Brisbane City University System - Case Study Example

Brisbane City university system assessment Introduction Brisbane University employs over 600 staff and has approximately 2050 full time students. Recently the institutions business viability has been challenged as a result of increased competition from other similar colleges coupled with decreased government funding and increased student enrollments which led the institution into recording a deficit of around $500,000 in its books. The school has various departments which are; enrolments, finance, human resources, marketing, student and staff library, IT and some additional eight schools. The institution has two computer networks that serve the staff and students. The staff network supports around 300 personal computers that come with the following specifications; 300 MHz, 128 MB of ram and 10 G.B of hard disk space. This computer network has been cited to be increasingly difficult to maintain as a result of poor architecture which leads system into frequent failures. IT support and maintenance analysis With the ever increasing business competition coupled with globalization, academic institutions have to become creative and device innovative approaches towards learning, these include electronic and distance learning and these same institutions have to move swiftly in order to protect their market share while tapping on new virgin markets, this requires careful planning, expediency in operations, and elimination of red tape. A key area that could grossly assist in the above scenario would be deployment of modern ICT infrastructure, because with modern technology, it is easier to cut on back office operations costs and time by a significant proportion while increasing the institutions focus towards other key areas. This can be necessitated by automating key business processes such as fee payments and balance request, academic transcript request and issuance, supplier invoice submission and payment request, exam registration, new courses registration among others. However, in order to achieve such efficiency from business processes, the underlying information systems infrastructure has to be robust, scalable and reliable. This is so because business technological support is designed in such a unique way to provide rapid, quality and reliable systems therapy that are customized in meeting the needs of the institution. Therefore it is imperative that world class institutions like Brisbane University maintain IT support agreements in a much enhanced way that can provide expedient backup support anytime there is a failure on the computer network. These institutions are responsible in securing all their crucial business information while offering their own protection in the eventuality of disasters striking. This calls for an agreement between the institution and service providers to maintain an inventory of their systems while also holding a record of computer upgrades, network installations & security, system errors and computer monitoring. With an outstanding technical support, the organization can concentrate on its core businesses while resting assured that its back office procedures dependent on technology continues to function as required. This will provide the institutions management some room to focus on new initiatives and learning strategies that would enhance the institutions service delivery among its key clients whom are the students. With an efficient service delivery, the institution is very likely to provide morale to the board of governors, the faculty, non-teaching, staff, partners, students at large and the community in general that would lead into new set of thinking required in an academic environment. Business Needs The institutions department’s uses unique forms and standards for reporting technical issues to the existing help desk system. Even though information collected by the various departments is more or less similar in nature, data standards, values, definitions for each problem always differ and this has resulted in information inaccuracies that hamper information reporting and data analysis. The organization has to keep a record of its current, former and prospective students as the later form a very good marketing ground because they had initially expressed interest in joining the institution. The current student’s details have to be maintained and these include; fee balances, courses completed, courses remaining, grades, scholarships awarded. There should also be a record of the faculty and this includes both the teaching and non-teaching staff, it extends and includes other details that pertains to their employment details such as contract or pensionable, their remuneration and their professional activity within the institution. The institution also has to avail world class research facilities to the faculty and students in order to remain competitive among its peers, these include provision of automated library facilities, and e-learning initiatives such as CD-ROMs, electronic books, online data bases and this can only be made possible by an elaborate information systems architecture in conjunction with the information superhighway. Other information is related to the organizations partners who could include their organizational profiles, areas of partnership, partnership history. There is a record about supplier’s information, the institutions assets and liabilities among others. These needs require extended investment in the areas of ICT with modern information systems that is backed up by qualified internal workforce that will assist in the systems administration, maintenance & repairs and recommendations for purchase. Some of the key people that are required for the successful operations of the technological systems at Brisbane City University may involve; IT manager, network administrator, database administrator, information security administrator, systems analyst, hardware & software technicians among others. These people will ensure that the business processes are consistently operating at their peak and some of the areas that have been cited to require urgent business attention in the scenario of Brisbane University are: Printers: These require constant reloading of papers into the tray and changing of toners and cartridges, clearing paper jams, and replacing the worn out parts. Computer network: It should be properly designed, installed and configured in such a way that it enables the integrating of new components while at the same time making it easier to troubleshoot. Personal computers: The operating systems in them should be installed and configured accordingly on the network, antivirus have to be installed and constantly