constraint on IT support

social and cultural
couldnt work on certain days

you wasnt allowed to work with women

types of constraints

social/culture: couldnt work on certain days, werent allowed to work with women,

legal: data protection act, freedom of information act;you calling a gp making them give you your own record,esteemed publications act,

 

financial: staying inside the budgets, determines the quality, level of service agreement and the support. online checking systems: checking you havent gone over the budget.

 

technological: incompatability layers: database that isnt sycronising with the server this would be an incompatability level that would be a problem for the IT support.

 

time: this is the most serious probelm for IT support, escalation: wich is where you have a tier 1 problem and need to send it on to a higher level this means you then have to wait for the manager to approve the escalation before the ticket is sent on because it takes longer to send it on and it uses more resourses so the manager makes sure it is worth escalating the problem on.

 

employee skills; IT support might not always know specific areas of what they are doing, for example they are working on vertual machines without training and are there fore might be doing this wrong, cpd:continuing professional development this means giving the IT support the training they need. this is  a constraint because maybe not every IT support technician have the needed training.

impact vs constraints

 

something that impacts on IT support can be both positive and negative but it shapes our options and the bussiness environment.

constraints is concerned with limiting our options in the way IT support works not it is mot always a bad thing.

cost constraints

one of the constaints is buying IT equiptment this si because you have to buy lots of various equptment to do specific tasks.

you have to buy the specific equiptment from the official and origional manufacturers becasue you have to make sure it is the right equptment for the tasks.

you might have to buy more expensive equiptment  to meet the criteria on the fault logs eg.

you might have to buy a tool kit, you might not be able to buy a normal tool kit you would have to buy a specific set of tools and they might have to be a certain size for specific bits of the computer system.

 

you might have to buy the software liceneses so that you can use specific softwar. you might have to buy lots of packs of software in big bundles so that you can buy them for all of the computers to make sure they have the correct software e.g if you were a college you would need to make sure all of the computers have the tight software on all of the computers, you wouldnt have a missing piece of software on one computer as the student would then suffer for it.you

 

you can have a system tracker to check the software is installed on all computers as you can sinstall the software on one computer and you can do it so that it then goes to all computer from a main computer.

time constraints

 

when employyess are off sick then you would need to get another employee to come in and cover them.

most network maintenance is done out of hours sot his means you would then have to do overtime to dot he network maintenance.

some staff only work certain days or weekends this can be a constraint becasue they could be off work  over the week and come back at the weekend and there could be a massive backlog of tickets and problems.

if employees record what work was carried out using a help desk system this takes up more of the technicians time as he is recording the problem, recording a problem usually takes longer than actually fixing the problem. most IT technicians use a ticketing service wich makes dealing with and fixing probelms easier and quicker.

 

issues that impact on IT support

for this exercise we had to work in pears and pick from the list below and diskcuss with partners

• security
• system downtime and disruption
• resource allocatoin
• prioritisation
• contractual requirments
• costs

i am working with nico cox and luke barnes and we chose to discuss resource allocation;

what resourse allocation?

 

Resource allocation is used to distribute available resources in an economical way. This allows the user to choose the resource location, making it easier to find and use resources.

It also refers to supplying designated software to areas that are in need of it. This saves the user from supplying software to areas that are irrelevant or do not require it.

For example, a desktop that regularly has faults with it’s sound system may require a full upgrade of soundboard, software and hardware (Speakers). Whereas a system with only faulty speakers would just have the offending item replaced. This ensures a minimum waste, therefore backing up the economical theory.

when allocating resourses you would keep track of frequency of software and hardware upgrades,

when you are using peripherals it would be helpful if you researched peripherals and found the correct peripheral based on the fault logs checking that it isnt a peripheral that has lots of recorded faults.

 

downtime and distribution
maintenance might need to be done and this is inconveniant for users,

you would have to pay your employees for the overtime they are doing whilst the maintenance is taking place.

check your server infostructure is it maintainable? is it supported?chedck that your web servises are supported. are you using the right versions of the software. check all of the serveers tested on a test server live, back-up and protoctype servers.
make sure the IT support team can all speak the appropriate language so that everyone can understand each other.
desktops have to be replaced every 3years, laptops have to be replaced every 2 years and operating systems have to be replaced every 4 years.

what to consider when buying a bussiness system.

