Personal Trainer, Inc. owns and operates fitness centers in a dozen Midwestern c

Question

Personal Trainer, Inc. owns and operates fitness centers in a dozen Midwestern cities. The centers have done well, and the company is planning an international expansion by opening a new “supercenter” in the Toronto area. Personal Trainer’s president, Cassia Umi, hired an IT consultant, Susan Park, to help develop an information system for the new facility. During the project, Susan will work closely with Gray Lewis, who will manage the new operation.

Background

System changeover and data conversion were successful for the new Personal Trainer system. The post-implementation evaluation indicated that users were pleased with the system. The evaluation also confirmed that the system was operating properly. Several users commented, however, that system response seemed slow. Susan Park, the project consultant, wants to meet with you to discuss operation, maintenance, and security issues affecting the new system.

Tasks

1. What might be causing the slow response time? Prepare a brief memo explaining system performance and workload measurement, using nontechnical language that Personal Trainer users can understand easily.

2. What could be causing the network slowdowns at Personal Trainer? If a problem does exist, which performance and workload measures would you monitor to pinpoint the problem?

3. You decide to prepare a security checklist for Personal Trainer. Prepare a list of security issues that the firm should evaluate and monitor. Be sure to organize the items into categories that match the six security levels

Explanation / Answer

1)Answer:

Slow response times could be due to server performance, network capacity, or a combination of the two. They mightsuggest using benchmarking programs and diagnostic utilities to learn more about the issue. They can look into filestructures, systems configuration, and user proficiency.System performance and workload measurement is a crucial portion of daily work and it needs to operate properly.The system’s performance is determined by the integration of all system components. Workload measurementincludes tasks that the system must perform, such as the number of lines printed, the number of records accessed,and the number of transactions processed in a given time period. To measure performance of network-basedsystems, an analyst also needs to consider response time, bandwidth, throughput, and turnaround time.Response time is the overall time between a request for system activity (such as a user clicking a button) and thedelivery of the on-screen response.Bandwidth describes the amount of data that the system can handle in a fixed time period and is expressed in bits persecond.Throughput is the actual amount of data that the system can handle under specific loads (just like a highway system)and is affected by network loads and hardware efficiency. Throughput, like bandwidth, is expressed as a datatransfer rate.Turnaround time applies to centralized batch processing operations and measures the time between submitting a  request for information and the fulfillmentof the request.

2)Answer:

The slow response time probably relates to server performance, network capacity, or acombination of the two. In addition to checking system performance with abenchmarking program, check and defragment the hard disk, using various diagnosticutilities that are available for this purpose. In a file-based system, a highly active file thatis not regularly compacted could be causing a slowdown. Data files also might need tobe restructured to improve performance. In some situations, it might be better to combinetwo or more files into a single file; in other cases, separating one file into two or more

files might improve performance. During your investigation, you should review all systemconfiguration settings.

You also should observe the staff as they perform their normal activities to learn if slow down does occur as reported.see how many work stations logged on and what tasks were being performed when the response time slowed down.Based on your observations,you might be able to determine that one particular procedure or program triggers the problem.you also can obtain a network monitor program to analyze network performance.

3)Answer:

Security can be broken down into six separate but interrelated levels. Think of it likechain and system security is only as strong as its weakest link.

1) Physical

This level consists of servers, desktop computers, and even notebook computers.This includes tablets that Personal Trainer uses as well. All computers will beintegrated with Active Directory and all passwords for employee logins will bereset every month. Passwords will require upper case, lower case, numbers, and aspecial character. Not only that, all computers will have the enterprise levelfirewall services as well as enterprise level anti-virus software.

2) Network

This level consists of wireless networks as well as private, VPN, andports/services. We will have enterprise level Firewalls and a dedicated networkadministrator. All wireless networks will have passwords that are linked tocustomer accounts/passwords as well as employee passwords.

3) Application

This includes application permissions, input validation, patches/updates, andsoftware logs. Each and every application in our system will go through patchesstarting from version 1.0 from launch date. Input validation will also be used toconfirm purchase and user information changes such as passwords or personaldata.

4) File

These are permissions for the system. It determines who can read/write adirectory and who can read/write a file and even execute them. Theseresponsibilities will be linked only for system admins and the general manager of the store. In case an admin is not present, a general manager can use his or hercredentials to adjust directory files and data on our computers.

5) Procedural

This relates to operational security. This relates to operational security such ashaving all documents shredded professionally and having 24 hour surveillance onour waste/dumpsters in the back. We do not want dumpster divers or strangers tolook through our trash.

6) User

User security relates to password protection, social engineering, andmanagement. All credit card machines will have covers to hide inputs for pinnumbers and our computers will never have a saved password option. Not onlythat, there will be a image of a clean drive and all computers will be wiped monthlythrough automation and all downloaded files be erased after 30 minutes.AccessPass cards will have the customer’s face on them to prevent identity theftand our future mobile app will be only be linked through a three step verificationthat will be through phone & email verification on top of a verbal confirmation onnext visit

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