Proposal

Group: JAARE

Alison Baldridge
Jaci Glover
Ricky Sherfield
Erik Williams
Adam Kogler
Texas Tech University
2500 Broadway
Lubbock, TX 79409

April 25, 2007

Ms. Liu
Texas Tech Professor of Technical Writing
Texas Tech University
2500 Broadway
Lubbock, TX 79409

We are excited to be able to present this proposal to you because of the profound positive effects we believe will occur if implemented. The proposal includes provisions for greatly improving the currently dysfunctional Techsis web system. It is a widespread belief that having a reliable and user friendly student service application is important and necessary to the Texas Tech community.

We propose to take the measures to replace the current mainframe system for the Techsis application as well as implement a combination of other strategies. Through this proposal, we aim to incorporate a new student service application that allows for more Tech students to be logged onto Techsis at the same time, creating more accessibility. Through this process, we hope for a decrease in website errors.

Thank you for this opportunity to present our proposal and we hope that you sincerely consider it as a possibility. If you have any questions regarding our proposal, please do not hesitate to contact us.

Sincerely,





A Proposal to Improve the Current Techsis System


April 25, 2007


Prepared for:
Mrs. Liu
Texas Tech Professor of Technical Writing
Texas Tech University
2500 Broadway
Lubbock, TX 79409


Submitted by:
Alison, Jaci, Ricky, Erik, Adam
Texas Tech University
2500 Broadway
Lubbock, TX 79409
(806) 555-1122







Table of Contents


Introduction: Page 4

Statement of Problem: Page 5

Proposed Solution: Page 6

Scope: Page 8

Methods: Page 9

Qualifications: Page 10

Project Schedule: Page 11

Budget: Page 13

Conclusion: Page 14

Works Cited: Page 15

Appendix: Page 16








Introduction:

As Texas Tech students, the Techsis system is extremely important and prevalent due to its importance in record keeping and enrollment. Ultimately, we targeted this area for improvement because of its numerous defects as well as the combination of importance of having a reliable student resources webpage.
We started out our search for improving the Techsis website by randomly surveying Texas Tech students. Our data collection provided us with key data and information that proved not only the importance of the Techsis website, but also uncovered Tech student’s unhappiness with the overall performance of the Techsis website. Fifty three percent of the Tech students surveyed stated that they were “not very” or “somewhat” satisfied with the overall Techsis product. More striking was the result of eighty four percent of Tech students noting that Techsis had malfunctioned while they were logged on. Also, eighty seven percent of the Texas Tech students surveyed reported that there was “a need for improvement of the Techsis website.” Another issue that arose among Tech students was the time of availability with the current system in place. Seventy six percent of the Tech students surveyed said they “strongly disapprove” or “disapprove” with the hours of availability with the Techsis system.
We continued our search by interviewing four members of the Texas Tech University faculty and staff. Through our interviews with Mr. David Coons, the project leader for information systems, he provided us with key insight into the computer software involvement of the Techsis web system. Also, in our interviews with Mr. Dustin Jordan, Assistant Managing Director, he was able to give us a significant headway into our formulation of a feasible solution to our Techsis problem. We were also able to interview Mrs. Kathryn Quilliam, the Ombudsman for students at Texas Tech University. She was able to give us insight into student responses with the Techsis system. Our last interview with Linda Ricks, Managing Director of Information systems, gave us information about provided suggestions for improving the current system in place.
In order to solve the problem with the Techsis website, a new piece of computer equipment, a mainframe, would be a necessary tool in finding a solution. A mainframe is more or less a server with a higher capacity and more capabilities. It is responsible for executing the tasks that servers bring to them. The mainframe acts as the brain of the entire system by making the decisions and processing the data or applications brought before them. Mainframes house the vast amount of data and computer software that is needed for an internet website to interact successfully with a user.
After conducting careful research and analysis, we came to the conclusion that we need to buy a new mainframe system to operate the current Techsis web system. Along with this, we will be implementing a few new techniques to improve upon the remaining components in the Techsis system.





