Checklist

Checklists are used at two stages in the Framework. The first checklist is used at the deployment model decision stage to identify the issues that should be considered by decision makers choosing a private or virtual private cloud; and the second checklist is used at the cloud service model and cloud service provider stage to highlight key issues.

A checklist is defined as a tool for assessing the critical factors that influences the usage of IT in a specific context (Kaptelinin & Nardi, 1997). Checklists are used for different purposes such as developing guidelines for implementation planning (Gagliardi et al., 2015), and as an assessment method for product selection (Marušić, 2015). Use of checklists can increase the success of a project by identifying the critical success factors that should be taken into account when managing the project (Parfitt & Sanvido, 1993; Ranganathan & Balaji, 2007), and they have been identified as a way of preventing project failure (Gawande, 2009).

The checklist developed as part of the Cloud Adoption Decision Making Framework takes the form of a set of questions to be answered by the decision maker. Developed from the primary and secondary research, the checklist highlights the main issues that should be considered when deciding to move to cloud computing, selecting cloud deployment model and choosing a cloud service model. The checklist has been colour- coded to show how important each element is in the context of the three different service models: red indicates highly important, yellow relevant but not as important and green indicates not important in this context.

To begin with deciding to move to cloud computing, the following points should be considered when making the decision:

 Ensure the enterprise has sufficient funding to move to cloud environment.  Ensure the cost of migrating the existing system does not exceed the expected

economic benefits from moving to cloud.

 Ensure there is sufficient funding for education and training related to cloud computing for existing staff.

 Ensure the evaluation of existing IT infrastructure as well as existing applications and to what extent they are compatible with cloud requirements.

 Ensure that the enterprise as well as employees are aware of the implications on IT roles and organisational change when moving to cloud computing.

In the case of selecting cloud deployment models, the checklist was developed to highlight the key issues related to cloud deployment model. The Table 6-6 shows the checklist of cloud service model.

Task P riva te clo ud P ub lic clo ud Hyb rid clo ud

Ensure the enterprise has sufficient funding

Ensure compatibility of existing infrastructure with cloud computing requirements

Ensure and estimate the effort required for the code modification and the cost needed

Ensure data/application can be moved/integrated with different platforms/CSPs

Table 6-6: The checklist items for cloud deploymment model

In terms of cloud service model, the importance of the items on the checklist varies between cloud service models, as some factors such as the use of a standardised virtual machine are very relevant in an IaaS and PaaS context, but not in a SaaS context. The Table 6-7shows the checklist of cloud service model.

Question _IaaS P aa S SaaS Yes No N/A Security dimension Is the data stored locally?

If not, is its location in compliance with government regulations? Does the SLA guarantee proper data privacy control

Can data be brought back on-premises or moved to another CSP? Does CSP apply the data security life cycle (create, store, use, share, archive and destroy)?

Question _IaaS P aa S SaaS Yes No N/A Technical dimension Is there sufficient bandwidth to prevent network latency? Is there sufficient internet connectivity?

Can more than one CSP support enterprise requirements? Are cloud-based applications integrated easily with other applications with different CSP or on-premises applications? Is the existing hardware compatible with cloud requirements, or could it be integrated with cloud solution?

Does the CSP support a standard data format? Does the CSP support a standardised API? Does the CSP support a standardised VM?

Economic dimension Have you calculated all related costs including subscription, storage, and connection fees (if needed)?

Have you calculated the other hidden costs?

Are there sufficient funds to migrate the existing IT system to a cloud environment?

Organizational dimension Do personnel have sufficient knowledge and skills to build/manage the application/VM?

Is there sufficient funding for training and education?

Regulatory dimension Has the CSP been audited regularly by a third party to ensure compliance with data confidentiality agreements?

Does the CSP clearly show the service uptime level and downtime per hours per year in SLAs?

Table 6-7: The checklist items for cloud service models

6.10 Conclusion

This chapter described the development process of the Knowledge Management Based Cloud Computing Adoption Decision Making Framework and the supporting models and tools. The theoretical underpinnings for the framework were provided by KM, organisational learning, the concept of the learning organisation and theories of decision making and the approaches used included AHP, CBR and the PDM supported by checklists.

The framework includes a model to support the strategic decision on cloud adoption, a model to support the selection of a cloud deployment model and a PDM to support the

selection of the cloud service models. Checklists were developed to provide guidance as to how to select the cloud service provider and to highlight the main issues that should be considered when moving to cloud and selecting the cloud deployment models. The next chapter discusses the validation and evaluation of framework and the tools developed to support the validation.