Design Teams and Translating Plans into Design Criteria

IACT424/924 Corporate Network Design and Implementation William Tibben 20 August 2002

Outline

Translating the Plan into Design Criteria The Design Document – what is in it?

Developing Teams Leadership v Management Getting the best out of individuals

Design Document

What function does the design document perform? The design document is the primary

tool by which the detail and the vision of the project is communicated to a wider audience.

The document promises to explain how the project will be executed in the best possible way

Four(4) Guiding Principles

The task of writing the design document needs to be guided by the following Functionality: will the end product work? Scalability: is the network able to grow

without major problems Adaptability: will the project be able to

incorporate new technologies in the future? Manageability: can we monitor network

operations and make necessary changes easily?

Functionality

Functionality: does the network support each job

function so that strategic goals can be attained?

Does the network deliver end-to-end connectivity that is both reliable and sufficiently fast?

Scalability

Any network design must allow for future growthIn physical terms, this means allowing space in equipment racks for more

equipment spare connection points in main and

intermediate distribution frames (MDFs and IDFs)

In logical terms, well structured IP addressing schemes

Adaptability

Design Criteria should incorporate possible changes to design through the advent of new technologySimilarly the design should not have features that makes the future provisioning of new technology impossible

ManageabilityThe network should facilitate both monitoring and manageability

Design and Optimise Implement and change Monitor and Diagnose

Data Collection Definition Installation Defining Thresholds

Baseline Creation Configuration Monitoring Exceptions

Trend Analysis Address Management Isolating Problems

Response Time Analysis Adds, Moves and Changes Validating Problems

Capacity Planning Security Management Troubleshooting Problems

Procurement Accounting and Billing Bypassing and Resolving Problems

Topology Design Assets and inventory, Users, Data Management

The Design Document

1. Executive Summary2. Design Requirements3. Design Solution4. Summary5. Appendices including network

diagram and budgets/costings

Section 1: Executive Summary

Purpose of the project in relation to strategic goalsImplementation considerations: resources required, integration and transition issues, trainingBenefits of the solution – once again aligned to company’s strategic goals

Section 2: Design Requirements

Characterisation of existing network Accordingly, what is required in the

new network

Customer Requirements

More on this tomorrow

Section3: Design solution

Proposed network topologyHardware resources for both LAN and WANAddressing and naming schemeProtocols to be deployedSoftware featuresManagement Strategy

Section 4: Summary

A statement that links design solution to the strategic goals of the company

Appendix

Time line and project networkCost: the reader needs to understand how each cost is generated (hint: best if linked to individual activities detailed on project network) Results of performance measurement testsAddressing and naming scheme detailsManagement-operational-security policies

Linking Costs to Project Network

Circuitboard

Designcost

account

Productioncost

account

Testcost

account

Softwarecost

account

Lowestelement

Organizatio

Units

DesignWP D-1-1 SpecificationsWP D-1-2 Documentation

ProductionWP P-10-1 Proto 1WP P-10-2 Final Proto 2

Test systemsWP T-13-1 Test

SoftwareWP S-22-1 Software preliminaryWP S-22-1 Software final version

BProto 1

5

DFinal

proto 24

ASpecifications

and documentation2

CPreliminary

software3

FFinal

software2

KTest

3

AD-1-1D-1-2

BP-10-1

DP-10-2

FS-22-2

KT-13-1

CS-22-1

Gray and Larson, 2000, p. 92

Network Performance Guide(Teare, 1999)

No shared Ethernet segment to be saturated No more than 40% network utilisation

No shared Token Ring segments are saturated No more than 70% network utilisation

No WAN links are saturated No more than 70% network utilisation

Network Performance Guide(Teare, 1999)

Response time <100 millisecondsNo segment have more than 20% broadcasts/multicastsNo segments have more than one CRC (Cyclic Redundancy Check) error per million bytes of data

Network Performance Guide(Teare, 1999)

On Ethernet segments, less than 0.1 % of packets result in collisionsOn the Token Ring segments, less than 0.1% of the packets are soft errors not related to ring insertionOn FFDI segments, there has been no more than one ring operation per hour not related to ring insertion

Network Performance Guide(Teare, 1999)

Routers are not over-utilised (5 minute CPU utilisation no more than 75%The number of output queue drops has not exceeded more than 100 in any hour on any routerThe number of input queue drops has not exceeded more than 50 in any hour on any router

Network Performance Guide(Teare, 1999)

The number of buffer misses has not exceeded more than 25 in an hour on any routerThe number of ignored packets has not exceeded more than 10 in an hour on any interface on a router

Creating Design Teams

Different skills are required of project leaders through the life of a project. In the early stages, the emphasis

should be on leadership In the latter stages, the emphasis

should be on management

Leadership and Management

Leaders focus on Vision Selling what and

why Longer range People Democracy Enabling Developing Challenging

Managers focus on Objectives Telling how and when Shorter range Organisation &

structure Autocracy Restraining Maintaining Conforming

Leadership and Management

Leaders focus on Originating Innovating Directing Policy Flexibility Risk (opportunity) Top line

Managers focus on Imitating Administering Controlling Procedures Consistency Risk (avoidance) Bottom line

(Verma, 1996, p. 223)

Team Composition- Getting the Best Out of Individuals

It makes sense to develop a team with heterogeneous and complementary skills

Try to match people’s skills and interests to the kind of tasks they will perform.

Everyone is Different!

Converger – preference for active experimentation and abstract conceptualisation, strong in practical application of ideasDiverger – preference for concrete experience and reflective observation, strong in imaginative ability, generating ideasAssimilator –preference for abstract conceptualisation and reflective observation, strong in creating theoretical models, inductive reasoningAccommodator – preference for concrete experience and active experimentation, strong in getting things done, intuitive problem solving

References

Cisco, 2001, Cisco Academy Networking Program: Second Year Companion Guide, Cisco Press Indianapolis. Teare, D. 1999, Designing Cisco Networks, Cisco Press Indianapolis.Verma, V. K. 1996, The Human Aspects of Project Management: Human Resource Skills for the Project Manager, Vol. 2, Project management Institute, Sylva, North Carolina.