Scenario: Your Learning  Team has been asked by senior management to cut costs related to the IT  infrastructure of your company. Your team does all of the cost analysis  and finds that VMware can save the company a considerable amount of  money moving forward following the initial investment in the VMware  software.

Add 3 to 4 slides to your  proposal presentation discussing how Automation within VMware can help  save the administrator time versus managing physical machines.

Combine your team’s prior weeks’ work, incorporating any faculty feedback, and submit a 12- to 14-slide PowerPoint  presentation along with a 1- to 2-page Executive Summary proposing the  deployment of vSphere into the datacenter. That proposal should compare  and contrast vSphere versus an all physical infrastructure. Your summary  should discuss the deployment and value of:

• Week Two:
  • Centralized Management benefits of VMware
• Week Three: 
  • Virtual Network benefits
  • Storage: differentiate between shared storage types and how to apply each type to VMware.
  • How Storage vMotion can be used to create greater up-time
• Week Four: 
  • Using Templates to save deployment time of VM’s versus physical hardware
  • Resource Allocation (CPU, Mem) in VMware versus how resources are allocated on a physical machine
• Week Five:
  • How Automation within VMware can help save the administrator time versus managing physical machines

Professor’s Feedback for Week 3 Assignment:

You are meeting the minimum requirements but I also think you are missing opportunities. For starters, your grammar and writing can be improved. With multiple people in your group, you should be peer reviewing each other’s work to avoid sentences such as.. “Standardized with industrial standards (Oglesby, 2005).” – should this be industry standards? “Virtual network can be orchestrated from a single point.” – you should say A virtual network can be… or you should say Virtual networks can be… These are just 2 examples. There are more. In business, it is critical that you can write effectively and manipulatively. In this assigment especially, you are to convince management that they should invest in a pricey CAPEX purchase. You must be convincing, compelling, and demonstrate the business need to cut costs. To that end, there is still plenty of opportunity to do that. The assignment suggests that you’ve done a “cost analysis”. I don’t see this. Overall, you have some good information in your presentation but it needs to be tied together and maybe organized a bit more smoothly. For example, how much does it cost the company per minute when a mission critical application goes down? And how many times per year historically would that application server go down? The answers to these questions are how you would back into a number to portray an accurate measurement of how much vmware can save the company.

Please make revisions for Week 3 File.

In Chapter 10, the text addresses primary, secondary and tertiary prevention programs. What are these levels? Give an example of an effective program in each level. Give a brief description of each program, its intended purpose, and target juvenile population. Why do you think they are effective?

When responding to one of your classmates, address one of the programs with a focus on one of the text’s questions below concerning prevention programs. Select one bullet below and present the positives and the negatives for the issue addressed:

Does every juvenile who has been arrested need treatment? Should all juveniles arrested receive the same treatment services? Why or why not?

Should prevention programs be given to everyone, and if so, where? Should we consider ethnicity, race, education, socio-economic standing?

Are the services worth the taxpayer costs? Consider both financial and social costs.

Should we mandate prevention for school aged children, their parents, or for both? What if the parents refuse to participate?

What role does the state have in addressing pre-criminal, status offenses or delinquent behavior? Should the state have the authority to force parents to participate? What sanctions should the state have to enforce compliance?

Your initial post should be at least 250 words in length. Support your claims with examples from the required material(s) and/or other scholarly resources, and properly cite any references. 

Procurement: Make or Buy?

Whether we are talking about purchasing for project management or operations management, most major purchasing decisions are made only after the completion of a “make-or-buy” analysis. Essentially, is the business able to cost effectively complete the work in-house (make), or would it be more cost effective to outsource the work (buy)?

When a manufacturer assembles parts to produce a finished product, mangers must first decide whether to make or buy those individual components. Consider a motorcycle. The manufacturer can either make or buy the wheels, seats, gas tanks, etc. used in the finished bike.

When you’re first trying to understand the concept of a Make-or-Buy Analysis, it helps to think of a DIY project you’ve undertaken. I can use the example of an oil change. An oil change for an SUV can cost in excess of $40. On the surface it may seem like the price is not worth it. After all, how much does a few quarts of oil cost, right?

