Planning Support for a Computer System over the Systems Life Cycle

Unit 23: Computer Systems Support in Practice

William Simpson

Friday 16th December 2016

 Contents

Introduction: 3

Client Requirements: 4

Support Plan: 5 12

How the Support will be evaluated: 13

Alternative Solutions: 14

Justification, Constraints & Recommendations: 15-18

Conclusion: 19

Bibliography: 20

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 Introduction

This report is about providing support for the three stages of the computer lifecycle. The stages consist of Design
& Build, Operational and Decommission. This report consists of a support plan explaining the support I will
provide through the computer life cycle, the client requirements are included in this report. This report also
consists of how the support will be evaluated, alternative solutions, Justification, constraints & recommendations
for improvement. The support plan I have produced explains the three stages of a computer life cycle.

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 1. Description of the purpose and client requirements for the support of a computer system (use examples from the
brief)

I understand from the brief that the purpose of this is that you are a small business and you have a total of 6 computer systems and
I understand that you have reported some faults with your system. I understand from the reading the brief that the faults are from
the mouse, keyboard and monitor.

The asset number of the keyboard is 19278 and you need this to fixed. The asset number for the mouse is 19279 and you would
like this fixed. The final asset number for the monitor is 19280 and you would like this fixed.
I understand that you are currently using Windows XP and Office 2003. I have also read that Windows XP is no longer supported
by Microsoft. I also understand that your customers and suppliers are using Microsoft Office 10. I understand that Microsoft no
longer support Microsoft office therefore you require Microsoft Office 2010.

I understand that you would like to upgrade your current system to Windows 8.1 and you would like this installed on all 6
computers. I have also read that you would like AVG anti-virus installing on your computer system. When reading the brief, I
understand that these are your requirements and this is what work you would like me to carry out. I see that you would also like a
printer and scanner installing. I understand that you would like the printer and scanner configuring with the computer system and
you would also like asset numbers on these devices. To Summarise I understand that you would like Windows 8.1, Office 2010 and
AVG Anti-Virus installing on all your 6 computer systems.

2. Produce a detailed support plan at least two computers over the systems life cycle

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 List and describe what supports need to be
Design & Build Stage provided
Hardware (System I will be supporting the company with the hardware and software. I
understand that you have faulty keyboard and you would like support to
Requirements) fix this. I understand that you would like a new printer and scanner to be
installed in your system. I have also read the brief and I understand that
-Printer you have some hardware that is faulty and I will provide support to fix
-Scanner this faulty hardware. The faulty hardware I see that you have are a
-Faulty Mouse mouse, keyboard and monitor the support that will need to be provides
- Faulty Keyboard is support to fix or replace the faulty hardware. It is important that I fix
- Faulty Mouse faulty hardware for the client so they can make use of this hardware
again.
- Faulty Monitor
Software (Software In this part the support that will need to be provided will be support for
the software. The client has asked that they would like the following
Requirements) software Windows 8.1, Office 10 and AVG. The client will be supported
with this software I will make sure that it gets installed correctly and I will
- Windows 8.1 also make sure that there are no bugs in the software when it gets
- Office 2010 installed, going back to the client requirements that is what they have
requested. It states They would like the following software upgrades
- AVG Anti-virus
that is what the client would like.
User Requirements There a range of different requirements that are you are required to
know when providing system support. There are the system
- System requirements so you need to know if the software will be compatible with
Requirements computer system and the operating system. Compatibility is a big factor
- Business to when providing support to a computer system. The other
requirements requirements that I will provide support with are the hardware so for
- Hardware example as you would like a new printer and scanner I will provide the
requirements requirements for this. I will also provide the software requirements for
- Software different type of software that you need. I also understand business
requirements so what does the company want me to do as a IT
requirements
technical support worker. Overall I will support the company by finding
out the system requirements for the printer and I will also find the
system requirements for the software as well.
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Why is it important in the plan
(Impact)
It is important that I provide the correct support for
this computer system because that is what the
client wants. The client wants me to help provide
support to fix these problems. If I did not provide
support to install a new printer and scanner, then I
would not be completing my job. Then I will be
failing the client by not doing my job. As for the
faulty hardware as a keyboard would be faulty then
the computer would be down. This could then lead
to the company not completing their work. The
faulty hardware will ultimately need to be repaired
or replaced.
It is important that I give the client the correct
support when installing the software because they
have chosen the software they would like for their
system. The impact of not installing Windows 8.1
would result is no operating system installed on
their computer system they would not be able to
use their system if I did not install Windows 8.1, If I
did not install Office 10 then the business would not
be able to create documents or presentations.
Failing to install the Anti-virus could result in their
computer getting an attack.
One of the biggest impacts to not knowing the
correct requirements are that there could be
compatibility issues with the computer and the
software. For example, if I did not know the correct
requirements for Office 2010 and Installed it on
Windows 8.1 and it did not work then that could
result in a compatibility issues. Compatibility issues
can arise from me not considering the correct
requirements from the software and the hardware.
The main impact in terms that could affect the
support is the compatibility of the requirements is
the software compatible with the hardware.
Evaluation
Once I have installed a new printer and scanner in
their system they will be able to print documents
from their computer system. Once I have replaced
the faulty hardware with new hardware then this will
allow the computer system to be back up and
running again. The company then would be able to
fix the problem with the computer system. As the
faulty hardware, would have been fixed then this will
resolve a majority of problems with the system. The
client will be able to make use of the system again
once the problem has been completed.
Once I have installed the software on their computer
system they will be able to use many different
features on the software. For example, on Windows
8.1 there a range of different features on the OS.
Once I have installed Office 2010 this will them
enable them to create word documents and
presentations on their system. This will ultimately
improve productivity because they will be able to
use a range of different software.
Once I have considered the requirements to
evaluate them the business would like all of the
software to work correctly because that is what they
want. Once I have installed the software I would
expect it to be compatible with the system because I
have taken into consideration the different
requirements and I have researched. By me
researching the different requirements I am double
checking that they will be compatible with the
system. Overall I will look carefully into the different
requirements and I would expect the software to be
compatible once I have finished installing it
Disaster Recovery The support that will be provided at the disaster recovery is when I come
to install the new printer and scanner on their computer systems. I will
need to support them with plan downtime with them so when is it
- Downtime Planned convenient for me to install the new hardware on their systems. Other
& unplanned support that will need to be provided are back ups of data in case of a
- Naturel Disaster naturel disaster. Support will also have needed to be provided for
- Backup data hardware maintenance. If the printer needed cleaning, then this would-
- Hardware be hardware maintenance to sort out the printer. I will also provide
maintenance software support for example if Windows 8.1 required an update then I
- Software Support would update their system. This would then link back to planned
System Restore & downtime. I will support the business with disaster recovery if anything
Test went wrong with their system.
As this business only has 6 computers at this time in the future they
may decide to expand as a company this is known as capacity
Capacity Planning planning because they will plan for the future in the future they may
need me to come and install another system or upgrade their current
systems because they are not good enough for what they want, for
- Determine the
example in the future the company may need support for better printer
requirements
and scanner because the one that they have got now is not good
- Build the system to
enough. There is also a possibility that they will need more systems
meet the
installed because they may have more staff. I will also support them
requirements
with a better system. As they will have Office 2010 in the future they
- Scalability think
may benefit Office 365. The support that the company may need is
about the need for
they may need help deciding for the future and planning what internal
extra requirements
hardware they may need to upgrade. I will support the company with
scalability for example they may have 4GB of RAM in the six computer
systems in the future they may need support to upgrade their RAM to
8GB in the future.
System Requirements- Software
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It is important that support the business with
disaster recovery because it is important that they
dont lose any of their work. One of the biggest
impacts is unplanned downtime this is where the
computer could go down at any time and the
employees of business could lose their work.
Another impact that could affect the support is not
backing up the data if no data was backed up then
this would affect the support. In the event of a
disaster it is important that work is backed up so
nothing gets lost. A naturel disaster such as a flood
is a major impact so in this case it is important
It is important that I work with the company to plan
for the future if I did not plan for the future then this
would impact the support that I give to the
computer. One of the impacts would time it would
take time to plan with the company and it would be
time consuming. I would also have to plan
downtime again for the company so I could
upgrade any hardware in the future. For example,
if the company decided that they would like 8GB of
RAM in each of their six computer systems then I
would need to plan downtime perhaps at a
weekend to complete their work.
The evaluation of making sure that a disaster does
not happen by backing up data perhaps to cloud. In
the event of a disaster make sure all data is backed
up. To evaluate disaster recovery, it is important that
when you back up your data so you dont lose any.
The data that you have backed is important and it is
essential that you get this done. If any of the data
was lost during the disaster recovery you could be
in breach of The Data Protection Act 1998 and there
is a possibility you could get fined. The evaluation of
hardware maintenance is once you have performed
the maintenance for example on the printer then the
hardware will be better than before because you
have maintained it.
To evaluate capacity planning overall it is important
that we plan for the future so that the company has
organisation. It is important that I determine the
requirements for any hardware that they would like
in the future. Capacity planning is an important part
of the design and build stage because the
company is planning for the future. In the future the
company may want to upgrade their systems
because they may have got more staff or they may
just want to enhance their computer system.
Scalability is important because I am thinking
about what extra requirements will the company
want for example they may require different
software. So I would have to take into account the
different requirements for different hardware and
software they might want in the future.

