Technical Support And Information Sources Computer Science Essay

Technical Support And Information Sources Computer Science Essay Technical support is a team which is responsible to support for individuals and organisations in a variety of ways. They also describe and explain to the customers all information about technology of their products or their services that they provide. Technical support team has people who have a good knowledge about electronic systems, computer systems which included software and hardware. They are able to troubleshoot related problems. In general, technical support provides technical support to organisation, customers and end-users. Source of information can be used for a variety of hardware and software related faults? The information can be gathered from a number of sources such as direct questioning, consulting a fault log or using diagnostic and monitoring tools. Finding out information: Direct questioning If the organisation, customers or end-users has any problems with the product or service, they will contact to get some helps from technical support. They will contact by phone or face to face and the technical support specialists need to find out as much as possible what the problem is. Then they can make decision how they can resolve the problem. But before accepting the calls from customers or users, they may need to check that the customer or user is entitled to their support services. They may require the customer or user to give correct username and password, account number or some personal details. They also can ask the customer some question for clarification, or further questions to ensure that they have a good understanding of the problem. In general, direct questioning is an important technique which is used in information gathering because it is flexible. Fault logs Fault log is a record of events that occurred and it may include the information about how the fault was fixed. Most business organisations have the computer rooms that can be used by many different users, so they need to have a written fault log that is regularly checked by technical staffs. The technical staffs will identify and remedy any faults that have been reported by users. A log should be maintained for each computer system. When the computer system is broken down, the technical staff will need the information from the fault logs such as when the equipment was obtained, when the software was installed or what setting have been used. Fault log will record what happen with computer system and how it was fixed. A fault log may be kept manually or it may be create automatically by software. Diagnostics and Monitoring tools Another way that helps the technical staffs to define a particular problem is using diagnostic and monitoring tools. The technician can ask the system directly by using diagnostic and monitoring tools such as the POST (Power on Self-Test). When the computer system is turned on, the POST will check the hardware to make sure everything is working correctly before the OS is loaded and run. There are three types that the problems can be occurred. They are following: If there are problems before the screen is functioning, a sequence of beeps is used to indicate the nature of the faults. If the problem is occurred after the screen is functioning, an error code will be showed on the screen. This error code will show which device is not working properly. If the problem is occurred while computer is running, the user or technical staffs can use Event Viewer. The Event Viewer is monitoring tool that is included with OS window. It can be used to manage and view these events. It also can be used to track security events and identify possible software, hardware and system problems. The event viewer interface will contain a series of event logs that can be viewed by either a user or a technician. This particular log contains a series of entries that consist of information, warnings and errors. Checking the problems: Some informations sources are more reliable than others. So when processing the information, the user or technical staff needs to make sure that the information is valid. Cross-reference checks with user When the technical staffs are talking with the users or customers about the problems, they can call up data on their computer system which is including the current information and configurations of the users computer. The technical staff also can check that other users are experiencing the same problems on a particular system. Confirmation from a number of users that a particular fault exists or that the fault is of a particular nature will give the technician confidence in how to approach a formal diagnosis and remedy. But the information may be out of date because the users or customers may have upgraded the equipment or installed a more modern OS. So the technical staffs should confirm the information with the user during the initial conversation. When the users and customers may not be able to answer the questions, the technical staff should help and direct them to how they can find out the answers. Problem reproduction After asking the customers or users some simple direct questions to indentify who they are and what the problems are, the technical staff need to find out exactly what the problem is and how to fix it. The users or the customers may jump to conclusions and suggest things that are wrong with the computer rather than just giving the technical staff facts. So the best way for a technician to identify and diagnose a fault is to see the problem. If the fault is intermittent, it may prove difficult to reproduce the fault in the workshop. In this case, the users or customers need to takes screenshots of any error messages and prints these to be used as reference material as and when the system is being repaired. The problem reproduction is a useful strategy. Asking the users or customers to talk through what went wrong can reveal important information that the user may not told the technical staffs. One more important fact is the date when the problem was first noticed. If any new hardware or software was installed immediately before the fault appeared, this might be to blame. To fix this problem, the technical staffs can take the users back to a time when the computer was working. This way will help the users to think through the events that led up to the problems and exactly as it happened. This may reveal vital clues but it is still important to keep an open mind and to consider alternative sources of the problem. Manufacturers website Manufacturers websites are a valuable source of information. If an