Master of Business Administration

(IIM Amritsar)

Course Design Document

Introduction to Cloud Computing

(ICC)

June 2023

Confidential - IIM Amritsar

SYNOPSIS
Cloud computing is becoming more and more important for businesses in today’s environment
whether it is well established or the new age startup. The flexibility it provides is fast becoming a
necessity for innovative and growing organizations.
Compared with traditional, pre-cloud scenario, cloud computing brings efficiency and agility that
empowers organizations to minimize their capital expenses and increment business
adaptability. For businesses, cloud computing offers a very cost-effective solution, and it is
perfect for smaller businesses without the resources or money to invest in secure systems in-
house.
This beginner’s course is designed to understand basic cloud computing concepts. This course
will help participants to use cloud computing infrastructure for advanced analytical courses and
enhance their knowledge on cloud based analytical tools. This course covers the fundamentals
of cloud computing, advantages and disadvantages, underlying technology, and commonly
used cloud applications. Amazon Web Services (AWS) has been identified as the primary cloud
service provider for this course based on the preference of participants. However, key
differences between different cloud service providers will also be covered briefly in the course.
After the completion of course, participants will be able to start using cloud-based services from
cloud service providers for their future course work and analytical projects.

RECOMMENDED PRE-REQUISITES
Since this is an introductory course on cloud computing, there are no strict pre-requisites for this
course, but some understanding of the following concepts is required.
 Basic Computer Architecture
 Computer Networking
 Understanding of Database concepts
 Structured Query Language (SQL) Programming or Python Programming

LEARNING OBJECTIVES
At the end of the course, participants would:
 Gain an understanding of cloud computing service models, deployment models,
architecture with cloud service providers and the business aspects of adapting cloud into
organization
 Understand the various reasons behind cloud application deployment considerations,
cloud economics and ROI with case studies
 Acquire knowledge on virtualization, identity management, cloud testing, cloud
monitoring and management
 Understand cloud security and privacy issues
 Learn how to use a cloud platform and cloud services to build an enterprise application
 Learn how to leverage cloud computing and cloud-based tools for data analytics

Confidential - IIM Amritsar

METHODOLOGY
To achieve the objectives of the course, the format of it would be based on lectures, class
discussions and hands-on practice.
1. Lecture/Discussion - During theoretical lessons, instructor will introduce the basic
concepts for each of the topics. These sessions are devoted to presentation and
discussion of frameworks, concepts, and theories
2. Hands-on Sessions - Practice sessions will be introduced in the second half of the
course. AWS would be used extensively to practices the concepts taught in the theory
sessions. Every participant would have to register with AWS using their cards, however,
only the free AWS cloud service would be used for practice sessions.
ASSESSMENT PLAN
Below are the detailed criteria for the assessment of the participants during the course.
Assessment Category Weight Type Mode
Class Quiz (3) 15% Written (MCQ) Individual
Case Study 10% Presentation/Written Group
Presentation/Assignment
Class Participation 20% Subjective Individual
Final Project Presentation 20% Presentation Group
Final Exam 35% Written Individual

Class Quiz: Three different class quizzes will be conducted throughout the course. These will
be short quizzes covering the concepts in the previous lectures.
Case Study Presentation/Assignment: Case study assignments would be provided and
evaluated as part of the course. Few selected case studies would also be presented by the
participants during the course.
Class participation: Participants will be expected to actively participate in class. Grading class
participation is necessarily subjective.
Group project: A group project will evaluate participant's ability to apply the learning from this
course to a real-life problem. Participants will work in groups to identify examples of real cloud
architectures and understand the different elements and processes involved. They will be asked
to present a written report of their findings, as well as to present them to the class during the last
day of the course.
Final Exam: The Final exam will be mix of multiple-choice questions and subjective analysis of
problems which participants need to provide solutions based on the knowledge gained in the
classroom sessions. More information about the final exam will be made available as the course
progresses.
COURSE SCHEDULE
Schedule Topic Mode
Session 1 Introduction and Course Overview Classroom
 Course Overview
 Introduction to Cloud Computing
 History and Evolution

