthorized intruders. Hotlinks it experts have analyzed the security procedure of the new technology and have identified the necessary security plan that would protect the new technology and this has been done within a week. Moreover, the information security policy has been drawn for the Oak Creek Healthcare to enhance greater understanding of employee about the security procedure they should follow with regard to the new technology. This has also been achieved within a week. Business continuity plan such as disaster recovery plan has also been drawn within 2 weeks. Procurement of hardware & Software such as servers, firewalls, workstations, cable, and anti-virus has also been implemented within 4 weeks. The major factors that make the Oak Creek Healthcare to complete the preliminary activities on time is due to sufficient budget and availability of it experts who are ready to be deployed for the implementation of the project.

Preliminary Activities

Engage Hostlinks Expert Solutions

4 weeks

Assessment of Information Security risk

1-week

Creation of Information Security Policy

1-week

Business Continuity Plan

2 weeks

Procurement of hardware & Software such as firewalls, servers, workstations, cable, and anti-virus.

4 weeks

Miami LAN Upgrade

Installation of 2 Cisco 6509 at each segment and configure accordingly

4 days

Install and configuration of Cisco Catalysts Cisco 3750E/3560E switches.

3 days

Configuration of end user LANs and workstations

4 weeks

Creating the videoconferencing network segment as well as deploying the associated equipment.

4 days

Installing and configuring 2 Cisco Multiplexers

3 days

UPS installation

2 days

Installing the Rapid Stream Firewall appliances.

1 day

Installing IPS and IDS for network security

2 days

Creating a secure web server and external mail server

5 days

Fairfax LAN Upgrade

Installation of Cisco 6509 at each segment and configure accordingly

2 days

Installing and configuring Cisco Catalysts Cisco 3750E/3560E switches.

3 days

Configuring end user LANs and workstations

2 days

Creating the videoconferencing network segment as well as deploying the associated equipment

5 days

UPS installation

4 days

Installing IPS and IDS for network security

2 days

Creating a secure web server and external mail server

2 days

WAN Connectivity to LAN

Installation of Cisco 7200 router

4 days

Connecting Cisco 7200 to the 6509E switch

2 days

Back up connectivity with 45 Mbit/s DS3 to Miami

1 day

Back up connectivity with 45 Mbit/s DS3 to Fairfax

1 day

Installation of IDF to separate layers 3 subnets

1 day

Selection of Enhanced Interior Gateway Routing Protocol (EIGRP)

2 days

Linking of EIGRP routing to WAN router

2 days

Wireless Local Area Network (WLAN

Installation of Wireless LAN controller (WLC)

1 day

The encryption support protocols for WPA2/WEP

1 day

Encryption support using 802.1X authentication leveraging the EAP-TLS protocol.

2 days.

Miami LAN upgrading takes 28 days to complete. Within the 28 days, the upgrade of Miami LAN has been achieved due to the following reasons:

First, the Oak Creek Healthcare outsourced the upgrading of the project to an it service provider. Hostlinks Telecommunication is an it service provider that has long years of experience in the upgrading the LAN technology. Typically, the company has capacity to implement the service efficiently and at lower costs. The company decides to offer the upgrading to the external provider because Hostlinks specializes in the implementation of it project. While Oak Greek has a small it department within the hospital, the personnel within the it department could not efficiently carry out the project development.

Moreover, management of Oak Creek Healthcare has drawn a solid contract agreement that stipulates that Hostlinks should deliver the project within the time limit, and if the Hostlinks is unable to deliver the project within the stipulated time, Hostlinks will pay for the inconveniencies caused by the delay in the project delivery. Adding these factors together, the project has been delivered within the stipulated time.

