rpl acs project report form - 2017 shaijo mohan ne - updated … · 2018-11-13 · microsoft word -...

ACS | RECOGNITION OF PRIOR LEARNING APPLICATION 2017

ACS RECOGNITION OF PRIOR LEARNING (RPL) FORM - 2017 This document is required to be completed for all Recognition of Prior Learning (RPL) applications and uploaded as a PDF to the application form. IMPORTANT NOTICE:

Misleading and false information is viewed as a major breach of ethical behaviour and will seriously jeopardise your migration prospects. It is your responsibility to indicate when you have drawn on the work of others. Other people’s original ideas and methods should be clearly distinguished, and other people’s words, illustrations and diagrams should be clearly indicated regardless of whether they are copied exactly, paraphrased, or adapted. Failure to acknowledge your source by clear citation and referencing constitutes plagiarism. All plagiarism will be assessed as not suitable and reported to the Department of Immigration and Border Protection. The ACS reserves the right to use software applications to screen your submitted work for matches either to published sources or to other submitted applications. In some cases, you may be asked to submit project reports and other written work submitted with the application for screening by plagiarism detection services. If at any stage in the assessment process plagiarism is detected, the information may be provided to other Australian Government agencies. The assessment will be terminated and the outcome recorded as unsuitable. A refund of the application fee cannot be provided for cases assessed as containing false information or plagiarism.

Please complete the following 2 sections:

1. The Key Areas of Knowledge – Section 1 2. The Project Report Forms – Section 2

RPL applications are for those applicants who do not hold a recognised tertiary ICT qualification and who have a minimum of 6 years of closely related experience. This document provides the opportunity for applicants to demonstrate the knowledge learnt throughout their professional experience. Applicant Name

Applicant Email Address

Applicant Date of Birth DD/MM/YY


SECTION 1 – KEY AREAS OF KNOWLEDGE Section 1 is based and will be assessed on the following document. Please ensure you read and understand - The ACS Core Body of Knowledge for ICT Professionals (CBOK). You must clearly explain how your experience and qualifications meet the selected Areas of Knowledge and specifically how and where you acquired the knowledge. You are required to select one topic from the Essential Core ICT Knowledge (Topic 1 or Topic 2) and one topic from the General ICT Knowledge (Topic 3, Topic 4 or Topic 5). Please ensure you address at least 2 subtopics from each of the topics chosen. The ICT Key Areas of Knowledge: Essential Core ICT Knowledge

Topic 1. ICT Professional Knowledge Sub Topics are -

a. Ethics b. Professional Expectations c. Teamwork Concepts and Issues d. Communication e. Societal Issues

Topic 2. ICT Problem Solving

Sub Topics are - a. Modelling Methods b. Processes to understand problems c. Methods and tools for handling abstraction

General ICT Knowledge Topic 3. Technology Resources

Sub Topics are - a. Hardware and Software Fundamentals b. Data and Information Management c. Data Communications and Networking

Topic 4. Technology Building

Sub Topics are - a. Human Factors b. Programming c. Information Systems Development and Acquisition

Topic 5. ICT Management

Sub Topics are - a. IT Governance and Organisational Issues b. IT Project Management c. ICT Service Management d. Security Management


Important: Identify the Area of Knowledge topic that you have chosen to explain by entering the name

of the Area of Knowledge topic in the box. Explain, in the expandable typing area, how you have acquired the knowledge and illustrate

the depth of that knowledge. You should NOT address all sub topics included in the Area of Knowledge in your explanation.

Address at least TWO of the sub topics. Enter the sub topic name(s) in the box. Be clear and concise in your explanation. Limit each explanation to no more than one to one and a half pages.

