Brisbane City University IT Maintenance - Case Study Example

System Maintenance Student’s Name: Presented To: Subject: Date: Contents Contents 2 Executive Summary 3 Introduction 3 Scope and Objectives 4 Overview of Brisbane City University Network System 4 Analysis of Critical Systems 5 Departmental Functions 6 Marketing 6 IT department 6 Library department 7 Information Technology Personnel 7 IT Manager 7 Network Administrator 8 IT Technician 8 System Administrator 9 Help Desk 9 Business Analyst 9 Systems Maintenance Skills for Each Hardware and Software 9 Recommendations 10 Conclusion 11 References 12 Appendix 1 13 Appendix 2 14 Appendix 3 15 Appendix 4 16 Appendix 5 17 Executive Summary Information technology is rapidly liberalizing the way institutions are being governed based on IT platform. In this regard, Brisbane City University (BCU) faces a lot of challenge with respect to systems maintenance. Therefore it gears towards improving efficiency of its IT infrastructure –student’s and staff network system. This report takes a closer look at the current Computer/IT systems infrastructure at this University with the aim of proposing a Information Systems maintenance policy/program. In this respect, this report proposes creation or adoption of standards; standard computer software, standard computer workstation management tools, standard personal computer hardware, network protocol standards, network/server software standards, and network/server hardware standards. Besides, it has as well recommended a major overhaul of personnel within IT department. Introduction System maintenance is in some respect refereed to as computer, IT, and/or network maintenance. In every organization there is need to have a robust and efficient IT department mandated with the responsibilities of maintaining the whole network infrastructure –network cabling and connections- computer-related equipment –hardware, software,. Subsequently, system maintenance may to some extent employs that all the computer/ IT systems are being sufficiently replaced, repaired or moved. Besides, in the context of network maintenance, system maintenance may refer to the upgrading, modification or repair of the server software. Such maintenance processes/ procedures are usually done on regular basis and on need-basis in every organization. In this regard, it is therefore important for BCU to have a systems maintenance policy. Scope and Objectives This report aims at evaluating the current computer equipment/ IT systems at BCU as well as other resources in terms of human capacity i.e. IT personnel. Besides, the report targets at identifying the system maintenance requirements of various critical systems within the BCU departments with respect to current hardware and software systems. Overview of Brisbane City University Network System In the context of the topic for this is business needs report, systems maintenance, a closer look at Brisbane City University (BCU) is done. BCU is a medium sized University geographically situated at the Central Business District in Brisbane city. In terms of human capacity, BCU comprises of at least eight key departments: enrolments, finance, human resources, student and staff library, marketing, student services, buildings, and IT as well as eight schools. The student and staff systems are significantly varied in terms of description. In the first case, the staff network has about 330 personal computers, with each of them having the following configuration; 10 GB hard disk, 300 MHz 128 MB, RAM as well as Windows 98 Operating system and Ms 98 office installed. Subsequently, the file server in this network runs Oracle 7. In the same note, the student’s network has Windows NT which is characterized by a mixture of Pentium-based personal computers, Sun Ultra Sparc and Apple Macs computers. Some of the Personal Computers in this network run Linux Kernel in addition to Windows NT. In addition, the University makes use C++ and Java programming languages to write most of the software used in both the students and staff networks in Macintosh environment as well as Optical Character Recognition (OCR) scanner software and hardware. Notably, the hardware used is three-years old and it not covered under the Sales guarantee contract. The Information Technology department at BCU is mandated with all IT-related tasks, providing ISP services, internet portal and firewalls on the respective network servers. In the same regard, the University applies UNIX boxes in various at the departmental levels and Oracle 8 is as well being used in database management system. Subsequently, the kind of Service Level Agreement employed by the IT department does not encompass the views/perceptions and/or needs of all the end-users in various BCU systems and it needs a major overhaul. In regard to the Information Technology personnel, a professionally heterogeneous human capacity is mandated with various maintenance tasks. In addition, some of the operations critical to daily tasks offered by the Help Desk are technologically challenged and inefficient. However, BCU conforms to industrial standards with respect to Service Level Agreement and network problems that arise daily are solved on prompt. Analysis of Critical Systems The critical business functions are for instance marketing, finance, and Information Technology departments. In terms of software use among various departments can be harnessed by their integration within the Oracle. Database Management