The owners of C.N.I.S, having come from an agricultural background, have a special affinity for the agricultural sector in South Africa, and as such has an understanding of the complexities surrounding the various forms of agriculture taking place in South Africa. We understand that each agricultural institution requires their own Information Technology infrastructure solution specifically designed around their farm and the product they are producing.
Below image depicts our Agricultural Solutions Client Engagement model.
Assesment During the assessment phase, we at C.N.IS will meet with the customer and perform a thorough inspection of their current infrastructure and the layout of their operations. The assessment assists us in determining what equipment and solutions will benefit the customer to improve on their production outcomes.
Needs Analysis Once we have completed the Assessment phase, we will then move on to the Needs Analysis phase, where we will discuss the customer’s specific requirements for their information technology infrastructure and the goals they have relating to the installation or upgrade of an already existing Information Technology infrastructure.
Solution Design After obtaining all the relevant information required from the customer and with the data collected during our assessment, C.N.I.S will then design a solution specifically suited to the needs of the customer and their agricultural operation, taking into account their current needs and growth, and calculating future needs for their infrastructure. Wherever possible, we will design the solution to encompass the current growth of the infrastructure for a year, our solutions will comprise of devices that are able to be upgraded as the Information Technology infrastructures’ value to the organisation increases along with the growth of the organisation, reducing the initial cost of the unit and spreading the cost of upgrading the solution over a set time period.
Acceptance On completion of the solution design, we will once again meet with the customer and propose the solution to the customer, should it be required, we will then change the solution as required by the customer, and only once the customer is happy with the content of the solution will we then require acceptance signoff from the customer before we continue to the next phase.
Pre-Implementation Review In the pre-implementation review phase, we will review the desired outcome of the implementation with the customer and adjust the solution should any additional requirements be needed. We will then perform two full system backups of the current infrastructure before implementation takes place. The new solution will then be prepped at our offices, hardware will be installed and configured, software will be installed and configured, updates will be run and a restore of the backup taken will be done on the new solution to transfer the customers’ data to the new solution. On the day of implementation, an additional backup will be done of the current solution and restored to the new solution to ensure the data transferred to the new solution is up to date. In the pre-implementation phase, we will also run thorough diagnostics on the hardware of the solution to ensure that all components are working correctly.
Implementation In the implementation phase, the pre-configured solution will be installed into the customer environment. The latest backup will be restored onto the new solution and the customers’ old solution will be turned off and switched over to the new solution. The implementation phase will preferably take place over a weekend or public holiday when the customer site is not operational so as not to inconvenience their employees or production processes. Once the installation and final configuration has taken place, thorough testing will be done on the total infrastructure to ensure all is working in accordance with the customers’ requirements. A C.N.I.S engineer will be on site, the first working day after the solution has been implemented to assist users should they encounter any problems connecting or working with the new solution, in order to make the transition as seamless as possible.
Post-Implementation Review Once C.N.I.S has installed and configured the new solution for the customer and all is working according to agreement, we will initiate a Post-implementation review meeting with the customer. The aim of the post-implementation review is for us to discuss the installation of the new solution, provide any answers to questions that the customer might have with regards to the new solution and discuss where we as C.N.I.S can improve on the service provided to the customer. Should we have encountered any obstacles with the implementation of the solution, we will at the time of the post-implementation review, provide details on these obstacles to the customer, the cause and resolution to the obstacle and the implications involved for the customer. In the post-implementation review, we will also obtain the sign off from the customer for the solution installed.