In the following expandable typing areas, explain how you have acquired your in-depth knowledge in these topic areas through your professional experience. Essential Core ICT Area of Knowledge: [ICT PROFESSIONAL KNOWLEDGE Sub-topics are

a. PROFESSIONAL EXPECTATIONS b. TEAMWORK CONCEPTS AND ISSUES]

How have you acquired this knowledge in your working environment? Illustrate your depth of knowledge. [PROFESSIONAL EXPECTATION: Before I explain anything about professional expectations first it’s very important to know what a professional is. As per my education, knowledge and experience a professional is an individual who is master of what he or she does, like a doctor, lawyer or in my case an ICT professional. While talking about professionalism, what first clicks the mind is that this person is a specialist in his or her relevant discipline. The traits or kind of behaviour expected from a professional is referred as professional expectation, which is how a professional is required or expected to behave generally in his or her day to day job activities or how he or she is expected react to the particular situations where a normal person can break up. I have learnt about the essential skills and expectation of a professional during my studies and I am privileged to have been working for organizations where professional grooming is one of the priorities. I learnt quite a lot about the real-time traits of a professional and how a professional needs to behave in certain situations and in general. Normally employers all over the world use this terminology to show their expectations from the people working for them and to make sure that their companies perform in the best possible mode. One of the top expectations made towards a true professional is that he or she must be trust worthy in all his dealings and should trust others and should not question their honesty and expertise. In some businesses punctuality is not given that much of an importance but it is extremely vital for a professional to be punctual and meet the timeframes for both office tasks and most importantly of projects. Another important expectation from professionals of any discipline especially ICT is the greater sense of responsibility. Whether the task on hand is small or big, a professional should carry out every project with full concentration and give his or her hundred precent to the task. At times the network projects can get very complex and different aspects


have to be thought through during the planning phase. Attention to details is essential to ensure that none of the requirements are missed out and all functional and non-functional requirements are accounted for. A true professional is always a good team player and encourages his or her junior colleagues and teammates during the brain storming sessions to come up with more interesting and unique ideas which in turn can boost the performance of the team and company at large. As a network engineer I realise that a professional is expected to be honest in his dealings with his colleagues, employer and clients. A professional must be trustworthy that is his seniors should be able to put trust in him or her while handing over important assignments. A professional is also expected to take right decisions at the right time and take the decisions in favour of his employer, his teammates and the client he is working for in general. A professional is expected to communicate in a clear and transparent way; this is important because a well-executed presentation can provide good level of confidence to the client and other stake holders and land a project or convinces the stakeholders to invest. A professional should always be ready to improve through lifelong learning. Especially for an ICT professional, learning new skills and techniques are crucial as the technology landscape is fast evolving and good understanding of the latest technologies and trends are essential. Most importantly a professional is expected to be a good planner and executer. TEAMWORK CONCEPTS AND ISSUES: I learnt these concepts during my academic sessions when we were given different assignments and projects on group basis. We had to coordinate with each other and divide the projects according to each member’s expertise. Moreover during professional career I got the opportunity to works on different projects as team member, team lead and even project manager and we successfully completed those projects in time. I have always been a good team member as well as a better performing team leader whenever I got a chance to lead and manage a team of professionals. The team can be defined as a group of people working together to achieve a common goal or milestone. The ability or skill to support, cooperate and communicate with each other as a team to achieve a common goal or milestone is referred as the teamwork. In other words teamwork means to perform duties and responsibilities as one united group and to share your knowledge and skills with others so that everyone gets benefit. It helps to accomplish those tedious tasks which seem impossible if assigned to only one individual because while working in team all the physical and intellectual resources are shared which greatly reduce the work load on single person. Different members are able to propose numerous useful options and the best option can be opted after discussing the scenario in detail. The members might also be able to highlight the problem or information which otherwise would have been ignored. Today we are living in a global village and thanks to the digital revolution; everyone is connected to the whole world through the use of Internet. Many of the organisations have


their expert team players spread across the continents. They may be separated by the physical boundaries but they are connected through the internet or intranet and they cooperate with one another for the success of their company and business (such as different software teams in India providing back end support to business in USA or Australia).One of the important attribute of team work is that team members have to strive for achieving a mutual goal despite of any kind of personal conflict or issues. Informal and formal team meeting and team building activities are common in the organization I am working for. This gives us the opportunity to understand the strength and skills of each individual and provide an opportunity to distribute project tasks based on their strength and skills. It is very important for ICT professional to be an excellent team player as most of the projects requires team of individuals belonging to different fields working together for success of the project. For example, some may be designing the front end of application; others are involved in back end coding or developing database and also from finance and service departments. There may be another team building the network and connectivity and ensuring that all different parts of the applications are connected as required and user access to these are provided. In such situation you need to collaborate with team members within and outside your area of responsibility and make it possible to design a competitive offering. Mostly the projects are so large scaled that no individual can do all the tasks instead the success of project lies on team work. General ICT Area of Knowledge: [ICT MANAGEMENT Sub-topics are

a. IT PROJECT MANAGEMENT b. SECURITY MANAGEMENT]

