A1 Purpose and nature of IT system support and management

The main purpose of IT system support and management is to:

Support different types of user using the system, including end users who can be classified as beginners, intermediate or expert, and administrators who have access rights that include the support staff.

Consider your school or college, you have teachers, managers, support staff, canteen staff and maintenance staff. These individuals are all important members to the running of the institution, however, their data needs are not identical. Therefore systems need to be structured in a way that limits the abilities of those members of staff to the data that is only sufficient enough for them to be able to do their jobs. Due to the nature of these roles some staff may be more IT literate than others and this could mean that training may be required for those that do not regularly use it systems to do their roles.

Provide continuity of IT-based:

– systems, e.g. servers and virtual personal computers, cloud storage, mobile devices, laptops, bring your own device (BYOD) and network systems

It is the role of the IT support systems to ensure that the day to day IT services functions as smoothly and efficiently as is possible, this requires them to monitor the "core services" of the infrastructure to maintain their operational stability.

– processes, e.g. financial management, email communications and stock control

Additional to the support of the network and core services, "processes" and "digital data" will need to be supported to ensure its validity and consistency is accurate. IT support can monitor the data flows around a system to address and anomalies or intrusions. 

Maintain and improve the performance of organisations through system diagnosis, preventative maintenance and system upgrade and configuration

Companies reliance on IT has grown significantly over the years of digitisation and automation. As a result, the support role within the sector is one of utmost importance and as an emphasis on the continuity of the system is vital therefore having measures of preventative maintenance, upgrading and configuration. Companies need to be using systems that they can trust that are secure and will not fail. Using updates will ensure that things like security gaps are closed and that software and hardware operate to the best possible degree. The use of diagnostic tools to review the current position of things like network speeds, traffic going in and out of the network, speeds of processors and the number of threads and cores that are able to be used and memory testing.

Ensure security and protection of data in the system, including storage and backup and recovery in the event of system failure.

The volumes of data that organisations can create can be colossal and the importance of the security of the data has high levels of significance not only financially but legally. Companies that create data and information during their day to day functioning need to consider the value of the data, as if it were to be lost the company could be fined under the GDPR legislation. Companies are expected to keep all data safe and secure and for only as long as it needed, loss of this data could be an infringement of the legislation, furthermore the back up of this data would also be a key factor that must be met. 

To avoid any potential legal mishap or impact on the functioning of the company IT support need to ensure that there is a process in place for backup routines to be followed. With the advent of cloud storage companies can locate backups of their data remotely from the organisation, this enables them to have a further level of security in place for any sort of physical infiltration.

Understand that the support and management needs of organisations varies across the system’s life cycle:

Design, build and test, e.g. install software, configure systems, training and setting up users

Operate, e.g. password resets, fault logging and management, managing data storage

Decommission, e.g. archive and migrate system data, recycle hardware.

• Understand that:

Support resources include: human, number and type of software licences, number and type of hardware devices, capacity requirements, e.g. size of hard disk drive (HDD) and network

Demand increases due to organisational change, e.g. changes to processes and systems

User need for support can be frequent or infrequent depending on their usage of the systems, expertise and access rights

Support provided is a compromise between cost, the resource availability, productivity of users and the environmental impact, e.g. energy consumption and reuse/recycling of hardware

Organisational needs can vary by sector, e.g. office, process and engineering industries and entertainment, IT and media sectors.

Listening: Listen and respond to speakers ideas and perspectives, and how they construct and express meanings
Sentences with different forms: statement, question, exclamation, command

Sentence Structure: Use a range of sentence structures for clarity, purpose and effect, with accurate punctuation and spelling.

Question and Answer - Verbal discussion with learners to quantify understanding

Traffic Lights - Learners use green, amber and red traffic lights to indicate levels of understanding and to attract support from peers and the teacher.