256 megabytes (MB) of RAM; 512 MB recommended for graphics features, Microsoft Outlook Instant Search, and certain advanced
functionality. Supports only the 32-bit edition of Office 2010: Windows XP with Service Pack 3 (SP3) Windows Server 2003 Service Pack 2
Memory: 512 MB of RAM (Windows XP) / 1024 MB of RAM (Windows Vista, Windows 7, Windows 8/8.1 and Windows 10)
Operational Stage
Disaster Recovery
- Apply and Monitor
Procedures of disaster
recovery
- Backup Data
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Windows 8.1
Processor: 1 gigahertz (GHz) or faster.
RAM: 1 gigabyte (GB) (32-bit) or 2 GB (64-bit)
Hard disk space: 16 GB (32-bit) or 20 GB (64-bit)
Graphics card: Microsoft DirectX 9 graphics device with WDDM driver.
Office 2010
(SP2), MSXML 6.0
AVG
Processor: Intel Pentium 1.5 GHz or faster.
Hard disk free space (for installation): AVG Internet Security: 1300 MB.
List and describe what supports need to
be provided
The Support that needs to be provides at the operational is stage
is the need to back up the clients data. As the client, has faults
with their 6 computer systems it is essential that I support them
with disaster recovery because there is a potential that data could
be lost. It is important that I help the client back up the data from
there computer system. There are procedures that I must follow
when backing up the clients data. There are different ways to
back up the clients data. The data can be backed up to the cloud
or an extern al device such as a hard drive or a USB.
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Why is it important in the plan
(Impact)
The impact of not backing up the clients data
could result in them losing files. As the client, has
6 computer systems and they have faults with their
system it is important that they back up their data.
The impact of not backing up the clients data
could result in them asking you to not fix the
computer systems because you cant be trusted to
fix them systems. It is important to back up the
clients work because they as a company do not
want to lose any data. In some cases, if data got
lost and it was sensitive then the company could
be in breach of The Data Protection Act 1998. This
could then lead to the company get prosecuted
that is only in extreme cases.
Evaluation
To evaluate disaster recovery overall it is essential
that data is backed up to either the cloud or an
external hard drive so the client does not lose
anything. As this is the operational stage it is so
important that data is backed up all the time. If you
are looking for a way to back up your data I would
recommend the cloud because this a secure
storage solution and you can download your data
at any time from the cloud. It is important you are
prepared for a disaster at any time because a
computer system can go down at any time. For
example, the disaster does not have to be major it
could be a virus and that is still classes a disaster
because that would of got inside your computer
system. When backing up data make sure this is
done daily or weekly then you will always have the
latest backup.
Capacity Planning
- Apply and Monitor
Procedures for Capacity
- Analysing the
importance of usage
- Monitoring Disk
- Memory and CPU
requirements to sustain
ongoing prevention
- Incident Diagnostic
Report
Security Planning
- Apply and Monitor
Procedures
- Access Controls
- Malware Protection
- Data Protection
- Internet and email
protection
- encryption
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The support needs that I will provide you with in this stage is
capacity planning of the computer system. In the future, your
business could grow and get better so you may need to prepare
to upgrade your computer systems. I will support you with
improving the memory within your computer system, as you are
only a small business and only have 6 computer systems in time
as you grow the memory in the computers may need upgrading
and I will provide support with this. I will support you with ongoing
expansion of the company. In the future, you may need to
upgrade the CPU and hard drives in your systems to cope with
capacity. I will also support you with monitoring your space on
your systems. As you grow you may hire more people and they
may need computer systems. There may be the required need for
more computer systems within your business. I will provide
support for the for the five stages of the incident diagnostics
report if I have got the same faults that you are reporting I will
check these faults and consult the incident diagnostic report, for
example as you have got faults with your keyboard, mouse and
monitor I will use the incident diagnostic report.
The support that I will provide you with in the security planning
section is I will help you set up access controls so this means
different employees can have different levels of access. For
example management, can have full access to all of the
companies files. I will help support with access levels. I will help
you with setting up your anti-virus for your system. I have read in
the brief that you would like AVG anti-virus as malware protection
I will support you with this and set it up on all of your 6 PCs. I will
also help with data protection and this comes to access levels so
who do you want to have full access. The anti-virus protection
that you have chosen will provide internet and email protection
and I shall set all this up.
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It is important I support you plan for the future
because if I did not support you to plan for the
future then your business would not be able to
move forward and you may not want to work with
me again. In addition to capacity planning another
impact would be that you are the client and you
would need to let me know what you want me to
do. I am supporting you with these 6 computer
systems. Furthermore, if I did not help you plan
then this could affect your current systems
because they will not be able to manage the work
load because you would have more people within
the business. In the long term an impact on
capacity planning could be that you as a business
could have finical troubles because capacity
planning can be expensive and it is an ongoing
change if your business keeps on growing then
capacity planning is always needed and then there
is the need for money to upgrade your systems. In
the long-term capacity planning is good but it can
be expensive
It is especially important that I support you with the
security of your systems. I understand that you
would like Access controls for your system and
these are a good thing to have because each
employee could have their own account and then
they could only have access to the files that they
need to. The impact of not having access controls
is that data may not be secure if you have any
sensitive data then access controls are a good
thing to have on your system If you didnt have
access controls on your system then data maybe
all over the place you would also have to take into
consideration data protection because if you didn.t
have access controls then data protection could
be breached
To evaluate capacity planning it is an ongoing
change and there is always a need for capacity
planning because it is change over time. As the
business grows so do the systems. Capacity
planning is always ongoing because businesses
are getting bigger. In the future, your business may
grow and you will need support with the change of
the systems over time. In time, you may need a
bigger hard drive in your computer systems and
this will improve the capacity in your systems.
Capacity planning is improving for the future. Then
their scalability which is process for planning for
more capacity with in a computer. When planning
for capacity in your system you may decide to
upgrade several components within your system.
To improve the capacity within your system you
may decide to upgrade your RAM, CPU and hard
drive to cope with the build in capacity. There are
ways that you can monitor your system to see if
they are reaching full capacity. You can check the
usage of your hard drive and if you see if that is
nearly full then you may need to plan for extra
capacity within your company.
To evaluate security planning, it is important that
your security is at its best to make sure no data
gets hacked. I will provide support to help you
apply procedures and I will help support you to set
up your AVG anti-virus on your 6 computer
systems, having anti-virus on your computer
systems is important it is a good security measure
and it will protect your system from any malware.
The anti-virus that you have chosen will also
provide internet and email protection. Another
important security measure is access levels these
are important and I will provide support to set
these up. Access levels provide different levels of
access for different people. For example HR may
have access so they can pay your employees, HR
would need know the employees details.
 List and describe what supports
Operational Stage need to be provided
Security Planning . An impact to not having anti-virus protection on
Continued
Ergonomics The Support that I will provide you in the ergonomics
section is I will help you decide what the best layout is
- Workstation Layout for your computer systems. I will support you through
- Positioning of installing your computer systems in the layout that you
want them in. When positioning the equipment, you
Equipment may want them in an organised style for example one
- Health & Safety Issues computer next to each other or one per desk. I will
support you through health and safety of your computer
- Repetitive Strain Injury systems. When positioning your equipment, you will
- Eye Strain need to take in to consideration the health and safety.
You need to make sure that your computer chairs are
- Electrical Equipment at a certain height because if they are too high then this
Safety could cause strain injuries to the employees back.
There is also a risk of eye strain so to reduce this dont
- Trailing Cables have the computer monitor close as this could cause
- Portable Appliance strain to the eyes of your employees. The overall
support that I will provide you in this section is support