How have you acquired this knowledge in your working environment? Illustrate your depth of knowledge. [IT PROJECT MANAGEMENT: I learnt about fundamentals of information technology project management and techniques fundamentally during initial years of my career as network engineer and in detail throughout the later years and still doing so. Initially I was working on some small parts of the projects and at the same time I was learning how things move in large company level projects. My employer was following a very structured method of projects management. Below are the major steps which we used to follow for handling different projects within the organization:

Initiation Phase of the project. In this phase we normally used to focus on the requirements and the business case of the project. It also deals with collecting basic information for the project, which in other words can be referred as “Problem”. This phase also involves problem analysis, brainstorming the solutions and preparing current situation and expected situation after the


project delivery (AS-IS & TO-BE). Planning Phase of the project. During this phase the major focus is on the

future planning of the steps or activities to be carried out. The major activities involved during this phase are deciding the technologies, methodologies to be used, task distribution, making sure task is distributed to the right person who is professional in what he does, planning and deciding the phases to be completed until the last stage of the project.

Designing Phase: This phase contains designing the components of the new system. The activities during this phase are mainly dependent on the type of product to be produced. This phase involves the designers and architects who have the major contribution.

Implementation Phase: During this phase various components of the new systems are integrated together to achieve the target results. Similar to the designing phase it also involves the activities dependent on nature the project or product to be produced.

Testing Phase: The integrated product or system is tested and retested for errors or loopholes. The error are fixed and retested until the QA team is satisfied with the results. This phase also involves End User Acceptance Test if required by the client.

Launch of the product in staging environment. Once the staging environment product is approved by the business users, then we launch it in live environment.

Close out phase. In this phase the final ready product is officially handed over to the business users for daily use.

Effect realization of goals and achievements. After the successful handover performance of the product is measured as the initial requirements. Changes are made if any visible difference is observed in product results. Technical support is provided by the vendor during this phase in case the users face any complications or just need any support related to the usage of the system.

Documentation Phase: The project lead engineer writes the explanation about the new systems and its specifications in the project report. Warranty Certificates, Project Completion Certificates and other relevant documentation is also carried out in this final phase.

In my experience, breaking down a specific task or problem that come across our way, even in a network support or network deployment type of projects, into different project management stages helps in ensuring that the best possible solution is given to the problem. During my employment I have worked as Network Support engineer with an organization which follow BS 15000 and 7799 standards in IT service management process. Though ITIL service management framework is slightly different compared to IT Project management, I feel that both will help in meeting the compliance and quality requirements for the organizations. New trends are evolving in the IT project management space like Agile, where the emphasis is


more on fast turnover and quick delivery rather than the focusing on linear approach. Typically software development type of project are more adaptive to the Agile methodology and these days most of the software or application development project follow Agile methodology. But networking project mostly follow the traditional project management approaches (top-down or waterfall) Above mentioned structured projects management approaches helped me delivering multiple complex projects very easily. All you have to do is to follow these steps with great care and put in all the relevant information in each one of it. At the end of each phase you become ready for next phase and your project keeps on moving in very right direction along with results of each phase. SECURITY MANAGEMENT: I learnt about the security management throughout my professional career where many times, I had to deal with many information technology security issues as well as got chances to work on various projects related to IT assets, network and server security. While working for the client oriented organizations network engineer, I learnt about the security management fundamentals and factors contributing to the security management process and contributions of information security management towards establishing the company’s security policies to a great extent. It is mandated in our organization that every employee has to go through the security awareness training where the IT security management fundamentals are reviewed and discussed in details with example and case studies. Further I have been part of a research and development team for a developing a network services test and automation framework which later got patented in the name of the company and I am one of the co-inventor. During this research and development activities and later during the patent application process, we had been sensitized on the criticality of protecting the information we are dealing with and additional trainings were given on data protection and security breaches. These trainings and real time experiences helped me in developing an excellent understanding on the security management and I have used my learnt knowledge in order to better cope up with security related issues, risks and threats to the system. The fundamental purpose of Information Technology security is to protect company’s assets whether physical or digital. The more important are the digital assets or in other words the data or information through various sources. IT security basically deals with safeguarding the data or information saved electronically and its processing and availability. The classic core principles of information security, namely confidentiality, integrity and availability, form the basis for its protection. IT Security Auditing is a pretty helpful method of identifying a company’s critical assets and resources and weaknesses of the safeguarding process according to my professional experience. This provides a solid platform to tackle the threats to security assets as well as helps in taking the measures to minimise the damage or data loss in case of a security breach.