updated for new virus definition engines. With these business demands there should also be qualified personnel that will assist the institution tackle any emerging technical issue and some of the required personnel together with their requisite skills and roles to be played in such a scenario are: IT manager: He is overall in charge and should have deeper knowledge and working of information systems. He decides and oversees key implementation of systems and is also responsible for the overall enterprise architecture and technological roadmap. The incumbent should have at least a master’s degree in computer science, IT or telecommunications engineering and some vendor related qualifications such as Cisco, MCSE oracle e.t.c Network Manager: He works in collaboration with the IT manager. He designs, implements and maintains the organization network hereby he may also delegate duties to his subordinates such as assistant network administrator who works at lower levels such as the departments. He/she should have a university degree in computer science, IT or telecommunications engineering, with vendor related qualifications such as CCNA, CCNP, and MCSE among others. Information security office: He is in charge of the institutions information security so that the institutions information is adequately protected against any misuse. A college IT diploma would do and any additional training on systems security. Hardware and software technician: They will ensure that hardware components and softwares deployed are functioning up to the required standards on a daily basis. A college diploma is fine and vendor certifications such as A+ and N+ would be an added advantage. Maintenance strategy and requirements The institution has to define maintenance strategies that ensure both the computers systems and networks perform optimally at all the times. In our instance we are going to deploy the proactive preventive maintenance strategy which ensures that procedures for calendar based scheduled maintenance inspections are established which will offer protection against downtime risk while avoiding the problem of forgotten or postponed inspection and maintenance. With such a strategy, some of the results that can be expected include: Potential issues are identified and immediate actions taken to prevent any future failing of systems. A technical malfunction issue is identified and an appropriate repair is scheduled immediately and such visits should be documented so that both the technical service provider and the institution compare the current incidence with past preventive maintenances and therefore perform a trend analysis. In case there hasn’t been any issue identified during the preventive maintenance, and then there shouldn’t be any downtime occurring until the next preventive maintenance visit. A malfunctioning will be identified with its attempted repair resulting into unanticipated downtime during the maintenance window. In order to optimize an efficient preventive maintenance strategy, the institutions internal organizational structure should also be aligned in such a way that it prevents a robust implementation and holistic, integrated preventive maintenance strategies. This is so because in Brisbane University their technology department and other key people such as financial directors and vice chancellors are not harmonized to work closely together because IT department within the institution has relegated itself into supporting technological systems while such key people has been relied to oversee the installation and maintenance of physical infrastructure. Since these systems are today closely coupled, an alternative organizational approach that integrates key members from both teams should be put into consideration. During the maintenance visits, the technicians should identify aging internal components and while determining how much these component influences the overall reliability of the system, they technicians should also identify the systems environment such as circuit breakers, installation practices, cabling techniques, mechanical connections and load types whereby they should alert the institution of any sign of potential wear. Other areas that ought to be given considerable attention are error in handling the equipments, abnormal temperatures, higher acidity levels, corrosion and power fluctuations (Thierry Bayle, 2007). In preventive maintenance visits, the technicians should also be in a position of evaluating the environmental factors whereby the visits will depend upon criticality level of the system and should also result in a formulation of an action plan. Internal Environment External Environment Hands on Batteries Capacitors Insulations Ventilation Connectors Circuit board appearance Sub assemblies appearance Cable harness Non-Invasive General appearance Systems internal temperature readings Predictive failure reports Thermal scanning readouts Overall hygienic levels Corrosion Acidity levels Disruptions frequency Dripping water Dust Obstruction of ventilation Access hindrance Nearby construction Radio usage Penetrations on roof Noise quality arising from the system usage Connections of equipment to earth cables Statements of work (SOW). The process of preventive maintenance should be elaborately defined to the maintenance service providers and the institution and it should clearly define the scope of the maintenance activities. Some of the elements that should be included in the SOW include: Dispatch provisions: There should be proper protocols in order to ensure that there is easy access to the systems and the institutions operational constraints should be well accounted for so that the systems are tuned to achieve optimal performance. Parts replacement provision: Within the SOW documentation, there should be provisions in place regarding the parts that needs to be preventatively replaced or upgraded and the issue of stock availability, certified parts, removal and disposal of worn out and old parts will have to be addressed within the SOW documentation. Documentation: SOW should specify a maintenance output report documenting all the actions taken during the maintenance visits and it should be consistently reviewed by both the vendor providing support and the institution. Service Level Agreements (SLA). All the technological services will be supported through the IT department’s help desk unit which is committed into delivering quality customer service and technical solutions in support of campus wide technology. The SLA document is going to represent agreement between the IT department and Brisbane employees and students who use the technological resources managed by the IT department and the SLA