Testing to sort out the layout of your work station, positioning of
the equipment, and health and safety issues for
example It is important that you dont have trailing
cables in your system.
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Why is it important in the plan
(Impact)
your computer systems could mean that your
computer could be vulnerable to viruses this could
impact the support that I could provide you
therefore it is important to have anti-virus software
on your computer system. The impact to not
having internet and email protection is that it could
leave your business email vulnerable to getting
attacked. When talking about data protection it is
important that you take this seriously because if
sensitive data is leaked then you could be in
breach of data protection. Making sure access
levels are in place can reduce any risks into data
protection
There a range of different impacts in the
ergonomics section. The first impact is of the work
station layout. When organising the layout of the
systems you will need to consider is respective
strain injury and eye strain because when you are
in the process of sorting out the layout for the
computer systems you will need to make sure the
office chairs are not too high and they are at desk
height. The impact is that this could cause strain
injury to the back and the neck of the employee.
Workstation Layout, positioning of the equipment
and repetitive strain injury all link together because
you need to make sure the desks and chairs are at
desk height. Then there is health and safety
impacts as you could have trailing cables this
could cause people to trip over the cables. To
reduce the impact of trailing cables, make sure
they are hidden and out of sight. There are other
health and safety issues that you will need to
made aware of make sure all the power is turned
of when you are installing the computer systems in
the office. Once you have decided the layout of
your 6 computer systems you can start installing
them are you need to make sure you do not get an
electric shock while doing this. Making sure all
power is of will reduce the risk of this.
Evaluation
A good thing about access levels is that you are in
control of what you want people to see. I can help
you decide what levels of access the employees
need. It is important you give the same access to
all of the employees because giving access out
can mean they can see files. You can also provide
what access to files they can have. For example, if
you have office managers these can have more
access than a normal employee. It is important
that you dont breach data protection because if
you do then you could be in trouble so make sure
you give access to the right people. Access levels
and data protection link because if you gave
access to someone other than an employee then
you could breech The Data Protection Act 1998.
To evaluate ergonomics, it is a important part of
the operational stage and there are so many
factors that you have to consider. There is layout
of the work station this is how do you want your
computer systems laid out in your office
environment. Then there is the positioning of your
6 computer systems. Overall it is important that
you position your systems in an office format so
your employees dont get any strain injuries. As I
discussed that the injuries are impact and then this
could impact the support that I provide you with.
When planning the work station layout, you need
to consider your employees and perhaps ask them
what they think would make a good work station
layout. To reduce the impact of strain in the eyes
and back make sure you consider all your
employees.
Ergonomics is an important part in operational
stage because you also have to consider health
and safety aspects within your business for
example you need to think about trailing cables
this can also come into work station layout
because when you plan you can plan to have you
cables hidden and out of the way so they would
not cause any injury to the employee. In your
company, you may have iPads they should be PAT
tested this is a health and safety risk if they are not
 Other health and safety hazards are food and
drink make sure you do not have food or drink
near your computer systems, make sure all bags
are out of the way otherwise these could cause
trip hazards and it could result in injury.
List and describe what supports Why is it important in the plan
Operational Stage need to be provided (Impact)
Ergonomics Continued . Health and safety is a big part of providing the
support for your business because we need to
make sure everything goes to plan. There are
steps that can be taken to reduce health and
safety problems.
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because there is a potential that they could cause
a fire if they are not tested. Portable appliance
testing is important because it is done to see if the
device is safe to use.
Evaluation
When evaluating the support in the ergonomics
section I will ask for feedback from the client on
how they want they layout of their office
environment.
Floor Plans to show
positioning of Office Furniture
(e.g desks, cabinets)
Positioning of IT Equipment
- Work Station
- Cabling
- Servers
- Printers
- Lighting
- Air Conditioning
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Moving on from ergonomics the next section is floor
plans and the positioning of all the computer
equipment. The support that I will provide you with in
this section is moving all the furniture into place and
moving the desks and cabinets. I feel you will need
support in this section because it is important you get
the computer equipment right the first-time round. As
you only have 6 computer systems we will need to plan
out will they all fit in your office environment. The
overall support that I will provide in this section is the
positioning of all your computer equipment.
The next section in the operational stage is the
positioning of the IT equipment. Once you have done
the floor plans I will provide support to position your six
computer systems. I will help you position your work
stations in a way that you want them. As the floor plans,
have been completed I will support you with putting
your work stations on the desks. I will also provide
support to connect the cables from the computer to the
monitor. Other support that I will provide you with is
positioning your printer and scanner that you require. I
will also make sure the lighting in your office
environment is aquatic. I will also support you with
where the best place to have your air conditioning is
within your office.
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This is important that we plan where you want all
your computer equipment because if we didnt
plan and just went into move it all straight away
then it may not fit, producing a floor plan or even a
birds eye view of the room this will make sure that
all your equipment will fit in the room. The impact
of not doing a floor plan is that equipment could be
in the wrong place or things not might be where
you want them, before carrying out this work make
sure you plan because all the furniture may not fit
in. Another impact is that if you had the equipment
in in the wrong place then people might not be
able to walk around the room because all the
equipment would be confined on one space. If you
do a floor plan this would reduce the risk of people
walking into equipment. For example, if you had
the printer in the corner of the room everyone
could be crowding round it so when doing a floor
plan make sure you find a sensible place to install
the printer and scanner.
It is an essential part of the plan that all of your IT
equipment is positioned correctly because if it not
your systems may not work. The first impact is if
your work stations are not positioned correctly
then the cables may not reach to your monitor. It is
important that you have each system the same
distance apart so your cables will be able to reach
to that system. It is also important that you do not
get your cables mixed up because you may not
know which cable is for which system. The reduce
the impact stick numbers to cables so for example
power lead 1 for system 1 then this will reduce the
cables getting mixed up.
To evaluate floor plans this an important part of the
support plan because it is important you get the
plans right because if your office environment isnt
very big you will need to make sure all your
furniture fits in your environment. When producing,
floor plans it is best to design the plans on
PowerPoint because you can use shapes to
represent objects. The positioning of the computer
equipment is of the up most importance because
you need to make sure that your 6 computer
systems will fit in your office environment. I have
also read the brief and I see that you would like a
printer and scanner installing so in your plans you
will need to make room for this. When thinking
about the positioning of equipment make sure that
there are no trailing wires anywhere because this
can cause health and safety risk. When positioning
the printer make sure it is relative distance to all
the computer systems. If each employee uses the
printer you could take into consideration where you
want the printer to be based.
To evaluate the positioning of the IT equipment,
make sure that you have completed your floor
plans before touching any of the equipment. When
positioning the work, stations make sure that are
the same distance apart because if they were
squashed together on one desk then your
employees may find it really difficult to work from.
To overcome this make sure all the work stations
are organised and are the same distance apart. To
evaluate the positioning of the cabling make sure
this is tidy in the impact section I recommended
that you use cable ties I think these will be good to
use because they will keep all of your cables
organised. The cables ties will tidy all the cables
up.
When positioning the servers, these can be quite
big so you may want to consider server racks to
keep the severs out the way perhaps put them in
the corner of your office with an air conditioning
unit above.
 List and describe what supports Why is it important in the plan Evaluation
Operational Stage need to be provided (Impact)

