What is the problem that resulted from the circumstances, and why might there be different interpretations of the facts?

In this project, you will address a case study that intentionally does not give you enough detail for you to quickly resolve the issue. This is meant to enable you to use the processes of critical thinking to reach conclusions. Given the gaps in information provided to you, you will identify what you know, what you don’t know, and what questions you need to ask as you start your investigation of the facts of the case. The process is designed to encourage clear thinking and to help you to identify potential cognitive traps that could derail well-reasoned conclusions. The case study is below.

Cloud Computing Scenario

You work as a network provider for Cloud Solutions, a mid-size cloud solution provider. Your company is an AWS Channel Reseller partner that configures and resells AWS services to clients around the world.

One afternoon, you received an email from Jessica Lopez, who works in the Customer Services department. She received a call from one of her clients, Green Machine Marketing, about an error message that they are getting. Jessica couldn’t figure out the issue and is asking you for help to troubleshoot the problem. In researching the issue, you found out that a former coworker, Jim Black, who is no longer with the company, had incorrectly configured one of the cloud services for Green Machine Marketing. This has caused the error message that they are seeing. More troubling, the misconfiguration also caused the client to be over-billed by several thousand dollars per month for the past year. They are being billed for services that they didn’t request or need. At the same time, AWS cloud resources are being dedicated to them because of this error and Cloud Solutions (your company) is paying AWS for these resources.

You mentioned this to your supervisor, Ben Smith, who is the manager for the network engineering team. He said that we can’t tell anybody about this. If the client found out, we will have to refund them the entire amount that they have been overcharged. In addition, the steps to fix the incorrect configuration would require that the client’s services be shut down for at least 30 minutes. A 30-minute downtime would trigger a penalty based on the current Service Level Agreement with the client. You explained to your supervisor that without fixing the configuration error, you won’t be able to address the issue that was brought up to you by the help desk.

In the meantime, you received another email from Jessica Lopez in Customer Services asking the status of the issue. She wrote that the client has called again as they continue to get error message. The client wants to know when the issue will be resolved.

What should you do? Please provide a rationale for your answer.

Your first task is to figure out how the circumstances resulted in a problem for the organization. Remember the direction from your boss is to “apply your critical thinking and analytical skills to figure out what happened, what we know and don’t know, and how the organization might remedy this situation.”

What is the problem that resulted from the circumstances, and why might there be different interpretations of the facts? Outline the points that you want to make in the first two sections of your paper (introduction and explanation), and draft those sections.

Next, you will analyze the information.

Now that you have some understanding of the nature of the problem and the parties involved, it’s time to gather and analyze information. Outline the points that you want to make , then draft it.

In the following step, you will consider other viewpoints, conclusions, and solutions.

Once you have completed your analysis of the incident, the next step is to consider other viewpoints, conclusions, and solutions. To do this, you will need to apply ethical decision making skills. Outline the points that you want to make and draft that section of your paper.

When you are finished, move to the next step, which involves developing your conclusions.

Now that you’ve considered various viewpoints, you’re ready to develop your own personal conclusions and suggest solutions that your boss can bring to leadership in briefing them about the situation.

Remember, you may need to consult outside references, but this is not a research paper. It should be investigative in nature about the facts of the case. Cite any outside sources carefully.

Now, outline your argument. Your boss is expecting to receive a concise, focused paper to prepare for further meetings. Stay focused on the main points, although you may have many facts that could be used to answer any questions. You will submit your paper in the final step.

The final paper should be no more than five double-spaced pages, excluding the cover page and references page(s). Organize the paper in accordance with your preparatory steps, using these subheadings:

Title of Paper (centered and bold) There is no heading named “Introduction”

Explanation of the Issue (centered and bold)

Analysis of the Information (centered and bold)

Consideration of Alternative Viewpoints, Conclusions, and Solutions (centered and bold)

Conclusions and Recommendations (centered and bold)

If you have used any outside sources, you will include a References page in proper APA 7 format.
Here are some tips for success:

Consider outside sources if they inform your case. However, stay on task.
Use APA style for in-text and reference citations. At this point, your citations should be error-free.
Consider these best practices for a paper:

An effective introduction grabs the reader’s attention and sets the tone and direction for the rest of the paper.
Supporting paragraphs move the reader from the general introduction to the more specific aspects of your analysis.
Body paragraphs provide support for your argument.
A conclusion leads to a natural closing for what you have presented.

Before you submit your assignment, review the competencies below, which your instructor will use to evaluate your work. A good practice would be to use each competency as a self-check to confirm you have incorporated all of them. To view the complete grading rubric, click My Tools, select Assignments from the drop-down menu, and then click the project title.

1.1: Organize document or presentation clearly in a manner that promotes understanding and meets the requirements of the assignment.
1.2: Develop coherent paragraphs or points so that each is internally unified and so that each functions as part of the whole document or presentation.
1.4: Tailor communications to the audience.
1.5: Use sentence structure appropriate to the task, message and audience.
1.6: Follow conventions of Standard Written English.
2.1: Identify and clearly explain the issue, question, or problem under critical consideration.
2.2: Locate and access sufficient information to investigate the issue or problem.
2.4: Consider and analyze information in context to the issue or problem.
2.5: Develop well-reasoned ideas, conclusions or decisions, checking them against relevant criteria and benchmarks.

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