documentation is subjected to modifications from time to time in response to changes in technology support and needs (N.J.C.U, 2008). Customer services statement The particular IT help desk unit will ensure there is quality customer service by: Ensuring the customers are fully satisfied Responding to support request within the agreed time frame Requesting feedback Improving the quality of service while reviewing and monitoring performance indicators. HELP DESK SERVICES Help desk services will offer technological support to the entire university in areas such as Desktops hardware & software support Internet access and e-mail account set up Hardware/software inventory list and installation services Database management Network infrastructure management Printers/photocopiers setup and maintenance Technological consultation, replacement and installations Software development services Telephony, PA, Closed Circuit TVs and alarming systems Hours of operation The help desk will only be available during the following hours of operation: Monday -Friday 0700Hrs-1800Hrs Weekends and Public Holidays 0830Hrs-1230Hrs This operation hours may later on change and any modifications will be announced through the campus wide memo and incase there are technical issues arising outside the normal operation hours, and then an automated voicemail will be on standby. Seeking assistance The help desk service can be accessed via the chatting system available on our home page (Brisbaneuniverty.edu) Via Telephony: Just call 456 Voice mail: Leave a message on 456 Email: You may send a detailed description of the service being requested to helpdesk@Brisbaneunit.edu Priority Levels for request Priority Definition Response time Completion time V. High It is very extensive and affects the entire campus or sensitive offices Within an hour Within 2 hours High Lesser extensive and affects only individuals Within 2 hours Within 4 hours Medium An ordinary service request with a work around solution Within 24 hours Within 48 hours Low Does not require immediate attention Within 48 hours Within 96 hours Technological Standards There will be standardized hardware and software that will be deployed across the campus and there will be a list of approved technology and vendors whereby the list will be under custody of the IT department. These standards call for: All softwares installed should be licensed In purchasing any technological products, all the standards should only be selected from the pre approved list. The help desk should offer consultation services on all technological purchases. Inventory maintenance The technological help desk will be responsible in maintaining the technology inventory. Remote system access Wherever there are technical issues in client’s computers that needs to be expediently resolved, from time to time the help desk may request to use remote access tools which will assist the support technicians to access the callers desktop remotely for the main purpose of having an expedient solution (N.J.C.U, 2008). Client’s responsibilities In order to experience a smooth support process, the campus wide community should ensure that: They always provide detailed information pertaining to their service request They should always avail themselves for communication with the support analyst whenever required and this may be done by phone, fax, email or physical appearances. They should cooperate with maintenance technicians for remote computer access whenever required. They should try and leave systems on when required to do so during critical maintenance periods. They should also be a little bit patient because the IT department from time to time experiences huge volumes of calls which also have to be prioritized. Feedback The Technological help desk from time to time will seek feedback on its previous services by conducting periodic online surveys or phone calls and the campus wide community is required to fully cooperate in this particular issue in order to ensure that only classic services are being provided. Fig 1.0 sample SLA process in a typical organization. Change Management The institution through its IT department will identify critical areas that require an urgent change. This will then be reviewed, presented to the stakeholders for approval and then either be approved or rejected. After approval, in collaboration with the IT department, technological vendors will be notified to submit their bids according to the company’s policies and standards. Bidders will be selected and winning bid will be notified immediately to start the supply of new products to the institution (IHS, 2010) During this process the staff will also be involved and adequately informed on any new developments taking place. Version No Implemented by Revision date Approved by Approval date Description of change 12 IT manager (Dickson Brown) 12/12/2010 Finance manager(Keegan Annan) 12/12/2010 Supply of new desktop computers 13 IT manager (Dickson Brown) 12/12/2010 Finance manager(Keegan Annan) 12/12/2010 Supply of Computer servers 14 IT manager (Dickson Brown) 12/12/2010 Finance manager(Keegan Annan) 12/12/2010 Supply of printers and photocopiers 15 IT manager (Dickson Brown) 12/12/2010 Finance manager(Keegan Annan) 12/12/2010 Supply of computer softwares 16 IT manager (Dickson Brown) 12/12/2010 Finance manager(Keegan Annan) 12/12/2010 Upgrading of the computer network Sample change management form Conclusion Academic institutions like other new business are challenged by increased globalization which has led into new forms of competition. This forces the institutions to come with innovative ways that would assist them in remaining competitive while maintaining their traditional status. It is in remaining competitive that they are forced to invest heavily in technology so that they take advantages of new forms of instruction delivery methodologies such as distance learning and other forms of electronic learning. With these methodologies, there should be efficient communication within the campus network that would facilitate collaboration between lecturers and students and this calls for an efficient and well maintained information systems infrastructure. References India Health Service (IHS) 2010, Business needs statement, Retrieved November 5th 2010 from http://www.ihs.gov/webservices/documents/Business_Needs_Statement_Template.pdf New Jersey City University (N.J.C.U) 2005, Help Desk Service Level Agreement, Retrieved November 5th 2010 from http://www.njcu.edu/dept/it/documents/HelpDesk_SLA-Employees_SP08.pdf Thierry Bayle, 2007, Preventive Maintenances strategy for data centers, Viewed 6th December 2010 from http://www.apcmedia.com/salestools/DBOY-73VLPT_R0_EN.pdf Read More