During my professional career, I have used information security management system which directly deals with identifying the data security risks, pinpointing the system vulnerabilities and securing the data and information as well as making recommendations to part the company’s IT security policy documentation. This system provides clear guidelines and tools to plan, adopt, implement, supervise and improve the tasks and activities to achieve highest possible level of information and asset security. Information security is not only threatened by wilful acts such as computer viruses, interception of communications or computer theft. Fires, flooding, storms and earthquakes can directly affect data media, IT systems or block access to the computer centre. Documents, IT systems or services are therefore no longer available as required. After a bad or unsuccessful installation of software results in applications cease to function or data has been modified without being noticed. Confidential information is inadvertently passed on to unauthorised persons by a staff member because documents or files have not been marked "confidential". A management system embraces all the policies pertaining to supervision and management for the purpose of achieving the objectives. The part of the management system dealing with information security is referred to as the information security management system (ISMS). The ISMS specifies the instruments and methods that the management should use to clearly manage (plan, adopt, implement, supervise and improve) the tasks and activities aimed at achieving information security. According to my learnt knowledge and experience ISMS involves a variety of essential components like principles of managing the security, resources, personnel, information security processes, information security policy document which contains objectives as well as strategies for information and data security as well as their implementation, the concept of information security and the overall organizational information security system. Planning and documenting the implementation of business processes or the introduction of a new IT system just once and then implement the agreed information security measures. After information security measures have been implemented, they must be examined regularly to ensure they are effective, appropriate, applicable and also actually being applied. If vulnerabilities or opportunities for improvements are discovered, the measures must be adapted and improved. These changes necessary due to the modifications must in turn also be replanned and implemented. If business processes are terminated or components and/or IT systems replaced or shut down, it will also be necessary to consider the associated information security issues, such as the withdrawal of authorisation or the secure erasure of hard drives. The information security safeguards are therefore subdivided in many categories which provides an all-over safety against internal or external threats to organization’s assets, like planning and designing, procuring suitable software and systems if required, implementing the new security measures, overseeing the operations like maintaining the information security through normal operational environment, making the appropriate disposals of unnecessary or expired assets especially data and information and making contingency planning.]


SECTION 2 - RPL PROJECT REPORTS A project report is a clear written description of a project or engagement that provides you with the opportunity to show how you perform as an ICT Professional. Each report is to relate to a significant project or work episode undertaken by you during your professional ICT career. The purpose of these reports is to enable you to demonstrate your command and implementation of the Areas of Knowledge described in Section 1 of this application. Please Note: You are required to provide two project reports. Of the two reports, one must apply to a project undertaken within the last three years, and the other for a project within the last five years. Projects over two years long may be used for both reports under either of the following conditions:

The project has clearly-defined work efforts which took place in parallel, each with their own solution development and design activities and their own deliverables.

The project had clearly-defined phases that were executed in succession, each with its own solution development and design activities and deliverables. Note that a second project phase that constructs and implements the solution developed by the first phase does not meet this requirement.

Depending on the nature of your role in each project, the Project Report should cover an appropriate selection of factors. Appropriate factors will be determined based on the type of ICT project selected. Possible factors include:

System Analysis and Design and Software Engineering methodologies used; Contribution to the processes involved in the design and implementation of enterprise-wide

computing systems; Programming languages, design paradigms and implementation procedures adopted; Database and/or file design and management techniques employed; Network topologies, including size, distribution and security facilities installed; Project Management and quality assurance techniques followed; Internet application design, including database interactivity and security measures

implemented; ICT managerial activities, demonstrating the nature and extent of responsibilities

Project Summary: Project Name Start Date End Date Project 1 Network and Server Security Solution 04/2012 08/2013 Project 2 Setting up a Campus Area Network 01/2014 06/2015

Instructions The following pages provide a template for your reports.


