ICAW4027B Relate to clients on a business level

Develops skills and knowledge in the following areas:

• Understanding the business culture and standards of your service provider organisation
• Building and maintaining business relationships with customers
• Identifying client support needs
• Planning support roles and requirements
• Identifying the cost of providing client support services
• Negotiating support service costs
• Obtaining client feedback to monitor and adjust client support services

Topic 1 - Building Business Networks and Relationships

Q:List at least five ways in which you can create, foster or maintain professional relationships with software or hardware supplier companies and individual developers, consultants and other staff who work for them.

A: The following are ways in which you can create, foster or maintain professional relationships with suppliers and developers:

• Call the technical or business assistance contacts of your product supplier to find out about their services. Most suppliers now provide such contact information in their brochures and websites. If you ask them, they will probably be happy to discuss in detail the kinds of services they offer. They may be able to discuss the expected responses to the kinds of client and product issues that you may be likely to raise with them in future. You may be able to ask them about how they go about maintaining relationships with other organisations to which they supply products.
  
• Attend IT industry conferences to find out about current and future issues and new product developments. Use these conferences as opportunities to meet people from product supplier companies, to identify the role of yourself and your support organisation and to explain to these suppliers any user issues of which you are aware. Also develop personal contacts and working relationships with these people. Note: Even if it eventuates that the knowledge and contacts which you gain at these conferences is never needed in your particular support work, such professional relationships may become an avenue for future employment, career development or commercial business opportunities.
  
• Network with the wider industry in which your clients conduct business. If you support a particular kind of application, you might attend conferences, educational programs and other functions in that particular industry. Someone who supports financial accounting software may attend accounting conferences to meet with both accounting people and IT people operating in that industry. Many people who provide IT services in the financial markets industry, eg stock-broking, financial futures trading, insurance, superannuation and treasury operations, take part in finance industry education programs to learn about the legal compliance requirements applying to their IT systems and to make contact with industry regulators.
  
• Take part in product reviews, technical updates and training programs offered by particular product suppliers. Many product suppliers seek to promote their products and network with industry practitioners through such offerings. Examples are SAP accounting software, who offers a regular national conference on its products and consulting services, the Microsoft technical certification program for developers and support staff and many other large and small suppliers.
  
• Maintain contact with other students at your IT education institution or college after your graduation. Regularly exchange information regarding technical developments, user issues and service industry ideas with them (within the limits of business confidentiality) and between the product development organisations and support service organisations, in which you may each be employed.
  
• Look for ' partners' grouped around the products and applications with which you are involved. Many organisations operate as partners or intermediaries between major application developers and their clients. The partner's role being to maintain close service relationships with the clients so that they continue to be interested in the developer's range of products. For example, most branded software firms, eg major web browsers and major accounting software, maintain a network of re-sellers who are committed to retailing that particular brand of software, providing pre-sale IT consulting and post-sale support, plus other types of IT and non-IT services. They also promote an ongoing relationship with that brand. Small IT firms may also band together into formal or informal partnerships to offer clients a range of related specialty services, such as IT needs analysis, hardware networks, customised application development, project management, design of web page content and strategic business planning. This integration of related products and services from separate providers is called channeling. Useful relationships and sources of expertise can be cultivated by associating with organisations through such partnerships. For examples of corporations offering 'partnerships', look at these sites: Microsoft (http://www.microsoft.com), IBM business applications (http://www.ibm.com) and SAP business applications (http://wwwSAP.com).

Topic 2 - Planning to Meet Client Requirements

Q1:Make a list of five questions which you would ask a client in order to understand their general business activities and identify their IT needs. Include support needs.

A: There are some example of question following:

• What does the client organisation do? What are its general business circumstances?
• Who are their customers? How do they communicate with them? What exactly are they expected to deliver to their customers? What are not to deliver?
• In what specific types of activities are they involved? How much? How often? Which staff are involved?
• How critical in terms of timing are these activities?
• What processes lead into other processes? What are the dependencies?
• What happens if they do not coordinate?
• What back-up practices and quality assurance practices are employed in their business activities?
• What computer systems do they need to perform their job?
• Is there an IT strategic business plan, resourcing plan or other relevant corporate planning that defines / directs / constrains the current state and the future directions of the organisation's IT systems and activities?
• What hardware? What applications? What are the inputs and outputs of this IT system?
• How long can they continue doing business if their systems are not working?
• Who is responsible for the IT system? Should a system administrator with views on what type of support be delivered by you? Are they part of the client organisation's strategic business planning and budgeting team?
• How much money will they lose if their systems are not working?
• How many support requests does the client make now, per day and per month?
• What times during the day do they make the calls? For example, do they make the majority of calls between 9am and 5pm?
• What matters are raised in these calls? For example, hardware configuration, software configuration, training needs, network breakdowns, data losses or higher level needs like detailed technical advice and consulting services?
• How urgent are these support requests? How do the responses to these requests impact the client's business? (Helpful or not helpful? Short term solutions or long term solutions to the client's issues?)
• Are the support and other IT issues interrupting the client's normal business operations? Is e-mail not working or is the network down. Or do users have critical gaps in their training? How much is the client organisation spending / willing to spend on support services per month?