Fairfax LAN Upgrade also takes 20 days to complete. Similar to the Miami LAN upgrading, Hostlinks also completes this project for Oak Creek Healthcare. The solid agreement between the two companies facilitates the completion of the project on time. Typically, outsourcing the non-core business activities is one of the strategies that many organizations implement to achieve competitive advantages. Since the it business is not the core business activities of Oak Creek Healthcare, outsourcing this tasks to the it service providers will make the company to enjoy lower costs in the project implementation and this will make the project to be delivered on time. Based on this believe, upgrading of Fairfax LAN is outsourced to an it service provider, and this has made the project to be delivered within the allotted time frame.

WAN Connectivity to LAN takes 11 days to complete. This project was able to complete within the allotted time frame because all the software and hardware that would be used for the connection are available at Cisco organization. The sufficient budget allotted for the project makes Hostlinks to implement the project with rapidity and on time. The WAN connection to LAN is very critical to enhance communication of the two sites. Availability of necessary hardware such as 7200 WAN router, and 6509E switch and available human and financial resources enhance the completion of the project within the allotted time frame.

Installation and encryption of WLAN (Wireless Local Area Network) take approximately 4 days to complete and this was facilitated using (LWAP) lightweight access points. The installation and encryption is possible thanks to the support provided by the Hostlinks. Moreover, it experts at Oak Creek Healthcare offer support for Hostlinks to ensure that the implementation of the project is completed within the allotted time.

E: PROJECT DEVELOPMENT

The project has accomplished several achievements. First, the project has been able to upgrade LAN technology for the Oak Creek Healthcare. In the contemporary healthcare environment, LAN technology has assisted organizations to share the expensive resources such as printers and PC without necessarily go into the wiring problem. One of the major impacts that LAN has offered to the business performances of Oak Creek company is the easy of transfer of data. The technology has assisted the company to enjoy lower costs with reference to its business activity. Additionally, the project has assisted Oak Creek to easily automate its business operation. With the new technology, the company has been able to use EHR to store patients' data and business information. Using this method, the company has been able to reduce the time taken in accessing the data. The whole process has not only improve the efficiency that the company access data for business operation, the company has also been able to lower cost with the installation of new technology. Since the Ethernet has been used to establish LAN connection for Oak Creek Healthcare, the technology requires the necessary bandwidth requirement that the company will need for the business operation, and this has been installed. Despite the benefits that the project has accomplished with the installation of LAN technology, the project encounters a problem. The troubleshooting encountered is cable testing, protocol analysis, and network management.

The project has also been able to accomplish WAN technology for Oak Creek company. Within the it environment, the LAN network connection is only limited within the limited geographical area. When an organization is attempting to expand into wider geographical area, it is critical to implement WAN technology to enjoy constant network connection across the large geographical area. Since Oak Creek, company has two sites at Miami and Fairfax, WAN technology is the most appropriate technology that will connect the two sites together without having the network interruption. The project has been able to establish WAN technology for the Oak Creek company using the Cisco 7200, and there are several benefits that the company will enjoy from the WAN technology. First, the two sites will enjoy flow of communication and this will allow the company to provide high quality healthcare for patients. Additionally, WAN technology also allows the company to lower the costs of operations and increase the company revenue.

More achievement that the project has also been able to accomplish is the establishing network security to protect the new technology. In the contemporary it environment, new technology is very critical for the business operation, however, there is a need to implement the necessary security procedure to protect the it infrastructure from unauthorized access. This project employs different strategy to protect the new technology from an unauthorized individual. First, the project uses IDS (Intrusion Detection System) and IPS (Intrusion Prevention System). The two technologies are effective to detect and prevent the unauthorized access into the system. More security procedure integrated in the system is the Firewall for the security of the new technology. Firewall is a security procedure that blocks unauthorized traffic that attempts to penetrate into the corporate network. Some unauthorized individual may attempt to sniff the network and steal valuable information if appropriate security procedure is not put in place. To address the problem that might have caused from the security threat, the project installs adequate security protocol onto the new technology. Typically, the firewall technology installed in the project could block, encrypt, permit, or proxy the entire network.

