1 IT Technical Support The impact of organisational policies on diagnosis and repair

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IT Technical Support

The impact of organisational policies on diagnosis and repair

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Aims• Discussion into Customer issues, external

considerations and organisational

considerations.

• Look into what can impact the IT support team

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This deals with making decisions about how and when to repair equipment and the impact that it can cause.

We will be considering the following:

• Customer issues

• External considerations

• Organisational considerations

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Customer Issues:

There are various ways in which an end user reports a fault and can gain support.

These consist of the following:

• Help desk

• Written notification (email)

• On-line help (Forums, FAQ)

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Customer Issues:

When the end-user reports a fault, these details need recording in a fault database. Why?

What kind of data would be stored?• Asset numbers• Assigned technician• Fault details• Date of fault• Fault resolved (and date it was resolved)• Who reported the fault (Their contact details)• How the fault was resolved

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Impact on the customer:

When a fault has affected an end-user it can really be an inconvenience to them.

This could further affect the end user by ....• Them not being able to carryout their tasks• Making them miss deadlines• Giving them a feeling of isolation and worthlessness• Losing them respect due to the knock on effect to their clients• Causing them extreme stress and frustration

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Customer Issues:

What is good customer care?

Technicians need to try to be understandable to the end-user and treat them

sympathetically.

End users should always be kept informed about the fault progress.

Replacements should be provided where possible

The customer will need to confirm that a fault has been resolved as a form of sign off.

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External Considerations:There are a number of external considerations that need to be taken into account when dealing with faults.

Relevant legislation Service Level Agreements (SLA) Escalation procedures Legal issues

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Relevant legislationWhat is legislation?

“A law or body of laws formally made or enacted”

What is it there for? Protect workers

This is taken into account when setting a policy for wearing ESD

straps Data protection Computer misuse act

Draw attention to hazards Safety of the public and environment

special disposal procedures

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Relevant legislationWhat is SLA?

“Service Level Agreements” – sets out what level of support is expected.

What is it used for? To specify what service obligations are expected for example:

Response times Down times Maintenance Security etc...

This is a document that is drawn up and agreed between an organisation and an external supplier or between one department and another.

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Relevant legislationWhat is Escalation?

“Means the referral of a problem higher up the chain of command”

What is it used for?

To specify what problems may be escalated up higher for them to make a decision on.

A technician needs to be aware of their own authority and a decision maybe out of their hands therefore escalation is needed.

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Relevant legislationWhat are legal issues?

Apart from legislation that relates to IT, legal documents need to be upheld i.e. Contracts

Behaviour contrary to a contact could result in a technician’s dismissal.

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Organisational Considerations:

The management of an organisation are responsible for making decisions about how much time is set aside for maintenance of computer systems and how many support staff are provided to help the workforce.

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Organisational Considerations Cont:

Once the customer issues and external considerations have been taken into account, the organisation has free rein as to how it goes about IT faults.

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Organisational Considerations:What issues can arise in an organisation that can impact a support team?

• Security• Cost• System downtime• Contract requirements• Resource allocation and prioritisation of jobs

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Organisational Considerations:Security:

Some faults arise because security is lax i.e. Allowing hackers to gain access to the system.

Security measures are essential, what measures can be taken to protect a system?

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Organisational Considerations:Cost:

A support team provides a service for all employees within an organisation and is therefore an overhead cost.

Costs must be kept within budget therefore not everyone can have a state of the art PC.

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Organisational Considerations:System downtime:Some systems require down time once in a while to allow system maintenance to take place.

This will impact a technician because they will have to schedule this down time so the fewest number of end-users are affected.

Some system failure is not expected therefore a backup plan is required.

All systems failures should be confirmed to the end-users via email and detailed.

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Organisational Considerations:Contract requirements:If a problem requires a support team member to carry out essential maintenance, their work hours will be set out in their contract.

This will impact the support team member but in a positive way as they are there as a form of protection and should be referred to if a technician felt like they are working outside of their agreed contract.

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Organisational Considerations:Resource allocation and prioritisationIT support staff are impacted on the equipment that is available to them, these resources need to be managed carefully to ensure that resources are kept within budget.

Other resources such as printers etc that have been allocated to a department, need to be managed in terms of their reliability i.e. If a printer keeps failing a replacement might be required.

Certain jobs might have to be prioritised according to their importance and in accordance to an agreed SLA.

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Conclusion

Discussion took place into Customer issues,

external considerations and organisational

considerations.

Looked into what can impact the IT support team

Documents

1 IT Technical Support The impact of organisational policies on diagnosis and repair