Confidential - IIM Amritsar

  Key Cloud Providers
 Cloud Adoption

Session 2 Overview of Cloud Service Models Classroom

 Type of Cloud Services IAAS/PAAS/SAAS
 Types of Clouds – Public/Private/Hybrid
 Virtualization
 Containers
 Different storage types on Cloud

Session 3 Case Study Discussion: Fintech: Choosing a Cloud Classroom

Services Provider/In the Cloud

Session 4 Emerging Trends in Industry Classroom

 Hybrid Multi Cloud
 Microservices
 Serverless Architecture
 Cloud Native applications
 Dev Ops on Cloud

Session 5 Comparison between Different cloud service providers Classroom

Case Study: Cloud Wars Go Global: How Amazon,
Microsoft, Google, and Alibaba Compete in Web
Services

Introduction to Amazon Web Services Lab Sessions

 Overview
 Identity Access Management (IAM)
 Amazon Virtual Private Cloud (VPC)
 Amazon VPC Routing and Security

Session 6 Elastic Compute Cloud (EC2) Lab Sessions

 Compute as a Service on AWS
 Container Services on AWS
 Serverless Architecture
 Introduction to AWS Lambda

Session 7 Amazon Simple Storage Service (S3) and Amazon Lab Sessions
Database Services
 Different storage type on AWS
 How to choose right storage services
 Database services on Amazon
 How to choose right database storage service
 Launch Amazon RDS service

Session 8 Navigate the AWS Management Console Classroom

 Monitoring on AWS
 Load Balancing
 Auto Scaling of AWS

Confidential - IIM Amritsar

 Securing the Cloud deployments
 Security solutions on Amazon
 Encryption techniques
 Network isolation
 End Point Security
 Auditing
Introduction to Data Analysis solutions on AWS
 5V’s of Analytical solutions

Session 9 Introduction to Amazon SageMaker Lab Session

 SageMaker Features
 ML with SageMaker

Session 10 Final Project Presentation Online

Course Summarization

TEXTBOOKS AND LEARNING MATERIALS

This section lists out the textbooks, reading materials, cases, and other resources to
supplement and support the learning process.
Reference Book(s): Cloud Computing: Concepts, Technology & Architecture By - Thomas Erl,
Zaigham Mahmood, and Ricardo Puttini
Lab Session: Lab Notes would be provided for hands-on sessions.
Additional Reading(s): Case Studies to be provided before the relevant sessions.
Technology and Software: Amazon Web Services and Learning material
Other Resources (Journals, Internet Websites) (if any)

Schedule Suggested Readings

Session 1 https://hbr.org/2021/03/what-ceos-need-to-know-about-the-cloud-in-2021

Cloud Computing: Concepts, Technology & Architecture – Chapter 3 & 4

Session 2 Cloud Computing: Concepts, Technology & Architecture – Chapter 5, 14

Session 3 Case: Fintech: Choosing a Cloud Services Provider

Internet Research
Case: In the Cloud

Session 4 https://www.contino.io/insights/what-is-cloud-native-architecture-and-why-is-
it-so-important
https://hbr.org/2018/02/how-cloud-computing-is-changing-management

Session 5 Case Study: Cloud Wars Go Global: How Amazon, Microsoft, Google, and
Alibaba Compete in Web Services
Internet Research
AWS Reference Material - https://aws.amazon.com/what-is-cloud-
computing/?nc2=h_ql_le_int_cc

Confidential - IIM Amritsar

 Session 6 AWS Reference Material - https://aws.amazon.com/what-is-cloud-
computing/?nc2=h_ql_le_int_cc
Cloud Computing: Concepts, Technology & Architecture – Chapter 7

Session 7 AWS Reference Material - https://aws.amazon.com/what-is-cloud-

computing/?nc2=h_ql_le_int_cc
Cloud Computing: Concepts, Technology & Architecture – Chapter 7

Session 8 Cloud Computing: Concepts, Technology & Architecture – Chapter 6, 9 & 10

Session 9 AWS Reference Material - https://aws.amazon.com/what-is-cloud-

computing/?nc2=h_ql_le_int_cc

Session 10 Participants will present their final project work to fellow participants and
course instructor.

Confidential - IIM Amritsar