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 Positioning of IT . The next impact is the cables when positioning the
cables make sure that they are tucked away
Equipment Continued behind the desks otherwise people could trip over
them. In result of that an employee could get
injured. To reduce the risk of this happening make
sure all the cables are tidy and perhaps use cable
ties to fix them all together
An impact with the servers could be that they could
over heat because you may have a range of
different servers. For example, you would need a
log on server and maybe a file server. It is
important that these are positioned in the right
place and a cool environment so you may want to
think about having an air conditioning unit above
the servers to keep them cool. It is important that a
server is positioned either in a cupboard with an air
conditioning unit or to the side of the office.
When positioning the printers make sure they are
in reach and you could also take in to consideration
who will be using the printer the most.
An impact is that if you are only going to have one
person using the printer dont have it far away
because that person must walk far to collect
something from the printer. When positioning the
lighting make sure you have enough light so you
employees can work. If you have windows in your
office environment, make use. An impact to not
having enough light in your office environment Is
that your employees may not be able to see what
they are doing. It is important that you take into
consideration how much light you need because
lighting is an important part of the positioning the
equipment you may decide to have lights on the
ceiling or on the desks.
An Impact to not having enough air conditioning is
that you could be working in a very hot
environment especially in the summer. If you had
no air conditioning them employees may start to
feel unwell because they will be working in such a
hot environment to reduce the impact of this make
sure you have enough air conditioning, having air
conditioning is important otherwise people could
get to hot in the environment that they work in.
09/04/2017 William Simpson
13
Overall the servers need to be positioned in a coo
and closed environment because only certain
people will need access to the servers, referring th
impact section you may have a number of servers
and it is important that these are kept cool
otherwise they have the potential to overheat.
Having a cooling system is important because this
can reduce the heat from the server Overall to
evaluate the positioning of the IT equipment it is
important that the equipment is positioned correct
so there is enough room in the office environment
The positioning of the IT equipment links back to
the floor plans because when drawing the floor
plans you would sketch where you wanted the
server and the work stations of each of the desks.
When positioning the IT equipment, it is also
important to think about health safety especially
when you are positioning the cables and making
sure that they are tidy.
There a range of considerations that you need to
think about when positioning the equipment think
about where you need the printer and where the
best place for the air conditioning units are, for
example you could have 1 air conditioning unit
behind where the server and you could have
another one built into the ceiling so this will then
blow cold air down. It is important to position the
computers equal distance apart from each other s
the employee has room to work. For example, if
you had one computer per desk then this would
leave equal room for the employees to work. This
would also make the desks looked organised and
tidy if you had one computer to each desk and
there would be room for the mouse and keyboard
To conclude with positioning, the IT equipment is
essential and it needs to be done right first time.
There are factors to consider as I have explained
above. There are health and safety factors and
organisation factors that come into this when
positioning the work stations and cabling correctly
Other Requirements
- sensitivity of the intended
data to be held on the
system
- risk profile of the intended
data to be held on the
system
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In this section this is what other requirements I
will support you with. On your system, you
may have sensitive data and this needs to be
handled in the correct way. I will support you
with handling data in the correct way and I will
give you support on you on how to back up
your data and keep it secure. Each of your
employee will have a profile on the system
and I will support you to set up this profile on
the system.
14
It is important that you handle your data as
secure as possible because if any of the data
got out then you would be The Data Protection
Act 1998. If this is breached, then you could
get into trouble. To protect your data, you
could have a firewall this will protect any
hackers or virus getting in. An impact to the
sensitive data is security you will need to take
measures to protect your data so it does not
get hacked. There is a range of software out
there that can protect your system. For
reading the brief I understand that you would
AVG anti-virus this will help protect your data
because this software will have a built-in
firewall to make sure that the sensitive data is
not hacked.
Another impact is that each employee will
have their own profile on the computer
systems and they may have secure data on
their systems. In the event of a hack there is a
risk to the employees profiles, having anti-
virus software and secure passwords can stop
any risks to the employees profile
William Simpson
Overall to evaluate other requirements it is
important that you have maximum security
measures on your computer system. It is also
vital that any sensitive data is kept is a secure
folder and perhaps this folder could be
password protected and this can mean only
certain people can have access to the folder.
Then you can choose which employees have
access to this password protected software. It
is essential that the other requirements are
understood because as you may be handling
data that is sensitive you do not want this
falling in to the wrong hands.
As each of your employees will have their
own profile on the system it is important that
they have a secure password because there
are risks to their profiles getting hacked.
Overall the protection of other requirements
links back to security planning because there
is sensitive data and it is important that the
data is locked and only certain people can
have access to it, for example you could make
use of the OneDrive which is a cloud and then
you can share the sensitive data across the
system to only certain.
You can set up access levels to this folder so
only a small amount of people can have
access to this data. In terms of The Data
Protection Act 1998 only a small amount of
people should have access to the folder. If a
wide range of people had access, then you
would be in trouble with data protection.