Further achievement accomplished is the disaster recovery plan integrated into the project. Disaster recovery plan details the strategy Oak Creek company will employ in case of disaster. In a contemporary business environment, there could be an occurrence of natural disaster that could disrupt business activities. Disaster recovery plan is an effective tool that restores business operation in case of disaster such as flood, fire, human-induced disaster, virus damage and earthquake. The disaster recovery plan put in place for Oak Creek Healthcare will assist the organization to recover the lost data in case of accidental loss of data.

The project has also assisted the company with Wireless Local Area Network (Wireless LAN). The WLAN is ideal for business that moves from one geographical location to the other. In the healthcare business, a healthcare provider may need to move from one geographical location to the other to deliver healthcare for patients. WLAN technology is ideal for heath providers to send and receive data even when they are not at the corporate office or at the hospital.

Despite the benefits that Oak Creek Healthcare stands to gain from the project, there are problems encountered in designing and project implementation. The major problem encountered is the project documentation. The complexity of the whole project demands extensive documentation. Documentation is very critical during the project design and project implementation, and appropriate documentation assists in successful completion of the project. The problem encountered is inability of the company to find a skilled person who could provide detailed project documentation. Opera & Mesnita (2006) argue

"the documentation of information system is a component of communication, control and monitoring of the development, operation and maintenance project. At the same time, the documentation should be regarded as one of the results of the stages of the system life cycle. This is why, the system documentation is important from the viewpoint of the project management and of its development and operation." (P 332).

With the importance of project documentation in the project lifecycle, the project manager has to hire a technical writer specialized in the it project to draw up the project documentation. Within few weeks, an it technical writer has drawn the project documentation, and completion of the project documentation adds several benefits to the project lifecycle:

First, the documentation assists in the smooth running of the project because the documentation allows the project personnel to clarify certain aspects during the project development; the documentation assists in finding answer to various problems that may appear during the project lifecycle.

Another problem encountered during the project lifecycle is the increase in the costs of materials. In the present global economic environment, the impact of recession in the United States economy has led to the occurrence of rising prices of materials. Typically, there is constant increase in the costs of materials that would be used for the implementation of the project. While $1.5 million was the initial budget for the project, Oak Greek Healthcare has to add additional $300,000 to the initial budget of the project making the total budget to be $1.8 Million. Table 1 and Table 2 reveal the actual modification made on the budget in order to achieve smooth completion of the project.

Modification of Budget Plan

Increase in the cost of materials has initiated the changes in the budget plan. The previous budget for the project was $1.5 Million. With increase in the price of material, the budget is modified and changed to $1.8 Million. The Table 1 reveals the total of the new budget:

Table 1: Modification of Budget Plan

Location

Budgeted Amount

WAN Infrastructure between Miami & Fairfax.

US $325,000

Miami network Infrastructure

$625,000

Fairfax Infrastructure

$850,000

Total

$1,800,000

The unanticipated increase in the cost of material leads to the increase of total budget from $1.5 million to $1.8 Million. The Table 2 presents new recurring costs of the project, and the Table 3 presents the new one-time non-recurring costs for the entire project.

Table 2: New Recurring Costs

The table below presents recurring costs associated with the project. (U.S.$)

Description

Qty

Yearly Costs

Total Costs

Ethernet connections ($1,200 per line/month)

2

28,800

Ethernet Gigabit connections ($7,120 per line/month)

4

341,760

Anti-virus upgrades ($30 per station)

9,000

Firewall software upgrades ($1,200/wall)

8

9,600

Total Recurring Costs:

$389,160.00

Table 3: New Non-Recurring Costs

The table below presents non-recurring costs associated with the project. (U.S.$ )

Description

Qty

Per Unit Cost

Item Cost

Totals

Hardware

Cisco 7507 routers

4

16,000.00

64,000.00

Cisco 6509E switches and each switch will include 36 port 10/100TX switch module and Supervisor II

