I.T. Services After Hours Support

The Present Situation – and What is Planned

Dave Gale, Luke Walford, Mick BowenManagers, IT&TS

Three campuses – Lismore, Tweed/Gold Coast, Coffs Harbour

Centralised ITTwo Help DesksSemester Help Desk hours 8am to

9pm Mon – Fri, Sat/Sun 1-5Three Data Centres – one large two

smallData Centre refurb and DR Projects

underway

The Environment

For the main Lismore campus it is on a “best efforts” basis

At Coffs Harbour Campus there is a large risk exposure in the Data Centre so an “On Call” Allowance has been organised due to the presence of environmental alerting by email/SMS

The “Coffs Model” is being considered for Lismore

No on call allowance in EB so 3hrs overtime paid as a weekly on call allowance

Summary of the Current Situation

Best efforts and resilient service architectures; Infra Mgr or Client Services Mgr usually contacted by helpdesk,

Security, or Staff member Infra Mgr co-ordinates technical staff and communicates progress to

other Mgr Best efforts usually works; negatives are

– May take more time as a result of trying to contact staff;– Sometimes creates a double up of effort;

EB – Minimum 4hrs OT irrespective of HEW level, Staff reluctant to move to 24*7,

Current situation cont,

What is the Model that Works? 3 skilled IT staff on a weekly rosterGoes from 5.00pm Friday to 4.59pm

the next FridayRemote quick fixes 1hr overtime

claimedCalled in get minimum 4hrs overtimeStaff swap On Call shifts when

necessaryThere is an “On Call” mobile that the

on duty staff member is allocated – all SMS alerts are directed to this mobile

(More of) What is the Model that Works?

Need staff to agree to the model and support it

Need to ensure staff have the right skill sets

Need to ensure documentation of shutdown and system up procedures exist

Need escalation procedures and contacts

Nil

Joint or Sharing Arrangements?

There is a need – we just need to workout how – and fund it.

Future Plans