Learning aim A: Examine the IT system support and management needs and characteristics of different organisations, which are essential to their operation

Collect and record data: Questionnaires, Observation, Tally

Analysis of information: Interpreting Results, Drawing conclusions from data, Comparing data

A2 Safe working practices in IT support and management

• Safe working practices for the use and care of IT equipment in organisations as covered under the current regulations or other relevant international equivalents, including:

o display screen equipment (DSE), e.g. the adjustment of screen height and angle, Health and Safety (Display Screen Equipment) Regulations 1992 (as amended 2002), including:

– disorders that can arise from negligence

– precautions to be taken to ensure effective practice

o Manual Handling Operations Regulations 1992 (as amended 2002), including:

– lifting, carrying and lowering, pushing and pulling

– repetitive tasks, stretching, bending, awkward postures

o portable appliance testing (PAT)

The importance of PAT testing is one of significance within any organisation, this is not limited to just IT equipment, it is essentially anything with a plug or connected to the mains power supply.

The role of a PAT tester is to check the safety of the devices, leads and cables within a set defined tolerance. PAT testers use equipment that carries out testing on the following elements, Load, Leakage and Earthing. This information is then recorded and logged with unique identifiers to the equipment along with the next test date.

– the Provision and Use of Work Equipment Regulations 1998 – Electricity at Work Regulations 1989

– standards and codes of practice

o effects on the organisation should safe working practices not be followed, e.g. legal action, employee turnover and absence.

• IT support related health and safety hazards, including:

o electrocution and electrostatic discharge (ESD), e.g. from an unprotected power supply

o fire, e.g. from faulty wiring

o ergonomics of workstations that could result in injury or reduced productivity.

• Hazard mitigation methods, including ESD wrist strap, ESD mat, firefighting equipment and training, first-aid training.

Organisations can mitigate risks to their hardware and linked software by using measures to limit or reduce issues. When IT technicians are using hardware it is recommended that they use/wear an ESD strap or use an ESD mat, this will draw any electromagnetic charge that has been built up away from any electrically sensitive materials like CPU's Memory and motherboards.

When dealing with potential fire hazards and issues companies must make specific extinguishers available to employees and visitors in the event of an outbreak of fire. 

Below is an illustration taken from "https://cpdonline.co.uk/" that shows the different types of extinguishers that may be used in different settings.

Other areas that IT support may need to have knowledge of is first aid.  First aid courses can be taken by employees to provide basic and advance first aid to those that need it. These individuals will learn the correct support over  either a 1 day or 3 day course.

Learning Capture - Teachers allocate time at the end of the session for the group to write down what they think they have learned. The information shared helps the teacher to see which content he may need to revisit and so shapes future planning.

Question and Answer - Verbal discussion with learners to quantify understanding

Product Evidence - Learners to create product evidence to demonstrate understanding

A2 Safe working practices in IT support and management

A3 Job roles in IT technical support and management

Typical job roles in the IT technical support function, including:

• 1st line support who collect the customer’s information and determine the customer’s issue by analysing the symptoms

• 2nd line support who prioritise support activities and take on more technical problem-solving activities

• 3rd line support who understand the strategic priorities, routinely manage the most complex activities and determine underlying problems

• infrastructure architects who design enterprise IT solutions

The primary responsibility of the IT Architect is to design and implement complex computer systems and offer infrastructure services. The professional will address any issues related to ICT security and performance. They have to take charge of the software and hardware installations, specification, testing and service transition. The professional will have to identify the potential technology innovations and engage with businesses. The architect needs to guide in the execution of Incident, Change, Release, Problem, Performance, and Availability Management. The article is taken from "https://www.fieldengineer.com/"

• network administrators who often work as part of 2nd and 3rd line support.

An IT network administrator focuses on maintaining an organization’s data management network. The IT network extends to the corporate LAN, WAN, intranet, and the Internet. Users rely on this web of networking technology to communicate and share, store, and process information. The IT network administrators are responsible for maintaining a reliable, secure, and efficient data communications network. The article is taken from "https://www.webopedia.com/"

Anonymous Assessment - Learners assess an anonymous piece of work containing deliberate mistakes against given success criteria.

