John Nelson is a panel beater and spray painter and commenced business at Blacktown around five years ago, working for himself. After commencement the business grew very quickly he decided to employ his brother Bill (who is a motor mechanic) and in addition to smash repairs, he now also provides mechanical repairs to cars. The business continued to grow and he now employs five people as follows:
- John Nelson - Smash Repairs.
- Jason Wilson – Apprentice Panel Beater.
- Bill Nelson - Motor Mechanic.
- Graham Freeman – Apprentice Motor Mechanic.
- Judy Nelson (Johns Wife). Judy looks after administration & accounting.
Just prior to GST commencing, John could see this would cause him some problems so he decided to buy a computer to handle this. They have a large workshop, with no office, and the computer is tucked away in the corner. The specification of the computer hardware and software is as follows:
- Pentium III 400.
- 128mb RAM
- 50 X CDROM
- 6.0GB hard disk
- 17" monitor
- 8MB video card
- 56K internal fax modem
- Scanner
- Laser printer
- Windows 98SE
- MYOB Accounting package
- Microsoft Office 2000
The computer is used for the following purposes:
- Stock Control – (MS Access Database)
- Accounting (MYOB) to keep business records, including wage payments, GST calculations, and to produce Business Activity Statements.
- Preparation of Quotes for clients (MS Excel).
- Internet (IE 5.0) for banking purposes and to order parts.
- E-mail for fast communication with clients and also with insurance companies in respect of claims.
Recently there was an accident in the workshop and a large piece of machinery fell down and landed on top of the computer system, smashing the monitor. You own a computer shop and John & Judy have come to see you for the following reasons:
- To purchase a new monitor.
- They did not have any backup of their data and fortunately only the monitor was damaged in the accident. However, they now realise the importance of backing up and would like your advice. During your conversation you discover the following:
- Even though the computer is less than a year old it appears in very poor condition being covered in grease and dust.
- Their hard disk is about 50% full - 3.0GB of used space.
- About 1.8GB of this is windows and program files, the remaining 1.20GB is data files.
- All quotes and accounting records are maintained on the computer (no hard copies are kept) and a significant amount of new data goes into the system each day.
- Because of this, in a worst case scenario, they really couldn’t afford to lose more than one or two days of new information without causing a major disruption to their business.
- A check of the hard disk reveals there are many corruptions. Apparently they don’t shut down properly at night – they just turn it off at the power point.
- You also discover they have no protection from viruses.
They want your advice to protect themselves in the future and you need to prepare a written assignment of 4 to 6 pages (not including cover sheets) detailing your recommendations, and you need to fully state the reasons for any recommendations you make. The following issues should be covered in detail:
- What suggestions would you make about where their computer is located, so there is less chance of damage in the future?
- What suggestions would you make about file maintenance?
- What recommendations would you make about backup? What type of media, where would backups be stored.
- How do you propose the system would be recovered in the event of a disaster (say fire)? In this regard you need to write a fully detailed recovery plan.
- What recommendations will you make in relation to virus protection?
- Prepare a preventative maintenance schedule.
When preparing your assignment fully detail the reasons for recommendations you make and these must be related specifically to their situation as outlined above. Please note it is not good enough to talk about the issues in generic terms. If there are issues that I haven’t covered you can make assumptions, but you must state what assumptions you are making.
