ICT support will require the user’s login user name and new password
Knowledge of how to access user configuration and how to reset the password to a default. ICT should knownetowrk operating systems administrative features
- Administrator or similar needs help on an issue such as new hardware installation
ICT support staff will have to travel to organisation and provide general support in what ever is required.
Support will need to know a broad idea of what kind of support is needed, software or hardware
Technician will need to know the date, time location and what was involved. Technician must then know how to isolate the problem and either remove or fix the item, which they must know how
- Hardware fails to install properly
This can be caused by a number of reasons; whether it is incorrect driver installation or hardware faults (IDE cables inserted wrongly) This problem can only be fixed if the system is taken away to a lab and inspected by ICT support staff.
ICT support will require the component model numbers and software specifications
Again the support team must know the appropriate actions to be taken in order to find a solution
The user would not be able to provide the ICT support staff with much information, apart from there is no power getting into the computer. This is most likely to be a problem with the power supply unit (PSU) if this was the case, the system will have to be taken away to a lab where it can be taken apart for closer inspection. The PSU would have to be removed and replaced with a fully functional one that has the required specification and safety standards for the intended computer system.
ICT support will need to know the computers location number so they know where to find it.
Software problems can include drivers for hardware not working correctly. This is more likely if a piece of hardware is not plug and play compatible. The ICT support staff will have to make notes about the software versions and the model of the hardware in order to find the appropriate driver. They might then go away and find the driver on manufacturers CDROM or the internet. Should this not solve the problem the hardware might have to be replaced with a newer component, with the driver supplied. The operating system will have a large part to play in the software and driver problems
ICT support will require the software details as well as the details of the platform it is running on. Technician would be able to look up errors and fix or advice correct use to the end users.
Meaning the implementation of the back up procedure to retrieve information. If data loss does occur then a member of the ICT support team can attempt to retrieve as much as possible. However this can only be carried out if a data backup procedure and scheduling had been put into place. This can include file back up or network settings.
Details of what is important is needs to be retrieved is needed in order to prioritize data retrieval
ICT will need to be able to familiar with the backup system and be able to operate the backup software without disruption
A lot of these problems such as hardware installation failure can be resolved with the upgrade to a new operating system such as Windows XP, which supports ‘roll back’ and ‘system restore’ features.
(P3) Legal and financial limitations on ICT support technicians
The following are legal legislations that technicians need to abide by;
The Provision and Use of Work Equipment Regulations 1998
This law deals with minimum standards for the use of machines and equipment with regard to suitability, maintenance and inspection. The regulations also covered mobile work equipment from December 2002.
Personal Protective Equipment Work Regulations 1992 (PPE)
This regulation is to do with protective clothing or equipment which must be worn or held by an employee to protect against health and safety risks. It also covers maintenance and storage of such equipment. Employers cannot charge for such clothing or equipment which must carry the "CE" marking. This will include the use of ESD kits etc
The Health & Safety (Display Screen Equipment) Regulations 1992
This was introduced to give measures to prevent repetitive strain injury, fatigue, eye problems etc. in the use of technological equipment. Every employer should make a suitable and sufficient analysis of each workstation and surrounding work environment to ensure it meets the detailed requirements set out in the Regulations. This includes eyesight tests on request, breaks from using the equipment and provision of health and safety information about the equipment to the employee.
Electricity at Work Regulations 1989
These place a duty on an employer to assess risks involved in work activities involving electricity, (this can even cover electrical appliances such as kettles). All such equipment must be properly maintained.
As well as these laws that apply to ICT support staff which deal with the legal limitations of how they can work, there are also the financial implications that must be considered by the ICT support team and the organisation that they work for.
Budgets are a vital aspect of the implementation of a new system and end user support. This therefore must be considered and planned in order to keep to this set budget. All areas within the organisation should be equipped with the appropriate amount of stock in terms of consumables, whether it is printer ink and paper or computer peripherals to match the number of computer there are within that department.
The correct funds should be allocated to the ICT support staff within the organisation, so that not to much be spent unnecessarily but the correct amount of spending should be done. It is very important for the support team to provide and write up ‘cost break downs’ of all the spending patterns that they need. Such items that need to be considered is; hardware replacements and backups should they break and therefore need immediate replacement and handed out. Paper and printer ink costs should be stocked up as this is an item that is always needed depending on the usage that the printers are put under. Training costs, should any support staff need to attend courses which cost money, also any other future investments should be considered and planned for as well as budgeted for.
(P4) Training needs
The technician and the whole of the support team are to maintain the status of the network as well as providing support to end users. Therefore the support staff must be adequately trained in order to provide this support and have the appropriate qualifications. As well as having very good communication skills in order to find out the requirements. Communication skills are not easily achieved and therefore the right employee must be taken up into the position in the first place, as communication skills are very hard to ‘learn’, instead experience and a good personality as well as attitude is needed. Such skills must include good listening in order to find out the requirements that a job might need.
