Assessment Task 1:
Description:
From information systems and networks to staff emails and communication systems, Information Technology plays a central role in organisations. An effective IT support, thus, becomes critical in sustaining quality and efficiency of business operations. In today's technology driven business environment, a successful technical support must be timely, responsive to business circumstances, and must also instil confidence in IT service capabilities (IT Toolkit).
In this assessment task, you will identify IT services areas and support needs of various business functions from a given case scenario. Read the following company profile;
Profile and Context
ABC Pty Ltd is a Victorian energy reseller, marketing and selling energy products of a large national supplier. The company operates from its headquarters in Melbourne and employs approximately 120 people, including the top management. The company is governed by the Board of Directors and lead by an experienced CEO. The CEO is supported by the National Sales and Marketing Manager and the General Manager, who manage all the existing operations between them. The departmental structure follows conventional structure of departmental manager, assistant manager and relevant staff members.
The main functional business areas/Departments of the company are;
Corporate Relations
Sales and Marketing
Customer Service
Product Development
General Administration
Information Technology
The company is in its growth phase and needs to analyse its current capabilities as part of its business plan.
Task:
Assuming that you work as an IT Support Office at ABC Pty Ltd, complete the following tasks;
- Draw an organisational chart that shows organisational structure
- Show where the IT support will be placed within the organisational structure
- Identify target audience/clients within the organisation for IT support needs
- Identify and list type of IT products/services used by each department
- Identify the type and level of support required by each department
You will need to produce a word-processed report that addresses and organises the above information in a
logical order. You may name the document "IT Support Needs Analysis" or similar for convenience. Summarise
your findings, under the following structure:
- Introduction
- Company Description (from the given brief)
- Problem Definition which includes:
o Business/Department Need
o List of Stakeholders and their roles
o Service Objectives
o Required Support Resources
o Assumed Constraints
o List of Assumptions
- Specific Requirements for each Department including
o Functional Requirements
o Non- Functional Requirements
- Conclusion
Each section should be appropriately organised and structured with supporting information. There is no word limit but it is expected that each part will be articulated in sufficient detail to be able to form am analytical perspective.
Assessment Task 2:
Project: Team: Develop a SLA
Description:
A Service-Level Agreement (SLA) may exist for many different infrastructure services, including communications carriers, ISPs, ASPs and SLAs for vendor products. SLAs should consider business processes and requirements, clearly specify and quantify service levels, identify evaluation or audit of service levels. A SLA may include workload and performance considerations, expectations regarding servicing, penalties, and charge back to business units.
This is a group task, to be completed by a team of up to three (3) learners. A sample SLA will be provided by the trainer as a guide for the structure of the final document. Learners may also conduct their own research and produce their own plan formats which best suit the intended purpose. It is strongly recommended that learners attend all the training sessions and develop knowledge and skills leading to this final summative assessment.
The project should be organised as follows;
- Form a team with a balance of skills and knowledge among team members (ask for trainer assistance if any constraints)
- Each team will play two roles - Client and IT Support: the main team role is "IT Support"
- Each team will interact with two other teams - with one team as "Client" and with the other as "IT Support"
- The trainer will assign the given roles to the teams
- Role: Client: Team to develop a brief company profile (similar to the one provided in Assessment Task 1 but a different one) and arrange a meeting with the "IT Support" team
- Team meeting takes place as planned
- Role: IT Support: Understand the business IT support requirements from the "Client" team and take
notes
- Prepare a Service-Level Agreement
- Present the SLA to the class
Part A: SLA
You will need to produce a word-processed document that addresses and organises the above information in a logical order. Summarise the contents under the following structure:
- Executive Summary
- Company Profile
- Business Requirements Summary
- Key Stakeholders
- Proposed Solutions:
o Detail of each proposed solution and how it meets the Business Requirements
o Advantages and disadvantages of the proposed solution
- SLA Service Description:
o Duration of the contract
o Areas of support
o Methods and Levels of support
o Hours of support
o Definition of Priority Levels
o Response times according to Priority
o Communications methods
o IT Support Personnel: Roles and Responsibilities
- SLA Implementation:
o Warrantees & Exclusions
o Customer Responsibilities
o Method for Service Level Monitoring (including a schedule of review meeting dates for the SLA)
o Process for handling complaints or concerns
o Process for changing the contents of SLA
o IT Resource Requirements
o IT Personnel Requirements
- Conclusion
Assessment Task 3:
Q1. Describe the role of stakeholders in the organisation, and their level of dependence on ICT infrastructure in your own words.
Q2. What is a SLA? Described its significance in IT Support environment
Q3. Describe the role of IT in a typical business environment with at least four example of critical IT equipment required for respective IT operations.
Q4. Describe four key principles of effective client service
Q5. List at least four potential security threats to an organisational network and their consequences.
Q6. List three key network protocols and protocol uses that control access to network elements.
Q7. Describe the following equipment in your own words;
- Internet file transaction security devices for client accounts
- Web server for e-business
Explain why these are vital in supplying business critical services.
Q8. identify and describe the server types to provide the following services in an organisation:
Application
Backup
Email
Firewall
Proxy
Web