Q2: Make a list of five questions which you would ask yourself, as client support officer, in order to double check that you have done a sufficiently thorough analysis of the client's needs.

A: There are some example of question following:

• What happens if the information about products or services which your client requests is not available either before or after installation? Have you specified and documented these information gaps and how they will affect the client?
• Is the list of client requirements complete, in the sense that if your recommended or specified product / service satisfies every documented user requirement, it will be acceptable to the user? What undocumented requirements could be potentially identified later? And, what would be the impact on the client if these unexpected requirements are not satisfied?
• Are the client requirements written in user friendly language? Do the users think so?
• Does each client requirement for products and support services avoid conflicts with other client requirements? If not, is this conflict specified / quantified?
• Are the client requirements for products and support services at a fairly consistent level of detail? Should any requirement be specified in more detail? Should any requirement be specified in less detail?
• Are the client requirements clear enough to be turned over to and understood by an independent group for installation of a product or provision of a support service?
• Is each documented item relevant to a client's issue / problem and its associated solution? Can each documented item be traced to its origin in the client issue / problem environment?

Q3: Make a list of five questions which you would ask the client in order to double check that they are satisfied with the way that you have conducted your analysis of their needs.

A: There are some example of question following:

• Did the client support staff accurately determine your requirements? Let the client see your written analysis.
• Did the analyst or client support staff listen to and accurately reflect your explanation of how your job operates, what the tasks and deliverables of your job are, how they relate to the key business outcomes of your organisation and how you interact with other people and tasks in your organisation?
• Did the client support staff listen to and repeat your client requirements for IT products and support services to ensure that they understood them and your organisational situation?
• Did the client support staff adequately explain how and when your IT products and support services would be delivered?
• Was the analyst or client support officer, with whom you dealt, knowledgeable about your IT systems and any other relevant aspects of your work?
• Are products and support services being delivered in the time-frame and scope as specified by your contract or service level agreement?
• Did you receive all of the user documentation that was agreed?
• Was the documentation legible and easy to apply in operational situations?
• Where you offered any manual or on-line documentation? If so, was it useful?
• Where you offered any training? If so, was it useful? What further training to you think is needed?
• Did you attend the training that was offered to you? If not, please indicate why not?
• Did the documentation address all of your needs? Does it cover all the areas of your work?

Topic 3 - Negotiating Client Support Service Costs

Q: Negotiations skills are involved in the arranging for the provision of regular support services from an organisation's internal IT services unit and for the obtaining of support for specific user problems when they arise each day.

Five general or specific IT support needs which a client would want fulfilled by the support provider include:

• response to a problem within a set time
• provision of support at a reasonable cost
• provision of adequate resources for support services to function adequately
• professional manners, technical knowledge and service skills
• services which are appropriate to the functionalities of the applications being operated by the user.

Five general or specific needs which the IT support provider would want users to fulfil include:

• patience during times of heavy demand for support services
• acceptance that the delivery of services will be completed within a pre-agreed timeframe and cost
• clear communication of the user's needs to the support staff
• clear communication to the support staff as to what the user thinks of the quality and effectiveness of the support services
• attendance in training which offers users knowledge and skills on ways to minimise their dependence on the support staff.

Can you list additional needs for both the support provider and users?

A: Possible general or specific IT support needs which a client would wish to have fulfilled by the support provider:

• respond to a problem within a set time
• provide support at a reasonable cost
• provide adequate resources for support services to function adequately
  be professional in manner, technical knowledge and service skills
• provide services which are appropriate to the functionalities of the applications being operated by the user.

Possible general or specific needs which the IT support provider would wish the users to fulfil:

• be patient during times of heavy demand for support services
• accept the delivery of services within a pre-agreed timeframe and cost
• communicate clearly to the support staff what the user's needs are
• communicate clearly to the support staff what the user thinks of the quality and effectiveness of the support services
• attend the training which is offered to users to minimise their dependence on the support staff.

Topic 4 - Maintaining a Focus on Clients

Q: Assume that in response to an analysis of a client's needs, you have installed a new software package at the workstations of the end users and you have provided training, user manuals and help desk services in relation to the new software.