Decommission Stage
Remove User Accounts
- Disable Accounts
- Disable Passwords
Deleting Sensitive Files
and Programs
09/04/2017
List and describe what supports
need to be provided
This is final stage the decommissioning stage and in
this stage I will provide support to disable user
accounts on the system and the passwords. I will make
sure all your employees accounts are removed from
your six computer systems. It is important that I remove
your accounts from the system because this could
include sensitive data.
In this section, it is essential that I support you as my
client that you delete all of your files of your computer
system. There could be a lot of sensitive files it is
important that these files are backed up to external
device that no one except you can have access too. On
your computer system, you could have peoples names
and this information has to be backed up and deleted.
When deleting information make sure you empty the
recycling bin. When deleting programs make sure that
they are uninstalled from the system.
William Simpson
15
Why is it important in the plan
(Impact)
An impact to not removing the users accounts
could be that there is still information on their
regarding the employees. It is important all the
information is removed because if not then data
protection could become an issue with the system.
Another impact would be if I did not remove the
passwords from the users accounts then then
someone could still get into their account and steal
data. Overall it is important that I remove the user
accounts from system so there is no information
left on the system from any of the users who have
used the systems.
There a range of important impacts when deleting
sensitive information from the computer system. If
not all files are deleted, then you could breach The
Data and Protection Act 1998 and then this could
land you in serious trouble. It is essential and vital
that you delete any sensitive information and
double check that the information is deleted.
Deleting the files is an essential part of the
decommissioning stage because there are serious
consequences that you could face. When deleting
programs on your system make sure that uninstall
them and remove and software packages. I
understand from your requirements that you would
like Office 2010. When removing this, it is a
software package so there maybe more than one
program to remove on this software. Overall data
protection is a big part of deleting sensitive data
and it is vital that the data is removed from the
system because I dont want you as my client
getting in trouble for data protection breaches.
Evaluation
To evaluate the deletion of user accounts this is
really important that all information on the user is
deleted because there maybe data protection
issues on the employees if not all the data is
removed. When disabling the password, this is
essential because someone could still get in to the
users account even though it maybe disabled.
There can be security problems that you may need
to consider when removing accounts make sure
that you double check that all the users are
deleted. When removing users, accounts make
sure that any data is backed up from that account.
If one of your employees was working on the
system, then make sure that work is backed up.
To evaluate how important, it is to delete sensitive
files. It is essential because if you breach data
protection then you could end up in court and there
is possibility that your company could get fined for
breaching data protection. If you did breach data
protection, then there would be challenges ahead
that you would have to face. As you a small
company data protection is a big part of sensitive
files, for example your employees if you had
sensitive information on them and that got leaked
then they are well in their rights to take legal
action. The Data Protection Act 1998 is there be
protect sensitive data. Overall when deleting data,
it is vital that no data or programs are left on your
systems so I would advise you to double check
your data and check that it has been deleted
successfully
 Formatting & Destroying This section is a vital part of the of decommissioning
the computer systems. I will provide support to help you
Hard Disk Drives format your hard disk drives and I will provide support
to destroy them. It is essential that once a hard disk
drive has been used it is important that they are
destroyed because once you have formatted it there is
the potential that data could still be on this hard disk
drive, destroying the hard disk drive will make sure that
all data is deleted.
How the Support service will be evaluated
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16
There is one major impact when formatting hard
disk drives and that is Data Protection even
though the hard disk drive will have been
formatted there is still a chance that some data
could be on the drive still. To make sure that the
hard drive has no data left on it destroy it. There
are a range of ways to destroy the hard disk drive
and I would recommend that you smash the hard
disk drive up because then it cant ever be used
again. It is of the up most importance that the HDD
is destroyed so no data can be taken of the drive.
Destroying the drive is the best thing that can be
done to stop any data getting leaked.
To evaluate the formatting and destroying of a hard
disk drive. This is such a vital part when
decommissioning the computer system. Whenever
you format a hard disk drive there is a potential
that data can still be on the drive. If you smashed
the hard drive, then this would mean that it would
not be able to be used again because you would
have destroyed it. It is important that all data is
destroyed on the hard drive. Even though you will
be destroying the hard disk drive
The support service will have evaluated because I will ask the client how the support has been and have I met their needs when providing the support. I will also provide a
service level agreement with the client. This agreement will be between me and the client. I will use the SLA to provide support and I will consider how much downtime and
uptime is required when carrying out the work. I will also consider any faults the client has with the computer system. I will analyse any faults with the system and log any
problems that I have with system. It is important that I ask the client for any feedback on the support I have provides. Has the support I have provided been effective and has it
been good. I have also stated that I will have a service level agreement this is what support I will provide the client with and what levels of support do they need. I feel that I
have met the service level agreement between myself and client because I have provided support for each stage and I have explained about the different stages within the
support plan. The clients requirements were that the client wanted me to produce a detailed support plan and that is what I have done. I have met the service level agreement
because I have provided support for the client. The support service level agreement is a contract between me and the client and it consists of the level of support that I will
provide the client.