Statement of the Problem:

As stated above, we see a considerable need for improvement over the current system of Techsis. The need for the improvement of the Techsis website emerges from two key details: one, the inconvenient times that the Techsis web system is available and second, the need for improved reliability during the most crucial time for Texas Tech students, enrollment periods.
Texas Tech students rely on the Techsis website for accomplishing important tasks relating to their academic and financial needs. Tasks related to academics include accessing grades from professors, unofficial and official transcript requests, registering for class schedules and dropping unwanted classes. Students are able to use Techsis to research courses that are available and the times and dates those classes are offered. Using the “degree audit” link, Tech students can monitor where they are in their degree program and how it compares to other departments. Personal information is kept through the Tech website, giving students an opportunity to view or change their private information. Personal testing numbers are located on Techsis and students need this number to retrieve test grades given by professors. Also, students can access the financial aid office through Techsis and are able to monitor and pay their tuition balance and fees.
We arrived at the main solution of buying a new mainframe system because of the fact that there is no other feasible solution. For the Techsis system to efficiently work, it needs an efficient server and in a sense, a mainframe system is a server. The Techsis system works from two sides of the equation. On the front side, it uses dedicated application servers that perform the upfront transactions for the user. The front side goes out and retrieves the data and acts as the middle man for the process. Currently, Texas Tech University has seven servers dedicated to the Techsis web system. While that may seem too few, it is actually quite enough for its part in operating the system. On the back side of the equation, there is the mainframe; this is where the problems primarily occur.
The main frame is responsible for carrying out the tasks that the servers bring to it. With the recent growth in the number of Texas Tech students, the main frame system can no longer meet the demands and numbers of the students. Due to the large amounts of users that attempt to all use the Techsis website, for example during the enrollment periods, it freezes up or experiences a “CPU bottlenecking.” There are too many main users for the mainframe system to handle at once, so the system crashes and an error occurs on the users screen. Therefore, by improving the front side of the process by new or more severs, processors, or memory for the front side of the process, it would only worsen the problem. This occurs by expediting more users to the mainframe even more quickly, causing it to crash faster. With the current mainframe unable to handle the growing needs of the Tech students, it has a significant need for improvement or replacement. The only way to handle the current situation is to mend the problem for the mainframe side of the Techsis web system.





Proposed Solution:

Due to Texas Tech’s growth in students over the years, much of the student services have been affected. The current area of concern is the web system, Techsis, which is in charge of numerous student services, most notably the enrollment process. Due to the recent surge in students attending Texas Tech, the current system has been unable and unresponsive to handling the growing demands of Texas Tech students. In order to meet that demand, we propose buying a new mainframe system to administrate the Techsis system. To replace the current mainframe system, we will be looking to buy a new IBM 2096 R07 model. With this mainframe upgrade, we will be able to greatly improve the backside of the system application, Techsis. The backside operations are currently the primary area of concern regarding improving the efficiency and overall performance of the system. Through our purchasing of the IBM 2096 model, we will considerably improve the user interaction portion of Techsis. This will also create a larger network frame so that many more users can be logged onto Techsis at one time. This will greatly increase the threshold, where the bottlenecking was previously occurring. With the IMB 2096 model, Techsis will have a larger ability to orchestrate more functions and users through its faster processors and overall technological improvements from its predecessors.
Ultimately, with the upgraded system, Techsis will be able to handle more clients then before with greater reliability and usability, which was a significant concern for most Tech students. The IBM 2096 will not only affect the Tech students, but the Tech community as well. The improved usability of the site will allow more convenience usage for administrators through bill paying options with the confidence in the system to carry out important tasks. Also, with a new improved system in place, less IT technicians will be required or dedicated to the maintenance of the Techsis web system, freeing them up for targeting other areas of concern regarding technological support.
The new IBM 2096 RO7 model will cost an estimated $200,000, in addition to maintenance fees after the first year, totaling an estimated $4,000 a month. Finally, there will be a monthly fee of approximately $14,729 in software licensing agreements. The upgrade software would provide the necessary bridge between the new updated technology and our current system. The new software along with the new system would provide us with the necessary equipment to create an effective application to handle the vast variety of student services that Tech students demand. It will also create a much more usable and reliable system for Tech students during peak periods such as registration. All estimated costs were consulted from IBM sales representatives. These are only estimates and can not be taken to be literal amounts and prices. The costs of upgrading to the IBM 2096 RO7 model would make up the majority of the budget.
The final two proposed ideas would be implementing a strategy of breaking large networks into smaller ones so that they can process faster. “On a large network, it would make sense to break the network down into smaller segments… Therefore, it’s not competing with other segments for time on the cable” (p. 85). The discussed strategy of breaking networks into smaller sections attempts to slow the bottlenecking that can happen when too many users are on one network at a time. The broken apart segments are ultimately connected together by a high speed segment called a backbone. It is like dividing network into cars and having them drive down the segment or highway. The other proposed solution combines with the first mentioned idea, with the new IBM 2096. During peak times of usage such as enrollment periods, Texas Tech could rent our extra processors from IBM for the 2096 system, which would allow for faster transactions. This would prevent overloading of the mainframe system, which controls the Techsis application. With these three proposed solutions combined, the Techsis system would see incredible improvement in its reliability and efficiency and would prove to be a successful investment for Texas Tech University.