• you should consider the cost of buying the basic unit eg. the motherboard.
• you should consider the warranty costs: how long have you got the system for.
• how much will the oeprating system/software licence including cost.
• what are the specifications for the system eg. how much RAM, does it need a graphics card, what specifications would a bussiness system need?
• what size is the system including the monitor- will it fit on the desk(its no good buying a computer you have no room for)
• is the hardware you chose upgradable and is ti compatable with the motherboard?
• do you get discount if you are buying the systems in bulk?
• is it a knowable manufacturer? is it well made?( if a manufacturer has a bad reputation then do not buy from them)

  

validation of information

Knowledge Library

Information that can assist us in solving IT technical faults

e-books: 24/7
books;OREILLY, sams teach yourself.
internet searches: clustering(webclust), listening
colleagues,
training courses- online, 121,group, cascading"train the trainer"
fault logs
solved tickets(internal company)
knowledge base(ousdide of the company archive)
hardware and software manuals
faq's
manuals
manufacturers websites
flowcharts
forums
intranet(CMS content managment system,(CMS is like shared area) repositories)
online chat IRC Internet Relay Chat Channels. MIRC(IRC channel client that you download)
email
phone support lines(first and second line support mainly use)
high street desk shop counters(e.g. techguys)

always be aware that some users dont use products for their specifications and use them for something else. for example the paperclip was designed to hold together paper but people can use them to open the disk drive of a computer.


what would we need to consider when making a product reccomendation?
what level they are working at.
Age
Cost
Profit
language barriers
possible users

Helpdesk Knowledge Library

1)      Computer seems to randomly crash without error message.

Power supply could be over heating or could be an infinite CPU loop

-Check event logs for any errors, and find out what program is causing the problem.

-Check your temperatures on the motherboard, CPU and GPU. Test your memory with memtest.

-Take all the RAM out and try to run them on a PC one by one and see if it does it again.

2)      Blue screens of death.

Forced system shutdown

-Reboot the PC.

-Go into safe mode on start-up and restore the last known good configuration.

3)      Corrupted data.

Power outage or malware.

-start the computer from a bootable CD, then scan the hard disk for errors. If the scan completes successfully, the registry can be restored by hand and the computer can be scanned for viruses.

4)      Some memory intensive programs crash on start up.

Control alt delete in windows monitor one that’s taking up all of the CPU and stop the program executing or remove the program.

-Add more sticks of RAM.

5)      The screen changes colour and flickers.

Dodgy cables/loose cables

-Check to see if the video cable is in correctly and plugged in, check for video drivers updates.

6)      The computer eventually stops booting up and makes continuous or repetitive POST beeps.

Identify the problem via the beep codes.

–Refer to POST beep codes from computer manufacturer and see what the problem is via how many beeps you hear.

roeplays

In this lesson we did roleplaying. for our assignment we had to perform a roleplay of 2 end users and 2 helpdesk professionals. we all did this in pairs. we had to choose 2 different faults from the fault log that was supplied on the assignment and create a dault log. after this we just carried on with the rest of the assignment.

IT technitions (SysAID)

ERP- Enterprise resourse planning
some companys have a built in shortcut menue that launches a ticket to the helpdesks so that you dont actually have to phone the help desk. on this shortcut it has

• category- what category of IT is the problem
• title- whats the title of the problem
• description- what is the problems details i.e has it come up with error message ect.
• urgency- this is how urgent the problem needs to be dealt with.
• asset-this is wether the problem is server, networking ect.

when writing the title its very important to make it clear what the problem is and in the details go into more description.

sometimes to fix a problem some companies can screen shot the error message and the problem and send it to the help desk people so that they can see the error message and diagnose the problem without moving from their seat. they will then email you back and tell you that they have got your request ..they will get back to you with a solution or they will give you a tracking number so that you can call them and track wether or not they have found a solution to the problem. this helps the helpdesk have more time to deal with the problem and also gives the end user some satisfaction that the help desk are trying to solver the problem.
the IT technition then tracks the problem in his own time. each technition is assigned specific tasks, so that there is enough technitions to help with various problems so that all problems get handled. the IT support will look up the problem in the knowledge base that they use. some companies have this built into their systems. they then go back into the database and find the phone number or the email address fo the end user that reported the problem,

• category-what category of IT the problem is.
• title- the title of the problem
• status-new,old ect
• urgency- how urgent is the problem needing to be dealt with.
• priority- how important is fixing this problem.
• due date- when does the problem need to be fixed by.
• asset-what kind of problem is it, networking ect.
• request user- details of the end user who reported the problem.
• assigned to- who was the technition that was assigned to this problem.
• admin group- which admin group is it.
• parent ID
• child service requests
• actions- emailed end server ect.

the technition would call or email the end user, and remote desktop or do what they think they can do to fix the problem. they would then fix the problem.
the end user would then be able to carry on as normal but if the problem occured again they would need to go back through the helpdesk service to fix the problem again as because the technition remote controlled into the end users computer and they wouldnt know how they fixed it. when the probelm has been fixed the end user would then recieve a call back or an email from the technition saying that the problem had been handled and that the tracking number they was issued is now void and can not be used again.

