Assignment 3: IT Support for Virtual Teams

Global organizations have branches that are located in multiple countries. Some of these organizations develop software and take advantage of the global talent pool of software developers while others have global technical support teams, customer service, and so on. Virtual teams are created when two or more people work together from different locations, organizations, times zone, and / or time shifts. Global organizations use virtual teams in order to provide global support, reduce travel costs, reduce training costs, and take advantage of local cultural knowledge that may impact the organization’s operations.

Write a two to three (2-3) page paper in which you:

1. Examine five (5) issues that the IT department is likely to face when it comes to supporting virtual teams.
2. Create an architectural diagram that shows how the virtual teams would collaborate and access common repositories for documents, software, development, and testing facilities. Use Visio or an equivalent such as Dia. Note: The graphically depicted solution is not included in the required page length.
3. Describe five (5) advantages and five (5) disadvantages of using virtual teams for the organizations described in the scenario.
4. Describe challenges imposed by:

1. 1. IT / IS national standards and propose how they could be handled or resolved.
   2. Protocols and propose how they could be handled or resolved.
   3. Procedures on virtual teams and propose how they could be handled or resolved.

1. Compare and contrast virtual teams and traditional teams with respect to communications, technology use, and team diversity.
2. Use at least three (3) quality resources in this assignment. Note: Wikipedia and similar Websites do not qualify as quality resources.

 Your assignment must follow these formatting requirements:

• Be typed, double spaced, using Times New Roman font (size 12), with one-inch margins on all sides; citations and references must follow APA or school-specific format. Check with your professor for any additional instructions.
• Include a cover page containing the title of the assignment, the student’s name, the professor’s name, the course title, and the date. The cover page and the reference page are not included in the required assignment page length.
• Include charts or diagrams created in Visio or an equivalent such as Dia. The completed diagrams / charts must be imported into the Word document before the paper is submitted. 

The specific course learning outcomes associated with this assignment are:

• Describe the process of administering enterprise systems, including the use of virtualization and monitoring, power and cooling issues.
• Use technology and information resources to research issues in enterprise architecture.
• Write clearly and concisely about enterprise architecture topics using proper writing mechanics and technical style conventions.

Grading for this assignment will be based on answer quality, logic / organization of the paper, and language and writing skills, using the following rubric.Click here to view the grading rubric for this assignment.

Points: 105

Assignment 3: IT Support for Virtual Teams

Criteria

Unacceptable

Below 60% F

Meets Minimum Expectations

60-69% D

Fair

70-79% C

Proficient

80-89% B

Exemplary

90-100% A

1. Examine five (5) issues that the IT department is likely to face when it comes to supporting virtual teams.

Weight: 15%

Did not submit or incompletely examined five (5) issues that the IT department is likely to face when it comes to supporting virtual teams.

Insufficiently examined five (5) issues that the IT department is likely to face when it comes to supporting virtual teams.

Partially examined five (5) issues that the IT department is likely to face when it comes to supporting virtual teams.

Satisfactorily examined five (5) issues that the IT department is likely to face when it comes to supporting virtual teams.

Thoroughly examined five (5) issues that the IT department is likely to face when it comes to supporting virtual teams.

2. Create an architectural diagram that shows how the virtual teams would collaborate and access common repositories for documents, software, development, and testing facilities. Use Visio or an equivalent such as Dia.

Weight: 20%

Did not submit or incompletely created an architectural diagram that shows how the virtual teams would collaborate and access common repositories for documents, software, development, and testing facilities. Did not submit or incompletely used Visio or an equivalent such as Dia.

Insufficiently created an architectural diagram that shows how the virtual teams would collaborate and access common repositories for documents, software, development, and testing facilities. Insufficiently used Visio or an equivalent such as Dia.

Partially created an architectural diagram that shows how the virtual teams would collaborate and access common repositories for documents, software, development, and testing facilities. Partially used Visio or an equivalent such as Dia.