I feel that I have met the support service agreement because I have considered what support the client needs and I have read the brief on what the client has asked me today.
The support that I have provided the client has been effective because we have had a service level agreement in place and that agreement s between me and the client.
Overall I feel I have provided the correct support to client because I have produced a support plan that goes through each stage of a computer life cycle. I have understood
what the clients want to me to do. To evaluate the support, I think that I have done well because I have used the service level agreement and I have explained to client about
the downtime and uptime of the computer system. I have explained when installing the computer systems in the office environment downtime will be needed. I have arranged
with the client what day and time I shall be helping installing the system. I have supported the client through explaining what support that I will provide them with. I have
explained what can impact the support. I have explained the system life cycle in depth with evaluating the support at the end of each section.

To conclude I have met the SLA because I have completed a support plan that the client has asked for. I have also understood the requirements of the client and taken into
account that they have faulty hardware that they would like me to fix. Overall I have provided support for six computer systems. I have taken into account capacity planning
and how their company may grow in the future. I have considered the support that I will provide in security planning and disaster recovery. I feel that I have worked well with
the client and I have met their needs and requirements of providing the correct support. I feel that the client and myself have provided a successfully service level agreement
and I feel that this contract has been successful. Overall I feel that I have provided aquatic support to the client because I have created a support plan that works for the
company.