Your task is compile a questionnaire listing at least ten questions, which you could put to an end user to assess whether the installation has been successful. In this, assess whether the new software is being used effectively in the client's business activities and the client is satisfied with your support services.

A: There are some example of question following:

1. Did you attend the training sessions which were offered prior to your new application being installed? If not, why not?.
2. Did you feel you benefited from the training? If not, why not?
3. What was the best aspect of the training you received?
4. What was the worst aspect of the training you received?
5. Did you read the user manual provided during the training? If not, why not?
6. Do you still have your user manual ready to refer to when using your new software?
7. How long after the installation occurred did you start using the new software?
8. Approximately how many times have you used the new software since installation occurred?
9. Do you currently use the new software? If not, why not?
10. Have you needed to contact the IT support unit to query any aspect of the new software or seek assistance with using it? Please briefly state the nature of this call.
11. Were your calls to the IT support unit regarding any queries or problems with the new software dealt with to your satisfaction?
12. Were you dissatisfied with the assistance provided by the IT support unit for any problems or queries with the new software? Please briefly state the nature of your query and in what way it was not dealt with to your satisfaction.
13. Have you needed to contact the IT support unit for assistance with the new software on more than one occasion? Please briefly state the nature of these problems or queries.
14. How long did it take for the IT support unit to respond to any problems or queries you have had with the new software?
15. Do you currently have any problems or queries with the new software which have not been dealt with by the IT support unit or other parts of the organisation?
16. Do you find the new software useful in your work? Please briefly state for what organisational purposes and business activities you used the software.
17. Would you prefer to have a different type of software, ie different functionalities, to use in your work? Please state briefly why / why not.
18. Would you prefer a different version or brand of this software application in your work? Please state any you prefer.
19. Are there any features of this new software which you do not understand? Please indicate which ones.
20. Are there any IT features or functionalities which you would find useful in your work but which are not present in your new software? Please state what kinds of features or functions you would like to have.

Thank you for competing this questionnaire. The IT support unit will provide you with a similar questionnaire to this one in six months from now so that we can optimise our services to you. You may also be contacted in person before that time by a support officer to discuss your individual needs.

In addition, please free to contact us at any time to discuss any needs or queries you may have. Jane, Andrew and Mary are available 8am to 6pm on XXXX XXXX - We are here to help support you.

Glossory

Active Listening: The process of responding in physical and verbal ways to what you hear in order to indicate that you are listening carefully and understanding what the other person is saying. This term therefore covers not only the act of hearing but also the use of positive gestures/facial expressions and the asking of questions, which reflect what the other person has said to you. For example, you might ask a client "How quickly do you think you need support to be provided when a problem occurs?" It could be followed by: "So what you are saying is that you need support services to be provided within one hour of a support call or your business will suffer. Is that correct?"

Body language: The use of facial expressions, hand gestures and orientation of the body to communicate your attitude (often unintentionally).

Budget: The ordered and predictable allocation of the organisation's available funds, in the present and in the future, to purchase any necessary goods and services for its operations, to pay the salaries of staff, and to invest in the development of the organisation's structure, activities and its personnel.

Business culture: The general set of qualities embodied by the working practices of an organisation. This includes attitudes, values, ethics (principles of behaviour), actual standards of behaviour, standards of quality in service and manufacturing, the formal organisational structure and management hierarchy, performance management, reward practices and the particular style of conducting relationships between employees, management, business partners, clients and other stakeholders with why.

Client/Customer: Someone who comes to you for your professional services.

Customer satisfaction survey: A survey of customers (management and end users) who ask specific and non-specific questions about how well the customer's needs have been met by a product or service, how well their business outcomes have been facilitated, the customer's view about how well the provider has managed the specific relationship with them, and the customer's attitude to how the relationship should develop in future. Surveys may take the form of questionnaires, interviews, focus groups, physical and electronic monitoring of a user's business activities. They seek to understand how well the organisation is facilitated by the IT products and services. They assess the quality and effectiveness of support call conversations.

Contract: A legally binding agreement made between two parties, to define the obligations and rights on each party. Contracts are usually created in written form, but may also exist as verbal agreements. Or, they may be implicit in the behaviour of two parties without any specific agreement having been spoken or written (eg when you are buying a bus ticket you are contracting with the bus service to be safely transported as far as your desired bus stop). In this module, contractual arrangements refer particularly to the legally binding rights and obligations which exist between a service provider and its client.

Customer Relationship Management (CRM): The process of integrating all of the provider organisation's operational processes and procedures, human culture, strategic planning, policy development and technological facilities to maximise the outcomes for the provider's primary stakeholders (ie its clients), and to establish itself as a successful and reputable provider of products and services.