Software. Furthermore, the University should outsource for tailored software because is easier to train the users –staff and students- with respect to their maintenance; based on the fact that the software in use was acquired from an outside vendor/software developer. Is a single developer is outsourced and incorporates all the departments in terms of software usage efficiency and cost cutting will be achieved. In addition, there is other specialized software that can be incorporated in departments like finance and they are for instance Sage, Pastel, and/or QuickBooks. The University is therefore supposed to invest in training users in order for them to be able to use the system comfortably. The development of Service Level Agreement that is being used by the University should have accommodated the views of the end-users since they are the ones interacting with the IT systems on daily basis. Each business function within the University requires different and specific computer hardware and software. For instance, the marketing department is different form finance and human resource department and this largely contributed by the fact that there are applications that require machines which have large amount of memory –hard disk space- and the processor speed. Departmental Functions Marketing In terms of hardware and software, the marketing department requires a versatile computer with high speed processor and a large amount of RAM. This is son because the Personal Computers need to be accessed by different people form different locations assuming that the department is accessible online. IT department There is need to have a state of the art systems since most of the programs which are accessed various devices within the network are maintained at this department. In addition, Personal Computers with the latest software and patches are necessary to ensure security and efficiency of the university at large. Library department The library department is critical to this institution as it is the main academic resource center for both the students and staff. Efficient methods for lending and returning any library resource is necessary and the IT infrastructure should integrate both the manual system and online system. For instance, an online-based library portal should be instituted up on which students are capable of accessing academic resources at any place as this will greatly improve their knowledge base and research skills. In this regard, the library requires having a system capable of archiving large amount of data and in highly integrated secure cloud. Consequently, there is need for the University to adopt new technologies such as cloud computing in which case the university interlinks with other libraries, colleges, universities, and government institutions. On the other hand, the library management system should be efficient and reliable for a long period of time. The library management system is supposed to be efficient and reliable for easier accessibility by users –bot the staff and the students. Besides, it should be able to provide catalogue for all reading materials that are both online maintained and physically stored in the library. The students’ database should in addition be incorporated in the library system to enhance easier usage of the system. Information Technology Personnel IT Manager In the current, the IT manager sat the University is a professionally-trained electrical engineer and thus lacks the basic understanding of the IT field. Such a portfolio requires someone trained in a computer-based course so that he/she is properly acquainted with everything under that docket. In another case, the IT manager spends meager amount of money in IT-related investments and the assumption here is that the department is under-equipped in terms of current technology advancements. It is proper for such department to even outsource for some services and recruit highly-skilled individuals besides remunerating them well. All this requires a lot of finance and with such as IT manager, necessary technology is compromised. Subsequently, the IT manager is supposed to lead by example in spending more time at his/her workplace. This will facilitate him/her to assess whether IT policies and procedures are implemented sufficiently. Network Administrator The network administration services are being headed by a former medical student drop-out although the case is justified by the fact that he has vast knowledge in networking. One of the major faults in regard to this is that the network administrator spends less time at his workplace, 4 days a week. Such a position requires an all-time and all-rounder person who is capable of withstanding the highest degree of stress and pressure. An institution such as BCU is academic based and this means that most of the services are online as well as being accessed all the time. Subsequently, the network administrator should does not have other necessary professional qualifications for instance form Microsoft and Cisco on the networking discipline. IT Technician The current IT technician lacks the necessary education and training in Information Technology. In this regard, his ability to various kinds of networking problems remains in doubt. Reason being although he has learnt and gained his experience on-job, new technical hitches if they arise will challenge hi to the maximum. Besides, for such an institution, IT technicians should be several so that there is avoidance