Satisfactorily created an architectural diagram that shows how the virtual teams would collaborate and access common repositories for documents, software, development, and testing facilities. Satisfactorily used Visio or an equivalent such as Dia.

Thoroughly created an architectural diagram that shows how the virtual teams would collaborate and access common repositories for documents, software, development, and testing facilities. Thoroughly used Visio or an equivalent such as Dia.

3. Describe five (5) advantages and five (5) disadvantages of using virtual teams for the organizations described in the scenario.

Weight: 20%

Did not submit or incompletely described five (5) advantages and five (5) disadvantages of using virtual teams for the organizations described in the scenario.

Insufficiently described five (5) advantages and five (5) disadvantages of using virtual teams for the organizations described in the scenario.

Partially described five (5) advantages and five (5) disadvantages of using virtual teams for the organizations described in the scenario.

Satisfactorily described five (5) advantages and five (5) disadvantages of using virtual teams for the organizations described in the scenario.

Thoroughly described five (5) advantages and five (5) disadvantages of using virtual teams for the organizations described in the scenario.

4a. Describe challenges imposed by IT / IS national standards and propose how they could be handled or resolved.

Weight: 5%

Did not submit or incompletely described challenges imposed by IT / IS national standards and did not submit or incompletely proposed how they could be handled or resolved.

Insufficiently described challenges imposed by IT / IS national standards and insufficiently proposed how they could be handled or resolved.

Partially described challenges imposed by IT / IS national standards and partially proposed how they could be handled or resolved.

Satisfactorily described challenges imposed by IT / IS national standards and satisfactorily proposed how they could be handled or resolved.

Thoroughly described challenges imposed by IT / IS national standards and thoroughly proposed how they could be handled or resolved.

4b. Describe challenges imposed by protocols and propose how they could be handled or resolved.

Weight: 5%

Did not submit or incompletely described challenges imposed by protocols and did not submit or incompletely proposed how they could be handled or resolved.

Insufficiently described challenges imposed by protocols and insufficiently proposed how they could be handled or resolved.

Partially described challenges imposed by protocols and partially proposed how they could be handled or resolved.

Satisfactorily described challenges imposed by protocols and satisfactorily proposed how they could be handled or resolved.

Thoroughly described challenges imposed by protocols and thoroughly proposed how they could be handled or resolved.

4c. Describe challenges imposed by procedures on virtual teams and propose how they could be handled or resolved.

Weight: 5%

Did not submit or incompletely described challenges imposed by procedures on virtual teams and did not submit or incompletely proposed how they could be handled or resolved.

Insufficiently described challenges imposed by procedures on virtual teams and insufficiently proposed how they could be handled or resolved.

Partially described challenges imposed by procedures on virtual teams and partially proposed how they could be handled or resolved.

Satisfactorily described challenges imposed by procedures on virtual teams and satisfactorily proposed how they could be handled or resolved.

Thoroughly described challenges imposed by procedures on virtual teams and thoroughly proposed how they could be handled or resolved.

5. Compare and contrast virtual teams and traditional teams with respect to communications, technology use, and team diversity.

Weight: 15%

Did not submit or incompletely compared and contrasted virtual teams and traditional teams with respect to communications, technology use, and team diversity.

Insufficiently compared and contrasted virtual teams and traditional teams with respect to communications, technology use, and team diversity.

Partially compared and contrasted virtual teams and traditional teams with respect to communications, technology use, and team diversity.

Satisfactorily compared and contrasted virtual teams and traditional teams with respect to communications, technology use, and team diversity.

Thoroughly compared and contrasted virtual teams and traditional teams with respect to communications, technology use, and team diversity.

6. 3 references

Weight: 5%

No references provided

Does not meet the required number of references; all references poor quality choices.

Does not meet the required number of references; some references poor quality choices.

Meets number of required references; all references high quality choices.

Exceeds number of required references; all references high quality choices.

7. Clarity, writing mechanics, and formatting requirements

Weight: 10%

More than 8 errors present

7-8 errors present

5-6 errors present

3-4 errors present

0-2 errors present