Escalation: The procedures for making appropriate decisions about when to seek more experienced, knowledgeable or extensive help to deal with an IT problem or issue, which is beyond the skills or resources of an IT support officer or their unit. This is the process of bringing in the necessary additional people and resources to support those circumstances.

Ethics: The behaviours, attitudes, duties and actions which an individual is expected to engage in whilst operating in a professional relationship environment or in any circumstance of trust. Typical ethical attributes which a professional is expected to adhere to are honesty, trustworthiness, diligence in the completion of skilled or knowledgeable work, diligence in serving a client according to the best interests of that client (rather than the provider's interest), and maintaining a professional standard of competence in technical knowledge, organisational procedures and legal obligations.

Functionalities: The features of a hardware or software application and the specific tasks which they are able to perform for a user. For example, in a word processing application, the general functionalities would include text editing, formatting, graphic insertions, creation of macros, spelling and grammar checks.

Infrastructure: The tangible IT hardware, office equipment, accommodation, communications, networks and the manufacturing, distribution and sales-related equipment which an organisation requires in order to carryout its operations. It can also be argued that infrastructure includes non-tangible assets like software

Stakeholder: A person or group of people or organisation who have a concern or an interest in a particular issue or outcome (often referred to as one of the "players" in the issue or set off issues being handled). The key to good policy development is to manage and fulfil as far as possible the needs, expectations and outcomes of all the stakeholders who have an interest in the issue.

Strategic planning: The process of identifying the broad business direction and goals which an organisation will follow, the main business issues which it expects that it will encounter in the near future and in the longer term, and the general approaches which it will implement in order to deal with those issues. It also includes its predictions for how successful it is likely to be in the ongoing achievement of its business goals.

ICAW4214A Maintain ethical conduct training note

Learning outcomes

This unit studys for knowledge and skills development for ICAW4214A Maintain ethical conduct:

• Protect the interests of clients
• Produce quality products and services
• Ensure correct representation
• Produce code of ethics
• Maintain good work practices.

Topics in this unit

There are two topics in this unit to help you develop your knowledge and skills in maintaining ethical conduct.

1. Ethics in ICT
Oliver Burmeister, Chair of the Australian Computer Society's (ACS) Committee on Computer Ethics, discusses the role of the ACS, the ACS Code of Ethics, ethical issues that arise in the ICT industry, resolving ethical issues and adapting a code of ethics within an organisation.

What does ‘professionalism’ and ‘ethical behaviour’ mean in the ICT industry?

Tools such as a code of ethics provide organisations and workers with a common standard for ethical behaviour when dealing with colleagues, clients and the public. The Australian Computer Society (ACS) has developed a code of ethics that is widely adopted within the ICT industry. This code is now under review, with the view to updating the code to reflect the current ICT industry and issues. In this topic you’ll hear about the ACS and the ACS code of ethics, as well as a discussion of some ethical issues that arise in the ICT industry.
This presentation is given by Oliver Burmeister, Chair of the Ethics Committee of the ACS, and Lecturer in Information Technology, Charles Sturt University. Some TAFE students studying IT also contribute their thoughts on some ethical issues.

2. Privacy legislation
Commissioner Les McCrimmon, from the Australian Law Reform Commission (ALRC), discusses the Federal Privacy Act 1988, and the sweeping reviews to Federal and State privacy laws that the Law Reform Commission is undertaking. This review and impending changes to privacy laws will impact the ICT industry when new legislation is enacted sometime after 2008.

How does the Federal Privacy Act 1988 apply to businesses and how does it govern the handling of information?

In this topic, I heared the Privacy Act 1988 explained in terms of how a business needs to interpret the Act and apply the Principles to its business and IT systems. Importantly, the Australian Law Reform Commission (ALRC) is leading a review of Federal and State privacy (and related) legislation due to the age of the Act and developments in technology since the Privacy Act came into force in 1988.

This presentation is given by Professor Les McCrimmon who is a Commissioner at the ALRC

Activities

Scenarios
For each scenario given here decide whether the behaviour is illegal or unethical.

1. Unethical or illegal?

In this activity you’ll need to determine whether workplace scenarios show unethical or illegal behaviour.

Scenario 1.1
Your boss takes three weeks leave. One of your colleagues takes two days leave during this period. They do not submit the appropriate form for taking leave. You say nothing to your colleague or to your boss when she returns.

A: Unethical; There is no law to say this is illegal. However, this should be managed within the workplace. Other managers may need to take over responsibility to ensure that this practice does not occur.

Scenario 1.2
A colleague buys a cappuccino from petty cash.

A: Illegal: Even though it may sound minor, it is theft, and therefore illegal.