A3 Job roles in IT technical support and management

Analysis of information: Interpreting Results, Drawing conclusions from data, Comparing data

Using Numbers: Counting, Place value, adding and subtracting, multiplying and dividing.

Using numbers: Written or mental methods, using a calculator, rounding and estimating, problem solving

A4 System and network support and management tools

Understand the function of the tools that a system administrator and/or manager can use to support the day-to-day running of the system, including:

• network performance monitoring and management tools, e.g. bandwidth and application monitoring and network scanners

Network monitoring tools let you “see” exactly what is going on on your network. With them, you’ll be able to measure, analyse who and what is consuming bandwidth and drill down deep into network “conversations” to verify that everything is operating normally. Monitor Network Traffic. These tools will help IT support departments to track and monitor assets and equipment remotely and to ensure that they are functioning to the levels expected. These tools will also enable preventative maintenance and downtime for example alert levels on printers notifying administrators that new ink toners needing to be installed soon, this will allow the IT support team to order them in ready for replacements. Another example could be the system alerts for low disk space and for "clean up" protocols to be triggered to empty trash cans on client PC's

• provision of user desktop computing by various means, including server virtualisation with thin client computing and web-based applications

IT systems can be implemented to limit and reduce the need to have multiple pieces of hardware that carry high costs. Companies historically used individual servers to run specific roles within an institution. These servers would deal with users account, websites, printers, telephony, CCTV and more. However, with the advent of virtualisation companies are able to use less hardware by creating virtual servers. This allows companies to share hardware resources, i.e. a computer and share some of the CPU cores, Memory and Hard Disk Drive space to simulate another physical machine. 

Due to the use of virtualisation companies are able to create rapid back-ups of the server as it is created in software and if needed create a duplicate version and test new updates on an instance of it to check it works before rolling it out to a live server.

Virtualisation can allow for what is known as "thin clients" where users log in to a very simple device that has little CPU power and memory and use this as a portal to a virtual desktop that has the capability of a high-end PC with lots of memory and CPU speed, this would then allow the company to have reduced costs of running equipment as they are able to only use what they need and share its power when it's needed.

• tools used to create and remotely deploy desktop disk images

The use of remote deployment within organisations is widely used, the capability of sending a piece of software to be installed on to a specific machine from another location is one that all IT technicians love. Historically the installation of software on machines required the use of physical installations media such as CD's DVD's, USB  and floppy disks, these would be required to be inserted into the drives and a series of physical mouse button clicks needed to start and configure the installations.

Nowadays this process can be done remotely by sending the preconfigured software over the physical network and having the machine install the software at a specific time and date.

Examples of this sort of software deployment would be Norton Ghost, Windows server 2019 

• asset management, including software licences

• remote desktop access and control and administration, including performing updates.

Remote desktop control provides IT support live and instant access to user desktops. The tool can be used to troubleshoot issues that users may be experiencing and or to update settings to machines remotely. Widely used remote desktoping is an effective support tool for IT technicians, giving them the ability to work from outside the physical location of the users and potential clients.

More Than Just a Minute - Learners assess themselves against key learning points indicating a level of understanding to inform teacher planning.

Product Evidence - Learners to create product evidence to demonstrate understanding

A4 System and network support and management tools

Collect and record data: Questionnaires, Observation, Tally

Organising and Representing data: Drawing tables, charts and graphs

Statistic extracting information: Tables, Diagrams, Charts and Graphs

B1 Management of user support requests

• Understand that:

o an issue prevents the intended use or operation of an IT system, or infringes the rule of law or an organisation’s policies, e.g. forgotten login details, privacy and copyright, insufficient user training

o a fault is a defect in either hardware or software that prevents the intended use or operation of an IT system.