When writing your reports please provide your own thoughts – do not just copy project documentation. Please use the first person in your discussion, so it is clear to the assessor what you did versus what others did – say “I did X” rather than “X was done”. Diagrams from the project documentation may be helpful, but the text should be in your own words. Please ensure that diagrams are relevant, readable, and help the assessor to understand what you did as a member of the project team. If sections of the Project Report template (see below) are not relevant to your participation in the project, then leave the section blank. Focus on quality rather than quantity. Each Project Report should be no more than four or five pages in length. SPECIAL NOTE: By submitting this RPL Knowledge and Project Report form as a component of your ACS skills assessment application, you agree with the following statement: The applicant confirms that the explanation of their knowledge and project reports submitted in this application truthfully and accurately describe the applicant and the applicant’s personal involvement in the projects. The applicant is aware that plagiarism by the applicant will automatically invalidate this application, will jeopardise any future applications from the applicant and will be reported by the Australian Computer Society to the Australian Department of Immigration and Border Protection.


Project 1: Network & Server Security Solution

1. Project Summary

1.1. Identification

Client’s Company Name

Reliance Jio Infocomm

Business Address Reliance Corporate Park, MIDC Industrial Area, Ghansoli, Navi Mumbai, Maharashtra 400701, India

Contact Numbers Tel: +91-22-44787882

Web Address www.jio.com

Email Address [email protected]

Nature of project Network & Server Security Solution Location of project Mumbai, India Name of your employer

Infosys Ltd

1.2. Duration

From To Total project duration 04/12 08/13 Your involvement 04/12 08/13

1.3. Resources

Number Your team size 3 Total project team size 5

1.4. Personal Involvement

Please list the phases of the project in which you were personally involved Start Completion Phase Description

04/12 05/12 Analyze Requirements 06/12 08/12 Designing the Logical Network 09/12 10/12 Designing the Physical Network 11/12 01/13 Network Tuning 02/13 03/13 Implementation and Testing 04/13 08/13 Post implementation Support

1.5. Describe your role(s) and responsibilities in the project.


Role: Network Engineer On this particular project my major tasks were following;

Using client’s tools track and monitor networks Recommend products for improving the network security that can be made a

part of company’s IT policies Carry out detailed audits for network security Develop. Design and implement network topologies and configurations to

improve overall administration Maintain event logs and incident reports and correlate them Develop guidelines and SOPs for network administration Develop plans for better administration controls Implement encryption, certificate and digital signature type authentication

system Design and configure LAN/WAN and VoIP networks for all data users within head

office and all projects in remote areas A better email, anti-spam and web filtering system Design and implement data recovery and backup systems in case of a data loss

due to accident or theft Implement and maintain ISA server Implement and maintain the application servers platforms based on CentOS and

running applications like Apache, HA Proxy, Nginx etc Implement a better Firewall system.

2. Business Opportunity or Problem 2.1. Describe the business opportunity or problem(s) this project addressed.

[Company was expanding and new remote branch offices and locations were added to the companies’ network. Existing network requires an update for the expansion and also network security has to be enhanced. OWA access for email should be provided to the users in remote location in secure and efficient way. Major goal was to eliminate the possibility of the traffic being intercepted in transit and to make the network so much secure that no intruder from outside or inside the organization could access and steal precious data from the central data centre. The task was difficult because to the network has to be made more secure but at the same time access needs to be provided for user across different locations. To achieve this, many factors must be taken care of, such as

Topology and placement of servers/hosts within the network Selection of hardware and software technologies Selection of security policies and encryption methods Clear distinction of different security zones and appropriate policies for each zone Very careful configuration of each product and its components


As we know that no two networks are alike, some of the typical hurdles we faced were,