Scenario 1.3

A person starts their own business providing quotes for interior design work for residences. They do not include in their quotes delivery of the goods or installation.

A: Unethical: This is misleading information.

Scenario 1.4

An employee is completing their studies part-time in the evenings. They take stationery from work for their own use, including pens and writing paper.

A: Illegal: It is theft and therefore illegal.

2. Prioritisation or professional judgment?

Scenario 2.1

Read the scenario carefully, then determine which ethical approach was used by Sam to deal with the unethical behaviour: prioritisation or professional judgement. Then select any sections from the two Codes of Ethics that apply to Sam’s situation.

Sam works for ABC Company. His boss has recently been going through a divorce which drained him emotionally and financially. His boss was found to be exploiting the ABC funds: he had written cheques for $5000 for his personal use. The management is sympathetic to his situation. Sam’s boss is now paying back the money on a monthly basis.

The ACS and ACM were advised of the situation. The ACS revoked his membership as he had violated the Code of Ethics 4.10.2 ‘I must not knowingly engage in, or be associated with, dishonest or fraudulent practices’. The ACM revoked his membership as he had violated the Code of Ethics 2.3 ‘Know and respect existing laws pertaining to professional work’.

Everyone at ABC Company was shocked when they heard the news. Sam’s boss’s colleagues have reacted in different ways. Sam has decided to be civil to his boss. He continues to work with him in the best way possible but does distance himself from him.

A: In this case, the considering that Sam used for his judgement was based on the ACS Code of Ethics 4.10.5 ‘I must distance myself professionally from someone whose membership of the Society has been terminated because of unethical behaviour or unsatisfactory conduct.’

Sam followed the Prioritisation method. Stealing money from a company is illegal. In some circumstances this may cause major problems for anyone in the public who uses their services.

Scenario 2.2

What ethical method has Carlos used, professional judgement or prioritisation? And what has he based his judgement on?

Carlos tries to convince his colleagues to attend a 1-week course. None of them can afford it. He approaches his boss to provide funding for the course. He finds out the department has already overspent this year’s budget.

Carlos creates his own 3-day compact version of the course and delivers this to his colleagues.

A: Prioritisation is correct here. ACS Code of Ethics states in 4.9, ‘I must encourage my colleagues, employees and students to continue their own professional development.’

ACM Code of Ethics states in 3.6 ‘Create opportunities for members of the organisation to learn the principles and limitations of computer systems.’

Carlos recognises the importance of the information for his colleagues. He goes beyond encouraging them to attend and creates a compact version of the course.

3. Develop a Code of Ethics

Scenario

You work for the ABC Computer Company. They sell computer hardware and software. They do not undertake repairs or software installation. Computers or components are covered by their 1 year warranty. If there is a problem, they are either sent to another company for repairs, or else replaced.

ABC Computer Company has now decided to create a website to sell their products, as well as a product blog. This is intended for staff to write a commentary on a particular product. As the product becomes obsolete, staff will write about the updated product. The blog will display an image of the product and its price. It will provide a link to the product where the full information can be found. Any reader can leave comments on the product.

The ABC Computer Company Code of Ethics needs to take into account the blog on the website and readers’ comments. For each of the values and ideas in the Australian Computer Society’s Code of Ethics, write a report on how this relates to the blogging section of the website.

• Are the values and ideals appropriate?
• The values and ideals are developed into standards of conduct. How can these be applied to the ABC Company product blog?

A: ABC Company Code of Ethics

Applying a Code of Ethics for staff writing the product blog is appropriate. This can be discussed, applied and controlled within ABC Computer Company. However, all readers may not comply with the Code of Ethics. The ABC Computer Company could restrict access to the blog by only allowing registered users. If any inappropriate material is written, they could then block that person.

The following questions need to be considered when developing your Code of Ethics.

Priorities

• How is the Code of Ethics applied to the blog, and is it appropriate?
  
• Should any reader’s comments be acknowledged?
  
• Should there be a policy introduced to have the acknowledgement sent within a week, within a day or immediately?
  
• Should this be automatically generated and sent immediately, or personally sent by the staff member?
  

Competence

• How will you know if the reader’s response is competent?
  
• How will you know that what they say about a product is professional? Maybe they have no idea How to install the product and they leave a comment that the component does not work?
  

Honesty

How will you know if the reader’s comments are honest?

How will you respond if you believe they are not?

Social implications

How does this apply to a reader’s comments?
How will their comments affect the business’s reputation?

Professional development

• The information provided on the product should increase the readers’ knowledge and therefore, add to their professional development.
  
• Any information the reader can provide will enhance other readers’ professional development.
  
• Should comments made by the reader be referenced?
  