application fails to work, the user or customer can search the manufactures website for the latest information about known bugs in the system. The information is accessed through an open forum which is clearly going to be significantly less reliable than a manufacturers own website. Individuals providing technical advice of any kind must make sure that they are doing so supported by accurate and valid information. Further sources of such information are discussed in the following section. Source of information: Product specifications and manuals Most products are sold with a product specification and a technical manual. Product specification is written by the manufacture of the product. It contains all the information and details of products technical. A manual also is written by the manufacturer but it is used to explain how to make the best use of a hardware or software. Some manufacturers store product specifications and manuals in CD or DVD as PDF file. The CD or DVD will have all information about the main features of the product, or a video on troubleshooting. Colleagues with specialist expertise This is the best source of information because the users or technical staffs can get the technical information from people around them such as colleagues and friends. Those people can offer their experience in solving problems, but they must to find right people to ask. If they ask to wrong people so it means that they get wrong information and these information can not be used. The advantage of this source of information is the users can ask further questions if they are unsure that they fully understand a process, an answer or an explanation. Knowledge bases Using a knowledge base may involve searching for information which is relevant to the problem that the users want to try solving. The technical support can draw on a knowledge base to help them decide on a course of action. There is a range of knowledge bases that are available on the internet, but the technician support or the users must be very careful about relying on information that may not be valid or correct. Fault records showing previously found solutions A fault log is most useful when it lists not only the problems that were encountered but also the way in which they were solved. A fault log that includes the name of the technical support that solved a particular fault will allow the users contact them if they have encountered a similar fault and need specialist help. The historical information of previous faults and remedies will be essential for the technician support that will effectively be able to learn from other peoples experiences. Internet source (e.g.: FAQs and technical forums) The internet is the very useful source of information which helps the user or technician to resolve technical problems. There are two main informations sources on the internet which are FAQs and technical forum. FAQs stand for Frequently Asked Questions which can solve the most common problems for users with minimal effort for the help desk staff. The manufacturers websites usually contain FAQs about their products or services. This is where they use to list the information. This is also a place that the problems will be resolved and the questions of users about the product or service will be answered. The technical forum is a place where the users and technician can talk and discuss about the product or service. Technical forums can be a useful route to finding answers to both simple and complex problems. What hardware and software related questions could you be asked by users requiring technical support and how would you handle each of these questions? Question 1: My computer may be hacked by virus and my anti-virus software is not working? How can I fix it? As a technician, I tried to turn on their computer and I can see their computer being attacked by a virus. I have checked the current anti-virus software that they use. Their computer is currently using Norton anti virus software and this software is expired. So the customers should renew the software if they want to use it to protect their computers. Question 2: What can I do if the virus still in the computer system even that anti-virus software is working? In this case, I will tell the customers that they should format the hard drive and install new OS software. But before formatting, they should back up all important data and information to external storage devices. Question 3: My computer would boot up but then after 5-10 mins, it would shut itself down. What is this problem? Firstly, I will ask some question to the customers get more information about what happen with their computers and then I give them my opinion. I think that the computer may be attacked by virus because this problem is a symptom of virus attack or the hardware of computer may be faulty. If the problem occurs by virus, I will use the newest version of anti virus software to find and delete the virus. If the problem occurs by hardware faulty, I open the computer system and check the hardware of computer. I think that problem is electrical faults which can lie within a hardware component, in the cabling that connects these components or in the connectors between the cabling and the components. The hardware that I will check are: motherboard, PSU, CPU, RAM, etc†¦

The Road to Happiness - Original Writing :: Happiness Essays

My name is Bob Thomas. My life has been one hell of a roller coaster, with enough ups and downs to make anyone nauseas. I guess I shouldn’t complain, because that is a common lifestyle for most people. It all started when I was a teenager and it is a familiar fact that every teenager has their fair amount of rows, with there parents. However, one argument was just one to many for me. It was actually quite pathetic; I look back and laugh at what I was arguing about. This sounds silly but I was quarrelling, with my mum, on whether I could wear my suede boots to school. It all ended up with me storming out of the door saying that I was deprived of my freedom and opinion. I could remember hearing my dad in the background, shouting at the top of his lungs, that I shouldn’t dare step foot out of the house. But I did. I was confused and angry, so I just wanted to be as far away from home as possible. Using the money I had on me, I took a train to London without even realizing or noticing how dim-witted I was being. At that point all I wanted to see was that lousy excuse for a mother, dead. The area I picked in London was an awful mistake. I was living on the streets with no money, no job, nothing. And to add to that, these unpleasant people would come up to me and stare. And then there were the occasional perverts hanging around, but I kept myself hidden when I saw them lurking about. I tried to make life work, by scavenging for anything I could get my hands on. I couldn’t think of asking my parents for help, it was just out of the question. I had been gone to long, I could imagine the angry looks on their faces, describing the pain I had put them through. What if they didn’t even want me back? They seemed quite content with my sister. They had probably forgotten