of work pile-up. In this respect, the IT technicians are supposed to institute a data warehouse so that they improve the back-up system of the university’s information/data. System Administrator The system administrator has the necessary qualifications and professional capacity to work at this portfolio but it seems she does not devote much attention to this job. A person in such a position is supposed to work full-time as opposed to the current two days in a week. This will enable providing solution to problems t the earliest time possible. Help Desk The help desk is manned by an incompetent in that she was a casual worker and does not the necessary professional qualifications to be in such a job position. Besides, this is contrasted by her interests in that she is more interested in car engines and automobiles. In this regard there is lack of commensurate between what the individual does and her interests and one can only conclude that certain tasks are left incomplete. Business Analyst At the current, he is the only individual in the right position with the right qualifications at the IT department. However, he faces a big challenge by having an large incompetent workforce to cooperate with. Systems Maintenance Skills for Each Hardware and Software The information Technology department requires individuals whoa re highly qualified. In this regard, there necessary human capacity should be brought on board. This is by recruiting skilled IT technicians and deploying them at various departments. Besides, such individual are supposed to be facilitated with the necessary resources at the workshop facility. The current workshop facility lacks the capacity in terms of management and resources to facilitate real-time solution to technical problems. For instance, instead of having replacement computer components ordered form the suppliers, they are supposed to be readily available at the workshop and at any time, a technician should be deployed at the workshop. All the systems maintenance tasks should be categorized to necessitate quick diagnosis of technical problems and this is in regard to printers, scanners, network system, and hard disks among others. Besides, there is need to have a workforce that has relevant certifications such as MCSE and CCNA. Such qualifications will come in handy in improving efficiency and acquainting the staff with the ever-changing IT technologies. Consequently, there is need to have in place installation of specialized software at various departments to improve services offered by the University. For instance, the Finance and Human resource departments may make use of up to date software such as the Accounting Information System software and Human Resource Information Systems among others. This will come in handy at improving services offered by the university. On the other hand, the Universality will benefit form services offered by vendors as well as guarantees. Subsequently, hardware skills would in addition be enhanced if the staffs are trained in such courses as A+ so that they are capable of handling hardware upgrades on their own. Besides, there are a couple of courses which can improve the staff skills on the use of Oracle 8. Recommendations BCU University is supposed to come up with an information Technology maintenance program/policy. In this case, under such policy the purpose for which it was instituted should be clearly defined and it should as well describe the scope to which it is applied within the organization. This policy should be freely available at all the departments/sections and its implementation should be overseen by the relevant departmental heads. Reason being maintenance standards are key elements of information technology hardware, software, and network maintenance as well as implementation. Besides, it is important for the management of BCU to understand that internally developed standards would benefit the university itself as they will define scopes as well as enable optimum allocation of IT resources and IT support staff. In this regard, the standards should cover on the following (Examples of items to be included in these standards are covered in the appendices): standard computer software, standard computer workstation management tools, standard personal computer hardware, network protocol standards, network/server software standards, and network/server hardware standards (University Of Texas n.d). Consequently, the system maintenance program should in addition categorize the various kinds of maintenance at the University into three; preventive, scheduled, and corrective maintenance. Besides, each category should have clearly defined objectives which should be reviewed von need basis. Consequently, the systems maintenance policy can be subdivided further according to the BCU’s IT systems: policy on computer systems; policy on networking devices and computer peripherals; and policy on software applications. Conclusion Considering the current situation at BCU, it is imperative for the management tat the university to make the necessary steps in instituting an IT policy which would clearly define the kinds of procedures and protocols to be followed at the departmental level. Such standard would come in handy at improving the services offered by the IT department. References University Of Texas n.d., ‘Information systems technology standards maintenance policy’, viewed December 15 2010 . Appendix 1 Appendix 2 Appendix 3 Appendix 4 Appendix 5 Read More