IT professional

How will you measure the integrity of the comments made by the reader?

How will you manage the situation if a reader starts commenting on another reader’s comments?

BSBCMN304A Contribute to personal skill development and learning Training Note

Objective

To success the Contribute to personal skill development and learning (BSBCMN304A), you are be able to demonstrate the skills and knowledge required to support your own learning and skill development needs. This self-development applies both to your own career and in the context of an organisation's goals and objectives.

Your assessment tasks will require you to demonstrate your competence by:

• Identifying your learning needs for skill development
  
• Undertaking personal skill development
  
• Monitoring the effectiveness of learning

Develop a personal vision statement practice

Activity 1: Read a vision statement

Q: Search the internet and find the vision statement for an organisation that you have had a good experience with. This could be a government department, a private organisation such as a bank or chain store or your local school or council.

A: The followed vision statement is come from the International Office - Faculty of Informatics of Wollongong University that shows the objectives of the university and how to achieve.

“Our Office enhances the University’s and Faculty’s Vision and Mission Statements to be recognised as an international centre of excellence for teaching and research in both its onshore and offshore locations. Apart from the University’s main campus in Wollongong, Australia, international students can undertake part or all of their studies at offshore locations in Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, China or Dubai.

We place the greatest importance on our international students gaining the necessary skills and competencies to succeed at the highest level (both professionally and personally); whilst at the same time we seek to expose them to a rewarding educational experience at one of the University’s distinguished learning and research centres.”


Activity 2: Where are you now, in five years, in ten years time?

Think about your life now and in the future. Download this table and fill it out for your life now, in five years and in ten years time.

Table: Where are you in the future?

Activity 3: What is a career path?

Q: What does a career path mean to you? What do you think it might mean for your fellow students?

Write a short definition of what a career path means to you, how important it is to you right now and how planning a career path might help you to achieve your goals (up to 100 words). Share this with your fellow students - either in the classroom or online in a forum.

A: Career path is the way to developing my career. The development depends on a variety of factors like your personal capabilities, skills, experience and the opportunities available for training and advancement.

I would like to work with the computer multinational company, however, my communication skills is not really good. Thus, I have to develop my communication skills first that is the reason why I come to Australia to study. From here I can improve my communication skills because in my daily life I have to face each other that do not come from my country. So, the general language here is English that farce me to use it and getting better by time to time. Furthermore, come to Australia do not just improve my communication skill, it also improve my lifestyle. Since I come here, I have to due and face the issue that I never meet within my country such as how to rent the unit, connection the internet, telephone, electrical so on. Also, I have to analyse and make many decisions by myself.

Key terms

Brainstorm: Quickly writing down lots of your ideas without thinking about their value, then sorting through them later.

Collage: A picture made by pasting together other pictures (eg. cut from magazines)

CV: Also know as a ‘Résumé’, CV stands for ‘Curriculum Vitae’ and is a brief summary of your career to date. An essential tool for job seekers to present to employers.

Employability skills: A range of generic skills which make you a flexible and productive member of a team. Employers will look for these skills in addition to specific job skills. They include interpersonal, communication, team, organisational and problem solving skills.

Entrepreneurial skills: The ability to make decisions, plan and take risks in order to start and build a successful business.

Mentor: A person at a higher level in a company who takes on the role of helping and guiding a less experienced person.

Networking: Communicating with people outside your organisation to build up contacts and sources of information. They could help with getting you a job, recommending you or introducing you to useful people.

ICAT3025A Run standard diagnostic tests training note

Objective

Run standard diagnostic tests include a range of basic skills that are required to troubleshoot computer problems. With these skills you will be able to identify which components of a computer system are working correctly and which are not. This information will help you determine the nature of the problem.

In this unit you’ll do four tasks for a company called WITSIT Computer Support to allow you to demonstrate your skills and knowledge in running standard diagnostic tests.
To do these tasks you’ll need to be able to:

• Operate system diagnostics.
  
• Scan a system for viruses.

Use system diagnostic tools practice

Activity 1: Determine problems and make recommendations

Q1: You have been called to a PC system that will not load the operating system. What diagnostic tool will you examine to help determine the problem?

A: A POST tool to look for errors in the booting process

Q2: You have been called to a PC system that will not load the operating system. When you turn it on the screen remains blank and you hear a series of beeps. You know the system has a gigabyte motherboard. What do you do?

A: In this case, I can start with turn the computer off and ensure all device cables are seated correctly, or check for the documentation that accompanied the system and visit the manufacturer’s website and look for supporting documentation.

Q3: You have determined that the system has suffered from a user accidentally entering the CMOS setup tool and modifying settings. What would you recommend?