China Bank Internationalisation Project Essay

This approach to a project is very similar to what happens regularly in the financial services industry. A project has to be completed, a team is set up (usually with individuals of different skills with different backgrounds and from different countries) who then have to work together to complete the task. Managers then evaluate each team member in such a process on the basis of the quality of the final joint work produced. Background China’s banks are trying to internationalise and your task is to help advise a Chinese bank on how to do this. Bank of China, for example, has on its website its ‘Strategic Goal† and other banks have similar goals: Strategic Goal Aiming at excellence, sustaining growth and building a first-class international bank. Strategic Positioning A large transnational banking group focusing on commercial banking business and providing diversified services integrated both at home and abroad. Commercial banking focused diversification With commercial banking business as the core and foundation of the group’s development, Bank of China will keep improving its brand popularity and core competitiveness by expanding business network and customer base and nhancing product innovation. By taking advantage of the comparative competitiveness of diversified services for unified customers via unified channels under unified strategy and brand, it will strive to develop various business lines such as investment banking, fund, insurance, investment and leasing so as to create a synergistic effect on the diversified platform in the interest of comprehensive and excellent financial services for customers. To provide a structure to this advice, you are required to write answers to each of the five topics below (though you need not follow exactly the items in each). Each of the five sections should be not more than 500 words i. e. 2,500 words maximum for the whole project. This will also make it much easier to present each project in class i. e. to read out the paper in class. Also, it will help you understand the need to be concise. Most business papers have an ‘Executive Summary’ at the front of a paper and in the case of this project, the ‘executive summary’ is the actual paper. You will, of course, be likely to write more on your section in the first instance but you will then have to reduce it in size to make this summary the correct length. Although you may choose to allocate one section to each person in the group, it is VITAL that the quality of English (grammar, spelling), is high throughout. Thus one person who is good at English should check through the whole paper. Also, each section should use the same font and typesize. You should also ensure that each of you understands each of the 5 topics and is able to speak in class about any of them. I may choose any one of you to present and to explain your proposals. Project China’s banks are trying to internationalise. You have been employed as consultants to a well-known large Chinese bank. They have asked you to write a report for them as below: â€Å"Until now, we have been principally a domestic financial institution operating in mainland China. We expect that the profitability of our existing domestic business may decline and that our balance sheet size will not increase as fast as before. We are therefore considering trying to internationalise. We need to learn from Western experience of internationalisation and try to apply that experience (though modified for specific Chinese characteristics) to our own internationalisation project. Please prepare a report that will help us achieve our objectives. † Having chosen your bank (one of the big four) set out a strategy that it might follow. You should start by looking at the bank’s latest annual report and accounts and any press references to internationalization of Chinese banks. Some topics that you might cover are suggested below but the actual topics that you think are relevant may be wider than this. You should also look at the experience of Western banks which have tried to become full-service i. e. international financial supermarkets. I. Examine balance sheet strength, current and future expected loan losses on existing domestic loans, current and future required Basel ratios and current price to book ratios of the bank or banks you have chosen and any other relevant information. You have to provide a summary of your chosen bank’s financial strengths and weakness relative to competitors. Consider any competitive advantages that Chinese banks might have in trying to internationalise in relation to any weaknesses of European or US banks at the present time in terms of funding availability, currency related issues, term of loans, regulatory ratios, ownership structure etc. II. Consider reasons why Chinese domestic banking is likely to be less profitable from 2012 onwards compared with previous years (consider interest margins and loan write-offs and any other factors). Consider in which countries a bank might best open overseas operations, what commercial banking products and services might be offered and why. Consider products and services to be offered to Chinese companies doing business abroad and also local companies in the foreign market which may or may not do business with China. Give reasons why you think a Chinese bank could gain competitive advantage in these markets with the different types of customer they might attract. Also consider where you might put the international head office of such a bank and whether the senior management in a country should be natives of that country or expatriate managers from China. III. Chinese banks are currently principally commercial banks involved in lending, trade financing, foreign exchange services and leasing. Consider the other types of products and services, in particular investment banking and asset management services, that they might want to offer outside China and the advantages and possible drawbacks of trying to compete with US investment banks in such products. Finish with a recommendation on the scope of products the bank should