Assessor Resource

ICASAS510A
Review and develop IT maintenance strategy

Assessment tool

Version 1.0
Issue Date: March 2024


This unit applies to frontline technical support personnel, such as IT support technicians, and user support specialists responsible for maintaining computer equipment in an organisation.

This unit describes the performance outcomes, skills and knowledge required to review, develop and set up maintenance strategies and supporting processes to achieve continuity of IT operations and business functions.

You may want to include more information here about the target group and the purpose of the assessments (eg formative, summative, recognition)

Prerequisites

Not applicable.


Employability Skills

This unit contains employability skills.




Evidence Required

List the assessment methods to be used and the context and resources required for assessment. Copy and paste the relevant sections from the evidence guide below and then re-write these in plain English.

The evidence guide provides advice on assessment and must be read in conjunction with the performance criteria, required skills and knowledge, range statement and the Assessment Guidelines for the Training Package.

Overview of assessment

Critical aspects for assessment and evidence required to demonstrate competency in this unit

Evidence of the ability to:

determine maintenance strategies

put in place support processes for maintaining the continuity of IT operations and business functions.

Context of and specific resources for assessment

Assessment must ensure access to:

systems architecture documentation

warranty documents

appropriate learning and assessment support when required

modified equipment for people with special needs.

Method of assessment

A range of assessment methods should be used to assess practical skills and knowledge. The following examples are appropriate for this unit:

verbal or written questioning to assess knowledge of:

SLAs

industry support strategies

preventative maintenance

review of:

preventative maintenance schedule

SLAs

help-desk procedures.

Guidance information for assessment

Holistic assessment with other units relevant to the industry sector, workplace and job role is recommended, where appropriate.

Assessment processes and techniques must be culturally appropriate, and suitable to the communication skill level, language, literacy and numeracy capacity of the candidate and the work being performed.

Indigenous people and other people from a non-English speaking background may need additional support.

In cases where practical assessment is used it should be combined with targeted questioning to assess required knowledge.


Submission Requirements

List each assessment task's title, type (eg project, observation/demonstration, essay, assingnment, checklist) and due date here

Assessment task 1: [title]      Due date:

(add new lines for each of the assessment tasks)


Assessment Tasks

Copy and paste from the following data to produce each assessment task. Write these in plain English and spell out how, when and where the task is to be carried out, under what conditions, and what resources are needed. Include guidelines about how well the candidate has to perform a task for it to be judged satisfactory.

Required skills

analytical skills to analyse current system practices and system composition and to suggest improvements to them, as part of the development of strategic initiatives

change-management skills to maintain the continuity of IT operations and business functions, in carrying out system upgrade in its service levels, or repair or replacement of equipment or software

communication skills to:

liaise with customers in the provision of customer services

provide information, report and make recommendations on new models of component maintenance schedules in response to pre-existing inadequate measures

initiative and enterprise skills to work as a team member in the development of solutions and goals of a non-routine or contingency nature

literacy skills to:

evaluate and present information

write technical reports for business, involving analysis and evaluation of information in such areas as maintenance schedules for IT equipment, level of service required, SLA, cost and viability, response time levels, escalation procedures with clients, warranty conditions with suppliers, and presenting proposals for improvements to the servicing system in general

planning and organisational skills to contribute to maintenance and continuity of IT operations and business functions

problem-solving skills to participate in development of maintenance strategies

technical skills to determine level of support to a client.

Required knowledge

client business domain and of the features of the IT system that support the client's business activity

current industry-accepted hardware and software products, such as help-desk software, including:

database for storing hardware and software details

product warranty and service difficulty records, such as repair, replacement and reconfiguration

help desk and maintenance practices, including general composition and operation of information database for tracking hardware, software and operational issues

how the system has been set up to process data and what data elements are stored

quality assurance practices with reference to maintenance, warranty and repair of network equipment and software

relationships between the stakeholders and the service provider.

