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 successfully resolve first-level user support difficulties remotely, while demonstrating customer service skills.

To demonstrate competency in this unit the following resources will be needed:

Customer service policies

User support policies

Escalation procedures

Communications hardware (e.g. telephone hook-up) for dealing with clients remotely

Context of and specific resources for assessment

The operation of remote help desk support is an increasingly important aspect of service provision within an overall client support framework as even internal clients are often no longer co-located with technical support resources. In the interests of business efficiency, many vendor and commercial support resources have been located centrally and consequently are remote from their client base.

The rapid expansion of information technology into small businesses and domestic environments has also increased the importance of IT product and service providers providing effective and plain English first-level support and subsequent problem escalation options for an increasing diverse client base.

Clients of IT service providers are partners in the support process and the application of this competency requires some degree of client instruction to enable handling of subsequent and similar issues or to understand the need for escalation to higher order support.

This competency is sufficiently flexible to allow for creativity in support options in relation to the specialised needs of clients.

The scope and complexity of knowledge and skills is dependent on the tasks undertaken as part of providing service support.

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 to 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.

Guidance information for assessment

The interdependence of units for assessment purposes may vary with the particular project or scenario. Holistic assessment with other units relevant to the industry sector, workplace and job role is recommended, for example:

ICAS4022B Determine client computing problems and action

ICAS4107B Rectify system faults on a live system

ICAS4114B Implement maintenance procedures

ICAS4119B Monitor and administer systems security

ICAS4127B Support system software

ICAW4027B Relate to clients on a business level

An individual demonstrating this competency would be able to:

Relate to client needs

Provide logical answers in line with polices and procedures

Take into consideration cultural needs

Manage time and priorities by quickly assessing the level of support needed and then directing the problem resolution accordingly

Determine level of priority of the help desk issue

Apply solutions to a variety of predictable end-user problems

Interpret available information and use appropriate interview techniques to request clarification where needed

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

Up-selling skills, with some discretion and judgement required

Customer service skills in relation to communicating on product and service matters with potential customers

Using systems for recording and accessing information

Active listening skills for identifying client problems and identifying where in the process the problem has occurred

Ability to interpret user manuals, for the purpose of resolving client problems and guiding clients through manuals

Required knowledge

Customer service policies

How to apply escalation procedures in a clearly defined range of contexts

User support policies of limited complexity related to known or commonly-used options

OH&S procedures related to the work environment and organisational requirements

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.

User support may include:

customer contact centre by phone

email

real-time website support

other real-time support structures

Organisationalguidelines may include but are not limited to:

personal use of emails and internet access

mobile equipment

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

Client may include but is not limited to:

internal departments

external organisations

individual people

employees

may include:

database programs

data and voice integration

word processors

email programs

internet browsers

system browsers

spreadsheets

Hardware may include but is not limited to:

workstations

personal computers

modems or other connectivity devices

networks

wireless connections

DSL modems

remote sites

servers

Software may include but is not limited to:

commercial, in-house, packaged or customised software