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 Getting Philosophical About Supporting Users Animal, Vegetable or Mineral? So what does that mean for you? Let's consider what support staff does every day. As a separate function or as a group, our support staffs are responsible for network management, operations management, the helpdesk, third-party supplier management, desktop support, server support, packaged solution maintenance, problem management/tracking, technical environment management, change management, database management/administration, documentation services, and more. First distinction: At your organization, which of the above functions are really line functions rather than support? For example, let's say you're in the mailing-list business. Isn't database management very important to you? Shouldn't you be considering how to make the database manager's job more productive rather than thinking about how you can work with fewe r database administrators? This is not a plea for job preservation, rather a modestly innovative way of avoiding arbitrary classification of job funct ion by task. At the end of the exercise, odds are you will have reclassified several positions as production with responsibilities tied directly to business units: Here's where we want to introduce the idea of who's paying for those services. Could the business units pay for them directly out of their budgets? On the other hand, for those positions remaining as "pure" support, what type of support are they charged with delivering? And what goals must be met by staff members? Are we trying to deliver a zero-defect service to the user, or are there defined service levels, acceptable amounts of downtime and understandable periods of time for repairs? What's the process for identifying and proactively taking steps to restore service? What's the process for reporting and tracking? The process of negotiating these issues is a thorny one. It's difficult to know exactly to whom you should speak since the answer to "who's in charge" is never straightforward: In the end, it's up to you to ensure that what is required is achievable. It doesn't matter if you're an IS director or the support manager at a remote site: If you'll be blamed for the results, or lack of results, then it's up to you to fight for the process. How many technicians manage to dance on the edge of a dime at your organization? I'd love to hear your ideas and war stories. E-mail me at bwalsh@nwc.com. Brian Walsh is a senior consultant with Cap Gemini America in Portland, Ore. He can be reached at bwalsh@nwc.com. |
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by Art Wittmann FreeWire by Bill Frezza In The Middle by Nick Gall On The Wire by Bill Alderson and J. Scott Haugdahl Updated June 27, 1997 |