• IT support and management processes:

o issue and fault management, including raising a support ticket, assigning a severity and priority to the request, classifying the request, allocating the request to a support technician, escalation of unresolved requests and communicating the status of requests to users

o service-level agreements (SLAs) covering request solution and performance monitoring of the IT support function, e.g. ticket volumes, response times, closure rates

o communicating with user, including listening skills, tone of voice, communicating factual information, e.g. estimated time for repair and estimated cost

o customer satisfaction and analysis of support request data to identify issues, including training needs, problem software and hardware, scheduling of resources (e.g. time of day/week when most problems occur), staffing issues.

• IT support and management systems:

o reporting systems, including telephone helpdesk and web-based reporting tools

o recording information about the issue/fault, including date, name of person, location of issue/fault, type of device, location of device, error code, parts used, description, symptom(s)

o solution knowledge base and its use to support technicians, e.g. automatic error messages, helpdesk records, questioning the user, technical manuals

o actions taken, including issue/fault history, record of work carried out.

Anonymous Assessment - Learners assess an anonymous piece of work containing deliberate mistakes against given success criteria.

B1 Management of user support requests

Analysis of information: Interpreting Results, Drawing conclusions from data, Comparing data

Using Numbers: Counting, Place value, adding and subtracting, multiplying and dividing.

B2 Routine support activities

Routine support activities for an IT system, including:

• helpdesk and technical support – issue and fault logging and management, communicating with users, routine support and repair tasks, workaround solutions.

• analysis of system data to identify problem areas and trends and to improve performance, e.g. amount of downtime, application monitoring, system monitoring software

• account management – user account creation, password resets, setting and adjusting access rights, storage area limits.

Anonymous Assessment - Learners assess an anonymous piece of work containing deliberate mistakes against given success criteria.

B2 Routine support activities

Analysis of information: Interpreting Results, Drawing conclusions from data, Comparing data

Using Numbers: Counting, Place value, adding and subtracting, multiplying and dividing.

B3 System management and implementation activities

IT system management and implementation activities, including:

• system installation, upgrades and adjusting system settings, including:

o individual device configuration, e.g. mobile devices, laptops, firewall

o storage management, including backup and restore

o upgrades, e.g. random-access memory (RAM), hard drive and additional hardware cards

o peripheral installation and/or configuration, e.g. printers, scanners or extra monitors.

• Software management, including patches or new application roll-out, upgrades, e.g. office applications and security, software removal.

• Disk configuration, including creating network shared drives, creating disk images, setting permissions on folders.

Anonymous Assessment - Learners assess an anonymous piece of work containing deliberate mistakes against given success criteria.

B3 System management and implementation activities

Collect and record data: Questionnaires, Observation, Tally

B4 Performance of IT systems

• Security optimisation, e.g. firewalls and access control rules, latest patches and known vulnerabilities, device hardening as required, management of system permissions.

• Traffic optimisation, e.g. checking performance, under load, throughput and speed, identifying bottlenecks and how these might be resolved.

• Improving system performance:

o techniques, e.g. basic input/output system (BIOS) settings, firmware updates (‘flashing’), operating systems (OS) settings, memory management, disk optimisation, antivirus, anti-spyware, hardware and software upgrades

o upgrades, including: – hardware processor, e.g. memory, video card, motherboard, router – software, e.g. installing patches, installation and un-installation procedures, system rollback.

• Automated system monitoring, e.g. servers, disk space and network availability and monitoring of a system during support activities to ensure it works as intended.

B5 Personal behaviours

• Time management, including planning, setting relevant targets, how and when feedback from others will be gathered.

• Reviewing and responding to outcomes, including the use of feedback from others.

• Behaviours and their impact on outcomes, to include professionalism, etiquette, communication, supportive of others, appropriate leadership, and responsibility.

Anonymous Assessment - Learners assess an anonymous piece of work containing deliberate mistakes against given success criteria.