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17
 Alternative Solutions
Alternative solutions (How else could have provided support and support services required)

As an alternative solution, instead of producing a support plan I could have produced a guide to the support that I give them. This guide would be in the layout of a report instead of a table
format as for my initial design I have chosen to lay my support plan out in a table format. The guide would include information about the three stages of support that I would give to the client. I
would still explain about the Design and build stage, operational and decommission but I would lay the support guide out in a report format so it would make it easier for the client to read. This
would explain that the support that I would provide the client with support just in a different format. I feel that this is an appropriate alternative solution because this would provide more effective
support to the client because it would be a different format. I have chosen to discard this alternative solution because setting the support plan out in a table breaks up the sections and this would
then make it easier for the client to read and understand. The support would have been provided in a report format instead of a table format.

Another alternative solution is under the design and build stage is I could have added a section on what components that would need for their computer system. In this section I would add the
names of the components that the client would need because this links in to the design and build because I will be helping building the computer system and in order to build the system they
would need the hardware for their system. I feel this is an alternative for the design and build stage because the client will need to know what components they need. If I was to add this on to the
support plan as alternative they would then know what components they need when the build the computer system. If the client had limitless supply of money, then I would build a high spec
computer for them while planning for more capacity. If a built a high spec computer first time, then they may not need to upgrade it because I have made the system future proof. I have decided
to discard this idea because I feel that it will over complex the design and build stage.

Furthermore, another solution for the operational stage is that I would provide more training for the staff because if they had a limitless amount of money then someone from my company could
be based there permanently. This would then reduce the problems that they encounter with their computer system because someone would be there all the time if they did face any problems
with their system. Having someone based there all the time is a good thing because if their system went down then that person from my company would provide the client with the support. This
will improve productivity because there will be someone based there all the time. There is one drawback to this solution there will be a big cost involved because the IT technician my from
company will have to be paid by the clients company because he will be based there all the time. When thinking about this alternative solution I have decided to go with my original plan because
this will work out really expensive for the company because someone will be based there all the time.

An alternative for the room layout is that in the future the client may want to have a move around so they may need my support to help them move the work stations and the desks. If the client
ever decided to have their office redecorated they may want to move their office round. I will support them with moving the computer systems round in the office environment, every now and
then they may decide to have a move round thinking about capacity planning they may need to move around because they have hired more employees.

Justification, Constraints, and Recommendations

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I have created a support plan for a business that has six computer systems. In this support plan, I have had to explain the support that I will provide a computer system over
the systems life cycle. I have explained the support that I will provide over the three stages. The three stages of a computer life cycle are design and build, operational and
decommission. The clients have reported faults with some hardware that they have. The hardware that the client has reported a fault with is the keyboard, mouse and monitor.
The client would like me to help them fix the problem with these pieces of hardware. The clients requirements are that they would like Windows 8.1, Office 2010 and AVG
anti-virus installing on all there 6 computer systems. I have also read that you would like a printer and scanner for your business as well. I have read the brief and I
understand the purpose of this is that you are a small business and you have a total of six computer systems within your business. I also understand that you have reported
some faults with your system. Overall I understand that you would like to upgrade your six computer systems to Windows 8.1.

In this report, I have created a support plan to help you upgrade your computer systems. The Support plan that I have created explains the three stages of a computer system
life cycle and the support that I will provide you with. I have explained about the support that I will provide you with in the design and build stage, operational stage and
decommissioning stage. The plan I have created for you fulfil the intended purpose because I have created a support plan that will help you upgrade your six computer
systems. I have designed this plan around your requirements. I have referred to the requirements several times throughout the brief. This plan meets the intended purpose
because I have explained what support. The reason this support plan meets your needs is because I have designed it around your six computer systems. I have also
designed it around what software you have asked for. When reading the brief, I understand that you had some faulty hardware and I understand that you wanted this
hardware fixed. The support plan is designed to help fix this hardware and help you upgrade your current systems.

The client requirements and support plan meet the needs of the client because they would like a support plan for two computer systems and the support plan that I have
designed is for. The support plan that I have created for the client is for all the six computer systems. The Client requirements and the support plan links together because I
have designed the support plan for the systems life cycle. Another reason the support plan meets the need of the client is that Is that I have explained the impacts that could
affect the support and I have also evaluated different types of support that is required. The types of support that the support plan covers is disaster recovery, capacity planning
and security measures. The design and build stage in the support plan meets the client requirements because I have explained the hardware and software requirements this
links back to the client requirements because they have asked for Windows 8.1, AVG anti-virus and Office 2010. In the support plan I have explained that I will provide support
for the software and hardware resources. In the support plan, I have said how the client has faulty mouse, keyboard and monitor these are part of the hardware resources.
The client has asked for a new printer and scanner in the brief and in the plan, I have explained that I will provide support to install the new printer and scanner that they
would like. In the support plan, I have explained about capacity planning and how the business has the potential to grow in the future, for example the business has six
computer systems for now. In the future, the business may expand and they must prepare to upgrade their computer systems again, for example if the business hired two
more members of staff then they may need two more computer systems within their business. The plan explains how the business would need to prepare for capacity
planning.

In the plan, I have also considered the operational stage and the client will need to think about security measures. There are number of measures that the client will need to

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take to protect themselves against virus. In the clients requirements, they have stated that they would like AVG anti-virus and I have linked this to support plan in the security
measures section. I have stated in the plan how the anti-virus software that they have chosen will help protect their six computer systems against any viruses. In the
operational stage I have also considered the floor plans and the layout of their office environment. As they have only got six computer systems they may want a computer
system on each desk. The operational stage meets the needs of client because I have considered a range of different factors such as the ergonomics that includes health and
safety because in a business there are always health and safety risk, positioning of the IT equipment and the floor layout. To conclude with in the operational, stage this meets
the needs of the client because I have referred the anti-virus software in the security measures section. The plan meets the needs of clients because I have so far explained
about the hardware and software resources.

