The Benefit
IT architecture audits are beneficial in identifying operational deficiencies within a business.  The process begins with a comprehensive inventory of all the various IT components.  PCS’ experienced consultants review applications, hardware, software, processes, systems, and budgets.  The data gathered is documented and analyzed in detail.  The effectiveness of each IT component is then assessed to determine their overall value to the company and whether they meet the requirements of supporting the business.  Deficiencies are identified and recommendations are duly made.  The recommendations are categorized in terms of risk to business and effort required to remedy the deficiency.  PCS has successfully conducted IT architecture audits for organizations in financial, manufacturing, and the public sector. 

Listed below are examples of some of the IT components PCS has audited:

Infrastructure Operations & Architecture

• Network Servers
• SAN, Storage
• Desktop
• Telephony
• Backup & Archival
• Disaster Recovery
• Security
• Facility
• Infrastructure Availability

Infrastructure Management

• Configuration Management
• IT Help Desk and Metrics
• Asset Management
• IT Procurement
• IT Budgets

Applications Systems Architecture

• Operational Systems
• Financial Systems
• Business Intelligence/Data Warehouse
• Application Availability

Outsourced functions

Example Clients:

• A complete IT Audit was conducted for a major opinion research company. A comprehensive list of recommendations was submitted to the senior level company management. This list included specific short- term and long-term solutions required to fix the issues identified. All recommended solutions were estimated and prioritized based according to the associated business risk and the overall cost to the company should the issue not be addressed. 
• A division of a major multinational manufacturing company was experiencing service level issues from their corporate business services company.  The corporation hired PCS to audit the IT infrastructure functions, determine the root cause for the poor service levels, and recommend corrective actions.  PCS conducted a detailed audit and recommended several improvements to the IT processes to resolve the service level issues.
• A major financial company was cited by SEC for not complying with the SEC infrastructure guidelines. PCS was hired to review the current state of the company infrastructure and recommend changes required to pass the SEC Audit. PCS conducted the audit and delivered a comprehensive list of items required to fix the IT department.