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 following is essential:

Assessment must confirm the ability to monitor and maintain system software performance according to vendor and organisational benchmarks utilising a wide range of features and system tools.

To demonstrate competency in this unit the learner will require access to:

Organisational performance benchmarks

Live system

Client user requirements

Context of and specific resources for assessment

Breadth, depth and complexity of knowledge and skills would prepare a person to perform a range of tasks necessary in supporting systems software.

Operations must be undertaken in accordance with organisational polices and procedures.

Managing the system software should be done under competent supervision where there is a clearly defined range of contexts for ensuring minimal disruption of services to the organisation.

The breadth, depth and complexity of knowledge and skills in this competency would cover a broad range of varied activities or application in a wider variety of contexts most of which are complex and non-routine. Leadership and guidance would be involved when organising activities of self and others as well as contributing to technical solutions of a non-routine or contingency nature.

Assessment must ensure:

Performance of a broad range of skilled applications including the requirement to evaluate and analyse current practices, develop new criteria and procedures for performing current practices and provision of some leadership and guidance to others in the application and planning of the skills would be characteristic.

Applications may involve responsibility for, and limited organisation of, others.

Method of assessment

The purpose of this unit is to define the standard of performance to be achieved in the workplace. In undertaking training and assessment activities related to this unit, consideration should be given to the implementation of appropriate diversity and accessibility practices in order to accommodate people who may have special needs. Additional guidance on these and related matters is provided in ICA05 Section 1.

Competency in this unit should be assessed using summative assessment to ensure consistency of performance in a range of contexts. This unit can be assessed either in the workplace or in a simulated environment. However, simulated activities must closely reflect the workplace to enable full demonstration of competency.

Assessment will usually include observation of real or simulated work processes and procedures and/or performance in a project context as well as questioning on underpinning knowledge and skills. The questioning of team members, supervisors, subordinates, peers and clients where appropriate may provide valuable input to the assessment process. The interdependence of units for assessment purposes may vary with the particular project or scenario.

Guidance information for assessment

Holistic assessment with other units relevant to the industry sector, workplace and job role is recommended, for example:

ICAS4107B Rectify system faults on a live system

ICAS4119B Monitor and administer systems security

An individual demonstrating this competency would be able to:

Demonstrate relevant understanding of policies and procedures related to support system software, with theoretical knowledge of implementation issues in the system context

Apply known solutions to a variety of predictable software problems and perform processes that require some discretion

Interpret available website for managing systems software information using discretion and judgement

Maintain knowledge of industry products and services

Additionally, an individual demonstrating this competency would be able to:

Demonstrate understanding of a broad knowledge base incorporating some theoretical concepts

Apply solutions to a defined range of unpredictable problems

Identify and apply skill and knowledge areas to a wide variety of contexts, with depth in some areas

Identify, analyse and evaluate information from a variety of sources

Take responsibility for own outputs in relation to specified quality standards

Take limited responsibility for the quantity and quality of the output of others

Required skills

Managing system support

Analysis skills in relation to routine and non-routine work processes

Report writing skills for business requiring depth in some areas, analysis, and evaluation of information in a defined range of areas

Problem solving skills in non-routine work processes

Plain English literacy and communication skills in relation to dealing with users and team members

Required knowledge

Detailed understanding of using system software and system tools

Broad knowledge of vendor products and trends in product development

Broad general knowledge of the client business domain

Broad knowledge of quality assurance practices

Broad general knowledge of change management systems

Broad knowledge of OH&S requirements in relation to work safety, environmental factors and ergonomic considerations

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.

Organisationalrequirements may be in relation to:

work environment

problem solution processes

preventative maintenance and diagnostic policy

roles and technical responsibilities in the IT department

vendor and product service-level support agreements

System may include but is not limited to:

hardware and software components that run a computer, databases, applications, servers, operating systems, gateways, application service provider and ISP

Organisationalguidelines may include but are not limited to:

personal use of emails and internet access

content of emails

downloading information and accessing particular websites

opening mail with attachments

virus risk

dispute resolution

document procedures and templates

communication methods

financial control mechanisms

Network may include but is not limited to:

large and small LANs

VPNs

WANs

the internet

the use of the PSTN for dial-up modems only

private lines

data

voice

Security requirements may include but are not limited to:

security levels

trusted sites

privacy

SSL

encryption

User may include:

a person within a department

a department within the organisation

a third party

Policies may include:

incident response procedures

network intrusion detection systems

forensic procedures

training

awareness raising strategies

Systemrequirements may include but are not limited to:

system functionality

geography

environment

client user

cost constraints

Disk may include but are not limited to:

diskettes (floppy disks)

CD

CD-RW

DVD RW

zip disk

solid state hard drive