In the decommissioning stage, I have considered data protection this is a big factor in the final stage because all the data must be destroyed once they have decommissioned
the system, for example they would need to destroy the hard disk drive because this may have data on it still even though they have formatted the drive it is best to destroy it
so no one can get any data of the drive. The Data Protection Act 1998 is a big part of the decommissioning stage because the company must take into account that they have
sensitive data on the computer systems.

To conclude with this plan fulfils the needs of the client because I have created a support plan that incorporates hardware and software needs I have also considered
capacity planning. The original requirements were that the client wants to upgrade their six computer systems and they would also like new software resources on their
computer system. The operating system that they would like is Windows 8.1. The client would also like Office 2010 and AVG anti-virus. I have included the requirements of the
client within the support plan to remind me of what they wanted. I feel that I have successfully created fulfilled the clients requirement in this report because I have read the
brief and taken in what the client would like me to do. I have created a support plan that goes through the life cycle of a computer system providing the client with support.

Overall the plan fulfils the purpose of the clients requirements because I have supported them through the life cycle of their six computer systems. The reason I have chosen
to produce a support plan is because this will help the client and it will tell them what I needs I will support them with. The support plan also evaluates the support that I will
give to client giving them in depth understanding of the support. There a range of impacts that I have informed the client about within this plan I have also considered how I
will support the client.

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There a range of constraints included in the support plan the first constraint is the finance and thinking how much this will cost to carry out the work. When the company buy
the software, they will need to think about how many software licences they need for their computer system. The client would like Windows 8.1 for all their computer systems
and this will work out expensive because this is the main operating system for the computer. The client would also like Office 2010 which is the productivity software. They will
need six licences each for each piece of software they need. The company would also like AVG anti-virus which they will need a software licence for. I understand from
reading the brief that the client would like a new printer and scanner and this would mean more money to spent on this. Another financial constraint would that the company
would have to pay me for producing the support plan. You would also be paying me to support you with upgrading your computer systems so I would install the software
resources that you have specified.

The second constraint when producing the support plan is expertise have the employees had enough training on the new system. When I give training to the employees this
will also take time. When I give training to the employees they will require my expertise because they would not know how to use the system. A constraint is if the client did
not have enough training on how to us the new system then they would not be able to do anything on the system. They would not be able to use any of the software because
they would have not had enough training. Training is such an important thing because the client would need training to use the new system. If I was train to you then if you
were to train your staff, then this would be better. I will be the expert in training you so it is important that you take the training tips from me then you where can show your staff
how to use the new computer systems.

The third constraint is timing it could take a few days to train your staff on how to use the new system so I must organise with you as you are my client when it convenient for
me to train your staff. When installing the computer system there would be a lot of down time because of how many systems you want me to install as you require six
computer systems then it is vital that I must install them as soon as possible but the main constraint is how long it will take to install them because I will also have configured
the operating system and the features for your computer system. I will also require time to install the software on your system and configure any updates to the system. I will
need to plan when you want you want your computer systems installing. I see from the support plan that I have created that I have explained about the layout of the office
environment if you have any new furniture in your office then this will need to put together and then this can delay me installing the six systems for you. There is also a
constraint into fitting the printer and scanner because all of this requires time.

The final constraint that you may face is knowledge on the system and the software. Although I will provide training for the system there will still be that lack of knowledge into
what the software does and the operating system does for your computer system. Knowledge can be a constraint because you may be unware what your system may do and
what the software does. Not having enough knowledge can lead to you or your employees making mistakes on the system and there is a potential that something can go
wrong. As I will be providing training for you on how to use your computer system then you should have a little bit more knowledge on how to use the system. Training will be
provided on how to use the system and the software. Reading the brief I see that you would like a new printer and scanner and not enough training and knowledge on this
can cause it to go wrong so I will be providing training on how to use the printer and scanner.

The First recommendation for your system is perhaps if you were to ever upgrade you can upgrade to Windows 10. I see from the brief that you would like Windows 8.1 as

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your operating system software. I would like to recommend Windows 10 because I feel this is more suitable for your system. I see that you are currently using Windows XP. I
feel that windows 8.1 is not a very good operating system and it is a very big change from windows X. I would like to recommend Windows 10 as this operating system has a
lot of new features such as Cortana which is a voice system and there are a range of new features that Windows 10 in tails. I feel this will be suitable for your six computer
systems because Windows 8.1 has a very big change and the change is the start menu and I feel it will take a long time for you to get used to this Operating System.
Therefore, I would like recommend Windows 10 because the start menu its changed but it still has the same layout. There is a store on Windows 10 that enables you to
download apps on to your computer system.

The second recommendation is an all in one printer and scanner, per the brief you would like a separate printer and scanner. The reason I have chosen an all in one printer
and scanner is because I am thinking about space in the office environment if you had an all in one you would also be saving money rather than buying a separate printer and
scanner. There are range of different printers and scanners that you can buy but I feel an all in one will be better because you dont have to worry about one of them going
wrong.

My final recommendation is the anti-virus software that you have chosen at the end of the day it is your choice on what anti-virus software you would like for your computer
system. I would like to Norton Premium this is a type of anti-virus and I recommend this one because this a better anti-virus then your chosen one AVG. I have had a look and
you can get multi licences on Norton. This anti-virus provides malware protection and a cloud where you can store your files.

Conclusion

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To conclude with this assignment consists of a support plan on the three stages of a computer life
cycle. The stages of a computer life cycle consist of the design and build stage, operational and
decommission. I have produced this support plan to help upgrade the clients computer. My client
would like to upgrade their six computer systems and I the purpose for the support plan to explain
what support I will give them. In the support plan, I have included sections on support I will
provide, impacts on the support and evaluation of the support. This report all consists of how the
support service has been evaluated, alternative solutions, Justification of on the support plan does
it meet the purpose and client requirements. I have also included the constraints and further
recommendations to improve the improve the support of the systems.

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3. Bibliography
http://smallbusiness.chron.com/benefits-capacity-planning-15927.html

(List of web sites, books, magazines, newspapers etc used for the research of your report.)

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