ICT 507 Cloud Computing Group Assignment

Weightage 30% (14% presentation + 16% report)

Assessment Description: You are required to choose a real-world organisation from various industries such as finance, healthcare, manufacturing, or telecommunications that plans to migrate its Information and Communication Technology (ICT) infrastructure to the cloud.

You would need to:

• Explain the components of local ICT infrastructure of the organisation,
• Justify the move to cloud with logical reasons,
• Explain the components of ICT infrastructure in the cloud,
• Critically analyse the ICT infrastructure in the cloud and explain ethical and security issues,
• Propose countermeasures for ethical and security issues in the cloud

1. Learning Outcomes

This assessment covers the following learning outcomes:

ULO1. Critically review the fundamentals of cloud computing, and evaluate different technologies, benefits, and limitations. 

ULO2. Formulate business problems and conditions; and propose optimal infrastructure and

cloud solution architecture. 

ULO3. Implement cloud management and compliance principles, to verify solutions against

certain organisational requirements. 

ULO5. Investigate network security; analyse and present risk management plans under technical, ethical, and legal requirements.

CLO3: Demonstrated ability to evaluate, research, and synthesise multimodal information to apply critical thinking and problem-solving skills to generate innovative information technology, system, and business solutions.

CLO4: Demonstrated advanced level of communication skills that are effective and appropriate to the context and profession.

CLO5: Demonstrated ability to apply leadership theories and strategies across a range of sociotechnical settings to lead information technology, client focused, and business- related projects to successful completion.

CLO6: Demonstrated ability to critically reflect and apply ethical reasoning to a range of ethical, social, and cultural issues within the information technology profession and across the broader community.

1. Submission Details

• Groups: This is a group assessment. Students would need to form groups of 4, with roles and responsibilities clearly discussed with their instructor.
• Topics: Students need to discuss and finalise chosen organisation with the instructor. Do not start working on the assessment before taking approval from the instructor.
• Marking: The assessment carries 30% weightage (14% presentation and 16% report).
• File type: The report and presentation slides are to be submitted on the Turnitin link available on the Moodle. Please submit the report and presentation both in PDF format.
• Report: The report length should be no less than 1500 word and no more than 3000 words. The word count does not include the title page, table of contents, list of references and figures. Ensure all pages are numbered. Similarity index of your report should be less than 20%. The deadline to submit the report is by the end of Week 12.
• Presentation: The presentation length should be 5 to 10 minutes. The deadline to submit the presentation is the end of Week 11. Students will present in class, in Week 12.

1. Assessment Details

The details of the assessment are as follows:

• Each group will select an organisation of their choice. The organisation should be:
  • A medium to large enterprise with branches in multiple locations
  • Able to provide information about its ICT Infrastructure including various servers, user communities, network operations and services (e.g. firewalls, load balancers, etc.).
• Each group may find an organisation that is willing to provide them with details about their ICT infrastructure. Alternatively, students can search on the internet and find a typical ICT infrastructure for their chosen organisation. Citation of any academic resources must be given in the report.
• Students may choose the same organisation which they used in ICT506 Cyber Security.
• The ICT infrastructure in the local data centre of the organisation should be described.
• Critical Analysis of local ICT infrastructure is to be carried out to identify possible benefits of migration to cloud.
• The ICT infrastructure in the cloud should be clearly explained.
• Critical analysis of ICT infrastructure in the cloud is to be carried out to identify ethical and security issues.
• Explain any one solution to mitigate the ethical and security issues that you have identified in the cloud.

1. Structure of the Report

The following sections need to be included in the report:

1. Title Page

This must contain the title of the report, the students’ names, and the unit’s code and name. The title needs to be succinct and self-explanatory.

1. Abstract

The abstract provides an overview of the entire report. The purpose of the abstract is to briefly explain the key infrastructure of the organisation in the local data centre and advantages for the organisation to move to cloud. The key components of the infrastructure in the cloud need to be briefly explained here. Potential issues in the cloud and solutions to mitigate them should also be summarised here. The length of the abstract is between 200- 300 words. Do not use headings, figures, or in-text citations in this section.

1. Table of Contents

Ideally, but not necessarily, constructed using the hyperlink functions in WORD. Lists of figures and tables are not required.

1. Introduction

This section concerns the context and aims of the report. Mention, in just a few paragraphs, the background of the organisation, i.e. type of organisation, number of employees, number of branch offices, etc. Briefly explain the local ICT infrastructure of the organisation and potential benefits of moving to cloud. Given all of this, state the main aim of the report together with a short account of the tasks required to be carried out.

1. Main Body

The bulk of the research goes here.

1. ICT Infrastructure in Local Data Centre

In this subsection, you need to draw a figure of the local ICT infrastructure of the organisation and then explain the different components of the infrastructure in detail. The purpose and functionality of all devices and services including different servers, load balancers, firewalls, etc., need to be clearly explained.

1. Justifications for Cloud Migration

In this subsection, you need to critically analyse the local ICT infrastructure of the organisation and identify possible issues that are currently faced by the organisation. You should then identify and explain how cloud migration can help the organisation to mitigate the issues and provide various benefits to the organisation.

The issues faced in the local ICT infrastructure and benefit of migration to the cloud should be clearly explained with citations of relevant academic resources.

1. ICT Infrastructure in the Cloud

In this subsection, you need to draw a figure of the ICT infrastructure of the organisation in the cloud and then explain different components of this infrastructure in detail. The purpose and functionality of all components that you are using in the cloud should be clearly explained. Each component that you have used in the cloud should be explained with citations of academic resources. You can use Amazon Web Services (AWS) or any other similar cloud provider for your organisation.

1. Ethical and Security Issues in the Cloud

You need to critically analyse the infrastructure in the cloud and explain the ethical and security issues faced by your organisation in the cloud. All issues should be explained with citations of academic resources.

1. Solutions to the Ethical and Security Issues in the Cloud

In this subsection, you need to briefly explain any one solution to the ethical and security issues that you have identified in subsection 4.5.4.

1. Conclusions

Using an analysis of the preceding sections, the conclusions should summarise your key findings. Conclusions are the results of your own critical thinking, they should be justified through analysis of your findings and written in your own words with no citations.

1. References

These should be formatted in APA style. At least 15 recent and relevant academic resources are needed in the report, including peer-reviewed journal articles, conference papers, books, etc.

Grading Rubric - Report