Securing the network from internet launched attacks, Securing internet facing web, DNS and webmail servers We also had to contain the damage from compromised systems carrying malicious

data Also internally launched attacks Our responsibility was to build a more secure framework for administrators to securely

manage the network with minimum down time. We also had to provide a system which cloud keep a log and detect intrusions at any

level.] 3. Solution

3.1. Discuss your contribution to the solution, project or engagement.


[CONTRIBUTION TO THE SOLUTION: Development of Network infrastructure, cabling diagram, recommending Network access system and methodologies, creation of firewall rule and security zones, pre/after sales support. CONTRIBUTION TO THE PROJECT: Deployment, implementing and project management. PROCUREMENT DECISIONS: As I was working as project leader so I was responsible for all equipment selection, procurement, installation and technology inspection with the help of my project team. To be on the safer side I selected latest version of the equipment and infrastructure and adopted commonly used design patterns and configurations for the ease in use of the client’s staff. Having said that, there were issue with some of the configuration and it has to be fine-tuned to match the client specific requirements ALTERNATIVES CONSIDERED & RATIONALE: As per the initial solution, OWA Servers were placed within inside zone of the firewall and the ISA Server was placed in the DMZ zone. SSL bridging was configured for the end to end encryption and security. Few security vulnerabilities were noticed with this approach during independent penetration testing and the OWA security was further enhanced by mandating the use of SSL client certificates. All the internal clients and ISA has to present the SSL client certificate for connecting to OWA. This has increased the overall solution security and further penetration test couldn’t find any vulnerabilities. PROJECT ACTIVITIES: Once the all the requirements are cpatured and agreed by all the stake holders, a draft design for the logical nework was created. This was prepared considering many parameters like netowk connectivty requirement, network redundancy, security requrement, bandwidth requirement etc. To ensure that the nework security requirements are correctly captured, a logical view of different firewall securty zones and how each applications will be mapped to the corresponding security zone were created as well. This was then reviewed by the stake holders and hence a full view of the access requirements for each application were available. Outlook web access had further challenges as these servers are very complex software and one must be very expert and experience to secure it fully from malicious attacks of all kinds. Though polcies were applied to ensure that only valid users are able to connect, there still existed some risk of spreading virus via email. These days emails are one of the major way of spreading virus and worms in the network which is connected to internet. This becomes a problem when incoming mails are not scanned for viruses/worms, because the company and administrators would always be busy cleaning the infected computers instead to doing something creative for the betterment of company. Following measures were recommended to secure the Exchange Server; Outlook web access will require the use of IIS. So IIS should be made as secure as possible. Integrated windows authentication method must be used to allow access to the users using OWA. Windows certificate services should be applied to enhance security level.


3.2. Describe any design or problem solving methods you used on this project.

[DESIGN METHOD USED: Depending on my previous experience and trust I opted for the state of the art “TOP-DOWN Design Methodology”. The major reason behind was that this methodology focus on the client’s requirements from the very start of the project.

It also focuses the end user’s needs for the network applications and services It facilitates the vital future requirements to be considered and accounts for the

upgrades when required. TOP DOWN method is not only a methodology but it is more like a concept which

allows the client’s requirements to be addressed in a priority mode. It simply analyses the company’s needs from a higher level and instead of choosing the

network equipment, It starts with requirements and needs analysis and using this information as an

inspiration to design the solution. ]

3.3. List the major deliverables of the project that you were responsible for or contributed to.

For this we recommended that SSL channel should be used to access OWA so that the session with exchange server could not be intercepted at any level. POP service should be enabled according to the requirements. Email services which are not in use currently must be disabled. ISA Server 2000: It also requires expertise and experience to secure ISA Server 2000. So to do this we recommended following configurations, By default ISA server denies all the traffic passing through it. So while creating protocol rules only those protocols were allowed which were really required by the user and the rest were blocked. While creating the site and content rules only http rules were allowed and the rest blocked. ISA server was recommended to be installed in integrated mode to get benefit not only of caching capabilities but also its firewall and proxy capabilities. Logs were set to be kept in order to regularly check for their accuracy and maintenance.]


[The list of major deliverables were;

Gathering & Locking the requirements Getting the project scope or contact signed Designing the security architecture Network security implementation Making the Exchange Server secure Applying the secure and powerful Firewall Making the Webmail secure and safe

At the end of the project the major deliverable achieved was a better secured network which was secure from all kinds of malicious attacks from internal and external sources.] 4. Results

4.1. Was your solution implemented? If so, describe the role, if any, you had in the

implementation.

[Yes, solution was implemented and still being used by the client. I was the one who suggested this solution and did most of the work ranging from initial analysis to the end product; hence my role was kind of central. My role was also important because I was the Lead Network Engineer who was responsible of carrying out this important project from day one.]

