Cloud Solutions for Child Protection Board

Discuss about the Cloud Solutions for Child Protection Board.

 

Introduction

A social enterprise, Child Protection Board is situated at Sydney and has 2 branches at Brisbane and Melbourne. Presently, the organization’s staff is handling their system of payroll manually, in Excel, and is then transferred via Dropbox. But, the demand for the organization’s services have expanded and thus, it has caused new hires and increased payroll data. This expansion makes it hard for the employees to manage the large quantity of data via manual methods, and therefore, a digital payroll solution is required. To make it cost efficient, the management might take into consideration a cloud platform. Additionally, file sharing is a critical process for the organization and thus, the organization wants another cloud solution. The following report will explain the various cloud based payroll options and file sharing. It will make an attempt to comprehend Child Protection Board’s cloud based security implications. This report will assist the board to take up a decision regarding the deployment of a cloud based solution for the requirements of the organization.

Cloud Delivery and Deployment Modules

For Child Protection Board, the cloud deployment model PaaS has been suggested since it will simplify the organization’s need to develop and change applications. File transfer, outlines development, (CSA, 2011) and testing of application will be simplified. Additional benefits comprise of more uptime, enhanced security, software adaptability, and cost adequacy. On top of that, the model will be used for a private cloud deployment that can be utilized remotely. This will permit the organization attain enhanced security, acquire dedicated assets, and acquire enhanced personalization.

Impact on the Staff

The Child Protection Board employees’ will have certain advantages due to the models of the cloud based service. The advantages are –

Employees will have the capability to work externally. The services will be present online and this will enhance their productivity.

With the operations digitized, specific manual processes will be automated via the cloud based applications. This will make work faster and easier (Bughin, et al., 2011)..

As the data will be present in the cloud, the data will always remain intact, and therefore, kept safe even in cases of local machines getting damaged or local data being lost.

Document transfer will become faster and easier. Additionally, this will permit integration with outside individuals for file transfer. 

Comparison of Cloud Vendor

Data Transfer

Solution Type	Intuit QuickBooks	MYOB	Xero
Basic	$12/month – Cost of Operations	$50/month – Cost of Operations	$9/month – Cost of Operations
Advanced/Premium	$21/month – Cost of Operations	$99/month – Cost of Operations	$70/month – Cost of Operations

Payroll Services

Solution Payment Model	Cloud Central	Ninefold	Optus
CPU/hr. Model of Payment	Starting from $0.025/hr.	Starting from $0.002/hr.	Starting from $0.0175
Model of Storage Based Payment	Allowance for storage	Starting from $0.092/hr.	Starting from $0.3

Information Security

A major concern for any kind of data based solution that is utilized by a company is security. Therefore, it is crucial to analyse the levels of information security offered by the cloud vendors prior to making a choice. The table given below explain various security components of the solutions compared –

Cloud Solution	Security Characteristics
Intuit QuickBooks	·         24-hour data protection via automated monitoring which monitors server performance. ·         Dedicated staff present at all times for management of alarms and video surveillance in case of data breaches. ·         All user login activities are assessed and recorded via features such as Audit Trial, and Always-on Activity Logging.
MYOB	Password protection via User Account feature offered by AccountRight. Administrators chooses user rights in relation to performance of tasks and access to files. File changes can be prevented via locking of organization files which have are present online.
Xero	·         Xero servers are protected physically by official employees, 24-hour security staff, and biometric security. ·         Cloud security is regularly audited and reviewed by experts. ·         Cloud access is done via 2-factor process of authentication – authenticator code and password generated via the user’s smartphone app. ·         Multiple security layers are offered by the organization via routers, firewalls, and system of intrusion detection.
Cloud Central	A secured private network is utilized for file transfer via cloud. Servers offer complete root-level access and thus an individual has full control over the manner of utilization of data and numerous process are done via cloud.
Nine Fold	Macquire cloud services acquired NineFold and they have locally retained service data centres which are physically protected.
Optus	It offers extensive security solutions which can be achieved separately. It consists of 6 elements of security which include secure remote access, site-to-site VPN, anti-virus, application control and content security, intrusion prevention and detection, and firewall protection. The organization’s firewall is a next-gen firewall which has provision such as address translation, central administrative traffic, audit logs, anti-spoofing, advanced-level layer filters, and stateful inspections. Additionally, the solution provides an extensive performance reporting which comprises of system uptime report, reports on network security, reports of threat prevention, IPS reports, and reports on URL filtering.

The above comparison amongst the various cloud based solution for management of payroll and file transfer recommends that Intuit QuickBooks is the minimum cost service model of data exchange with great security characteristics. For payroll services, Ninefold is the cheapest, however, it has been withdrawn, and the organization has been taken up by another organization. The next best choice will be Optus which is quite cheap and it has some great features of security. 

References

Bughin, J., Corb, L., Manyika, J., Nottebohm, O., Chui, M., Barbat, B. d., & Said, R. (2011). The impact of Internet technologies: Search. McKinsey & Company. 

CloudCentral. (2016, September 13). Cloud Servers. Retrieved from Cloud Central: https://www.cloudcentral.com.au/products/infrastructure-as-a-service/cloud-servers/ 

CSA. (2011). Security Guidance for Critical for areas of focus in cloud computingV3.0. CSA. 

Intuit QuickBooks. (2014). Security you can trust—7 reasons to believe. Intuit QuickBooks. 

Macquarie Telecom . (2016, September 13). Private Cloud. This one’s just for you. Retrieved from Macquarie Cloud Services: https://macquariecloudservices.com/private-cloud/ 

MYOB. (2016, September 13). Company file security. Retrieved from MYOB: http://help.myob.com/wiki/display/ar/Company+file+security 

MYOB. (2016, September 13). Protecting your confidential information. Retrieved from MYOB: http://myob.com.au/myob/australia/myob-security-recommendations-1257829253909 

Optus. (2016). Security in the cloud. Optus. 

Xero. (2016, September 13). Your data is safe with multiple layers of security. Retrieved from Xero: https://www.xero.com/accounting-software/security/ t