Every end user shall need some kind of support as the system will be unique depending on the organisation they work for. This can vary depending on the skill of the user, but sufficient training should be handed out.
Knowledge is of course a necessity in order to problem solves and carries out the job of an ICT support technician. The ability for a support member to learn new things such as technologies and the structure of a given network within a company is also required, and again isn’t really learn but acquired from experience. A good education can improve this general knowledge of support and networking issues, which will then be a good step in order to learn a specific company’s infrastructure and network requirements.
The situation that a support team might be put under is the possibility that its company would like to upgrade the current operating system that the computers are running under and replace it with a new modern version. Therefore the appropriate knowledge should be found within this team! Should it not and the ICT technician be under qualified in the area of this new operating system, the appropriate measures should be taken, such as enrolling on a course that specialises with this operating system. They would then attend and hopefully gain a qualification such as a MSCE in the area. Courses are available for technician and supports staff to take up in order to gain qualifications like an MCSE in networking management as well as operating systems that can be implemented on to an efficient network system.
As well as learning about the individual operating system, it might also be necessary to gain a qualification about other issues that go with any new technologies that this operating system carries, such as running networks on this platform.
This enrolment of courses is a good way to gain knowledge of areas; however the greatest knowledge can be gained by working with the discussed network and system. Getting to know the system that the ICT technician is responsible for, is the best method to learn more about new technologies and be able to concentrate on the system as well as learning as they work.
The three main training needs that an ICT support technician should have are;
- Good communication skills
- A sound knowledge in his/her specified area
- The ability to learn and adapt to new situations or configurations
(P5) Implementing an ICT support system
Whenever implementing a system within a network, it is very important to create a step by step documentation of all the stages that are carried out. This can include such steps as;
- Planning the installation
- Schedule and time it will take to implement
- The budget and cost implications
- The maintenance and up keep of the system
- Training requirements for both end users and ICT support staff
- Documentation of the whole system implementation
As an ICT support technician, they are required to implement the system and maintain its efficient running. This is done by following the requirements of the organisation that the support team are part of.
As part of the implementation of a system it’s important to look at the functions that the operating system supports and whether or not they can be used. An example of features than might be needed could be DHCP, which is only really needed if there was more than twenty computers present. This is all part of the planning stage of the installation or the maintenance of the system, and is vital in order to prevent simple problems from happening and to see possible problems that might occur.
A cost break down is very important for the support staff to carry out as it will be required by the organisation and also give an idea as to how big the implementation is. This cost break down will include everything to do with the actions carried out by the ICT support team such as; hardware and software costs total costs, training and time spent on these events as well as future developments and investments. After this cost analysis has been completed, returned to the organisation and documented, it is now time to carry out the implementation and maintenance of the new system. As discussed earlier it is very important to have control of the whole system and check its performance using diagnostic tools and maintenance methods, and be able to improve them should they result in poor or inefficient performance.
Next is the documentation stage, where all the previous steps and procedures should be put into appropriate writing and filed away for future reference. This could be written up into a text file, which would provide key word searches and a database of components and model numbers, or file under chapters relating to what type of problem issue it might be found under should an error of problem occur.
Training: basic training should be carried out of the operating system that has been put into place, whether this is in house support brought in or relies on personnel being sent out to complete courses at college. Specific areas such as networking management can be optional.
User awareness: Users must know how the support system has been implemented and where they can get help through meetings, leaflets or emails. Helpdesk too!!
Helpdesk: offers a place to contact an ICT support staff, here problems are collated and normally can be referred to when a new end user requires.
Materials: Feedback forms should be created and updated so that end users can send these in with any problems and issues; this should be used only for non urgent issues of support.
(P6) Automated procedures
As part of the roles that an ICT support technician must adhere to, the scheduling of tasks must be carried out. However their job is made a lot simpler by ‘automated procedures’
There are three main procedures that can be automated;
- File backup
- Virus checking
- Disk maintenance
I am going to discuss one of these automated procedures, which are disk maintenance tools. The need for this kind of software is to make sure the hard disks are running efficiently. If they were in poor condition, this would result in bad performance and therefore lead to possible errors or slow access times for users that wish to access their home areas, which are stored on this particular drive.
Over time, hard disk drives can become disorganised and get cluttered up with bits of data being left behind by programs. This can be fixed and diagnosed by a program such as Defrag, which is available on the Windows operating system. It is a very easy program to use and can not only tell the technician about the status of the disk but also fix the problem by organising the data back into directories, resulting in faster access times and less chance of disk errors occurring.
As well as defrag there is also another utility called scandisk (or similar) that will check the free space and data on the disk, to make sure it is readable and in good order. The ‘computer management’ feature collates all of the procedures that can be used using ‘task scheduler’ and be carried out automatically, preferably once a week to keep the system running efficiently