A: First of all, I will enter the CMOS tool and select ‘Restore Factory Settings’.
Secondly, recommend protecting the CMOS with a password.
The last one, educate the user about the computer’s booting sequence.

Activity 2: Understand diagnostic tools

Answering true or false for follows statement.

Q1: The purpose of booting in ‘Safe’ mode is to minimise the chances of the operating system failing through only loading core services.

A: True because In ‘Safe’ mode the operating system loads a minimum set of services to allow the user to try and identify and solve whatever the fault is.

Q2: The system log will record information about which system services have started and which have failed.

A: True because the system log is all about system services and their loading. Other tools handle virus or drive checking.

Detect and remove viruses practice

Activity 1: Prepare a new computer for the workplace

Q: You have been provided with a new computer for your business. Try this interactive sequencing activity that will help you prepare it for the workplace.

A: The steps to prepare a new computer for the workplace are:

Partition and format the hard disk drive.
Install and configure the operating system.
Install the company’s preferred anti-virus software.
Update the anti-virus software with the latest virus identification files.
Install application software.
Test the system.
Backup the system.
Install the computer into the office environment.

Activity 2: Detect a virus

You have been called to a computer that has recently shown symptoms of a possible virus infection. However, the anti-virus software does not detect any viruses on the computer. The main screen of the installed anti-virus software is shown below:

Norton AntiVirus software

Q: The items following are problems with the anti-virus software installation as shown above. Which of the following is most likely to have led to an infection occurring?

A: The date of the virus definition file is crucial. It is old and out of date, allowing newer viruses to infect the computer.

Key terms

Booting: comes from the ‘Boot Strap Code’ that referred to a small piece of programming code built into computers that instructed the machine on what to do when turned on; booting now generally refers to the processes automatically attempted when power is provided to a computer

CMOS: Metal Oxide Semi-Conductor, the chip device that retains the computer’s set up configuration when it is turned off

DMA channel: Direct Memory Access channel, a system resource used by some devices that are able to transfer data directly into or out of the system RAM

IDE: Integrated Drive Electronics, the most common, but not the only, way of attaching a hard disk to your system; the default drive interface on most PC systems; other interfaces for drives include SCSI and USB

Surge protector: a device that is designed to protect a device from peaks of over-voltage; normally plugged into a power point and then the device is plugged into it; the surge protector is often damaged in the process of protecting the device from a power surge

Worm: a program that replicates from machine to machine across network connections often clogging networks and information systems as it spreads

Antivirus software: software used to detect and eliminate computer viruses

Boot sector: a sector of a hard disk that contains a loader program for starting an operating system

Backup: a copy of a computer program or file stored separately from the original

Background scanning: automatic scanning of files and documents as they are created, opened, closed, or executed

Data file: a file consisting of data in the form of text, numbers, or graphics, as distinct from a program file containing commands and instructions

Executable (EXE) file: programs or self-extracting files with an.exe filename extension. Clicking on an

ICAS3024A Provide Basic System Administration Training Note

Objective

System administration tasks include setting up user accounts, checking for illegal software and maintaining the IT inventory. Other tasks will include designing and implementing a backup to suit an organisation’s requirements, and restoring data and IT services in the event of having to revert to the backup after some type of ‘disaster’.

In this unit you’ll do seven tasks for the IT Department of Forth Management Associates, to allow you to demonstrate your skill and knowledge in providing basic system administration. To do these tasks you’ll need to be able to:

• Record security access
• Record software licences
• Carry out system back-up
• Restore system back-up
• Apply security access controls

Administer user accounts practice

Activity 1: Document user accounts

Q: What do you need to consider in order identifying what information will need to be supplied for the above user account screens?

A: There are depending on the organisation’s security procedures. Some of the data will be determined by the procedures. For example, an organisation may have decided that users cannot change their own passwords. In this case, the ‘user cannot change password’ box will always be checked.

Assume that an organisation has the following security procedures:

• Username to be surname plus initial


• Initial password to be the username but users must change at next logon


• Users can change their own password


• Passwords to be changed every 30 days.


• In this case, the only information (other than resource access) that the manager will need to supply is the full name of the user and any description that is required.

Activity 2: Manage user passwords

Q: What is the most important issue that you need to consider when developing the procedures for the Network Administrator to deal with forgotten passwords? Suggest some ways of dealing with this issue.

