Orange County NC Website
Browse       Search
Orange County Page 15 <br />Needs Assessment Project <br />APPENDIX S. IT INFRASTRUCTURE GUIDELINES <br />This section of the report contains the recommended technology approach to be considered for <br />implementing new systems. The basic technology foundation must be in place for any software <br />system to be successful. This foundation consists of basic business requirements and <br />infrastructure guidelines. The business requirements should determine the software needs that, in <br />turn, will drive the hardware choice. <br />Standards and Recommendations Blueprint <br />This should serve as a guideline for any replacements, additions or enhancements to the existing <br />systems. Any new system must follow these guidelines: <br />• The system must be easy to operate and maintain <br />+ Reporting must be timely and accurate <br />• Any solution must be cost effective <br />• The system must be flexible and stable <br />Based on these guidelines, Summit Business Solutions recommends that Orange County apply <br />the following standards and approaches to any systems decisions: <br />• Open systems. standards should be adopted to provide maximum flexibility. <br />• Client/Server, web enabled, distributed processing is the most appropriate architecture for <br />Orange County's operational structure. <br />• Technology choices should be driven by business needs. <br />General S stem Architecture <br />We believe that Orange County should be committed to an open systems standazd. An open <br />system is one in which the interfaces, services, protocols and formats, conform to "vendor <br />neutral" standazds. These standazds are established by industry groups and consortia to address <br />the business need to implement systems that utilize components that are "best in class" in an <br />integrated and consistent operating environment regardless of the vendor that provides the <br />component. <br />The benefits to an organization of implementing open systems are flexibility, interoperability, <br />scalability, and portability. These benefits are both short and long-term in nature. Flexibility <br />allows selection of a package or component that is most suited to the business requirements <br />without concern for compatibility with other components. Interoperability ensures that a <br />component will interface with the components supplied by other vendors. Scalability allows <br />selection of the most appropriate platform or system to match the operating requirements of the <br />