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Case Study: Action Aid- Office Systems Upgrade

Assignment

ActionAid is one of the UK's largest international development charities. For 30 years ActionAid has been helping the world's poor communities to improve their lives - to secure their basic rights to food, water, education, healthcare and the chance to earn a living.

Following ongoing problems with the existing IT infrastructure JADe were invited to undertake a review of the system environment. The review resulted in the following issues being identified:-

• Less than satisfactory resilience associated with the primary hardware (e.g., authentication domain controllers).
• Incorrectly configured anti-virus packages, resulting in frequent virus infections and consequent system down-time problems.
• Over complicated Microsoft Exchange email and Active Directory configuration. Two MS Exchange servers were in operation, across two sites (Archway, London and Chard, Somerset), servicing approximately 150 users.
• Combination of Microsoft and Novell network solutions causing system support overheads.

JADe were then commissioned to implement an upgraded IT infrastructure in order to resolve these issues.

Solution

In agreement with the ActionAid IT department it was decided to upgrade the IT hardware infrastructure and rationalise the IT systems environment wherever possible. This led to the following changes:-

• Procurement and implementation of centralised MS Exchange server and resilient domain controllers at both sites.
• Removal of the Novell network environment and migration to a complete Microsoft solution.
• Migration of business applications to improved hardware infrastructure.
• Upgrade of client desktops to MS Windows 2003 and relevant MS Office tools.
• Implementation of secure VPN, email and internet services within and between the two sites.

Result

The main benefits are:-

The introduction of a new, resilient hardware infrastructure has significantly reduced system down-time and has contributed to improved staff productivity.

The removal of the Novell network environment has significantly reduced the front-line support effort. This has contributed to the ability to outsource the helpdesk support service in a cost-effective manner.

Key Technologies

MS Windows 2003, MS Exchange 2003, MS Outlook 2003, Novell Netware 4.11