A: The most important issue to be dealt with is for the administrator to verify that the user requesting a replacement password is, indeed, who they say they are. There are several ways that this may be de

• Storing personal details about the user such as date of birth or a PIN that the user must quote
• Channelling such requests through the user’s manager in writing — a good reason to keep hard copy records of the account creation for users
• Monitoring the frequency of such requests. For example, if a hacker requests a change then the real user will not be able to log on. This user will then request a new password. Two requests in a few days could indicate a problem.
• Checking account logon attempts before changing the password. Most systems allow for an account lock-out if more than, say, three unsuccessful attempts were made to log in. These could indicate a hacker attempting access.alt with, including:

Activity 3: Manage users that leave

Q: List some of these IT security procedures you need to consider and follow.

A: Handling the user account is only part of the story. Some of the procedures that I need to consider include:

What is to happen to all the files and documents that the outgoing person created? Prior to computers, the new person would look through the filing cabinets in the office. Today, they need to look through the electronic files and review documents, spreadsheets, databases, etc.
Mail may have been addressed to the former employee and could be forwarded to the new person. Does email need a similar process to be implemented or should the manager get all mail intended for someone who no longer works in the company?
Does the new user account (for the new person) immediately update all telephone lists and other directories that may be on the system?

Provide secure access to network resources practice

Activity 1: Control user access

Q: Your task for this activity is to set up the user access for two users, using these requirements.
We want you to alter the current open access of all times for Caroline Weller who works Monday to Friday 9:00 to 17:00, with the exception of Thursday when she works 8:00 to 13:00. You have been asked to set her logon hours accordingly.
Additionally, Brian Fellowes, in Accounting, uses two workstations that have a Windows 98 platform: accounting1 and accounting2, and you have been asked to set his access rights to those two machines only.

A: These following two screen shots are shown the logon hours for Caroline Weller (Figure 1) and restricted workstation access for Brian Fellowes (Figure 2).



Figure 1: Logon hours for Caroline Weller

Figure 2: Restricted workstation access for Brian Fellowes


Activity 2: Document a file system

Q: Your task is to create a graphical representation of this system. E.g. think along the lines of a flow chart, or process chart.
Physical drive 0 has the operating system.
The inetpub folder contains the default web page and program files, etc.
Physical drive 1 is partitioned as a primary and extended logical drive with data on each partition.

One partition contains data for the Legal Department — for both individual user directories and shared directories for sub sections within the Legal Department.
The other partition is for the Accounting Department with directories developed in a similar manner to Legal’s.

A: It’s often good to document the file system graphically, as well as with written specifications. Here’s an example of how this might look:

Figure 3: File system

Activity 3: Make a security access register entry

Q: Record a security access registry entry to satisfy these details.
The security for the new Legal Department employee, Caroline Weller, was configured on 28/07/04 by David Glass, Network Administrator, with approval from Stanley Holloway, Systems Engineer.

Caroline’s logon name is cweller and her supervisor is Gavin Masters, Senior Counsel at Forth Management Associates.
Caroline can log on to the local domain and has no additional privileges.

A: There are some examples of record a security access registry as follows:
Example entry

User’s name: Ms Caroline Weller
Organisation department: Legal
Login name: Cweller
Group membership: Users, Legal
Immediate supervisor: Gavin Master, Senior Counsel
Domain access: Domain local
Additional access privileges: NIL
Date of current privileges: 28/07/2004
Access configured by: David Glass, Network Administrator
Security access approved by: Stanley Holloway, Systems Engineer

Control the use of unlicensed software practice

Activity 1: Check for illegal software

Q: Describe the features provided by the Microsoft Software Inventory Analyser.

A: There are some of the features that provide by the Microsoft Software Inventory Analyser as illustrated below:

• There is a wizard to help you install the software.
  
• You are able to select which software to scan from a list.
  
• You can set a preference for how to view your scan report.
  
• The scan summary report includes a list of how many installations of each software product have been found.

Figure 4: Installing the Analyser using a wizard

Figure 5: Defining products to scan

Figure 6: Confirming preferences for a report

Figure 7: Scan summary

Key terms

Domain: a group of computers and devices on a network that are administered as a single entity with common rules and organisational procedures; a specialised network environment where not only the users need accounts but the client computers they use to connect to the network must also have a type of account that is authenticated from a central point on the network

Secure clients: workstations that contain functionality to facilitate secure connection to a server as a specific unit; Windows 2000 Professional and Windows XP workstations are secure clients

Security access register: a database or pen and paper journal that contains the details of users who have privileges to access the network; usually maintained by IT network staff

Disaster recovery plan: commonly known as DRP, describes recovery processes to get the business or organisation back in operation as soon as possible in the event of a particular disaster; it usually assumes the worst possible scenario and identifies how the organisation could get up and running in the least possible time.

Disaster recovery plan: also known as DRP or contingency plan, describing the procedures and processes whereby an organisation would restore any loss of data in the event of disaster, such as fire, vandalism, natural disaster, or system failure