Network Design
Common Function
Segmentation by common function is often used to provide further division of the network within larger overall departments, or to facilitate the use of certain network applications by specific end users common throughout much of the department. An example of this might be the creation of a Documentation workgroup in a corporation within which each department had a dedicated Documentation person handling recording and reporting. This would create workgroups of the members of each department (R&D, Sales, Receiving, etc.) and one workgroup which encompassed only the Documentation personnel of each department, who, although working in different departments, all require access to the same functions through the network.
: Sales Workstations
: Research Workstations
: Receiving Workstations
: Workgroup A
: Documentation Personnel
: Workgroup B
: Workgroup C
: Workgroup D
Figure 5-3. Common Function Workgroups
The creation of workgroups based on common function enhances the performance of those dedicated functions at a cost to the performance of the network as a whole. In addition, the management demands placed on a network by common function networks distributed across an entire facility or corporation are much the same as those of a corporate organization workgroup scheme, but even more intense.
The Role of the Workgroup |