4.2. Assess the overall success or failure of the project.

[Project was successful and client was happy from the solution. Solution was delivered on time and almost met the expected cost because we took strategic planning and appropriate actions at the right time.]

4.3. Lessons Learned In retrospect, what you might have done differently on this project?

[In this project I analysed the requirements, document them and got signed off from client before starting network design. Detailed review was conducted with all stake holders at different stages of the project. It helps me a lot for the designing; planning, costing and reduce re-works which helps me to complete it on time. I have learnt that, there are always a trade-off between security and ease of administration in these kinds of deployments. As a network engineer it is our responsibility to educate the client about the risks involved in removing certain security features just based on administrative preferences]


Project 2: Setting up a Campus Area Network

5. Project Summary

5.1. Identification

Client’s Company Name

Directv

Business Address 2250 E Imperial Hwy, El Segundo, CA 90245, USA

Contact Numbers Tel: +1 855-333-0188

Web Address www.directv.com

Email Address General email address

Nature of project Location of project Name of your employer

5.2. Duration

From To Total project duration 01/2014 06/2015 Your involvement 01/2014 06/2015

5.3. Resources

Number Your team size 4 Total project team size 12

5.4. Personal Involvement

Please list the phases of the project in which you were personally involved Start Completion Phase Description

01/14 01/14 Requirement and Needs capture 02/14 03/14 Requirements locking & Contract Signing 04/14 04/14 Planning the project flow and task assignment 05/14 07/14 Designing the Logical Network 07/14 09/14 Physical Network Design 10/14 12/14 Hardware Installation 01/15 02/15 Network Implementation and Validation 03/15 03/15 In-House Testing & End User Experience Test 04/15 06/15 Handover and Maintenance phase

5.5. Describe your role(s) and responsibilities in the project.


[Role: Network Engineer (Project Head) Task was to set up a Campus Area Network for the client and my major job responsibilities were;

Requirement capturing my coordinating with the stakeholders (Key Users, Management & other BPOs)

Analysing the requirements and brainstorming the best solution Presenting the solution in the management and operations department meeting Preparing the project contract (Scope of Work) to be signed Preparing the Project Work Flow and Task Assignment draft Designing the Logical Network Making the Physical Design for the Network Preparation of Installation method documents and cabling diagrams for the guidance

of the installers Deciding the network hardware and devices best suitable for the new network Participating and supervising the implementation phase, cable laying, LANs

placements, NIC configurations on the systems, Routers and HUBs placements and configurations, Ethernet setting up etc.

Integration of LANs to achieve Campus Area Network In-House Testing of the network for performance and errors rectification Conducting the End User Integration & Experience Test Supervising the handover phase Providing the post network support and maintenance services.]

6. Business Opportunity or Problem 6.1. Describe the business opportunity or problem(s) this project addressed.


[Company was planning to expand the work force in their headquarters and were planning to carry out all their engineering activities out of this campus. To accommodate for this a new campus location was identified and the IT department was invited to present a solution best suited for the networking needs of the new facility. Users from existing campus has to be moved out to the new building and their expectation is to have the same level of network connectivity to lab and production networks, AWS cloud etc from their new work location as well. The major expectations were;

Every new building need to have internet facility A suitable networking should be provided to facilitate resource sharing among

departments Additionally 3 groups of buildings may be interconnected so that every department in

the campus shares the required information without an issue Additionally an internet facility should be provided for Wireless users like Mobile users

and laptop users. The network must be secure and authenticated The network should have capacity to be extended when required Guest network should be setup and they should have internet access from the campus

bit should be separated from the enterprise network] 7. Solution

7.1. Discuss your contribution to the solution, project or engagement.

[CONTRIBUTIONS TOWARDS THE SOLUTION: I was acting as Network Engineer as well as Project Head in this project and my contributions included;

Being constantly in contact with the client’s BPOs to gather requirements Preparing the Project Scope Document addressing the requirements and their best

suited solution (AS-IS & TO-BE) Convincing the client’s BPOs over the solution presented and getting the contract

signed Project Initiation Preparing the Project Work Flow Draft for task assigning Preparing the Logical Network Design & Working alongside Network Architects to

Design the Physical Design of the network Reviewing the Network Hardware Proposals from various brands in order to select the

best suited hardware for LANs and CANs. Supervising the installation of NIC (Network Interface Cards) on each computer on the

network Supervising the General Network Implementation (Cable laying, connections with all

the computers and routers, connection with all the routers in all the buildings with the main Ethernet Router)