4

40,500.00

162,000.00

Cisco multiplexer

2

2,000.00

4,000.00

Cisco ASA 5510 Firewall

4

6,000.00

24,000.00

Cisco ASA 5540 Firewall

4

8,000.00

32,000.00

PictureTel video conference

2

15,000.0

30,000.00

Dell computer workstation for designers

80

2,500.00

200,000.00

Dell computer workstation for non-designers

1,200.00

144,000.00

Dell Power with Edge file servers

10

2,700.00

27,000.00

In Feet Fiber cabling

5.00

2,500.00

Fast Ethernet cabling of $26 per 100ft

26.00

6,500.00

20 / pack PC card Fast Ethernet

15

3,000.00

45,000.00

Total Hardware Costs

$741,000.00

Software

Five pack Norton anti-virus corporate

80

24,000.00

Cisco Works Blue

2

25,000.00

50,000.00

In-Charge Network event management

2

30,000.00

60,000.00

Total Software Costs

$134,000.00

Labor

Reconfiguration labor and Miami installation

50.00

50,000.00

Fairfax installation labor

60.00

30,000.00

Hostlink Solution security expert for 4 weeks

24,000.00

Hostlink Solution continuity expert for 4 weeks

24,000.00

Total Labor Costs

$128,000.00

Training

System Training & Network Management -- 4 weeks

4

10,000.00

40,000.00

Total Training Costs

$40,000.00

Miscellaneous Expenses

$250,000.00

Total Non-Recurring Costs:

$1,293,000.00

Total Recurring Costs:

$389,160.00

Total Costs for 2011-2012:

$1,682,160.00

Thus, the increase in the costs of materials makes the project owner to change the budget plan from $1.5 Million to $1.8 Million. The change in the budget plan has provided the actual and potential effects on the project.

Actual and Potential effect of the Project

Completion of the project provides several potential effects to the business of Oak Creek Corporation. First, the project increases the market value of the Oak Creek Corporation. The company has been able to deliver the quality and safe healthcare to patients which make the organization to enjoy the increase in customers' patronage.

Moreover, the project has enhanced the communication system within the organization. The company can now send data without interruption from one site to the other without being intercepted by an unauthorized individual. It is now possible to implement e-prescription for patients without patients necessarily moving to the hospitals. The new system provides conveniences for patients especially patients whose home is far away from the hospital.

Additionally, Oak Creek Healthcare can now boast of the best and latest network connectivity in the country. The new technology has enhanced the company marketing advantages because the company has integrated the new technology in the marketing campaign which has enhanced the market advantages for the company.

More importantly, the project has assisted the company to secure database that the organization use to store, retrieve and update patient data and to store other critical information.

Additional potential effects of the project are as follows:

Latest and best network support for Miami and Fairfax sites.

High-speed network and internet connectivity for Fairfax and Miami centers.

VoIP at each site for unparalleled communication

Flawless Local Area Network for the two centers

High-level network security for the two sites

Flawless WAN interfaces for the two centers

Secured extranet connections

High level security for the company data.

Disaster recovery planning in case of disaster

Conclusion

The project has developed the LAN and WAN technology for Oak Creek Healthcare. Although, a budget of $1.5 Million was set aside for the project, with the increase in the price of materials needed for the completion of the project, the budget has been increased to $1.8 Million. To facilitate the timely completion of the project, the project owner assigned the project to Hostlinks Telecommunication which is it service provider specialized in the it project. The earlier project completion assists Oak Creek Corporation to enjoy several benefits.

First, the project has assisted Oak Creek Healthcare to enjoy the benefits of latest and best technology which facilitates the company to achieve market competitive advantages. Moreover, the project has assisted Oak Creek to enjoy easy flow of communication between the two sites. The new technology has also made the company to deliver safe and quality healthcare because the company has been able to eliminate medical and drug errors within the clinical settings.