The range statement relates to the unit of competency as a whole. It allows for different work environments and situations that may affect performance. Bold italicised wording, if used in the performance criteria, is detailed below. Essential operating conditions that may be present with training and assessment (depending on the work situation, needs of the candidate, accessibility of the item, and local industry and regional contexts) may also be included.

Client may include:

employee

external organisation

individual

internal department.

Systems architecture may include:

configuration:

large memory model

requests per second

small memory model

database software:

DB2

Informix

Ingres

Microsoft Structured Query Language (MS SQL) server

Mini SQL (mSQL)

MySQL

Oracle

Sybase

operating system:

Linux

Mac OS

multi-user ability

Novell NetWare 5 or above

Windows 2000 or above.

Equipment may include:

hard drives

hubs

modems or other connectivity devices, such as digital subscriber line (DSL) modems

monitors

other peripheral devices

personal computers

personal digital assistant (PDA)

printers

switches

workstations.

Software may include:

commercial

customised

in-house

packaged.

Components may include:

CD and DVD drives

central processing unit (CPU)

complementary metal oxide semiconductor (CMOS) battery

CPU upgrades

drives

fax or modem cards

interface cards

motherboards

random access memory (RAM) upgrades.

Service level agreements may include:

business processes and requirements

charge back to business units

different infrastructure services, including communications carriers, internet service providers (ISPs), application service providers (ASPs) and SLAs for vendor products

evaluation or audit of service levels

expectations regarding servicing

penalties

specific and quantity service levels

workload and performance considerations.

Appropriate person may include:

authorised business representative

client

supervisor.

Copy and paste from the following performance criteria to create an observation checklist for each task. When you have finished writing your assessment tool every one of these must have been addressed, preferably several times in a variety of contexts. To ensure this occurs download the assessment matrix for the unit; enter each assessment task as a column header and place check marks against each performance criteria that task addresses.

Observation Checklist

Tasks to be observed according to workplace/college/TAFE policy and procedures, relevant legislation and Codes of Practice Yes No Comments/feedback
Identify risks to business continuity due to system malfunction, including quantification of possible loss 
Identify core business functions and determine the service requirements for those functions 
Develop a maintenance philosophy to meet business needs and apply it to dealings with the client 
Review systems architecture and configuration documentation for currency 
Conduct an equipment and software audit if appropriate information is not available 
Determine and document the warranty status of components and software according to vendor, project or organisational requirements 
Identify critical components and software and document recommendations regarding possible service arrangements 
Determine the views and requirements of the client in order to identify maintenance requirements 
Prepare service level agreements (SLAs) to match client user and business requirements 
Examine maintenance options against cost constraints, risks to business continuity and SLAs 
Identify a specific maintenance strategy based on cost, business and SLA requirements 
Create a preventative maintenance schedule based on cost, business and SLA requirements 
Negotiate a maintenance strategy with client and make changes to SLAs where necessary 
Document the recommended procedure for approval from appropriate person according to organisational requirements 
Negotiate and create reporting procedures for service requests with client and suppliers 
Determine response time standards with client and suppliers 
Create escalation procedures with client and suppliers 
Set up the help desk or other support function according to agreed standards and procedures and in line with industry best practices 

Forms

Assessment Cover Sheet

ICASAS510A - Review and develop IT maintenance strategy
Assessment task 1: [title]

Student name:

Student ID:

I declare that the assessment tasks submitted for this unit are my own work.

Student signature:

Result: Competent Not yet competent

Feedback to student

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Assessor name:

Signature:

Date:


Assessment Record Sheet

ICASAS510A - Review and develop IT maintenance strategy

Student name:

Student ID:

Assessment task 1: [title] Result: Competent Not yet competent

(add lines for each task)

Feedback to student:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Overall assessment result: Competent Not yet competent

Assessor name:

Signature:

Date:

Student signature:

Date: