Design and implementation of a billing system network architecture

Networking Project Plan

Billing System Network Design

Architecture Rationale

It is imperative to understand the surroundings in which end-users will be using a product to carry out their tasks, because this situation will place constraints on how they work, and how well they work.

Presume a screwdriver is being considered and all that is known is the size of the screw head. So, an appliance like a traditional screwdriver is designed, with the right sized blade. But presume it then turns out that the user wants to apply the screw from the inside of a narrow pipe to assemble some piece of equipment. Obviously, a traditional screwdriver will be useless in this work context.

Likewise, suppose a software application is being premeditated for a set of users, but the designers have never gone to the users' real work environment. They presume a conventional office like environment and design software that will employment on a traditional workstation (Juan & Yang, 2003). But, suppose it then turns out that in the actual work environment, end-users are continually in motion, moving all around the environment to get various parts of an overall job done. If software for a traditional workstation is intended, this will simply not work in this environment. Software that will work on a smaller and handier device that can be carried around with the end-user (Luntovskyy, et. al. 2005). kind of like the units carried by UPS delivery staff, would be required instead.

The billing system that will be designed needs the following

1. 2 workstations

2. 1 printer

3. Internet access

4. Multiple mailing addresses

5. Low securty Environment

The proposed network architecture design will be as shown below:

RJ45 cable

Hardware and Software Requirements

Hardware

1. Processor: Dual Core

2. Memory: 1 GB

3. Disks: 120GB

Software

One workstation will be designated as a Server. The server machine should have the following software

1. Operating System: Windows 2003 Server (32 bit)

2. Database: MySQL for Windows (32 bit)

3. Application Server: Billing system based application

The other workstation will function as a client. The hardware requirement will be same as above. Software requirement will be

1. Operating System: Windows XP or higher

2. Browser: Internet Explorer

Network Requirement

1. Bandwidth required: 10 GB per month

2. Firewall: Default

3. Antivirus: Quick heal

Network Requirements and Analysis

In a different example, suppose designers have never physically visited the user's workplace, and they presume end-users all work in closed offices. A system with voice input and output is planned (Juan & Yang, 2003). However it then turns out that end-users work in one big open area with desks located adjacent to one another. The racket from all those talking people and workstations will make an impossible work environment, and most voice recognition systems just do not work with suitable accuracy in a noisy environment. The point is, there are numerous aspects of the actual work environment that will decide how well a tool will work in that environment, and so the surroundings itself must be studied, and the tool tailored to it.

While initial analysis of the work environment of this small billing business revealed several important key points. Requirements analysis activities revealed that, the noise level can be high, the work areas are overcrowded and cluttered, and the overall ambiance is tense and high pressured at best, disordered and sometimes disorderly at worst (Luntovskyy, et. al. 2005). These circumstances most likely have a universal impact on confidence, and certainly will have an impact on cognitive performance that, in turn, impacts productivity and efficiency. A user interface must be cautiously designed to support the normal and possibly extreme degradations of human performance under these circumstances.

Additionally, it was observed that in the noisy, demanding, and distracting work environment in a typical billing company, end-users will often be interrupted while performing tasks, sometimes by other competing tasks, sometimes by unforeseen events, unpredictable orders, etc. A user interface in such an environment must continually maintain enough context information on the screen so that when users' attention is momentarily drawn away from their tasks, they can quickly get reoriented and carry on their task without errors, and not have to backup or repeat any work (Juan & Yang, 2003).

In our case, we would be setting up a local area network between two computers. This local area network will allow us to:

1. Transfer files

2. Share resources

3. Mobility

4. Printer sharing

There are two main types of local area networks. They are

1. Wired network whick uses Ethernet techology

4. A hub

Since we are connecting only two computers, we can avoid using a hub and use a cross over cable which wil serve the same purpose.

The estimate cost for the same would be

Hardware

1. Server Workstation cost $600.00

2. Client Workstation cost $600.00

3. Cat6 Cable $50.00

Software Cost

Windows 2003 Server: $100

Windows XP: $99

Antivirus cost $40.00

MySQL: Open Source Database

Total estimated cost: $1,449

Conclusion

The LAN setup chosen above is the most suitable for the small business and precisely for the following reasons. The standard LAN runs about ten times quicker than the WAN(s) to which it is connected for communication with the external world. It has been this way for thirty years or more. The telecommunication companies of the day told us they could do no better and even as LANs reached gigabit speeds (Luntovskyy, et. al. 2005)., their exterior counterparts stuck securely in the single-figure megabits zone.

Things have enhanced slightly over the years - one can buy a variety of services that reach higher speeds either by giving a big-pipe, say 40 Mbps, lump-sum or by combining several minor ones. Additionally there are services, of course, that expands and contracts the available bandwidth essentially on demand.

In the past this discrepancy was not a lot of trouble. IANs were where the company's comprehensive data traffic hurtled about and the WAN was only for redistributing extracts of it to other organisations or other locations in one's own company. That was also when everyone turned up for work at the same place of work at 9am sharp.