B4 Performance of IT systems

B5 Personal behaviours

Collect and record data: Questionnaires, Observation, Tally

Time: Reading clocks and calendars, using timetables, organising appointments, conversions, dates

Analysis of information: Interpreting Results, Drawing conclusions from data, Comparing data

C1 IT system diagrams

• Understand and interpret computer system documents in written and graphical form, to include route maps, upgrade paths, schedules, Gantt charts, reports of network performance monitoring and maintenance checklists.

C2 Incident response and disaster recovery planning Organisation continuity planning in accordance with the current ISO/IEC 27031 or other relevant international equivalents:

• management of incidents, including identification, classification, and priority of incidents, minimising business impact and workaround solutions

• identifying areas for IT readiness and critical systems

• measure continuity, security and readiness for a potential disaster, including recovery time objective (RTO) and recovery point objective (RPO)

• backup planning

• site mirroring and when this is best implemented

• disaster recovery procedures and planning for unplanned downtimes, including possible workaround solutions.

C3 Capacity planning

• Capacity of systems based on the type, location and number of concurrent users and overtime and the nature of the work being done.

• Optimisation of networked systems and assets to provide value for money for an organisation.

• Capacity planning to cover the current and future needs of an organisation, based on three-, five- and ten-year intervals.

• Capacity considerations, to include system requirements, scalability, availability and suitability of cloud-based solutions and customer experience.

• Monitoring of the system, e.g. disk, memory and central processing unit (CPU) capacity and performance over the system life cycle and to identify potential bottlenecks, e.g. peaks, spikes and troughs.

Anonymous Assessment - Learners assess an anonymous piece of work containing deliberate mistakes against given success criteria.

Learning aim C: Develop a plan to support and manage a new IT system using industry standards and methods

C1 IT system diagrams

C2 Incident response and disaster recovery planning

C3 Capacity planning

Length, weight, capacity, temperature: Measuring, using scales, ruler, tape measure, thermometer Recording and comparing results, converting, Choosing appropriate units and measuring instruments, estimating.

Analysis of information: Interpreting Results, Drawing conclusions from data, Comparing data

Statistic extracting information: Tables, Diagrams, Charts and Graphs

Using Numbers: Counting, Place value, adding and subtracting, multiplying and dividing.

C4 Sustainability and environmental waste planning

• Sustainability considerations, including external service providers/cloud, consideration of finite resources, reduction of waste with recycling, repair of hardware and software instead of replacing, sourcing of products that reduce carbon, remote working.

• Environmental management, including:

o on-site IT system effects, e.g. ground water, air quality, noise pollution

o recycling, to include current and relevant parts of Waste Electric and Electronic Equipment (WEEE) Regulations 2013 or other international equivalents.

C5 An IT technical support and management plan

• Understand that all IT support and management plans should have a purpose, a defined scope of the IT systems covered, client’s requirements and constraints.

• An IT support and management plan should cover as a minimum: disaster recovery, incident response, capacity management, and sustainability and environmental management. Other parts of a support and management plan could include:

o security planning, e.g. apply and monitor procedures for security, including access controls, malware protection, data protection, internet and email protection, encryption, audit trails

o ergonomics, e.g. workstation layout, positioning of equipment, health and safety issues, including repetitive strain injury (RSI), eye strain, electrical equipment safety, trailing cables, PAT

o floor plans to show the positioning of office furniture, e.g. desks, cabinets and positioning of IT equipment, e.g. workstations, cabling, servers, printers, lighting, air conditioning

o outsourcing of IT services, e.g. cloud storage, including SLAs

o other procedures and policies, e.g. fault and issue reporting and escalation process, user support documentation and acceptable usage and safe use policies, e.g. internet.

Anonymous Assessment - Learners assess an anonymous piece of work containing deliberate mistakes against given success criteria.

Collect and record data: Questionnaires, Observation, Tally

Using Numbers: Counting, Place value, adding and subtracting, multiplying and dividing.