offer. IV. If you recommend that your bank should go ahead with an internationalisation programme, advise it on the relative merits of a new start-up bank versus a policy of acquisition of local banks in the chosen markets. You might, for example, suggest that the bank acquire RBS from the UK government. V. Japanese commercial and investment banks have not been very successful in their internationalising efforts (see Chapter 27 of your textbook). Consider the economic, cultural and foreign branch/ subsidiary management, employee and governance (and any other) issues that might have hindered their development. Consider how a Chinese banks may, or may not, be able to overcome these same difficulties. Citigroup has also proven not to be very successful. You should examine what its strategy was and why it collapsed (rescued by the US government) and why it is now downsizing and simplifying. RBS has also cut back its investment banking activities dramatically. You should consider why it has done this. Some articles from the FT that might be useful in this endeavour are included on Blackboard under â€Å"Course Documents†. However, it is important that you access other sources of information which may include private information that you have access to. You should give references where appropriate. Brian Scott-Quinn ——————————————– [ 1 ]. Bank of China, China Construction Bank, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, Agricultural Bank of China

Human resource management and leadership development - Free Essay Example

Sample details Pages: 6 Words: 1728 Downloads: 2 Date added: 2017/06/26 Category Management Essay Type Research paper Did you like this example? The leadership and philosophies of African leaders have affected institutions and companies in various African countries for many years. For example, charismatic leaders were believed to be those who have the natural capacity and personality traits or qualities to lead. Hence, leaders were said to be born or natural great men. Traditionally, leadership was said to be an attribute of personality. Born or charismatic leaders became real leaders because they have such personality qualities but also: ambition, patience, pride, humility, wisdom, friendliness, dependability, force, endurance and, of course, managerial competence. Modern functional leadership is essentially to facilitate the interaction within a group to achieve present goals, to realise the organizations strategic objectives. Such functional managers or leaders are usually nominated, appointed and selected from among equals. If people utilize proper and effective managerial tools and motivation, perform ance and effectiveness increase considerably. Of course, this is also applicable to African managers and leaders acquiring or possessing modern functional leadership skills in a target achievement and productive environment (Kiggundu, 1990, p683-685). LITERATURE REVIEW Most leaders want to be more effective in their leadership. Some think they only need to learn techniques, others assume that they can learn a magic formula or foolproof method. Effective functional leadership implies an intensive development process. Some of the ability comes as a result of experience and mistakes of others, from personal insights and by learning managerial skills. To become truly effective African managers and leaders they will have to be developed through sustainable leadership and managerial competency programmes that offer training with a difference. These development efforts should be highly interactive, aimed at leadership and managerial competence such as delegation and responsibilities acceptance. These customized interventions are generally for a short period, followed up and coached by their superiors. I.e. the participants should be given room to experiment with their newly acquired skills (Kanungo, 1990). It is certain that African countries will grow and develop in the coming years; look at the example of the pace of growth of mobile phone networks and coverage. Efficient infrastructures, systems and processes are put in place. However, just this is not enough; Inspiring functional leadership is an absolute necessity for growth. Sustainable investment in the modern development of African managers and leaders is primordial. In order to accelerate and maintain growth in sub-Saharan Africa we must put in place the right learning work environment and formal, high-impact development possibilities (Onah, 1981). The subject of International human resource management has been growing in leaps and bounds in the last decade. As a result, there is now an impressiv e corpus of knowledge on the dynamics and challenges of managing people in various parts of the world and how these approaches cultural and other contextual factors. However, as some authors have pointed out, there is a disturbing unevenness both in the breadth and depth of research into comparative and international human resource management. For example, Kochan et al. (1992) noted a number of weaknesses that characterize international HR research. These include a narrow focus on giving advice to expatriates, neglect of theory while focusing on the needs of international particularly American and an apparent preference for cultural explanations at the expense of institutional, strategic, political and economic ones. In the intervening years, there has clearly been an improvement and the IHRM debate has matured remarkably. Nevertheless, many of these weaknesses have not been resolved conclusively. Thus in a recent extensive review of the literature, Clark et al. (1999) identified two major short comings: an apparent insulation from previous work and critiques of cross-national and international management research and second, an overwhelmingly Anglo-Saxon perspective in much of the research. The Asian region has witnessed a lot of interest in the recent years. There has also been some attention given to the emerging economies in Eastern Europe and South America. These economies have been described variously as emerging, which in the case of the former refers to their abandoning centralized planning. Some of these emerging and, in the case of east Asian economies certainly prior to 1997, Tiger economies enjoyed rapid economic growth rates and at the same time attracted a lot of academic curiosity. Africa has not participated fully in either set of activities. As i note elsewhere (Kamoche, 2001) researchers seem not sure where to locate Africa since African countries have neither been growing at impressive rate nor are they emerging from the stagnation of centralized planning of the