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Elements and Performance Criteria

Establish safe work practices
Establish location requirements for hardware and peripherals
Establish maintenance practices
Determine appropriate hardware quality standards
- Consider and apply business requirements in respect of hardware matters
- Determine and apply quality standards to the selection of appropriate hardware and associated peripherals

Required Skills

Required skills

communication skills to provide advice and guidance to others

literacy skills to

comprehend basic workplace documents and technical information

determine whether unserviceable components are replaceable through warranty replacement or upgrade

interpret user manuals and help functions

problemsolving skills to address common operational problems with computer hardware

safetyawareness skills to work safely in regard to the specific hardware

technical skills to

diagnose hardware problems

reload software

replace suspect components

reload associated software

select appropriate hardware for a given situation

set up and maintain hardware

undertake diagnostic procedures using OS and thirdparty diagnostic tools

Required knowledge

range of quality levels in current common hardware

importance of maintenance

OHS principles specific to mainspowered equipment

potential environmental effects of common types of hardware

security issues

software related to hardware operations

system hardware and associated peripherals functions

Evidence Required

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

perform diagnostic functions by replacing components reloading software and by using operating system and other diagnostic tools

establish siting requirements for system hardware and associated peripheral devices

implement safe work practices

determine maintenance requirements and establish maintenance schedule

apply appropriate quality standards to computer hardware and peripherals

Context of and specific resources for assessment

Assessment must ensure access to

computer hardware

software and diagnostic tools

warranty records and reports maintenance schedules vendor documentation and safe work practices

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

direct observation of candidate performing a range of diagnostic tasks

review of maintenance schedule documentation completed by candidate

verbal or written questioning to assess candidates knowledge of

quality standards applied to computer hardware and peripherals

safe work practices

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 nonEnglish speaking background may need additional support

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

Range Statement

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.

OHS standards may include:	electrical safety ergonomics in the workplace: correct posture style and adjustments of chair type of desk type of monitor working position length of time in front of computer lighting level placement of light fittings repetitive strain injury (RSI) prevention safe lifting methods ventilation.
Hardware may include:	communications equipment: modems or other connectivity devices, including digital subscriber line (DSL) modems wireless access points network equipment: cables hubs racks routers servers switches personal computers (PCs) remote sites servers workstations.
Safe work practices may include:	codes of practice hazards and hazardous material manual handling physical separation of data cables and mains cables reporting and following OHS procedures testing and tagging electrical mains cables.
Environmental conditions may include:	air circulation dust extreme cold heat moisture temperature stability.
System protection devices may include:	line conditioning surge protection uninterruptible power supplies (UPS).
Peripherals may include:	Bluetooth device Firewire (IEEE 1394) device keyboard laptop mobile phone modem mouse multimedia kit pen personal digital assistant (PDA), such as palmtop printer scanner speaker tape cartridge touch pad universal serial bus (USB) device wi-fi router.
Equipment may include:	DSL modems hard drives hubs modems or other connectivity devices monitors other peripheral devices PCs PDA printers switches workstations.
Maintenance may include:	faulty components returned to depot on-site response planned maintenance: dust and grease removal from filters and components lubrication of fan and blower bearings remote diagnostics.
Components may include:	CD and DVD drives central processing unit (CPU) complementary metal oxide semiconductor (CMOS) battery fax or modem cards interface cards motherboards power supply random access memory (RAM).
Software may include:	application: database internet browser spreadsheet word-processing commercial customised in-house programming: assembler compiler development tools system: computer security software device drivers OS.
Operating systems may include:	GNU and Linux Mac OS X Microsoft Windows Unix-like operating systems: HP-UX IBM AIX Silicon Graphics IRIX Sun Solaris.
Business requirements may include:	capability for further system upgrades cost and quality existing facilities industry standard components installation: ease lead time licensing issues reliability robustness service level agreements (SLAs) technical support required: in-house vendor.