Damon Isaac's E-Portfolio

Dear CIO,

Currently we employ 12 web developers at a cost of $1,500,000 a year. However,75% of the work currently being done by our developers can be done more efficiently by implementing Word-Press as our new web development platform. We can improve efficiency by 80% and reduce head count by 3 thereby saving $1,125,000 over 3 years.

Word-Press is an efficient, stable, and less time-consuming web development platform used for designing and maintaining websites. Maintained by Automattic, an external company, this provides an outsourcing advantage for low cost. Because Automattic handles all the updates and patches, we no longer have to worry about patching to close vulnerabilities on our website. Because of this, our developers can spend less time bug fixing and more time developing content. Word-Press provides thousands of templates and tools that allow our developers to create websites without writing hundreds of lines of code. While Word-Press maintains the functionality of other development platforms by allowing direct codding, it is not required to implement everything. By reducing the amount of code strain on our developers, we make them more efficient and free to create the content rather than being worried about limitations in either their own codding skills or the perceived lack of functionality in the platform. With the use of add-ons and plugins our developers can save time by implementing already created solutions to site design such as page functionality without wasting time developing the code they need. This translates into reduced costs down the line.

Because Word-Press allows more to be done with less effort, our head count will scale slower than with our previous development platform. With Word-Press we can add and remove pages and change content through a GUI, therefore requiring fewer people to accommodate a website that increases in complexity as it grows in size. Word Press gives one person the access to multiple skillsets through usage of existing codes, themes and plugins. By implementing Word-Press, we will increase efficiency by 80%. We will keep 5 developers working on our old systems and train 4 on the new system. On the backend, we will need to purchase hardware and system software and this will cost $200,000 for a development and production system.  Additionally, we will need to purchase maintenance agreements for these systems which will cost us an additional  $108,000 over 3 years.  Finally, the developers will need training and this will cost $40,000 including lost productivity for our four remaining developers. The total cost over 3 years is $348,000 providing a net savings of $777,00.

Works Cited

Schwartz, Adam. “Top 10 Reasons To Use WordPress.org For Your Website | Computer Courage: Computer Repair Berkeley, Web Design San Francisco Bay Area.” Computer Courage: Computer Repair Berkeley, Web Design San Francisco Bay Area. 21 July 2010. Web. 01 Apr. 2012. <http://www.computercourage.com/wordpress/top-10-reasons-to-use-wordpress-org-for-your-website/>.

Richard. “Why Use WordPress?” Why Use Wordpress? Seo Bounty, 30 Jan. 2012. Web. 3 Apr. 2012. <http://www.seobounty.com/why-use-wordpress/>.

Dear CIO,

Currently we utilize 1500 hours of our 2000 scheduled hours towards productivity. However we waste 400 hours each year managing documents which is  time we cannot bill our customers for.  We can eliminate excess work and work towards more efficient use of our billable time by utilizing a Share Point server implementation. By doing so, we can increase our data security and efficiency while also reclaiming $70,000 per year in lost productivity.

Microsoft SharePoint allows users to share documents; emails and other inter office communications. Right now with our current system, we waste time sharing files and re-sending documents to our partners because we have no way of controlling the versions that exist of a document. With SharePoint, we will have a centralized way of organizing documents and ensuring the accuracy of reports and summaries by making sure there is only one real copy. SharePoint accomplishes this through integrating directly with our daily office tools such as our Microsoft office suite.  Another way Share Point can increase productivity is through the creation of a simple and easy to use intranet page for each user at their workstation. Workers will no longer have to remember URLS, have custom bookmarks or remember complicated paths to use day-to-day applications. By centralizing all the employee resources, we again will increase efficacy and additionally streamlining everything from checking email to scheduling appointments. Thirdly, SharePoint allows us to more easily secure our business intelligence and infrastructure. By using SharePoint, our IT department can set permissions on every item from calenderers to individual files.  These  “self-service collaborative workspaces” have preset parameters that ensure that those not involved with a project do not have access to any related information. By having a centralized space, old drafts of documents sitting in email boxes are no longer a liability. New features enable our IT department to set top-down policies for better content recovery and users, groups, and team workspace site administration.

One of our PMPs already has experience with SharePoint. He quoted an estimate of $100,000 for the purchasing of hardware and software plus an additional 18% for annual hardware/software maintenance or $18,000.  In addition, our PMP will need to spend 10% of his time administering and supporting this system.  His lost productivity time will cost us 15 hours a year or $33,250.However by utilizing this technology, we will gain 400 hours a year in lost productivity, which equates to $70,000 a year reclaimed in billable hours. Server maintenance costs sum to $54,000 over the three year period. Over three years we will save $210,000 with the server hardware paying for it self in the first 2 years.

Works cited

Gilbert, Mark R., Karen M. Shegda, Gene Phifer, and Jeffrey Mann. “A First Look at SharePoint 2010.” Gartner.com. 19 Oct. 2009. Web. 10 Mar. 2012.

Microsoft. “Sites.” What Is SharePoint? Web. 21 Mar. 2012. <http://sharepoint.microsoft.com/en-us/product/capabilities/Pages/default.aspx>.

Dear CIO,

Currently we do not have an IT solution for document collaboration, email, and general office productivity. Microsoft proves to be the industry market leader, however its high cost is prohibitive to most and there is an alternative. Google has its own integrated business suite called Google apps. For us, the power lies in the combination of Google’s email products and their integrations with Google docs, which provide a powerful Microsoft Office like productivity suite that handles word processing, spreadsheets and presentation making.

Google docs is a web based office productivity suite with advantages over other office suite solutions such as Microsoft’s offering SharePoint. Since Google-docs is web based, it is available anywhere in the world that has access to an internet connection without pre-configuration. With the continued proliferation of mobile devices in the business environment, this proves to be a valuable asset to any company. Google apps provide a fully mobile alternative to PowerPoint, Word, and Excel with the inclusion of group document editing and maintained document versions. Furthermore, the web-based nature of Google docs allows for unprecedented integration with mobile and in office sharing. Since this product grouping is hosted and maintained by Google, the big selling point for Google docs is the lack of back end required on our part to implement this technology. While Google-docs is a web based technology, it proves resilient due to its offline abilities. When an Internet connection is reestablished, the documents and edits that have been made to the associated account will sync providing a seamless online and offline work environment. This robust ability gives Google docs an advantage over SharePoint as key features such as calendars and other internal sites are not available offline. One key advantage that SharePoint provided was a seamless way to have company secured internal sites that can be accessed from anywhere.

The volume licensing options available make Google docs the best choice. As of now, per seat the office suite alone will cost $323 per user. This is before SharePoint costs. With Google docs, pricing starts at $50 a user making Google docs a cheaper more functional and more robust platform worthy of your consideration.

Works Cited

“The SharePoint Guys.” SharePoint Workspace 2010 Offline Working Capabilities. Web. 21 Mar. 2012. <http://blogs.msdn.com/b/uksharepoint/archive/2011/05/31/sharepoint-workspace-2010-offline-working-capabilities.aspx>.

Silver, Michael A., and Tom Austin. “How Will the Office Suite Evolve, and Will Microsoft Continue to Dominate the Market?” Gartner.com. Gartner Inc., 21 Oct. 2011. Web. 21 Mar. 2012. <http://my.gartner.com/portal/server.pt?open=512>.