Scope:

To understand the nature and reasoning of the problem and the conclusion behind implementing a new mainframe system, we must address several questions. After our examination of the problem and the formulation of a solution, we must look at the feasibility of its potential implementation.

How reliable is the current system?
Who is affected by the current Techsis system?
Can the current setup of Techsis handle the needs of Tech students?
What is the popular belief from Texas Tech students about the current Techsis system?
What is the faculty and staff’s current opinion of Techsis?
Do the people responsible for the current Techsis system see a need for improvement? If yes, how so?
Would the monetary costs of upgrading the current system outweigh the long term benefits?
What are our options for improvement?


The current Techsis system is the cause of much anguish and grief for many Texas Tech students and faculty. There has been a twenty plus year investment with patch work jobs done along the way. It is now time to introduce a major upgrade and investment so that the system can finally have the reliability and resources it needs to accommodate growing needs of Tech students.

On the feasibility side, the transition would only require a minor changing period and would be greatly rewarding in the future. The new IBM 2096 R07 model would accommodate the current system structure of Techsis. It would allow Techsis to run faster and more efficiently with greater ability to handle more tasks and users than before. The only transition that would occur would be the installation period of the new mainframe and reconfiguration of the Techsis system to run through the new mainframe system. This would take about two weeks to implement.






Methods:

The methods that we employed ranged from interviewing Texas Tech students to poll for a general consensus, to interviewing Texas Tech faculty and staff to finally communicating with IBM salespersons to retrieve estimated costs for our solution. Through our creation of the surveys and the asking of specifically oriented questions, we were able to gather data on Tech student’s opinions of the current Techsis system. With the results soundly in hand and for the majority “unsatisfied” with the current Techsis system we proceeded to collect more information about its inner workings from Tech administrators. We interviewed four faculty members in Mrs. Kathryn Qulliam, Ombudsman for Texas Tech students, Mr. Dustin Jordan, Assistant managing Director of Technology Operations and Systems Management, Mr. David Coons, the Project leader for Information Systems and finally, Mrs. Linda Ricks, Managing Director of Information systems. Through these interviews we were able to decipher and understand the sources of error amongst the current Techsis system. Finally after all our data had been thoroughly collected and examined we contacted IBM about possible mainframe system upgrades. Through our contacts at IBM we were able to get rough estimates for the approximate costs of undertaking the purchase of a new IBM mainframe along with the maintenance fees that would come with the new system.
Through our proposed solution of buying a new IBM mainframe, specifically the IBM 2096 R07 model, we would have a timetable for it to be up and running by Fall 2007. Through its implementation all that would be required would be financing the total costs as well as budgeting the monthly costs that would be incurred with the new system which would not greatly differ from the current monthly costs with the current mainframe system. All that would be required would be a time period in which the Techsis web system could be totally shut down in order for the installation and transition period to take place. This could be done during the slower summer months without causing many serious foreseeable problems. Also the other two strategies of dividing up the network into smaller sections could be started instantaneously but would require a couple of weeks of “running the numbers” so that the smallest groupings could be accomplished, ultimately speeding up the network.
Finally, the last proposal of renting out additional processors for the peak time periods such as enrollment times could be accomplished as a one time effort during the initial installation period. IBM would leave the extra processors in the mainframe system but would only activate them for usability when they were told so by Texas Tech University, of course at an additional charge. However, this small extra charge could save significant aggravation and anguish on the side of not only Tech students but the IT people that are constantly using time and energy to attempt to improve the never ending cycle of Techsis’ recurring problems.






Qualifications:

Each of us feels there is a need for improvement of the current Techsis website. Being Texas Tech students, we are directly affected by the performance of the website. Due to its current volatility, the website consistently creates problems for Tech students and faculty alike. These problems range from an interference with professors being able to post grades to the system crashing during registration periods.


Our individual qualifications:

Ricky – “Since coming to Texas Tech, I have used the Techsis website quite frequently. It is one of the most common websites that I visit and I use it for many purposes.”
- “I have taken several computer and website courses. I am familiar with systems and applications.”

Jaci – “As a Texas Tech student, I frequently use the Techsis website for various reasons and encounter problems with it on a regular basis.”

Adam - “Being a freshman at Texas Tech University I have already consistently encountered problems with the Techsis website for registration purposes and would like to see an improvement.”
- Currently enrolled in an ISQS class and have a basic knowledge of information systems.
- “As a business major I understand the importance of having an efficient product to keep the customers happy.”

Erik – “I have used the Techsis website and other applications similar to it. The other applications I have used run more efficiently. This shows that the Techsis website is inferior and has room for improvement.”

