The following measures could be put in place to deal with the first problem: –

Configure Windows 8.1 so that clients and workers at any work station use Work folders manually or they automatically with group policy. To configure the user with Group policy there is a need to force automatic setup for each user, but this should be done cautiously. Once enabled, all users to which Group Policy Objects applies will have their Work Folders configured to one specific location to each device logged in without being prompted to do so.

The user could also be configured manually on the computers in the control panel. The Work Folders technology allows non-joined devices to locate fast, appropriate servers that host users’ Work Folders. This feature is only useful if one has a “work folders” host in their DNS that points to the right file. Once this is put in place, users will just be prompted to enter their email address when configuring the Work Folders to their non-domain-joined devices. The device will in turn search for the host of the work folders, users will have to provide correct usernames and passwords for the domain account that allows access to the Work Folders.

In the case of handling multiple servers handling Work Folders, it will be appropriate to configure them in a new user attribute named msDS-Syncserverurl in AD DS to specify the proper Work Folders location for every user. Upon configuration of this attribute, the user will always be prompted to the specific file server to locate their work folder. Upon configuration of all the Work Folders settings, Users will have the ability to access their Work Folders regardless of whether they are using domain-joined or non-domain joined devices. Users will be able to use the work folder like any other folder on their device only that in this case upon right clicking on a Work Folder, the user will be prompted for the option to force synchronization with the server.

The following measures could be used to address the second problem of a Database application that has been exhibiting poor performance caused by latency from drives it uses for storage: –

Avoiding multiple joints in a single query as it reduces the choices of the optimizer to make a decision on the join order and the join type. Secondly, using the set-based query in place of cursors because they are more efficient and in the case that there may need to use the cursor query then, they should not be dynamic as they tend to limit the plans available for the query optimizer. Thirdly, re-writing of the query in separate instead of non-correlated scalar subquery and storing the output as a variable which can easily be accessed as a later part of the batch or the main query. Fourthly, creation and use of indexes which in turn reduces the time spent retrieving data and thus improving the performance of the database application. Fifthly, dropping unused indexes is another important measure to improve the performance of the database application as by doing so it helps increase the speed of data modification without affecting the retrieval of data in the system. Lastly, revisiting the schema definition is key to resolving the low performance of the database this is done by checking if the primary key, foreign key and the rest are in place or not. The availability of the right constraint on the correct query helps to improve the overall performance of the database.

The implementation of the above would be possible through the following five steps: Optimization of queries, Creation of optimal indexes, acquisition of a stronger CPU, allocation of more memory and data defragmentation.