Now let’s really think about everything that needs to happen to successfully change the oil in an SUV. Do you have the know-how to accomplish the job? Do you have the tools needed? Are you willing and able to get under the vehicle? Do you have a means of disposing of the old oil? How much value do you place on your time?

That last question might be one of the most important of all. Chances are good you would say an hour’s worth of your free time is worth at least $40. Since this would likely take an hour plus the expense of oil, tools and disposal, is it really worth doing it yourself?

Create an Excel spreadsheet to conduct a make or buy analysis of the following:

You manage a large multi-national business that manufactures/builds commercial airliners. In an effort to reduce costs, you are considering outsourcing some of the parts used to build the planes. You start with the parts that are used most often. We will call these “A” parts.

The estimated costs of producing 8,000 “A” parts in house are:

Per Unit

Total

Direct Materials

$13

$104,000

Direct Labor


10

80,000

Applied Variable Factory

Overhead

11

88,000

Applied Fixed Factory

Overhead


15

120,000

$49.00

$392,000.00

You can buy this part from a supplier overseas for only $41.49 each. You have never worked with this supplier before, but the price difference appears as if it could save your organization some money.

If you purchased from the supplier, 50% in fixed factory overhead would be saved. (NOTE: Keep in mind that Fixed overhead is overhead you must pay even if the factory is not producing anything!)

Using Excel, perform the calculations necessary to determine if you should make or buy.

Upload your Excel spreadsheet AND in the comments section of the D2L assignment screen, explain what you think you should do based on ALL information available. Is it worth outsourcing this part?

1. Choose one of the assignments below and post your answers or ‘editorial’ in this forum.
   1. Select an article from the mass media (newspaper) that deals with an “environmental” health issue. Analyze and critique the article by answering the following questions:
      • What are the characteristics of the community involved?
      • What appears to be the sources of the problem?
      • What evidence is provided in the article to substantiate the cause?
      • Does the news coverage describe health effects?
      • What population is at risk?
      • Does the coverage provide adequate information for consumers to understand the problem and seek any needed assistance?
      • How would you improve this article for better public awareness?
   2. Identify an environmental health problem in your community. 
      • Familiarize yourself about this problem by interviewing or talking with experts in the area, reading recent literature and research reports, and searching the Internet for information about the problem. 
      • Contact your Senator or Congressperson who has been involved in legislation related to the problem and learn what he or she plans to do about it. 
      • Summarize what you have learned and present it in writing as a letter to the editor of your local newspaper. 
      • Share the letter in this Discussion Forum
2. Your response should be 500 words.

 A case study analysis requires you to investigate a business problem, examine the alternative solutions, and propose the most effective solution using supporting evidence. 

Case Study – Management Principles and the Washington, DC Public Schools: Choosing a Chancellor

Preparing the Case

Before you begin writing, follow these guidelines to help you prepare and understand the case study:

· Read and Examine the Case Thoroughly

• Take notes, highlight relevant facts, underline key problems. 

· Focus Your Analysis

• Identify two to five key problems.
• Why do they exist?
• Who is impacted?
• Who is responsible for them?

· Uncover Possible Solutions/Changes Needed

• Review course readings, discussions, outside research, and your experience.

· Select the Best Solution

• Consider strong supporting evidence, pros, and cons. Is this solution realistic?

Writing the Case Study Analysis

Once you have gathered the necessary information, a draft of your analysis should include these general sections, but these may differ depending on your assignment directions or your specific case study:

·Introduction

• Identify the key problems and issues in the case study.
• Formulate and include a thesis statement, summarizing the outcome of your analysis.

· Background

• Set the scene: background information, relevant facts, and the most important issues.
• Demonstrate that you have researched the problems in this case study.

· Evaluation of the Case

• Outline the various pieces of the case study that you are focusing on.
• Evaluate these pieces by discussing what is working and what is not working.
• State why these parts of the case study are or are not working well.

· Proposed Solution/Changes

• Provide specific and realistic solution(s) or changes needed.
• Explain why this solution was chosen.
• Support this solution with solid evidence, such as:

– Concepts from class (text readings, discussions, etc.)

– Outside research

– Personal experience (anecdotes)

· Recommendations

• Determine and discuss specific strategies for accomplishing the proposed solution.
• If applicable, recommend further action to resolve some of the issues.
• What should be done and who should do it?