Alison – “As a sophomore here at Tech, I have repeatedly had problems with the Techsis website. I have encountered difficulties scheduling classes and accessing personal information. It is stressful not being able to access the website, especially when I am trying to complete an assignment or deal with academic matters that have a deadline to be met.”






Budget:
Total Expenses

IBM Mainframe 2096 R07
$200,000
Monthly Maintenance Fees
$4,000
Software licensing agreement (Monthly)
$14,729
Total Expenses
$218,729



Software Licensing Agreement Breakdown

DB2 UDB for z/OS
$3209
COBOL Full Function
$619
WebSphere MQ for z/OS
$1595
CICS TS for z/OS V3.1
$3620
z/OS V1 Base
$3037
z/OS V1 DFSMS dss
$145
z/OS V1 DFSORT
$207
z/OS V1 RMF
$119
z/OS V1 SDSF
$196
z/OS V1 Security Server
$179
IBM Tivoli NetView for z/OS
$1803
Total monthly costs for software:
$14,729


Our budget consists of buying a new mainframe system, specifically the IBM 2096 R07 model for $200,000. The monthly fees are associated with owing and operating the system. For the first year after the purchase of the IBM 2096, the monthly maintenance fees will be waived. However, after the one year period, a mandatory monthly maintenance charge from IBM will be incurred, totaling $4,000 a month. Finally, there will be a monthly licensing charge of $14,729 a month.





Conclusion:

The use of computers is very important to Texas Tech students, especially the Techsis website. Through our proposal, we came up with the plan of using a mainframe to better equip the Techsis website to handle large numbers of students accessing the site. We interviewed Tech students and were able to receive firsthand, opinions regarding how the Techsis website is set up and how many problems students have encountered using it. We also interviewed Tech faculty that are associated with the Tech computer systems and Techsis. Through our interviews, we were able to identify the cause of the problem and develop a solution that would benefit Tech as a whole.
During our research, we were able to find the source of the problem in the mainframe running the Techsis program. Due to high numbers of students logged on to computers at the same time, the Techsis website would become overloaded and therefore, cause malfunctions. Students were sometimes unable to access the Techsis website during peak scheduling periods or payment deadlines. Therefore, using a new mainframe would allow for more students to be logged on to the Techsis website while experiencing less or no malfunctions. Through this proposal, we as a group believe that the solution provided will promote stability and reliability for Tech students when using the Techsis website.







Works Cited

Michael, Graves. The Complete Guide to Servers and Server+. Canada: Thomson
Delmar Learning, 2007.

Markel, Mike. Technical Communication. 8th ed. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin’s, 2007.

Texas Tech University. 9 April 2007. 20 April 2007. .

IBM. 17 April 2007. 20 April 2007. <http://www.ibm.com/>.

Survey Monkey. 12 April 2007. 20 April 2007. <http://www.surveymonkey.com/>.






Appendix:

Survey Questions:
1. How often do you use Techsis?
2. How reliable do you think Techsis is?
3. How satisfied are you with the Techsis website?
4. Has Techsis ever malfunctioned while you were logged on?
5. How many times has Techsis malfunctioned?
6. How do you feel about the availability of the Techsis website? (Hours)
7. Do you think there is a need for improvement of the Techsis website?
8. How important do you feel the Techsis website is to you as a Texas Tech student?


Interview Sources:
Rhette Angus
zSeries Software Sales Representative, East Region
IBM
1-888-746-7426
http://www.ibm.com/

David Coons
Project Leader for Information Systems
Texas Tech University
(806) 742-6000 Ext. 256
david.coons@ttu.edu

Dustin Jordan
Assistant Managing Director
Technology Operations & Systems Management
Texas Tech University
(806) 742-1016
dustin.jordan@ttu.edu

Kathryn H. Quilliam
Ombudsman for Students
Texas Tech University
(806) 742-4791
kathryn.quilliam@ttu.edu


Linda Ricks
Managing Director for Information Systems
Texas Tech University
(806) 742-6000 Ext. 224
linda.ricks@ttu.edu

Interview Questions:

1. What is your job title, details, student feedback, and comparison with other universities?
2. How does the number of students logged on at one time affect Techsis?
3. How does the server affect Techsis?
4. Has Techsis improved or the years or gotten worse? Ask for examples.
5. How do you feel about Techsis? Do you think there are any problems with Techsis?
6. Where can students voice their opinions about Techsis?
7. If you could give any advice to Tech Students about Techsis, what would it be?
8. Why is Techsis not available 24hrs a day and could it be?
9. What does it mean when the website is down for maintenance and why at inconvenient times?
10. How many resources are devoted to the development and upkeep of Techsis?
11. When there is an error on Techsis, is it just an isolated error with the website or does it encompass the entire Tech network?