1. submit SR through end user
2. email confirmation
3. notify assigned IT admintistrator
4. search knowledgebase
5. retrieve information
6. remote control
7. email conformation.

some helpdesk companies have ONE email address. so companies would email the helpdesk and the email would go to any IT technition instead of having individual email addresses for each technition they are all on one email addres.. this then triggers off a service request.



vpn- vertual private network.

you can change the level of priority on the service request so that they fix the problem quicker.

most technitions have emails on their phones, this is so that they can recieve problem requests when in meetings and things.

some problems with systems are permissions this means the techntion might have to simply change the permissions of an end user this means they can then access the information they couldnt access.

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technical support faults

faults
1.strategic senior managment.
2.tactical middle managment.
3.operational knowledge/workers
loss of service
. lockup- a computer is not responsive
.crash-when the whole system goes down
.a peripheral that no longer works.
.networking failures
.error message faults
when you are experiencing faults it is very important to think about who these problems are going to affect.
10 common faults
1.slow computer- cluttered hardrive?spyware?old pc?
2. poor internet connection-virueses?faulty network card?
3. computer freezes or lock up-BSOD(blue screen of death)-drivers out of syn and crashes the system?
4. browser/homepage/default searche ngine changes. spyware?
5. computer connects to the internet on its own-diallers?
6. computer turns itself on by iteself- wake on LAN set in the BIOS?
7. computer clock seems to lose time- new cmos
8.randomly reboots- hardware problem
9. refuses to boot completely- driver isuues? spyware?
10. noisy computer- dirty fans/hardrive on the way out.
diagnostic tools
categories
.hardware
.network
.software
.remote(putty and vnc)

Device manager
you can use the device manager for looing into he properties of all of the decices and settings of all of the components. you can look up when the component was made and designed and how big the
component is. this means you can troublesshoot the system for any problems. it will aslo tell you all of the processer information in the device manager.
event viewer
event viewers are used for reporting errors and can look up the event IDs of events. this will give you detailed fault logs and detailed system faults. this has dates and time of when things have
been done on the system.
error-checking
error checking is an application that scans the hardrive for errors such as lost sectors, bad sectors and corruption.this tells you the security settings, the properties,harware,tools,sharing
quota,previous versions and general settings. you can check for errorsin the system, defragment your system and back up files using the eroor-checking.
remote access
remote access helps support users in distant locations. helpdesk agents can dot he things below by using remote access.
. view a remote users screen
.enter commands on a users system
different type of remote access are:
1. symatec pcAnywhere
2.logmein
3.TightVNC/RealVNC
disadvantages
bad internet connections
you can discover things you are not supposed to.
advantages
helps you to connect and help other users from the support office.
monitoring tools.
. network trafic, i.e. bandwidth,speed
.hard drive quotasof user files
.server performance-CPU,disk space
.user internet usage
.printing-papercut in k college
. e-safety monitoring used in schools/eg. securus.

Fault logs

The role of fault logs.
Fault logs can be recorded systematically and this therefore helps with diagnosing and preventing
problems. Fault logs can be good at identifying reoccuring faults, which could highlight
problems with the computer system itself.

Example of a fault log:
Staff Name and Date - Ian / 31/7/03
Problem and description (including any error messages) - Mouse stopped working.
Time taken to fix problem - 30 mins
 Attempted solution and suggestions for next step -  Checked mouse device settings in control
panel / system. No properties found. Turned off PC and Swapped over mouse. Mouse started
working again.

Person who fixed it  - Jo
Contact information - Central Services IT co-ordinator


 An Example of fault logs within a company:
The fault logs need to gather certain information and this information can be judged on:
Within the company EGS, an example of their fault log:
They have to discover the:

The name and the role of the organization
Company
Equipment make, model and the serial number
Description of the fault
To tackle the fault, the EGS engineer takes the information listed in the fault and
will then talk directly to the customer about the fault and enlist them with a reference
number. The reference number is used throughout the process and the customer can refer to this
at any time.
Further support is offered if the fault cannot be determined and this support comes in the form of emailing through
further information about the fault, or if the fault is hardware, then possibly
sending back the damaged hardware. Once the fault is all sorted out, then the case is closed.

IT support

IT support helps you fix problems with computers and systems.
there is 4 levels of IT support.
level 1: front-end support so its for helping people with the basic computer and system problems.
level 2: administrative level support so its people helping with a litlle buit more than the basic problems.
level 3: back end support- high end support so mo more experienced.
level 4: corporate managment so really high up help.

faults
hardware
software
networking
malicious faults(used to help fix faults and prevent them)

IT support is neccesary because it helps make sure that everyone knows how to use computers and systems correctly and effectively.