MANAGEMENT

INFORMATION
SYSTEM IN APPLE Inc.

Abhishek Mohan AM.AR.U3BBM11004

•Apple designs, produces, and sells a line of personal computers as well as mobile phones, portable
digital media devices, software, and related peripherals and accessories.

•The firm sells internationally though a mix of direct sales, online and retail stores, wholesalers, and resellers.

•Designs and markets consumer electronics, computer software, and personal computers.

Products: Macintosh, iPod, iPhone, iPad

• Apple was founded on April 1, 1976 by Steve Jobs, Steve Wozniak, and Ronald
Wayne

• Blast from the past: Steve Jobs, chairman of Apple Inc.; John Sculley, president and
CEO; and Steve Wozniak, co-founder of Apple, unveil the new Apple IIc computer
in San Francisco, April 24, 1984.
 CORE BUSINESS
• Powerful core services. Easily deployed.
Deliver an array of core software technologies and services designed to better connect your business, take full
advantage of the latest hardware, and lay a solid foundation for your organization’s IT infrastructure.
• Industry-leading email services. No extra charge.
The mail services in Mac OS X Server can handle thousands of simultaneous connections. They also offer
industrial-strength junk mail filtering and virus detection.
• Connecting your multi-platform workgroups.
Mac OS X Server makes it easy for your users to share information and work effectively. It’s easy to share hard
drives or individual folders and assign custom access permissions with Mac OS X Server.
• Standard print serving. Part of the package.
Users can share print queues over a wide variety of protocols, from Internet Printing Protocol and Line Printer
Remote to Windows file sharing protocol (SMB) and more.
• Web hosting. Powered by Apache.
Apache is extremely flexible, can add dynamic content, or host stores, auctions, shared calendars, portal systems,
and other database-driven services. Support for virtual hosting in Mac OS X Server allows to host multiple
websites on a single server. This high-grade security architecture protects credit card information and other
confidential data transmitted during web transactions.
CORE & SUPPORT ACTIVITY
 INFORMATION SYSTEM IN APPLE
Inc.
The organization structure of Apple with its global presence and different
domains in the electronics industry would require a system of information
dissemination which enables. Availability of right information to the right
people and at the right time, to ensure that the business decisions
undertaken by them are consistent and backed with appropriate availability
of information
Apple’s main objective has always been to be the innovation leader. The
same philosophy extends even to the manner in which they manage their
internal communication which showcases their superiority. In accordance
with this concept they have most of the processes which are virtualized, as
the company believes that virtualization is the factor which will provide
the company with a competitive advantage in the market place in future.
Apple’s intranet provides the required platform for undertaking this
process and this intranet in the company enables the employees to access
all required information from the comfort of their desktop. From an
external link age point of view the company has an extranet which
enables the company to interact with the key suppliers and developers of
Mac based applications. This enables the organization to build a
seemingly unlimited ‘value chain’ in the information domain by creating
a virtual link between the suppliers and the production units which are in
turn linked to the retail stores. The information from the retail stores
is communicated to the customer service department which already has
access to other information about the supplier and the production details.
 SYSTEMS MANAGEMENT
LIFECYCLE
In order to identify the best possible technology solutions, it’s helpful to treat systems
management as a continuous process of discovery, adaptation, and maintenance. With
iterations typically every school year, this systems management lifecycle involves evaluating
current systems, modifying requirements, testing and deploying new systems, and managing
those systems as long as they remain in place.
Evalua te

D epl oy

Manage
• Evaluate
Toward the end of the fall quarter, it’s appropriate to determine with teachers and administrators how
the entire educational “technology ecosystem” is functioning. Is the current set of hardware and
software meeting the needs of faculty and students? Are there technical issues that need to be
addressed? This portion of the cycle may take a few weeks or several months. Once the evaluation is
complete, it’s time to recommend software and hardware additions, replacements, and modifications.
• Deploy
The result of the evaluation phase is a technology plan for the following school year. New sets of
hardware, software, and management tools are tested and modified as required. This process can run
from the end of the fall quarter all the way to spring quarter. After the final configurations are in
place, the deployment phase involves extensive testing of the new solutions in a live environment.
Many schools begin pilot deployments during spring break and then test until the end of the school
year—or even through summer break.
• Manage
The management phase begins as soon as deployment is complete and extends throughout the year,
overlapping the next iteration of the evaluation and deployment phases.
As the cycle progresses, some steps may iterate within the cycle. For example, images may need to
be tested repeatedly, and systems may require occasional updates or repairs.
 SYSTEMS MANAGEMENT TASKS
The systems management lifecycle is supported by a set of IT tasks that drive the effective
management of large deployments, while meeting the requirements of the organization. To
maintain control and keep systems up and running, it’s critical to have solutions in place to fulfill
each task. This guide provides an overview of some of the best IT solutions available today for
managing these aspects of large-scale Mac system deployments.
Help Desk Asset
Management Management

Patches and Imaging

Usage
Management Remote Control
• Asset management
What happened to those new cameras? Which systems can be upgraded to Mac OS X
version 10.5 Leopard? To maintain control, you must keep track of all the hardware and
software your organization has purchased or acquired. To plan upgrades, you need to know,
at a glance, which systems have enough RAM. Asset management refers to the knowledge
of what’s on your systems as well as where it’s located.
• Imaging
Creating, maintaining, and deploying images is an essential part of systems management.
The required number of images depends on many factors, such as portables versus
desktops, servers versus clients, basic-use systems versus high-end workstations. It’s also
essential to have an imaging process in place, starting with the proper configuration of
images and extending to a procedure for deploying them—whether manually or
automatically, in person or across a network.
• Software distribution
Once you have applied the core system images, you may need to customize them with special
applications and settings for different sites. Software distribution refers to the addition of
capabilities to baseline images.
• Remote control
It’s often necessary to “reach out and touch” your end users—whether they are teachers in a
classroom or support desk staff solving a user issue. Remote control capabilities are key to
interacting with users in these scenarios.
• Usage management
How do end users interact with their systems? How do you keep systems in shared
environments up and running? And how do you provide a consistent user experience that
adheres to organizational policies? Usage management combines technology with acceptable
use policy and touches workflow management, which provides a mechanism for users to
interact with each other in day-to-day operations.
• License management
This task includes tracking software use, controlling access to certain applications, and
reporting on application misuse. Through license management, you can help ensure that
the software on your organization’s equipment is legal and is only used by authorized
individuals.
• Patches and upgrades
Despite your best intentions to deploy the “perfect” image, you need to allow for critical
patches and upgrades to current applications on deployed systems.
• Help desk management
What issues are coming up? What problems are users having, and how can you help
them? Help desk operations involve short-term training, trouble ticket management, and
reporting on which systems aren’t working properly.
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