Principle 1: Understand the user need
Understand your basic network requirements
Different networks have very different characteristics. In the diagram we see – at one end of the range – some users accessing services over the highest capacity fixed networks, with others remotely accessing services over a limited-bandwidth mobile link.
Know:
- what business services do your users depend on
- what network services do they rely on to access them
Document your needs across different networks for:
- bandwidth
- availability
- resilience
- class of service (CoS)
- quality of service (QoS)
- price
Design networks for a roaming user base
Government is increasingly distributed, with people from your department working from home or in other government buildings. This use case should be at the heart of network design. Designing ‘on net’ solutions that only work in your own premises will limit staff mobility and be at odds with your own corporate policies.
The user perception should be that the network is transparent, resilient, and ubiquitous.
Design services to be accessed wider than your own department
Design services that can be accessed by a wider user base. This may be other government departments and also corporate partners. Develop tools that can be accessed without extra client software and that can be accessed from other government buildings. This will mean making it possible to access the service from the internet, the PSN, or other shared government networks.