The Bulletin - June 2004 Edition
Technical Tips
By Tom Snyder Ph.D.

How to Improve System Reliability and End User Support

• Is your IT department working hard, but finding it difficult to make significant
improvements or provide new functionality and training because they are always
consumed by the crisis of the moment?
• Does it take days to get individual computers fixed?
• Do you have to notify your IT department several weeks in advance to ensure that
all systems are in place prior to a new employee's arrival?
• Do viruses continue to slip past your virus protection software?
• Do problems and requests fall through the cracks more often than you'd like?

If this sounds familiar, the following are some procedures and tools you can use to improve system reliability and user support as well as reduce computer management costs. Tips 1 and 3 are especially helpful if you have more than 30 computers.

1) Implement an automated operating system and software deployment tool. Once your
deployment system is in place, the MAXIMUM time to fix or set up ANY desktop is an hour.

2) Get everyone on one operating system. The fewer systems you have interacting and need to support, the fewer problems and more knowledgeable you'll be about fixing glitches. To really improve system stability and reduce maintenance costs, we recommend Windows 2000 or Windows XP as your operating system. In ZD lab tests, none of the Windows XP Professional systems had a problem in 31 days. Meanwhile, the Windows 98 Second Edition-based computers had problems on average of every 15 days. Gartner reports that
moving from W98 to W2000 reduces maintenance costs by 47%. Our experience with several customers for whom we have performed upgrades supports this.

3) Manage desktop virus protection using a centralized administrative tool. Both McAfee and Norton offer such products. They reduce the time required to install and update virus protection, and they ensure protection is enforced and updated on every computer at all times.

4) Upgrade your hardware when it is more than 3 years old. Compatible parts and software are hard to find past this point. For example, older computers simply don't support today's larger hard drives.

5) Send your IT personnel to at least 3 weeks of OFFSITE, INSTRUCTOR LEAD training per year. According to IDC research, companies with Microsoft Certified Professionals experience server downtime less often than companies without MCPs, and more important, for shorter durations. This translated into savings of $2,500 per server per year in decreased downtime for companies with at least one MCP. According to the same research, companies with MCPs can handle an average of 10 calls per day per technical staff person, compared
with seven calls per day per person for companies without MCPs. Offsite, instructor lead training ensures your personnel obtain hands on practice that reinforces the lecture, won't be distracted by people popping in and can trade tips with others who do what they do.

6) Formalize your problem management process by setting expectations with users, performing work against an agreed upon set of priorities and regularly communicating progress. This gives you a basis for measuring and managing improvement as well demonstrating when the process is working fine.

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If you have questions or concerns about your particular situation, please e-mail me at tpsynder@xantrion.com.
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