Setting up of Ethernet/Router in order to have Networking/Internet at the same time Integrating the LANs to set up Campus Network Conducting the in-house network testing and error rectification & End User Real-time


Experience Testing before final handover of the project Providing the additional support after network initiation

My Main Activities as Network Engineer:

After the requirement gathering I sat up with my team of Network Administrator and Network Architects to analyse the requirements and prepared a Project Scope of Work (SOW)

Upon a full fledge presentation of the solution I was able to convince the client’s representatives over the suggested and proposed networking solution.

Once the SOW was agreed and contract signed by the client I started the project by having an overall project team meeting. I assigned tasks to every one so that all the works continue as per Project Work Flow Document.

I designed the logical network and discussed with my designers team to counter check for errors and loopholes. After that I started designing the physical architecture of the network using Extended Star Network Topology Technique.

After reviewing all the proposals received from procurement as per my previous experience I selected CISCO network equipment because its reliability and port installation support services from the local vendor.

I have created a L2 network plan with different VLANs and created an IP Schema with IP subnet allocations for each VLAN.

I supervised the installation of Ethernet Network Interface Cards (NIC) on each computer in the network to facilitate the Local Area Network for each building.

I got a team of technicians to install the cables as well as routers and other hardware as per design given and explained to them by me as well so that the project could be completed within required time frame.

After the installation was completed and verified by me, I got to the next step and supervised the network configuration for overall LAN.

I supervised and participated in Network Integration to connect all the LANs to make a full Campus Area Network.

We tested the complete network for any errors of connection or configuration and sorted any minor issues present.

After this step I conducted USER’s Experience Session (UES) with the end user’s personnel who would be using the actual network.

Few issues where noticed during the actual user experience testing as some of the existing users had non-standard connection provided. (Eg: Some of the STB application developer had been using test STBs which had connection to head end application in the lab). Some of these nonstandard connectivity requirements were not captured during the project stages and configuration and work around had to be provided for these types of connections

I issued “Project Completion and Handover Certificate” and officially handed over the completed network.

In addition I provided a team who would be undertaking Network Performance Monitoring]

7.2. Describe any design or problem solving methods you used on this project.


[DESIGN METHOD USED: Since the project involved creation of different network segments and each had its own connectivity requirements, I have realized that a very structured and linear approach is required for this project. Hence a top-down method is followed for this project execution. Top down approach has produced an excellent outcome in general, but during the final stages there were few instances where certain expected functionalities didn’t work. These failures were mainly due to the fact that they were not captured as business requirements. On retrospective analysis, it was found that some of these network connections were approved as special case requirements at some point and they were not formally documented as network change, but completed as part of incident resolution. So these requirements were not captured while creating the business use cases based on the as-is stage and anticipated future needs. Only for those special cases a bottom up approach was followed which has ensured a quick turnaround,.]

7.3. List the major deliverables of the project that you were responsible for or contributed to.

[Major deliverables I was part of or responsible of were;

Preparation of a clear and to the point Project Scope of Work (PSW) demonstrating both AS-IS & TO-BE

Getting the Contract Signed Designing the Logical and Physical Design of the Network Undertaking the Network and Hardware configurations Configuration of LANs in all the buildings Integrating the LANs to achieve Campus Area Network Safe and secure LANs A secure network overall with facility of future expansions when required Selection of hardware was an additional deliverable I was responsible of]

8. Results

8.1. Was your solution implemented? If so, describe the role, if any, you had in the

implementation.

[Yes the solution was implemented successfully. The end user was really happy with the performance of the network. I was heading the project as well as performing my network related duties. My presence was in every phase and in every phase I played vital role.]

8.2. Assess the overall success or failure of the project.

[The Project was a major success and it took my project management skills to another level. The best thing was that we achieved the target in specified time frames. Our management and operations department were quite satisfied and happy with the end result.]

8.3. Lessons Learned


In retrospect, what you might have done differently on this project? [Keeping in view the best project management skills and experience I managed every phase of this project as per the requirements and as per the best project management practices. I performed my own duties as well as I helped the team wherever needed. As a project head I supervised overall project activities and happenings.]