eastern European type. A gap thus remains in our understanding of the complexity of Human resource management in Africa as academic research in the mainstream literature focuses elsewhere. The purpose of this special issue is to rectify this imbalance. While the literature on African management problem remains comparatively modest, multinationals on the other side have been making inroads into what some see as the last great frontier. Determining how to characterize and categorise the nature of management in Africa is a task that has continued to haunt researchers. Jackson argues that the tendency to cast the problem into a developing/developed world dichotomy is not only pejorative, but it also hampers critical research into the subject. There is, according to him, a danger in trying to make the developing more like the developed, thus denying the indigenous roots of the approaches that are suitable to Africa. He thus proposes a cross-cultural model t hat incorporates various perceptions of the value of people in organizations and proposes managing people in such a way as to build cross-cultural synergies. In line with Jacksonss critique of the developing-developed dichotomy, Horwitz et al. Argue that there has been an over emphasis on comparative analysis between Africa and the Western nations. In fact, the term developed world tends to refer to Europe and North America. They argue that it is now worth turning attention to the East where interesting developments are been taking place, as African mangers, particularly from some Southern African countries, begin to cultivate business relations with their counterparts in East Asia (Alfred Kanungo, 1990). They suggest that research will need to go beyond the current framework of convergence-divergence and begin to embrace elements of cross-vergence with particular regard to the diffusion of high-performance work practices. The issue of cross-vergence is pursued further in Anakwe s analysis of Human resource management practices in one African country-Nigeria. She found that, in a survey of organizations across three major cities, the HR practices were a blend of western or foreign practices reflecting the significance of the local context. This analysis offers a critique of the predominant convergence perspective, which according to the author, has been a source of confusion, frustration and malaise among the Nigerian workforce. Therefore there is a need for organizations to take into account the specific circumstances of their labour force while designing and implementing HR practices. Multinational firms have an important role to play in African economies. In the past this role has generated a lot of controversy especially where these firms engage in unethical practices including the exploitation of workers and the destruction of the environment. According to Harvey et al., multinational firms are well placed to stimulate the development of human ca pital not merely through the traditional routes of creating employment and diffusing knowledge through expatriates but also through African experts who have gained knowledge by working in the West. An interesting paradox is the double-edge nature of social-cultural diversity in Africa. With up to 2000 different cultural-linguist groups/tribes, the potential for ethnic conflicts is never too far away. It is generally assumed that the arbitrary drawing of boundaries following the European scramble for Africa and the subsequent use of divide-and-rule colonial practice served to accentuate hostile tribal sentiments where none previously existed or they were merely latent (see also Leys, 1975). The importance of the family as a socializing unit and source of identity is amplified further at the ethnic level. As such, Africans tend to relate more to the tribe than to the seemingly abstract notion of nation-state. This ultimately manifests itself in favorism along kinship and ethnic lin es because the culture requires people to care for and support kith, kin and tribesmen. This very complex issue has been addressed in a number of contributions in this volume, either directly or indirectly. Nyamberga tackles the nature of ethnicity and seeks to assess the relevance of the concept of diversity. He argues that, since ethnicity is such a central construct in diversity, there is a need for organisations to adopt policies of inclusion as opposed to exclusion in managing the ethnically diverse African workforce. Beugre locates his analysis within the organizational justice discourse. He argues that the dramatic social and political change that have been taking place across the continent are likely to spill over into a quest for justice and empowerment in organizations. Managers should therefore anticipate these trends and proceed to develop and implement fair organizational practices. These social and political changes have perhaps been more dramatic in recent years in South Africa with the dismantling of apartheid. Horwitz et al. investigate the extent to which recent legislative measures have helped address the enduring legacy of apartheid. They find that these measures are, in the main, inconsistent and inadequate, and that, although a legislative framework might exist, commitment to change at the organizational level remains a daunting challenge. Doing business in Africa is something many Western mangers and investors often find to be an extremely difficult task. Problems include lack of familiarity with the competitive environment, laws and regulations that are difficult to understand and which in some cases appear to be erratic and capricious. This confusion does little to assure confidence to potential investors. Harvey dramatizes these challenges metaphorically by drawing from Lewis Carrolls Alice in Wonderland. He suggests that to western managers, with limited knowledge of the African business environment, their experiences are analogou s to Alices attempt to make sense of the rules and characters she encountered in her adventure. He then posits a model to help make sense of the challenge of developing HR practices in Africa, paying attention to categorise of African countries and the prevailing type of political leadership. THE RESEARCHES AIMS AND OBJECTIVES The research paper has the following aims and objectives; To explore the concept of leadership in HRM in Africa. To assess the current scenario of leadership in HRM in African corporate world. To analyse the initiatives by the government in the development of leaders in HRM. Don’t waste time! Our writers will create an original "Human resource management and leadership development" essay for you Create order