ICT Infrastructure: Assessment of Argyll and Bute Council’s ICT and Digital Strategy

Background:
You should read the Argyll and Bute Council’s ICT and Digital Strategy, 2021-2024
Objectives:
You need to produce a report that evaluates the content of the Argyll and Bute Council’s ICT and Digital Strategy, 2021-2024 and makes recommendations on the future ICT service management by the Council.
This plan was prepared prior to the advent of the COVID-19 pandemic. You are being asked to evaluate this plan at the present time (Semester 2, 2022), and so you should also consider the issues being faced by the Council in coping with the current conditions due to the COVID-19 pandemic. This includes the need for much of the workforce to work from home, and the need to rely on digital channels, such as video conferencing, to support interactions with customers, rate payers, supplies and other government agencies.
Specifically, you need to complete the following tasks:
Choose an ICT governance framework that you consider appropriate for the evaluation of the Argyll and Bute Council’s ICT and Digital Strategy, 2021-2024 and provide a justification for why you have chosen that particular ICT governance framework.
Evaluate the Argyll and Bute Council’s ICT and Digital Strategy, 2021-2024 against relevant criteria and guidelines that are derived from the chosen governance framework. You should not simply be critical but consider which components of the ICT governance framework are relevant to the objectives and context of the four key strategies in the plan. Consider the extent to which the Argyll and Bute Council’s ICT and Digital Strategy, 2021-2024 indicates an awareness of the provision of ICT service, ICT service management, ICT service orientation and ICT infrastructure management.
Provide a proposal that:
indicates how the Council could enhance its ICT service management and ICT service provision, in line with meeting the current and future needs of the Council;
is aligned with the Council’s key strategic themes, stated on pages 3 of the Argyll and Bute Council’s ICT and Digital Strategy, 2021-2024;
addresses the key gaps that you have identified in the current Argyll and Bute Council’s ICT and Digital Strategy, 2021-2024; and
is aligned with guidelines from your chosen ICT governance framework
Please Note: This is an Infrastructure Proposal Report, and so step 3 above should be the most significant component of your report.
Requirements:
You should produce an ICT Infrastructure Proposal Report in the report format in the supplied template for this assignment on LMS.
You should choose a recognised ICT governance framework (ITILv3, ITIL4 or COBIT) that you consider relevant to the need to evaluate the Argyll and Bute Council’s ICT and Digital Strategy, 2021-2024 and justify your choice of that particular ICT governance framework.
You should analyse the Argyll and Bute Council’s ICT and Digital Strategy, 2021-2024 against criteria that are derived from the principles, guidelines and processes in your chosen ICT governance framework.
From this analysis you should identify a number of key gaps that you consider are missing from the Argyll and Bute Council’s ICT and Digital Strategy, 2021-2024. There should a statement of justification to support each key gap, derived from your analysis.
You should produce a proposal that indicates how the Argyll and Bute Council’s ICT and Digital Strategy, 2021-2024 can enhance its ICT service provision and management. This would require proposal of new or enhanced digital services and the infrastructure requirements to deliver these services. This proposal must address the key gaps that you have identified in your analysis.
You should keep to the scope of the Argyll and Bute Council’s ICT and Digital Strategy, 2021-2024.
You may make any relevant assumptions about the Argyll and Bute Council’s ICT and Digital Strategy, 2021-2024 and must include those assumptions as explicit statements in your report.
Your report must address the tasks stated in the Objectives section above
Relationship of Assessment Criteria to Intended Learning Outcomes
Through this report you need to demonstrate that you have the knowledge and skills to:
Explain current trends in ICT infrastructure and their impacts on ICT infrastructure management [ILO1];
Demonstrate an awareness of current ICT governance frameworks and their relevance to the development of ICT infrastructure management plans and proposals [ILO2]; and
Demonstrate an understanding of the role and importance of ICT service provision and acquisition in the responsibilities of an ICT infrastructure manager [ILO5].
This assignment will be assessed according to the following weighted criteria:
Achievement of the Assignment Objectives [30%]
Demonstration of Intended Learning Outcome 1 [20%]
Demonstration of Intended Learning Outcome 2 [20%]
Demonstration of Intended Learning Outcome 5 [20%]
Achievement of the Generic Skills criteria will apply to the degree of understanding, and quality of content, structure and presentation of the assignment submission. [10%]
Report medium: Your report should be prepared as a PDF. In your document, please include hyperlinks to any web pages referenced in your report.
References: You must include a Reference list at the end of your report. Entries in the Reference list should be sorted alphabetically by author, then by year of publication for works by the same author(s). Every single idea you borrow from someone else should be cited in your Reference list, and where possible should include the page number from the source. Quotations, if used, should be in quotation marks (“…”) and should be EXACT.
You MUST use APA style referencing.
Page limite: 10 pages (penalty applies if over the limit)